Back to the Future for the ultimate “Boy and his ward” film with a sci-fi twist.
Jaws. The birth of the blockbuster.
Pulp Fiction. It’s a classic. Admit it already.
Friday the 13th or Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street or Evil Dead Part 2. Dealer’s choice. All of them define '80s horror/comedy film-making.
I don’t have a fifth movie.
This is a really interesting thread and a very hard question. I like the notion that these should be accessible, entertaining films while remaining vital or groundbreaking in some way. Sorry if my lists seem wieghted to the 40’-'70s period, but IMO most of the best filmmaking occurred after the industry moved beyond the severe technical constraints and self-censoring of the pre-1940 era, but before the advent of CGI meant that any image, no matter how impossible in real life, could be committed to film.
Anyway, after about 30 seconds of thought from my US-centric view, I’d say :
First choices:
**Forbidden Planet
The Maltese Falcon
North by Northwest
Rio Bravo
Some Like it Hot**
Alternates:
**The Bridge on the River Kwai
Chinatown
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Jaws
Toy Story**
Hmm, reviewing the above, can you tell I’m a guy?
Who likes Jack Lemmon in a dress.
I’m just sayin’…
OK, a guy with latent gender issues… 
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Dodsworth
Rio Bravo
Ugetsu
Sullivan’s Travels
From my perogative, a list like this is about movies you think people should see and probably haven’t. Therefore, I leave out the mainstream and popular classics from my list, since I figure most people who have any interest in those sorts of films have already discovered them.
I’d love it if more people saw the following, so we could discuss them:
Eve’s Bayou
The Devil’s Backbone (El Espinazo del Diablo)
The Other
Urbania
The Shape Of Things
alternates
If Lucy Fell, The Last Supper, Playing By Heart, Dead Birds
Forrest Gump
Gone with the Wind
A Clockwork Orange (To see the sheer inhumanity of people and a failed social experiment. Maybe people would be nicer to each other)
Ice Age: The Meltdown (I know I know…but the visuals are outstanding)
The God Must be Crazy
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc - definitely a masterpiece work, I just wonder how intellectually accessable it is for Joe Average. Wondeful film, though.
Rio Bravo - Darn! Another great alternate Western. That’s going to end up as my hardest catagory to knuckle down and pick just one.
Barbarian, picking Jaws as a genre maker was a smooth move. Seems that the Summer Blockbuster of today tends to bleed over a lot into Action/Adventure. With some exceptions, of course.
My list, in no particular order:
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
The Godfather, Part II
Star Wars
Pulp Fiction
Plan Nine From Outer Space
Honourable Mentions to:
Fight Club
Goldfinger
Pleasantville
2001
A Clockwork Orange
Zulu
South Park: Bigger, Longer, And Uncut
Monty Python & The Holy Grail
Monty Python’s Life Of Brian
The Day Of The Jackal
The Wizard Of Oz
Predator
I’ll also add The Wild Bunch to my “Honourable Mentions” list, with a muttered expletive regarding the lack of an “edit” function…
[ol]
[li]Network[/li][li]Nine Queens or Central Station[/li][li]Memento or Run Lola Run[/li][li]Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels or True Romance[/li]Jacobs Ladder or Full Metal Jacket [/ol]I couldn’t find a quarter
I don’t see any Kurusawa on this page. How can that be? Possibly the greatest director ever. He was able to use diverse source material; he made films that transcend one culture and tie into human nature; his filming techniques and innovations are legendary; and he was a direct influence on countless western directors and films. So, from Kurusawa, I’d go with **Seven Samurai ** (with **Ikiru ** a close second).
Need a Hitchcock. While **Psycho ** may not be his absolute best, it was argueably the most infuential. So go with that.
I also pick Raiders of the Lost Ark. Beats out **Jaws ** by a hair.
**Goodfellas ** is a great film that captures the mafia experience, relationships, and how greed and power and hubris eventually lead to destruction. I’d say it fits this list well.
Hmmm, one more.
How about an animated film? An early Disney would be the obvious choice, so I’ll be a bit contrary and go with a recent Miyazaki – Spirited Away. I chose this becasue I think it is a good cross between “traditional” animation and the very popular anime style.
I’m a big fan of Kurosawa–and he is perhaps the single most influential director upon the the big commercial directors of the Seventies (Spielberg, Lucas, Old Man Coppola) and of course their imitators, but he doesn’t seem to be accessible enough to non-cinephiles to qualify. Ran and Kagemusha are very long, of course, but even shorter films like Yojimbo, The Hidden Fortress, and Rashomon don’t seem to be among my most popular suggestions. There is, for Americans at least, the issue of subtitles (I think, or at least I hope, none of these films have been dubbed) and despite their impact upon many other films, few people have heard of them. Great films, though.
I’ve seen a lot of other interesting picks; movies I wouldn’t have selected (Momento, Plan Nine From Outer Space, The Devil’s Backbone, Forbidden Planet, Chinatown) but that are interesting choices that have a compelling case nonetheless. Chinatown in particular is one of my favorites, but I have to wonder how much people “get” of it, both as a barely fictionalized history of the California State Water Project and as both a homage to and subversion of classic film noir. It has one of the best closing lines in all of film: “Forget about it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”
Stranger
Judge Dredd
Teen Wolf, Too
Honey, I Blew Up the Baby
Eegah
Bad News Bears Go To Japan
:dubious:
Well, it is a poster named NoClueBoy. Perhaps he knows himself all too well.
Stranger
I think of it as the opposite of intellectual; never has pure, raw emotion been captured on film so beautifully. I think of it as the most universally accessible film I’ve ever seen.
I certainly recognize Kurosawa’s talent. But my latter discovery of Mizoguchi has served to put Kurosawa in perspective for me. He kneels at the feet of Mizoguchi, without whose prior influence there’s no doubt in my mind that Kurosawa would be a much lesser artist indeed. So I wonder to whom, ultimately, the influenced directors you name owe more.