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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56 new
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969, in 21 top lists Check -
73 new
Colorado Territory
1949, in 3 top lists Check -
90 new
Dead Man
1995, in 12 top lists Check -
94 new
Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo
1966 — a.k.a. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in 28 top lists Check -
122 new
El Dorado
1966, in 2 top lists Check -
172 new
High Noon
1952, in 18 top lists Check -
230 new
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962, in 16 top lists Check -
236 new
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
1971, in 20 top lists Check -
247 new
My Darling Clementine
1946, in 20 top lists Check -
263 new
C'era una volta il West
1968 — a.k.a. Once Upon a Time in the West, in 28 top lists Check -
289 new
Rancho Notorious
1952, in 3 top lists Check -
299 new
Rio Bravo
1959, in 19 top lists Check -
311 new
The Searchers
1956, in 26 top lists Check -
339 new
Tampopo
1985, in 10 top lists Check -
354 new
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1948, in 25 top lists Check -
360 new
Union Pacific
1939, in 2 top lists Check -
361 new
Wagon Master
1950, in 6 top lists Check -
368 new
The Westerner
1940, in 0 top lists Check -
375 new
Winchester '73
1950, in 6 top lists Check -
394 new
Per un pugno di dollari
1964 — a.k.a. A Fistful of Dollars, in 10 top lists Check -
395 new
Per qualche dollaro in più
1965 — a.k.a. For a Few Dollars More, in 11 top lists Check -
425 new
The Wild Bunch
1969, in 25 top lists Check -
449 new
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943, in 14 top lists Check
Last updated on Mar 13, 2014;