Thursday, December 21, 2006

Films I really ought to have seen...

Now I love films, I love the cinema, I really really do. But there is an awfully long list of films that I really ought to have seen and, inexplicably, I haven't. I made a list, a really long list once. I wrote it in the middle of my diary, but the end of the year came and I chucked away the diary without thinking about it. So, I have to start the list again. Here we go, and it will grow over time. Feel free to comment other films you think I really should have seen, and I'll add them to the list if I haven't seen them.

OK, so based on the "1001 films to see you before you die" listed at Listology, which I've edited down to films I've heard of that I know I want to see, here follows a list of films that I have not seen. Try not to let your mouth hit the ground:
  • Citizen Kane
  • Mr Smith Goes to Washington
  • Rebecca
  • Casablanca
  • Double Indemnity (and not fall asleep in it this time)
  • Brief Encounter
  • The Postman Always Rings Twice
  • The Big Sleep
  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Singin' in the Rain
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
  • On the Waterfront
  • Rear Window
  • The Ladykillers (1955)
  • Rebel Without a Cause
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much
  • Vertigo
  • North by Northwest
  • Some like it hot
  • Rio Bravo
  • The Apartment
  • Breakfast at Tiffany's
  • The Hustler
  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
  • Dr Strangelove
  • Doctor Zhivago
  • Bonnie and Clyde
  • Rosemary's Baby
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey (seen large segments but never the whole film)
  • Midnight Cowboy
  • Easy Rider
  • M*A*S*H
  • Get Carter
  • Badlands
  • Enter the Dragon
  • The Wicker Man
  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
  • Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  • Rocky 2-6
  • Network
  • Saturday Night Fever
  • Eraserhead
  • The Deer Hunter
  • Aliens, Alien III, Alien Resurrection
  • Kramer vs Kramer
  • Mad Max, Mad Max 2
  • The Elephant Man
  • Raging Bull
  • Das Boot
  • Chariots of Fire
  • Blade Runner
  • Poltergeist
  • The Big Chill
  • Terms of Endearment
  • Scarface (1983)
  • Amadeus
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street
  • The Killing Fields
  • A Room with a View
  • Platoon
  • Withnail and I
  • Broadcast News
  • The Untouchables
  • Cinema Paradiso
  • Die Hard 2 & 3
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit
  • When Harry Met Sally
  • Crimes and Misdemeanors
  • My Left Foot
  • Jacob's Ladder
  • Goodfellas
  • Edward Scissorhands
  • Delicatessen
  • Thelma & Louise
  • The Player
  • Reservoir Dogs
  • Unforgiven
  • Bram Stoker's Dracula
  • The Crying Game
  • Man Bites Dog
  • Short Cuts
  • The Piano
  • Clerks
  • Natural Born Killers
  • Casino
  • Heat
  • Fargo
  • The English Patient
  • Run Lola Run
  • Magnolia
  • The Blair Witch Project
  • Being John Malkovich
  • Requiem for a Dream
  • Amores Perros
  • Memento
  • Y Tu Mama Tambien
[Thanks to Nigel]-
  • Goodfellas
  • Apocalypse Now!
  • A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
  • Gone With The Wind
  • Annie Hall
  • Dr Strangelove
  • Double Indemnity
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  • The Big Lebowski
[Thanks to Jane]-
  • It's A Wonderful Life
  • Easy Rider
  • To Kill A Mockingbird
  • On The Waterfront
  • Manhattan
  • Harold and Maude
  • Vertigo
[Thanks to Andrew]-
  • North by Northwest
  • The French Connection
  • Clerks
  • Before Sunrise
  • To Catch a Thief
  • Stand By Me
  • Bullitt
[Thanks to Robin]- (for now, I'm giving everyone the benefit of the doubt here... though I'm sure not everyone will agree with everyone else's choices)
  • Cinema Paradiso
  • Whisky Galore
  • Barbarella
  • Street of Crocodiles
  • Amores Perros
  • Forbidden Planet
  • Plan 9 from Outer Space
  • Eraserhead
  • Jacob's Ladder
[Thanks to Rachel]-
  • Citizen Kane
  • The Battleship Potemkin
  • Throne of Blood
  • The Sorrow and the Pity
  • The Third Man
  • Godfather Trilogy (I've seen Part I)
  • L'Atalante
  • Rashomon
  • The Apartment
  • Sunset Blvd
  • Some Like It Hot
  • The Big Sleep
  • The Maltese Falcon
  • Chinatown
  • His Girl Friday
  • Talk To Her
  • Yojimbo
  • Sleeper

5 comments:

troutio said...

Hell, I'm a film journalist, and I haven't seen eight of them. Still, there are some in there that are unforgivable.

We'll have to sort this out in the New Year, Sam...

Robin said...

Contact (Jodie Foster/Zemeckis)
Dangerous Liaisons (Malkovic et al)
Cinema Paradiso
Whisky Galore
Star Wars (well that would be unforgiveable...! :-) )
Barbarella
Street of Crocodiles
Amores Perros
City of God
Forbidden Planet
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Eraserhead
Jacob's Ladder

Rach said...

Agree with all of the ones above. And here's my reccos off the top of my head...

The obvious Sight and Sound/stroky-chin-film-buff movies that are actually really good:
Citizen Kane
Lawrence of Arabia
The Battleship Potemkin
Vertigo
Throne of Blood
The Sorrow and the Pity
The Third Man
Godfathers Part I and II
L'Atalante
Rashomon

My personal list:
Any and all Billy Wilder movies
(The best, in my opinion, are The Apartment, Sunset Blvd, Some Like It Hot, and, as mentioned above, Double Indemnity)
Fantastic film noirs: The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon Chinatown
Ed Wood
ET
His Girl Friday
Talk To Her
Yojimbo
Toy Story 2 :)
Sleeper

Erm, and there are lots more but can't think of them right now. Will do! :)

Robin said...

Himmel über Berlin
Til the End of the World
Vertigo
Rear Window
Gattaca
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Quadrophenia
The Cook the Thief his Wife and her Lover
Straight Story
The Green Mile

(ooh this is fun!!)

Ade said...

Batman & Robin
Battlefield Earth
Cannon & Ball's The Boys In Blue
Super Mario Brothers
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (the Adam Sandler remake, obviously)
the list is endless...

In all seriousness, lots of 'classics' come to mind, but I think I sat next to you in a lecture theatre every friday morning for a year watching my favourite ones (12 Angry Men, Strangers On A Train, etc).

But if you've really got to die one day, don't do it without seeing 'Dog Day Afternoon' or 'Sullivan's Travels'.