Before we get to the actual list I pray you to indulge me for a bit as I give you the backstory behind 497 Movies You Oughta See.
Ever since I started writing movie reviews and people were good enough to read and enjoy them they’ve been asking me a question: “I would love to watch more Westerns/Comedies/War Movies/Horror/Whatever but I just don’t know where to start.” It occurred to me that if I drew up a list of movies in various genres that it would be a good starting point for folks to at least dip their toes in a genre they had little or no knowledge of.
The first incarnation of this list was “250 Movies You Oughta See” that I pretty much drew up on my own. There were some folks who put in their suggestion here and there but most of it was me. And that list I drew up two or three years ago. Since then we’ve seen a lot of movies come out. It occurred to me that it was time that I revised the list dramatically.
And this time I decided that I would open it up and ask members of the BETTER IN THE DARK Facebook group for their input. And boy, did I get it. But I’m really glad I did. I got a lot of movies I wouldn’t have even thought of. And with such a wide and diverse group I was confident I would get an equally wide and diverse range of movies. Which is exactly what I got.
Couple of things. I want to stress that this is not and I repeat not a “Best Movies” list. It’s a “Oughta See” List. Which simply means that these are movies that I and others think you Oughta See because we think they’re pretty damn good movies. But we’re not saying that they’re the best in a given genre so let’s get that out of the way and done.
And it will do no good for you to jump up and down screaming that your favorite Science Fiction or Crime Movies isn’t here. The first and foremost purpose of this list is for fun. It’s not meant to be a comprehensive list of every single movie in every single genre. The best way I would hope that you guys use this list is to scan it and jot down the names of movies that sound good or you’ve been planning to see or that you’ve heard of from friends or movies you just want to take a chance on watching. Okay?
And now, here’s where I thank those BiTD friends who helped me put together this list. And here they are:
Mark Bousquet. Tobias Christopher. Zoe Collins. Kelen Conley. James Dye. Gordon Dymowski. Michael Franzoni. Erik Fromme. Lucas Garrett Don Gates. Orenthal Hawkins. James Hickson. Lonni Susan Holland. Chris Johnson. Matthew Laub. JD Mathis. Tom Moses. Chris Munn. David Olfers. Adam Orchekowski. David A. Pascarella. Arthur Ratnick. Jeffrey Rist. Andrew Salmon. Kenneth Smith. Parker G. Stanfield. Sean Taylor.
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for your time and your suggestions. Some of them were phenomenal. Some were downright dangerous. Others provocative and while still others hilarious. But all are appreciated and I don’t take your participation lightly.
I have run my mouth sufficiently so now it’s time to present the list at last. Enjoy and I hope that this list will enable you to enjoy movies that you would not otherwise have even heard of. Good night and God Bless.
COMEDIES
9 TO 5
A Christmas Story
Airplane
Amazon Women On The Moon
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Animal House
Arsenic And Old Lace
Beetlejuice
Better Off Dead
Blazing Saddles
Bridesmaids
Cannonball Run
Clerks
Clerks II
Clue
Down Periscope
Ghostbusters
Johnny Dangerously
Midnight Run
Mother, Jugs & Speed
Murder By Death
Never Give A Sucker An Even Break
Office Space
Oscar
Sleeper
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
Smokey and The Bandit
SuperTroopers
The Blues Brothers
The Bride Came C.O.D.
The Kentucky Fried Movie
Trains, Planes & Automobiles
Tropic Thunder
UHF
Young Frankenstein
EPIC DRAMAS
A Clockwork Orange
A Face in The Crowd
A Raisin in The Sun
As Good As It Gets
Becket
Ben-Hur
Black Narcissus
Boogie Nights
Casablanca
Citizen Kane
Germany Year Zero
Gladiator
Glory
Imitation of Life
Jaws
Legends of The Fall
Lolita
Master & Commander
Nothing But A Man
On The Beach
Raging Bull
Rocky
Schindler’s List
Seven Samurai
Shawshank Redemption
Spartacus
Taxi Driver
The Bad and The Beautiful
The Grapes of Wrath
The Lion In Winter
The Ten Commandments
The Third Man
Titanic
To Have and Have Not
To Sir, With Love
Troy
Twelve Angry Men (both versions)
Gone With The Wind
Cape Fear (both versions)
Falling Down
FANTASY
Dragonslayer
Excalibur
Jason And The Argonauts
Ladyhawke
Merlin
Star Wars
The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen
The Empire Strikes Back
The Green Pastures
The Neverending Story
The Princess Bride
The Seventh Seal
The Sword And The Sorcerer
The Thief Of Bagdad (1940)
The Wizard of Oz
Time Bandits
Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)
SPORTS
A League of Their Own
Brian’s Song
Cool Runnings
Eight Men Out
Field of Dreams
Friday Night Lights
He Got Game
Hoop Dreams
Hoosiers
Necessary Roughness
Pride Of The Yankees
Remember The Titans
Rudy
Slapshot
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars And Motor Kings
The Sandlot
The Wrestler
When We Were Kings
White Men Can’t Jump
CHICK FLICKS
An Angel At My Table
Bright Star
Clueless
Dirty Dancing
Fried Green Tomatoes
He’s Just Not That Into You
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
How To Marry A Millionaire
Love Story
Pretty Woman
Sense and Sensibility
Spice World
Steel Magnolias
Terms of Endearment
Thelma & Louise
The Bridges of Madison County
The English Patient
The First Wives Club
The Notebook
The Piano
The Proposal
The Red Shoes
Under A Tuscany Sun
The Way We Were
Waiting to Exhale
What Women Want
When Harry Met Sally
SCIENCE FICTION
12 Monkeys
2001: A Space Odyssey
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Alien
Children Of Men
Close Encounters of The Third Kind
Back To The Future Trilogy
Blade Runner
Dark City
Dr. Cyclops
Enemy Mine
eXistenZ
Forbidden Planet
Gattaca
La Jetee
Metropolis
Moon
Planet of The Apes
Robocop
Serenity
Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
Sunshine
Soylent Green
The Blob (both versions)
The Bride of Frankenstein
The Fountain
Westworld
ACTION/ADVENTURE
300
48 Hours
Aliens
All Through The Night
Beverly Hills Cop
Big Trouble In Little China
Die Hard Series
Dr. No
Enter The Dragon
Equilibrium
Escape From New York
Indiana Jones Series
Jurassic Park
Lethal Weapon Series
King Kong (Original & Peter Jackson remake)
Mad Max
National Treasure
Passenger 57
Predator
Raiders of The Lost Ark
Sahara
Silver Streak
Tango & Cash
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
The 13th Warrior
The Fifth Element
The Hidden Fortress
The Last Dragon
The Road Warrior
The Terminator
WESTERNS
3:10 To Yuma (both versions)
Barbarossa
Bend In The River
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Cat Ballou
Dead Man
Duel at Diablo
El Dorado
Forty Guns
Hidalgo
High Noon
Lonesome Dove
My Name Is Nobody
Once Upon A Time In The West
Open Range
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid
Quigley Down Under
Ride The High Country
Rio Bravo
Silverado
Stagecoach
The Angel and The Badman
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
The Magnificent Seven
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Missouri Breaks
The Outlaw
The Professionals
The Quick And The Dead
The Searchers
Valdez Is Coming
Vera Cruz
The Virginian
The War Wagon
The Wild Bunch
The Wrath of God
Two Mules For Sister Sarah
Tombstone
True Grit
Unforgiven
MUSICALS
1776
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum
A Hard Day’s Night
Cabin In The Sky
Cabaret
Chicago
Dreamgirls
Godspell
Grease
Guys And Dolls
Hair
Hairspray
Jailhouse Rock
How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
Jesus Christ, Superstar
Little Shop of Horrors
Mamma Mia
Moulin Rouge
Pennies From Heaven
Showboat (1936)
Singin’ In the Rain
South Pacific
The Apple
The Music Man
The Sound of Music
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Victor/Victoria
Wattstax
West Side Story
The Wiz
WAR MOVIES
Apocalypse Now Redux
Band of Brothers
Blackhawk Down
Fixed Bayonets!
Full Metal Jacket
Hamburger Hill
Inglourious Basterds
Kelly’s Heroes
Letters From Iwo Jima
M*A*S*H
Paths of Glory
Platoon
Red Tails
Saving Private Ryan
The Big Red One
The Bridge Over The River Kwai
The Dirty Dozen
The Hurt Locker
The Steel Helmet
The Thin Red Line
Three Kings
Tuskegee Airmen
We Were Soldiers
Where Eagles Dare
HORROR
American Werewolf in London
Angel Heart
Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Cabin In The Woods
Candyman
Carrie
Carnival of Souls
Dawn of The Dead
Demon Seed
Event Horizon
Halloween
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Insidious
Let’s Scare Jessica To Death
Night of The Hunter
Night of The Living Dead
Nightmare on Elm Street
Phantasm
Poltergeist
Psycho
Stir of Echoes
Suspiria
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
The Beyond
The Birds
The Black Cat
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Changeling
The Crazies (both versions)
The Exorcist
The Haunting (1963)
The Invisible Man
The Island of Lost Souls
The Last Man on Earth
The Thing (both versions)
Trick ‘R Treat
ODDITIES
Battle Royale
Barton Fink
Big Fish
Blue Velvet
Buckaroo Banzai
Brazil
City of Lost Children
Crash
Day Watch
Dogma
Donnie Darko
Edward Scissorhands
Eraserhead
Heathers
Hudson Hawk
Ichi The Killer
Identity
Inception
Liquid Sky
Miracle Mile
Mulholland Drive
Naked Lunch
Night Watch
Oldboy
Repo Man
Six String Samurai
Speed Racer
The Big Lebowski
The Cell
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
The Point
The Thirteenth Floor
Time Bandits
Videodrome
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
CRIME
A Rage In Harlem
Bonnie & Clyde
Charlie Varrick
Cotton Comes To Harlem
Detour
Double Indemnity
Donnie Brasco
Drive
Ghost Dog: Way of The Samurai
Goodfellas
Heat
High Sierra
Hoodlum
Jackie Brown
King of New York
L.A. Confidential
Last Man Standing
Little Caesar
Memento
Miller’s Crossing
New Jack City
Ocean’s Eleven (both versions)
Once Upon A Time In America
Pickup on South Street
Pulp Fiction
Scarface (both versions)
Shadow of a Doubt
Shaft(1971)
Silence of The Lambs
Sin City
The Big Sleep
The Conversation
The Departed
The Godfather Trilogy
The Italian Job
The Maltese Falcon
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
The Thin Man
The Third Man
The Usual Suspects
Touch of Evil
Zodiac
SUPERHERO
Batman (1969)
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns
Batman: Mask of The Phantasm
Batman Trilogy
Blade
Blade 2
Captain America: The First Avenger
Darkman
Danger: Diabolik
Dick Tracy
Doctor Strange
Dredd
Hellboy
Hellboy and The Golden Army
Hulk
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Meteor Man
Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins
Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow
Sky High
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Superman
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
The Avengers
The Incredibles
The Phantom
The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941 serial)
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
The Rocketeer
The Shadow
Thor
Unbreakable
V For Vendetta
Watchmen
X-Men
X-Men 2
X-Men: First Class
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
ANIMATION
A Boy Named Charlie Brown
Akira
American Pop
Antz
Beauty and The Beast
Chicken Run
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Cool World
Despicable Me
Fantasia
Fantastic Planet
Finding Nemo
Fire & Ice
Ghost In The Shell
Grave of The Fireflies
Happy Feet
Heavy Metal
How To Train Your Dragon
Iron Giant
Laputa: Castle In The Sky
Lilo And Stitch
Mulan
Princess Mononoke
Rock and Rule
South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
Spirited Away
Steamboy
Streetfight
The Aristocats
The Castle of Cagliostro
The Jungle Book
The Lion King
The Triplets of Belleville
The Tune
Toy Story
Toy Story 3
UP
Waking Life
Wall-E
Wizards
SPY & ESPIONAGE THRILLERS
Hunt For Red October
In Like Flint
North by Northwest
Taken
The Good Shepard
The James Bond Series
The Jason Bourne Trilogy
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Professional
Ronin
Safe House
Salt
Sneaker
Spy Game
Three Days of The Condor
Spione
Great list. Have seen most of them, and since I respect your taste in movies, I will surely try to see some of the rest. As some had said, there were some not on there I would have included, but it’s not my list, and overall it’s a damned good selection.
Thank you, Doug. Send me a list of movies that you think should be on the list and those you think shouldn’t be on the list. I’m planning on updating it this September.
Comedy should also include a hard to find “J-Men Forever” by the guys who brought you Firesign Theatre, Proctor & Bergman. I would also include “Strange Brew”, but then that’s just my opinion.
Surprised that The Crow didn’t make it onto this list.
agreed