51 essential movies for movie buffs

Lists of “essential films” are a dangerous business. They’re guaranteed to start arguments, end friendships and reveal uncomfortable truths about people’s taste. Jim Emerson recently compiled a list of 102 Movies You Must See. Any list brave enough to include Mad Max 2 deserves a respectful nod, but 102 felt a little excessive. Unless your idea of a relaxing weekend involves surviving on coffee, takeaway noodles and existential despair. So I cut the number in half.

Any list like this is hopelessly subjective, and that’s exactly how it should be. Cinema isn’t mathematics. You don’t measure a film with a ruler. You remember the one that made you miss your train because you couldn’t stop thinking about it, the one that kept you awake all night, or the one you immediately forced your friends to watch just so you could see their reaction.

I’ve slipped in a handful of more recent favorites as well. Maybe they’ll still be spoken of decades from now, maybe they’ll fade into obscurity. Time is the only critic that really matters.

As for franchises, I’ve mostly stuck to the opening chapter. Not because it’s always the best, but because every journey has to begin somewhere. Yes, Aliens is magnificent. No, I’m not pretending otherwise.

Inspecting an IMAX cinema in San Francisco.

So here it is, fifty-one films in no particular order. Some changed cinema forever. Some reinvented genres. Some simply reminded us why sitting in a dark room with strangers remains one of life’s pleasures.

1. Alien (1979)
2. Blade Runner (1982)
3. The Godfather (1972)
4. Apocalypse Now (1979)
5. Pulp Fiction (1994)
6. Lost in Translation (2003)
7. Star Wars (1977)
8. Der Himmel über Berlin (1987)
9. Shichinin No Samurai (1954)
10. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
11. Memento (2000)
12. Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
13. The Third Man (1949)
14. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
15. Before the Rain (1994)
16. In the Mood for Love (2000)
17. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
18. Casablanca (1942)
19. Metropolis (1926)
20. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
21. The Usual Suspects (1995)
22. La Dolce Vita (1960)
23. The Shining (1980)
24. Jaws (1975)
25. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
26. North by Northwest (1959)
27. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
28. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
29. Nausicaä (1984)
30. Matrix (1999)
31. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
32. Taxi Driver (1976)
33. Underground (1995)
34. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
35. Donnie Darko (2001)
36. Fight Club (1999)
37. Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
38. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
39. Rashomon (1950)
40. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
41. Schindler’s List (1993)
42. Citizen Kane (1941)
43. Se7en (1995)
44. Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001)
45. Gone With the Wind (1939)
46. The Seventh Seal (1957)
47. V For Vendetta (2005)
48. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
49. Amadeus (1984)
50. Wild Strawberries (1959)
51. Brazil (1985)