Found at Majikthise, Lawyers Guns and Money, and Lance Mannion, and apparently originating here: choose ten movies that you would show to someone to explain America to them. Here’s my list, off the top of my head, making some effort not to duplicate the others.
- The Player (1992)
- Cool Hand Luke (1967)
- Training Day (2001)
- Metropolitan (1990)
- Easy Rider (1969)
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
- Hoop Dreams (1994)
- The Sting (1973)
- Glory (1989)
- Dr. Strangelove (1964)
I thought at first it would be hard to think of ten good ones, but I ended up having to leave out Fargo, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Thelma and Louise, The Conversation, The Untouchables, Blue Velvet, and a bunch more. I’m not providing any explanations for my choices — figuring it out should be half the fun.
January 17th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
This is interesting, as a non-american.
I recall a film with Henry Fonda, about the depression era, the film title escapes me, but it was representative of an era?
Is your choice based on up-to-minute?
To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the most powerfull films of any era.
January 17th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
I recall a film with Henry Fonda, about the depression era, the film title escapes me, but it was representative of an era?
Grapes of wrath I think Paul. But really, it is much different now
January 17th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
I’d suggest Crash, Hoosiers, Coming Home, Annie Hall, and the Breakfast Club…
Fargo is a really great idea
January 17th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
Never had America explained to me, that’s probably why I fail to understand so many things… Nevertheless, I would add “Paris Texas”, one of my favorite movies.
January 17th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Thanks a million S!
Of course, America today is really quite different, but my own “idea-of-america” based on one or two films would be:
Taxi Driver
It’s a Mad,Mad,Mad,Mad World
Two contrasting films, but having never been to the U.S I know this would be pretty inacurate and non-representative?
January 17th, 2006 at 11:37 pm
My first idea of what America was like was gleaned from watching Deliverance.
January 18th, 2006 at 12:07 am
Dreams are good, but I gotta pick a different sport…Field of Dreams:
Bonus quote:
The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.
January 18th, 2006 at 12:08 am
Also, I forgot Waiting for Guffman. That perhaps symbolizes America more than any other movie could
January 18th, 2006 at 12:31 am
Silly of me, but I think National Lampoon’s European Vacation pretty much describes America.
January 18th, 2006 at 12:41 am
I’m making this list before following any of your links, to make it more fun. Since the idea is to explain America, it would help if there was a good suburban movie, but I can’t think of one off hand. In chronological order:
1/ Citizen Kane (1941)
2/ The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
3/ The Best Years of our Lives (1946)
4/ A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
5/ Mean Streets (1973)
6/ Hannah and her Sisters (1986)
7/ Mystery Train (1989)
8/ Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
9/ Hoop Dreams (1994)
10/ Gridlock’d (1997)
January 18th, 2006 at 12:51 am
I don’t want to number them:
The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
Little Big Man (Arthur Penn, 1970)
The Southerner (Jean Renoir, 1945)
Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett, 1977)
A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974)
The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)
Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch, 1989)
January 18th, 2006 at 1:04 am
Man, I wish I’d thought of Little Big Man!
January 18th, 2006 at 1:13 am
Though it seems oft-avoided due to its popularity, I think Taxi Driver is the only glaring ommision from the list. Scorcese REALLY hits the nail on the head in his description of alienation, loneliness, and exclusion in the modern world. Though a grim and frighteningly delusional look into the head of an oddity, Taxi Driver is a biting and accurate description of one admittedly dark aspect of current society.
January 18th, 2006 at 1:16 am
Also, maybe something Tarantino? Pulp Fiction, perhaps? Though extremely self-referential and not always a social commentary, it certainly epitomizes a current trend in film. If there’s one thing Quentin Tarantino knows, it’s the state of American Film.
January 18th, 2006 at 1:47 am
Koyaanisquatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1983)
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)
El Norte (Gregory Nava, ‘83)
A River Runs Through It (Robert Redford, 1992)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Stanley Kramer, 1967)
The Best Years of our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
On The Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962)
Too bad there’s no movie version of Vineland.
January 18th, 2006 at 2:23 am
The American movies had unexpected effects elsewhere in the world…
The “Happy Birthday” and “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” songs exist in Italy because the Italians saw the songs being sung in American movies and liked the songs. Their songs are the same melodies with just the words directly translated, and are now part of their culture. (According to my friends here, they didn’t have a Happy Birthday song before.)
Heh.. so my burning curiosity wants to know, since the Happy Birthday song is copyrighted, and ASCAP and Time Warner consider it a form of copyright infringement to sing the songs in public, can they fine the Italians when they sing “Tanti Auguri a Te” too ..?
I think a Calvin and Hobbes movie could explain America in the movies the best…
January 18th, 2006 at 2:25 am
Thanks for the link! It’s an interesting question, isn’t it? One of my readers came up with it.
January 18th, 2006 at 2:33 am
Ah, scusi’ ! Forgot the right quote in the html link ->
Unhappy Birthday song .
January 18th, 2006 at 6:18 am
From a political POV, I am slightly surprised that nobody has suggested “Being There (1979)” yet…
January 18th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Patton (1970)
Crossing Delancey (1988)
Casablanca (1942/43)
Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
The Cowboys (1970)
Matewan (199?)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1967)
L.A. Confidential (1997?)
Mississippi Burning (198?)
January 18th, 2006 at 11:02 am
In no particular order
Diner
Network
Dead Man Walking
Bowling for Columbine
Roger and Me
American Graffiti
Saturday Night Fever
Wall Street
Picnic
Kramer vs. Kramer
Elliot
January 18th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Supprised you left off Farenheit 911 Elliot. Surely Roger Moore’s magnum opus deserves a place among the 10 films which explain America to the rest of the world.
January 18th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
Explain America! Well…Latin America, Central America, North America… The United States, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Chile. Uruguay, Peru,Equador, Costa Rica, Honduras, Belize…you want to explain all of them in one movie? How about America in 80 days by Sean Carroll? Conditional on his financial resources and flare for adventure…One movie to the wise: The Shawshenk Redemption…location, location, location
January 18th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
I loved Roger Moore in Fahrenheit 911. The part where he zoomed through the terrorist camp in his specially-modified Lotus, shaken-not-stirred martini in one hand and grenade launcher in the other? And ended up in bed afterward with the hot Pakistani nuclear physicist? That was awesome.
January 18th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
I consdered F911 but am hopeful that the Bush era is only a temporary annoying interruption and is not reflective of the true America.
Elliot
January 18th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
It would be so much easier with TV i think.
January 18th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
spyder–
there are so many fewer great TV shows, and the format allows a much greater spectrum of information to be transmitted. It terrifies me that Europeans see rebroacasts of “Friends”, however.
January 18th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
bittergradstudent: Ever seen an Italian-dubbed Dallas?
January 18th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Sean, just so you know, that joke was appreciated.
January 18th, 2006 at 7:41 pm
Amara–oh god, I can only imagine the bizarreness of this. Though I guess that could be what happened to the descendents of the Italian cowboys in the spaghetti westerns…
I HAVE seen the Spanish dubbed Star Trek II. Dubbed over Spanish Kirk is clearly a better actor than Shatner. And the dubbed Kirstie alley didn’t make me cry.
January 18th, 2006 at 8:20 pm
bittergradstudent :
How was the Spanish version of “KHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN”?
January 18th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
One thing that amazes and bewilders me when I have to deal with People…is that they have seen and remember so many movies. A large amount of their conversation is about movies. They seem to have a huge repertoire of “films seen.”
I have only seen a handful of films in my life. It just hasn’t been part of my experience. This means that I can’t talk with anyone in the “language” they understand, nor understand their rich background of movie “shared culture.” I am wondering whether I should, at my advanced age, go rent scads of “well-known” films from my local video store and get knowledgeable enough to have a conversation, let alone choose any films which would represent America.
Yours from the cinematically challenged,
Pyracantha
January 18th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Actually, The GodFather is also very American. Apart from the nice portrayal of the challenges faced by the new immigrants, it unmasks the naive view of people towards politicians(of both parties) that is a lot truer than many realize.
Kate asks Michael,” Why can’t your family be in politics, like a senator, instead of being in crime?”
Michael, “Kate, you are so naive.”
January 19th, 2006 at 12:12 am
Pyracantha, my advice is don’t waste your time. Your local book library contains more manna for your mind than all the video stores in the world.
January 19th, 2006 at 2:26 am
Ah but Kieslowski films are mind manna for a lifetime… (Try to rent those!)
January 19th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
Sorry, era, but your misquotation actually made me feel pain. The real quotation is more along the lines of:
Kay: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don’t have men killed.
Michael: Now who’s being naive, Kay?
January 19th, 2006 at 5:46 pm
Ten million movies couldn’t explain America.
January 19th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Some wonderful choices but a few I expected are not suggested by anyone. I am Canadian and in my early 50’s, both of which affect my view of our perplexing, fascinating,strong and sometimes scary neighbour to the south. I would have expected to see more Westerns and at least one like Platoon or Full Metal Jacket. From my northern viewpoint these are big parts of the American zeitgeist (and why not Inherit the Wind while I think of it, I expect a remake soon, perhaps Intelligently Design the Wind)
January 19th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
Shortly, however, I think that this might tell you more about America, and yourself, than all those other movies combined.
how I wish I was in the pitch meeting.
January 19th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
Amara: I have seen the orginal Star Trek dubbed in Italian. I have to confess that the ever-logical Spock speaking in emotional Italian made me laugh!
January 20th, 2006 at 2:29 am
Dear Joanne, When I moved to Europe, seeing/hearing my beloved Star Trek dubbed in German, French, Italian, or other languages was very strange for me. _None_ of my colleagues had heard their real voices!
So in my seminars of wavelets, I thought to educate them with this facet. I found a recording of Captain Kirk’s voice, played it so they could hear the real thing, and then made a wavelet transform to show them how the frequencies could be separated. And since Paramount or Universal, or whoever owns Star Trek cannot copyright a wavelet transform of Kirk’s voice, I felt safe putting these transforms at my web site. (scroll down to the bottom of the page)
January 20th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
The Godfather–for me, hands down, the great American movie. Underneath, it’s not about the Mafia or crime or even family honor (whatever the hell that means) . . . it’s about the immigrant experience in America . . . and far more importantly, the consumptive nature of capitalism.
I’d also include Once Upon a Time in the West. (Though made by an Italian, it’s THE great movie about both the historical west and the mythical west . . . and their mutual influence on the American character.)
Toss in Chinatown, To Kill a Mockingbird, Shane, It’s a Wonderful Life, On the Waterfront, the Best Years of Our Lives, Midnight Cowboy and Dr. Strangelove . . . you’re getting there . . . .