1,000 Movies To See Before You Die?

[ie]

How valid do you think lists like these are? Don't they make you feel kind of awkward: how could someone see 1000 movies?

Here's the list. A previous version I found had 1003, so at least this one fits the bill.


List


And, discussion would include things about the validity, invalidity, impressiveness, lack of Le Samourai yet inclusion of the Killer, and how not nodding to the pre-1900 movies is bad form. Or is it?

[criterionmaster]

I was going to buy the book, it seems like an excellent toilet read. It is not the movies it doesn't include, it's called "1,000 Movies You Must See Before You Die" or whatever, not the only 1,000 you have to see. The pictures in the book were all very nice and the inclusion of some films I hadn't heard of was also nice. I may still pick the book up someday. As for the 1,000 films, I have a feeling in like 5 years I will have seen most, if not all of these.

I think it is a good list, nothing amazing. But yeah you are right, they dropped out quite a few early masterpieces to put some newer films in.

[Clark Nova]

I bought the book a while back. Yeah, all the info in it you could basically find on the internet, but it's still cool to have a giant list like that right already compilated in front of you. It's worth buying, i'd say.

[ie]

I wasn't so much in the market as just kind of seeing what people thought.

criterionmaster said:

I think it is a good list, nothing amazing. But yeah you are right, they dropped out quite a few early masterpieces to put some newer films in.

I actually thought they did a decent job of keeping things kind of even. I didn't count or anything, but it seemed like they didn't just focus entirely on the 70s. They had movies from new to old. And, not just American movies either.

[nonfiction]

Any list that contains TETSUO in it is fine by me. I saw this book (I think it was this one) at Chapters the other day and asked for it for Christmas.

[criterionmaster]

Thanks for reminding me about this book, I really need to pick it up.

[agentknight]

I have it, it's most excellent. But lots of films I like are absent (Naked, anyone?) and some films in there are a total waste of space (The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby, for example).

[criterionmaster]

Aviator isn't a waste of space since the book should have all Scorsese films. You got to at least respect him for making two good films, and know that he has talent. Plus Avaitor is like a historical document basically, capturing a time. But yes, the book is missing quite a few of my favorites. But really, what book can have every single good movie ever made?

[nonfiction]

Picked it up today and browsed through it for a while—pretty intersting read (and some pretty cool pictures). I also picked up a book called The Movie Book for less $7.00. And it's fucking huge... the thing weighs about 10 pounds. It features pages on directors, actors, and other important people in the film industry from all around the world. Pretty cool too.

[sai]

ie said:

Don't they make you feel kind of awkward: how could someone see 1000 movies?

Easily. I'm guessing I've seen something around 3000. My collection of films runs to over 1000 titles (almost 800 on DVD roughly 300 VHS, plus the old VHS tapes with films taped off TV... That'd be about another 150 I guess)

As for the list... Here's what I've seen

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)
Way Down East (1920)
Nosferatu (1922)
Metropolis (1927)
The General (1927)
Pandora's Box (1929)
Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
M (1931)
Scarface (1932)
Freaks (1932)
Duck Soup (1933)
King Kong (1933)
It Happened One Night (1934)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
Fantasia (1940)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Pinocchio (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Lady Eve (1941)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Dumbo (1941)
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
Cat People (1942)
Laura (1944)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Spellbound (1945)
Brief Encounter (1946)
Paisan (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Gilda (1946)
The Red Shoes (1948)
Adam's Rib (1949)
All About Eve (1950)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
The African Queen (1951)
An American in Paris (1951)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Wages of Fear (1953)
Les Diaboliques (1954)
Animal Farm (1954)
Rear Window (1954)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
The Searchers (1956)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Vertigo (1958)
North by Northwest (1959)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Breathless (1959)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
Psycho (1960)
Peeping Tom (1960)
The Apartment (1960)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Lolita (1962)
The Nutty Professor (1963)
Goldfinger (1964)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Repulsion (1965)
Blow-Up (1966)
The Graduate (1967)
Belle de Jour (1967)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
The Jungle Book (1967)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
If…. (1968)
The Producers (1968)
A Touch of Zen (1969)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Easy Rider (1969)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Walkabout (1971)
Get Carter (1971)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Straw Dogs (1971)
Cabaret (1972)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Deliverance (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
Badlands (1973)
American Graffiti (1973)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Mean Streets (1973)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Sleeper (1973)
Serpico (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
Turkish Delight (1973)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Chinatown (1974)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Jaws (1975)
Carrie (1976)
All the President's Men (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Network (1976)
In the Realm of the Senses (1976)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Star Wars (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Annie Hall (1977)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Grease (1978)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Halloween (1978)
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
Alien (1979)
Life of Brian (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Jerk (1979)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Atlantic City (1980)
The Shining (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Elephant Man (1980)
Loulou (1980)
Airplane! (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Body Heat (1981)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1981)
E.T. The Extra-Terestrial (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Evil Dead (1982)
Gandhi (1982)
Videodrome (1983)
Return of the Jedi (1983)
The Fourth Man (1983)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Once Upon a Time in America (1983)
Scarface (1983)
The Terminator (1984)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)
Back to the Future (1985)
Manhunter (1986)
Stand By Me (1986)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Fly (1986)
Aliens (1986)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Salvador (1986)
Top Gun (1986)
Project A, Part II (1987)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
The Princess Bride (1987)
The Untouchables (1987)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
The Vanishing (1988)
Bull Durham (1988)
Akira (1988)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
The Naked Gun (1988)
Big (1988)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Die Hard (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Rain Man (1988)
The Accidental Tourist (1988)
Batman (1989)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
The Killer (1989)
Roger & Me (1989)
Say Anything (1989)
Goodfellas (1990)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)
Total Recall (1990)
Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
Boyz 'n the Hood (1991)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
JFK (1991)
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
The Player (1992)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Romper Stomper (1992)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Candy Man (1992)
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)
The Crying Game (1992)
Man Bites Dog (1992)
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Short Cuts (1993)
Philadelphia (1993)
Jurassic Park (1993)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
Blue (1993)
The Piano (1993)
The Blue Kite (1993)
Red (1994)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Clerks (1994)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
The Lion King (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
The Last Seduction (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Casino (1995)
Toy Story (1995)
Strange Days (1995)
Braveheart (1995)
Safe (1995)
Clueless (1995)
Heat (1995)
Seven (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
The Pillow Book (1996)
Fargo (1996)
Independence Day (1996)
Secrets and Lies (1996)
Breaking the Waves (1996)
The English Patient (1996)
Trainspotting (1996)
Scream (1996)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
The Butcher Boy (1997)
The Ice Storm (1997)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Kundun (1997)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Funny Games (1997)
Open Your Eyes (1997)
Titanic (1997)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Buffalo 66 (1998)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Run Lola Run (1998)
Rushmore (1998)
Pi (1998)
Happiness (1998)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
The Idiots (1998)
Ring (1998)
There's Something About Mary (1998)
Magnolia (1999)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Three Kings (1999)
The Audition (1999)
Fight Club (1999)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
American Beauty (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Matrix (1999)
The Captive (2000)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Gladiator (2000)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Amores Perros (2000)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Traffic (2000)
Memento (2000)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Amelie (2001)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
Spirited Away (2001)
The Piano Teacher (2001)
Moulin Rouge (2001)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Gangs of New York (2002)
City of God (2002)
Far From Heaven (2002)
Adaptation (2002)

Interesting list, some very odd selections (Project A Part 2 but no Police Story?!) but a nice mix overall

[ie]

Well, I guess it's hard to fathom for me because I've only been interested in movies for less than one year, and in that time I may have seen 200 or so movies. So it just seems like it would take a while, even if you devote yourself to just watching the 1000 movies on this list.

[captainofbeef]

Yea, I probably used to watch something like 1000 a year when I was younger and fatter.

[criterionmaster]

1000 movies a year better be an exaggeration, Christ. That would be like 7 movies a day! No human could do that!

Anyways, I will see all these movies someday, hopefully before I graduate college or something, but the harder to find ones will make it kinda harder to complete this list. I like the idea of listing the ones I have seen though; I think I will do that sometime.

[captainofbeef]

I had no problem with school cause it was so easy, and I was soo fat so I did nothing physically. I probably watched two movies a day during school and at least 5 movies a day during the summer. I was a machine, but now school is tougher, I need to stay in shape, plus I have a social life, so that many movies is just impossible now.

[ie]

Your bullshitting skills need improvement.


I'm also just knocking out the list when I can. I got all of the easy ones from the 1900s era off YouTube and such, but I think the 1930s-1960s era movies will be a problem unless I can find them on DVD or on television or something. I'm not too concerned about getting through the entire list, but it'd be a nice milestone.

[captainofbeef]

ie said:

Your bullshitting skills need improvement.


I'm also just knocking out the list when I can. I got all of the easy ones from the 1900s era off YouTube and such, but I think the 1930s-1960s era movies will be a problem unless I can find them on DVD or on television or something. I'm not too concerned about getting through the entire list, but it'd be a nice milestone.

Who are you to call my statements bullshit? You live in Seattle, if you knew me and lived in my town, you would know what I did in my childhood. Don't question something that you have no idea about.

[ie]

Well, your last post was filled with self-glorifying statements. It was full of exaggerations and hyperboles. You need to be more modest when you bullshit, because otherwise people just won't believe you.

[captainofbeef]

Maybe I did exaggerate but not by much. As I said, if you knew me five years ago you would understand.

[sacrilegend]

Exaggeration, hyperboles.... These are the spices of life, which would be so bland without the little day-to-day lies we tell.