It occurred to me recently that as strong and as effective as they have been, I rarely feel the need to see many of Clint Eastwood’s movies a second time, much less purchase them on DVD or VHS. (I might tape them off the air on a commercial-free network, but that’s another thing.) I have seen Unforgiven, The Gauntlet, all the Dirty Harry films, many of the earlier Westerns (excluding the Sergio Leone ones) and maybe Heartbreak Ridge more than once, but his more recent things seem well-told enough that I don’t need a follow-up viewing.
However, I must have seen Rebel Without A Cause, A Streetcar Named Desire, Bullitt, Cool Hand Luke, The Usual Suspects and probably another 20 or so movies at least 10 times each.
What are your most-watched movies and what is it about them that keeps drawing you back for further viewings?
(I feel the same way about reruns of The Sopranos and I think it has to do with how nearly perfect every aspect of that series has been thus far.)
The only movies I have watched more than 3 times in my life are:
The Shawshank Redemption
The Princess Bride
The Usual Suspects
The Big Lebowski
Ferris Beuhler’s Day Off
The Naked Gun
Airplane
Major League
To me, the effect of these movies, whether it be comedy or drama, just doesn’t wear off like 99.9% of movies do. Some, (Usual Suspects, Shawshank, Lebowski) are even much better upon repeated viewings.
See, I’m more of a music guy than a movie guy. With a CD, I might listen to it 1000 times. Maximum enjoyment might peak around the 700 or 800th listen. Most movies, to me, aren’t worth watching more than once (if once at all), so the ones good enough for me too watch AGAIN must mean something to me, so. . .
Rocky Horror Picture Show - 70ish times, most at the 8th St. Playhouse in NYC. Star Wars - 16 theater viewings (14 in 1977-79, two in 1997), maybe 30 or so home viewings. The Breakfast Club - Roughly 15 times
I know there’re more in the “dozen viewings” area, but those are the main three I can recite word-for-word.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Disney’s Aladdin have both passed before my eyes over two dozen times. I’m not sure which is the reigning champ.
Other contenders include any zany, screwball comedy - Airplane, Naked Gun, Johnny Dangerously, Top Secret, Baseketball - these are movies I watch when I’m bored.
Also, Hudson Hawk.
Oh, Anaamika - I promise I’ll try to get back to you via email shortly, just haven’t had the time in the evening to dig into email properly.
Would have to be The Princess Bride. Second up would probably be Big Trouble in Little China then maybe The Usual Suspects and Akira or such.
Oddly I might have seen the really cheesy film Biggles a lot just because it was on TV every day at a time when there was nothing better on for a full month or two when I was little.
I’ve seen Goodfellas around 15 to 20 times. I’ve also seen Rocky IV that many times. Of course, the only reason for that was that I watched Rocky IV numerous times when I was younger. Same thing to a certain extent with Goodfellas. Now I have a stack of movies that I’ve taped off TCM, IFC, HBO, etc., that I need to watch, and many more waiting for me at the video store, so I no longer watch the same movie over and over again.
I saw Independence Day in the theater about 3 or 4 times. You’re not alone.
I don’t actually remember which movies I’ve watched the most or how many times, but I’d probably peg Fifth Element at the top of the list. It just never gets old for me. Probably Stargate’s next after that, maybe tied with Men in Black, both 1 and 2, and Undercover Blues. How’s that for lowbrow?
If I owned Pirates of the Caribbean, that would probably become my number 1 very quickly. I rented it over a weekend and watched it four times in the space of three days.
For me, the staying power for these movies is the humor. I simply don’t get tired of watching them again and again, because they’re always interesting and funny. Stargate is sort of the exception, as it’s primarily interesting for the visuals instead of the humor.
Other than Baseketball & Hudson Hawk my movie tastes match yours pretty well…I own all the rest and thought Baseketball was funny if stupid. (Not that that’s always bad).
As for the e-mail, no problem…it’s summer! People are busy.
For me, number one is definitely The Princess Bride, which I’ve seen probably 30 times, including its original theatrical run. A close second would probably be Ferris Beuller’s Day Off which I’ve seen at least 25 times. I know the entire script to both films. I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or not, though.
I’ve seen Holy Grail many a time, but not excessivly so (probably 6-7 times), but I have seen the original Star Wars trilogy probably 15-20 times.
Recent films I’ve seen a ton include the Harry Potter films, which I’ve probably watched 8 or 9 times each. Actually, now that I think about it, I’ve seen at least 20 films at least 5 times. Huh.
Let’s see (some of these I haven’t seen too many times yet, but I fully intend to re-watch many times); Bull Durham (we watch it about once a year), Office Space (I plan to see that again soon), The Princess Bride, Moonstruck, Star Wars (original three - the most recent three will not have the same staying power, I believe), all the Indiana Jones movies, Life of Brian, The Holy Grail, The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, and The Stand miniseries.
Well, besides *The Wizard of *Oz (which I watched on TV every year for about 20 years), I’ve seen *Groundhog Day * about 10 times. One of Bill Murray’s best, with several layers of meaning, and I enjoy the irony of watching it over and over again, and over …
Seen so many times I laugh at the jokes before they happen: The Producers.
Seen the most times in the theater (at least a half dozen): Chariots of Fire.
The others are all musicals: about 3/4 of Fred’s movies, with All That Jazz and The Boy Friend being the other two main ones I see at least once a year.
My ex-wife used to watch Herzog’s Nosferatu every Halloween, so I saw it at least once a year for 14 years, and occasionally at other times as well, plus I now own the DVD myself (with both the German and dubbed versions), so I’ve seen it a few times since. That’s got to be the one.
I have no idea how many times I’ve seen A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (the world’s funniest movie), but it’s a lot.
I’ve seen each of the following way too many times:[ul][li]Girls Just Want to Have Fun[/li][li]Vital Signs[/li][li]Die Hard[/li][li]Lethal Weapon[/li][li]The Princess Bride[/li][li]Ghostbusters[/li][li]Valley Girl[/li][li]Stripes[/li][li]Sneakers[/li][li]Highlander[/li][li]The Breakfast Club[/li][li]Ferris Bueller’s Day Off[/li][li]Dirty Dancing[/li][li]Road House[/li][li]Star Wars[/li][li]Midnight Madness (I recognized the director of Hitch as the guy who played Melio, and it freaked me out when I realized where I knew him from!)[/li][li]…And Justice For All[/ul][/li]There are others that I’ve seen a handful of times and will still watch from time to time (like The Rock, Hudson Hawk, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Independence Day), but those are the top of the perennial favorites. I’m a big movie fan.
As to why I watch these over and over, I can’t really say: obviously I think that they stand up well to repeated viewings, but there are a lot of “B” movies on my list and I know that everyone’s tastes are different.
I’ve seen Raiders of the Lost Ark over 50 times. It was my favorite movie, and one of the first videocassettes I owned. For a while, every time I watched it, I’d scan the heiroglyphics in the Well of Souls hoping to spot the carved R2-D2 and C-3PO.
I took an 8-year break from the movie, which is the only reason I’ve been able to see it again on the big screen a couple of times as an adult. I can still recite massive chunks of dialogue along with the actors, which is, frankly, annoying even when I only do it in my own head.
Phht. Amateurs. “I’ve seen that movie 4 times!” Ha! You don’t know the meaning of repeated viewings. Just off the top of my head:
Ocean’s 11
Farenheit 9/11
Top Secret!
Airplane!
The Red Violin
Dogma
Ferris Bueller (around 50 times)
Monty Python (anything, but the Holy Grail over 30 times)
Office Space
This is Spinal Tap
The Breakfast Club
Ruthless People
It’s a Wonderful Life (duh!)
Elizabeth
Star Trek (all of them)
Jurassic Park
Batman (all but one of them)
The River’s Edge
LOTR (both versions)
House of Games
I’m going to stop typing now. Carpel tunnel, ya know.
