Spike Lee’s list of must-see movies
After I posted this featuring the alleged list of Steven Spielberg’s ‘curriculum,’ 206 must-see movies, there was considerable back and forth re the list’s authenticity including a Twitter comment from writer-director Edgar Wright asserting the list was “Fake.”
Then I received this email from GITS reader David:
Spike Lee taught a class at NYU in 2009 where he gave a list of films to watch. I was not a part of that class, but I got it from someone who was in that class, so I can 100% guarantee its legitimacy. Here is the list:
Bad Lieutenant | Abel Ferrara (1992)
Rashomon | Akira Kurosawa (1950)
Yojimbo | Akira Kurosawa (1961)
Ran | Akira Kurosawa (1985)
Rear Window | Alfred Hitchcock (1954)
Vertigo | Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
North by Northwest | Alfred Hitchcock (1959)
Bonnie and Clyde | Arthur Penn (1967)
The Conformist | Bernardo Bertolucci (1970)
Ace In The Hole | Billy Wilder (1951)
Some Like It Hot | Billy Wilder (1959)
Five Easy Pieces | Bob Rafelson (1970)
Killer of Sheep | Charles Burnett (1977)
Night of the Hunter | Charles Laughton (1955)
Raising Arizona | Coen Brothers (1987)
Lawrence of Arabia | David Lean (1962)
On the Waterfront | Elia Kazan (1954)
La Strada | Federico Fellini (1954)
La Dolce Vita | Federico Fellini (1960)
8 1/2 | Federico Fellini (1963)
City of God | Fernando Meirelles, Katia Lund (2002)
The Godfather: Part II | Francis Ford Coppola (1974)
400 Blows | François Truffaut (1959)
Day for Night | François Truffaut (1973)
Patton | Franklin J. Schnaffner (1970)
Mad Max | George Miller (1979)
The Road Warrior | George Miller (1981)
Battle of Algiers | Gillo Pontecorvo (1966)
The Last Detail | Hal Ashby (1973)
Breathless | Jean-Luc Godard (1960)
West Side Story | Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise (1961)
Stranger Than Paradise | Jim Jarmusch (1984)
The Train | John Frankenheimer (1964)
The Maltese Falcon | John Huston (1941)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | John Huston (1948)
Fat City | John Huston (1972)
Hurt Locker | Kathryn Bigelow (2008)
Los Olvidados | Luis Buñuel (1950)
Black Orpheus | Marcel Camus (1959)
Home of the Brave | Mark Robson (1949)
Mean Streets | Martin Scorsese (1973)
Raging Bull | Martin Scorsese (1980)
Apocalypto | Mel Gibson (2006)
The Deer Hunter | Michael Cimino (1978)
Casablanca | Michael Curtiz (1942)
Thief | Michael Mann (1981)
The Red Shoes | Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger (1948)
Coolie High | Michael Schultz (1975)
I Am Cuba | Mikhail Kalatozov (1964)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | Milos Forman (1975)
District 9 | Neil Blomkamp (2009)
In the Heat of the Night | Norman Jewison (1967)
Touch of Evil | Orson Welles (1958)
Blue Collar | Paul Schrader (1978)
White Heat | Raoul Walsh (1949)
Is Paris Burning? | René Clément (1966)
MASH | Robert Altman (1970)
To Kill a Mockingbird | Robert Mulligan (1962)
Rome, Open City | Roberto Rossellini (1945)
Paisan | Roberto Rossellini (1946)
Chinatown | Roman Polanski (1974)
Dog Day Afternoon | Sidney Lumet (1975)
Singin’ in the Rain | Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly (1952)
Paths of Glory | Stanley Kubrick (1957)
Spartacus | Stanley Kubrick (1960)
Dirty Pretty Things | Stephen Frears (2002)
Hoop Dreams | Steve James (1984)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Steven Spielberg (1977)
Cool Hand Luke | Stuart Rosenberg (1967)
Badlands | Terrence Malick (1973)
Days of Heaven | Terrence Malick (1978)
The Wizard of Oz | Victor Fleming (1939)
An American in Paris | Vincente Minnelli (1951)
Lust for Life | Vincente Minnelli (1956)
The Bicycle Thief | Vittorio De Sica (1948)
Miracle in Milan | Vittorio De Sica (1951)
Dead End | William Wyler (1937)
Zelig | Woody Allen (1983)
This certainly seems legit. And as per the ‘Spielberg’ list, why not cross check the films you have / have not seen and add the latter to your own personal list of must-see movies.
If anyone knows of other published or public lists of recommended movies by notable filmmakers, please post links in comments.
Seems like that is an interview book just waiting to happen: “Must-See Movies: The Films That Filmmakers Say You Must See.” Interviews with Spielberg, Coppola, Scorsese [note correct spelling] et al about their respective views on the core group of mandatory movies, then each of their complete lists. Proceeds going to the Writers Guild Foundation or some other Hollywood related charity. Fascinating insight into the minds of notable filmmakers and a great guide to our own cinematic edification.
Thanks, David, for the list! I will add it to the Deep Focus: The Go Into The Story Movies Project.
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