Favorite Movies: The Nifty Fifty

'Ello, you lucky people!

People are always making lists of the best whatevers. I think the term "best" is misleading. Under whose authority is something better than something else? I, being a film guy, read a lot about films and the "greatest" films of all time. Every entertainment mag worth their weight has a "Best of Blahty-Blah" list every couple months. The IMDb has a "Top 250" list, which is the movies that get the highest number of high scores according to their users.

http://us.imdb.com/chart/top

The American Film Institute has its own list of 100 films of the first 100 years of film

http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/movies.aspx

I think both of these lists are problematic. These are all opinions whether they're internet geeks or top critics. I've decided, as a response, to compose a list of my 50 favorite films. These films are important to me in one way or another. I based my list on three basic criteria:
1) Re-watchability I've seen some films that I love that I will never watch again. Favorites must be viewed multiple times. Have you seen a movie a hundred times? Might it be your favorite?
2) Quotability If you've seen a movie a hundred times, you're gonna be able to quote lines at will and ad-nauseum
3) Bad-Assitude It could be one scene or it could be one tiny scene, but, for me, a movie has to impress me to be in my list. You can easily tell if this one is happening to you if you think or say "Awwww shit!" while chuckling.

Not all of these movies are considered "great" films in the annuls of film history, but they are important to me in my life or (hypothetical) career in film. Hopefully they will give you some insight into my warped mind. NOTE: The IMDb #1 film is The Godfather and AFI's #1 is Citizen Kane. Both are fantastic films and neither are on my list.

1) The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (1966) dir. Sergio Leone
2) Clerks (1994) dir. Kevin Smith
3) Pulp Fiction (1994) dir. Quentin Tarantino
4) Shaun of the Dead (2004) dir. Edgar Wright
5) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) dir. Stanley Kubrick
6) The Third Man (1949) dir. Carol Reed
7) Star Wars (1977) dir. George Lucas
8) Jaws (1975) dir. Steven Spielberg
9) Dawn of the Dead (1978) dir. George A. Romero
10) The Wild Bunch (1969) dir. Sam Peckinpah
11) Reservoir Dogs (1992) dir. Quentin Tarantino
12) Die Hard (1988) dir. John McTiernan
13) The Graduate (1967) dir. Mike Nichols
14) Evil Dead 2 (1987) dir. Sam Raimi
15) Fargo (1996) dir. Joel Coen
16) Goodfellas (1990) dir. Martin Scorsese
17) The Thing (1982) dir. John Carpenter
18) From Russia With Love (1963) dir. Terrence Young
19) Memento (2000) dir. Christopher Nolan
20) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) dir. Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones
21) Strangers on a Train (1951) dir. Alfred Hitchcock
22) The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick
23) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) dir. Steven Spielberg
24) Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) dir. Sergio Leone
25) Snatch. (2000) dir. Guy Ritchie
26) Halloween (1978) dir. John Carpenter
27) Se7en (1995) dir. David Fincher
28) Planet of the Apes (1968) dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
29) Sin City (2005) dir. Frank Miller & Robert Rodriguez, guest dir. Quentin Tarantino
30) Back to the Future (1985) dir. Robert Zemeckis
31) Chasing Amy (1997) dir. Kevin Smith
32) Double Indemnity (1944) dir. Billy Wilder
33) Leon (1994) dir. Luc Besson
34) The Departed (2006) dir. Martin Scorsese
35) The Getaway (1972) dir. Sam Peckinpah
36) Blade Runner (1982) dir. Ridley Scott
37) Alien (1979) dir. Ridley Scott
38) The Big Lebowski (1998) dir. Joel Coen
39) The Searchers (1956) dir. John Ford
40) Night of the Living Dead (1968) dir. George A. Romero
41) Fight Club (1999) dir. David Fincher
42) The Magnificent Seven (1960) dir. John Sturges
43) The Usual Suspects (1995) dir. Bryan Singer
44) For a Few Dollars More (1965) dir. Sergio Leone
45) A Clockwork Orange (1971) dir. Stanley Kubrick
46) American Psycho (2000) dir. Mary Harron
47) Goldfinger (1964) dir. Guy Hamilton
48) Life of Brian (1979) dir. Terry Jones
49) Dogma (1998) dir. Kevin Smith
50) Grindhouse (2007) dir. Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino, guest dir. Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, & Eli Roth

I have multiple movies on the list from certain directors. Well guess what: I have favorite directors also.

So, movie lovers, if you haven't seen any of these movies, why not give them a chance. Your old pal, Kander wouldn't steer you wrong. And feel free to weigh in with your opinions. Tell me I'm a dumb ass, see if I care.

Talk at ya later and keep circulating the tapes.