I always take the bait, don’t I? PopCandy links to some supposedly definitive best-of list that’s guaranteed to make my blood boil, and I have to check it out just to see how wrongheaded it is. In this case, it’s the 50 Movies You Must See Before You Die list from the U.K.’s Sunday Mail. As insane and slapdash as this compilation is, it’s actually pretty interesting in that it leans heavily away from classics and toward recent art-house fare — City of God (pictured), Sexy Beast, Donnie Darko, Lost in Translation, Mulholland Drive. Still, no list of indispensable movies that dispenses with The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Rashomon, E.T., or Star Wars is worth any serious consideration. Not sure who’s to blame for this abomination; among the panel of experts, only producer David Puttnam (Chariots of Fire) is listed. At least he was modest enough not to put any of his own movies on the list.
What’s on your list of the 50 Movies to see before one dies?
Comments (1-30) of 68 Add your comment
The Passion of the Christ
Magnolia
RE-ANIMATOR, DAWN OF THE DEAD (Original Recipe), TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (ditto), THE PRODUCERS, REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, SID AND NANCY, ROCK AND ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, SPIDER-MAN 2, THE EVIL DEAD, THE EVIL DEAD 2, NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, NOSFERATU (the Klaus Kinski version), THE GREAT SILENCE, HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP, TERMINATOR 2…
Unforgiven, A Man For All Seasons, Chinatown, A Clockwork Orange, The 400 Blows, Schindler’s List, The Lion in Winter, The Godfather 1 & 2, Casablanca, All About Eve, Gone With The Wind, Citizen Kane, I could go to 50 easily…
I think the writers assumed everyone has seen all the other movies (Godfather, E.T., Star Wars, Citizen Kane, etc.).
This might be for those who have seen the AFI Top 100 already.
The Untouchables, The Sting, Hollywood Shuffle, Sounder, It’s A Wonderful Life, Field Of Dreams, Cinema Paradiso, just to name a few.
Boogie Nights. Yep, Boogie Nights.
LIFE AS A HOUSE
You Can’t Take it With You, perhaps The Philadelphia Story, definitely The Producers, Gone With the Wind, there’s gotta be a cheezy 80s film, perhaps the Karate Kid? Fast Times at Ridgemont High? So many choices. Maybe a musical, West Side Story? It should represent every genre you know?
I was gonna put Magnolia, but paul u. beat me to it. Fanny & Alexander was a great choice, though.
How bout Central Station? That is a beautiful movie.
A spiritual journey that starts with Bladerunner, moves through Dogma, and ends with the Matrix trilogy . . .
Movies I haven’t seen but need to before I die:
Gone With The Wind
A Clockwork Orange
Breakfast At Tiffany’s
Movies I have already seen but think other people need to see before they die:
Its a Wonderful Life
Magnolia
Fight Club
Forrest Gump
City Lights (or at least one full Charlie Chaplin Movie)
Star Wars (Original Trilogy)
Lord Of The Rings (Trilogy)
The Matrix (just the first one is fine)
At least one Kevin Smith movie
The Lion King
Edward Scissorhands
Tombstone
A better list is the book “1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” It includes films from all genres, and even has examples of camp and popcorn flicks. The write-ups are great, and I was surprised at what was included (a lot of foreign horror). Worth checking out.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is a way to remember childhood imagination! Grease the first one!! and Somewhere in time with Christopher Reeves was a great movie also I have seen them but I watch them over and over! I would like to see the Replacments before I die though.!!
The Pianist
The Shachawnk Redemption
The Last Castle
Fight Club
The Usual Suspects
The General’s Daughter
Entrapment
The Devil’s Advocate
The Fugitive
I Am Sam
The Assasination of Richard Nixon
The Green Mile
Shlinder’s List
The Life of David Gale
Collateral Damage
I’ll Never Tell
What Lies Beneath
A Beautiful Life
The Naked Gun (all parts)
Airplane!
And last but not least, HOT SHOTS!
City of God
Monsieur Verdoux
Der Himmel Kann Verten
Before Sunrise
Blue
Saboteur
Goodbye Lenin!
Fight Club
Pulp Fiction
Brick
Kill Bill
Memento
Reservoir Dogs
Sin City
Rushmore
Dead or Alive
Get Carter
Match Point
A History of Violence
Band of Outsiders (Bande a Part)
Le Samourai
Youth of the Beast
Se7en
Dogma
Fargo
Simon Birch & Rudy (I dare any man to watch these two movies and not cry)!!!!
Braveheart
Road to Perdition
Gladiator
“Any movie w/ Denzel Washington”
The original “Friday”
I live for the opportunity to tell people about BEFORE SUNSET and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND. I looooooove these two, and I do not hesitate to declare them modern day classics.
Despite what anybody says, BEFORE SUNSET has the best ending ever. And ETERNAL SUNSHINE has the best romantic couple to come along in years in Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey (who deserved a nod by the way).
My list of favorite films would be different than a list of movies I think people should see before they die… I def think people should see “Gone With the Wind” and “Schindler’s List,” like many have already said but I would include “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “Kids,” “The House of Mirth,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” “Fargo” and “Citizen Ruth” because they all have great messages to teach audiences…
Plus, it’s also fun to experience shell shock watching “She’s Gotta Have It” right after “The House of Mirth” (how times have changed)…
Quick 10, off the top of my head…
Drugstore Cowboy
Diner
Dazed & Confused
Rear Window
Take the Money and Run
Dr. Strangelove
French Connection
Godfather
Halloween
Go
more to follow…
Kinda Tired from concert last nite can only think of a couple.. The Boondock Saints And American Pycho
Braveheart
City of God
Monsieur Verdoux
Der Himmel Kann Varten
Before Sunrise
Blue
Saboteur
Goodbye Lenin!
Woody Allen’s Another Woman, Cinema Paradiso, Wild at heart, Breaking Away, Tarkovsky’s Mirror, Cooley High, The Paper Chase, Cries and Whispers, Meatballs, Fellini’s Satyricon, Last Year in Marienbad and The Red Baloon.
Duck Soup
Modern Times
The 39 Steps
Casablanca
Bridge on the River Kwai
North by Northwest
The Maltese Falcon
Rebel Without a Cause
Rope
Shadow of a Doubt
now i’m up to 20…
The Apartment
Some like it hot
Roman Holiday
Magnolia
Amelie
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
Se7en
The shining
Silence of the lambs
The Dreamers
The Professional
Almost Famous
American Beauty
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Being John Malkovich
Run Lola Run
Say Anything
Me and you and everyone we know
In America
The Virgin Suicides
Requiem for a dream
The Breakfast club
Better Luck Tommorrow
25th hour
Anything with Woody Allen
Casablanca
Gone with the wind
All about Eve
The Wizard of Oz
Mr. Smith goes to Washington
Its a wonderful life
The Philadelphia Story
Citizen Kane
Psycho- or any other Alfred Hitchcock classic
To Kill a Mockingbird
Sunset Boulevard
Roman HOliday
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
A clockwork orange
The Godfather (I and II)
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
Star Wars
ET
Back to the future (I and II)
The Breakfast Club
Silence of the Lambs
Pulp Fiction
Forrest Gump
Toy Story
Edward Scissorhands
Almost Famous
The Usual Suspects
Trainspotting
The Matrix (the first one)
Fight CLub
Clueless
The Lord of The Rings!!!
AMelie
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Gone with the Wind
Seabiscuit
American Beauty
This is half my list.
1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 2. The Shawhshank Redemption 3. The Godfather Trilogy. 4. Wit 5. Requiem for a Dream 6. Donni Brasco 7. The Hours. 8. Monster’s Ball 9. Schindler’s List. 10. Citizen Kane 11. The Great Train Robbery 12. Disney’s The Little Mermaid 13. Jaws. 14. Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca. 15. The Lion in Winter. 16. Raiders of the Lost Ark. 17. Shakespeare in Love. 18. North by Northwest 19. It’s a Wonderful Life. 20. L.A. Confidential. 21. Double Indemnity 22. The Green Mile 23. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 24. Contact 25. before you die, you have to — DIE HARD.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Arsenic & Old Lace
Bringing up Baby
The Big Sleep or Maltese Falcon (forget Casablanca, it’s mediocre!)
Seven Samurai (anything from Kurosawa)
Monsoon Wedding
The Third Man
Jesus of Nazareth
Going My Way
Fiddler on the roof
The Pit and the Pendulum (c’mon it’s Vincent Price!)
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Rebecca (the best hitchcock, forget North by Northwest, that’s total cheese)