52 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[BB73]

It Happened On Night - This romantic comedy was the first movie to win all five major Academy Awards - Best Picture, Best Actor (Clark Gable), Best Actress (Claudette Colbert), Best Director (Frank Capra), and Best Screenplay. The only other movies to match this feat are One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991).

TCM will be showing all 3 of these movies which won the top-5 Oscars back-to-back, from 8 pm ET until 2:45 am ET on Saturday night, Feb 26th.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

These guys would beg to differ with your fancy pants list.

 

[DSelwyn]

If anyone finishes LordJeffBuck's outstanding list of 52 movies, here is another 52 movies that are of similar high quality to LJB's list. I tried to make sure I didn't list any movies that were on his list, but error may have crept in here. There may also be some errors in production year and country of origin but hopefully not too many. If there is no country listed, you may assume it is an American film. Some films are problematic in this respect, like Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, which although it is an English language film, was apparently filmed in Italy, Spain and the U.S. Oh well, Leone was Italian so Italy it is. One thing I noticed about LJB's list was the absence of any Russian films. This list corrects that omission a little. Hopefully the movie links to the appropriate IMDB page work. Enjoy.


1.) The General (1926; Buster Keaton)
2.) The Crowd (1928; King Vidor)
3.) Earth (Russian 1930; Alexander Dovzhenko)
4.) City Lights (1931; Charles Chaplin)
5.) Shanghai Express (1932; Josef von Sternberg)
6.) The Rules of the Game (French 1939; Jean Renoir)
7.) The Lady Eve (1941; Preston Sturges)
8.) Children of Paradise (French 1945; Marcel Carne)
9.) Out of the Past (1947; Jacques Tourneur)
10.)The Red Shoes (English 1948; Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger)
11.)Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948; Max Ophuls)
12.)Gun Crazy (1950; Joseph H. Lewis)
13.)Sunset Boulevard (1950; Billy Wilder)
14.)A Place in the Sun (1950; George Stevens)
15.)An American in Paris (1951; Vincente Minnelli)
16.)The Life of Oharu (Japanese 1952; Kenji Mizoguchi)
17.)Singin' in the Rain (1952; Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly)
18.)The Naked Spur (1953; Anthony Mann)
19.)Tokyo Story (Japanese 1953; Yasujiro Ozu)
20.)Voyage in Italy (Italian 1954; Robert Rosellini)
21.)The Searchers (1956; John Ford)
22.)Seven Men From Now (1956; Budd Boetticher)
23.)Sweet Smell of Success (1957; Alexander MacKendrick)
24.)Pickpocket (French 1959; Robert Bresson)
25.)La Notte (Italian 1961; Michelangelo Antonioni)
26.)Jules and Jim (French 1962; Francois Truffaut)
27.)Salvatore Giuliano (Italian 1962; Francesco Rosi)
28.)The Leopard (Italian 1963; Luchino Visconti)
29.)High and Low (Japanese 1963; Akira Kurosawa)
30.)Masculin Feminin (French 1966; Jean-Luc Godard)
31.)Once Upon a Time in the West (Italian 1968; Sergio Leone)
32.)2001: A Space Odyssey (1968; Stanley Kubrick)
33.)The Wild Bunch (1969; Sam Peckinpah)
34.)The Conformist (Italian 1970; Bernardo Bertolucci)
35.)Performance (English 1970; Donald Cammell/Nicolas Roeg)
36.)Claire's Knee (French 1970; Eric Rohmer)
37.)The Godfather (1972; Francis Ford Coppola)
38.)Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (German 1974; Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
39.)Taxi Driver (1976; Martin Scorsese)
40.)That Obscure Object of Desire (French 1977; Luis Bunuel)
41.)All That Jazz (1979; Bob Fosse)
42.)Nostalghia (Russian 1983; Andrei Tarkovsky)
43.)Blue Velvet (1986; David Lynch)
44.)The Dead (Irish 1987; John Huston)
45.)Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989; Woody Allen)
46.)Unforgiven (1992; Clint Eastwood)
47.)Fargo (1996; Joel and Ethan Coen)
48.)Mother and Son (Russian 1997; Alexander Sokurov)
49.)The Big Lebowski (1998; Joel and Ethan Coen)
50.)In The Mood For Love (Hong Kong 2000; Wong Kar Wai)
51.)Mulholland Dr. (2001; David Lynch)
52.)Talk to Her (Spanish 2002; Pedro Almodovar)

 

[osucollegebuck]

As an Italian Neorealist fan I would have Rome, Open City before the Bicycle Thieves. A very critical misspelling, for anyone who knows that film. Interesting list but I was surprised not to see 'Birth of a Nation' or 'The great train robbery'.

 

[buxfan4life]

Just got done with Eraserhead.

What. The. Fuck.

The only thing I liked about that film was the cinematography. Ugh. Would not make my list at all.

 

[swopes6]

One of my friends recommended requiem for a dream and yeah, that movie made me want to commit suicide. Seriously fucked up. Especially what heroin did to Jared Leto's arm. Good god!

 

[stowfan]

Just got done with Eraserhead.

What. The. Fuck.

The only thing I liked about that film was the cinematography. Ugh. Would not make my list at all.

I was just about to post, that I had abandoned my effort with Eraserhead about a third of the way through.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

Just got done with Eraserhead.

What. The. Fuck.

The only thing I liked about that film was the cinematography. Ugh. Would not make my list at all.

The purpose of "art" is not necessarily to please, but sometimes to challenge, even to offend (I just watched a movie called Rembrandt (1936), and in his day people were completely offended by his "dark" paintings, although today, of course, we consider him to be one of the greatest painters ever).

I am glad that you enjoyed the cinematography, which I consider to be amazing, some of the best ever.

Also, if you are a David Lynch fan in general (and most of his other works are much more accessible - Elephant Man, Blue Velvet. Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, even Mulholland Drive), then watching Eraserhead is a good way to see what some of his overriding artistic themes are, what "makes him tick".

 

[buxfan4life]

The purpose of "art" is not necessarily to please, but sometimes to challenge, even to offend (I just watched a movie called Rembrandt (1936), and in his day people were completely offended by his "dark" paintings, although today, of course, we consider him to be one of the greatest painters ever).

I am glad that you enjoyed the cinematography, which I consider to be amazing, some of the best ever.

Also, if you are a David Lynch fan in general (and most of his other works are much more accessible - Elephant Man, Blue Velvet. Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, even Mulholland Drive), then watching Eraserhead is a good way to see what some of his overriding artistic themes are, what "makes him tick".

I get that it was an art film, but the storyline was rambling, the acting forced for the most part, and there really was no continuity through out. Honestly, I came away from that film thinking the whole thing was a really bad acid trip put on screen.

Again, the cinematograpghy in it was great and can see why it would be a study film for aspiring directors. Some of the lighting and angles that were used reminded me of those used in Citizen Kane. But as a person who enjoys all kinds of movies, this one to me really lacked in many areas to make it a good movie in my eyes.

But, I did see it before I died, so I got that going for me.

 

[LordJeffBuck]

As an Italian Neorealist fan I would have Rome, Open City before the Bicycle Thieves. A very critical misspelling, for anyone who knows that film. Interesting list but I was surprised not to see 'Birth of a Nation' or 'The great train robbery'.

Roger Ebert lists the title as The Bicycle Thief /Bicycle Thieves, but uses The Bicycle Thief throughout the body of his review.

David Thompson, in A Biographical Dictionary of Film, which is quoted in Ebert's critical recap, calls it The Bicycle Thief.

Ditto for Bosley Crowther, the famous New York Times film reviewer, in his original review of 1949.

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die uses The Bicycle Thief

Parker Tyler in Classics of the Foreign Film calls it The Bicycle Thief.

IMDb uses Bicycle Thieves, with The Bicycle Thief as an alternate title.

Leonard Maltin uses Bicycle Thieves, but notes that the movie was originally released in the United States as The Bicycle Thief.

So, evidence on both sides on the argument - inconclusive result.

 

[DSelwyn]

The purpose of "art" is not necessarily to please, but sometimes to challenge, even to offend (I just watched a movie called Rembrandt (1936), and in his day people were completely offended by his "dark" paintings, although today, of course, we consider him to be one of the greatest painters ever).

I am glad that you enjoyed the cinematography, which I consider to be amazing, some of the best ever.

Also, if you are a David Lynch fan in general (and most of his other works are much more accessible - Elephant Man, Blue Velvet. Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, even Mulholland Drive), then watching Eraserhead is a good way to see what some of his overriding artistic themes are, what "makes him tick".

It made me smile when you wrote that you consider Mulholland Dr. to be more accessible than Eraserhead. It's possibly true, although many people will still have a "WTF" experience with Mulholland Dr.; also with Lost Highway and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, pound-for-pound, one of the weirdest films ever.

So many films have great cinematography..., anything directed by Terrence Malick comes to mind. Speaking of great cinematography, I almost comprised a list of 53 films, but I chickened out and didn't include Lars von Trier's Antichrist. One could write a great deal about "art", "challenging subject matter", "offensiveness" and "pushing the envelope" in regards to that film.

 

[BB73]

If anyone finishes LordJeffBuck's outstanding list of 52 movies, here is another 52 movies that are of similar high quality to LJB's list. I tried to make sure I didn't list any movies that were on his list, but error may have crept in here. There may also be some errors in production year and country of origin but hopefully not too many. If there is no country listed, you may assume it is an American film. Some films are problematic in this respect, like Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West, which although it is an English language film, was apparently filmed in Italy, Spain and the U.S. Oh well, Leone was Italian so Italy it is. One thing I noticed about LJB's list was the absence of any Russian films. This list corrects that omission a little. Hopefully the movie links to the appropriate IMDB page work. Enjoy.


1.) The General (1926; Buster Keaton)
2.) The Crowd (1928; King Vidor)
3.) Earth (Russian 1930; Alexander Dovzhenko)
4.) City Lights (1931; Charles Chaplin)
5.) Shanghai Express (1932; Josef von Sternberg)
6.) The Rules of the Game (French 1939; Jean Renoir)
7.) The Lady Eve (1941; Preston Sturges)
8.) Children of Paradise (French 1945; Marcel Carne)
9.) Out of the Past (1947; Jacques Tourneur)
10.)The Red Shoes (English 1948; Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger)
11.)Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948; Max Ophuls)
12.)Gun Crazy (1950; Joseph H. Lewis)
13.)Sunset Boulevard (1950; Billy Wilder)
14.)A Place in the Sun (1950; George Stevens)
15.)An American in Paris (1951; Vincente Minnelli)
16.)The Life of Oharu (Japanese 1952; Kenji Mizoguchi)
17.)Singin' in the Rain (1952; Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly)
18.)The Naked Spur (1953; Anthony Mann)
19.)Tokyo Story (Japanese 1953; Yasujiro Ozu)
20.)Voyage in Italy (Italian 1954; Robert Rosellini)
21.)The Searchers (1956; John Ford)
22.)Seven Men From Now (1956; Budd Boetticher)
23.)Sweet Smell of Success (1957; Alexander MacKendrick)
24.)Pickpocket (French 1959; Robert Bresson)
25.)La Notte (Italian 1961; Michelangelo Antonioni)
26.)Jules and Jim (French 1962; Francois Truffaut)
27.)Salvatore Giuliano (Italian 1962; Francesco Rosi)
28.)The Leopard (Italian 1963; Luchino Visconti)
29.)High and Low (Japanese 1963; Akira Kurosawa)
30.)Masculin Feminin (French 1966; Jean-Luc Godard)
31.)Once Upon a Time in the West (Italian 1968; Sergio Leone)
32.)2001: A Space Odyssey (1968; Stanley Kubrick)
33.)The Wild Bunch (1969; Sam Peckinpah)
34.)The Conformist (Italian 1970; Bernardo Bertolucci)
35.)Performance (English 1970; Donald Cammell/Nicolas Roeg)
36.)Claire's Knee (French 1970; Eric Rohmer)
37.)The Godfather (1972; Francis Ford Coppola)
38.)Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (German 1974; Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
39.)Taxi Driver (1976; Martin Scorsese)
40.)That Obscure Object of Desire (French 1977; Luis Bunuel)
41.)All That Jazz (1979; Bob Fosse)
42.)Nostalghia (Russian 1983; Andrei Tarkovsky)
43.)Blue Velvet (1986; David Lynch)
44.)The Dead (Irish 1987; John Huston)
45.)Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989; Woody Allen)
46.)Unforgiven (1992; Clint Eastwood)
47.)Fargo (1996; Joel and Ethan Coen)
48.)Mother and Son (Russian 1997; Alexander Sokurov)
49.)The Big Lebowski (1998; Joel and Ethan Coen)
50.)In The Mood For Love (Hong Kong 2000; Wong Kar Wai)
51.)Mulholland Dr. (2001; David Lynch)
52.)Talk to Her (Spanish 2002; Pedro Almodovar)

Dammit - I had enough to do just to get through the first list!

I like the inclusion of The Searchers, I think John Ford is one of the greats.

I saw The Leopard, and personally, I wouldn't include it on any list of movies that I'd recommend to anybody. I don't have anything against period pieces, costume dramas, or foreign language films, but I found it pretentious and boring. To each his own.

 

[osucollegebuck]

Roger Ebert lists the title as The Bicycle Thief /Bicycle Thieves, but uses The Bicycle Thief throughout the body of his review.

David Thompson, in A Biographical Dictionary of Film, which is quoted in Ebert's critical recap, calls it The Bicycle Thief.

Ditto for Bosley Crowther, the famous New York Times film reviewer, in his original review of 1949.

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die uses The Bicycle Thief

Parker Tyler in Classics of the Foreign Film calls it The Bicycle Thief.

IMDb uses Bicycle Thieves, with The Bicycle Thief as an alternate title.

Leonard Maltin uses Bicycle Thieves, but notes that the movie was originally released in the United States as The Bicycle Thief.

So, evidence on both sides on the argument - inconclusive result.

Interesting but I think if De Sica wanted the title to be 'Bicycle Thief' he would have entitled it 'ladro di bicicletta', not 'Ladri di biciclette'. But 'bicycle thief' just looks like another failure of we Americans LOL

"This devastating lesson enables Antonio to shed the morality which had previously distinguished him from the criminal object of his manhunt, making the Italian plural title of the film, Bicycle Thieves (as opposed to the misleading singular in English) a commentary on the sociopathic effects of life in the postwar era." Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism - Millicent Marcus

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

If there is a better comedy than Volcano I'd like to see it.

If you watch this movie expecting an Action/Thriller/Drama you'll be disappointed. But.... once you realize it's a comedy, well.... unbelievably awesome.

 

[osucollegebuck]

If there is a better comedy than Volcano I'd like to see it.

If you watch this movie expecting an Action/Thriller/Drama you'll be disappointed. But.... once you realize it's a comedy, well.... unbelievably awesome.

Love that movie!!! Ever see 'Dante's Peak'? Best scene is pierce brosnan spinning his truck tires in lava