100 Films

So my friend Kat Morgan was passing along one of those "15 Films in 15 Minutes" things that asked that we name fifteen films that stuck with us.  Films that, when asked what our favorites were, or films we thought were important, immediately came to mind.

I thought about it, and realized that there were far too many movies for me to list like that.  I am a big proponent of cultural literacy, and I think that one of the largest driving forces behind modern culture is the movies. With that in mind, I’ve composed a list of 100 films I think that everyone should eventually see at least once.

There are times with this list that I mention multiple films (like the Godfather trilogy). I am counting these as a single entry. Technically, though, I guess this means that there are more than 100 films on this list.  The films are not listed in an order of "greatness" or any other such foolishness. Instead, I did my best to put them in simple alphabetical order. The reason for this is that I try hard not to compare movies in the terms of "this is greater than that".  Truth be told, some of the movies on this list are pure shit, but despite being shit they are important enough to our culture as a whole to warrant being seen anyway.

I’d be interested in comments… especially if you disagree with some of my choices or have suggestions of your own. If you want to know more about any one film and why its on this list, feel free to ask.

• 12 Angry Men
• The 39 Steps
• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• A Fish Called Wanda
• Airplane
• Akira
• Alien and Aliens
• All The President’s Men
• Amadeus
• Apocalypse Now
• Apollo 13
• Beauty And The Beast (Disney)
• Big Jake
• Blade Runner
• Blazing Saddles
• The Bride of Frankenstein (a much better film than the original)
• Bringing Up Baby
• Born Yesterday (the Jean Hagen/Broderick Crawford/William Holden original, not the Melanie Griffith/John Goodman/Don Johnson remake).
• Brazil
• Braveheart
• The Cain Mutiny
• Casablanca
• Chef!
• Citizen Kane
• Clerks
• The Cowboys
• Dark City
• The Dark Knight
• The Day The Earth Stood Still
• The Dirty Dozen
• Doctor Strangelove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb
• Duck Soup
• The Exorcist
• Fantasia and Fantasia 2000
• Fight Club
• Forrest Gump
• Ghandi
• Gladiator
• The Godfather Trilogy.  Yes, even the third film.
• The Great Escape
• Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh’s version)
• Henry V (Kenneth Branagh’s version)
• High Noon
• In The Heat Of The Night
• Jaws
• The Killer (the Chow Yung Fat version)
• Kung Fu Panda
• The Last Of The Mohicans (the Daniel Day Lewis version)
• The Lion King (Disney)
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
• The Maltese Falcon
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
• Memento
• Metropolis (make sure it’s the version with the modern soundtrack)
• Miracle Mile
• Mister Smith Goes To Washington
• Monty Python And The Holy Grail
• Monty Python’s The Life of Brian
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
• Plan 9 From Outer Space
• John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness
• John Carpenter’s The Thing
• The Matrix.  Ignore the sequels.
• A Night At The Opera
• The Night Of The Hunter
• The Pink Panther (the original… at all cost you must avoid the sequels, with the exception of "A Shot in the Dark")
• The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy
• The Princess Bride
• The Quiet Man
• Raiders Of The Lost Ark
• Rashomon
• Ratatouille
• Reservoir Dogs
• Return To Oz (like Bride of Frankenstein, a much better film than the original)
• The Road Warrior
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show
• Rope
• Say Anything
• The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven
• Shakespeare In Love
• Shane
• The Shawshank Redemption
• The Silence Of The Lambs
• Singin’ In The Rain
• The Sixth Sense
• Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (Disney)
• Stagecoach
• Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
• The Star Wars Trilogy
• Sunset Boulevard
• Terminator, The and Terminator II: Judgement Day
• This Is Spinal Tap
• Titanic
• Touch of Evil
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• The Toy Story Trilogy
• The Usual Suspects
• The Verdict
• La Voyage Dans La Lune
• Wall-E