This is Spinal Tap

Blade Runner

Brazil

The Holy Grail

+1 on Casablanca!

There are several great films on this thread I haven't seen in years... will have to update my Netflix queue. Yeah.... I really did mean "important" films, not favorites... so I'm a bit disappointed in some of these choiches. I was really hoping for more relevant films. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Animal House.

Well, if you are talking really brilliantly-made works of cinematic genius, I would submit practically the entire Hitchcock oeuvre.

An early favorite of mine is Murnau's Nosferatu: The Symphony of Horror. I have seen about 1000 different versions of the same footage (b&w, tinted, colorized, no soundtrack, organ soundtrack, live sountrack, etc.). It still remains one of the best-composed horror movies out there.

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Another vastly underrated classic was Ridley Scott's ALIEN. When it came out it was unfairly derided as "HALLOWEEN-in-space"; what it really represented was a conscious re-imagining of the tropes and motifs of post-victorian Gothic literature. It took all the recurring themes - a crumbling castle, implied rape, the dangers of playing god - and modernized them. A very smart movie... it always bothered me that people didn't realize what the movie was trying to accomplish.

And, yes, I did write a 20+ page term paper on the subject in my first year of grad school :p To be honest, I didn't realize how carefully-constructed the set of symbols in ALIEN was until I started the research for the paper.

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But, as far as timeless, favorite movies - I still have to say JAWS and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (man, I like dark movies!). It's nice to see that I'm not alone on that one.

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North by Northwest - The dialog in that film is like great poetry.

Godfather I, II - if I turn on the tv and it is on and I watch for a second I'm there till the end.
Purple Rose of Cairo and A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy also.

The Great Santini

The Doors

The movie isn't really about The Doors as much as it is a movie about rock and roll as modern mythology. Oliver Stone might have read a bit too much Jung - or perhaps he read exactly the right amount. Regardless, I think he deeply understands rock and roll in ways I assumed only a musician could.

I've seen it at least a dozen or more times - including a few times on WAY too much acid. There is so much going on that you need to see it a few times to catch everything. Plus, the live performances are outstanding.

The Blues Brothers Movie.

Twelve O'clock High

David

Patton

Saw it two weeks ago...amazing profile of how a squadron/group is a reflection of its leader. Classic movie in the personal realm. It would be my #1 except for the lawyer veiwpoint:D

The Quiet Man,

John Wayne, Barry FitzGerald and Maureen O'Hara with her her red hair and that white blouse in the rainstorm, and the fistfight.

Driving Miss Daisy

Have the DVD and seen it several times. A great movie set during my youth. Brings back a lot of memories.

Seahawk, I completely agree. The leadership styles used by the Commanding Officers (Gregory Peck was outstanding) are as opposite as can be, at the start. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

I lead a team of emergency responding officers (riots, protests, VIP protection, major emergencies) and I run it somewhat similar to Gregory Peck's style. However, I dish out compliments as deserved. I love that he constantly drilled and drilled and drilled. Practice does NOT make perfect. PERFECT practice makes PERFECT. I train by that creed.

That movie is my all time favorite that has impacted me. I think that is what Motion was looking for when posting this thread-not to diminish anyone else's choices.

David

I forgot about the great santini. "dead bug!" LOL

But that's not my favorite. here's a hint:

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WOLVERINES!

[Robert sawing off a shotgun]
Danny: They were people!
Robert: Yeah, well, so was my dad.
Aardvark: What was it like?
[Robert stops sawing]
Robert: It was good.
[Robert resumes sawing]

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Jed Eckert: How did you get shot down, Colonel?
Col. Andy Tanner: It was five to one. I got four.

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The Colonel: All that hate's gonna burn you up, kid.
Robert: It keeps me warm.

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The Colonel: You think you're tough for eating beans every day? There's half a million scarecrows in Denver who'd give anything for one mouthful of what you got. They've been under siege for about three months. They live on rats and sawdust bread and sometimes... on each other. At night, the pyres for the dead light up the sky. It's medieval.

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Col. Andy Tanner: ...The Russians need to take us in one piece, and that's why they're here. That's why they won't use nukes anymore; and we won't either, not on our own soil. The whole damn thing's pretty conventional now. Who knows? Maybe next week will be swords.
Darryl Bates: What started it?
Col. Andy Tanner: I don't know. Two toughest kids on the block, I guess. Sooner or later, they're gonna fight.
Jed Eckert: That simple, is it?
Col. Andy Tanner: Or maybe somebody just forget what it was like.
Jed Eckert: ...Well, who *is* on our side?
Col. Andy Tanner: Six hundred million screaming Chinamen.
Darryl Bates: Last I heard, there were a billion screaming Chinamen.
Col. Andy Tanner: There *were*.
[he throws whiskey on the fire; it ignites violently, suggesting a nuclear explosion]

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Jed Eckert: [at the execution of Daryl Bates and Stepan Gorsky] Do you want blindfolds?
Stepan Gorsky: This violates the Geneva convention.
Jed Eckert: I never heard of it!
Stepan Gorsky: Dogface! I show you how Soviet dies!
Robert: I've seen it before, pal.

tree lounge, written, directed and starred steve buscheme<<<(sp?) for my obscure movie choice. he's a loser drunk, the tree is the bar he hangs out at as his life goes to shambles.

more mainstream, great escape. made my new girl watch it the other night, she was less than pleased.... after it she relented that it WAS good. she said i reminded her of chaz bronson....:D and it was NOT because he became afraid of the tunnel after spending so much time "in there"...

T$

Probably "Empire of the Sun" or "Life is Beautiful". Can't decide between them right now.

Runners up include Last of the Mohicans, LOTR (Return of the King, in particular), Star Wars (the original), Big Fish, the Blues Brothers, Clerks and Magnolias. I also really liked "Dances with Wolves". Great watch.

Last of the Mohicans is my favorite. tragic story -- tremendous cinemetography, fantastic acting - just an amazing film.

-Z