My Trimmed-Down Fave List

List creator: Brockton Created on: September 30, 2003 - 11:11 AM PDT Description: It was painful narrowing the list down, and it's still miserably long... I humbly submit my list of the movies that mean the most to me (in no particular order).

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	movie title	related list	average rating	MPAA rating	watch	rent	buy
	The Big Sleep (1946)			Not Rated
My all-time favorite. Good luck making sense of the plot, but the plot is secondary anyway. Legend has it that not even the author Chandler could tie up the plot.
	Pulp Fiction (1994)
The movie that really got me into movies. I don't believe QT will ever equal it.
	Casablanca (Special Edition) (1942)
Must I explain? This movie has everything.
	The Killer (1989)			Not Rated
John Woo's best. Peckinpah ultraviolence mixed with some pretty sappy (by American Standards) male bonding.
	Miller's Crossing (1990)
The best Coen bros. movie for me. A great combination of satire, homage, great screenwriting, and art.
	Sullivan's Travels (Criterion Collection) (1941)			Not Rated
It's a crime that only two of Sturge's movies are on DVD.
	Vertigo (Special Edition) (1958)
Perhaps the most disturbing, and definitely the deepest, of Hitchcock's movies. A beautiful study of obsession and stalking (long before it had a name).
	Strangers on a Train (Final Release Version) (1951)
Runner-up for the most disturbing Hitchcock film. Flawless.
	The Maltese Falcon (1941)			Not Rated
The blue print for noir. Landmark in both Bogart and Huston's careers. But watch it because it's just damn good.
	Sweet Smell of Success (Criterion) (1957)			Not Rated
Dialog laced with arsenic. An ancestor of those ascerbic David Mamet movies.
	All About Eve (1950)
The dialog cracks like a whip. One of Bette Davis' best performances.
	The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)			Not Rated
An incredibly twisted variant of the classic B&W horror movie. James Whale was a genious.
	Double Indemnity (1944)
Like Fred McMurray, I cannot keep my eyes off that ankle bracelet. The definitive femme fatale flick.
	The Wild Bunch (1969)
Macho and ultra-violent. A great western about the importance of having a code to live by.
	It's a Wonderful Life (1946)			Not Rated
I resisted watching this for years because I assumed it was just Christmas sap. How wrong I was!
	Mildred Pierce (1945)			Not Rated
Crawford turns in a great performance about a woman done in by an overactive maternal impulse.
	Touch of Evil (1958)			Not Rated
Welles as Harry Lime was the epitome of evil in The Third Man. He's even nastier as Captain Quinlan in this film. It's important to look past the casting of Charleton Heston as a Mexican and enjoy this brilliant film.
	Being John Malkovich (1999)
This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.
	Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)			Not Rated
Pitch perfect portrait of paranoia.
	Chinatown (1974)
Polanski's homage to noir ends up being a noir classic on the same level as the Maltese Falcon and the Big Sleep.
	Ran (1985)
Samurai epic based on King Lear. Don't start watching unless you have enough time to finish in one sitting.
	Singin' in the Rain (1952)
I don't know if this is the best musical ever made, but it's my favorite.
	Sunset Boulevard (1950)			Not Rated
Gloria Swanson's performance must be seen to be believed.
	Taxi Driver (1976)
All of the post-Viet Nam, post -flowerchild, post-freelove angst rolled into one movie.
	To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
I want to be Atticus Finch when I grow up.
	The Night of the Hunter (Criterion) (1955)			Not Rated
One of the great children-menaced-by-evil-adult films. Career-best performance by Mitchum.
	The Untouchables (1987)
The only Kevin Costner movie I've ever enjoyed. Eliot Ness needed to be played flat as a board, and Costner's the right actor for that.
	Boogie Nights (1997)
Wow, a sensitive story about porn actors. And a beautiful portrayal of dumb people in a non-comedy context.
	The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Even though it is long, you never notice. I love the part near the end with the closeups of the three squinting at each other.
	Hope and Glory (1987)
A movie that is totally sweet without being cloying. Bildungsroman right up there with My Life as a Dog.
	The Killers (Criterion Collection) (1946)			Not Rated
Ava Gardner as the femme fatale, Burt Lancaster as her victim; this is hot stuff.
	The Apartment (1960)			Not Rated
A clever plot about moving up in a company that is still relevant today.
	The Godfather (1972)
This is not just a movie. It's a monument. Takes a middling pulp novel and turns it into one of the seminal stories of America.
	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Youngsters who only know Obi Wan Kenobi need to see Alec Guiness in his prime. My nominee for best David Lean film.
	The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Special Edition) (1939)
I saw this too many times (on network TV, of course) during childhood not to include it here. When I was a child, it was the story and the scary flying monkeys. Now I get into the witty dialog and song lyrics.
	The Exorcist (1973)
Scariest movie I've ever seen.
	Manhattan (1979)
Woody Allen's obsession with teenage girls wasn't quite as timeworn when this was released. Watch it for the beautiful B&W cinematography backed by a Gershwin soundtrack. It's pretty funny, too.
	The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The ultimate conspiracy film. The scenes with the lady's gardening club are some of the most memorable of any movie I've seen.
	The Truman Show (1998)
An engaging, well-made, well-written comedy. And that's before you start wondering about the allegorical implications. A great movie starring an actor I generally despise.
	What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Old Bette Davis dressed up like a doll and singing, "I'm writing a letter to daddy." Just thinking about it gives me the chills.
	Blue Velvet (1986)
Visually brilliant. Career performance by Hopper. Not a feel-good movie.
	The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
One of the most visually striking movies you'll ever see. Really.