Posted on 03/24/2009 1:12:46 AM PDT by iowamark
Many movies are good, some are great, but only a select few can be called truly "essential." After heated discussions, long negotiations, and a shouting match or two, the staff at Yahoo! Movies has put together this list of the 100 films you must see before you die.
To choose the titles for the list, we considered factors like historical importance and cultural impact. But we also selected films that we believe are the most thrilling, most dramatic, scariest, and funniest movies of all time. Some of these films you've seen, and some you may not have heard of, but we believe that each one is a timeless classic that you absolutely have to see.
12 Angry Men (1957) Directed By: Sidney Lumet Starring: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E. G. Marshall
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Directed By: Stanley Kubrick Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
The 400 Blows (1959)Directed By: Francois Truffaut Starring: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Patrick Auffay Why You Should See It
8 ½ (1963) Directed By: Federico Fellini Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee
The African Queen (1952) Directed By: John Huston Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley
Alien (1979) Directed By: Ridley Scott Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright
All About Eve (1950) Directed By: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders
(Excerpt) Read more at movies.yahoo.com ...
I think its partly because westerns are out of fashion atm, but curiously also I can’t think of many really great westerns. There ares some good ones, and enormous numbers of very bad ones but I can’t think of too many that transcend the type and become universally acknowledged as a “great film”. The two that most spring to mind are “High Noon” and “The good, the bad and the ugly”, which is excellently acted even if it does have an awful title.
On second thoughts, I agree with your assessment of HDN, but purely because of the cultural invention of music videos. “Help” was a better film.
Hey now, that movie had two good things going for it.
Phoebe Cates.
Shane for its photography, its sexual undertones, its capture in the title character of the iconic lonesome outsider whose skilss were necessary to bring civil society but who cannot live within that society, for its final scene through the eyes of the only innocent in the story.
The Ford Cavalry triology. These films pioneered the use in film of the majesty of the West's real locations and created a mythic world with little connection to the reality of the time.
High Noon for its creation of the 'real-time' film; all the action takes place within the temporal confines of the movie itself, for its powerful contemporary political statement, for its comment on racism (brown, Latina woman a whore and a quitter - white, eastern woman virtuous and brave), for its (then new) portrayal of real fear in the hero.
Naked Spur for its physical look, for its twisted psychology, for its blurring of the line between good and evil and for its redemptive climax.
Hombre....for Elmore Leonards's incredible dialogue (see my tagline for an example).
Speaking of westerns, these lists also always include "The Searchers" as the John Wayne flick, because it's edgy, but if you really wanna see John Wayne doing his thing, that's not the flick to see. Better to see "Rio Bravo" or "True Grit." "The Searchers" is the intellectual poseur choice. For the real deal, look elsewhere.
For sci-fi, I think Planet of the Apes should be on the list. Awesome Rod Serling screenplay. Classic Heston.
Regarding comedy, no one should go through life without seeing "Caddyshack." Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield at their cinematic best. And you can't just see MP Holy Grail. You gotta see "Life of Brian" also. I'd make a pitch for "Paper Moon" also.
Last, if you see Blade Runner, make sure you see the director's cut from 1992, which does not have the annoying Harrison Ford voice overs.
I walked out on ET. I was bored to death.
That’s a good point. Animal House is a must see. So is Caddyshack.
Thanks for the ping!
I don’t know about “important.” I love The Godfather and never get sick of watching it, or part 2. Don’t know how to sell it to someone who doesn’t like it. I think it’s an amazing story. Great characters. Great cast. Great script. So many classic lines. But if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. I’ve never cared for Gone with the Wind.
The STing is a GREAT movie.
I thought I saw a few noir films—Double Indemnity, Maltese Falcon, Chinatown (ok, neo-noir.) Casablanca.
“Brazil.
In a few years, it’ll have to be reclassified as a documentary though. “
Should probably be required viewing as a survival film for AIG employees this week.
The rest of us might wait til next week.
I’ve never really taken to Shane. “Young guns” was a good movie - certainly the most realistic re-telling of the billy the kid story. And Tombstone too...also for its realism and Val Kilmers brilliant portrayal of Doc Holliday.
"Rio Bravo" is a great western. "Fistful of Dollars" is a great western. "True Grit" is a great western. Hang em High. High Plains Drifter. All great westerns. The westerns that high falutin types think are great are usually just dramas in cowboy boots. A real western is what it is.
Actually Animal House made the list. Under N, for National Lampoon.
I never cared for Citizen Kane either. That’s an inside baseball pick. If you are a director, you love it. If you are just a watcher, maybe not. Listen to Scorcese analyze what makes the movie great, and you can appreciate it better. But just as entertainment, it doesn’t do it for me either.
Ben Hur would be better, or even Quo Vadis. Its hard to make religous subject films that dont come over as patronising, but it can be done.
There are better war films out there. “Gettysburg” for one. Even “Red badge of courage”, which comes up trumps in spite of the production difficulties.
HA!! Me too....
I don’t see any Steve McQueen in there. I’d put Bullitt on the list, and The Cincinatti Kid. The latter is a great little movie, with a great cast—Edward G Robinson, Karl Malden, Rip Torn, Tuesday Weld, Ann Margeret.
300?
At least it would compel someone to look more into the history
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