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102 Movies You Must See Before…

Posted: April 27th, 2006 | Author: Simon | Filed under: Journal | 4 Comments »

Via RobotJohnney, a list of 102 films that film critic Jim Emerson says you need to see before you can even think of calling yourself film-literate.

They’re the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat “movie-literate.

Mark the ones you have seen? Are you ready to follow along?

* 2001: A Space Odyssey
The 400 Blows
* 8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
* Alien
* All About Eve
* Annie Hall
* Apocalypse Now
* Bambi
* The Battleship Potemkin
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Red One
* The Bicycle Thief
* The Big Sleep
* Blade Runner
* Blowup
* Blue Velvet
* Bonnie and Clyde
* Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
* Carrie
* Casablanca
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
* Chinatown
* Citizen Kane
* A Clockwork Orange
* The Crying Game
* The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
* Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
* Do the Right Thing
* La Dolce Vita
* Double Indemnity
* Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
* E.T. ? The Extra-Terrestrial
* Easy Rider
* The Empire Strikes Back
* The Exorcist
* Fargo
* Fight Club
* Frankenstein
The General
* The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
* Gone With the Wind
* GoodFellas
* The Graduate
* Halloween
* A Hard Day?s Night
Intolerance
It?s a Gift
* It?s a Wonderful Life
* Jaws
The Lady Eve
* Lawrence of Arabia
* M
* Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
* The Maltese Falcon
* The Manchurian Candidate
* Metropolis
* Modern Times
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
* Night of the Living Dead
* North by Northwest
* Nosferatu
* On the Waterfront
* Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
* Pink Flamingos
* Psycho
* Pulp Fiction
Rashomon
* Rear Window
* Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
* Scarface (1932)
The Scarlet Empress
* Schindler?s List
* The Searchers
* The Seven Samurai
* Singin? in the Rain
* Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
* A Streetcar Named Desire
* Sunset Boulevard
* Taxi Driver
* The Third Man
Tokyo Story
* Touch of Evil
* The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Trouble in Paradise
* Vertigo
* West Side Story
* The Wild Bunch
* The Wizard of Oz

I make that : 77 out of 102… that’s pretty good I’d say, but still 25 movies off. Man I though I’d see a lot of movie but apparently still need some catching up.

4 Comments on “102 Movies You Must See Before…”

  1. 1 Jonas said at 12:34 on April 27th, 2006:

    Hmm… I didn’t do quite as well.
    Missing:

    * Aguirre, the Wrath of God
    * All About Eve
    * Annie Hall
    * The Best Years of Our Lives
    * The Big Red One
    * Bringing Up Baby
    * The Day the Earth Stood Still
    * Days of Heaven
    * Dirty Harry
    * The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
    * Do the Right Thing
    * La Dolce Vita
    * Duck Soup
    * The General
    * The Graduate
    * Halloween
    * A Hard Day?s Night
    * Intolerance
    * It?s a Gift
    * It?s a Wonderful Life
    * The Lady Eve
    * Lawrence of Arabia
    * Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
    * The Manchurian Candidate
    * Nashville
    * The Night of the Hunter
    * Night of the Living Dead
    * Nosferatu
    * On the Waterfront
    * Once Upon a Time in the West
    * Out of the Past
    * Pink Flamingos
    * Rashomon
    * Rebel Without a Cause
    * Red River
    * Repulsion
    * The Scarlet Empress
    * Singin? in the Rain
    * A Star Is Born
    * A Streetcar Named Desire
    * Sunset Boulevard
    * Tokyo Story
    * The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
    * Trouble in Paradise
    * West Side Story
    * The Wild Bunch
    * The Wizard of Oz

  2. 2 Simon said at 12:43 on April 27th, 2006:

    Dirty Harry and Mad Max ??? What are you on?

    Go at least to see Sunset Boulevard or some of Billy Wilder’s other films… they are all mostly masterpieces.

  3. 3 Jonas said at 16:39 on April 27th, 2006:

    Ah, come on – nobody’s seen Mad Max 2.
    Sunset Boulevard was one of those movies that I saw so many fragments of at one point that I never took the time to see the whole thing. Famous flashforward posthumous voice-over, I know, I konw.

  4. 4 Simon said at 16:52 on April 27th, 2006:

    See Annie Hall for one of Woody’s best

    See Do the Right Thing for Spike Lee in his prime

    See The Graduate for all about the song Mrs. Robinson

    Lawrence of Arabia for one of the best movies ever made

    Once Upon a Time in the West for the best western

    Singin? in the Rain for one of the best musicals

    The Wild Bunch for one of the most brutal westerns

    I know… I know… I’ve seen way too many movies… my only excuse is that I attended the European Film College in my younger days :)