14 Movies to see before you die

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

Yep, Mars Attacks is on my list... ACK! ACK! ACK! ACK !!!!

Two that would not be on anybody elses list, though;

Straight to Hell - truly bizzare little bit of celluloid. Bunch of robbers end up in the desert at some loony families' compound. Dennis hopper and Grace Jones starred.

Blue Velvet - Another truly twisted Dennis Hopper flick. Very well filmed, though; blew my mind when I first saw it. One of David Lynchs' more coherent works.

[bobover3 (imported)]

Blue Velvet is a cult film that would be on many people's favorites list.

[bobover3 (imported)]

Here's a few more special films -

Pickup On South Street - Richard Widmark as a pickpocket fighting Reds

Trading Places - made Eddy Murphy a star - a modern film as good as the screwball classics of the 1930s

Wallace & Gromit: Three Amazing Adventures - British humor plus claymation

Preston Sturges wrote and directed some of the best comedies of all time. Don't miss Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve, and The Palm Beach Story.

Alfred Hitchcock made some great films. Don't miss Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, Dial M for Murder, et al.

Cary Grant starred in several unforgettable films -

Charade (with Audrey Hepburn) - a mystery/comedy/suspense classic

Philadelphia Story - comedy classic with Katherine Hepburn & Jimmy Stewart

Bringing Up Baby - another screwball great with K. Hepburn

The Awful Truth - with Irene Dunn - one of the funniest films ever made

I'm No Angel - Grant supports Mae West in this gem written by West

Also unmissable are the strange and beautiful animated films by Hayao Miyazaki, especially Spirited Away (available dubbed and in Japanese with titles - see both), Howl's Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro.

That's all for now.

Has anyone seen any of these films, or the others listed in this thread?

[transward (imported)]

I'm amazed no one has mentioned Billy Wilder films a huge number of which could be on all time best lists:

Some Like It Hot

The Private Life of Sherlock Holme

Irma la Douce

The Apartment

Witness for the Prosecution

The Spirit of St. Louis

The Seven Year Itch

Sunset Blvd

The Lost Weekend

Double Indemnity

Sabrina

Transward

[Paolo]

I've seen Fellini's "Satyricon" and I didn't get it. It put me to sleep twice. Then again, maybe it was edited? It came from Columbia House.

[bobover3 (imported)]

Yes, Billy Wilder is another icon. Many lovely memories of the films you list. That's what makes this thread so hard - look only for masterpieces or classics or just films that you enjoyed very much? On your list, the only one I've missed is Spirit of St. Louis. I'll get it from Netflix. One reason Wilder may be less frequently mentioned (though the Film Forum in NYC has done Wilder retrospectives) is his eclecticism. It's hard to think of a typical Wilder film, though they're all marked by his sharp, witty writing and perfect pacing. I'm watching a film tonight that was co-written by Wilder - Midnight, from 1939, with Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche. Even though he didn't direct, it still has the signature Wilder dialogue.

Thanks for remembering Wilder!

[bobover3 (imported)]

What can I say about Fellini Satyricon? When it was released (before DVDs and videos), I saw it more than 20 times in theaters. It was a landmark of my youth. I was taking Andrew Sarris's film class at Columbia then (I enrolled once, and sneaked in three other semesters), and made Satyricon the subject of my term paper. I guess we just like different things.

[bobover3 (imported)]

There were some outstanding Westerns, a genre now largely forgotten.

John Ford made several of the best Westerns, some with John Wayne:

The Searchers

My Darling Clementine - with Henry Fonda, a film I love

Stagecoach

Fort Apache

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Rio Grande

[bobover3 (imported)]

I also love the films of Henri-Georges Clouzot (French with titles) -

The Wages of Fear - a must, a film with hairy balls

Quai des Orfevres - a policier with deep emotion

Le Corbeau

Diabolique

These very special films throw their characters into danger and reveal their feelings with rare intensity and conviction.

[Rusty Dai (imported)]

Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (1998)

The Fifth Element (1997)

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962)

Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

Brazil (1985)