103 Movies You Have To See or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Poll

[MontyServo]

I would like to nominate Strangers On A Train for the next round.  My favorite Hitchcock film.

[Kete]

Brick

[D.B. Barnes]

Apocalypse Now

[Tripe]

The Gold Rush

Now touring the world in a perfected version incidentally.

Oh and perhaps a viewing thread can be done when we hit 100.

[Mrs. Dick Courier]

The Graduate

[Asbestos Bill]

It was but, due to a typo, think I'll rescind it.

The hell? It was a good suggestion...



I've been meaning to watch Brick. I haven't been able to get Quirk and/or Coragale interested in it.

[Tripe]

It'll be back.

[Russell]

Alright.. well... I nominate 12 angry men.

[Kete]

I guess I better make my case for Network.

"I'm mad as HELL and I'm not going to take it anymore!!"

Directed by Sydney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon) and written by Paddy Cheyefsky.  It is a satire about television, news, and groupthink.  It's basically about a news corespondent's mental breakdown, and the network's desire to capitalize on it. 

I saw this film for the first time last year as I was going through the AFI 100 Greatest Movies.  I was absolutely amazed at how relevant this movie is today.  It is seriously eerie how spot on they were when you consider today's 24 hour news networks and the pundits (most with mental issues) who populate them.  I honestly believe that Glenn Beck saw this movie one day and said, "That's it!  That's what I'm going to do!"

Roger Ebert called it a "supremely well-acted, intelligent film that tries for too much, that attacks not only television but also most of the other ills of the 1970s," though "what it does accomplish is done so well, is seen so sharply, is presented so unforgivingly, that Network will outlive a lot of tidier movies." Seen a quarter-century later, Ebert added the film to his "Great Movies" list and said the film was "like prophecy. When Chayefsky created Howard Beale, could he have imagined Jerry Springer, Howard Stern, and the World Wrestling Federation?"; he credits Lumet and Chayefsky for knowing "just when to pull out all the stops."

I don't think it will make the list, but if you haven't seen it, go check it out.

[Relaxing Dragon]

What Kete said. That movie's actually one of the scariest I've ever seen just because of how shockingly, depressing accurate (save for the ending... so far at least. Maybe).

And while Gunflyer beat me to 12 Angry Men, I'll make the case for it as well:

It's the grandfather for every courtroom trial movie ever. It's an amazingly tense and cinematic experience, despite ultimately being an hour and a half of twelve guys standing around in the same room and arguing with each other. And before CSI came along, it was the number one real-life-potential-juror influencer, since everyone secretly wants to be the heroic Juror #8 who stands firm with his beliefs in the name of truth and justice (whether or not that's actually the case in said real-life trial).

[ScottotD]

Akira

[Kete]

You guys are coming up with some seriously good movies.  These polls are really hard to vote for, and I'd say every nominee is a movie worth checking out.

[Kete]

Poll complete.  The winners are:
Dr Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
Ghostbusters

2 movies needed for the next poll.

[SJP]

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I would have done the original one, since it started it all and is an excellent movie in its own right, but I put up the Christmas one since I make sure to watch it every year.  And it certainly isn't any less quotable...
"Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Chr-Kiss my ass, kiss his ass, kiss your ass, Happy Chanukah."
*Watching for squirrel running around house* "Where's Eddie?  He usually eats these things."
"The little lights, they aren't twinkling."
"Whenever Catherine used the microwave, I'd piss my pants and forget who I was for half an hour."
"Fixed the newel post!"
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm in the middle of an important call." *picks up phone* "Get me somebody, anybody.  And get me somebody while I'm waiting!"
And, of course, the two greatest profanity-laden rants this side of a Lewis Black concert.

However, I will give the original an honorable mention in the hopes someone else will nominate it sometime down the road.  It deserves at least that much for "Hey, Underpants!" alone.

[Tripe]

Yeah I think that's the right NLV movie for this sort of list, despite the original being a legend, Christmas Vacation seems to have greater cultural resonance. I don't think my in-laws have seen any of the others but they've certainly seen Christmas Vacation and if they're  aware of a film, it's definitely embedded in the bedrock of culture.