Movie Literacy
OK, so I’m just flat-out STEALING post ideas from Jason Kottke these days. But they are good ideas. Today, he put up an article about film critic Jim Emerson’s list of 102 movies you should see before you consider yourself movie literate.
I love the movies. But I am not even CLOSE to what would be considered movie literate. I’m going to reproduce the list here, designating the ones I have seen with bold type. Enjoy. And try not to laugh at me too hard.
- 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
- 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
Embarrassing, isn’t it. 19 out of 102. I almost didn’t post this because I’m THAT embarrassed.
7 Responses to “Movie Literacy”
Alli
- 2:38 pm on 04/26/2006
I don’t know why it is embarrassing! Who cares - this is just one man’s idea of what “important cinema” is. Make your own list. You decide which movies are meaningful to your life. Beyond that - it doesn’t matter if you are “movie literate”. You enjoy movies - so enjoy them. I would rather hear what movies you think are important ones to see and why then this guy giving me a list to follow.
Sarah
- 3:24 pm on 04/26/2006
Manchurian Candidate is great!!
Shane
- 3:48 pm on 04/26/2006
I think that they are talking about the original version…I think that Frank Sinatra was in that one.
Julie
- 9:08 am on 04/27/2006
Check out Bonnie and Clyde. I checked it out from the library one time and watched it during a “mental health day”. It was surprisingly great and very graphic (only in parts). I really liked it.
I agree with Alli. Don’t sweat the list. Create your own.
Yours will be better. Julie
rich
- 12:17 pm on 04/27/2006
You have seen way more than I have. I am surprised that a movie lover like yourself has seen so few. you’ll have to step up.
jake
- 1:34 am on 05/01/2006
i’m actually proud to say, i’ve seen a couple more on this list than you have. hurry up and post the “shane movie literacy” list so i can make mine as well.
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