@closetpicks
20 from Scorsese's 85-film list
20 items
Citizen KaneThe GodfatherThe Third ManSweet Smell of SuccessApocalypse NowMcCabe & Mrs. Miller+14
16803
🎬spike lee's essential list, where i'd start
he hands this out first day at nyu, 95 films on the actual list. these are the 25 i'd watch first. his words on the picks, not mine on the order
01
Casablanca
everyone's already seen this one and it's still good. start here if you need proof this list isn't homework
02
Some Like It Hot
03
Rashomon
that unreliable-narrator structure every movie since has stolen. still holds
04
Rear Window
05
North by Northwest
cary grant running from a crop duster in a suit. thats the whole pitch and it works
06
On the Waterfront
brando's cab scene. the one everyone quotes but it still lands cold every time
07
Breathless
08
8 1/2
if you're ever going to make a film about making a film, watch this first so you skip a whole stage of embarrassment
09
Dr. Strangelove
10
Bonnie and Clyde
that ending changed what studios thought they could get away with
11
The Conformist
12
The Godfather
yes, obviously. watch it again anyway like it's the first time
13
Mean Streets
14
Chinatown
the last line. do not look it up beforehand, I'm serious
15
The Godfather: Part II
16
Badlands
sissy spacek's narration is doing half the movie's work and you don't notice until the second watch
17
Days of Heaven
18
Raging Bull
de niro gained the weight for real and it's in every frame of the back half
19
Ran
20
Killer of Sheep
shot on weekends for basically no money. you can feel it, and that's the whole point
21
Boyz n the Hood
22
Daughters of the Dust
added when lee updated the list after people (rightly) called out that only one woman director was on it. best pick of that batch
23
The Piano
24
City of God
forget the plot for a second, the editing alone is a masterclass
25
In the Heat of the Night
last one I added, still working through the list myself honestly
Or start a list of your own. Free, it takes a minute.