story

I will have to echo Raiders of the Lost Ark. The concepts are great, the pacing works, the mash-up of old school storytelling / new school technique, the plot is engaging, the music is inspiring, the acting is fun, and the chase scenes are excellent. I'm a sucker for a great chase scene. I love, love, love chase scenes. I think Up has a wonderful chase scene and it gives me goosebumps whenever I watch it. If there's one thing that's missing from Raiders, it's emotional investment so in that sense E.T. may edge it out in my book by just a bit. That said, I get ridiculously emotional watching E.T. so I don't watch it nearly as often as Raiders. Maybe once every other year as opposed to 1-2 times per year.

hanshotfirst1138

Lawrence of Arabia. Awe-inspiring spectacle which the age of CG excess hasn't diminished, brilliant performances all around, a rich screenplay with both a strong personal story of a brilliant character study and a grasp of rich politics and grand sweep. It takes you someplace you've never been, with characters as rich as any you'll find in great literature. It's what cinema is all about. Breathtaking. A grand adventure and a great work of art all at once. I'd kill to see it in 70mm. There are a number of other films which come to mind, but that's one that looms for me.

HN

L.A. Confidential

The Cow

^^ Sounds a description for Wizard of Oz.

GoldenJCJ

Four films came to mind immediately reading the thread title. Two that were already mentioned are: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Lawrence of Arabia.

The other two that I didn't see listed yet are: The Godfather and Seven Samurai.

All those films are technically flawless with wonderful story, editing, and acting.

Charlie Goose

West Side Story

bluetoast

Beverly Hills Cop
Lawrence of Arabia
Sanjuro

Probably a number of others but these three for sure.

Decker

Almost Famous Untitled Bootleg Cut. Perfect casting. Great dialog. Awesome music and score.

Second Godfather 1 and Pulp Fiction. E.T. is pretty great as well.

inri222

JordanGLC

Spirited Away

hanshotfirst1138

I'm sensing a theme here...

Decker

I'm assuming you are referring to the theatrical version without the artificially blurred out genitalia

johnnysd

Three come to mind right away for me:

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dreamhouse
The Godfather

Paul_SD

I love all of them, but in terms of offering the broadest spectrum of cathartic experiences, GWTW is, for me, as bountiful as it's run time. Besides the obvious romance, it's got sarcasm and cynicism in near equal measure, as well as generous dollops of pathos and adventure. Not to mention consistently displaying a wry wisdom of human nature.
I've always found it a film that's a five course feast.
It boggles my mind how anyone could walk away from it not being entertained.

van der graaf

Burnt Thru

Nicely put - pretty much exactly how I feel too. The only thing I'd add is that there are no women in Lawrence, which might count against it from some viewers (certainly my wife is disinclined to watch it because of this).

How about The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Not that well known these days I think, but a wonderful study of one (flawed) man's character and the loves and friendships he makes during his life. Engaging, entertaining and genuinely affecting.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/59370...nel-blimp-the/

Tarantino

Pulp Fiction

Ash Ketchum

Agree on CASABLANCA, but I would add that certain genres lend themselves to "perfect" treatment, like a "perfect" western or a "perfect" samurai film or a "perfect" kung fu film, in which all the genre elements come into play. For the latter, INVINCIBLE SHAOLIN (1978), one of the Five Venoms films, comes to mind.

For non-western fans, SHANE was the perfect western. It delivered all the elements they wanted with the right amount of polish and technical skill and an "A" production all around. There are plenty of other westerns I'd prefer to SHANE, but then I'm a hardcore western fan with specific demands. To me, films like BEND OF THE RIVER, VERA CRUZ, THE SEARCHERS and RIO BRAVO rank among the "perfect" westerns.

RichC2

Of course. Though that scene is dark as shit on home video so it doesn't exactly stand out like some intentionally standout censorship:

inri222

Th Dark Knight, The Thing, The Wolf of a Wall Street.

d2cheer

davidlynchfan

The Karate Kid (1984 version, of course). The cast was just perfect. Macchio - the perfect wimp turned hero, Miyagi - the perfect sensei, William Zabka - the perfect douche villain, Shue - the perfect gf.

digidoh

You don't have to kill anyone. Just travel to Texas. (just) Last month in a thread entitled Movies you have to watch at least once a year? trespoochies posted that his was Lawrence in 70mm(!)

It's roughly 1150 miles from Livonia, Michigan to Austin.

I Googled Where can I see Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm? 2014 and found some other screenings of this masterpiece. The Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin showed Lawrence a couple times last week!

The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood has a 70mm print showing on Friday, January 31.

http://www.americancinemathequecalen...e-of-arabia-12

It's out there. You just have to look ... and travel.

JumpCutz

bluetoast

Yeah the AFI Silver in Maryland had it for about a week last Summer. I went twice. Second time I was late, and rested for a bit, but I just had to be in the theater. Then a few months later they had the DCP, which I returned for.