The world's greatest movie

[Ray(aka) tripnebraska]

I don't know if it the greatest, but certainly my favorite of all time. I have always used a line from the movie at the bottom of my posts.

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

One of my top ten would have to be "Chinatown."

"Casablanca" of course is a given - but that deserves its own category, sort of like a "lifetime achievement award" at the Oscars (gambling at Rick's Place, how shocking - "your winnings, captain"), as you don't want it knocking everything else out of the competition! Also agree that anything with Katherine Hepburn (well, maybe except "On Golden Pond," which I actually didn't like all that much except for sentimental value based on the stars) goes on the list.

Also on the favorites list (drama category): "Two for the Road," "The Lion in Winter" (I have not watched it again since finishing a fascinating biography of Eleanore of Aquitaine - but definitely think this was perfectly cast with Peter O'Toole as Henry II and Katherine Hepburn as Eleanore), "A Man for All Seasons," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" ("rules? in a knife fight?") and many others (sorry, this is not something I can do without thinking about it, other than "Chinatown" which always comes to mind immediately).

In the "comedy category" there are other favorites: "Young Frankenstein," "The Princess Bride," "The Big Lebowski" and many others (always a sucker for something that makes me laugh out loud - speaking of which, has anyone else seen "Death at a Funeral" yet?)

Offbeat but recommended to pick up at the video store: "The Price of Milk," "The Station Agent," "Pieces of April" (particularly appropriate for Thanksgiving!), "Run Lola Run," and others.

[geordy]

I'm rather fond of "Das Boot" in the original German and "Breaker Morant" for "small" films.

Casablanca is of course right up there!! We watched it on the last night of a Bermuda Cruise(first and only cruise..not my thing) in bed with a bottle of good red. We were supposed to be "star gazing" on deck but no stars!! And yes it is one of the movies I could probably recite...along with "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With The WInd"!!

[Anne]

I am ashamed to admit that I have never seen Casablanca ...

So my list is :

Apocalypse Now
Godfather 1 and 3
Lord of the Rings

And my two favourites ever, which get always better the more you watch them :

The Blues Brothers
Les Tontons Flingueurs, a hilarious French gangster film from the '60s . It has become a cult movie in France, with many over-famous quotes . Hubby even owns a book on the making-off of the film .

[Shoesy]

"Titanic"
"Gone With the Wind"
"Schindler's List"


My husband thinks the greatest movie is "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" .

[andi]

My faves.............
The colour purple
Notebook
Lord of the rings 1, 2 and 3
Pretty woman
Grease
Schindlers list (have to watch this in 4 parts)
Fried green tomatoes

[greyghost1]

Casablanca is one of mine and so is Gone With The Wind. But my top fav is "Last Tango in Paris' followed closely by:
The Pope of Greenwich Village-Mickey Rourke is great in it, "East is East" is hilarious, "The Red Balloon" has been on it for years and "Notting Hill"-it always makes me laugh and feel good. It and Pretty Woman, to me, are classic Julia Roberts.

[Sarastro]

Rightly or wrongly, I think much about someone's intellect can be determined by what he reads, watches, and listens to.

Interestingly though, Casablanca appeals to such a broad spectrum of individuals, one is unable to conclude much about those who include it as a favorite. It has a timeless storyline, fascinating characters, noteworthy actors, and of course a very likable sound track. It's no wonder so many find this movie a favorite.

[trechic]

Life is Beautiful (Icried all alone...outloud in the theatre when it was over...I had so much pent up emotion throughout this film...I just had to release it!)

I just saw that United Artists is releasing a special addition set of their all time best selling films....90 CD's with stories and photos included. Rainman, Midnight Cowboy, West Side Story, just to name a few....

[cybee]

I really love "Life is Beautiful" also! I recall reading that Steven Speilberg walked out on it as he felt the movie was making light of such a horrible situation, but maybe he realized later it was a story of the absolute love of a father for his son propelling him to shield the worst horrors from his son with make believe.
"Titanic" is another great! When I first saw it , I had not yet heard the hype so was especially blown away by it!
"Gone with the Wind" is an absolutely fabulous movie also...as are so many others mentioned above (including "Casablanca"!).
I would love to see "Les Tontons Flingueurs" but when I went to put it in my Netflix queue..it was the first movie that I could not find!

[Shoesy]

Andi - I also LOVED the movie "The Notebook". I think it was very well done and it's such a beautiful love story. I cried so much when I saw it.

[Anne]

Cybee, I am not sure whether Les Tonton Flingueurs has ever been translated in English . Indeed, I think that the picturesque, flavoursome, old-fashioned slangy, deliciously funny dialogues would be very difficult to translate ...
Luc, in case you read that post, have you ever watched this film ?

[sistereurope]

I love too many movies, for different reasons, to be able to name even 100 favorites! It's like music for me - I could never give just 3 faves.

But I do like many mentioned...of course Casablanca is way up there, and I loved Life is Beautiful. Ohhh, that made me CRY! I've also seen Amelie several times, because to me it is SO Paris...

I heard on the radio yesterday that it was the 40th anniversary of The Graduate. Now that was a good movie (I love Dustin Hoffmann, and I love that song..."so here's to you, Mrs. Robinson"...)

[Happygoin]

Casablanca is certainly one of my all-time favorites. I also love anything by Hitchcock with a special fondness for Notorious with Cary Grant and the beautiful Ingrid Bergman. I also loved the movie verson of Rebecca. I had read the book as a girl and it remains one of my favorite books. The movie didn't disappoint though.

[GitteK]

Oh yes, "Rebecca" is SOOO good ! The books as well as the movie ! Remember that scary Mrs Danvers ?? Yikes, that woman could give anyone nightmares for a whole week !! And gorgeous handsome Laurence Olivier ?

When I was a young girl I simply worhshipped Olivier in his famous Shakespeare leading roles. I even adored him as the ruthless "Richard III" (breathtaking performance). Remember that sexy scene when he seduces the queen (?) on top of her husbands sarcophage !!?? Who BTW had been killed by no other than sweetiepie Richard himself.....

[geordy]

How about Olivier as Heathcliff??? And Orson as Mr. Rochester??

And since tis the season, the various "A Christmas Carol" s ;D

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Gitte - while I agree that Olivier's performance was a fabulous interpretation of the play, I'm guessing you already know that WS was way off base in his version of history? (Just for starters, e.g., Richard's brother died of natural causes almost certainly stemming directly from his excesses of living well with far too much alcohol and food.) There also are a number of well written books about what did happen to Richard's nephews after they were declared illegitimate (a question no one has answered definitively, although there is good evidence that much -- but, not necessarily all -- of what the Tudors claimed about Richard's involvement in their disappearance can be shown to be wrong). One thing that always has fascinated me is that the British government has refused to allow DNA and other forensic testing of the bones that are reported to be those of the two brothers even though that potentially would answer the first and foremost question, which is whether the skeletons that were discovered a couple of centuries later really are theirs.

Sorry - as you can see, this is a question that always has intrigued me, and the more so as I read new analyses of those events.

[sistereurope]

Yes, we watched A Christmas Carol every year (And I had nightmares every year involving the Ghost of Christmas future)...
and of course, the xmas season wouldn't be the same without at least one viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life" ;D

[GitteK]

You must admit that WS wrote a darn good story, be it perhaps then a "tale from the warm countries" as we say in DK.

And as for movies belonging to the season, absolutely nothing beats "Pluto's Christmas Tree"

>>> Look Pluto, we've got chipmunks in our tree !!<<<

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

What a great expression - never heard "tale from the warm countries" before!