Comments on: Well, I've seen The Big Lebowski anyway...

Question: Well, I've seen The Big Lebowski anyway...

showbiz_liz — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:36:32 -0800

What movies should any person in their right mind have seen by now? I don’t know how it happened, exactly, but I’ve basically never seen 95% of the movies I should have seen. I don’t mean ‘should have seen’ in the sense of ‘great cinematic classics’. I mean that most of the time when movies come up in conversation, I haven’t seen them, and everyone I’m talking to is practically horrified. I mean that my boyfriend had to show me The Godfather for the first time a few weeks ago. I just recently got Netflix in order to fix this problem, and I’ve been trying to fill my queue using various top 100 lists, but the problem is, I don’t necessarily want to watch ‘important’ movies. Right now, I just want to become culturally literate.

To give you an idea, here are some of the movies in my queue now, none of which I’ve seen:

Chinatown
The Graduate
Die Hard
Alien
Psycho
Ghostbusters
Trainspotting
Misery
The Silence of the Lambs
Fargo

I need more movies like this- movies that, if a friend of yours said they’d never seen them, you’d be amazed that pop culture passed them by so completely. Can you tell I’m kind of embarrassed about this? (Not that I don’t love movies- I do. I’m not doing this as an unpleasant exercise, but because I genuinely want to see all these movies, and more.)

So, educate me. What movies should any person who hasn’t been living in a cave have seen by now?

By: kenchie

kenchie — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:40:35 -0800

One flew over the cuckoo's nest

By: sharkfu

sharkfu — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:40:54 -0800

AFI top 100

By: you're a kitty!

you're a kitty! — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:41:24 -0800

The Princess Bride.

By: kenchie

kenchie — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:44:15 -0800

sharkfu OP didn't say American. Akira Kurosawa FTW

By: Ruki

Ruki — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:45:37 -0800

I'm in the same boat as you. so I'm answering this based on what my friends have said to me. I saw my first Indiana Jones movie last year, so I'll say those. I didn't see Star Wars until it was re-released when I was 18. Blues Brothers. Fight Club. Animal House. The Goonies (because it is my favorite movie).

By: bingo

bingo — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:46:43 -0800

How old are you? That makes a big difference in terms of what you should have seen by this point in your life. There's a difference between classics of your own generation, blockbusters of the last ten years, and all-time classics from 50 years ago.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:47:25 -0800

I would cross "Misery" (a pale shadow of the book) off the list.

Since this seems to be as much about pop-culture literacy as anything else, I'd add the original three Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, etc.), Godfather I and II, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, and Reiner's Spinal Tap (Kittyperson already mentioned Princess Bride, clever kitty.)

The Coens' Raising Arizona, to riff on your title, is at least as quotable as Lebowski and Fargo.

I, too, amd saying these are the best films of the era (they're all at least good, though). But they're the ones that I have noticed are referenced so often by other art that it's impossible to not know them, even indirectly.

By: nitsuj

nitsuj — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:47:38 -0800

I'd start at IMDb's Top 250 and work your way down.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:48:14 -0800

("amd" = some newfangled contraction for "am not" that I just made up by accident.)

By: jamaro

jamaro — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:48:31 -0800

Roger Ebert's Great Movies list is pretty good.

By: mrunderhill

mrunderhill — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:50:33 -0800

2001 and A Clockwork Orange

By: np312

np312 — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:52:19 -0800

Or you could go about watching every oscar-winning best picture film. Not that those are necessarily the gold standard for best movies, but after you've made it through the AFI and IMDB lists, you can start working through that one.

By: showbiz_liz

showbiz_liz — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:52:59 -0800

Bingo, I'm twenty years old.

By: saladpants

saladpants — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:57:51 -0800

So many. Probably lots of disagreement on this too.

Just off the top of my head in less than a minute:
Office Space
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Blade Runner
Casablanca
The Matrix

Also, i'm not sure how widely popular these are, but in my current circle of friends you'd be lost without seeing:
South Park movie
Harold and Kumar
Borat

By: tkolar

tkolar — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 14:58:08 -0800

I'm trying to think of things that talk show hosts reference with no worry that they'll be "gotten"...

Star Wars (at least the original and its two sequels)
ET
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Wizard Of Oz
It's A Wonderful Life
2001
Snow White And The Seven Dwarves
The Sound Of Music
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Forrest Gump

If you did not have some familiarity with all of the above -- maybe not having seen it, but at least having a general knowledge of the move -- I would think you'd been living in a cave.

By: Sassyfras

Sassyfras — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:01:06 -0800

Stand by Me
Shawshank
Dirty Dancing
Bourne Series

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:14:22 -0800

Heathers -- a movie that could never ever get made today. C'mon, they blow up Westerberg High!

"Dear Diary: My teen-angst bullshit now has a body count."

Far from a great film, but a real pop culture touchstone for a lotta folks.

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:15:13 -0800

Kill Bill (1 & 2)
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Singing In The Rain
Wizard of Oz
Sweeney Todd
Superman
The Philadelphia Story
Airplane!
Casablanca

By: ~Sushma~

~Sushma~ — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:19:00 -0800

Schindler's List-amazing and humbling, a cinematic masterpiece.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

By: The Deej

The Deej — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:19:24 -0800

It's hard to know what movies might come up in your conversations, so I'll recommend a few from several genres that I think everyone should see, and have a certain degree of notoriety.

Drama/Action
Apocalypse Now (not the redux)
The Godfather Part II
A Simple Plan
Rain Man
Saving Private Ryan
Citizen Kane
Psycho

Off Kilter
Adaptation
American Splendor
The Conversation
28 Days Later
The Sixth Sense
Donnie Darko

Foreign (if you are a USian)
Ran
28 Days Later
Run Lola Run

Comedy
Planes Trains and Automobiles
Raising Arizona
Zoolander

Documentary
The Thin Blue Line
The Fog of War
The Up Series (7-Up, etc. Netflix has them)
Startup.com
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

By: otolith

otolith — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:26:01 -0800

Dr. Strangelove. There are tons of pop culture references to this one. So bleak, so funny.

By: DJWeezy

DJWeezy — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:29:22 -0800

office space
lord of the rings series
reservoir dogs
south park movie
oceans series maybe (skip 12)

By: Schismatic

Schismatic — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:31:05 -0800

In the interest of pop cultural literacy, I would add (to name a few, and noticing a bit of overlap with the above):

Wes Anderson movies (Rushmore and The Royal Tenanbaums especially)
Donnie Darko
Shaun of the Dead
Monty Python movies
Dr. Strangelove
Lost in Translation
Eastwood's Man With No Name movies (especially The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)
High Fidelity (and other John Cusack classics Say Anything& and Grosse Point Blank)
City of God
Amelie
My Neighbor Totoro

By: numinous

numinous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:38:10 -0800

2001: A Space Odyssey

A Clockwork Orange

Airplane!

Amadeus (because regaling your pals with Salieri jokes, followed by Hulce's hysterical laugh, is always a lark)

Amélie

American Beauty

Apocalypse Now

Bamboozled

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Dune

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Network

The Professional (León)

Star Wars (original trilogy)

Trainspotting

Vertigo

V for Vendetta

(I am in my mid-20s, for reference)

By: triggerfinger

triggerfinger — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:40:10 -0800

You need to see Harold and Maude.

John Cusack has been mentioned but I think his most important movie may be Better Off Dead. You'll at least know what people are talking about when they say "I want my two dollars!"

Any of the Brat Pack movies including: Sixteen Candles, St Elmo's Fire, The Breakfast Club.

By: IvyMike

IvyMike — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:41:02 -0800

The website twofifty.org lets you keep track of which of the IMDB top 250 movies you've seen. In my opinion, the IMDB is a good mix of popular and critically acclaimed movies.

247/250 for me. Go me!

By: dbiedny

dbiedny — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:42:04 -0800

I can't believe no one mentioned Blazing Saddles - "where the white women at?", and every frame with Mongo...

The Fountain is truly astounding, people either hated it or loved it. My honey & I saw it and left the theater in tears.

And then there's Nightmare Before Christmas, so gorgeous and touching.

The Player, Altman's finest (for my money). And, of course, his original M*A*S*H, which is nothing like the TV series.

By: Z303

Z303 — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:42:24 -0800

Just the first few that came to mind

John Carpenter earlier stuff
The Fog
Assault on Precinct 13
Escape from New York
The Thing

Others
The Warriors
Run Lola Run
Taxi (French version)

By: dilettante

dilettante — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:42:46 -0800

A Fish Called Wanda

By: frobozz

frobozz — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:42:52 -0800

Lawrence of Arabia. On the biggest screen you can get your hands on.

Star Trek IV (even if you're not a Star Trek fan - seems like a lot of pop cultural references stemmed from that movie).

By: dilettante

dilettante — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:43:22 -0800

Oh, and The Usual Suspects, probably.

By: triggerfinger

triggerfinger — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:44:31 -0800

Also, I'm glad to see that Airplane! has been mentioned a few times as it may easily be the most quotable movie ever.

By: numinous

numinous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:47:02 -0800

Yes yes yes to The Usual Suspects. I can't believe I forgot that one!

By: pracowity

pracowity — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:47:08 -0800

The BFI 100:
1. The Third Man (1949)
2. Brief Encounter (1945)
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
4. The 39 Steps (1935)
5. Great Expectations (1946)
6. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
7. Kes (1969)
8. Don't Look Now (1973)
9. The Red Shoes (1948)
10. Trainspotting (1996)
11. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
12. if.... (1968)
13. The Ladykillers (1955)
14. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
15. Brighton Rock (1947)
16. Get Carter (1971)
17. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
18. Henry V (1944)
19. Chariots of Fire (1981)
20. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
21. The Long Good Friday (1980)
22. The Servant (1963)
23. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
24. Whisky Galore! (1949)
25. The Full Monty (1997)
26. The Crying Game (1992)
27. Doctor Zhivago (1965) (a US production)
28. Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
29. Withnail and I (1987)
30. Gregory's Girl (1980)
31. Zulu (1964)
32. Room at the Top (1958)
33. Alfie (1966)
34. Gandhi (1982)
35. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
36. The Italian Job (1969)
37. Local Hero (1983)
38. The Commitments (1991)
39. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
40. Secrets & Lies (1996)
41. Dr. No (1962)
42. The Madness of King George (1994)
43. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
44. Black Narcissus (1947)
45. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
46. Oliver Twist (1948)
47. I'm All Right Jack (1959)
48. Performance (1970)
49. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
50. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
51. Tom Jones (1963)
52. This Sporting Life (1963)
53. My Left Foot (1989)
54. Brazil (1985)
55. The English Patient (1996) (a US production)
56. A Taste of Honey (1961)
57. The Go-Between (1971)
58. The Man in the White Suit (1951)
59. The IPCRESS File (1965)
60. Blowup (1966)
61. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
62. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
63. Passport to Pimlico (1949)
64. The Remains of the Day (1993)
65. Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
66. The Railway Children (1970)
67. Mona Lisa (1986)
68. The Dam Busters (1955)
69. Hamlet (1948)
70. Goldfinger (1964) (a joint UK-US production)
71. Elizabeth (1998)
72. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
73. A Room with a View (1985)
74. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
75. The Cruel Sea (1952)
76. Billy Liar (1963)
77. Oliver! (1968)
78. Peeping Tom (1960)
79. Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
80. The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
81. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
82. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
83. Darling (1965)
84. Educating Rita (1983)
85. Brassed Off (1996)
86. Genevieve (1953)
87. Women in Love (1969)
88. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
89. Fires Were Started (1943)
90. Hope and Glory (1987)
91. My Name Is Joe (1998)
92. In Which We Serve (1942)
93. Caravaggio (1986)
94. The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954)
95. Life is Sweet (1990)
96. The Wicker Man 1973
97. Nil by Mouth (1997)
98. Small Faces (1995)
99. Carry On up the Khyber (1968)
100. The Killing Fields (1984)

By: prophetsearcher

prophetsearcher — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:52:41 -0800

Citizen Kane
The Jazz Singer
The Godfather 1,2,3
Annie Hall
Crossroads

By: KatlaDragon

KatlaDragon — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:52:43 -0800

From the dropped-jaw reactions that I generally get when I make this confession, apparently you Need to have seen the Karate Kid, although this one might also fall into the category of generational classics. I still haven't seen Gone With the Wind either, but that one doesn't seem to invoke the 'what's wrong with you?!' stares of confusion quite so much.

By: sandra_s

sandra_s — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:54:54 -0800

Robocop
Young Frankenstein
Back to the Future
The Beastmaster
Highlander
The Hunt for Red October
Forbidden Planet
Caddyshack
King of Comedy
Buck Privates
Starship Troopers
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

By: dbiedny

dbiedny — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:57:11 -0800

A few I forgot:

- Once Were Warriors

- Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (a documentary)

- The Devil & Daniel Johnston (also a documentary)

- Natural Born Killers

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 15:59:30 -0800

The best "Top" list I have found is the Arts and Faith Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films. At least two thirds of that list are must see, and I am not at all religious.

By: The_Auditor

The_Auditor — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:03:09 -0800

Blue Velvet

(did I mention Blue Velvet?)

By: numinous

numinous — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:05:00 -0800

YES to virtually everything by David Lynch.

How did his films skip my mind?

By: mand0

mand0 — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:05:15 -0800

You can find a nice selection here: http://www.foreignfilms.com/

By: sbutler

sbutler — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:07:42 -0800

Umm... I can't believe no one has said Clerks! Don't bother with Clerks 2, however.

Also, Snatch is a great, quotable film, although most people seem to like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels better.

By: sbutler

sbutler — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:10:09 -0800

Ohhh... and it will be one at least Ebert's list, but Groundhog Day is one of those quirky films that everyone assumes you've seen. It really is great.

By: sbutler

sbutler — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:11:30 -0800

And History of the World, Part 1.

By: narrativium

narrativium — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:12:00 -0800

I always got odd looks when I said I'd never seen Titanic.

By: Z303

Z303 — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:26:25 -0800

Also for some cult movies, anything that was shown on the wonderful Moviedrome as presented by Alex Cox. Who's Repo Man should make the list.

By: box

box — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:02:24 -0800

Reality Bites

By: washburn

washburn — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:22:22 -0800

I think a fun way to do this would be to watch a number of movies by particular directors, or featuring particular actors in row, so that you're not just seeing films you "should" have seen, but also really getting a feel for the styles of particular directors and performers.

By: escabeche

escabeche — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:29:08 -0800

I think the list of movies you have to have seen is much shorter than what you propose. In fact, I think it's just two movies: Star Wars and Animal House. I mean, people have mentioned tons of great movies in this thread, and I certainly think you should watch them (and put them on your queue before Die Hard, for God's sake) but you are asking about cultural touchstones. From your original list, the only one that really comes close is Alien, and even that only for the notion of abdominal extraterrestrial emergence.

By: O9scar

O9scar — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:29:11 -0800

I had friends who were shocked that I hadn't seen The Goonies, but also admitted that it would be lost on me if I watched it at this point in my life (late 30s).

Instead of another "best of" type list, I suggest a different tack - here's a list of obnoxiously over-quoted films.

And for a laugh, there's this article. (I haven't seen it either, if that makes you feel better)

By: wafaa

wafaa — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:29:24 -0800

Glengarry Glenn Ross.

By: electroboy

electroboy — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:29:47 -0800

Seven Samurai, Miller's Crossing.

By: washburn

washburn — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:36:37 -0800

Ok, keeping in mind that you're wanting to know about films that are widely familiar, rather than necessarily artistically superlative:

Annie Hall
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Manhattan
2001
Robocop
Star Wars
Blade Runner
The Wizard of Oz
The Godfather
Animal House
Red Dawn
The Breakfast Club
Ferris Buehler's Day Off
Rushmore
Star Trek II
Airplane (a parody of the disaster genre, and especially of Airport)
Scary Movie (a parody of Halloween, Friday the 13th, or Nightmare on Elm Street, etc.)
Fargo
Beetlejuice

Also of course this list will depend on who counts as "everyone"--my suggestions above arfe more pop culture than cinema studies, since that's what you're looking for, and also skew towards 80's 90's cultural touchstones.

By: slavlin

slavlin — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:44:48 -0800

There are a lot already mentioned that I second:

Brazil
Citizen Kane
Seven Samurai
Fight Club
Run Lola Run

Also, I would suggest the following:
Hard Boiled
The Killer
Five Deadly Venoms
Equilibrium
Batman (1989)
Batman Begins (for contrast)
Superman, Superman II and Superman Returns
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Terminator and Terminator 2

By: uandt

uandt — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:52:13 -0800

All the Molly Ringwald movies up until the word "baby" gets mentioned in the title.

By: meehawl

meehawl — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:55:24 -0800

Tetsuo the Iron Man, and The Body Hammer.
The Most Dangerous Game

By: Phire

Phire — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:05:05 -0800

Star Wars definitely, just about broke a friend's mind when I mentioned offhand that I hadn't seen any of them yet.

By: telstar

telstar — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:23:50 -0800

I'd like to suggest that it somewhat depends on your age. Thanks to the internet (p2p) I was able to download a number of movies that I'd seen twenty years ago and loved then to watch again now. My tastes had changed, to say the least.

That said, I consider Fight Club a deeep picture of the modern plight of rampant consumerism bleeding into identity disorientation. Like the man said long ago, "it may not be the best, but it is the coolest".

By: wv kay in ga

wv kay in ga — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:40:17 -0800

Billy Jack.

By: wv kay in ga

wv kay in ga — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:47:54 -0800

I couldn't see where anyone else mentioned it.

By: jouke

jouke — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:52:32 -0800

Aww. To be able to see all these great films for the first time yet. I'm so jealous.

Memento

By: Gungho

Gungho — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:52:55 -0800

What you seek are cultural touchstones... All of Washburn's list above plus
Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon
Its a Wonderful Life
Bringing up baby
Psycho
Omega Man
Logan's Run
Terminator
Hudsucker Proxy (you know, for kids!)
Oh Brother Where Art thou
The Deer Hunter
Goodfellas
Various Python
various Mel Brooks
various Hitchcock

Many of the movies listed above seem to be guy flicks. YMMV

By: motown missile

motown missile — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:54:43 -0800

I didn't read everyone else's posts all that carefully, but just a couple of quick mentions:

The Big Lebowski will provide you with endless opportunities to quote , riff, and generally prove your worthiness to hang with others who have already seen it.

Same with Monty Python And The Holy Grail. Has the additional allure of being very strong "nerd bait", if you're trying to attract nerds...at least, it's always worked on me.

By: L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg

L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:29:53 -0800

A couple from the Nerd Canon:

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Galaxy Quest

And my favorite movie that's not actually good, but which you should see anyway:

The Lost Boys

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:45:46 -0800

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey

Are you kidding? You think people's jaws will drop if someone says they haven't seen this movie?

Anyway... I'm in my 40s, so take my suggestions as a comparison between your generation's cultural icons and mine. Some of the following I like; some I don't, but these are all movies that "everyone" saw when I was in my formative years:

Dr. Strangelove
2001
Network (Has one of the most quotable lines in movie history)
Dog Day Afternoon
Godfather I and II
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest
Harold and Maud
The Graduate
Last Tango In Paris
Jaws
Star Wars
Raiders of the Lost Ark
All the Presidents Men
The Sting
The Shining
Taxi Driver
Rocky
E.T.

OLDER movies that "everyone" has seen:
Gone With The Wind
Wizard of Oz
King Kong (1933)
Citizen Kane
Psycho
Vertigo
Rear Window
All About Eve
Singin' In The Rain
It's a Wonderful Life

By: gimonca

gimonca — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 20:54:56 -0800

There's pop culture literacy, and there's film literacy. There's overlap between the two, but they're not necessarily the same thing. La Dolce Vita or The Bicycle Thief are well worth enjoying, maybe could fit into both areas.

For sheer entertainment, I'll mention the Marx Brothers canon since no-one else has directly yet.

Classic film noir in general has given us a bucketload of cultural memes. Try The Maltese Falcon, Out of the Past, maybe even something like The Killers (with Burt Lancaster).

By: hip_plumber

hip_plumber — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:00:50 -0800

Taxi Driver: because all the previous posts have mentioned the films that I would recommend (or at least the ones I can think of at the present), and because the question sort of reminds me of my friend who frequently quotes or makes reference to Travis Bickle and he still hasn't watched the movie. Oh, and because I think it's a good flick.

By: brujita

brujita — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:54:49 -0800

I think you have plenty of time. Does UNC have a film series? If so (the university of Iowa did in the early '90's), go regularly and you'll be fine.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:23:12 -0800

Brazil, Dogs in Space, Kelly's Heroes, The Great Escape.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:32:38 -0800

Oh, and The Omega Man

By: misanthropicsarah

misanthropicsarah — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:49:08 -0800

Jaws
Rocky I
M*A*S*H
It Happened One Night
Arsenic & Old Lace
Toy Story I & II
The Sting
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

By: the luke parker fiasco

the luke parker fiasco — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:45:35 -0800

Because I don't think I've seen it here yet: Mad Max.

The first, because it's a great flick. (Not film, flick, but you said pop-culture literacy.) The two sequels--Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome--because of the cultural references. "Two men enter, one man leaves ..."

And, to add my two cents to what's been said above: Everything Kubrick, because of his influence--those iconic things that come up everywhere, like the style of the "war room", Flight of the Valkyries accompanying helicopters, the jump-cut from 2001? Know your sources.

Everything John Hughes, not because I think his films are good, but because they typified that 80's American highschool experience which seems to resonate with everyone, whether or not they went to highschool in the 80's.

And seconding (thirding, fourthing, fifthing) most everything above.

By: TheSecretDecoderRing

TheSecretDecoderRing — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:57:14 -0800

The short list of absolute "must-see" movies (as opposed to merely personal favorites... Go for a general consensus of picks, otherwise you'll probably flip out and give up movies altogether):

Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi. Quite possibly the ones to blame for the recent proliferation of our pop-culture-reference-mad culture

Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Wizard of Oz
It's a Wonderful Life, 2001, Psycho (not my favorite Hitchcock, but it's obligatory)
Godfather I and II, Jaws, ET, Raiders of the Lost Ark
Schindler's List, Pulp Fiction

A longer list of "should-see" movies (two of which I need to see):

The General
Adventures of Robin Hood
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
Maltese Falcon
The Third Man
North by Northwest
Some Like It Hot
Rear Window
Singin in the Rain
On the Waterfront
Seven Samurai
Rebel Without a Cause
Rear Window
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
A Fistful of Dollars (and Yojimbo, upon which it was based)
Dr Strangelove
To Kill a Mockingbird
2001
Taxi Driver
Rocky
Annie Hall
Terminator 2
Goodfellas
Fargo
The Matrix
Lord of the Rings
The Usual Suspects

I would think maybe a James Bond movie should be in there too.

Then there's Shawshank Redemption. Can't explain IMDB's love for this one, but I guess it's a must-see. It's odd that it easily has the most votes (300K).

And frankly, I can't believe ET isn't in the Top 250. 7.8 from only 70K+ votes.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 23:58:36 -0800

Withnail & I.

seventy-three comments and only one mention in a pasted list.

*shakes head in despair for humanity*

By: TheSecretDecoderRing

TheSecretDecoderRing — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:02:57 -0800

Whoops, I put 2001 twice. I went back and forth between it being in the top (it's a classic, but it can be a bit hard to decipher).

Maybe the first Dirty Harry, he's certainly an iconic character.

Airplane and Naked Gun should be in there, too, as the two definitive examples of movie parodies.

And... Titanic...?

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 00:11:47 -0800

For anyone recommending 2001: I'd just like to say that of course it is an important movie, because it featured some amazing film making for its time. However, I think some people from the Star Wars generation and later might find it a bit boring. The pacing is incredibly slow (no, seriously) and very little "happens" in the movie. For what it is, it's very well made and worth seeing if you are coming to it from a filmmaking perspective. But if your interest is simply in watching enjoyable films I'd scratch it off the list.

By: concrete

concrete — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 01:41:42 -0800

Full Metal Jacket
The Jerk

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 02:43:50 -0800

said before, say again and again: Run Lola Run (subtitle version)

By: grumblebee

grumblebee — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 03:29:31 -0800

Everything Kubrick, because of his influence--those iconic things that come up everywhere, like the style of the "war room", Flight of the Valkyries accompanying helicopters

"Flight of the Valkyries accompanying helicopters" is from "Apocalypse Now," which should probably be on the above lists. But it was directed by Coppola, not Kubrick. Also, I think it's "Ride of the Valkyries."

By: xz

xz — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:37:42 -0800

oof. so many great movies! thing is, though, it sounds like you want two different things:

1) to see good movies
2) to be able to participate in conversation about movies people have seen.

those are different lists! what's "good" is subjective. what's popular is easy!

i'd avoid watching oscar winners. the academy awards is mostly politics and the films they pick are frequently not the best of the year in many people's estimation. AFI is a good place to start for critically acclaimed films.

my best advice, though, is to get friends who love movies to show you the films they love. that's an excellent way to be introduced to something.

personally, my favorite films are, in no particular order:

miller's crossing
M*A*S*H
rushmore
the big sleep (original version)
full metal jacket
being there
the good, the bad, and the ugly
the third man

if you're anywhere near melbourne, c'mon over. i'll show you movies until your eyes cross....

By: rainbaby

rainbaby — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 04:58:54 -0800

Jaws
Go
The Shining

If you're a woman, Sense and Sensibility and The Piano and On Golden Pond and Lost In Translation

Stand By Me
Bringing Up Baby
Strictly Ballroom
28 Days Later
Apocalypse Now
Run Lola Run
Christopher Guest Movie of Your Choice
Monty Python Movie of Your Choice
Annie Hall
Donnie Darko
Duck Soup
It's A Wonderful Life
The Sound Of Music
Dirty Dancing
Team America
The Incredibles

By: theora55

theora55 — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 05:41:16 -0800

Getting movies from Netflix is good, but if there's an art film-type theater near you that runs series, go see classic movies with an audience. I went to a series of Garbo movies at an art theater, and it was amazing to see her on a big screen, as well as to have the traditional movie theater/audience experience.

I'll add Brazil and the rest of Terry Gilliam's movies to your list.

By: The Deej

The Deej — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:25:57 -0800

If it has been mentioned, I will confirm: You MUST see This is Spinal Tap. It is ubiquitously referenced in pop culture. You will likely have several moments of "so that's where that's from!"

By: gemmy

gemmy — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 07:28:29 -0800

Most of my "must see to be pop-culture literate" movies have been mentioned already, but in my group of friends, that would also include:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Being John Malkovich

By: droplet

droplet — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:22:01 -0800

The Muppet Movie.

At least 3 generations now know this movie. Except me. I also need to see this movie.

To get you film nerd cred, I would also suggest Night of the Iguana (Charles Laughton, 1955) or anything directed by Preston Sturges up to 1946. He seems to have slipped after that.

By: Gungho

Gungho — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:33:07 -0800

So I guess this begs the question WHY does one need to know/reference cultural icons? I'll tell you a story. Back in the day I used to be a retail buyer. I would get calls all the time. We would say the buyer is out. We would say his name was either Willy Loman, or Travis Bickle. NO ONE got it. After a while for some callers Willie Loman was unavailable, (I think he went to the first Gulf war), and Travis was his replacement. Still NO ONE got it. Oh, and by the way Willie was killed in action. Tragic really, because he was such a good salesman... And when we told callers this they still didn't get it.

By the way there are also certain touchstones on TV too.- from I love Lucy to All in the Family, Cheers, Married With Children, all the way through the Simpsons

By: mkultra

mkultra — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:54:26 -0800

Stripes. You can more-or-less ignore the third act "rescue", but up until Bill Murray and that motley crew of misfit cadets graduates is about as dead-on a cultural touchstone as you can get.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 09:58:56 -0800

If it has been mentioned, I will confirm: You MUST see This is Spinal Tap. It is ubiquitously referenced in pop culture. You will likely have several moments of "so that's where that's from!"

Amen. Though in this day and age, I liken its value to that of Monty Python And The Holy Grail- when in a group of strangers, you'll quickly know who to avoid. ;)

By: The Deej

The Deej — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 10:08:19 -0800

I liken its value to that of Monty Python And The Holy Grail- when in a group of strangers, you'll quickly know who to avoid. ;)

No no no. The difference is: It's funnier to say lines from Holy Grail than to actually watch it. Whereas Spinal Tap is always funnier to watch than to quote.

By: platinum

platinum — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 10:24:32 -0800

Most of my suggestions are already on here (noticed Jaws only got one mention - I would definitely second that one). As far as silly movies that are often quoted, for some reason my friends are constantly referencing Supertroopers. No idea why. Oh and, believe it or not, Finding Nemo!

By: xulu

xulu — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:29:33 -0800

I third (or fourth) the vote for IMDB's top 250. I went through the top 100 back when the lists was shorter and enjoyed probably 95% of them. Though there are plenty of classics, the IMDB list is more representative of popular opinion rather than insider or critical opinion, so it's more of the movies that people are likely to be talking about.

By: kalimotxero

kalimotxero — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 12:03:37 -0800

Slap Shot (this might only apply to Canadians).

By: 23skidoo

23skidoo — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 16:08:33 -0800

Army of Darkness
When Harry Met Sally
Mean Girls

Then you will understand what the hell I'm talking about when I say "It's a trick, get an axe", "Waiter, there's too much pepper in my paprikash", and "Glenn Coco? Four for you Glenn Coco, you go Glenn Coco."

By: dobbs

dobbs — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:08:24 -0800

I'm too lazy to read the above posts. For "qualifications" I'll say I spent 5 years running an art/foreign video store, spent 4 years in film school and between 1993 and 2004 I saw at least one film every single day, on average. Here are the films I most lend out or recommend to my friends, in no particular order:

Carnal Knowledge
Five Easy Pieces
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Clean, Shaven
Keane
L'Avventura
Hows Your News?
Vernon, Florida
Louie Blouie
Crumb
Thin Blue Line
Let's Get Lost (on Chet Baker)
Flyerman
Ken Burns' Baseball
Ken Burns' Civil War
Ken Burns' The Shakers
Fog of War
The Kid Stays in the Picture
Riding Giants
Don't Look Back
Don't Look Now
Paradise Lost
Alein Wornous: The Selling of a Serial Killer
Idi Amin, Dada
Born into Brothels
War Game (Watkins)
Lives and Times of Harvey Milk
Anything by Fred Wiseman (though good luck finding them)
Capturing the Friedmans
The Corporation
Triumph of the Will
Olympiad (riefenstahl)
The Cruise
Hands on a Hard Body
Cane Toads
Touching the Void (psuedo doc)
The Gleaners and I
Straight, No Chaser
Bus 174
Style Wars
Broken Noses
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Coup de torchon
They Live
All the Vermeers in New York
Dogtown and Z-Boys
Grey Gardens
Salesmen
Paradise Lost II
Brother's Keeper
Murder on a Sunday Afternoon
Ken Burns' Huey Long
Red Desert
Citizen Kane
The Conversation
Three Days of the Condor
Bonnie and Clyde
Time Indefinite
High School
Network
Serpico
Cat People (original)
Panic In Needle Park
Knife in the Water
Chinatown
Rosemary's Baby
Funny Games
The Celebration
Code Unknown
Maelstrom
Dog Day Afternoon
Sexy Beast
Rosetta
Monsters Inc.
David Holzman's Diary
LA Confidential
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
L'enfant
Stardust Memories
The Long Goodbye
3 Women
The Player
Manhattan
8 1/2
Fight Club
Spanking the Monkey
The Graduate
Naked
His Girl Friday
Jules and Jim
The Philadelphia Story
La Jetee
Singing in the Rain
Burnt by the Sun
Dekalog
The Apartment
The Third Man
Nosferatu
M
Deliverance
All the President's Men
Boiling Point (kitano, not hopper/snipes)
Point Blank
The Limey
Hud
Magnolia
Scenes from a Marriage
Rules of the Game
Sunrise
The Hustler
Blood of the Beasts
Thin Red Line
Girl on the Bridge
The Hairdresser's Husband
Monsieur Hire
Eyes Wide Shut
Mulholland Drive
The Wild Bunch
Straw Dogs
Breathless (Godard, not Gere)
Down by Law
Stranger than Paradise
Purple Noon
In the Mood for Love
Buffalo '66
Body Heat
French Connection (I and II)
Intimacy
Adaptation
Lord of the Flies
Happy Together
Hurlyburly
Spoorloos (The Vanishing)
Wages of Fear
The Lives of Others
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
The Cruise
400 Blows
Miller's Crossing
Raging Bull
Do the Right Thing
Woman Under the Influence
Easy Rider
In the Heat of the Night
Klute
Under the Volcano
Lantana
Blood Simple
Le Trou
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Veronika Voss

And... some that you might still be able to catch in the theatre as these'll be the ones people will be talking about soon enough.

There Will Be Blood
No Country for Old Men
Michael Clayton
Juno

Lastly, there are a gazillion recommendations from myself and others in this ancient thread.

By: TheSecretDecoderRing

TheSecretDecoderRing — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:53:06 -0800

Instead of going by IMDB's best-rated movies, you could also go by their list of highest-grossing movies. Considering the basis of the original question, this might actually be a more relevant list (there's a difference between popularity and quality). After all, I don't think some stranger on the street would go bananas if you told them you'd never seen "City of God."

Granted, the problem with this is that it's top heavy with contemporary movies, but it's another way to start.

By: Chris4d

Chris4d — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:24:57 -0800

I joined netflix last year for the same reasons as you. If you want to "friend" me on netflix and see my queue, send me a message. (definitely adding a few of those listed above that I was missing, so thx for asking the question!)

By: ersatz

ersatz — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:42:06 -0800

I would think maybe a James Bond movie should be in there too.

Goldeneye was the Bond revival. But the Sean Connery was suaver-->better as Bond. James Bond.

Funny how Lawrence of Arabia is listed as an American movie.

By: vhsiv

vhsiv — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 06:48:53 -0800

If you're looking for informed recommendations, I encourage you to take a look at a blog that a friend and I started last week or so.

We're both film geeks with a good measure of film study, if not history behind us and our method is 'literary' --- we do lots of in-genre comparisons (e.g. 'French Connection II' vs. 'Ronin') that may give you a feel for some movies you've mised.

By no means is the current selection of reviews a 'best of'. At this point, I *know* that I haven't written reviews on all of the movies that I hold dear; rather, the current inventory mostly reflects movies that have given me pause -- distracted me or pissed me off long enough to take note and possibly evangelize just a little.

But the number of disappointment reviews is relatively small and I, at least, have a tendency to want to re-evaluate mvoies from the '70's and '80's.

By: ODiV

ODiV — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:52:20 -0800

Here are some films that I find myself and others referencing (that haven't already been mentioned). This is definitely due to when these films came out with respect to my age at the time and also who I hang/hung out with, but whatever.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (watch this before The Matrix if possible)
The Crow
El Mariachi
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fletch
Ghost in the Shell
Hackers
The Producers
Real Genius
Requiem for a Dream
Sneakers
Top Gun
Total Recall
The Wizard

By: ODiV

ODiV — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:56:26 -0800

Oh, Christ. How could I forget Aliens? I guess I thought it was already listed.

"Game over man, game over!"

By: hadjiboy

hadjiboy — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 02:53:50 -0800

Thanks for posting the "100 Spiritually Significant Films" list, fire&wings!

showbiz_liz: you might also want to check out

On the Waterfront (I don't think it's been mentioned yet)
Marty
The Bicycle Thief
Come and See
and Lawrence of Arabia and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (as has already been mentioned)