Trainspotting- I never get tired of it, I sometimes play it when I’m falling asleep, just to listen to the dialogue. The scene in the bar between Begbie and Renton - when Begbie blows smoke into Rent’s face, has to be one of the best acted scenes ever by all involved. Funny thing, I’ve never done a hard drug in my life but my favorite movie is about a bunch of heroin addicts.
Claude Raines? Third string? Does not compute.
Another vote for Local Hero (big surprise from me, I know). It is such a quiet, thoughtful movie, with (as mentioned upthread) gorgeous scenery, beautifully written dialogue, and an incredible Mark Knopfler soundtrack. The only element that keeps it from being absolutely perfect, in my mind, is the presence of Happer’s psychotherapist – the movie would lose absolutely nothing if those scenes were deleted (in those particular scenes, I don’t think Happer’s character is provided with any more depth that isn’t established by his conversations with Mac), and the movie would benefit greatly by their omission. In a movie with so many well-rounded and appealing characters, the (psycho) psychotherapist really sticks out like a very sore thumb.
Nevertheless, Local Hero is, without a doubt, a nearly perfect movie and my one favorite film.
Silverado.
It is the perfect western. The score if wonderful and it is shot in some stunning beautiful country. It has some great actors probably one of the best casts ever put together. It was written by Lawrence Kasdan who has written some of the best movies of the 80s and this is his best work. The plot is perfect showing both the friendships growing while lots of interesting problems crop up and giving the bad guys depth so they aren’t just the men in black hats.
I can’t think of anything the move is missing except maybe John Wayne.
Thanks, I haven’t watched it in almost 6 months and I am going to watch it this weekend.
You’re only allowed to choose one. :rolleyes:
Mine is Withnail and I.
I know it’s a cliché and a student cult classic, but it genuinely improves with each viewing. Low budget, and some low production values, but immensely moving, as well as very funny.
What makes it so good for me is that it has the cleverest and most poignant script ever. Bruce Robinson is a genius.
Rudy
It’s my favorite film because I’ve seen it more than 450 times. Why would I watch it that many times if it wasn’t my favorite film.
Why did I watch it that many times. It gave me hope through a very trying time in my life. I watched it every day for more than a year.
Rudy had a dream and despite obstacles, stuck with it and overcame them. So did I during that time.
Has to be The Princess Bride.
I was 5 when this was released and it’s just lodged into my emotional matrix in a way that can never be undone. I would watch it anytime, anywhere.
There are some close second place contenders, but that one wins it.
Dr. Strangelove, then Aguirre, the Wrath of God
“A Room With a View.” Lushly romantic, beautifully filmed in Florence, and it made me a fan of EM Forster after “A Passage to India” in both book and film form failed.
Kill Bill
Sense and Sensibility.
The entire film is on youtube. Watched it for the first time last night. The final scene still haunts me.
ETA: I meant Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Funny that several Dopers’ choices are films I’ve just seen within the last month or so: A Man for All Seasons (never seen it before), Citizen Kane (had seen it many years ago on TV, possibly missed some of it, finally got around to watching it “properly”), Serenity (had never seen any of Firefly before; just Netflixed the whole series plus the movie), Inherit the Wind (that one was actually a few months ago, but never seen it before). A couple others have mentioned strong contenders for my own favorite (Brazil, Mulholland Dr.).
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.
I like blue collar/working class films and there aren’t many that get it right. Silkwood does. The message is important but the director didn’t allow the message to overshadow the characters. I loved when Karen tried to pay for her meal on the plane. That’s what an unsophisticated small town girl would do.
I’m going with The Third Man as well. It’s one of the best things Graham Greene ever wrote, and he wrote a lot of great things! The cinematography goes with Carroll Reed’s direction hand in glove. One of my favorite examples: When a drunken Holly is in Anna’s apartment, he tries to play with the cat. But the cat wants nothing to do with Holly and jumps outside through the potted plants on the windowsill. "He only liked Harry, " Anna says. Then the camera moves through the plants and outside to the dark street. Next we see the cat running along the street before it stops to snuggle next to the shoe of someone. Wait a second… I thought the cat only liked Harry?? An amazing bit of storytelling by the camera in the space of five or ten seconds.
In addition to Joseph Cotton, Orson Welles, and Valli, Trevor Howard is unbelievably good as Major Calloway. One of my favorite lines in the film: “It wasn’t the German gin!”
Finally, as Jeff Lichtman notes, it has the greatest closing shot in the history of film, and is set up so well by the final exchange between Holly and Calloway:
Calloway: Be sensible, Martins.
Holly: Haven’t got a sensible name, Calloway.
God, I love this movie!
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.
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.
There are lots of movies that I would think of as “better” in terms of writing, cinematography, story telling, etc. But the one that I absolutely love, and can watch over and over and over:
The Blues Brothers
So many great lines and hilarious scenes. And the musical sequences - too much fun.
I have to vote for The Wizard Of Speed And Time. Mike Jittlov is a genius.
Posted “Jaws” a while ago, and it’s gone. Guess the post was too short and got dropped.
“Jaws” it is.
I could and will watch *The Hustler *many more times before I go. And I will ignore all of the idiots who will not watch it becasue it’s in B&W. That only makes it better IMHO.