<p>“Bueller? Bueller?” </p>
<p>Just for fun, let’s make a list of the iconic movies that our high school/college kids may not have seen yet, but should. You know, those movies that are still referenced even though they may be a few years (decades?) old.</p>
<p>The Breakfast Club.</p>
<p>Jaws. We’ve got to get a bigger boat.</p>
<p>Singles.
Almost Famous.</p>
<p>Took my daughter to Universal Studios when she was younger and realized she had never seen any of the movies they have rides for - so we rectified that - Men in Black , Jaws, Jurassic Park, ET.</p>
<p>Also The Godfather (I and II), the original 3 Star Wars movies.</p>
<p>The classics - Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, To Kill a Mockingbird</p>
<p>As much as I hate Tom Cruise, Risky Business.</p>
<p>I am going to mostly hold my tongue because I’ve seen many thousands of old movies, including studying silent movies. </p>
<p>I draw little circles. Pick something like The Philadelphia Story or Bringing Up Baby. Two great Hepburn/Grant movies. If you like those, then you can explore either or both people (including Holiday with them together). If not, then all hope is lost.</p>
<p>If you get that circle, then you try something else. Comedy, maybe I Married A Witch or Sullivan’s Travels or The Lady Eve. If you don’t like those, well I have doubts about you … but if you do then you can see any Preston Sturges movie and a whole bunch more doors open up.</p>
<p>A favorite test of mine is something like Gun Crazy. Fantastic B movie. If you like that, then the whole world of noir opens up. But the real test of drama/crime/noir, etc. is The Big Sleep. If you don’t like Bogart and that movie, then again all hope is lost. But if you do, then there’s world of more doors … like Cagney as the psychotic Cody Jarrett in White Heat.</p>
<p>Dramas tend to age worse because they’re locked into the conventions of their times more than comedy. Noir ages better because, bluntly, hard-boiled detectives and procedural crime stuff is still sort of that way.</p>
<p>On a modern note, my favorite comedies of the last decades have been What’s Up Doc? and My Favorite Year. The former is Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal in a modern version of a screwball comedy, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and with the best chase scene since silents. My Favorite Year is a fictionalized version of Errol Flynn appearing on Sid Caesar’s Show of Shows with the lead being a version of Mel Brooks. It may be too ethnic for some.</p>
<p>Cabaret. The Godfather (which I haven’t seen, but it’s the basis for every mob movie since). The Seven Samurai. Charlie Chaplin. To Have and Have Not. (Bacall and Bogie don’t get sexier than this). The Maltese Falcon. Chinatown. The Third Man. Citizen Kane. Meet John Doe. The Wizard of Oz. Philadelphia Story. It Happened One Night. Jules et Jim. Hiroshima Mon Amour. The Seventh Seal. The Marriage of Maria Braun. Les Enfant du Paradis.</p>
<p>Casablanca.</p>
<p>Roman Holiday, Bridge over the River Kwai, African Queen</p>
<p>The Princess Bride, The Return of the Secaucus Seven (or The Big Chill), Das Boot, a Year of Living Dangerously, The Killing Fields, Stand by Me, Take the Money and Run</p>
<p>Twilight</p>
<p>In all seriousness, High School students should be shown a decent rendition of a Shakespearean play. Most English teachers will make the students read the plays, however this usually ends up boring the students, and they do not receive much. Shakespeare wrote a play, not a book. Isn’t is appropriate the students witness his masterpieces the way it was intended?</p>
<p>Gone With the Wind, White Christmas, Sound of Music with Julie Andrews, Camelot. My D would add a lot more, as a cinema major. </p>
<p>Lord of the Rings and Star Wars movies were awesome.</p>
<p>I cannot believe no one has said Forrest Gump.</p>
<p>I try to only recommend things I’ve actually seen AND enjoyed. Never seen Forrest Gump or many of the other movies recommended. Have seen a few classic movies with D. S tends not to watch many movies at all. H has seen quite a few and I have probably seen more than S (tho he may view some on his frequent plane rides–there are sometimes classics that can be chosen as well as foreign films and more recent releases.</p>
<p>Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner - Required
It’s a Wonderful Life
Miracle on 34th Street</p>
<p>Hitchcock (Rear Window especially), Casablanca, followed up with Play It Again Sam by Woody Allen (though I may be the only one who loves that movie), I second the vote for My Favorite Year (great movie) and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.</p>
<p>Sullivan’s Travels
Dazed and Confused
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Annie Hall
Back to School
Monty Python and The Holy Grail
The Big Lebowski
Animal House
The Graduate</p>
<p>Wonder what movies they would tell us to see?</p>
<p>Watched Raising Arizona with DS#1 many years ago. That was a priceless experience.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’d go back before 1990 with this generation, unless they are really into film studies. My kids can’t process I Love Lucy.
Fargo, Field of Dreams, Shawshank Redemption, The Sixth Sense, Goodfellas. Titanic came out when today’s high school juniors were babies, add that if they’ve somehow never seen it.</p>