Apu's Essential Films (March 18th, 2014)
Created by Apu.
Favorited 13 times, disliked 0 times, added to 3 watchlists.
I added this list after I had watched my 5000th feature film, House of Games (1987)
The idea behind it was that if I only had the opportunity to pick 10% of all the feature films I've seen in my life (i.e. 500 films) and put them all together into a personal canon, this would be the end result.
Broadly speaking, these are the 500 films I'd want to have with me on a desert island.
The criterion I've used for the inclusion of films are, for a lack of a better world, personal. For example, I haven't factored in any sense of historical importance a film might or might not have. These 500 films are not necessarily the best films I've seen (although it should be very close to it) but the films that fascinate me the most, the films I find most aesthetically pleasing, films that are important to me nostalgically, and films I basically could re-watch at any given time. In my opinion, all films included in this list possess a certain re-watch-value that films not included might lack.
Omissions, of course, are inevitable. I've made an effort to be exhaustive, and if, for instance, none or only a few films from a certain director/wave/movement/period/genre made it into this list, it's because I don't value it as much as others.
Omissions also apply to many of the films I've seen that, for some reason or another, didn't make it, as well as all (acclaimed) films I haven't yet caught up with. However, it may also be that if a certain film is absent, it's absent because I don't value it as much as those I've included.
Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938) is divided into two parts, hence why there are 501 entries instead of 500.
See also my Essential Short Film list.
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15 new
And Then There Were None
1945, in 2 top lists Check -
16 new
Le deuxième souffle
1966 — a.k.a. Second Breath, in 5 top lists Check -
17 new
Angels with Dirty Faces
1938, in 9 top lists Check -
18 new
Angst
1983, in 6 top lists Check -
26 new
Atlantic City
1980, in 14 top lists Check -
28 new
Bad Boy Bubby
1993, in 5 top lists Check -
29 new
Bad Day at Black Rock
1955, in 7 top lists Check -
30 new
Badlands
1973, in 23 top lists Check -
32 new
Bande à part
1964 — a.k.a. Band of Outsiders, in 13 top lists Check -
37 new
Beware, My Lovely
1952, in 1 top list Check -
38 new
The Big Clock
1948, in 5 top lists Check -
40 new
The Big Sleep
1946, in 22 top lists Check -
45 new
Blood Simple
1984, in 10 top lists Check -
46 new
The Blues Brothers
1980, in 11 top lists Check -
52 new
Koroshi no rakuin
1967 — a.k.a. Branded to Kill, in 8 top lists Check -
56 new
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969, in 21 top lists Check -
58 new
Cani arrabbiati
1974 — a.k.a. Rabid Dogs, in 1 top list Check -
60 new
Casque d'or
1952 — a.k.a. Casque d'Or, in 9 top lists Check -
64 new
La cérémonie
1995 — a.k.a. La Cérémonie, in 7 top lists Check -
71 new
A Clockwork Orange
1971, in 37 top lists Check -
74 new
Da zui xia
1966 — a.k.a. Come Drink with Me, in 4 top lists Check -
81 new
The Crying Game
1992, in 11 top lists Check -
84 new
Le jour se lève
1939 — a.k.a. Daybreak, in 12 top lists Check -
86 new
Kárhozat
1988 — a.k.a. Damnation, in 6 top lists Check -
88 new
The Day of the Jackal
1973, in 3 top lists Check -
93 new
Der amerikanische Freund
1977 — a.k.a. The American Friend, in 8 top lists Check -
102 new
The Desperate Hours
1955, in 1 top list Check -
105 new
Dial M for Murder
1954, in 9 top lists Check -
107 new
Dillinger è morto
1969 — a.k.a. Dillinger Is Dead, in 5 top lists Check -
108 new
Le quai des brumes
1938 — a.k.a. Port of Shadows, in 10 top lists Check -
109 new
Dirty Harry
1971, in 17 top lists Check -
111 new
Double Indemnity
1944, in 37 top lists Check -
112 new
Down by Law
1986, in 9 top lists Check -
113 new
Dr. No
1962, in 7 top lists Check -
133 new
Fargo
1996, in 27 top lists Check -
144 new
The French Connection
1971, in 23 top lists Check -
145 new
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
1973, in 4 top lists Check -
147 new
Faustrecht der Freiheit
1975 — a.k.a. Fox and His Friends, in 6 top lists Check -
158 new
The Godfather
1972, in 42 top lists Check -
159 new
The Godfather Part II
1974, in 32 top lists Check -
163 new
Green for Danger
1946, in 4 top lists Check -
164 new
Touchez pas au grisbi
1954 — a.k.a. Hands Off the Loot, in 5 top lists Check -
166 new
Hangover Square
1945, in 3 top lists Check -
167 new
Hanyo
1960 — a.k.a. The Housemaid, in 8 top lists Check -
171 new
Plein soleil
1960 — a.k.a. Purple Noon, in 10 top lists Check -
173 new
Tengoku to jigoku
1963 — a.k.a. High and Low, in 16 top lists Check -
175 new
A History of Violence
2005, in 11 top lists Check -
176 new
The Hit
1984, in 5 top lists Check -
179 new
Le trou
1960 — a.k.a. Le Trou, in 15 top lists Check -
197 new
Dip huet seung hung
1989 — a.k.a. The Killer, in 16 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;