I thought this could be an interesting topic,for those who are wondering which film to hire or buy. Mine is Das Boot with English subtitles a film by Wolfgang Petersen.Its about U-96 a U boat patrolling the north atlantic,absolutley gripping from the beginning to end. Nominated for 6 Academy Awards

Bladerunner,

The whole nine yards!

Kebab - agree with you. I have the 6 TV episodes (best part of 6 hours) of Das Boot, on tape. In similar vein, the numerous hours of "Shoah" (I think it's called) make for compelling, if unsettling, viewing about the Holocaust. It is nothing more than hours of interviews with Europeans who were witnesses. It takes no sides but let's you watch old people trying to explain what they thought and did. If you haven't seen it, try to. It's at least 8 hours long and BBC2 has shown it before.

More mainstream films that I watch time and again are:

The Long Good Friday
Taxi Driver
Murder by Decree
Get Carter
Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels

I also own complete TV series of

Inspector Morse (33 ITV episodes)
Miss Marple (12 BBC episodes)
Taggart (30 Scottish TV episodes)

Sad git maybe, but don't say it. I have a penchant for murder as you can see!

Bones

Bones:
Have you got the whole series of "O`h Dr Beeching" on tape by any chance.I`d pay good money for that! :-)

Bones

The Long Good Friday???

Now Listen Bones, I been good t'you. Even when you was out of order. But there's been an eruption.

The Usual Suspects

doo

Gausie - there sure has been an eruption! It's a matter of time before Bullie, Croc and Mr Ashley James are hung upside down in an abbatoir to face some questioning from Clem "Harold Shand" Chambers.......

Iain, sorry, I don't have any "Oh Dr Beeching" as there's not enough blood and guts. Now, if the station master were to fall in front of the 10.40 fast service.....

doolally, yes, that's a good one.

Also like the early X-Files series.

cabaret, lisa minelli.very atmospheric, you can feel the tension in the air. love the contrast between the main charecters, lisa minelli in her role as sally balls the outgoing and dizzy personality and the british actor,teh cambridge graduate and highly reserved englishman.

seen it perhaps 10 times. never tire from it. always see new things in it.

The Quick and The Dead starring wait for it Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman.This is the one where you dont see the parting of the red sea. Its a western shoot to kill contest with the prize being a large sum of cash.Non stop action from beginning to end.Also has Leonardo Di Caprio before his fame in titanic.Totally underrated film directed by Sam Raimi.

Can I nominate the Tatu pop video please? Anything Richard & Judy want banned can't be all bad.
"In a raunchy video accompanying the single, the girls kiss and fondle one another while dressed in school uniforms." (I forget how the song goes, but I'm sure it went straight to No.1 on merit). I only bought it for my teenage daughter to dance to, honest.

BBC link

group website

A few more come to mind, all starring the great man, Clint Eastwood:

Unforgiven
Dirty Harry
A fistful of Dollars
For a few dollars more
The good the bad and the ugly

Also (all starring Michael Douglas):

Falling Down (I never tire of the Whammyburger breakfast scene)
Wall Street (dig the housebrick hi-tech phones and paper chart books)
Basic Instinct

And:

Goodfellas (a Mob classic from Scorcese)

Also Spielberg goodies:

Duel (Made before Spielberg made Jaws. A tanker driver terrorises a motorist and you never see the driver of the tanker. Sheer brilliance and tension)
Jaws (one of the best)
Poltergeist (great atmosphere)
Back to the Future (always loved that one)

Horror:

Alien (a true original)

There's bound to be more but I would happily disappear to a desert island with this lot and something to watch them on!

Once upon a time in Amarica
Casablanca
The Big Sleep
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
American Psycho
Topsy Turvy



Debbie does farming or was it farming does debbie

I will add to the list later.

Rocky Horror Picture Show
Cabaret
West Side Story
Oliver!
Blues Brothers

The award winning Robert Enrico movie, "Incident At Owl Creek" (1962) in which the whole film of someone slipping the noose and running for his life ends with him not having done so.

Pulp Fiction with John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman ,Rosanne Arquette and Bruce Willes.Directed by the man himself Quentin Tarantino.A blood and guts film .Get it while you can.

Nobody mentioned "The Great Escape" what a superb film??

Other superb movies are imho :-

Shawshank Redemption & Braveheart

and one I have not seen, but reputation preceeds it
"A Wonderful Life", must get around to watching in one day.

A Wonderful Life is superb. It sounds like it is going to be awful, but it a masterpiece and all the better for being in black and white.

'Avanti'

A Billy Wilder

Juliet Mills, Jack Lemon

Makes even the worst day bright & carefree

A (1972) Classic


Olddog

"Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb ."

Sky Cinema-1 Thu Nov 24 8:00 PM
(105 min., 1964, United Kingdom, PG Comedy)

oh good thread. i find it very difficult to pick a favourite as i have a different favourite to suit whatever mood i'm in.

godfather 2, love the scenes in sicily
goodfellas, a fantastic character study
raging bull, great dialogue/scenes between de niro and pesci
midnight run, a very, very underated comedy
kingpin, makes me wee.
the man with two brains, steve martin when he was funny.
moulin rouge, as close as i'll get to watching a musical.
field of dreams, sentimental crap but always makes me blub like a baby
amelie, wonderful soundtrack
cinema paradiso, powerfully evocative.

i really could go on and on.

Whale walker

My wonderful life

The bridges of madison county (also basically anything that's directed by Clint Eastwood)