How about another list? AFI's top 100 movies. Bold the ones you have seen. Strike out the ones you couldn't finish. * the ones you have seen more than once.
- Citizen Kane (1941)*
- Godfather, The*
- Casablanca (1942)*
- Raging Bull (1980)
- Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
- Gone with the Wind (1939)*
- Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- Schindler’s List (1993)
- Vertigo (1958)*
- Wizard of Oz, The (1939)* This used to be on TV once a year in the 1950s. I'd watch it every time, even if it meant hiding under the coffee table because I was so scared of the Wicked Witch of the West.
- City Lights (1931)
- Searchers, The (1956)
- Star Wars (1977)*
- Psycho (1960)*
- Sunset Blvd. (1950)
- 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968)*
- Graduate, The (1967)*
- General, The (1927)
- On the Waterfront (1954)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Nope, never seen it. Hard to believe, huh?
- Chinatown (1974)*
- Some Like It Hot (1959)
- Grapes of Wrath, The (1940)
- E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) An amazing number of older female boomers wish they had had
James StewartGregory Peck* for their father, apparently because of this movie. I saw it years later so wasn't affected that way. ETA: Thanks to Ann of Sheep Shots for pointing out that it was GP, not JS, who played Atticus Finch. Thanks, Ann! - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
- High Noon (1952)
- All About Eve (1950)*
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Maltese Falcon, The (1941)*
- Godfather Part II, The (1974)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)*
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Annie Hall (1977)* For years this was my favorite movie. (It has since been replaced by The Big Lebowski, tragically missing from this list.)
- Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)*
- Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946)*
- Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948) I read it, too, in Spanish!
- Dr. Strangelove (1964)* "Gentlemen, there is no fighting in the War Room!"
- Sound of Music (1965)
- King Kong (1933)
- Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
- Midnight Cowboy (1969)
- Philadelphia Story, The (1940)
- Shane (1953)
- It Happened One Night (1934)*
- Streetcar Named Desire, A (1951)
- Rear Window (1954)*
- Intolerance (1916)
- Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- West Side Story (1961)
- Taxi Driver (1976)
- Deer Hunter, The (1978)
- M*A*S*H (1970)*
- North by Northwest (1959)* Seen it many times, most recently while camping in the Black Hills.
- Jaws (1975)*
- Rocky (1976)
- Gold Rush, The (1925)
- Nashville (1975)
- Duck Soup (1933)* Many, many times. I love the Marx Brothers.
- Sullivan’s Travels (1941) never heard of it
- American Graffiti (1973)
- Cabaret (1972)
- Network (1976)
- African Queen, The (1951)*
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) I was quite taken with Edward Albee's work in high school.
- Unforgiven (1992)
- Tootsie (1982)*
- Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)* I can’t believe this one isn’t higher in the list.
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)* Smokey and I quote from this one all the time. “And if I could remember what I had for dinner that night I’d die a happy man.” “Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?” “Woodcock?!?”
- Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)*
- In the Heat of the Night (1967)
- Forrest Gump (1994)
- All the President’s Men (1976)*
- Modern Times (1936)
- Wild Bunch, The (1969) Notable mainly, imho, because it was the first Western to show blood spurting from gunshot wounds.
- Apartment, The (1960)
- Spartacus (1960)
- Sunrise (1927) Never heard of it.
Titanic (1997)Only saw the first half or so; I had to leave the theater at the scene where the water started lapping up the corridor because being trapped underwater is my worst fear and I couldn’t stand to watch.- Easy Rider (1969)
- Night at the Opera, A (1935)*
- Platoon (1986)
- 12 Angry Men (1957)* One of Smokey's favorite movies.
- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- Sixth Sense, The (1999)
- Swing Time (1936) Never heard of it.
- Sophie’s Choice (1982)
- Goodfellas (1990)
- French Connection, The (1971)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- Last Picture Show, The (1971)
- Do the Right Thing (1989)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
- Toy Story (1995)
- Ben-Hur (1959)
So. I have seen 90% of these. Or 91%; I can't remember for sure if I have seen Spartacus or not. When Andrew was in high school he set himself the goal to watch iMDb's top 250 movies. That's when I saw many of the old classics on this list.
List shamelessly lifted from Jill Smolinski's blog, My Life List.