Wick's Essential American Movies (Private) (6)





Created Aug 20, 2011 02:23AM PST • Updated Aug 20, 2011 02:23AM PST

Average

  • Really Great
  •  
  • 66 Points
Title Released Trust Weighted Summary Viewable
1st Saving Private Ryan
1998 Really Great 37 Points

Do war movies get any better than this? Puts you right there, in all the graphic realism that comes with war. But not just any war movie, this story spins a great tale that follows Hanks and his crew looking for and saving Ryan (Pitt). If you like war movies, this is a must-see.

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Added Aug 20, 2011 02:30AM PST • Updated Aug 20, 2011 02:30AM PST
2nd Gone with the Wind
1939 Perfect 71 Points

Gone with the Wind has something for everyone, and a lot of it over almost four hours. History, passion, racial controversy: Male or female, war movie or romance fan, this movie demands that you give a damn. Oh yeah, that famous line of Rhett Butler's – "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." – really works at the very end. Rarely does such an iconic climax turn out to be so non-anticlimactic.

Is Gone with the Wind worth watching in this day and age? Yes. Notwithstanding its dated depiction of slaves, it remains highly entertaining and illuminating, a must-see movie, albeit one …

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Added Aug 20, 2011 02:30AM PST • Updated Aug 20, 2011 02:30AM PST
3rd Stagecoach
1939 Perfect 66 Points

What a trip – iconic images before they were cliches, John Wayne's star-making performance, a crisply compelling story. Legendary director John Ford's first talkie Western warrants its status as one of the most influential movies of all time. Clocking in at a mere 96 minutes, it's also tautly entertaining.

How does it compare to other legendary Westerns? IMO, it's superior to "High Noon":http://www.viewguide.com/movie_reviews/3233-high-noon and "The Searchers":http://www.viewguide.com/movie_reviews/1349, though that's some mighty tough competition there.

Is it worth watching three …

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Added Aug 20, 2011 02:23AM PST • Updated Aug 20, 2011 02:30AM PST
4th High Noon
1952 Great 66 Points

Gary Cooper walking alone down a dusty Western street to confront a gang of killers is as iconic as Hollywood gets, making High Noon an archetype even more than a legend. That's quite a weight.

Fortunately the movie itself is engaging, suspenseful and tight. A mere 85 minutes, it runs in near realtime, from the mid-morning moment when news arrives that a stone-cold killer will be on the noon train through to the inevitable gunfight.

Gary Cooper and a virginal Grace Kelly charm as newlyweds ready to start a fresh life, making the deadly battle's stakes personal for the audience.

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Added Aug 20, 2011 02:24AM PST • Updated Aug 20, 2011 02:30AM PST
5th Unforgiven
1992 Perfect 73 Points

Just as Goodfellas is the ne plus ultra of mob movies, Unforgiven is the apotheosis of Westerns. In classic Western form the movie endorses the ethos of the lone righteous man doing what needs done, while at the same time baldly debunking the glorification of gunfighters in the Wild West. Top Dog Western star Clint Eastwood commands the center of the movie on screen and behind the camera, painting Unforgiven as an elegy for his career in Westerns and for the genre itself.

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Added Aug 20, 2011 02:26AM PST • Updated Aug 20, 2011 02:30AM PST
6th Flags Of Our Fat...
2006 Really Great 83 Points

A new laureate to the pantheon of great war movies.

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Added Aug 20, 2011 02:27AM PST • Updated Aug 20, 2011 02:30AM PST

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