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I'm even more of a newbie and greatly intimidated by the wit and intelligence of everyone that seems to post here...

Clearly you haven't read the Oedipus thread.

Anyway, to answer the original question, here's a list of five. Pretty meaningless for me, with a couple of exceptions, as there are 20 other films that might go on the list on any given day.

1. The Big Lebowski
2. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
3. Requiem For A Dream
4. Mean Streets
5. The Maltese Falcon

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Oh yeah, I forgot Time Bandits. And (though it's not a comedy), Brazil

...which, in turn, I also forgot.

The Enigma of Kasper Hauser
In the Mood for Love
Exotica
Maborosi
Can I have the Apu trilogy.

A posterity film. I dunno. Man with a Movie Camera, possibly.

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Maborosi

You don't know how much I'm laughing right now, Lyra, and it has nothing to do with the film itself: back in high school, my friends and I would make the 25 mile drive from Long Beach up to West LA to the Nuart, one of the best art houses in the city. Long Beach had an art house, but it usually showed very mainstream art pictures (if that makes any sense), and usually only a month after they played other places. The Nuart had revivals, sometimes obscure stuff, and the new foreign films. There was one stretch were we drove up there each week for a month to see something different, and each time they showed a trailer for Maborosi. The first time we saw it, we were flummoxed--there was no dialogue, no action, just dark interiors and a bunch of people looking serious. Then at the end, in giant letters on the screen: MABOROSI. There was silence afterwards, and then someone said "emphasis on the 'bore,'" and we cracked up. We laughed every time after that that we saw the trailer...and then the Nuart never showed it!

So, anyway...it's good, huh?

Yeah. It's very... emotional.

Full lengthers :

Golddigers of 1933
Oh, Mr. Porter!
Fantasia
Carry On Up The Khyber
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

But if you were to include shorts...

In no order

The Big Lebowski
This Is Spinal Tap
The Good The Bad And The Ugly
48 Hours
Anchorman

It would be different if you asked me tomorrow

Bof! My famous five, plus some Brucie Bonuses (Boni?)

1. The Seventh Seal
2. Stalker
3. Bringing Up Baby
4. Le Petit Soldat
5. The Omen (original)

Also Blue Velvet, M, Casablanca, Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Wages Of Fear, Close Encounters, Pierrot Le Fou, Rebecca, Atanarjuat the Fast Runner, Night Of The Hunter, The Magnificent Ambersons, Frenzy, North By Northwest, Witchfinder General etc. etc.

Which one would I bequeath to posterity? Toss up between Seventh Seal and Casablanca, because they have everything.

Ah. If we were to include shorts and semi-shorts:

What's Opera Doc
The Rabbit Of Seville
Pixar Jr
A Grand Day Out
Duck Amuck

Inca wrote:

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evilC wrote:

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Ginger Yellow wrote:

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"If I had to pick one to see this w/e which should it be?"

A Matter Of Life And Death. No question.

I would have to agree. I haven't seen it either, though I really want to. I agree with that choice because 'Exotica' would make your brain hurt (it did with me, anyway!), 'Ballad of a Soldier' would make your heart hurt and... well, that just leaves 'A Matter of Life and Death' as the default first choice, really.

You left out Casablanca. If you're looking for the film that is really part of the culture and something almost everyone is familiar with, Casablanca would be it from those five, archived.

Plus for the 'seeing it all the way through' question, Casablanca has the second-best ending evah. (Some like It Hot, obviously, is the first best). I always think A Matter of Life & death was a bit up its own arse, myself, and all that British/American stuff seems terribly dated, now. Still a good film, though.

Five faves:

Some like It Hot
Casablanca
His Girl Friday
Blazing Saddles
Life of Brian

Casablanca for the archive. It's really a B movie, and Ingrid does a very good impression of a plank, but this doesn't matter.

I hate Casablanca. It's horrible. That 'why Casablanca is a cult film' essay by Eco kind of summed it up a bit for me.

1. The Battle Of Algiers
2. The Godfather II
3. Kind Hearts And Coronets
4. This Is Spinal Tap
5. The Awful Truth

So much great stuff that misses out that particular cut - Apocalypse Now, King Of Comedy, The Third Man, as well as recent obscuros like Russian Ark. The Apartment always used to make that top 5 - there's a cold perfection about that movie which is undeniable. However, watching it more recently, there is a Mad Men dimension to it, insofar as it reflects 1960 sexist mores. Like when Lemmon's Baxter says to Shirley Maclaine's Miss Kubelik, hat in hand, "You know, some of the guys were wondering if you, er, um, ahem" and, rather than reply, "Tell those disgusting creeps to mind their own fucking business and you to, you slimeball," she smiles and tells him, "You tell them, now and then". You tell them now and then!

1. Vertigo
2. Picnic At Hanging Rock
3. The Seventh Seal
4. Taxi Driver
5. Suspiria

They shuffle around a bit, but at least two of these never leave my top five. "Suspiria" drops off and back on the list... it's really a very silly film indeed, but I adore it.

I *love* Suspiria. And Picnic at Hanging Rock. Your list is only let down by Vertigo actually.