I generally think these type of lists are pretty dumb. But then this one started out so strong:
Goodfellas (1990)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Four great movies. And then came this:
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Watch Conan over and over? Hell, I couldn’t even make it through one sitting!
The rest of the list is spotty although The Princess Bride, Breaking Away, Fight Club, Back to the Future – I can live with those.
All About Eve (1950)
Clue (1985)
The Goonies (1985)
Varsity Blues (1999)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Breaking Away (1979)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Die Hard (1988)
Fight Club (1999)
Back to the Future (1985)
Best in Show (2000)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
But where’s Animal House? Casablanca? Shakespeare in Love? I’m sure you’ve got your favorite movies you could watch over and over.
How about this: Which movie have you seen the most times and how many times have you watched it? Personally I’d have to say It’s a Wonderful Life just because we watch it together almost every holiday season.
How about you?
Either The Last of the Mohicans (which is on the list) or Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Last of the Mohicas was the most engaging movie I came across as a young boy. I have probably seen the movie over 50 times. I watch it now about 3 or 4 times a year.
The adventure, the romance, the fact that I had been to where it was shot in the Asheville/Chimney Rock area, and I lived in rural NC so I could also run through the woods and pretend I was Hawkeye. I guess the movie really translated the James Fenmore Cooper spirit of wilderness adventure to my soul and it was something I carried around with me like a little treasure in a way.
It was so much fun to watch the movie and then take the story with me when I would go outside and play.
Pirates of the Caribbean I've watched probably close to 30 or 40 times…just picking apart the writing job that was so well done–in my opinion–of Elliott & Rossio. (also interesting that POTC is kind of a fantastic version of TLOTM)
Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL…well over 100 times.
Runner up…. Woody Allen's MANHATTAN (probably about 60 or 70 times).
The movie I've probably watched the most is "13 Going on 30." Probably watched it 22 times.
"How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days" 20 times or so.
"While You were Sleeping" maybe 16 times.
"Aliens" maybe 15 times.
"Back to School" (Rodney Dangerfield, 1986) maybe 15 times.
Like you, Scott, there are some movies I couldn't even make it one sitting through: "Face off" (Nicolas Cage/John Travolta).
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
Erin Brokovich surely. As a screenwriter that film is used particularly often as an example of a great script.
Let me add a few…
The Big Lebowski – 30+ times
Stand By Me – 20+
Annie Hall – about 15 times
And a second vote for Breaking Away. I think I watch just to hear Dennis Christopher do his Italian accent
CONAN actually is pretty brilliant. And it's a really weird movie too. I've always thought it was one of those movies that had a timeless look to it, like EXCALIBUR and BLADE RUNNER and 2001. But to each his own.
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and DEEP COVER would probably be mine. Watched both countless times, but as a kid I saw BIG TROUBLE five times in the freaking theater, for whatever that's worth. GOODFELLAS used to be on the list, but I've seen it way too much.
I've actually been making a conscious effort to watch unseen movies rather than the old standbys for the past few years.
I'm with Grant on that one. I used to be in this horrific loop where I kept rewatching the same movies over and over… cinematic comfort food. I finally said 'enough!' and made a pact with myself that if I was going to sit and watch a movie, it HAD to be something I'd never seen before.
This was 2 years ago and I've stuck to it pretty good.
Though I did watch "Smokey and the Bandit" on HBO a few days ago. Hey, we all have moments of weakness.
1. True Lies (absolutely addictive)
2. Alien
3. The Shining
Blade Runner
Aliens
The Road Warrior
Escape from New York
The Warriors
The Wizard of Oz
Dawn of the Dead (Romero's)
Heat
Goodfellas
Empire Strikes Back
2001: A Space Odyssey
12 Monkeys
The Departed
Die Hard
Aliens
Chariots of Fire
I think leaving out Ghostbusters costs this list its credibility.
Leon (The Professional) & The Fifth Element. Watched both so many times. Fifth Element (and orange haired milla jovovich) appealing to the child in me. And Leon appealing to the older kickass gunplay fan in me.
Not my favorite movie. Not the movie that had the greatest impact on my life. Not even the movie I've seen the most. It's just a nasty, dirty, guilty pleasure that I'm throwing out there for y'all to see. It's just the movie that I can't get myself to ever surf past if it's on. And that is:
ROADHOUSE
I am a masochist…
Interesting that LAST OF THE MOHICANS is on that list, as that it's one of the films I've probably seen the most … I've watched it easily 200 times, if not more.
I read in one of Elmore Leonard's novels, a character mentioned his love for that film and how every time it's on, he has to watch it.
I feel the same way, I used to have it on tape and watched it constantly.
My other favorite is FIGHT CLUB, which I've seen many, many times … and for awhile I watched ENTER THE DRAGON more times than I probably should have.
The only two movies I'd add would be THE BREAKFAST CLUB and SIXTEEN CANDLES, which I've seen multiple times (fifty times each, easy) …
Thing about favorite movies, it depends on when you saw them and why … we have attachments to films that we see at pivotal times … kinda like reading CATCHER IN THE RYE when you're 14 … it's the absolute right age to read it, and it will stay with you forever as a result … read it at 50 and while you may appreciate it, it won't echo like it might have …
I feel that way about some movies …
I watch When Harry met Sally every year with my wife. Always enjoy it…
I don't like to watch the movies I love too many times, because I never want to completely understand the mysteries that make me love them. I only like to watch them when I've forgotten them sufficiently.
That said, I watch Love Actually a couple times each holiday season since it's come out, and I was crazy about The Parent Trap (the new one) when I was younger.
I also tend to have a hard time sitting through most of the "classics" on that list, though I'll watch extremely "slow-paced" European movies with fascination.
Boogie Nights
Nashville
Any disaster movie — Towering Inferno, Poseidon Adventure. We all have our guilty pleasures. Maybe this explains Clue (Clue!?!).
Godfathers I and II
Star Wars (New Hope)
Goodfellas
Planet of the Apes
Magnolia
Citizen Kane
Taxi Driver
Ordinary People, probably seen it a hundred times.
Shane
The Big Country, Burl Ives is masterful in his role. So many big stars in one very nice film.
I'm amazed to learn that some people have watched one film 100, even 200 times. I think it was director Mike Nichols who said if you want to be a director you should watch "A Place in the Sun" 50 times. I've watched that a few times, but my most watched film is "Tender Mercies."
Thought I was alone on my love for that Horton Foote written film (for which he won an Oscar as did Duvall as lead actor), but Iread a while back that Matt Damon said it was his favorite film.
Braveheart
Probably 80+ viewings by now.
I'd rather watch Conan over and over than Dr. Strangelove.