Another meme stolen from kottke.org based off this list by Jim Emerson of the 102 movies you should see before you consider yourself “movie literate”. I have a feeling I’m not quite as movie-literate as I’d like to think…
(1) 2001: A Space Odyssey
(2) The 400 Blows
()8 1/2
()Aguirre, the Wrath of God
(3) Alien
()All About Eve
Annie Hall
(4) Apocalypse Now
(5) Bambi
()The Battleship Potemkin
()The Best Years of Our Lives
()The Big Red One
()The Bicycle Thief
(6)The Big Sleep
(7) Blade Runner
()Blowup
() Blue Velvet
()Bonnie and Clyde
(8)Breathless
()Bringing Up Baby
()Carrie
(9) Casablanca
()Un Chien Andalou
()Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
(10) Chinatown
(11) Citizen Kane
(12) A Clockwork Orange
(13) The Crying Game
()The Day the Earth Stood Still
()Days of Heaven
(14) Dirty Harry
()The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
() Do the Right Thing
()La Dolce Vita
()Double Indemnity
(15) Dr. Strangelove
()Duck Soup
(16) E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial
(17)Easy Rider
(18) The Empire Strikes Back
(19)The Exorcist
(20) Fargo
(21) Fight Club
(22)Frankenstein
()The General
(23) The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
() Gone With the Wind
() GoodFellas
() The Graduate
(24)Halloween
() A Hard Day’s Night
()Intolerance
()It’s a Gift
(25) It’s a Wonderful Life
(26)Jaws
()The Lady Eve
(27)Lawrence of Arabia
()M
(28)Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
(29)The Maltese Falcon
(30) The Manchurian Candidate
(31)Metropolis
()Modern Times
(32) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
()Nashville
()The Night of the Hunter
(33)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
(34)Psycho
(35) Pulp Fiction
()Rashomon
(36) Rear Window
(37)Rebel Without a Cause
()Red River
()Repulsion
(38)The Rules of the Game
(39) Scarface
()The Scarlet Empress
(40) Schindler’s List
()The Searchers
(41) The Seven Samurai
(42)Singin’ in the Rain
(43)Some Like It Hot
()A Star Is Born
()A Streetcar Named Desire
()Sunset Boulevard
(44) Taxi Driver
(45)The Third Man
()Tokyo Story
(46) Touch of Evil
()The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
()Trouble in Paradise
(47)Vertigo
(48) West Side Story
()The Wild Bunch
(49) The Wizard of Oz
(2) The 400 Blows
()8 1/2
()Aguirre, the Wrath of God
(3) Alien
()All About Eve
Annie Hall
(4) Apocalypse Now
(5) Bambi
()The Battleship Potemkin
()The Best Years of Our Lives
()The Big Red One
()The Bicycle Thief
(6)The Big Sleep
(7) Blade Runner
()Blowup
() Blue Velvet
()Bonnie and Clyde
(8)Breathless
()Bringing Up Baby
()Carrie
(9) Casablanca
()Un Chien Andalou
()Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
(10) Chinatown
(11) Citizen Kane
(12) A Clockwork Orange
(13) The Crying Game
()The Day the Earth Stood Still
()Days of Heaven
(14) Dirty Harry
()The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
() Do the Right Thing
()La Dolce Vita
()Double Indemnity
(15) Dr. Strangelove
()Duck Soup
(16) E.T. — The Extra-Terrestrial
(17)Easy Rider
(18) The Empire Strikes Back
(19)The Exorcist
(20) Fargo
(21) Fight Club
(22)Frankenstein
()The General
(23) The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
() Gone With the Wind
() GoodFellas
() The Graduate
(24)Halloween
() A Hard Day’s Night
()Intolerance
()It’s a Gift
(25) It’s a Wonderful Life
(26)Jaws
()The Lady Eve
(27)Lawrence of Arabia
()M
(28)Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
(29)The Maltese Falcon
(30) The Manchurian Candidate
(31)Metropolis
()Modern Times
(32) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
()Nashville
()The Night of the Hunter
(33)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
(34)Psycho
(35) Pulp Fiction
()Rashomon
(36) Rear Window
(37)Rebel Without a Cause
()Red River
()Repulsion
(38)The Rules of the Game
(39) Scarface
()The Scarlet Empress
(40) Schindler’s List
()The Searchers
(41) The Seven Samurai
(42)Singin’ in the Rain
(43)Some Like It Hot
()A Star Is Born
()A Streetcar Named Desire
()Sunset Boulevard
(44) Taxi Driver
(45)The Third Man
()Tokyo Story
(46) Touch of Evil
()The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
()Trouble in Paradise
(47)Vertigo
(48) West Side Story
()The Wild Bunch
(49) The Wizard of Oz
I did okay on Hitchcock (3 out of 4) and Welles (2 out of 2) films, not so great on other “classics”. I’m tempted to make a more modern list of movies that everyone in my generation should see. Hmmmm. In the meantime, I need to watch at least one more of these movies so I can claim 50, or two more so I can say I’ve seen half of them.