100 Must Watch Movies Before You Kick the Bucket

Yahoo has put out a list of 100 movies that all ye movie buffs must watch before y’all die.

No surprise that only one Indian movie The World of Appu (Satyajit Ray) figures in Yahoo’s 100 Movies to See Before You Die list.

As we’ve said ad nauseum, ad infinitum, 99.999% of Indian movies are plain garbage – MB2B2 (Made by Bollywood-buffoons for bored-buffoons).

According to Yahoo! Movies’ team of editors and film experts, the 100 movies represent the best of cinema from around the world regardless of release date, genre, country of origin, or budget.

12 Angry Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
400 Blows
8 ½
A Hard Day’s Night
African Queen
Alien
All About Eve
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Battle of Algiers
Bicycle Thief, The
Blade Runner
Blazing Saddles
Blow Up
Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
Bridge on the River Kwai
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Casablanca
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Die Hard
Do the Right Thing
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Enter the Dragon
Exorcist, The
Fast Times At Ridgemont High
French Connection, The
Godfather, Part II
Godfather, The
Goldfinger
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The
Goodfellas
Graduate, The
Grand Illusion
Groundhog Day
In the Mood For Love
It Happened One Night
It’s a Wonderful Life
Jaws
King Kong
Lawrence of Arabia
Lord of the Rings, The
M
M*A*S*H
Maltese Falcon, The
Matrix, The
Modern Times
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
National Lampoon’s Animal House
Network
Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Paths of Glory
Princess Mononoke
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raise the Red Lantern
Rashomon
Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Rocky
Roman Holiday
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler’s List
Searchers, The
Seven Samurai
Shawshank Redemption, The
Silence of the Lambs, The
Singin’ in the Rain
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Some Like It Hot
Sound of Music, The
Star Wars
Sullivan’s Travels
Sunset Blvd.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Third Man, The
This is Spinal Tap
Titanic
To Kill a Mockingbird
Toy Story
Usual Suspects, The
Vertigo
When Harry Met Sally…
Wild Bunch, The
Wild Strawberries
Wings of Desire
Wizard of Oz, The
Woman On the Verge of Nervous Breakdown
World of Apu, The

Read the details here.

21 Responses to "100 Must Watch Movies Before You Kick the Bucket"

  1. I. M. Legend   March 23, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    Nice list.. Haven’t watched many movies on this list.. but whatever I watched (and that are on this list), are definitely essential..

  2. chaitu1987   March 23, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    the Apu trilogy in its entirety should probably be considered. Yet, no complaints.

    By the way, I recently watched Dor. Nice film.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Dor director Nagesh Kukunoor’s new film 8 X 10 Tasveer is scheduled for release in April.

  3. the gora   March 23, 2009 at 11:37 pm

    By my count there were 17 or 18 foreign films on there, which was encouraging to see, as well as going away from more recent films (last 10 years), which some of these lists tend to have a bias towards.

    Really interesting also to notice how several directors had multiple films like Billy Wilder, David Lean, and Steven Spielberg. Actors get most of the acclaim, but certain directors are really the ones who orchestrate excellence on film.

    Jaws Jaws Jaws! Must be seen!

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write above: By my count there were 17 or 18 foreign films on there, which was encouraging to see, as well as going away from more recent films (last 10 years),

    The 1950s had 19 movies (the most for any decade). But only three movies produced in the 21st century made the list – “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “In the Mood For Love,” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

    Spielberg was considered the most influential director with five films spanning his three decade movie career – “Jaws,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Schindler’s List” and “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.”

  4. joeantony   March 24, 2009 at 12:27 am

    Have you guys watched ‘usual suspects’ already, hope you had a plan to watch, am waiting for a review on that.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Yes, we watched it. Lovely film.

    We’ll review it one of these days.

  5. Vivek   March 24, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    Happy to see atleast one movie made to the list.there was nothing in the imdb top 250.But surprise to c there is no forrest gump, city of god, Kill bill, taxi driver in the list.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Even we were surprised at the absence of Forrest Gump, one of our favorite movies.

  6. kurf   March 29, 2009 at 2:28 am

    hey Si

    when are you posting the review of usual suspects? may i recommend a movie called capote. dont know whether you have seen it?

    thanks

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Soon (hopefully). Yes, as we indicated elsewhere recently, we have seen it.

    Sorry for the delay.

  7. Asha Tampa   March 30, 2009 at 7:47 am

    Will save this list and start watching one by one. Thank you for the info 🙂

  8. kreacher   March 30, 2009 at 3:13 pm

    Another site you could use for a fantastic reference of films is Filmsite: http://www.filmsite.org/momentsindx.html. The appealing fact about this site is that it gives a full commentary of the movies, complete with dialogue and subtext and things that you should look out for or observe. It really helps develop an appreciation for the technical aspects of film making. A good use of this site is after you have watched the movie, to see what you missed or how your understanding differed.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Looks interesting.

  9. proud2baindian   April 1, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    i told u yesterday itself na include thirupaachi and thirumalai in the list

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Why not Villu, Azhagiya Tamil Magan, Kuruvi

    Weren’t they masterpieces too?

  10. shadowfax_arbit   April 5, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Usual Suspects, pulp fiction and Shawshank were the best acc to me… U din like Fight Club?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We liked Fight Club too but it’s not on the Yahoo list.

    Shawshank Redemption is lovely. We have seen it several times.

  11. Malika S   April 6, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    I read an article on rediff that Hollywood is going to keep an eye on Bollywood movies as concern for plagiarism has risen and that it will take strict action against any bollywood producer who are part of it. Did anyone hear about this?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Source link, please.

  12. kelambu_kaathu   April 9, 2009 at 4:52 am

    my latest favourite movie yavarum nalam is not in this list. So I disagree…

  13. yourmate   May 12, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Once upon a time in the west is considered Sergio Leone’s best (Much better than The good, bad and ugly) but it does not figure here. Found this article, pretty interesting read…

    http://www.screenhead.com/reviews/oscar-swindler-the-10-worst-academy-award-decisions/

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We’ll try to watch Once Upon a Time in the West on Thursday or Saturday.

  14. nagendhran   July 7, 2009 at 4:54 am

    STUPID MOVIE LIST.ALL THE MOVIE PART OF THE MATRIX,THE TERMINATAR AND STAR WARS WERE HI-TECH MASALA HOLLYWOOD WITH SAME STORY LINE MOVIE. MOST OF MOVIES IN THE LIST ARE ACTION FILMS AND GRAPHICS FILMS. ALL GOD FATHER MOVIE WAS COPIED FROM NOVEL .IAND BOOKS.IT SHOULDN’T BE IN THE LIST.WHERE IS THE SLUMDOG MILLONARIE,THE SUN,BEATIFUL MIND,THE READER AND WHERE IS THE OSCAR WINNING MOVIE”AMERICAN BEAUTY” AND M(1931).I THINK U LIKE ONLY ACTION FILS,VFX MOVIE AND GRAPHICS MOVIE……………….

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: I THINK U LIKE ONLY ACTION FILS,VFX MOVIE AND GRAPHICS MOVIE

    This is not our list.

    Right in the first sentence, we wrote: Yahoo has put out a list of 100 movies that all ye movie buffs must watch before y’all die.

    Use lower case in future (no capital letters).

  15. araj   September 10, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    You wrote “Spielberg was considered the most influential director with five films spanning his three decade movie career ……”

    Sorry for spoiling your party. But Spielberg influenced what? did he influence the art of film making like Picasso did painting or Freud did psychology. I think not. Far from it, at the risk of sounding elitist, I consider most of his films childish and if i were the one who prepared the above list, I would remove all his films from the list without any compunction (not surprisingly, the one Spielberg film I liked most is the one of his least successful- War of the Worlds, where he looked considerably liberated from his obnoxious obsession with ‘good aliens’ and ‘good humans’).

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: Sorry for spoiling your party. But Spielberg influenced what?

    No comprende here.

    If you read our response again regarding Spielberg, you’ll realize it was merely a factual compilation from the 100-list in response to a comment from another reader who wrote: Really interesting also to notice how several directors had multiple films like Billy Wilder, David Lean, and Steven Spielberg.

    Influential to the creators of the list (in this case Yahoo because they felt Spielberg deserved to have of his five films in the 100). The use of the word influential should be read in the context of response to a comment and does not reflect our viewpoint on the director.

    BTW, the folks at Yahoo say they considered factors like historical importance, cultural impact, most thrilling, most dramatic, scariest, and funniest movies of all time in putting together the list.

  16. araj   September 13, 2009 at 11:01 am

    “The use of the word influential should be read in the context of response to a comment and does not reflect our viewpoint on the director…..”

    Never mind. I thought you said it in a complimentary tone though i knew yours was just a response to a comment 🙂

    By the way, i wonder what the hell the folks at yahoo meant by ‘historical importance’ and ‘cultural impact’.

    The only history Spielberg ever shot was his boring look-how-heroic-Americans-were or look-how-jews-suffered second world war-II movies (‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Schindlers List’).

    These movies are hardly educative and only tell us what we already know i.e. Hitler and his thugs were really really bad and they persecuted Jews. If only he had ever attempted to present a big picture, if only he had tried to get to the roots of a society that bred a monster like Hitler, we might as well call his films ‘historically important’ and had some ‘impact’, whatever that impact is. But Spielberg wasn’t up to it.

    All his historical movies are simply a cheap celebration of American heroism (or some other heroism) and the suffering of the Jews (like they harp about 9/11 these days. Real nuisance, isn’t it?). Spielberg’s unbearable propensity to celebrate human psyche’s elementary sense of love, hate and tragedy spills well over into his non-historical films as well. His ET and Closed Encounters of the Third Kind are plain unwatchable.

    Some of his films are really recreative though. I really liked his Raiders of the Lost Ark when I was a kid. But I am pretty sure I am not going to watch it again.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    1. We think the Spielberg era is over.

    Of his recent movies, Munich was definitely watchable because of the story line related to the real-life events but Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a waste of time and money.

    2. You write: like they harp about 9/11 these days

    We are going off on a tangent here.

    For the average Joe in the U.S., 9/11 is a distant memory. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq might well be happening in another galaxy, even though many of the poor souls return in body bags or minus one or more limbs or horribly maimed.

    During the Vietnam war in the 1960s, there were a lot of protests on the streets. Because of the draft that existed then, the war affected most families.

    The Draft disappeared and the powers that be (clowns like George W.Bush, Dick Cheney et al) became casual about sending soldiers into harm’s way.

    Unless the draft is brought back, people will not realize the immense suffering that war imposes on the few (mostly the poor) who now join the military because there are few alternatives.

    Obama wants to ensure that everyone has access to health-care in this country (45 million Americans don’t have health insurance and another 30 million are underinsured) and yesterday several thousand protesters in Washington marched with Obama posters painted with a Hitler mustache, compared our President to the Nazi butcher, held signs about impeaching the Muslim Marxist, shouted slogans about Socialism and generally made an ass of themselves.

    Who says all the weirdos exist only in India…God, we have quite a few here.

  17. sganeshkumar1989   December 15, 2009 at 8:24 am

    I guess they could have done away with Diehard,King Kong, Terminator-2,Jaws kinda films to include more Classics of Internationally acclaimed directors.

    However,it’s good that nearly 70 of the movies they’ve listed are real Classics and even included some Commercial failures like Casablanca, Blade Runner, Shawshank Redemption.

    I would’ve been happy if Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Mean Streets and Casino too deserved to be in the list.) and Akira (Yojimbo,RAN,Ikiru,Red Beard,Hidden Fortress) had more movies represented there.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Casablanca a commercial failure?

    What are you smoking today.

    Here’s what Wiki has to say on the subject:

    Casablanca…went into general release on January 23, 1943, to take advantage of the Casablanca conference, a high-level meeting between Churchill and Roosevelt in the city. It was a substantial but not spectacular box-office success, taking $3.7 million on its initial U.S. release (making it the seventh best-selling film of 1943).

    A substantial success is not the same as a commercial failure, kiddo. At least, not in our lexicon.

    Vandatanga pa comedy pasanga (here come the clowns).

  18. sganeshkumar1989   December 15, 2009 at 9:56 am

    Sorry for the confusion,I mentioned Casablanca instead of 12 Angry Men. 🙁 🙁

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    12 Angry Men was a nice film too.

  19. Vetti Jijaji   December 15, 2009 at 10:49 am

    @Ganesh
    Jaws and Diehard are two of my all time favorites (I’d watch them over Casablanca any day – I am not sophisticated like the other Casablanca-lovers), neighbor – I am from a town near Chittoor. Definitely must-watch movies, IMO.

    The “King Kong” they have mentioned is from 1933.. not the new one, just in case you missed the year.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    1. We liked Diehard too when we first watched it.

    2. You write: I am from a town near Chittoor

    Hope it’s not Sholingur (one of our buddies hails from Sholingur).

  20. Vetti Jijaji   December 18, 2009 at 2:59 pm

    No, not Sholingur.. Once you had mentioned that you liked some restaurant in Vellore.. What was it?

    My “city” is becoming big – there is even a movie with its name.. yay!
    http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/52623.html

    The 142-year[2] old municipality was crowned as largest Corporation (area wise)[3] in Tamil Nadu on August 1, 2008. whatever that means! If there is some place worse than Detroit, it is Vellore.. or maybe not..

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    1. Poorna from your link looks 😉

    2. Can’t remember the name of the Vellore restaurant now.

    3. You write: If there is some place worse than Detroit, it is Vellore.. or maybe not..

    Detroit has nearly 50% unemployment. Bet even Vellore isn’t that bad.

    The good news is that you can get a house in Detroit for $14,000 to $18,000 or maybe even lesser. Bet even Vellore Mavattam can’t match those prices.

  21. sganeshkumar1989   July 26, 2010 at 8:10 am

    @SI,can you delete the previous comments posted by me in this page(Including this), I’ll post a more balanced view regarding the list later.
    Thanks.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Scoot.

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