12 Angry Men (1957): Fonda has doubts about the man charged. Sidney Lumet.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962): Based on actual WWI British officer T.E. Lawrence, but more story than history. David Lean.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975): Jack Nicholson leads this Milos Forman movie about what it was like in mental hospitals (based on Ken Kesey's book of same name -- see also Keroac book On the Road for more of that generation).
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) : Sean Connery and Michael Caine star in John Houston movie based on Ruyard Kipling story. There are more famous names to pack in there, but mostly the story is great (though told from a supremely Colonial POV).
Grand Illusion (1937): French Jean Renoir film classic about WWI.
Beauty and the Beast (1946): French Jean Cocteau masterpiece of the fairytalke before it got Disney-fied.
The Tin Drum (1979): German Volker Schlöndorff film of Günter Grass story about a boy who won't grow up.
Amarcord (1973): Italian Federico Fellini film about growing up. You could sub in Nights of Cabiria or Satyricon as a starter Fellini pic.
Kes (1970): British Ken Loach film about a boy and a bird.
Winter Light (1963): Swedish Ingmar Bergman about a priest struggling with faith. The 7th Seal probably a better place to ease in to Bergman, though.
A Man for All Seasons (1966): British Fred Zinnemann telling of how Sir Thomas More was stuck between his Church and his King. For an alternate take on same chunk of history, see Wolf Hall.
There's so many more. Rosselini's Open City, Jodorosky's El Topo/Santa Sangre, Errol Morris documentaries (Fog of War, etc.), Les Blank docs (from music to Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe), oh! and Herzog flicks! I should stop.
My thought process for this was asking myself what movie I'd recommend to people who have little to no experience or interest in specific genres. Tried to pick a wide range of movies
Comedies (my favorite genre)
Kung Fu Hustle (probably favorite movie of all time): fun comedy action movie involving gangsters and a poor neighborhood. Think classic Hong Kong kung fu meets super hero movie. Haven't met anyone who didn't like the film
Airplane: insanely funny movie with nonstop jokes. One of the best movies for comedy because you've got all types of jokes (puns, visual humor, recurring jokes etc)
Blazing Saddles: revovles around a small western town through the perspective of a former slave turned sheriff. Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little have such great chemistry
The Naked Gun trilogy: if you liked Airplane you'll love the Naked Gun. Has a lot of ridiculously silly lines told with a straight face.
Action
LOTR trilogy: I feel like this needs no explanation.
Star Wars original trilogy: no hate to the prequels (and a lot of hate to the sequels) but nothing quite hits like the OG Star Wars trilogy
The Mummy: fun, interesting plot, charming characters just the quintissential 90s action movie. Also a great first movie for many people's bi-awakening 👀
Police Story (trilogy, but mainly 3): it's been a while since I've seen this trilogy but I distinctly remember really liking the third one because it features both Jackie Chan and Michel Yeoh as equal badasses. If you've never seen Jackie Chan's Hong Kong films, this franchise is a great start.
Animation
Spiderman Into The Spiderverse: beautifully animated movie that does an amazing job of capturing the feel comics in both style and vibes. Definitely way better than the sequel, in my opinion.
Tokyo Godfathers: touching anime movie about 3 homeless people who ind a baby on Christmas. Don't want to spoil any more than that but it has a good balance of comedy and drama and unlike other anime movies I've seen, completes the story so well that you're not wanting more
Up: my personal favorite Pixar movie and the first 20 min are a master class of short story telling. Was debating between this an Wall E but I think Up has a better story
Horror
Admittedly my least favorite genre. These movies are closer to thrillers than they are horror
Train to Busan: zombie outbreak on a train. Premise is simple enough but the storytelling and characters are so well written that you get too attached and actually get anxiety when things are happening. It's a movie with an ending that stays with you
The Silence of the Lambs: there's a reason Hannibal Lector is the most memorable part of this movie despite having only 16 minutes of screen time
Movies to watch only once
These are movies that will make you feel such intense emotions (usually sadness but not necessarily) that I would only watch once. No descriptions to avoid spoilers
Ooh, my kids are heading deep into teenager territory so this feels like my chosen, specialist subject. Avoiding OP's picks (the Python stuff would be on my list too), and in no particular order:
Bladerunner (Directors cut)
The Blues Brothers
This is Spinal Tap
Alien
Aliens
Terminator
Terminator 2
Seven Samurai
Yojimbo (+ A Fistful of Dollars)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Schindler's List
12 Angry Men
Rear Window
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Memento
Dune (the Lynch 1980's one)
The Princess Bride
The Cornetto Trilogy (Sean of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End + Baby Driver)
Die Hard
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
The Silence of the Lambs
Se7en
The Usual Suspects
2001 A Space Odyssey
Platoon
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Trainspotting
My Neighbour Totoro
Do The Right Thing
The Thing (John Carpenter version)
I always recommend the Hitchcock movies from his middle era. My favorites:
Lifeboat
Rebecca
Strangers on a Train
Dial M for Murder
Rope
Rear Window
The Man Who Knew Too Much
North By NorthWest
Vertigo
Psycho
Rear Window is my all-time favorite movie. It's a perfect film, where every shot and line means something. Grace Kelly's appearance is the most beautiful that any woman has ever been, in any film. The rest are all 10 out of 10s.
And look for Hitchcock's famous cameos in every movie, always close to the beginning, and usually amusing.
This list is in no particular order. And it's admittedly all over the place in time and genre. Feel free to use it as a grab bag rather than a checklist.
Ones I have not seen in other comments, although you probably have enough at this point:
The Fifth Element - Yes I know the director is a sexual predator, it's still really really good. One of the most creative movies ever made
Run Lola Run - Surreal modern-style impossible narrative movie from way before movies really did that, also very well done
O Brother Where Art Thou - Damn, we're in a tight spot
Schindler's List - Warning, very very very heavy obviously, but there is a reason it won all the awards
Conan the Barbarian - You may or may not like B movies, but if you like "Sword and Sandal" B movies, this one is the king
The Sting - Absolutely top-notch gangster movie from before your parents were born
Office Space - If you have ever worked a crappy tech job this movie will become your spirit animal in time of need
I've also heard great things about "Highlander." Don't watch the sequels.
There are also miniseries. "Stranger Things" season 1, "Chernobyl," and "Game of Thrones" up until about season 5. Yeah, it's a shame they never made any more after that, but you can just let it be. You'll know roughly when. If the three female assassins from Dorne come on the screen, you went too far, just turn it off immediately and be sure to take a shower right away.
Dave Made A Maze - is a fun watch with good writing.
Death Of Stalin - will be funny to you if you like British comedy.
Prospect - interesting scifi with Pedro Pascal (who I mistook for Nathan Fillion till I looked the cast up, lmao)
Triangle - well done time travel fuckery
Arq - more time travel fuckery
Primer - yet more time travel fuckery
Edit: pretty sure the title of the post has changed, or I somehow just didn't notice it fully before? Idk, none of the movies I've listed are 'must watch' they're just fun watches. I don't think any film is really a must watch.
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