04 August 2010

Must-See Movies

Must-See Movies
Ward Calhoun's Must-See Movies has been updated, and now features a new subtitle: The Essential Guide To The Greatest Films Of All Time. While the new subtitle appears on the cover and spine, the old one (An Essential Guide) is retained on the inside pages.

Six very recent films (Precious, The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Milk, WALL-E, and Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince) have been added. Therefore, the list now consists of 305 films. The appendix (More Must-See Movies, a list of 201 extra titles) remains unchanged from the previous edition.

The Must-See Movies are as follows:
  • Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein
  • The African Queen
  • Airplane!
  • Alien
  • All About Eve
  • All Quiet On The Western Front
  • All The President's Men
  • Amadeus
  • American Beauty
  • American Graffiti
  • An American In Paris
  • Animal House
  • Annie Hall
  • The Apartment
  • Apocalypse Now
  • Apollo 13
  • Arthur
  • As Good As It Gets
  • Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery
  • Avatar
  • Bad Day At Black Rock
  • The Bad News Bears
  • Bad Santa
  • Bambi
  • The Bank Dick
  • Being There
  • The Best Years Of Our Lives
  • The Big Chill
  • The Big Lebowski
  • Big Night
  • Blazing Saddles
  • Blue Velvet
  • Body Heat
  • Bonnie & Clyde
  • The Breakfast Club
  • Breaking Away
  • Breathless
  • The Bridge On The River Kwai
  • The Bridges Of Madison County
  • Bringing Up Baby
  • Bull Durham
  • Bullitt
  • Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
  • Cabaret
  • Caddyshack
  • Casablanca
  • Chinatown
  • A Christmas Story
  • Cinema Paradiso
  • Citizen Kane
  • A Clockwork Orange
  • Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
  • The Color Purple
  • Cool Hand Luke
  • Dances With Wolves
  • Das Boot
  • The Day The Earth Stood Still
  • Days Of Heaven
  • Dead Poets Society
  • The Deer Hunter
  • Defending Your Life
  • The Departed
  • Die Hard
  • Diner
  • Dirty Dancing
  • Dirty Harry
  • Do The Right Thing
  • Dr Zhivago
  • Dog Day Afternoon
  • Double Indemnity
  • Down By Law
  • Dr Strangelove
  • Dracula
  • Duck Soup
  • Easy Rider

  • The Endless Summer
  • Enter The Dragon
  • The Exorcist
  • ET: The Extra-Terrestrial
  • Fargo
  • Fast Times At Ridgemont High
  • Fatal Attraction
  • Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  • Field Of Dreams
  • Fight Club
  • A Fish Called Wanda
  • The 40-Year-Old Virgin
  • Forrest Gump
  • Frankenstein
  • The Frech Connection
  • The Freshman
  • From Here To Eternity
  • Gandhi
  • Gaslight
  • The General
  • Ghost
  • Ghostbusters
  • Gilda
  • Gladiator
  • Glengarry Glen Ross
  • The Godfather
  • The Godfather II
  • Godzilla
  • Goldfinger
  • Gone With The Wind
  • The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
  • Good Will Hunting
  • GoodFellas
  • The Graduate
  • Grand Illusion
  • The Grapes Of Wrath
  • Grease
  • The Great Escape
  • Groundhog Day
  • Gunga Din
  • Halloween
  • Harold & Maude
  • Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince
  • Harvey
  • Heaven Can Wait
  • High Noon
  • Hoosiers
  • Hope & Glory
  • The Hurt Locker
  • I Remember Mama
  • In The Heat Of The Night
  • It Happened One Night
  • It's A Gift
  • It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
  • It's A Wonderful Life
  • Jaws
  • The Jerk
  • Jerry Maguire
  • Juno
  • Jurassic Park
  • The Karate Kid
  • The Killing Fields
  • King Kong
  • Kiss Of Death
  • Kramer Vs Kramer
  • La Strada
  • Lady & The Tramp
  • The Last Picture Show
  • Laura
  • Lawrence Of Arabia
  • Little Miss Sunshine
  • Local Hero
  • The Lord Of The Rings III: The Return Of The King
  • Lost In America
  • Lost In Translation
  • The Lost Weekend
  • M
  • The Maltese Falcon
  • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  • The Manchurian Candidate
  • Manhattan
  • Mary Poppins
  • M*A*S*H
  • The Matrix
  • Memento
  • Men In Black
  • Midnight Cowboy
  • Midnight Run
  • Milk
  • Miracle On 34th Street
  • Mississippi Burning
  • Mr Roberts
  • Monty Python & The Holy Grail
  • Moonstruck
  • Mr Smith Goes To Washington
  • The Muppet Movie
  • Murphy's Romance
  • Mutiny On The Bounty
  • My Man Godfrey
  • The Natural
  • Network
  • A Night At The Opera
  • The Night Of The Hunter
  • Night Of The Living Dead
  • No Country For Old Men
  • Norma Rae
  • North By Northwest
  • The Odd Couple
  • An Officer & A Gentleman
  • Office Space
  • Oliver!
  • On The Waterfront
  • Once Upon A Time In America
  • Once Upon A Time In The West
  • One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
  • Ordinary People
  • The Out-Of-Towners
  • The Palm Beach Story
  • Paper Moon
  • Patton
  • Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
  • The Philadelphia Story
  • Pillow Talk
  • The Pink Panther Strikes Again
  • Pinocchio
  • Planes, Trains, & Automobiles
  • Planet Of The Apes
  • Platoon
  • Poltergeist
  • The Pope Of Greenwich Village
  • Precious
  • Pretty Woman
  • The Princess Bride
  • The Producers
  • Psycho
  • Pulp Fiction
  • The Queen
  • The Quiet Man
  • Quiz Show
  • Raging Bull
  • Raiders Of The Lost Ark
  • Rain Man
  • A Raisin In The Sun
  • Raising Arizona
  • Rashomon
  • Ray
  • Rear Window
  • Rebecca
  • Rebel Without A Cause
  • Reds
  • Repo Man
  • Risky Business
  • Rocky
  • Roman Holiday
  • Rosemary's Baby
  • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
  • The Royal Tenenbaums
  • Saving Private Ryan
  • Saturday Night Fever
  • Say Anything
  • Schindler's List
  • The Searchers
  • Seven
  • Seven Samurai
  • The Seven-Year Itch
  • Shane
  • The Shawshank Redemption
  • The Shining
  • Sideways
  • The Silence Of The Lambs
  • Singin' In The Rain
  • The Sixth Sense
  • Slap Shot
  • Sleeper
  • Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs
  • A Soldier's Story
  • Some Like It Hot
  • Something Wild
  • Sophie's Choice
  • The Sound Of Music
  • Spartacus
  • Spirited Away
  • Stagecoach
  • Stalag 17
  • Stand By Me
  • Star Wars IV: A New Hope
  • The Sting
  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • Stripes
  • Sullivan's Travels
  • Sunset Boulevard
  • Superman: The Movie
  • Sweet Smell Of Success
  • The Taking Of Pelham 123
  • Taxi Driver
  • The Ten Commandments
  • The Terminator
  • Terms Of Endearment
  • The Third Man
  • This Is Spinal Tap
  • Titanic
  • To Kill A Mockingbird
  • Tootsie
  • Toy Story
  • Trading Places
  • The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
  • 12 Angry Men
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey
  • The Usual Suspects
  • The Verdict
  • Vertigo
  • Vision Quest
  • The Wages Of Fear
  • Waiting For Guffman
  • WALL-E
  • West Side Story
  • When Harry Met Sally
  • White Heat
  • Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
  • The Wild Bunch
  • Wild Strawberries
  • Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory
  • The Wizard Of Oz
  • Wonder Boys
  • Working Girl
  • Wuthering Heights
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy
  • Young Frankenstein
  • Zorba The Greek
(The list includes several remakes: Cecil B de Mille's sound version of The Ten Commandments, the James Cameron version of Titanic, the James Whale version of Frankenstein, and the John Huston version of The Maltese Falcon. Psycho, on the other hand, is the original version. Also, Some Like It Hot is the 1959 comic masterpiece, not the obscure 1939 comedy.)

13 comment(s):

Anonymous said...

The 2010 edition I just got from Amazon seems to be an updated one, the four movies are back in it, along with the six new movies.

Matthew Hunt said...

Thanks a lot for the comment. Yes, it seems like those four films are present in the current edition, and I've changed the list above to reflect that.

Mat.

Anonymous said...

Can you please add a list of the 201 films in the appendex?

Anonymous said...

That preview of the book on Amazon UK lists some, but not all, of the films in the appendix. No worries, I ordered a copy of the book on Amazon and when I get it, I'll list the 201 films on a public list on IMDB, which I'll post the link here once I make it.

By the way, how come you no longer have the book?

Matthew Hunt said...

I gave it away after copying the list, because I have many similar books too many books in general, and only a small apartment.

By the way, it's nice to meet someone else obsessed with greatest-film lists!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I live in an apartment as well, so I only have a handful of books, but I do like this book and the 2009 and 2012 editions of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

Matthew Hunt said...

I have over 1,000, so they are everywhere except the bathroom. I really like 1001 Movies... too, and have bought it every year, but I only keep the latest edition. If I had space, I’d love to have kept them all and lined them up together on a shelf.

Anonymous said...

I only like the 2009 and 2012 editions because they contain some great films I really like such as "War Horse", "WALL-E", "The Tree of Life" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", which were removed from later editions.

Here is a link to a list which lists all the movies in all the editions of that book.

http://1001filmswikia.com/wiki/The_List

Anonymous said...

Link correction:

http://1001films.wikia.com/wiki/The_List

Matthew Hunt said...

I also love The Tree of Life.

Every year, I list the changes to 1001 Movies..., for example this year:
http://blog.matthewhunt.com/2018/10/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die.html
(click the PDF icon for the full list)

Also, I’ve featured many similar lists (the “film lists” tab).

Anonymous said...

Did you know that Criterion recently released a longer version of The Tree of Life on Blu-Ray? It's now almost 3 hours long.

I love long 3 hour films because they really immerse you into their world, like "2001: A Space Odyssey", "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", and what I consider to be the greatest film ever made (I guess I'm kinda biased because I'm an avid Titanic historian), "Titanic".

Anonymous said...

There are some small inaccuracies in "Titanic", but the way James Cameron rebuilt the ship almost entirely accurately, that makes up for its flaws. That film is absolutely beautiful, but the MOST accurate Titanic film has to be 1958's "A Night to Remember".

Anonymous said...

At long last, I finally have a copy of the book and have made two public lists on IMDB of the movies listed. The first is the above 305 film, the main entries, and the second is the 201 film listed in the appendix.

Here is list 1:

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls047733552/

Here is list 2:

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls041032087/

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