The BFI's list of the 50 films all children should see by age 14

[wendersfan]

http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/events/watchthis/

http://www.bfi.org.uk/education/events/watchthis/top50.php

A Day at the Races (Sam Wood, 1937, USA)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz/William Keighley, 1938, USA)
Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle, 1987, France/W.Germany)
Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, USA)
Beauty and the Beast (Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise, 1991, USA)
Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica, 1948, Italy)
Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry, 2000, UK/France)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982, USA)
Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton, 1990, USA)
Etre et Avoir (Nicolas Philibert, 2002, France)
Finding Nemo (Andrew Stanton/Lee Unkrich, 2003, USA)
It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946, USA)
Jason and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey, 1963, UK/USA)
Kes (Ken Loach, 1969, UK)
The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921, USA)
King Kong (Merian C.Cooper/Ernest B.Schoedsack, 1933, USA)
Kirikou et la sorcière (Michel Ocelot, 1998, France/Belgium/Luxembourg)
La Belle et la bête (Jean Cocteau, 1946, France / Luxembourg)
Le Voyage dans la lune (Georges Melies, 1902, France)
Les Quatre cents coups (Francois Truffaut, 1959, France)
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953, France)
My Life as a Dog (Lasse Halstrom, 1985, Sweden)
My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988, Japan/USA)
The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955, USA)
Oliver Twist (David Lean, 1948, UK)
The Outsiders (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983, USA)
Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955, India)
Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967, France/Italy)
The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987, USA)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002, Australia)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981, USA)
The Railway Children (Lionel Jeffries, 1970, UK)
The Red Balloon (Albert Lamorisse, 1956, France)
Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman, 1996, USA)
The Secret Garden (Agnieszka Holland, 1993, UK/USA)
Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson, 1998, Sweden/Denmark)
Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, 1952, USA)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney, 1937, USA)
Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959, USA)
The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973, Spain)
Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001, Japan)
Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977, USA)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962, USA)
Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995, USA)
Walkabout (Nicholas Roeg, 1971, UK)
Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2002, New Zealand)
Where is the Friend's House? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987, Iran)
Whistle Down the Wind (Bryan Forbes, 1961, UK)
The White Balloon (Jafar Panahi, 1995, Iran)
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939, USA)

[chente]

Good luck getting a 14 year to see some of those nowadays. Cool list though.

[Groucho]

Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman, 1996, USA)
The Secret Garden (Agnieszka Holland, 1993, UK/USA)
Salo (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1976, Italy/France)
Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson, 1998, Sweden/Denmark)
Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly, 1952, USA)What?!?

[Joe Molotov]

What?!?

Old enough to play Halo, old enough to watch Salo. :thumbsup:

[PixyJunket]

Where's Requiem for a Dream? (seriously) :(

[scott shelton]

A list for every occasion.

[wendersfan]

What?!?I bet you think you're pretty clever...


:D

[joeydaninja]

yahoo! they put miyazaki films and the red balloon!

[TheMadMonk]

I think this list should have The Goonies on it.

[milo bloom]

No Fight Club?

[Gerry P.]

Good list.

Can you imagine how purile a comparative AFI list would be?

[PopcornTreeCt]

Some of those movies have pubes in them.

[dogmatica]

Over 4th of July weekend, I got my 6 and 8 year old cousins, both girls, to sit down and watch Singin' in the Rain and Rear Window. They loved the dances (especially "Make 'Em Laugh!"), and were really concerned about the love story of "Singin," while they both played little detectives the entire time through "Rear Window." Two classics both thoroughly enjoyed by two little girls that were able to follow the plot easily.

TCM was on a role that night, with Jaws up next. Classic it may be, I wasn't about to be the one to give that one the greenlight. Let their dad make that mistake! ;)

[Canadian Bacon]

no Pulp Fiction? I cry foul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[duff beer]

No American Psycho? -ohbfrank-

Saving Private Ryan? Goodfellas get on there! Casino what are you not doing there?

[Fincher Fan]

I'm pleasantly surprised to see Whale Rider turn up on the list.

[RagingBull80]

Where was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?

[Rubix]

yeah i'd definately put goonies on there. pee-wee's big adventure would be a good one too just because it's silly/funny.

maybe i'm sick, but i'd put carrie on there too.

[darkside]

Good luck getting kids to watch foreign films that are subtitled.

[thomkai]

Good luck getting kids to watch foreign films that are subtitled.
If I ever have kids, they're gonna see plenty of foreign movies. I work in a video rental store and am so tired of people passing up great movies because they aren't in English, and telling me how they need to "Talk American" or "not talk Mexican". My kids will never be that stupid.
edit: forgot to mention darkside, nice quote in your footer there. BIG mst3k fan ;)

[The Bus]

Good luck getting kids to watch foreign films that are subtitled.

:down: :down:

The only problem is when the kids don't read quickly enough. Otherwise, what could be their concern?

[Hiro11]

That's actually a great list. As others have said, though, good luck getting kids to watch some of this (e.g.: Playtime which is, shall we say "Experimental").

[dhmac]

A lot of great movies on the list, but there are a few odd choices on it...


A Day at the Races (Sam Wood, 1937, USA)

Although I like the movie, it's not one of the Marx Bros' best. Why not Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, Horse Feathers, Monkey Business, or Animal Crackers instead?



The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz/William Keighley, 1938, USA)

Agree with this one, but think Captain Blood should be on the list too.



The Kid (Charles Chaplin, 1921, USA)

While I love this movie and agree that every kid should see it, where's Chaplin's better movies like Modern Times or The Gold Rush?



Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhrman, 1996, USA)

Why did they select this weird MTVed-upped version of the play instead of Zeffirelli's much superior adaptation from 1968?



Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney, 1937, USA)

I completely agree with this selection, but Disney's Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi also equally belong.



Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977, USA)

They should've just listed this as the "Original Star Wars Trilogy" because kids really need to see all three original films.


Also missing: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A Christmas Story, Superman: the Movie, Kiki's Delivery Service, Toy Story 2 (maybe a single entry that says "All Pixar movies" would've sufficed)

And this is a British list, but Watership Down is nowhere to be found???

[Jason]

Maybe someone should start a list of 50 films kids shouldn't see. Not the obvious, like Pulp Fiction and Salo, but purile crap like the Air Bud movies, that parents think are safe for kids but will only rot their brains.

[mllefoo]

You really think a young kid is going to be interested at all in seeing some foreign film, or even Whale Rider? When I was a kid, I was more interested in Ray Harryhousen flicks than with Singin' in the Rain, or It's a Wonderful Life.

I think I'd only see all the films on the list if I were Roger Ebert's kid, and I'd probably hate all of them because that fat knowitall would sit there and analyze every little thing as I tried to watch the movies.

[NitroJMS]

Maybe someone should start a list of 50 films kids shouldn't see. Not the obvious, like Pulp Fiction and Salo, but purile crap like the Air Bud movies, that parents think are safe for kids but will only rot their brains.

There's far worse kids films out there than the inoffensive Air Bud. Try See Spot Run for example.

[Applejack]

Where's Requiem for a Dream? (seriously) :(


Good call.

No childhood is complete without watching Jennifer Connelly in some double dong action. :thumbsup:

[mllefoo]

I know MY life was incomplete until I was totally grossed out by Requiem for a Dream.

[Duder]

Good luck getting kids to watch foreign films that are subtitled.

My 9-year old nephew recently watched a 26-episode anime series in Japanese, by choice. As long as the kid is old enough to read at a decent speed, I think kids would actually adapt to reading subtitles better than many adults, who have had more time to become stubborn and set in their non-foreign-film-watching ways.

[Krug]

I wonder if they know that Show Me Love's alternative title is Fucking Amal...

Anyway, would take out some of the films, such as 400 Blows, and replace them with Children of Heaven, Supersize Me (learn how McDonald's is the evil empire kids!), Born Into Brothels (And kids all over the nation will go, "Mum, what's a brothel?") and Hoop Dreams.

[Mr. Cinema]

The Karate Kid

[animalmystic]

No Risky Business
No Girl Next Door
No American Pie
No Heat
No Rock

List blows
































Good list :)

[PopcornTreeCt]

Why did they select this weird MTVed-upped version of the play instead of Zeffirelli's much superior adaptation from 1968?



So kids can get the "jist" of Shakespeare and not fall asleep in the process. :)

[Joe Molotov]

The '68 version has nudity in it, and that of course is the only reason kids would want to watch it.