what film(s) had the deepest affect on your life?

[sundog]

whether through emotional resonance or mental expansion

[DS1]

1. Watership Down all but broke my freakin heart as a kid

[LaurenG]

10. I own that one VHS - it's OLD nt

[tjdee]

13. Read the book in 7th grade and hated those damn talking bunnies so much.

Having to do homework on a thing will sometimes do that to one.
So, I'm completely apathetic toward it now. Weird, because I suspect if I'd seen the film it would have had a similar effect as "Where the Red Fern Grows" and "Sounder".

:scared:

I don't do well with films about animals.

[4_Legs_Good]

16. Gorgeous film!

And a very good adaptation! I loved the intro, which was very cleverly done, and the rest of the animation is just incredible.

A great example of what might have been had Disney not squeezed out most other animators and dictated that animation had to be for kids.

david

[HEyHEY]

51. It creeped me out as an adult - easter was HELL for me

[GCP]

105. I never realized

I hope we were sympathetic :hug:

[Ron Green]

2. The Bicycle Thief

Somehow it captured humanity on film in a way I'd never experienced.

[Catch22Dem]

3. The Right Stuff

It's pretty much responsible for the entire career path I chose.

[bertha katzenengel]

65. Great movie.

I haven't been in control of an aircraft (yet) but when I begin to learn it'll be because that film planted a seed.

[terrya]

4. "Longtime Companion"

Because of friends who departed much too soon.

[smbolisnch]

5. Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind really got to me.

I had just recently lost my best friend to leukemia and something about wanting to erase the thoughts of him because it hurt too much, but not wanting to forget him either. Left a very bittersweet feeling. Makes me sad just typing that.

[Iris]

12. Lost someone this year to that disease, too.

My sweet mother-in-law. She was like a real mother to me. I'll miss her for the rest of my life.

sorry for your loss.

[smbolisnch]

15. Thank you...

and I am sorry for yours as well. :hug::hug:

[Iris]

18. Have you noticed how much you hear about cancer now?

And particularly leukemia?

I guess I was just oblivious before. It seems to be everywhere now.

[smbolisnch]

33. I do.

I don't know about you, but as soon as I hear the word leukemia, I think of my friend, like the two are synonymous.

[Iris]

90. Yep.

I always feel a little awkward when my husband is around and the word comes up.

Ironically, in a class I was taking at the time, we studied a legal case involving a man with leukemia. Even when I talk about it in the most basic terms, I still think of her in the back of my mind.

How old was your friend?

[smbolisnch]

94. He was 23.

He died 10 days after his diagnosis.

[Iris]

101. That's much too young.

It just seems so unfair.

[sundog]

30. agh!

that one twisted my guts inside out :cry:

very good movie

[smbolisnch]

34. Wasn't it sad?

I sobbed watching it. :cry:

[tjwmason]

6. Chitt Chitty Bang Bang, Mary Poppins, and the Sound of Music

At least at the time that I first saw them - they still give me my sunny outlook on life - plus a million wonderful songs to sing to irritate my office-mates at work.

I first saw La Haine at a point when I was studying the development of governance - its story shows a real-life (as it were) grounding of theories about parallel 'governments' which helpd to reinforce and clarify my thoughts on the topic.

[sundog]

29. bang chitty! bang! bang!

sounds like a porn or a russ meyer film :D

[tjwmason]

36. Are you defaming the most wonderful film of all time?

It's the sound that the car makes, the enginge sounds like it's going "chitty chitty" and then it back-fires.

Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

O you pretty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we love you
And in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, what we'll do
Near, far, in our motor car
O what a happy time we'll spend
Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our fine four fendered friend
Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our fine four fendered friend

You're sleek as a thoroughbred
You're seats are a feather bed
You'll turn everybody's head today
We'll glide on our motor trip
With pride in our ownership
The envy of all we survey

O you pretty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we love you
And our Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang loves us too
High low anywhere we go
On Chitty Chitty we depend
Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our fine four fendered friend
Bang Bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our fine four fendered friend

It's uncategorical
A fuel burning oracle
A phantasmagorical machine
It's more than spectacular
To use the vernacular
It's wizard, it's smashing, it's keen

O Chitty, you Chitty, pretty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we love you
And Chitty, in Chitty, pretty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, what we'll do
Near Chitty, far Chitty, in our motor car
O what a happy time we'll spend
Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our fine four fendered friend
Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our fine four fendered friend...(hold)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Fine four fendered Chitty Chitty friend!


If it wasn't a good few hours long - I'd go and watch the D.V.D. right now - singing along to all of the songs. Just to spite you. :P

[sundog]

39. suits you

:P

[tjwmason]

44. You're treading on very thin ice here

It's a film very close to my heart - and I'm guessing that ice would melt rather quickly in your climate - so get your lazy arse over to the picture thread so that we can all gaze at your beauty.

[sundog]

45. you're drunk

:P

now leave me alone so i can get my work done :7

[tjwmason]

47. I am so tempted to use Churchill's response

when Lady Astor said he was drunk

"Madam, you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober."

But I fear that I'm not drunk (only 1 gin* and one glass of wine), and you're not ugly (hence my request that you post your picture). :loveya:




*containing about 4-5 normal measures of course.

[ret5hd]

7. Joe Dirt!

[William769]

8. Torch Song Trilogy.

[bluedonkey]

9. Sacco and Vanzetti

I saw it as a child and was never the same again.

[Wetzelbill]

11. Goodfellas and Pulp Fiction

It made me want to be creative. To write. Be visual. Those two films are the reason why I went to video school and got my video degree. Then that in turn made me get serious about writing and politics.

More recently I would say as a humanist several Akira Kurosawa films really affected me. Ikiru. Madadayo. The Seven Samurai. The Hidden Fortress. Rashomon. Kagemusha. Probably "Ran" affected me the most.

Anything by Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. They both have a knack for lonely characters. Out of place, one man loner types. Whether it's a Travis Bickle or a Josey Wales those two make profound movies and characters that I identify with. Scorsese is virtually always on, and Eastwood in his more serious fare anyway.

The three movies in recent memory that have affected me the most have been been:

Journey of Hope - 1990 Academy Award Winner Foreign Film

Amores Perros - directed by Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu

Giant - directed by the great George Stevens

Oh hell, might as well throw Joseph Mankiewicz's great film "All About Eve" in there too.

All had great impact and resonance with me. I learned a little or a lot from each film. Mainly about humanism and morality. Compassion. Sometimes just made me self-reflect a lot.

[swag]

59. Nice post about some great selections.

Thanks for the many reminders.

[enigmatic]

14. 3 films

"Magnolia", "My Dinner With Andre", and "Ikiru".

[4_Legs_Good]

22. OMG! I couldn't agree more!!!

Although I have to admit I'm about 1/2 through Ikiru right now. I started watching just after my 2nd son was born a few months ago while I was up with him, and I never finished it.

Magnolia and My Dinner with Andre are sheer genius. I had the incredible experience last year of watching a screening of MDwA with Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn and they fielded questions afterwards for over an hour. Andre is an AMAZING guy and so utterly progressive and anti-Bush that I couldn't possibly love him more.

I wish more than almost anything that I had taped the Q&A session so I could author a DVD with it as a 2ndary audio track.

Did you know that everything in that movie is true? Wally might still have the tapes that they used to put the screenplay together. A shame nothing good made it to the DVD release.

Magnolia - what can I say? It's a perfect film.

david

[enigmatic]

25. Wow

I would have loved to have been at that screening; I've probably seen My Dinner With Andre over a dozen times. I had read that it was based on tapes between Andre and Wally; i can't say enough how much I love that film.

[4_Legs_Good]

28. Aha, here is the advert...

and a great quote!

Recently Gregory has been an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq. The New York Times quoted him as saying, “I don’t think it’s an accident that in totalitarian societies they always arrest the artists first, though we don’t seem particularly dangerous. I think the responsibility of the artist, each of us in our way, is to tell the truth. And the truth generally involves a great deal of ambiguity, and in times of war ambiguity and paradox are the first things to go. People want simple black and white answers.”

http://www.artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/archive/2003-2004/pr/andre.asp

I gotta find a recording!

david

[Wetzelbill]

32. I need to watch "MDWA"

I loved Ikiru. It was one of the ones I listed.

Loved Magnolia, but I go nuts watching it because I think PT Anderson doesn't do a good job of editing his films down properly. I've never been able to finish Boogie Nights.

Magnolia is much more watchable than BN is though. I've watched it several times. The relationships in that film are stunning. Observing the interaction between people has always fascinated me. I find Magnolia to be quite voyeuristic. It can burn you to the soul to feel the emotion in some of the relationships. Or lack of emotion too. I also think that of all the cast members Phillip Seymour Hoffman has never been better. Maybe John C. Reilly too, that's a tough call. I think a few people in that film will never get a chance to showcase themselves as well again. And, you know, Tom Cruise was brilliant too, I thought.

[enigmatic]

37. It's in incredible film

and one that affected me deeply. The Jason Robards' "regret" speech is one of the greatest scenes ever, IMO; I could go on all night about that film.

And you need to see My Dinner With Andre; it's my favorite film of all-time.

[sundog]

38. i still have mixed feelings about pt anderson

i loved boogie nights & magnolia, but punch-drunk love irritated me to no end

[newsguyatl]

17. two movies

that i remember having a deep emotional impact on me were:

It's My Party
The Hours


what about you sundog?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. Schindler's List first....

Usually when my husband and I would come out of the theater, we would be talking about the movie...but not that time...

It was profoundly affecting for both of us, in a way that we have not felt since..

And second: The Shawshank Redemption...incredible movie...

[sundog]

20. a few

when i was a kid "dumbo" (though the crow bit was ugly in restrospect... disney has more than its share of skeletons)

as a teen "some kind of wonderful" (say what you will about john hughes)

more recently "dogville" & "hedwig & the angry inch"

[LaurenG]

21. The Earthling

With Ricky Schroeder and some other cheesy ones. :bounce:

[4_Legs_Good]

23. Bambi possibly

Not 100% sure, though. I know it affected me profoundly, as it does most kids. For a lot of us it's the first real exposure we have to death.

Also lots there on animal rights and thinking of animals differently than is traditional.

I'd also mention "My Dinner With Andre", "Amadeus", "JFK" and "Dead Man Walking".

david

[jackelope72]

24. The Breakfast Club

When I was a Senior in high school, I went through a very severe depression. I was coming to a big change in my life; my mom had just checked herself into a mental hospital; her boyfriend didn't do much but belittle my sister and me; and I basically wasn't getting any emotional support from any of my relatives.

I'd started doing some research, and I had actually come up with a nice little cocktail of pills designed to send me off to sleep for the rest of eternity. I kept it hidden in my bottom dresser drawer, and had determined the time and date on which I would use it.

Well, it just so happened that on the night on which I was going to slip myself off into the west, the cable channel I was watching showed The Breakfast Club. I decided to put my suicide off until it was over, since I had never seen it before and thought it would make a nice last experience on earth.

I can't describe what happened to me, emotionally, except that at the end of the movie I was crying - deep, wracking sobs - and I went to the dresser, pulled out the pills I'd so meticulously pulled together for months, and flushed the lot of them down the toilet.

That was the first and only time I have ever seriously entertained thoughts of suicide.

So, when I say that Anthony Michael Hall helped save my life, it's not an exaggeration. lol!

[sundog]

26. good pick too

some kind of wonderful edged it out in the hughes department due to several real life situations where it hit closer to home

[WCGreen]

118. Oh my god....

I hope you write this out in another form....

Please do that.....

It's a wonderful way that movies and the world outside can pull us back from the edge...

I am so glad you found the peace to stay here with us...

[Merrick]

27. Reefer Madness inspired me to quit smoking pot

its been nothing but booze, pain killers and shrooms since. Thanks RM!

[4_Legs_Good]

31. It was a very moving and deeply convincing film!!!

Just like a lot of those old hygene movies!

david

[edbermac]

74. Gee that's funny, RM inspired me to start smoking pot...

I've been playing a pretty mean piano ever since...faster, faster, playing faster!!!

[WCGreen]

35. Two... The Grapes of Wraith and Matewan

Reaffirmed my believe that progressivism is the way to go and that conservatism is really only interested in conserving what the haves have have at the expense of others......

[bertha katzenengel]

66. Matewan was incredible.

I confess I only saw it because Mary McDonnell & David Strathairn were in it, but it was a great movie.

[WCGreen]

88. When they slit the boys throat and explained what they

was up to, I started to cry and almost ran out to join a union....

[progmom]

40. Philadelphia killed me.

:cry:

[smbolisnch]

42. Oh yes

I am still a wreck when I see that, even though I have watched it 10+ times. :cry:

[sundog]

46. sigh

hi my friend... getting ready to dive under again... just came up for a little air

:)

[progmom]

56. thinking of you

i know you have a busy weekend. try to get out and breathe every once in awhile, ok? :hug:

[Coventina]

41. "The Long Walk Home"

The opening scenes of African Americans getting on the bus, paying their fare, and then getting off the bus to enter through the bus's back door.....

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe that this actually happened in 20th century America. I had HEARD about it. But seeing it re-enacted was like a punch to the gut.

I can't even begin to explain how it opened my eyes in so many ways.
I highly recommend that movie. I think every American should see it.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

43. This sounds silly, but I love "The Corn Is Green"

Katharine Hepburn playing a Welsh schoolmistress who tutors a poor coal miner and gets him into Oxford/Cambridge (can't remember).

I also get all emotional over "The Joy Luck Club" and "It's A Wonderful Life."

[nytemare]

48. "About Schmidt", "Contact" and "Amelie"

I suppose I relate to the main characters in the films. After seeing About Schmidt, I started sposoring a child through Childreach.

Dr Araway in Contact had a life where most of her accomplishments were belittled, also if she achieved something, the credit was taken from her. I relate to that from being a woman who works in male dominated career fields.

Amelie was trying to make other's lives better, but concentrated little on herself. I had a problem with that in my younger days.

[DerekG]

49. "Grave of the Fireflies"; "The Last Temptation of Christ"

The former drained WWII of its romanticism and heightened my aversion to jingoism and statism; the latter, in plumbing the depths of Christ's humanity, brought me back to the faith.

[Wetzelbill]

50. yeah The Last Temptation

made my faith stronger. The struggle of Christ's humanity.

Well put.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

103. I never was, am not and probably never will be a Christian

but love "The Last Temptation." Jesus is the most significant revolutionary in the history of the world and seeing a story about the man instead of the deity made me realize and respect people who truly live the Christian life and disdain those who use Jesus to promote their political, social and economic agenda that Jesus would never support.

[Wetzelbill]

114. And, do I ever disdain them nt

[kodi]

54. yes, it was. along with "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930 version)

.

[Blue_In_AK]

77. I loved The Last Temptation, too...

It's one of the few movies I own.

[Tallison]

116. Yep, Last Temptation

Just saw it a few weeks ago. Beautiful, profound film. Posted about it in Catholic/Christianity forum here.

[jonnyblitz]

52. house of yes. nt

[swag]

60. Wonderful film.

That Parker Posey really snaps my bean in that one.

[JimmyJazz]

53. Rude Boy.

Sorry sweetie - I need major Clashification this evening :(

[swag]

62. Am I misremembering, or did they show recording studio segments

for both "All the Young Punks" and "Stay Free?"

Those were quite compelling.

And Joe to our boy, intentionally mishearing him: "We need liggers."

Correct me if I'm wrong.

[JimmyJazz]

63. there's nothing to correct.

but you already knew that :yourock:

[The Straight Story]

55. It's a wonderful life for one

The Straight Story for another :)

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

57. Big Fish...

[swag]

58. Oh, probably La Dolce Vita

and after that maybe Blue Velvet, Rules of the Game, Stroszek, King of Comedy, Stranger than Paradise...


Lotsa good movies out there.

[tigereye]

85. yeah that made a big impression on me, too

Stranger than Paradise, I love Jarmusch films.

Wings Of Desire

Fanny and Alexander

Amelie

[usedtobesick]

61. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

great movie, and it was good because David Bowie was in it not in spite of...

[bertha katzenengel]

64. If it weren't for "Shirley Valentine," Mrs. V. and I might not have met.

Other than that:

The Color Purple

and

Amadeus

[jobycom]

67. Escape to Witch Mountain--and I have no idea why

Had something to do with my relationship with my sister, I think.

[u4ic]

68. Remains of the Day

I had been thinking of going back to university for an arts degree in my late 20's...and that film convinced me to do so, the 'what if you don't follow your heart?' aspect.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

69. Hmmm...

The Music Box
Before the Rain
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Fried Green Tomatoes

[KLF44]

70. American History X

a very thought provoking and profound movie.

[Clintmax]

96. Yeah, I liked this one too! n/t

[Flying Dream Blues]

71. So many good ones...

I agree with
The Long Walk Home
Philadelphia
The Grapes of Wrath
It's a Wonderful Life
Dead Man Walking

and I would add:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Schindler's List
On the Beach
Full Metal Jacket
Brazil
Schizopolis

And others that I'm sure I'm forgetting...

[sundog]

72. six degrees of separation

another one i thought of tonight...

that was stimulating on a cerebral level, like dogville

the others i listed were ones that pulled a stronger emotional response/connection

nite all see you lata :hi:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

73. I get deeply effected by films....

Some that have had the biggest impact on me:

To Kill a Mockingbird -- everything you need to know about how to be a good person, I cry like a baby when Scout finally meets Boo

Little Buddha -- completely touches me spiritually and eases my existential angst

The Nutty Professor remake -- I saw this on an afternoon I was in a deep depression (premeds) and it made me laugh hard at a time there wasn't much to be happy about

The Last Temptation of Christ - it helped me exorcise some very old Catholic school demons

Fearless -- for someone who is terrified of flying, this movie holds a strange fascination for me, I think because it allows me to explore my fear safely

[Technowitch]

75. Many films affected me deeply, but I'd have to go with "American Beauty"

Something just so...perfect about that film.

The video of the plastic bag swirling in the wind still haunts my thoughts... "One perfect moment."

[sakabatou]

76. Akira

Started off my whole obsession with anime.

[swag]

78. What a crazy trip that was.

Worlds exploding into and out of worlds.

"I . . . AM . . . TESTUO"

[sakabatou]

83. KANEDAAA!

TETSUOOO!

BTW which version did you see?

[swag]

86. I saw it many many years ago when if first came out in US theaters.

If that helps.

[sakabatou]

100. I wonder...

if they pronounced Kaneda's name as "K'neda"

[Dastard Stepchild]

79. The Joy Luck Club...

Yes.. yes... books are better than movies. OK... but I really enjoyed this one because it attempts to portray the challenging yet (hopefully) beautiful relationships between mothers and daughters.

[durutti]

80. Rosemary's Baby

I totally changed the way I viewed movies. I'd seen films I liked before, but Rosemary's Baby was (and is) art. I had much higher standards after that...

[lpbk2713]

81. First one that comes to mind ..... Bridge on the River Kwai

"Madness! ..... Madness!"



An anti-war war movie.

[Vektor]

82. The Shawshank Redemption

Still the best movie I have ever seen.

[sleipnir]

84. The film of Plaque on my teeth.

Damn, I had to go to the dentist!

[Hardrada]

87. Spartacus

Nobody likes a slave revolt except the slaves (and one or two altruistic aristocrats).

[Robeson]

89. Too many to name.n/t.

[ScreamingMeemie]

91. Philadelphia.

It made me stop paying lip service to discrimination and the damage AIDS, and homophobia has done in our country, and really start working at leveling the board.

[New Earth]

92. POWDER

The Dark Crystal, and The Neverending Story.

but Powder #1.

[Allenberg]

93. Philadelphia and Primary Colors

[elfrangel]

95. Odd choice maybe

but I have to say

Stigmata

I know it blew everyone's mind that a non-christian was marked, but I thought it was so cool the way they handled it. I also loved the fact that they showed both sides of the coin, how the church might react if this ever happened....ever wonder why so many pieces are missing from the puzzle that is the Bible???

Nothing against Catholics, I'm just saying...what if there were things we didn't know about b/c a MAN made the decision to not let us see/know them.

[Clintmax]

97. "Less Than Zero"...

The only movie I ever saw that I cried in the theater during it.

[greendog]

98. "wings of desire" ..."walkabout"

n/t

[Greyhound]

99. Fahrenheit 451 and 9/11n/t

[CanuckAmok]

102. Sodomaniac Sorority Kittens XXIV

Don't make me explain why.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

104. Several for several different reasons

The Original Star Wars Trilogy: Inspired my imagination from the first time I saw until today.

Clerks: Showed that a fat guy from Jersey with no connections can make it big in Hollywood.

The films of Martin Scorsese and David Lynch: An artist can survive in Hollywood. Scorsese's big pictures even have that touch that few directors have. Lynch has remained uncompromising in his original visions despite constant studio interference.

Bowling for Columbine: An introduction to Michael Moore and politics which led me to see the world outside of what I am directly involved in.

American Beauty: Look closer....

Garden State: I am "Large" returned "home" to Jersey currently looking for my Samantha.

[Rising Phoenix]

106. What's Eating Glibert Grape

[progressoid]

107. "Life of Brian" - "Brazil" - "Little Murders" - "Repoman"

I watch deep, meaningful movies all the time but I usually trend toward dark or irreverent flicks to keep me sane.

[Bat Boy]

111. Brazil

I'm still pulling things out of that movie.

Gilliam is the American Fellini.

[Nikia]

108. The Lorax

When I was 4. It made me realize that unrestricted capitalism driven by greed was a great destroyer. Only by people caring can the world be saved. I cried the first time I watchde it. I have cried nearly everytime since too.

[Bmongilly]

109. Sounder with Cicily Tyson

I watched it as part of a field trip in fifth grade. It actually made me cry.

[Mist]

110. Seven Beauties

Navigating life is complicated would be one message of the movie. A man has to jetison his bedrock beliefs because survival demands it. The final shot has him standing in front of a 3-way mirror, and the way the shot's framed, he seems to see only slivers of himself--but the viewer gets the clear idea this man may never want to look at himself again.

[likesmountains 52]

112. After Life...the film from Japan about dead people getting to choose one

memory from their life to relive in the afterlife...beautiful movie and reminded me that often the simplest moments in time are the most precious.

[Catholic Sensation]

113. Man of Marble

never felt a really strong hatred of the Soviet Union till I watched that movie. It was much better than its sequel which won the 1981 Palm D'or (sp?)

[NewJeffCT]

115. The Killing Fields just left me drained

no other movie had that effect on me, though many have moved me.

To be honest "Star Wars" and the 3 movies of the Lord of the Rings trilogy had big effects on me, too. I was 10 1/2 when Star Wars came out & it just blew me away. Lord of the Rings just put a stamp on the books I read over & over again and loved so much.

[Tallison]

117. I just rewatched "Killing Fields"

a few months ago for the 1st time in years. It profoundly affected me the first time, and even more so the second. Should be mandatory viewing.