(My) Top 5 Most Influential Films
(My) Top 5 Most Influential Films
These are not THE top 5 most influential films, but rather MY top 5 most influential films. These are the movies that were game changers for me personally. The movies that woke me up, blew my mind, introduced me to some new vein of thought – in short, influential to my movie loving being.
The Godfather
This is it, the movie that launched a thousand hours of movie watching. I saw The Godfather at the Zigfield Theater in Manhattan as part of a special 25th anniversary theatrical release. This was the first time that movies were something other than mere diversion to me, when movies seemed as substantial as my beloved novels. Even today, when I catch The Godfather on TV as I’m flipping through the channels, I drop everything I’m doing and watch, riveted. (P.S. Part I is the best one, and I’ll fight ya for it!)
The Birth of a Nation
I had seen quite a bit of Chaplin and a few Melies shorts and I liked ‘em just fine. But when I decided to work a list of the “Best American Films” or somesuch, it was The Birth of a Nation that served as a wake up call to the beauty of silent cinema. It was this movie that crystallized the realization that silent movies are their own thing, a medium unlike any other. I know, The Birth of a Nation is problematic, but its excitement is undeniable. I also know that silent comedies are the typical recommendation to a silent film newbie, but I’ll posit The Birth of a Nation any day.
The Last Laugh
If The Birth of a Nation is the genesis of the potential of the silent cinema median, then The Last Laugh is its apex. Some will tell you that another F.W. Murnau film, Sunrise, is the bestest silent movie ever, but I laugh (last) at them. Hands down, The Last Laugh, complete with Emil Jannings miraculous performance, is the contender for that title. If you’ve never seen it, go do so right now.
Yojimbo
I was privileged enough to live in New York City at the moment that the amazing Film Forum was presenting a Akira Kurosawa/Toshiro Mifune screening series. To see any Kurosawa film starring Mifune, two absolute masters of their respective crafts, is a beautiful thing. But Yojimbo is a nexus of so many things that it dazzles the eye and the mind. Forget being hung up on watching subtitled movies, Kurosawa taps the collective conscious so completely it will never matter.
They Live
Yeah, I just said that. They Live, directed by John Carpenter and starring none other than “Rowdy” Roddy Piper of WWF fame, makes my list. This movie demonstrated to me that looks can be deceiving when it comes to cinema. On paper, this movie should be absolute crap. But on celluloid it’s magic. Look past the mullets, and the ripped tank tops, and the cheesy 80’s and enjoy the ride. And remember it the next time you’re confronted with an unlikely masterpiece.
(Your) Most Influential Films
Those are my most influential films? What are yours?
About Brandy Dean
Social media consultant, blogger for hire, and lover of classic movies and silent films.
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I “dropped everything” the other day to watch The Godfather Part 1 and Part 2, as well, even on AMC with five minute commercial breaks every ten minutes. I saw The Godfather when it came out in 1972, after having read the book over the summer (that and Anthony Burgess’ “A Clockwork Orange” were my summer reads that year — I was a strange kid). I agree Part One is the best film, but my favorite scenes of the entire “saga” are the early “Little Italy” sequences of Part Two. But as far as influence on my cinematic interests, The Godfather isn’t among my top five which, in no particular order are:
West Side Story — Saw this in late 1963 or early 64 with my mum. Totally blew me away — music, dance, street fights, “juvenile delinquents,” all in color and widescreen. Sensory overload for an eight year old.
Bonnie and Clyde — Early 1968, similar reaction, minus the dancing, and a level of violence (combined with wicked humor) never shown on film before that. We’ve become accustomed to fast cutting and extreme violence in our movies since then, but the ending was so completely shocking, it was the only time I’ve ever seen an entire audience exit a theater absolutely quiet, speechless.
Greed — Saw this in college in 1975. I’d seen “Intolerance” and several others on TV before, but this was the first silent film (and we watched it without any music track) that had as big an impact on me as any sound film I’d seen to that point. Its uncompromisingly bleak vision of humanity seemed shocking for an American film made in 1924.
The WIzard of Oz — The power of fantasy and illusion. Probably first saw it at age three or four, Flying monkeys, straw man, tin woodsman, cowardly lion, Oh my! It all seemed real. It’s a cliche, but this film proved the magic of the movies for me, amazing considerng that I’ve never seen it in a theater.
It’s a Wonderful Life — It’s hard to believe there was a time when this “classic” was virtually unknown and rarely seen. I saw it in 1976 in college and recall that prior to the screening, when our instructor asked how many of us had seen it before only one person (out of close to a hundred) raised his hand. At the conclusion, it got the only standing ovation I’ve ever seen for a movie. It may be another cliche, but the power of basic human goodness to triumph over hardship and evil (with a bit of “heavenly” assistance) has never been better depicted. The polar opposite of “Greed.”
Gene, I’m a little bit in love with you.