100 Favorite Movies List

My friend Rich Applebaum keeps a 100 favorite movie list. He told me the rules for keeping the list, and I agree with the rules:

"You don't have to defend your list"
"You should not criticize another persons list"
"You should not be ashamed of your list"
"You can (and should) update and amend your list"
"Your list, and other people's lists, are a great way to find new movies to see (I would never have seen Fight Club, #7 on my list, if I had not seen it on Rich's list and asked him about it)"

So, here's my list:

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Groundhog Day
3. Casablanca
4. Manhattan
5. The Godfather
6. Defending Your Life
7. Fight Club
8. The Grapes of Wrath
9. Carnal Knowledge
10. Double Indemnity
11. Goodfellas
12. The Caine Mutiny
13. Chinatown
14. Little Big Man
15. The Wizard of Oz
16. Wall Street
17. Rocky
18. Midnight Cowboy
19. Saving Private Ryan
20. Schindler's List
21. The Maltese Falcon
22. The Graduate
23. Silence of the Lambs
24. Annie Hall
25. Animal House
26. Men in Black II
27. Hannah and Her Sisters
28. August Rush
29. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
30. Bull Durham
31. Full Metal Jacket
32. Glengarry Glenross
33. Treasure of the Sierra Madre
34. Rounders
35. Field of Dreams
36. Crimes & Misdemeanors
37. Planet of the Apes
38. Do the Right Thing
39. Natural Born Killers
40. American Beauty
41. Trading Places
42. The Verdict
43. Pleasantville
44. North by Northwest
45. The Last Picture Show
46. Forrest Gump
47. All That Jazz
48. The Big Chill
49. Casino
50. Days of Wine and Roses
51. Moonstruck
52. The Truman Show
53. Saturday Night Fever
54. Psycho
55. To Kill a Mockingbird
56. Bright Lights, Big City
57. High Fidelity
58. Lost in Translation
59. House of Games
60. Swept Away
61. A Christmas Story
62. Ferris Buellers Day Off
63. Tommy Boy
64. Mother
65. Sex, Lies & Videotape
66. Breakfast Club
67. Amadeus
68. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
69. Back to the Future
70. Battleground
71. Ed Wood
72. The Accidental Tourist
73. All the President's Men
74. Network
75. Holes
76. Shawshank Redemption
77. Young Frankenstein
78. The Sound of Music
79. Breakfast at Tiffany's
80. The Ten Commandments
81. E.T.
82. Doctor Zhivago
83. Ushpizin
84. 12 Angry Men
85. Diner
86. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
87. Mars Attacks
88. Napolean Dynamite
89. The Muse
90. Body & Soul
91. Pope of Greenwich Village
92. Breaking Away
93. Coming Home
94. The Thin Man
95. Woodstock
96. Broadway Danny Rose
97. Van Wilder
98. Closer
99. Beavis & Butthead Do America
100. Coneheads

Putting together a list like this is a lot of fun. I admit, I got about 60 "off the top of my head", and then did a google search for movie lists to refresh my recollection and get some ideas. It's not cheating to do that, and I played around with the order.

A few other notes....I think you have to have actually seen a movie to include it, so while "Gone With the Wind" is on most lists, I have to leave it off. I broke the must see rule on one entry, #90 "Body & Soul", an old movie which is my Dad's favorite movie of all time. He has a very strong opinion about this, so I had to include it. When I see it, I will either adjust its ranking and remove it if called for, though I suspect it will move up.

One factor I considered was "will I stop channel surfing and start watching if I catch a particular movie on cable".

I will make additions, subtractions and adjustment to the list as needed. I welcome input about the list, within the spirit of "I don't have to defend my list". I do love talking about it though.