# What Is Your Absolute Single Favorite Movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2019, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092 "2019-08-23T07:24:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/181 "2019-08-30T19:18:10Z")
\>\> Real Genius You know, it has held up. I showed it to my teenaged son within the last year, and we enjoyed it. Its messages still resonate. But let me add a very special one to my list: Boyhood ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/182 "2019-08-30T19:56:37Z")
_Rear Window_. Compelling theme, fine acting, guiltless secondhand voyeurism. I can even overlook minor plot illogic.\* There are a number of other classic movies I happily watch repeatedly. My appreciation for _Anatomy Of A Murder_ grows with every viewing. Beautiful execution and enjoyable performances by everyone in the cast, even people I never liked much in other productions.\*\* \*Why _wouldn’t_ you make sure your apartment door was locked?? \*\*IOW, Eve Arden. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/183 "2019-08-30T20:42:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > _Rear Window_. Compelling theme, fine acting, guiltless secondhand voyeurism. I can even overlook minor plot illogic.\* > > There are a number of other classic movies I happily watch repeatedly. My appreciation for _Anatomy Of A Murder_ grows with every viewing. Beautiful execution and enjoyable performances by everyone in the cast, even people I never liked much in other productions.\*\* > > \*Why _wouldn’t_ you make sure your apartment door was locked?? > \*\*IOW, Eve Arden. Both of these are definitely in my Top 10 as well. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/184 "2019-09-04T06:15:40Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > Did I miss it? > > Why hasn’t anybody said “The Princess Bride”? > > It’s got “fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…” I have to add here: my family and I have been discussing another of our favorites, “Stardust”. This story also has all of the above, plus deNiro in a dress. It has a similar sensibility, but while I love it very much, my family and I always place it a notch or two below “The Princess Bride”. I often wonder if that is because it came second. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/185 "2019-09-04T06:20:23Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > 2001 A Space Odyssey. I’ve seen it 50 times at least, perhaps 100. As a friend of mine said (50 times at least, perhaps 100) as we watched it, “Oh my God, what a boring movie!” I’ve also heard this- A: “Stanley Kubrick perfectly captured the utter loneliness of outer space.” B: “No, Stanley Kubrick perfectly captured the utter boringness of outer space!” ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/186 "2019-09-04T06:25:13Z")
> [@Vic\_Parrish](#): > > BRAZIL > > The real version, not the one with the happy sanitized ending. > > The baby-masked torturer working in “Information Retrieval”, De Niro the renegade HVAC repairman, the deterioration of technology rather than its advancement, the end… > > I’ve heard it called “a flawed masterpiece”. Nope. Just a masterpiece. I love this movie, too. I recently shared it with my son. I don’t know which version we saw. What’s the sanitized ending? The one we saw ended with a fantasy escape to a fake happy ending, followed by a reveal that he’d lost his mind under torture. ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/187 "2019-09-04T06:28:34Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Real genius > > I haven’t watched it for a long time so I may not enjoy it as much as I used to. But at the time I first watched it was exactly the pro science nerd message I needed. It is the only movie I ever watched and then immediately rewound the tape and watched it again. I loved this movie when it came out. I was young at the time. I recently shared it with my teenaged son, and although there were moments, I felt that it hadn’t held up so well. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/188 "2019-09-04T10:50:55Z")
I just spent some time preparing my Thirty Favorite Movies list. I’ve already mentioned my #1 so will just show some of my Top Thirty films that might be relatively unpopular choices: _Whale Rider Crash (2004) Third Miracle To Live and Die in L.A._ > [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > As a friend of mine said (50 times at least, perhaps 100) as we watched it, “Oh my God, what a boring movie!” > > I’ve also heard this- > A: “Stanley Kubrick perfectly captured the utter loneliness of outer space.” > B: “No, Stanley Kubrick perfectly captured the utter boringness of outer space!” Previous threads: ["2001: A Space Odyssey … is the most boring movie ever. "](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=734775) ["2001 Space Odyssey is the 2nd-most boring movie ever made "](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=765365) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/189 "2019-09-04T11:33:19Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > That is a really great movie and features one of my favorite ever scripts. It is very clever that the standard dirty cop drama unfolds while the detective on their trail is elsewhere, involved in an Amish love triangle. And, directed by an Australian like yourself (Peter Weir). He’s always been good at these “cross-cultural encounters with a strong sense of geographic specificity,” from _Picnic at Hanging Rock_ to _Mosquito Coast_ to _The Last Wave_ — even _Master and Commander_. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/190 "2019-09-04T11:44:09Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > An example of what seems obvious to you is not so obvious to everyone else. Maybe Anyone else. LOL! Mine is the Godfather. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/191 "2019-09-04T12:01:15Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > I have to add here: my family and I have been discussing another of our favorites, “Stardust”. This story also has all of the above, plus deNiro in a dress. It has a similar sensibility, but while I love it very much, my family and I always place it a notch or two below “The Princess Bride”. I often wonder if that is because it came second. _Stardust_ for the win. I like _The Princess Bride_; it’s enjoyable to me. It has everything I like/d in a movie. I just don’t love it. It’s not even a top 10 for me. I’m always afraid to admit that, because it’s beloved by so, so many people, and I can’t help but think that I’d flip right through it if flipping through channels were still a thing. ---
**Author:** ![Vic\_Parrish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Vic\_Parrish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vic_Parrish)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/192 "2019-09-04T12:27:10Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > What’s the sanitized ending? The sanitized ending does not have the reveal - it’s merely the fake happy ending as the real ending. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/193 "2019-09-04T13:39:46Z")
> [@Vic\_Parrish](#): > > The sanitized ending does not have the reveal - it’s merely the fake happy ending as the real ending. There are more changes than that. In a nutshell, the head of Universal Studios, Sid Sheinberg, really didn’t like _Brazil_; I can’t remember for sure, but the project may have been approved by his predecessor at the studio. The film was a few minutes longer than the contract specified, and Sheinberg used that to try and force Terry Gilliam (the director) to make changes. In the end, there were three versions of the film: 1. Gilliam’s original cut; released in Europe. 2. A version slightly edited by Gilliam, with 10 minutes taken out; released in the U.S. after a rather public battle between Gilliam and Sheinberg. 3. A version done by editors at Universal with instructions to play up the love story and give it a happy ending. This is sometimes called the “Love Conquers All” version and was shown at least once on television in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092/194 "2019-09-10T15:14:47Z")
> [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](#): > > I love this movie, too. I recently shared it with my son. I don’t know which version we saw. What’s the sanitized ending? > The one we saw ended with a fantasy escape to a fake happy ending, followed by a reveal that he’d lost his mind under torture. In the sanitized version, he actually escapes. That ending flips the entire premise of the movie. The darker ending is the right one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-absolute-single-favorite-movie/839092.md?page=9)