One definition of a culture might be the collective agreement about what people are supposed to know and about what people are supposed to do. In the knowledge realm, there are two parts, the things everyone knows and the things everyone thinks everyone else knows or is supposed to know. Given that movies, not books, are the basis of the current American culture, I thought it would be interesting to discuss which movies are the ones that everyone knows and expects others to know. Do not confuse this question with the issue of best movies or movies film critics think everyone should see. It’s simply those movies that you would likely say, “You’re kidding! What do you mean you haven’t seen X?” if someone said he had not.
Links on movies everyone should know:Essential movies by Guarang.org
The "A" List - 100 movies by Filmsite.org
102 movies you must see by RogerEbert.com
All-time top 1000 grossing films by Movieweb.com
A-List...Everyone should have seen all of these—The key to this list is that no one disputes anything on it. Even if they haven’t seen one, they admit they should have, culturally speaking. Remember, this is not a list based on quality but only on expectancy that people know them.
Back to the Future, Bambi, Braveheart, Casablanca, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Dirty Harry, Godfather, ET, Exorcist, Grease, It’s A Wonderful Life, James Bond (At least one), Jaws, Karate Kid, King Kong, Lion King, Mary Poppins, Old Yeller, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Pretty Woman, Psycho, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rocky, Silence of the Lambs, Snow White, Sound of Music, Star Wars (Original 3), Superman, Titanic, Top Gun, Wizard of Oz
A-/B+...Honorable Mention—Almost A, but not quite.
Animal House, Christmas Story, Dirty Dancing, Fatal Attraction, Forrest Gump, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jerry Maguire, Matrix, Miracle on 34th Street, Raging Bull
B-List...Everyone should have seen most of these.
Airplane, Alien (s), Apocalypse Now, Ben-Hur, Birds, Caddyshack, Cars, Cast Away, Chariots of Fire, Cinderella, Citizen Kane, Clockwork Orange, Coming to America, Cool Hand Luke, Die Hard, Dr. Strangelove, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Few Good Men, First Blood, Friday the 13th, Ghost, Ghostbusters, Gone With The Wind, Goodfellas, Harry Potter, History of the World, Home Alone, Incredibles, Jurassic Park, Lady and the Tramp, Lawrence of Arabia, Lethal Weapon, Lord of the Rings, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Napoleon Dynamite, Pirates of the Caribbean, Princess Bride, Pulp Fiction, Saving Private Ryan, Scarface, Shawshank Redemption, Shrek, Sixth Sense, Sleeping Beauty, Sting, Stripes, Taxi Driver, Ten Commandments, Terminator, Vacation (s), When Harry Met Sally
C-List...Everyone should have seen some of these
Austin Powers, Bad News Bears, Basic Instinct, Beverly Hills Cop, Blazing Saddles, Borat, Breakfast Club, City Slickers, Do the Right Thing, Dumb and Dumber, Eddie Murphy: Delirious, Fargo, Field of Dreams, Fletch, Full Metal Jacket, Jerry Maguire, Love Bug, Nacho Libre, Naked Gun, Office Space, Passion of the Christ, Patton, Planet of the Apes, Rain Man, Reservoir Dogs, Revenge of the Nerds, Rounders, Spaceballs, Staying Alive, Usual Suspects, Wall Street, Wayne’s World
Andrew's Private Collection (Other than those above)
300, Attack of the Killer War Tomatoes, Blade Runner, Dead Poet's Society, Desperado, Escape From New York, Face Off, Flash Gordon, Glengarry Glenross, Great Escape, Grosse Point Blank, Highlander, Little Man Tate, Logan’s Run, Rollerball, Ronin, Say Anything, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Sin City, Stranger than Fiction, Swordfish, This Is Spinal Tap, True Romance, Village
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