Here's a list put up by some dude who thinks that to be film literate
you need to have watched these 100+ movies. I have marked the ones that
I have seen with an asterisk. Some of the ones that I haven't seen
surprise me. They are films that have a particular stature that it
seems I already know the plot and their major importance to film history
already. Maybe I should check them out. Also, I know I've seen bits
and pieces of a few more that I don't remember about.
I clock in about 60 or so movies. How about you?
*2001: A Space Odyssey
* The 400 Blows
8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
* Alien
All About Eve
* Annie Hall
* Apocalypse Now
* Bambi
* The Battleship Potemkin
The Best Years of Our Lives
* The Big Red One
The Bicycle Thief
* The Big Sleep
* Blade Runner
Blowup
* Blue Velvet
* Bonnie and Clyde
* Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
* Carrie
* Casablanca
Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
* Chinatown
* Citizen Kane
* A Clockwork Orange
* The Crying Game
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
* Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
* Do the Right Thing
La Dolce Vita
Double Indemnity
* Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
* E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial
Easy Rider
* The Empire Strikes Back
* The Exorcist
* Fargo
* Fight Club
* Frankenstein
* The General
* The Godfather, The Godfather, Part II
Gone With the Wind
* GoodFellas
* The Graduate
* Halloween
* A Hard Day's Night
Intolerance
It's a Gift
* It's a Wonderful Life
* Jaws
The Lady Eve
* Lawrence of Arabia
* M
* Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
The Maltese Falcon
The Manchurian Candidate
Metropolis
Modern Times
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
* Night of the Living Dead
* North by Northwest
* Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
* Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
* Pink Flamingos
* Psycho
* Pulp Fiction
* Rashomon
* Rear Window
* Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
Repulsion
* The Rules of the Game
* Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
Schindler's List
The Searchers
* The Seven Samurai
Singin' in the Rain
Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
* Taxi Driver
The Third Man
* Tokyo Story
* Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Trouble in Paradise
* Vertigo
* West Side Story
The Wild Bunch
* The Wizard of Oz