501 Must-See Movies: 'Aboutde A bout de souffle' to 'Airplane!'

I recently found this book on my shelf last week. It is basically the same premise as Red's 1001 Albums book, except it is also broken out by genre. I thought this would give me something to help contribute with and maybe help free my mind as I am stuck on my writing. We will go in alphabetical order to help break up the time periods and genres.

A bout de souffle: France, 1960 (Romance) Breathless (US Title)

This film is noted as ushering in the French New Wave as it began depicting relationships in a very 60's manner. The director spent 25 minutes on the bedroom scene. I guess the main point is the angst being blotted out by drugs. "When we talked, I talked about me, you talked about you, when we should have talked about each other." That sounds like a good romance movie line.

Ace in the Hole: USA, 1951 (Drama)

Reading the plot of this movie and seeing that it was made in 1951 gives me a strange feeling of relief that crap like this has been happening all along. Kirk Douglas stars as a reporter looking to boost his career by basically exploiting a man trapped in a cave collapse. The movie is touted as being a blatant attack on the media and thus was panned.

Adam's Rib: USA, 1949 (Romance)

Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn team up for the 6th of 9 times. The couple are opposing attorneys on a civil case dealing with a cheating husband. It says the point of this battle of the sexes movie is that there is very little difference between the sexes.

The Adventures of Robin Hood: USA, 1938 (Action/Adventure & Epic)

Errol Flynn in his legendary role as Robin Hood. This movie set the action standard for future swashbucklers. I believe I have seen parts of this movie. The climactic swordfight between Robin Hood and Sir Guy of Gisbourne is iconic and often imitated as the action cuts between the men and their shadows.

An Affair to Remember: USA, 1957 (Romance)

Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr meet and fall instantly in love on a cruise to New York in which both are to meet up with their fiances. The decide to meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months if they are still in love. This script was redone in 1994 with Warren Beatty & Annette Bening. I won't spoil the ending for you though.

The African Queen: USA, 1951 (Action/Adventure & Epic)

Humphrey Bogart stars as a river trader in East Africa and Katharine Hepburn is a British missionary as WWI begins. They confront German gun boats and fall in love. This is one of those classic movies that most people has heard of before, although I don't believe I have ever seen it.

Age of Innocence: USA, 1993 (Romance)

A Martin Scorsese romance film set in the late 19th Century. Sounds like an odd choice for him. It says his interest was in how the high society structure of the time was very mafia-like it was with restrictive rules and codes that are set in stone.

Aguirre: The Wrath of God: Germany/Peru/Mexico, 1972 (Action/Adventure & Epic)

16th Century conquistadors travel up the Amazon river in search of El Dorado, but instead fall into a spin of despair and self destruction. This movie actually sounds very interesting even if it is probably sub titled. It is described as 'one of the greatest river films', whatever that means exactly.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence: USA, 2001 (Science Fiction & Fantasy)

I never watched this film, it seems like Spielberg crap that he started to shell out in the last ten years. I find it funny that they were contemplating CGI, robots or Midgets to play the 11 year old robot boy until they saw Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. It is interesting though to read that Stanley Kubrick originally wanted to make this movie but felt he lacked the sentimentality to pull it off so he gave it to Spielberg.

Airplane!: USA, 1980 (Comedy)

This is probably the greatest spoof movie of all time. The laughs are endless and the deadpan B movie feel is perfect. Having grown up when Unsolved Mysteries was on prime time TV, it is a great relief to hear Robert Stack's creepy voice used for humor. Leslie Nielsen was at his best. Everyone has their favorite line or two or ten.

Well we made it through the first installment. Finally broke out of the Romance funk towards the end of this group. I am now very interested in trying to locate a copy of Ace in the Hole to watch. Plus committing myself to coherently watching Robin Hood may be necessary too.