# what is your ONE favorite film of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768 "2010-01-21T00:21:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/141 "2010-01-22T00:30:00Z")
Asking for me to choose _one_ film is like asking me to divide by zero. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/142 "2010-01-22T00:32:53Z")
But what’s your favorite?. “Gone” or "The Wind? You have to pick one! ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/143 "2010-01-22T00:50:27Z")
Sort of surprised I’m the first (I think) to mention _On the Waterfront_. Great all around - great acting, great screenplay and cinematography, the Leonard Bernstein score. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/144 "2010-01-22T00:53:26Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > _Rear Window_: it’s a comedy, romance, drama, murder mystery, and horror film all in one. I like how each of the neighbors that Jeff spies on through his eponymous apartment window all have their backstories, and each of them is related back to the issues with Jeff and Lisa’s troubled relationship. Grace Kelly is at her most lovely, Jimmy Stewart is most personable, and Thelma Ritter (as the insurance agency nurse who is drawn into the investigation) is at her most acerbic. There are few movies I would say could not have been improved with a little dialogue doctoring or editing, but I would touch a single frame of this one. > > Stranger Beat me to it… ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/145 "2010-01-22T00:59:39Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > _Badlands_. I only went to see it as part of a midnight double bill because I had just seen Martin Sheen in _The Execution of Private Slovik_ on TV and had been blown away by him. Starring Sheen, Sissy Spacek and Warren Oates it is still the best movie about a nutjob ever made. Lovely to look at, horrifically banal in its violence and all punched along by the most amazing voice over narrative. > > Kit and Holly are compulsively watchable even though they are hopelessly stupid and misguided. I see it again every once in a while and every time I love it. Yes, yes, that is one fantastic movie. I saw it on TV when I was fairly young and was fascinated by everything about it. Altman’s _Three Women_ had a similar effect on me. ---
**Author:** ![Jeu\_D\_Esprit\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@Jeu\_D\_Esprit\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeu_D_Esprit_1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/146 "2010-01-22T01:15:50Z")
_The Lion in Winter_ - 1968 version with Katharine Hepburn, Peter O’Toole, Anthony Hopkins, John Castle, Nigel Terry, and Timothy Dalton. The dialog can cut you like a razor… ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/147 "2010-01-22T01:16:24Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > The OP is like asking Sophie which child she wants to protect. > > Perhaps _Philadelphia Story_, or _Casablanca_. Sophie chose. > [@](#): > > It’s inconceivable. That’s too obvious a straight line even for me. > [@Equipoise](#): > > My favorite movie, my Desert Island movie, is Terry Gilliam’s **Brazil**. I could never begin to explain why, it just is and always will be. I feel the same way. > [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Allow me to attempt, then. > > If I had to pick one, then **Brazil**. A bureaucratic, consumerist nightmare of a world with so much absurdity (one classic is the scene of the ‘subway’ with a pregnant, one-legged woman left standing and hanging onto a strap while businessmen sit, ignoring her plight), in which “terrorists” like renegade AC repairmen become heroic in the eyes of the audience, and the ending is the best possible in that film but would be terrible in others. Terry Gilliam directs a fantastic cast. That’s an accurate enough synopsis, but it doesn’t account for it being my favorite film. The thing that makes it a difficult choice to explain, in my opinion, is that it’s a deeply flawed film. I’d have a hard time justifying putting it on a list of 10 or 20 best. I’ve certainly seen films that are a lot more uplifting (and I don’t just mean upbeat). > [@](#): > > The other part of what I love about the film is the drama over what the film could have been - and what it did become for TV release - had the studio execs gotten their way with it. They made drastic cuts to it, removing a lot of its subversiveness and dark humor in the process, and made it end happily (in the conventional sense). Gilliam, thank goodness, resisted - when the studio wasn’t going to release his film as completed by him, he took out ads about it, and gave unauthorized private screenings for critics. It won critical acclaim, and the studio caved. All true, but mostly irrelevant to my experience of the film itself. ---
**Author:** ![equinoxi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@equinoxi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/equinoxi)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/148 "2010-01-22T01:30:29Z")
‘Annie Hall’, I have seen in more times than any other movies. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/149 "2010-01-22T01:51:39Z")
I changed my mind. ‘Starship Troopers’. \*You’re some kinda… smart bug… aincha? \* ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/150 "2010-01-22T02:23:36Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > I thought I was the only one that liked that movie. You’re the first person other than me that I have ever seen mention that movie here. But… > > _Full Metal Jacket_ is the movie I would pick if I could only have one. R. Lee Ermey should have gotten an Oscar for that performance. Few if any of his lines were scripted, he did it mostly on the fly. Of course, he was more or less playing himself, but that’s beside the point. I really have to agree with \*\*Full Metal Jacket \*\*as a great choice. R. Lee Ermey was perfect, just perfect in that role. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/151 "2010-01-22T07:37:35Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > I didn’t realize my post was such an echo. Great minds think alike and great movies have similar effects on great minds. Besides, Poysyn mentioned it first. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/152 "2010-01-22T08:32:52Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > … But I’m going to go with **A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum** , because it’s simply the _funniest_ flick in the history of celluloid. Sorry, the award for funniest movie ever goes to _Team America: World Police_. Best overall movie – it’s a tie between _Taxi Driver_ and _LA Confidential_. And I can’t defend it or even explain it, but I cry at the end of _Rocky_. Every damn time, and it’s the only movie that affects me that way. So it gets an honorable mention. ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/153 "2010-01-22T08:41:56Z")
Bad Santa. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/154 "2010-01-22T09:14:52Z")
**The Sound of Music** , no contest. What? Nobody knows me here, I don’t have to pretend to be cool. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/155 "2010-01-22T09:16:06Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Sorry, the award for funniest movie ever goes to _Team America: World Police_. Aaaaaaaah I HAAAATE that film. I think it might be a girl/boy thing. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/156 "2010-01-22T10:07:21Z")
_Rear Window_ indeed gets better every time I see it, but I’ll go another direction: _Miller’s Crossing_. Great mashup of verious story elements from Hammett, great cinematography, brilliant performances and dialogue, and deeply, deeply cynical. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/157 "2010-01-22T10:40:50Z")
**Silence of the Lambs** because all of the major characters, not just Lecter, are fantastic. Plus it’s given rise to so many memorable lines. A true classic IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/158 "2010-01-22T13:27:56Z")
My all-time favorite film is an obscure little gem starring Lon Chaney Jr. called Spider Baby. I had the pleasure to meet the director, Jack Hill, and stars Sid Haig and Beverly Washburn a few years ago and they signed my extremely rare one-sheet. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/159 "2010-01-22T19:07:22Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Sorry, the award for funniest movie ever goes to _Team America: World Police_. Nope. This award would have to go to Peter Sellers’ movie _The Party_ for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768/160 "2010-01-22T19:15:27Z")
I think _The Big Lebowski_ has quietly snuck up past _A Clockwork Orange_ and _Amadeus_ for me. It took a few repeated viewings to fully understand and appreciate how brilliant that movies is. John Goodman should have won an Oscar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-one-favorite-film-of-all-time/525768.md?page=9)