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Greatest Movie You Have Ever Seen

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Did Dr. Peikoff state such before his course EIGHT GREAT PLAYS or before?  Even if after I can understand him.

I'm not sure. He gave that opinion of Dead Poets Society in 1995, although I don't know when "Eight Great Plays" was recorded, since I do not own it (the date of the course doesn't seem to be listed on the Ayn Rand Bookstore website).

--Alex

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I would like to add the following movies to my list.

The Aviator

Phantom of the Opera

Modern Times by Chaplin

Modern Times is a silent movie with some sounds. It's great though....wonderful comedy.... you really see why Chaplin is a legend. :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

For classics, 12 Angry Men was awesome - I believe it's a Broadway play right now, but I'm afraid I won't have a chance to see it.

Spotless Mind was the best movie I've seen in the last year, although I admit I do not watch too many movies.

Of course, there's the LOTR series and Star Wars (of which I enjoyed the 2nd movie the most for some reason, Two Towers and Empire Strikes Back).

American History X is intense drama and I generally like anything with Ed Norton (I haven't seen Fight Club, on purpose.. 24 hours was good as well).

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Have you seen "Captain Blood"? It has a beautiful music score which is perfectly integrated with the action, shadows are used with great dramatic effect, and it has one the most beautiful death scene. Also, there are two brief shots of a man's eyes midst the noise and smoke of battle which are unforgettable. Basil Rathbone plays an excellent scurvy pirate and Errol Flynn is at his heroic best. The movie was made in 1926. A couple years later a movie was made with nearly the same cast, and with some of the exact same scenes which mocked the positive values of Captain Blood. I forget its title, but it got the rave reviews and the awards.

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Have you seen "Captain Blood"?  It has a beautiful music score which is perfectly integrated with the action, shadows are used with great dramatic effect, and it has one  the most beautiful death scene.  Also, there are two brief shots of a man's eyes midst the noise and smoke of battle which are unforgettable.  Basil Rathbone plays an excellent scurvy pirate and Errol Flynn is at his heroic best.  The movie was made in 1926.  A couple years later a movie was made with nearly the same cast, and with some of the exact same scenes which mocked the positive values of Captain Blood.  I forget its title, but it got the rave reviews and the awards.

Actually, the Flynn-Rathbone Captain Blood was made in 1935. The earlier, silent version of the same title was a 1924 vintage. I don't know of a movie after the Flynn-Rathbone version that had nearly the same cast and scenes.

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Actually, the Flynn-Rathbone Captain Blood was made in 1935.  The earlier, silent version of the same title was a 1924 vintage.  I don't know of a movie after the Flynn-Rathbone version that had nearly the same cast and scenes.

Yes, you're right about the date. The other movie was The Sea Hawk. The characters which were the same were his crew. The battle scenes were practically identical, if my memory serves me right.

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Braveheart.

Here is a blog entry I maded called "My Favorite Things About the Movie 'Braveheart'":

1) An emphasis on the use of reason (“wit”) as opposed to mindless force. This was opposite of the commonly held beliefs among the other characters in the movie, who thought that the greatest man was the man who was the strongest. When William Wallace became a hero, rumors about him began to spread around to the other tribes in Scotland. The only way that the people could comprehend his great achievements was to attribute physical attributes of strength to him in the rumors (i.e.; he stood seven feet tall, he shot fireballs from his eyes, etc.) In reality, he was no stronger than the average man. What allowed him to accomplish such great feats was his intelligence.

2) A “give me liberty or give me death” attitude. William Wallace acknowledged that liberty is necessary for man’s survival as a man, and that it was worth fighting for. He also realized the importance of integrity to one’s beliefs, even when directly faced with the threat of murder for not recanting his beliefs.

3) The portrayal of warfare as it ought to be undertaken; each individual choosing to fight to protect his own rights, and not out of “duty” or “sacrifice” to some supposed “greater good.”

4) The acknowledgement of forceful taxation as theft.

5) William Wallace had a strong sense of life. He loved his wife passionately, as well as his country and its people. He acknowledged that “every man dies, not every man really lives,” and that reason and liberty are necessary for a man to really live.

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My top 10, mostly in order but not entirely:

1.) Dances with Wolves

2.) Goodfellas

3.) American Beauty

4.) Lord of the Rings (whole trilogy)

5.) The Matrix (only the first one...the other 2 sucked)

6.) Legends of the Fall

7.) Fiddler on the Roof

8.) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

9.) Silence of the Lambs

10.) Planet of the Apes (original)

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Just a quick note to sat that I have tried to put all the movies recommended in this thread into the Wiki. So, if anyone sees a new recommendation and would like to add it there... please do.

The list of movies in the Wiki (recommended by at least one person on an Objectivism forum), is huge: over 600.

I wish there was a good way of rating/ranking them. Any ideas?

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Style refers to how skillfully the movie was made (more recent movies tend to score higher than older movies).  It takes into consideration: intellegent dialog, logical plot, technical skills, acting skills, etc...

By those criteria, I'd say movies from Hollywood's golden age (mid-1930s to early 1950s) tower above modern fare.

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The dialog may have been better on average, but the either the acting skills or the directorial skills were worse (I can't tell which).  I don't see the quality of plots being all that different then as now and the camera tricks/special effects are certainly better today.

This is an interesting discussion, NT.

I will acknowledge that performances of 50-70 years ago look markedly different than today's. To some degree this difference is a factor of the radical transformation in manners, deportment, and even posture that has taken place in the West since the end of WWII. I will further acknowledge that there was no shortage of stagey, unrealistic acting in the Golden Age.

However, the dramatic flair one sees in Old Hollywood in many ways represented a desirable stylization and concretization of values. If heroes often seemed just a bit too larger-than-life, it was because their films depicted life not as it is, but as it ought to be. I will therefore argue that Old Hollywood on average comes far closer to achieving the Romantic vision than contemporary cinema.

I do not disparage the revolution in realism that Stanislavsky, the Actors Studio, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, et al brought to post-war films. Yet realism often pushed aside the vital focus on heroic values that underlined much of early-20th century movie performances. Where are the likes of Clark Gable, Ronald Colman, Spencer Tracy, and James Stewart today? As much as I love them, Pacino, DeNiro, Hanks and Nicholson don't fill their shoes.

As for today's directors, there is simply no one with the skills of Capra, Hitchcock, Welles, Ford, or Wilder. The prevalence of camera tricks/special effects only emphasizes how seldom real human drama is brought to the screen.

Edited by Tom Robinson
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  • 3 weeks later...

1. The Princess Bride A perfectly benevolent love tale, idealizing romance and justice. I identify greatly with the hero in this movie.

2. Chocolat Unless I've missed it, noone has mentioned this movie yet. The sense of life in this film is the best to come out of Hollywood in 50 years.

3. The Philadelphia Story Katie! Cary! Jimmy! And what a brilliant script and brilliant acting by the entire cast. I am overjoyed every single time I watch it.

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Greatest Movie You Have Ever Seen

The 39 Steps

Older movies hold a fascination for me. This was one of Hitchcock's first.

The Search- Montgomery Clift (plays a soldier) finds a boy seemingly orphaned during WWII. But his mother is frantically searching. The acting and direction are fantastic. A must see!

Howard Hawk's Red River is a great western.

I find that most modern movies are so obsessed with naturalist values that they lose their entertainment value and come off depressing, without necessarily conveying a strong moral message. It's no wonder that I haven't frequented the movie houses lately.

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Chocolat  Unless I've missed it, noone has mentioned this movie yet.  The sense of life in this film is the best to come out of Hollywood in 50 years.

For some reason I was completely turned off to the main character and had a difficult time viewing her as filling the "hero" role. However, I can't pinpoint specifically which of her traits I dislike or whether the author intended these traits.

I've only seen it once even though I own the DVD. Maybe it'll be different the second time.

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I know that some of these have already been listed but here goes some of mine.

Shawshank Redemption, If Stephen King would write more stories like this he would be one of my favorite authors.

Good Will Hunting.

8 Mile, I have my reasons for this besides being an Eminem fan.

Remember The Titans

Rudy

Fight Club

Aladdin

Gladiator

Braveheart

Chronicles Of Riddick

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My favorite movie of all time has not been on ANYONE'S list yet; and for that, I scold you all and send you all to bed without dessert.  For shame, forgetting the Greatest Movie of All Time (that I've seen at least, I admit that I haven't seen The Fountainhead or We The Living).

APOLLO 13 (1995)

Actually, there's an older movie thread, called Enjoyable Movies, in which the very first post mentions Apollo 13. And I think people tend to avoid listing movies that have already been mentioned earlier in the thread.

Having said that, I certainly agree that Apollo 13 is a great movie.

I recently watched another great old movie, which I don't think has been mentioned yet: Beau Geste, the version starring Gary Cooper. It's a story of the sense of honor (and the camaraderie) of three brothers, and their loyalty to those they love, and to what they believe is right.

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I know that some of these have already been listed but here goes some of mine.

Shawshank Redemption, If Stephen King would write more stories like this he would be one of my favorite authors.

Good Will Hunting.

8 Mile, I have my reasons for this besides being an Eminem fan.

Remember The Titans

Rudy

Fight Club

Aladdin

Gladiator

Braveheart

Chronicles Of Riddick

I agree with Shawshank, Good Will, 8 Mile, and Bravheart. Gladiator of course. Rudy, although when I read the back of the cover it looked interesting, for so many years I could not rent it. You see, when I was a kid I had "crush" on Sean Astin in The Goonies, and then to find him overweight later in life, was disappointing. Can you convince me, based on the story, to watch the movie?

Americo.

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Although not my all-time favorite (still thinking about that), one excellent movie to check out is "The Edge (1997)," starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin.

Hopkins plays a self-made billionaire stranded in the Alaskan wilderness with a shallow, smarmy photographer (in other words, Alec Baldwin acting like himself).

To survive, Hopkins integrates his vast storehouse of book knowledge with a will to triumph and ultimately defeats the elements and a nasty bear with a taste for blood. Baldwin — the very essence of a second-hander goes along for the ride, whines about Hopkins success and riches and generally gets in the way.

Very well-acted and filmed. The last line may be a bit hard to understand but I won't give it away. It's a great example of how a man should use reason to integrate theoretical knowledge (abstracts) into life-saving, rational skills and actions (concretes). How's that for an Epistemolgical Movie Award? (The Eppies?)

Other favorites: Chocolat, Shawshank..I'm interested in seeing some of the older movies mentioned so thanks for the recommendations.

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Saw "The Truman Show" yesterday. Interesting "what if" scenario. Impossible but interesting.

Someone listed it as a favorite in a previous post.

I think more could be done with the idea. I don't know what could be done. I think a good author would have a way to do something with it.

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I'd have to say that I enjoy the Harry Potter movies most. And I like books also.

Of older movies, I liked Flash Gordon. I used to watch it as a kid a lot.

Other movies I also find worth watching more than once:

The Lord of the Rings (I liked part 3 the most)

Star Trek: Generations and First Contact

The Odyssey

Pirates of the Carribean

Pitch Black & Chronicles of Riddick

The Matrix (Part 1 and maybe 2, but not 3)

Tomb Raider (Part 1 only)

Gattaca

Artificial Intelligence: AI

The Sixth Sense

Unbreakable

Of the movies mentioned here, I also enjoyed Chocolat, Braveheart, Gladiator and The Truman Show.

8 Mile I didn't even want to watch. I saw several scenes and that was enough to decide not to watch it. There were good 8 Mile parodies though :D .

I'm getting high recommendations to see Blade Runner, but I can't find it in the video stores here.

Edited to add The Truman Show. :P

Edited by source
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Blade Runner is my favourite of all time. It has such a moving ending and I love Vangelis' score.

Open Your Eyes is also a very good movie. Great story and very creepy.

Jacob's Ladder is probably the scariest movie I've ever seen, very good twist at the end and it relies more on making you think than trying to shock you.

Chocolat is a very sweet movie, perfectly filmed and totaly gripping, Binoche gives a brilliant performance.

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