kingzoso Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 In no particular order: The Godfather 1 and 2. Scarface. Pretty Woman. Die Hard. Goodfellas Star Wars. Pretty in Pink. Dirty Dancing. Breakfast Club. 16 Candles (Plus many many more). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDobbs Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 3 hours ago, kingzoso said: In no particular order: The Godfather 1 and 2. Scarface. Pretty Woman. Die Hard. Goodfellas Star Wars. Pretty in Pink. Dirty Dancing. Breakfast Club. 16 Candles (Plus many many more). For OUR generation I think this list is pretty spot-on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipper Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 (edited) Gone With The Wind Casablanca Ben Hur The Ten Commandments The Godfather (1 & 2) The Wizard of Oz Lawrence of Arabia It's A Wonderful Life The Searchers Doctor Zhivago Edited June 14, 2021 by kipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 (edited) You'd be surprised how many people I meet that have never seen "The Godfather", "Casablanca", "Star Wars", "Gone With the Wind". It's impossible to assume what movies most Americans have seen now that our culture is even more fractured than ever. Edited June 14, 2021 by Strider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipper Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 4 minutes ago, Strider said: You'd be surprised how many people I meet that have never seen "The Godfather", "Casablanca", "Star Wars", "Gone With the Wind". It's impossible to assume what movies most Americans have seen now that our culture is even more fractured than ever. I took the OPs question about "most Americans" and then filtered that through my idea of what most "intelligent, inquisitive, art appreciating, well informed, and culturally enlightened Americans" would have seen, while leaving political ideology out of it. I just shot off 10 films I figured represented a small part of that, but had I had a few more slots to fill I would have added Citizen Kane, Birth of a Nation, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Best Years of Our Lives, Midnight Cowboy, and so many more. You are right Strider, there is a "fracture" today more than ever on this subject, not just in films, but also music, books, and so much more. People who are your and my age I think experienced more variety than younger people today. We read books in school like Huckleberry Finn and Cather in the Rye, stuff most schools have cancelled and now replaced with whatever "woke" subject matter fits the agendas. I think we were brought up to appreciate variety of art---maybe just because film it was such a bigger industry back then. Today studios only make a fraction of the amount of films they used to make. Today they are all going for the blockbuster---or the subject matter which interests the movie goer in China who spends most of the money today. Today a story like Sunset Blvd would likely never get a green light to produce, just not enough explosions and robots. I feel sorry for anyone who would come up with a list with any of these in them: the Avengers films Star Wars films Harry Potter films Lord of the Rings films Jurassic films Transformer films Avatar Titanic (1997) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 14, 2021 Author Share Posted June 14, 2021 I forgot about Titanic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 14, 2021 Author Share Posted June 14, 2021 6 minutes ago, kingzoso said: I forgot about Titanic. Titanic is probably the most watched movie ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kipper Posted June 14, 2021 Share Posted June 14, 2021 17 minutes ago, kingzoso said: Titanic is probably the most watched movie ever. I prefer A Night to Remember (1958) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 7 hours ago, BobDobbs said: For OUR generation I think this list is pretty spot-on. Thank you. I could add another 10 movies that would make this list. What movies would be on your list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDobbs Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 2 hours ago, kingzoso said: Thank you. I could add another 10 movies that would make this list. What movies would be on your list? Well, besides your excellent list, Kip's first list was damn fine. I hate Gone with the Wind, too much over acting, seemed like a movie version of a soap opera, just too much. However its a classic, just because I don't like it does not mean most of our generation have not seen it, the contrary in fact. I would add Scent of a Woman as that was huge when it came out, Brian's Song, MASH (movie of course), Lolita, and The Shining. In fact, I would probably place The Shining of just about every generations list of top 10's from the Baby Boomers to whatever the hell the are calling this generation. My 25 year old step-son and his friends love The Shining and pretty much all movies from the 60's through the 80's. He says everyone he knows realizes the greatest years in cinema were the late 50's - mid-80's and they really go for those movies. Though Drew (my step-son) is a lot like me in that he loves ALL cinema, from 1903's The Great Train Robbery up to the present with movies such as Parasite and Nomadland. This latest generation is a rather closed-lip bunch due to the prevalence of social media, but once they open up, its rather surprising how aware they can be. Not all but many and that's a start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 13 hours ago, kingzoso said: Titanic is probably the most watched movie ever. Don't be fooled by inflationary grosses. Going by the number of admissions I bet "Gone With the Wind" still ranks higher than "Titanic", especially when you consider all the theatrical re-releases for the 10th, 25th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and 75th anniversaries. 12 hours ago, kipper said: I prefer A Night to Remember (1958) By far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strider Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Some movies I feel have been left out are... "Back to the Future". Even the Europeans, especially the French, love this movie. An original one-sheet poster used to be had for $50 just a few years agp. Now they fetch $300 and up. "Shawshank Redemption". One of those movies that seems to cross all ages and demographics and is more beloved as time goes on. It is also one of the few movies that guys aren't afraid to admit they shed a tear or two..."Dirty Dozen" and "Brian's Song" being two others. "Jaws". "Love Story" and "The Godfather" were the first $100,000,000 blockbusters of the 1970s but it was "Jaws" that really exploded the pop-culture landscape and changed the definition of "blockbuster" by banking more than $200,000,000. From this moment on, the studios would target the summer market like never before, paving the way for the all the blockbusters to come. This film gets screened all over town, especially during the 4th of July holiday, and always draws packed houses. Parents and grandparents bring the young ones to share the experience of the first summer blockbuster. The scene where the head pops out of the boat still makes people jump and shriek. "Raiders of the Lost Ark". There is a sizeable segment of the population that prefers this to "Star Wars". Another hardy perennial on the revival circuit and the home video/dvd market. Any of the classic Disney movies from "Snow White" to "Bambi" to "Peter Pan" to "101 Dalmations" to "The Jungle Book" to "The Lion King". You and I watched them as a kid a billion times and every generation since is raised on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bong-Man Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) Possible others.... Animal House Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind Blues Brothers Forrest Gump Christmas Story Once Upon a Time in Hollywood....at least according to this site ! Edited June 15, 2021 by Bong-Man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 That is a good list, however, believe it or not, I have never seen Forrest Gump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 12 hours ago, BobDobbs said: Well, besides your excellent list, Kip's first list was damn fine. I hate Gone with the Wind, too much over acting, seemed like a movie version of a soap opera, just too much. However its a classic, just because I don't like it does not mean most of our generation have not seen it, the contrary in fact. I would add Scent of a Woman as that was huge when it came out, Brian's Song, MASH (movie of course), Lolita, and The Shining. In fact, I would probably place The Shining of just about every generations list of top 10's from the Baby Boomers to whatever the hell the are calling this generation. My 25 year old step-son and his friends love The Shining and pretty much all movies from the 60's through the 80's. He says everyone he knows realizes the greatest years in cinema were the late 50's - mid-80's and they really go for those movies. Though Drew (my step-son) is a lot like me in that he loves ALL cinema, from 1903's The Great Train Robbery up to the present with movies such as Parasite and Nomadland. This latest generation is a rather closed-lip bunch due to the prevalence of social media, but once they open up, its rather surprising how aware they can be. Not all but many and that's a start. Another movie that I have never seen is Gone with the Wind and Casablanca. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 I forgot about E.T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigante Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Yeah, I haven't seen Gone With The Wind either. Or Forrest Gump. Or Star Wars (any of em). Or Lord of the Rings (any of em). Or the Blues Brothers, Animal House, Scarface, the Wizard of Oz, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Snow White, Bambi and probably several others on these lists. I thought I liked films til I read this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDobbs Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 1 minute ago, Brigante said: Yeah, I haven't seen Gone With The Wind either. Or Forrest Gump. Or Star Wars (any of em). Or Lord of the Rings (any of em). Or the Blues Brothers, Animal House, Scarface, the Wizard of Oz, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Snow White, Bambi and probably several others on these lists. I thought I liked films til I read this! How about Freddie Got Fingered? Now there is a classic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 1 hour ago, BobDobbs said: How about Freddie Got Fingered? Now there is a classic Don't be stupid and derail the topic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 5 minutes ago, kingzoso said: Don't be stupid and derail the topic It's disrespectful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobDobbs Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 1 hour ago, kingzoso said: Don't be stupid and derail the topic Jeesh, I was just being silly. My apologies for offending your sensibilities. You can let go of your pearls now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 3 hours ago, BobDobbs said: Jeesh, I was just being silly. My apologies for offending your sensibilities. You can let go of your pearls now. I don't know what you mean. What pearls? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingzoso Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 1 minute ago, kingzoso said: I don't know what you mean. What pearls? Back to the topic at hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the chase Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) ok 30 movies that most American's have seen.. yeah I know some are already mentioned..that's why I went with 30 .. King Kong (1933) Jaws Close Encounters of The 3rd Kind Rocky E.T. Ben Hur Star Wars Episode 4 Psycho Jurassic Park It's A Wonderful Life Planet Of The Apes (1968) Batman (1989) Mean Girls (Daughter's idea) Fargo Animal House National Lampoon's Vacation Wizard Of Oz Ghost The Shining Godzilla (1956) The Sound Of Music Mary Poppins The Lion King Toy Story Forrest Gump Frankenstein (1931) Dracula (1931) The Godfather Back To The Future Willie Wonka And The Chocolate Factory Edited June 16, 2021 by the chase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Where’s Caddy Shack in all of this!?! Vacation Christmas Vacation Back To School Meet The Parents We’ve all seen them on cable, HBO or at the theatre. Box office sales can’t be the sold determiner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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