CINEMA ESSENTIALS

George O'Brien and Margaret Livingston in Sunrise: a Song of Two Humans (1927)

Cinema Essentials

Since 1958 when I watched my first movie (Darby O'Gill and the Little People [1958]) I have seen nearly 2,000 films.  What follows are lists of what I consider to be some of the essentials in the world of movies.  They might appear at first glance to be inconsistent with my lists of favorite movies.  But that is because I used different criteria for the essentials.  For instance, Foul Play (1978) and the original version of The Parent Trap (1961) are two of my all-time favorite movies, but they are far from essential.

 A.

(Listings in this section are alphabetical.)

Paul Henreid and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)

25 Essential Films

Bicycle Thieves (1948) (d. Vittorio de Sica)

Casablanca (1942) (d. Michael Curtiz)

Citizen Kane (1941) (d. Orson Welles)

City Lights (1931) (d. Charlie Chaplin)

Dr. Stranglove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) (d. Stanley Kubrick)

The General (1926) (d. Buster Keaton)

 The Godfather (1972) (d. Francis Ford Coppola)

Grand Illusion (1937) (d. Jean Renoir)

The Great Train Robbery (1903) (d. Edwin Porter)

High Noon (1952) (d. Fred Zinnemann)

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxells (1975) (d. Chantal Akerman) 

La Strada (1954) (d. Federico Fellini)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) (d. John Ford)

Metropolis (1927) (d. Fritz Lang)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) (d. Frank Capra)

My Dinner with Andre (1980) (d. Louis Malle)

Nashville (1975) (d. Robert Altman)

North by Northwest (1959) (d. Alfred Hitchcock)

Pulp Fiction (1994) (d. Quentin Tarantino)

Rear Window (1954) (d. Alfred Hitchcock)

Seven Samurai (1954) (d. Akira Kurosawa)

Sunrise: a Song of Two Humans (1927) (d. F.W. Murnau)

The Third Man (1949) (d. Carol Reed)

Vertigo (1950) (d. Alfred Hitchcock)

Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper in Meet John Doe(1941), directed by Frank Capra

10 Essential Directors

Ingmar Bergman

Frank Capra

Charlie Chaplin

George Cukor

Federico Fellini

John Ford

Alfred Hitchcock

Akira Kurosawa

Fritz Lang

Billy Wilder

Katharine Hepburn and Constance Collier in Stage Door (1937)

21 Essential Acting Performances 

Montgomery Clift (“Robert E. Lee Prewitt”)—From Here to Eternity (1953) (d. Fred Zinnemann)

Gary Cooper (“Longfellow Deeds”)—Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) (d. Frank Capra)

 Bette Davis (“Margo Channing”) —All About Eve (1950) (d. Joseph L. Mankiewicz)

Bette Davis (“Baby Jane”)—Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) (d. Robert Aldrich)

Daniel Day-Lewis  (“Abraham Lincoln”)—Lincoln (2014) (d. Steven Spielberg)

Katharine Hepburn (“Terry Randall”)—Stage Door (1937) (p. Pandro S. Berman)

Katharine Hepburn (“Tracy Lord”)—The Philadelphia Story (1940) (d. George Cukor)

Dustin Hoffman (“Michael Dorsey”)—Tootsie (1982) (d. Sydney Pollack)

Jennifer Lawrence (“Ree”)—Winter’s Bone (2010) (d. Debra Kranik)

Jack Lemmon (“Jerry/Daphne”)—Some Like It Hot (1959) (d. Billy Wilder)

Carole Lombard (“Irene Bullock”)—My Man Godfrey (1936) (d. Gregory La Cava)

Jack Nicholson ("Randall Patrick McMurphy”)—One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) (d. Milos Forman)

Peter O’Toole (“T.E. Lawrence”)—Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (d. David Lean)

Gregory Peck (“Atticus Finch”)—To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (d. Robert Mulligan)

Sidney Poitier (“Virgil Tibbs”)—In the Heat of the Night (1967) (d. Norman Jewison)

Peter Sellers (“Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake” / “President Merkin Muffley” / “Dr. Strangelove”)—Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) (d. Stanley Kubrick)

Barbara Stanwyck (“Lily Powers”)—Baby Face (1933) (d. Alfred E. Green)

James Stewart (“George Bailey”)—It's a Wonderful Life (1946) (d. Frank Capra)

Meryl Streep (“Sophie Zawistowsi”)—Sophie's Choice (1982) (d. Alan J. Pakula)

Elizabeth Taylor (“Martha”)—Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) (d. Mike Nichols)

Spencer Tracy (“John J. Macreedy”)—Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) (d. John Sturges)

The Red Shoes (1948) (c. Jack Cardiff) (d. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)

16 Essential Cinematographers and Their Signature Films

Jack Cardiff—The Red Shoes (1948) (d. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger); Black Narcissus (1947) (d. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)

Karl Freund—Metropolis (1927) (d. Fritz Lang)

Lee Garmes—Duel in the Sun  (1946) (p. David O. Selznick); Morocco (1930) (d. Josef von Sternberg) 

Conrad Hall—Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) (d. George Roy Hill)

James Wong Howe—Hud (1964) (d. Martin Ritt); Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (d. Alexander Mackendrick); The Rose Tattoo (1955) (d. Daniel Mann)  

Robert Krasker—The Third Man (1949) (d. Carol Reed)

Charles Lang, Jr.—Some Like It Hot (1959) (d. Billy Wilder)

Emmanuel Lubezki—Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignornace) (2014) (d. Alejandro Iñárritu)

Sven Nyquist—The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) (d. Philip Kaufman)

Joseph Ruttenberg—Gaslight (1944) (d. George Cukor)

John Seitz—Sunset Blvd.  (1950) (d. Billy Wilder)

Robert Surtees—Ben-Hur (1959) (d. William Wyler); The Graduate (1967) (d. Mike Nichols)

Gregg Toland—Wuthering Heights (1939) (d. William Wyler);The Grapes of Wrath (1940) (d. John Ford); Citizen Kane (1941) (d. Orson Welles)

Haskell Wexler—Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) (d. Mike Nichols); In the Heat of the Night (1967) (d. Norman Jewison)

Gordon Willis—The Godfather (1972) (d. Francis Ford Coppola); The Parallax View (1974) (d. Alan J. Pakula); All the President's Men (1976) (d. Alan J. Pakula); Manhattan (1979) (d. Woody Allen) 

Freddie Young—Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (d. David Lean)

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

11 Essential Screenwriters and Their Signature Films

Woody Allen—Annie Hall (1977) (d. Woody Allen)

Paddy Chayefsky—Network (1976) (d. Sidney Lumet)

Charlie Kaufman—Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) (d. Michael Gondry)

Ernest Lehman—Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (d. Alexander Mackendrick)

Herman J. Mankiewicz—Citizen Kane (1941) (d. Orson Welles)

Robert Riskin—It Happened One Night (1934) (d. Frank Capra)

Morrie Ryskind—My Man Godfrey (1936) (d. Gregory La Cava)

Rod Serling—Seven Days in May (1964) (d. John Frankenheimer)

Jo Swerling—The Pride of the Yankees (1942) (d. Sam Wood)

Quentin Tarantino—Pulp Fiction (1994) (d. Quentin Tarantino)

Billy Wilder—Sunset Blvd. (1950) (d. Billy Wilder)

B. 

(Listings in section B are in order of relevance to the category.)

Henry Fonda as Juror #8 in 12 Angry Men (1957)

5 Essential Films About Lawyers/The Law /The Legal System

 12 Angry Men (1957) (d. Sidney Lumet)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959) (d. Otto Preminger)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (d. Robert Mulligan)

The Verdict (1982) (d. Sidney Lumet)

. . . And Justice for All (1979) (d. Norman Jewison)

 

Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Martin Milner in Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

6 Essential Films About Journalism

All the President’s Men (1976) (d. Alan J. Pakula)

Spotlight (2015) (d. Tom McCarthy)

Ace in the Hole (1951) (d. Billy Wilder)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (d. Alexander Mackendrick)

Almost Famous (2000) (d. Cameron Crowe)

Citizen Kane (1941) (d. Orson Welles)

Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)

5 Essential Films of Intrigue/Conspiracy

Chinatown (1974) (d. Roman Polanski)

The Conversation (1974) (d. Francis Ford Coppola)

Seven Days in May (1964) (d. John Frankenheimer)

The Third Man (1949) (d. Carol Reed)

The Parallax View (1974) (d. Alan J. Pakula)

 

Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster in Seven Days in May (1964)

5 Essential Films About Politics

Seven Days in May (1964) (d. John Frankenheimer)

The American President (1995) (d. Rob Reiner)

The Candidate (1972) (d. Michael Ritchie)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) (d. Frank Capra)

All the President’s Men (1976) (d. Alan J. Pakula)

Gregory Peck and James Anderson in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

 5 Essential Films About Race

In the Heat of the Night (1967) (d. Norman Jewison)

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (d. Robert Mulligan)

Do the Right Thing (1989) (d. Spike Lee)

Glory (1989) (d. Edward Zwyck)

Schindler’s List (1993) (d. Steven Spielberg)

Lee Marvin, Dean Jagger, and Robert Ryan in Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)

5 Essential Films About Crime Investigation/Mystery

L.A. Confidential (1997) (d. Curtis Hansen)

Chinatown (1974) (d. Roman Polanski)

In the Heat of the Night (1967) (d. Norman Jewison)

Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) (d. John Sturges)

 The Maltese Falcon (1941) (d. John Huston)

Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer in Out of the Past (1947)

10 Essential Films Noir*

The Maltese Falcon (1941) (d. John Huston)

The Third Man (1949) (d. Carol Reed)

Double Indemnity (1944) (d. Billy Wilder)

Out of the Past (1947) (d. Jacques Tourneur)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (d. Alexander Mackendrick)

Notorious (1946) (d. Alfred Hitchcock)

Leave Her to Heaven (1945) (d. John Stahl)

Laura (1944) (d. Otto Preminger)

The Big Heat (1953) (d. Fritz Lang)

The Night of the Hunter (1955) (d. Charles Laughton)

*Citizen Kane (1941) is sometimes included in lists of films noir.  If I included it here, it would be at the top.

 

Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Masina in La Strada (1954) directed by Federico Fellini

7 Essential Foreign Language Films

Seven Samurai (1954) (d. Akira Kurosawa)
Grand Illusion (1937) (d. Jean Renoir)
Bicycle Thieves (1948) (d. Vittorio De Sica)
Metropolis (1927) (d. Fritz Lang)
M (1931) (d. Fritz Lang)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxells (1975) (d. Chantal Akerman) 
La Strada (1954) (d. Federico Fellini)

 

Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves (1990)

7 Essential Westerns

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) (d. John Ford)

High Noon (1952) (d. Fred Zinnemann)

The Big Country (1958) (d. William Wyler)

Dances with Wolves (1990) (d. Kevin Costner)

The Magnificent Seven (1960) (d. John Sturges)

The Gunfighter (1950) (d. Henry King)

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) (d. William Wellman)

 

Cathy O'Donnell, Harry Cheshire, and Harold Russell in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

8 Essential War Films

Black Hawk Down (2001) (d. Ridley Scott)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) (d. William Wyler)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (d. David Lean)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) (d. David Lean)

Das Boot (1981) (d. Wolfgang Petersen)

Grand Illusion (1937) (d. Jean Renoir)

Stalag 17 (1953) (d. Billy Wilder)

Apocalypse Now (1979) (d. Francis Ford Coppola)

Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot (1959)

 5 Essential Comedies

City Lights (1931) (d. Charlie Chaplin)

Fargo (1996) (d. Joel & Ethan Coen)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) (d. Stanley Kubrick)

The Music Box (1932) (short) (p. Hal Roach)

Some Like It Hot (1959) (d. Billy Wilder)

 

Norma Shearer in Lady of the Night (1925)

10 Essential Silent Films

City Lights (1931) (d. Charlie Chaplin)

The General (1926) (d. Buster Keaton)

Sunrise: a Song of Two Humans (1927) (d. F.W. Murnau)

Metropolis (1927) (d. Fritz Lang)

The Gold Rush (1925) (d. Charlie Chaplin)

Wings (1927) (d. William Wellman)

Greed (1924) (d. Erich von Stroheim)

Lady of the Night (1925) (d. Monta Bell)

What Price Glory (1926) (d. Raoul Walsh)

Don Juan (1926) (d. Alan Crosland)

Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull (1980)

 

5 ESSENTIAL SPORTS FILMS

The Pride of the Yankees (1942) (p. Samuel Goldwyn)

The Natural (1984) (d. Barry Levinson)

Raging Bull (1980) (d. Martin Scorsese)

The Harder They Fall (1956) (d. Mark Robson)

Chariots of Fire (1981) (d. Hugh Hudson)

West Side Story (1961)

6 ESSENTIAL MUSICALS

West Side Story (1961) (d. Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins)

The Wizard of Oz (1939) (p. Mervyn LeRoy)

Singin’ in the Rain (1952) (d. Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)

Top Hat (1935) (p. Pandro S. Berman)

The Sound of Music (1965) (d. Robert Wise)

Fiddler on the Roof (1971) (d. Norman Jewison)

 

Jackie Robinson

7 Essential Documentaries

The Civil War (TV-1990) (d. Ken Burns)

Bowling for Columbine (2002) (d. Michael Moore)

Baseball (TV-1994, -2010) (d. Ken Burns)

Capturing the Friedmans (2003) (d. Andrew Jarecki)

Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) (d. Barbara Kopple)

The Thin Blue Line (1988) (d. Errol Morris)

Crumb (1994) (d. Terry Zwigoff)

Kelly McGillis in Witness (1985)

The Parallax View (1974)

9 Essential or Nearly-Essential, Puzzlingly-underrated Films

Shakespeare in Love (1998) (d. John Madden)

Best in Show (2000) (d. Christopher Guest)

Witness (1985) (d. Peter Weir)

Norma Rae (1979) (d. Martin Ritt)

Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) (d. Michael Apted)

Biloxi Blues (1988) (d. Mike Nichols)

The Parallax View (1974) (d. Alan J. Pakula)

The Out of Towners (1970) (d. Arthur Hiller)

Life with Father (1947) (d. Michael Curtiz)