I recently came across this book, "1001 Movies to See Before You Die". It's interesting, and while I do love lists, 1001 seemed a bit too steep of an amount. I had some time on my hands today, so I whittled it down to the 50 films I think people should see before they die, using only the films listed in the book. 50 is still quite a large number, but I just kept adding and I couldn't take any off, so this is what you get. Keep in mind, that I haven't seen every movie on the list of 1001, so if I left some great piece of cinema off of my list, I either A) Haven't seen it. Or B) Went against the grain and didn't like it. There's even a few movies that I loved that aren't even on the list, so I'm not including them...Although, if I like a movie enough to call it a favorite, it's a given that everyone in the free world should see it before they die. Just tuck that tidbit away for later usage.
1. Metropolis (1927)
2. M (1931)
3. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
4. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
5. The Red Shoes (1948)
6. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
7. The Quiet Man (1952)
8. Night of the Hunter (1955)
9. The Searchers (1956)
10. Some Like it Hot (1959)
11. Peeping Tom (1960)
12. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
13. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
14. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
15. M*A*S*H (1970)
16. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
17. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
18. Harold and Maude (1971)
19. Pink Flamingos (1972)
20. Young Frankenstein (1974)
21. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
22. Jaws (1975)
23. Eraserhead (1977)
24. The Elephant Man (1980)
25. The Evil Dead (1982)
26. This is Spinal Tap (1984)
27. The Color Purple (1985)
28. Stand by Me (1986)
29. Manhunter (1986)
30. Raising Arizona (1987)
31. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
32. My Left Foot (1989)
33. Do the Right Thing (1989)
34. The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
35. Trust (1990)
36. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)
37. Goodfellas (1990)
38. Thelma and Louise (1991)
39. Slacker (1991)
40. 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993)
41. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
42. Pulp Fiction (1994)
43. Safe (1995)
44. The Usual Suspects (1995)
45. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
46. Run, Lola Run (1998)
47. Magnolia (1999)
48. Fight Club (1999)
49. American Beauty (1999)
50. Dancer in the Dark (2000)
The list from the book:
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