<p>Some other great films:</p>
<p>Patriot Games
The Quiet Man
Grand Illusion
The Blue Angel
War & Peace (the full-length Russian version)
The Cranes Are Flying
The Burmese Harp
The Hunt for Red October</p>
<p>The Room, just for its cult status ;)</p>
<p>Lmao at The Room.</p>
<p>Tod Browning’s Freaks, Usual Suspects and Apocalypse Now.</p>
<p>Terms of Endearment, Moonlighting, Raging Bull</p>
<p>The Big Chill
The Breakfast Club
Tootsie
Same Time Next Year (not very well known, but a 2-person classic starring Alan Alda)</p>
<p>All are films that HS or college kids would enjoy and still come away with an important point or two about life.</p>
<p>2001: A Space Odyssey – It’s a cultural touchstone.</p>
<p>All the President’s Men
North by Northwest
The Matrix
Back to the Future
Rainman
Skyfall</p>
<p>and just for fun…Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure!</p>
<p>Agree that Tootsie was an excellent movie.</p>
<p>The Wizard of Oz
Fiddler on the Roof
Schindler’s List
October Sky
Das Boot
El Norte
Star Trek #4 - where they come back to San Francisco</p>
<p>in the offbeat category: Soylent Green (just showed that to DS - great discussion afterward about overpopulation)</p>
<p>in the not-a-movie category: Twilight Zone</p>
<p>A movie from 1968 called Charly.</p>
<p>^Yes, October Sky! How could I forget October Sky?</p>
<p>Picking one movie from each decade…</p>
<p>Metropolis (1927)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Citizen Kane (1941)
North by Northwest (1959)
The Graduate (1967)
The Godfather (1972)
Back to the Future (1985)
The Fugitive (1993)</p>
<p>I picked the movies that I thought were the most enjoyable film experience from that decade, the one that one would regret missing the most.</p>
<p>Of the movies I saw in the 2000’s, only Fight Club was a really great movie in my opinion. The Departed was good and had a great cast and director, but it was overrated IMO.</p>
<p>Some additions:</p>
<p>Love Story
Finding Forrester
Annie Hall
Breakfast at Tiffanies
The Way We Were
The French Lieutenant’s Wife
Sophie’s Choice
Mary Poppins
Funny Girl
Gone with the Wind
Legally Blond
Miss Congeniality
12 Angry Men
Born Free
Easy Rider
Mr. Holland’s Opus
The Sting
Woodstock</p>
<p>We occasionally pick movies that we think will contribute to our son’s cultural literacy and still be enjoyable. (Sometimes that just means they stay awake through them) Some we’ve seen are Ninotchka (Early Garbo), Topper (Cary Grant), The Thin Man, Gone with the Wind, Some Like it Hot, East of Eden, Giant, The Birds, Key Largo. They aren’t all that old, though. They liked John Hughes movies, as well as Forrest Gump and the Princess Bride. It surprises me how much some of the older movies stick with them. The only one I remember that they really didn’t like was the Garbo film - I think we should have chosen another one to introduce her. Peaceful Mom, I was just thinking that we should watch Breakfast at Tiffanies! I can’t watch the Way We Were with them - they would probably be mortified because that one always makes me cry. Too bad I don’t have a daughter, too.</p>
<p>Good Will Hunting</p>
<p>Mean Girls</p>
<p>Two other movies come to mind, though I’m not sure they go all the way to iconic:
Cast Away
Love Story (which fits more with the coming-of-age / college time frame)</p>
<p>Can someone who knows something about movies (which ain’t me) go through what’s been posted and pull out the ones that are more <em>explicitly</em> about high school / college years / coming of age? Because I feel that there are 2 lists going on here – one about hs / college / young people, and another list which is just “great movies.”</p>