We’ve been having some fun over at the Four Word Film Review comparing top-100 movie lists. Some call their lists the “greatest,” I simply call them “my favorites.” The first lister specified that the cutoff should be 2003, so that each film is at least ten years old and you’re not still under the spell of the brand new. (Howdy there, AMERICAN BEAUTY and A BEAUTIFUL MIND!)
These lists serve two purposes: they give us something neat to discuss, and they allow us to catch up on flicks we’ve missed. So here’s my pre-2004 hundred. Some are related, but I consider them separate movies, with one exception.
My Favorite 100 Films That Are At Least Ten Years Old (alpha)
- 12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
- 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
- THE 400 BLOWS (1959)
- ALIEN (1979)
- ALIENS (1986)
- ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)
- NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE (1978)
- ANNIE HALL (1976)
- APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
- ARTHUR (1981)
- BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)
- BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946)
- THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
- BLADE RUNNER (1982)
- BLAZING SADDLES (1974)
- BLOOD SIMPLE (1984)
- BODY HEAT (1981)
- BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
- THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919)
- CASABLANCA (1942)
- CHINATOWN (1974)
- CITIZEN KANE (1941)
- A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
- CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1979)
- COOL HAND LUKE (1967)
- CRIES AND WHISPERS (1972)
- DARBY O’GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE (1959)
- A DAY AT THE RACES (1937)
- DAY FOR NIGHT (1973)
- THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967)
- DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
- DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975)
- DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
- AKIRA KUROSAWA’S DREAMS (1990)
- FANTASIA (1940)
- FARGO (1996)
- FITZCARRALDO (1982)
- FULL METAL JACKET (1987)
- THE GAME (1997)
- THE GODFATHER (1972)
- THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
- GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
- THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY (1966)
- GOODFELLAS (1990)
- GRAND ILLUSION (1937)
- HALLOWEEN (1978)
- THE HELLSTROM CHRONICLE (1971)
- INTOLERANCE (1916)
- JAWS (1976)
- LA JETEE (1962)
- JURASSIC PARK (1993)
- KING KONG (1933)
- KOYAANISQATSI (1982)
- LADY & THE TRAMP (1955)
- THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989)
- THE LORD OF THE RINGS (2001-2003) The director sez it’s one long movie, so do I.
- M (1931)
- THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
- MANHATTAN (1979)
- MARY POPPINS (1964)
- M*A*S*H (1970)
- THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964)
- MOBY DICK (1956)
- MODERN TIMES (1936)
- MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982)
- NASHVILLE (1976)
- A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)
- NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
- PATTON (1970)
- THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)
- PLANET OF THE APES (1968)
- THE PRODUCERS (1968)
- PSYCHO (1960)
- PULP FICTION (1994)
- RASHOMON (1950)
- RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
- ROGER & ME (1989)
- ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)
- THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939)
- SAFETY LAST! (1923)
- THE SEARCHERS (1956)
- THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)
- THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
- SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952)
- THE SORROW AND THE PITY (1969)
- THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
- SPARTACUS (1960)
- STAR WARS (1977)
- LA STRADA (1954)
- SUNRISE (1927)
- SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
- SUPERMAN (1978)
- THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984)
- TOY STORY (1995)
- A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902)
- UNFORGIVEN (1992)
- WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957)
- THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
- YOJIMBO (1961)
- SPACE RESERVED FOR THE ONE I FORGOT
Now, how about you?
You and Me, Dupree 
Thanks Tom. I saved your list. I’ll start watching the ones I have not seen, or have forgotten.
$hide
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Thanks Tom. Many of these would be on my own desert island list, and there are a few that I haven’t seen, so clearly I must catch up. My favorite list would include Lawrence of Arabia somewhere near the top of the list, And a couple more of Hitch’s, probably Rear Window and The Birds.
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All great ones which would easily make my second hundred. That’s what makes this exercise so much fun. Interestingly, so far nobody’s cuffed me for omitting VERTIGO, the reigning “Best All-Time” according to SIGHT AND SOUND’s poll, but certain influential others see much more in it than I do.
I’m using these lists just like you and Jim plan to: everybody cites some I haven’t caught yet.
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While my list and yours overlaps in many titles, there will certainly be some differences. (For examples: I agree about “Blazing Saddles” and “The Producers” but wonder how Blanc’s “Young Frankenstein” failed to join them. I agree with Kurosawa’s “Dreams” and “Rashomon” but miss “Ikiru” and “Seven Samurai.” I like “Unforgiven” but love “Pale Rider”.)
There are only a few of yours that make me wonder how they got to the “top 100”. I suspect that “Darby O’Gill survived the tournament only because it came out at just the right time in your childhood that you can’t afford to admit that it’s mediocre.
I remember that you liked “Butch Cassidy” when you reviewed it in 1969 for the Purple & White, and you don’t care that the plot is non-existent – a series of escapades that could have been arranged in almost any order (and please drop that awful “Raindrops” song sequence!).
I see too few sports movies: no “Hoosiers,” no “Chariots of Fire,” no “Pride of the Yankees”?
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Over on Facebook, somebody else chided me about YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. (I prefer comments over here, because they tend to stick around, so thanks.) Many people would axe DREAMS in favor of SAMURAI. My second hundred would definitely have more Kurosawa, Bergman, Hitch and Fellini.
BUTCH is a revisionist Western, the first one I’d seen at that point in my life. One of the best screenplays I’ve ever read. Couldn’t agree more about the break for the pop song, but that’s how you marketed big movies in those days. UNFORGIVEN nailed the coffin shut years later. I think it’s Clint’s masterpiece.
Re Kurosawa: you forgot YOJIMBO. I’d rather see it again than A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, just as I’d rather re-screen SEVEN SAMURAI over THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. But I’d rather watch STAR WARS again than THE HIDDEN FORTRESS, so there.
Hands off my DARBY O’GILL! Not only a great story, with fun and chills (and its own dumb song, dammit: poor Sean Connery!), but still the most convincing depiction of leprechauns I’ve ever seen. You can stare and stare, but they still look like they’re really there. CGI doesn’t convince me as well as cleverly applied forced perspective (and split diopters, for you nerds out there). See also the dining-table scenes in the hobbit homes in LOTR and THE HOBBIT: the effect is so cheap, but looks so real, you just have to laugh!
I cop to a lack of sports movies on the list, but I suspect I’d disappoint you: my favorite one is ROLLERBALL, and I just do not get the tedious CHARIOTS OF FIRE, cinematically epitomized for me in the classic much-parodied slo-mo sequence: get bloody ON with it, mate!
Isn’t this fun?
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Mmmmm…A Man For All Seasons didn’t make the cut? I’d throw in Barry Lyndon as well but Ryan O’Neal has the worst irish accent that, well, just ticked me off!
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Kubrick’s body of work has hit me like nobody else’s over the years, and everything of his beginning with PATHS OF GLORY, including BARRY LYNDON (awful performance and all) and EYES WIDE SHUT, would be in my second hundred. Not a nice guy, perhaps, but imho he was the best of them all.
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I’m thinking that empty space for the one you forgot could be Shawshank Redemption…
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I am considering it, as well as LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Where’s the fan club for BONNIE & CLYDE or THE WILD BUNCH?
Then there’s Sidney Lumet’s second most claustrophobic movie, FAIL-SAFE… See? This way lies madness.
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Limiting oneself to 100 is so frustrating!
I recognize that “Darby O’Gill” and “Spinal Tap” and “Butch Cassidy” and “Arthur” are firmly entrenched, but they are among the few here that I would argue should not be anywhere near the top of your generally excellent list.
Re: “Modern Times”: after the first 18 minutes it’s pretty ordinary as a film – but those first 18 minutes are indeed classic.
I agree with you that “Vertigo” does not deserve a “top” ranking.
Last thoughts –
I would exchange “Duck Soup” for “A Day at the Races” and “The Messenger” for “The Sorrow and the Pity.”
I miss “The Pawnbroker” and “My Darling Clementine” and “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Mrs. Miniver” and “Do the Right Thing” and “The Sting.” I see no performances by Burt Lancaster (Seven Days in May?) or Streep (Sophie’s Choice?). No movies from China (Raise the Red Lantern? Jou Do?).
Feel free to agree with me on all of these suggestions, Tom.
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Hee hee. You had me at “so frustrating”!
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OK, you asked for it, here’s my list. No inclusion rules; any movie I’ve seen from anywhere, anytime from ~1880 to 2013, any genre, is up for grabs. This has nothing to do with most-influential or important, this is nothing more or less than movies that made me think on any viewing “This is awesome!”. ‘Standing the test of time’ was not a consideration, a movie only needs to ‘wow’ me once to have achieved its purpose. Naturally if it wows me repeatedly then it’s extremely likely to be on this list.
I’ve merged some sequels and trilogies into one entry.
Some stats and observations:-
– 1 silent movie
– 1 documentary
– 1 short
– 42 non-English language
– Non-English-language movies dominate from about 2002 (12 from 16)
– 1982 is the half-way point
– No movies made since 2009 have wowed me (am I becoming harder to please?)
– I’ve scored 74 movies 10/10 at IMDb, and 179 more 9/10. This list is all the 10s and 26 of the 9s (chosen after some pondering). I could easily make a personal Top 250 without further thought.
Notable directors:-
Alfred Hitchcock – 5
Sergio Leone – 4
Akira Kurosawa – 3
David Lynch – 3
Hayao Miyazaki – 3 (Isao Takahata has 2, so Studio Ghibli has 5% of this list)
Andrei Tarkovsky, Billy Wilder, David Fincher, David Lean, Francis Coppola, Isao Takahata, Ridley Scott, Stanley Kubrick, William Wyler all have two.
Here they are, in chronological order:-
Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922)
Rebecca (1940)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Notorious (1946)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
The Third Man (1949)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
All About Eve (1950)
High Noon (1952)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Rear Window (1954)
Rififi (1955)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
12 Angry Men (1957)
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
North by Northwest (1959)
The Apartment (1960)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Great Escape (1963)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Solaris (1972)
The Phone Box (1972)
The Godfather (and sequel) (1972)
Deliverance (1972)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Papillon (1973)
The Wicker Man (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
Dersu Uzala (1975)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Stalker (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Alien (and sequel) (1979)
The Elephant Man (1980)
Das Boot (1981)
Blade Runner (1982)
Terminator (1984)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Come and See (1985)
Wings of Desire (1987)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
Only Yesterday (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Delicatessen (1991)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Schindler’s List (1993)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Burnt by the Sun (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Se7en (1995)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Ulysses’ Gaze (1995)
L’appartement (1996)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Fucking Amal (1998)
Festen (1998)
Fight Club (1999)
The Straight Story (1999)
American Beauty (1999)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Memento (2000)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
Spirited Away (2001)
The Lord of the Rings (trilogy) (2001)
City of God (2002)
The Pianist (2002)
Memories of Murder (2003)
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Machuca (2004)
The Incredibles (2004)
Downfall (2004)
The Consequences of Love (2004)
Water (2005)
March of the Penguins (2005)
The Lives of Others (2006)
The Bothersome Man (2006)
Couscous (2007)
Let the Right One In (2008)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
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I begged you to post this list over here b/c there are so many holes in it that I haven’t covered. I think you elevate too much, but then there’s so much stuff that I haven’t seen yet. Thanks, from halfway around the world.
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I’m still waiting for you to rip into it on fwfr. 🙂 If you have the time/inclination then I’d like to see a list of the ones you haven’t seen (I thought there’d be a few, but not as many as you imply). Then I’ll prioritise them if you want. Some not-so-well known ones here are essentials in my view (i.e., more than just personal faves).
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OK, here are the ones on your list that I either haven’t seen or don’t remember — a fifth of them!
Rififi (1955)
The Phone Box (1972)
Dersu Uzala (1975)
Stalker (1979)
Come and See (1985)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Burnt by the Sun (1994)
Ulysses’ Gaze (1995)
L’appartement (1996)
Fucking Amal (1998)
Festen (1998)
Memories of Murder (2003)
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Machuca (2004)
The Consequences of Love (2004)
Water (2005)
The Bothersome Man (2006)
Couscous (2007)
And here are the ones to which I think you were too kind:
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
For a Few Dollars More (1965)
Papillon (1973)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
The Straight Story (1999)
American Beauty (1999)
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I hope everybody is watching THE STORY OF FILM on TCM. It’s a ten-week film history class, after which you’ll know more than even your snobbiest friends.
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Tom, Love your “new” list! I have added of course Young Frankenstein and Princess Bride…ok a little sappy. More films to add to my list on Netflix!
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Hi Tom, here is my alphabetical list of 100 pre-2003, as of 12:04 p.m. today. Mileage may vary. BTW, I notice there is about a 50 percent overlap with your list, so you got half of yours wrong!
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
A NOUS LA LIBERTE (1931)
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938)
AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD (1972)
ALIEN (1979)
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)
AMELIE (2001)
ANNIE HALL (1976)
APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925)
THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
BLADE RUNNER (1982)
BLUE VELVET (1986)
BRAZIL (1985)
BREATHLESS (1960)
BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935)
BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919)
CARMEN (1983)
CASABLANCA (1942)
CAT PEOPLE (1943)
CHINATOWN (1974)
CITIZEN KANE (1941)
CLAIRE’S KNEE (1971)
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1979)
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951)
DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978)
DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
DUCK SOUP (1933)
EASY RIDER (1969)
FARGO (1996)
FITZCARRALDO (1982)
THE 400 BLOWS (1959)
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963)
THE GENERAL (1926)
GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
THE GODFATHER (1972)
THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
GOODFELLAS (1990)
GRAND ILLUSION (1937)
THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (1964)
HOOP DREAMS (1994)
INTOLERANCE (1916)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
JAWS (1976)
KING KONG (1933)
KOYAANISQATSI (1982)
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1963)
LE CRIME DE M. LANGE (1935)
THE LORD OF THE RINGS (2001-2003)
M (1931)
M*A*S*H (1970)
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
MANHATTAN (1979)
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946)
METROPOLIS (1927)
MODERN TIMES (1936)
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975)
MURDER, HE SAYS (1945)
NETWORK (1976)
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)
NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955)
NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
NOSFERATU (1922)
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968)
OUR HOSPITALITY (1923)
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC (1927)
PICKPOCKET (1959)
PLAYTIME (1967)
PSYCHO (1960)
RASHOMON (1950)
REAR WINDOW (1954)
ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)
THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939)
SAFETY LAST! (1923)
THE SEARCHERS (1956)
THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954)
THE SEVENTH SEAL (1957)
SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)
SHERMAN’S MARCH (1986)
THE SHINING (1980)
SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER (1960)
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952)
SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
STAR WARS (1977)
STRANGER THAN PARADISE (1984)
SUNRISE (1927)
SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
TAXI DRIVER (1976)
THE THIN RED LINE (1999)
THE THIRD MAN (1949)
TOP HAT (1935)
TOY STORY 3 (2011)
A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902)
UGETSU MONOGATARI (1953)
YELLOW SUBMARINE (1968)
YOJIMBO (1961)
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Yum! You’ve reminded me of my hundredth, the one I forgot. It’s BRAZIL. Not only because you have a commentary track on the Criterion DVD, but also because it’s legitimately one of my 100 favorites. And how did I possibly omit THE GENERAL?
Once again, most of yours that I missed would have made my second hundred. But really now…EASY RIDER? I believe I count twelve that I’ve never seen, but it’ll only be 11 when TCM rolls BRINGING UP BABY this Friday night.
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You’ve never seen BRINGING UP BABY? Your life will now be complete.
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David: you were so right! My wife had already seen it, but not I. I laughed my tushie off — and I never stopped! A real beauty: after **75 YEARS** it still could convulse me. The power of cinema, no?
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Tom forced me at gunpoint to post up my alphabetical list of cine-love. I’m sure I could do another list of best-beloveds too!
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Man for All Seasons
Avalon
Barton Fink
Black Book
Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Born on the Fourth of July
Brazil
Breathless
Bullitt
Casino
Chinatown
City Lights
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Day For Night
Dead Ringers
District 9
Django Unchained
Donnie Brasco
Donnie Darko
Dr Strangelove
Duck Soup
Duel
Eat Drink Man Woman
Ed Wood
Edward Scissorhands
Fargo
Flags of Our Fathers
Fresh
Good Morning, Vietnam
Gremlins
Happy Feet
Hell in the Pacific
Hidden Agenda
High Noon
I’m No Angel
In the Name of the Father
Inception
JFK
Junior Bonner
Jurassic Park
Kagemusha
La Grande Illusion
Land and Freedom
Last Tango in Paris
Les Carabiniers
Life of Brian
M Hulot’s Holiday
Malcolm X
Manhattan
March of the Penguins
Mars Attack!
MASH
Men in Black
Milk
Miller’s Crossing
Mulholland Drive
Music Box
My Life as a Dog
Naked Lunch
On The Town
Once Upon A Time In The West
One Hour Photo
One-Eyed Jacks
Pan’s Labyrinth
Persepolis
Peter’s Friends
Pierrot le Fou
Ponyo
Primal Fear
Punchline
Ran [Kurosawa]
Road to Perdition
Schindler’s List
Short Cuts
Sleepless in Seattle
South Park the Movie
Strangers on a Train
Swimming to Cambodia
Taxi Driver
The Four Hundred Blows
The Big Sleep
The Birdcage
The Color Purple
The Deer Hunter
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada
The Fisher King
The French Connection
The French Lieutenant’s Woman
The Godfather: Part One
The Good Shepherd
The King of Comedy
The King of Marvin Gardens
The Magdalene Sisters
The Number 23
The Pawnbroker
The Prestige
The Road
The Searchers
The Shawshank Redemption
The Shining
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Terminal
The Truman Show
The Usual Suspects
The Wrong Trousers
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Tokyo Story
Torn Curtain
Touch of Evil
Toy Story
Trainspotting
Twelve Monkeys
Wag The Dog
WALL-E
When Harry Met Sally
Where the Truth Lies
White Heat
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Yojimbo
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Wow wow wow! You are more oriented toward latter films than I, but still…11 films I haven’t seen!
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