This list does not seem to hang together cohesively. As some respondents noted, there might have been a gender thing going on and perhaps an age thing as well. Since many of the respondents were North American, the preference for Hollywood might well have been a factor.
In the end people could use the list as a reference (both positive and negative) for their own film selections, and perhaps for some analysis as well.
Theatrical release poster, by William Rose, 1941
wiki
*2001 A Space Odyssey
12 Angry Men (my favourite)
Amadeus
American Graffiti
African Queen
Angel Heart
Bull Durham
Casablanca
Citizen Kane
Chronicles Of Riddick
Dr Zhivago
Field of Dreams
Full Metal Jacket
*Gone With the Wind
Goodfellas
Good Will Hunting
Good, The Bad and the Ugly
It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World
LA Confidential
Last of the Mohicans
Lion in Winter
Lord of the Rings
*Matrix
Notebook
On Golden Pond
Pitch Black
Pulp Fiction
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
Shawshank Redemption
Sixth Sense Sound of Music
*Star Wars
Steel Magnolias
*To Kill a Mockingbird
West Side Story
*Wizard of Oz
Years later I created a list of my personal favourites:
Tea With Mussolini
Ladies in Lavender
Late Bloomers
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Howard's End
Room with a View
12 Angry Men, 1957
Sidney Lumet already an experienced theatre and television director, rehearsed his cast for two weeks and then confined them in an actual jury room where virtually the entire film was shot. The claustrophobic setting combined with the combustible personalities of a dynamic cast, incl Lee J Cobb, Henry Fonda and E.G Marshall, to create a riveting drama. Although a critical success, the film performed poorly at the box office.
Although I was in high school when I saw the film, I had zero idea that jurors didn't recognise the importance of reasonable doubt and that jurors had a moral obligation to vote not guilty if was any doubt. Worse still, I didn't know that prejudices, class differences, racism and unresolved personal trauma could have slipped out, without the juror noticing it. So might viewers conclude that the jury started with false certainty and deliberated until they uncovered the certain truth. but the jury wasn’t able to establish whether or not the defendant was innocent. Rather than uncovering certainty, their deliberations uncover doubt. And I had never been out of Australia yet, so it was important for me to grasp the main message of 12 Angry Men. And that was that justice required critical thinking, open-mindedness and the strict application of reasonable doubt, free from personal bias, prejudice and rushing to judgment. But no women in the jury was beyond my grasp :(
12 Angry Men, TCM
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24 comments:
I haven't seen Twelve Angry Men, but I can imagine, and I doubt it had a happy ending.
While I don't know Late Bloomers, I agree with your list of favourite films. What do they have in common? They are all English. I could add a number of more English films to your list.
As for the US, Driving Miss Daisy and On Golden Pond, and from left field, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
My parents were not keen on us boys going to picture theatres, so the only films I remember fondly were those where my teenage friends snuck me out.
2001 Space Odyssy, African Queen and Dr Zhivago remain most clearly.
I never saw 12 Angry Men - maybe I'll look for it. My two favorites are Dr Zhivago and Casablanca...Thanks for all the insight into 12 Angry Men.
A lot of your first list would fall on my favorites. Since it's October, I am going to add the original Dracula (so scary in black and white) and also The original Mummy film with Boris Karloff. I'm in the middle of watching Hamnet right now, I started it too late last night so I need to finish it today. I tried reading that book and couldn't get into it, but the film (so far) is very good. Makes me want to try the book again. Hope you're having a super October.
Bom dia minha querida amiga Helen. Aqui no Brasil, Toró é sinônimo de chuva forte ou tempestade. Gostei muito da trilogia do Senhor dos Anéis. Uma excelente manhã de quarta-feira, para você e todos os seus familiares na Austrália e um grande abraço do seu amigo carioca.
I haven't seen 12 Angry men. However, I have enjoyed some on your list, especially Schindler's List. One of my favourites is Calendar Girls.
I haven't seen 12 angry men. It sounds interesting.
My favourite out of all the films I have seen from this list would have to be Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
From the first list, I have seen the Sound of Music and eight of the others; from your own list I have seen The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which you haven't listed so I presume you haven't seen it or didn't like it.
Andrew
12 Angry Men was important because the viewer started at one place with the jury and ended up at a very different place. But it was the process inbetween that was vital and unpredictable.
I would agree with you about On Golden Pond (1981), but I wonder if seeing that film all these decades later would make us more sympathetic.
Joe
yes! Parents were quite anxious about their teens in the 1960s, fearing that inappropriate films could damage the teens' thoughts or behaviour. The African Queen was an excellent example, being loosely based to some extent on war naval campaigns in Africa.
Oh dear me Hels. I've not got a favourite film, I either like a film or I don't.
I've seen some of the films on your two lists.
gluten Free
I remember Dr Zhivago very well, but less so Casablanca.
If you do see 12 Angry Men, perhaps you would be prepared to summarise your feelings and publish them in this blog. Just one paragraph :)
Erika
I am interested why Dracula and Mummy film (1932?) would have appealed to you so much as a teen. Hamnet is not a horror film, so I wonder if horror films still attract your attention these days.
Luiz
I am very pleased to see you nominated Lord of the Rings. As Andrew suggested, the 31 IRC members who worked on this list were largely English speakers.
diane b
Calendar Girls 2003 was based on a true story, examining how the core friendship made a big difference to one human being, though much of the dramatic tension and media chaos were made up. Schindler's List was based on a true story telling about Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust. It was a brilliant film.
kylie
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel had the most amazing cast, including Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson. These elderlies moved into run-down hotel in Jaipur, and asked the questions that I would be asking now :) Great choice.
River
noone in the #30plus IRC channel nominated The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but those I asked (now) combined romance and drama with amazing glimpses into modern India. Well chosen!
Margaret
until the Covid lockdown started in 2020, most of us older generation found films at the cinema to be the most fun. Now even older people prefer to see quality films on computers at home.
Is it easy to find great films from the pre-Covid decades?
Citizen Kane 1941
In a mansion in Xanadu, a vast palatial estate in Florida, the elderly Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) is on his deathbed. Holding a snow globe, he utters a word, "Rosebud", and dies; the globe slips from his hand and smashes on the floor. A newsreel obituary tells the life story of Kane, an enormously wealthy newspaper publisher. Kane had humble beginnings but led a stellar life. Twice divorced, his U.S business empire once contained 13 newspapers and radio stations. Kane was legendary in his hatred for Thatcher, who also claimed to be the trustee of Kane's wealth from his parents. Kane's political career was cut short due to a love scandal, & in his late years, he was alone, unloved and abandoned. His death became sensational news around the world, and the newsreel's producer tasked a reporter with discovering the meaning of "Rosebud".
Citizen Kane revolutionized film technology and production methods through groundbreaking contributions by director Orson Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland.
Justice depends on reason, empathy and the courage to challenge prejudice, although I must admit that the absence of women on the jury is a reminder of how much social attitudes have changed
IMDb
Citizen Kane was a favourite of a number of our original voters, but I have never seen the film myself. And even if I had, revolutionary film technology would have gone over my heard unnoticed.
However Citizen Kane was a huge turning point in the filmmaking industry and so the film is considered the one of the greatest films ever.
roentare
the problem with having the "courage to challenge prejudice" is that few people would acknowledge their own prejudices. 12 Angry Men would be one of the first films or tv shows that brilliantly exposed this issue that we see in normal daily life (police responding to crimes more slowly to one ethnic group and another). But juries' discussions are normally hidden!
Boa noite minha querida amiga Helen. Gosto muito de visitar Museus. Uma excelente noite de sexta-feira, para você e todos os seus familiares na Austrália e um grande abraço do seu amigo carioca.
Luiz
me too, especially when my sons were still living at home.
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