Best/most important 5 movies ever

[csgray]

I am teaching an elective on the Art and History of Film next trimester and to prevent myself from just showing my favorites I have started collecting other people's votes on what 5 movies they would put on a top 5 list of movies that either reset a higher standard for film, or were total game changers for the industry, or were best of a genre.

We are going to be looking at both the history of the film industry and film as an art form, but also studying the evolution of specific genres and how the technology of film has changed what film makers can do. However, in one trimester I can only show between 12 and 18 movies so they all need to be really significant!

Mahalo,

Carol

[Kelena]

---GWTW. Transformative for sheer size, scope, scale. History, and acting that scorched the screen. Oscar all around, including Hattie McDaniel
--scary fascism coupled with "divine decadence" and great music: cabaret -- transformative because it took the musical layed it over a very serious subject. Slightly irritating, but breakout oscar winning performance by Liza. No better moving ever made on fiddling while a country explodes. Now that I think of it, probably not suitable for people under 30!
--- Nashville -- unusual "one shot" film technique. Unique ensemble style performance. Harsh take on America and it subcurrent of violence...or something else by Robert Altman, McCabe and Mrs. Miller -- beautifully photographed, and a young Warren Beatty laments "I've got poetry in me!"
--French Connection -- American film returns to action after a thoughtful decade. Completely absorbing and reflective in a way of the crassness to come.
---Alien -- audiences were literally jumping out of their seats at one of the most suspenseful and horrific films of all time. Sigourney Weaver acted her socks off and the finale where she discovers the alien in her escape pod is worth reflecting on for anyone who has ever slowly and deliberately tried to get away from a monster while saving their pet at the same time. This film tells you how.
---E.T. 'nuff said.

The best American film of all time is Titanic. Yes, I know it is big, and popular and we should all hate it, but it has it all: the immigrant experience, intense romance, haunting music, danger, history, and one of the best surprise endings in all of cinema.... a reflection on how sometimes you just get that one love in a lifetime, and it may be very brief and your heart may make the sound of a ship splitting in half.

[John S. Rabi]

"Behind The Green Door" and "Deep Throat" come to my mind! [][][]

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
808.327.3185
johnrabi@johnrabi.com
http://www.JohnRabi.com
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"The Next Level of Service!"

[JerryCarr]

2001: A Space Odyssey
Gone with the Wind (GWTW)
Apocolypse Now
Nosferatu
The Grapes of Wrath

[robguz]

Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

[Samdooby]

Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock)

[mdd7000]

Some really good mentions so far.

You just might have to include Avatar - if you can get a copy to view.
Special effects, etc. have created a new way of doing things.

Wallace and Grommit - major advances on the technical side.

Star Wars - major technical advances for special effects

[AlohaSteven]

2001: A Space Odyssey

A Room With A View

Goodbye, Mr. Chips (O'Toole/Clarke version)

Fight Club

What the Bleep?

Romeo and Juliet (Franco Zeffereli version)

For the sake of perspective you might want to show some of the very first motion pictures ever made, such as Edison's Frankenstein and early animation such as Disney's Steamboat Willie.

Also, as a resource for your students, consider introducing them to Bruce Hershenson's site -which is filled with resources including a "Poll Archive" with results from many survey questions put to highly versed film buffs: http://www.emovieposter.com/




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Nirvana vs Rick Astley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0e9J6Kc6QQ&feature=fvw

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[DoryGray]

1. Citizen Kane
2. Gone W/ the Wind
3. Streetcar Named Desire
4. Star Wars
5. Titanic

[missydog1]

Silent era, at least one - probably Chaplin, Frankenstein is a great suggestion too

Expressionism - Metropolis
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5245606,00.html

Populism - It's a Wonderful Life, Shirley Temple,

Screwball comedy and sexuality - It Happened one Night or Grant and Hepburn "Bringing up Baby"

Film noir - Kiss Me Deadly. Double Indemnity, Maltese Falcon, Postman Always Rings Twice ...

4) Hitchcock - either Rear Window or Vertigo would be my first picks.

War movie or after - Casablanca, African Queen, Best Years of Our Lives

Western (The Searchers or Shane)

Some Like it Hot (gender fluidity)

Musical - Singing in the Rain

Citizen Kane

A spectacle film - Greatest Story ever Told, or Ben Hur, Cleopatra, etc..

late 60's
At least one film about civil rights-race - In the Heat of the Night (Sydney Poitier)
Little Big Man
Easy Rider
Lawrence of Arabia
Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove, Space Odyssey, Clockwork Orange)
The Graduate, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Bonnie and Clyde, Apocalypse Now, Chinatown, Taxi Driver.

Directors: Robert Altman, Scorcese, Woody Allen, Spielberg, Coppola
I suppose Star Wars has to be there, but I always preferred Spielberg to Lucas - Indiana Jones Raiders.

Probably the movie that I loved the most growing up was Erroll Flynn's Robin Hood. I just loved that movie. I also liked Brit comedies a lot. As something a bit off the beaten path I would suggest "The Horses Mouth" with Sir Alec Guinness. Oh and while speaking of the great Sir Alec, Bridge On the River Kwai should be a contender too. [8D] It won 7 Oscars and deserved them more than Titanic IMHO. The screenwriters were blacklisted and only got their proper credit posthumously.

I think a good film class combines genre, social and historical context, iconic films, groundbreaking cinema, and addresses both the technological changes and the growth of the Studio System, the Hayes Code, the McCarthy Era, the rise of Independents.