# Name a movie you think EVERYONE should see at least once in their life. Everyone! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 13, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287 "2025-02-13T22:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/101 "2025-02-17T03:13:43Z")
YAY! One of my favorites. 🕶 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/102 "2025-02-17T03:34:28Z")
_The Terminator_. A prime example of the best kind of 80s action movie. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/103 "2025-02-17T04:09:04Z")
I realized I only mentioned animated. But live action, I think everyone should see _Der Himmel ĂĽber Berlin_( AKA _Wings of Desire_). It is layered and beautiful and resonant. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/104 "2025-02-17T16:44:04Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > I think everyone should see _Atomic Cafe_. It’s a collection of interviews, public information films and cartoons that were made at the beginning of the development of nuclear weapons. It is both hilarious and chilling to see just how clueless everyone was then about the realities of what could happen in a nuclear war or even a nuclear accident. It’s also very nice the way there is no added narration. It’s all what they get from the source material, although they do editorialize by their selection of material and how the juxtapose it. (Example: a film about the dangers of radiation, saying that alpha and beta radiation is blocked by the skin, and there’s no problem as long as you don’t ingest it is undercut by the clip that immediately follows, showing soldiers at a nuclear test being interviewed. “So you got a big mouthful of dust?” “Yeah, I got a mouthful of dust.”) There’s also one clip that has nothing to do with the atomic bomb or anything to do with it. It shows Vice President Richard Nixon “Ringing the bel for Mental Health.” “Mental Health,” intones the narrator of the original clip, “Is one of the greatest issues facing the nation.” I suspect the _Atomic Cafe_ editors saw this clip and just couldn’t help themselves. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/105 "2025-02-17T17:46:56Z")
**Star Wars**. It was great, and even better if you view it as a one-off story. Yes, there are questions about the start of the empire and the force and what happened to Vader, but if you were left to your imagination to fill in the details, knowing there are no sequels, it’s even better. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/106 "2025-02-17T19:27:36Z")
I always preferred the original _Star Wars_, before they added in the fancy shit like the ring around the explosion. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/107 "2025-02-17T19:34:47Z")
And Han not shooting first! ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/108 "2025-02-17T19:35:25Z")
I would add The Empire Strikes back too, after that all are optional, and some are to be actively avoided. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/109 "2025-02-17T19:51:16Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > in forty-some-odd years, I never put them all together . . _Thank you!_ > > Tripler > Jeebus, now this movie seems like the ultimate _downer!_ Well, except for the [final scene and the discussion between Kirk and McCoy](https://youtu.be/LXVqSa2l6mg?si=InZXVhaCyhxbyelz), which is really pretty inspiring (and again, undermined by the subsequent film, which was a cromulent adventure tale but had basically no thematic depth). Director Nicholas Meyer also managed to get what is arguably the best performance out of Shatner by basically exhausting him with take after take until he stopped chewing scenery, and the effects crew (mostly ILM but a lot of outside model makers) did some really astonishingly good work on a shoe-string budget because this was originally intended to be a direct-to-TV movie. Roddenberry, by the way, hated the story and the finished movie for not being sufficiently _Star Trek_ in its themes to the point of threatening Paramount with a lawsuit to stop production. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2025, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/110 "2025-02-17T21:58:22Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Oh, also, just for the sake of seeing a movie that is meaningless beauty, everyone has to see _Lost in Translation_. Thank you. There is just so much to this. It is uplifting, and heart breaking at the same time. But leaves you with a good feeling. It is not for everyone though. My wife gave it a Meh. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/111 "2025-02-18T05:47:36Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > There are a lot of great films but if there were one I think everyone should see for the insight into human nature it is Akira Kurosawa’s [_Rashomon_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042876/). “That’s not how I remembered it!” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/112 "2025-02-18T05:56:32Z")
Nice Simpsons reference! Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/113 "2025-02-18T19:35:26Z")
_Nuts in May_ simply - The Greatest ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/114 "2025-02-18T20:11:24Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Schindler’s List and **Saving Private Ryan** and **Munich**. The Spielberg tri-fecta. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/115 "2025-02-18T21:01:56Z")
King Kong has been mentioned but I think everyone should see a movie featuring Ray Harryhausen’s work such as _Jason And The Argonauts_ or _The 7th Voyage of Sinbad_ ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/116 "2025-02-18T21:19:01Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > \*I think everyone should see a movie featuring Ray Harryhausen’s work such as _Jason And The Argonauts_ or _The 7th Voyage of Sinbad_ Add **Mysterious Island** and you’ve got a great Harryhausen trifecta. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/117 "2025-02-18T21:52:31Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It’s a very good movie, but no, I didn’t know any of them in high school. Those categories just don’t match up well with my high school as it was then. The categories were more achievers (any potential Brain we had was female, I knew two of them well), hippie freaks and dopers (didn’t know any basket cases though), rednecks, and normies. There were jocks and cheerleaders, but they weren’t a big deal. Sounds very like my high school. Although we were mostly not a college-prep school, but a uni-prep high school. Academics were the main focus. But yeah we had cheerleaders and jocks – they were very much background. > [@MrDibble](#): > > But live action, I think everyone should see _Der Himmel über Berlin_( AKA _Wings of Desire_). It is layered and beautiful and resonant. I recently re-watched it after about twenty years, and it didn’t lose a thing, If anything, I found it more impressive and moving (in between those watchings I saw the execrable _City of Angels_ movie which was a desecration). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/118 "2025-02-19T02:04:14Z")
A good film for understanding '50s history would be _People Will Talk_, which does not address the particular subject directly but does hit it hard sideways while also being entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/119 "2025-02-19T06:36:58Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > No, it really isn’t. _Spirited Away_ is it. It’s funny how you misspelled Princess Mononoke. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2025, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287/120 "2025-02-19T07:06:18Z")
I _ **love** _ _Mononoke-hime_. But _Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi_ is the better movie, even if by a hair. There’s something _warmer_ about it, is the best way I can put it. _Mononoke_ lacks whimsy - The _kodama_ are the only concession to whimsy. And while it has a “happy” ending, the old gods are dead, including the Forest Spirit. That’s not hopeful, the way _Spirited Away_ is. I like hope. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-movie-you-think-everyone-should-see-at-least-once-in-their-life-everyone/1014287.md?page=7)