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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3 new
5 Fingers
1952, in 1 top list Check -
7 new
Alias Nick Beal
1949 — a.k.a. The Contact Man, in 2 top lists Check -
29 new
Bad Day at Black Rock
1955, in 7 top lists Check -
45 new
Blood Simple
1984, in 10 top lists Check -
48 new
The Body Snatcher
1945, in 2 top lists Check -
58 new
Cani arrabbiati
1974 — a.k.a. Rabid Dogs, in 1 top list Check -
61 new
Cat People
1942, in 15 top lists Check -
67 new
Children of Men
2006, in 13 top lists Check -
68 new
The China Syndrome
1979, in 3 top lists Check -
75 new
The Conversation
1974, in 23 top lists Check -
77 new
Spalovac mrtvol
1969 — a.k.a. The Cremator, in 12 top lists Check -
88 new
The Day of the Jackal
1973, in 3 top lists Check -
92 new
Deliverance
1972, in 15 top lists Check -
93 new
Der amerikanische Freund
1977 — a.k.a. The American Friend, in 8 top lists Check -
105 new
Dial M for Murder
1954, in 9 top lists Check -
109 new
Dirty Harry
1971, in 17 top lists Check -
123 new
El Norte
1983, in 5 top lists Check -
126 new
Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent...
1956 — a.k.a. A Man Escaped, in 20 top lists Check -
131 new
Fail Safe
1964, in 6 top lists Check -
132 new
The Fallen Idol
1948, in 10 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 -
148 new
From Russia with Love
1963, in 4 top lists Check -
150 new
Le salaire de la peur
1953 — a.k.a. The Wages of Fear, in 29 top lists Check -
162 new
Greed
1924, in 21 top lists Check -
171 new
Plein soleil
1960 — a.k.a. Purple Noon, in 10 top lists Check -
172 new
High Noon
1952, in 18 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 -
191 new
Jaws
1975, in 28 top lists Check -
200 new
Suna no onna
1964 — a.k.a. Woman in the Dunes, in 22 top lists Check -
209 new
Le cercle rouge
1970 — a.k.a. The Red Circle, in 11 top lists Check -
214 new
Leave Her to Heaven
1945, in 12 top lists Check -
231 new
The Manchurian Candidate
1962, in 15 top lists Check -
232 new
Que la bête meure
1969 — a.k.a. This Man Must Die, in 3 top lists Check -
272 new
The Parallax View
1974, in 10 top lists Check -
277 new
Il profumo della signora in nero
1974 — a.k.a. The Perfume of the Lady in Black, in 2 top lists Check -
278 new
Persona
1966, in 25 top lists Check -
280 new
Pickup on South Street
1953, in 14 top lists Check -
281 new
Pitfall
1948, in 2 top lists Check -
285 new
Psycho
1960, in 39 top lists Check -
291 new
Rear Window
1954, in 31 top lists Check -
298 new
Du rififi chez les hommes
1955 — a.k.a. Rififi, in 18 top lists Check -
301 new
Rope
1948, in 10 top lists Check -
304 new
Saboteur
1942, in 2 top lists Check -
306 new
Tsubaki Sanjûrô
1962 — a.k.a. Sanjuro, in 7 top lists Check -
309 new
Se7en
1995, in 29 top lists Check -
315 new
Shadow of a Doubt
1943, in 15 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;