Slate asked several directors and critics to name the movies they've rewatched the most. Spike Lee names "Election." He's watched it more than 40 times. Excellent choice. I've rewatched that one a few times. Nowhere near 40 though. [CORRECTION: Slate's layout confused me. Spike Lee names "West Side Story," with zero commentary, and the next guy, Adam McKay, a director I'd never heard of, names "Election."]
Lots of other interesting choices -- along with some crushingly boring ones. I mean, even if your true answer is "Citizen Kane," please spare me. I wrote that before reading through the whole list and getting to Dana Stevens, who begins: "Leaving out the movies everyone's seen countless times (The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, It's a Wonderful Life)...." I suspect most of the answers followed that rule without saying it.
I love this subject of what you want to rewatch. To watch something the first time is to respond to some mysterious mix of your own imagination and the various things you've heard. Maybe something about a poster or some feeling about a movie star pulls you in. Then you find out if it was what you thought it would be or if you're surprised in a good way. But rewatching a movie, you know basically what's there, and you're making a choice to relive what you know or you have a sense that there are places in there where new things can be found. It's a richer, deeper experience. Oh, that reminds me of what Andre says about marriage -- as opposed to an affair -- at the end of my most rewatched movie, "My Dinner With Andre."
ADDED: Neo NeoCon responds.
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I love to re-watch Groundhog Day.
Todd: Thanks. What a crappy layout by Slate!
I'll watch Broken Trail again
Well, whoever picked it, Election is a fantastic movie.
One of the movies I've seen the most times (by virtue of owning it amongst a limited collection) is another Reese Witherspoon classic - Freeway.
I have a three year old... I've watched Monsters Inc. about 75 times. Still pretty good. I've also seen Beauty and the Beast about the same number of times, it's getting old.
i'll leave out the disney movies i could recite verbatim thanks to 3 kids when they were young...but my favorites are.
Duck Soup
All About Eve
Song of Bernadette
Maltese Falcon
Rear Window
North By Northwest
I'm surprised there aren't more old musicals on the list. I mean, I've watched Kiss me Kate several times, and it's always fun. Ditto Meet me in St. Louis, Singing in the Rain (both of which were mentioned) and Annie get your Gun.
I think The Sound of Music was the first movie I've seen more than once in the theater -- Mom took me twice. And who hasn't seen The Wizard of Oz more than once? I watched it every year when it was on TV back in the 60s.
Pulp Fiction for me!
Brooks to Kos: "Oh, I'm sorry did I break your concentration?"
My favorite movie to rewatch is “A Room with a View” I love Merchant Ivory period pieces and this one has it all. Lush scenery and beautiful Edwardian era costumes. Characters that seem like real people even though they’re from a hundred years ago. Romance. That beautiful opera music. Some of the best English actors working today. Sexual tension even though there’s really no sex. And yet there’s also full frontal male nudity – something there’s far too little of in movies. Yes, just transport me back there every time I’m feeling down.
Rear Window
Vertigo
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
north by northwest
the incredibles
clueless (i'm ashamed to admit it)
stalag 17
the big lebowski
jackie brown
I love Dana Stevens' choice, In the Realm of the Senses, and her comment on it's impact on her dating success (or lack thereof).
I've probably watched The Big Chill more often than any other movie, but not as a result of seeking it out.
Citizen Kane is the stock answer so that people will think you are sophisticated.
Ghostbusters is great. Probably seen it 50 times.
My own picks:
Blackhawk Down
Bring It On
The Great Outdoors
The Blues Brothers
My list:
Casablanca
Animal House
Pulp Fiction
Patton
Shawshank Redemption
Ann,
Have you seen "My Breakfast with Blassie"?
It is Andy Kaufman having breakfast with "Classy" Fred Blassie, a pro wrestler in the 1950's and a manager through the 80's. It spoofs your beloved "My Dinner with Andre" so you would either love it or hate it.
Blassie and Kaufman discuss the nature of celebrity while being interrupted for their autographs. All while having sausage and eggs at Sambo’s (yep, that’s what they called Denny’s).
SWBarnes:
Sambos was a different restaurant chain that started in Santa Barbara, CA in the 1950's. (Denny's also started in the Los Angeles area in the 1950's.)
Three or four different commenters have three or four different Coen Bro's favorites. Me, too, with I guess "The Big Lebowski" at the top of the re-watched list.
Bottle Rocket
That's incredible. I didn't think anyone else would say that.
I watch about 3-6 movies a week, and I hate rewatching movies. The movies that I'll rewatch are not the movies that I would consider to be the best, but they're movies with lots of little details.
My most rewatched movies: Bottle Rocket, Total Recall, and some hilariously bad raw footage I have from a movie that was never released.
Blade Runner
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Patton
Caddyshack
Anchorman
The Big Lebowski
Pale Rider
Raising Arizona!
My decidedly non-intellectual selection:
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
I can watch that one ad infinitum.
I have certainly see the original Star Wars a large number of times--as a kid when it first came out it was something of a challenge as to how many times one can see it.
As a group with my wife's side of the family the most-watched flick is easily Planes, Trains and Automobiles--it has become something of a tradition.
Others that I have watched a large number of times, and would watch again:
The Princess Bride
It's a Wonderful Life
The Sound of Music
Like madisonman I used to watch the Wizard of Oz on an annual basis--but that was in those halcyon days of no cable and no VCRs.
There are a number of kids' movies (I ahve boys ages 9, 6, and 4) that I have seen numerous times. Of them, my favorite is The Incredibles
I cant believe I read through 27 post with out reading:
Caddyshack
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Blues Brothers
Animal House
Maybe I am dating myself.
And what about the ones always on TV:
Moonstruck
Ghost
Wedding Singer
Even if you don't like these movies its impossible not to have watched parts of them multiple times.
Who would ever watch Citizen kane multiple times? How boring.
Also love Bottle Rocket, Room with a View, Raising Arizona, The Princess Bride. West Side Story is painful with that '60s lingo! Election and Citizen Ruth, very good films by A. Payne, a nice Midwestern boy.
Two favorites that never fail to delight are Rushmore (Wes Anderson's first biggie after Bottle Rocket) and Heavenly Creatures, to me, much more mesmerizing and fabulist that Jackson's later films.
The profoundly philosophical Joe versus the Volcano.
After Hours
Something Wild
Peewees Big Adventure
The Princess Bride
The Big Lebowski
Benny and Joon
True Romance
Little Murders
If any amateur physiologists care to hazard a theory of any underlying connectedness I would be interested.
I'm glad someone else finally mentioned "The Princess Bride" - I was beginning to wonder about the people around here.
Shrek also scores high replays as well as Chicken Run.
I'm not one for serious cinema - going to see Cars tomorrow night. However, Glory (Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington)and Apollo 13 also used to get played a lot when I was the only one in front of the TV.
I WATCH FAHRENHEIT 911 OVER AND OVER BECAUSE IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT MOVIE I WILL EVER SEE
Wait, no, nevermind.
It seems to be the hip, post-modern thing to put down Citizen Kane, but it's a beautiful movie, and quite exciting to rewatch.
Me? I've watched "The Shining" and "Barry Lyndon" many times each, both visually and intellectually rewarding films that yield new things every time. Most of Kubrick's work does well on multiple viewings.
Oh, and i've seen the 'Exorcist' about a hundred and sixty-seven times, and it keeps getting funnier, every single time I see it!
Cabaret
Some Like it Hot
Blues Brothers
Meet Me in St. Louis
Bells are Ringing
Princess Mononoke
Wow, The Big Lebowski sure does take a lot of votes. Of course as a Coen Bros fan I am not unhappy about that, but it didn't reel me in like Raising Arizona did in my college days. Maybe that's because those were my college days. :)
SWBarns said..."Have you seen "My Breakfast with Blassie"?"
Yes, I bought it on videotape back when "Man on the Moon" came out and everyone was talking about Andy Kaufman. I was predisposed to like it or I wouldn't have bought it. But I was very disappointed, not because it mocked my favorite movie, but because it wasn't very good. Andy just hated the movie and didn't have the knowledge of it to make an interesting spoof. It was quite amateurish and pointless.
PatCA mentions "Heavenly Creatures." That's a huge favorite chez Althouse. We've watched it many times.
Elizabeth mentions "Some Like It Hot." That's another big favorite around here.
The Breakfast Club - I watched originally on a date, more recently I've watched it with my kids.
L.A. Confidential
Maltese Falcon
Paris, Texas
Palladian, lol.
BUT AREN'T YOU ALSO GOING TO WATCH AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH???!!!
Also love the restored version of The Searchers. A movie and a Wayne role way ahead of its time.
The Way We Were
Snakepit
The Wizard Of Oz
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Morning Glory
Bride of Chuckie
The Sound Of Music
Halloween
Moon Over Miami
The Hills Have Eyes
----Is there a pattern here?
Peace, Maxine
A few that haven't been mentioned:
The Hudsucker Proxy which is much better than The Big Lebowski. ("You know.... For kids!")
Run Lola, Run - I believe it was Lola Rennt in German. This movie was simply fantastic. I think everyone at UF must have seen this at least two or three times at the Hip. ("Der tasche...." "Der tasche...." "Der tasche...." "Der tasche...." "...Der TASCHE!") (If you haven't seen the movie there is no way that quote can make any sense.)
Conan the Barbarian shows Arnold at his best, before he took too many acting lessons. Plus, great over-the-top dialogue by John Milius.
The Endless Summer, The Endless Summer II, Step Inot Liquid and Riding Giants. What a great set of movies! The DVD commentary with the surfers on Riding Giants makes it two movies in one. Man, can that Greg Noll cuss....
(Famous surfers in five out of seven movies so far. I'm sensing a trend.)
To make it an even ten, three David Lean films I love to watch over and over again: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia.
HaloJonesFan, you are a sick, twisted individual....
Hollywood Knights
Used Cars
The Blues Brothers
Caddyshack
Animal House
Frankenstein
The Wolf Man
I never understood why people like Citizen Kane. It's not a good movie. Your just supposed to like it because it has become trendy to say you like it. No one actually cares or likes the actual movie.
- It's like a Jackson Pollock painting. Look at a Pollock painting without all the background noise, and it is what it is - no better than a giant finger painting my my 4 year old. Add in all the cliche trendy stuff that surrounds the painting and all of a sudden its a masterpiece...
How ridiculous.
Fargo
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Best in Show
Repo Man
Wes Craven is a genius.
Also,
Gore Vidal's "Myra Breckenridge"--(1970)
Bob Guccione's "Caligula"
Stanley Kubrick -- "Clockwork Orange"
Also, Bernardo Bertolucci ---'Luna'..(1979)..that was the one featuring Jill Clayburgh as part of a mother/son incest duo.
Groovy good fun!
Peace, Maxine
Ann,
I always thought that "My Dinner with Andre" was intentionally bad camp like "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" or the early John Waters movies. It certainly was laughably bad.
Of course I came at it from the other end I was a big 'Classy' Fred Blassie fan from his days with the World Wrestling Federation.
Ronin, the Sambo's in my area became a Denny's in the late 1970's.
It's an odd choice, I admit, but I've probably seen Stephen Frears' "The Snapper," a charming little movie made for the BBC from the very funny Roddy Doyle book, more than any other movie ... It's just a great little working-class comedy
"I never understood why people like Citizen Kane. It's not a good movie. Your just supposed to like it because it has become trendy to say you like it. No one actually cares or likes the actual movie."
Really? I don't like or care about "Citizen Kane"? Gee, I thought I did. Thanks for telling me the real truth about myself.
"It's like a Jackson Pollock painting. Look at a Pollock painting without all the background noise, and it is what it is - no better than a giant finger painting my my 4 year old. Add in all the cliche trendy stuff that surrounds the painting and all of a sudden its a masterpiece...""
You want cliché? Describe a Jackson Pollock painting as "no better than a giant finger painting my 4 year old [could do]" Really, how many times has that line been used to put down paintings? Get some new material. And get a new four year old, because if your current four year old is as good as Pollock was, they should be famous by now. Obviously someone's overstating their talent.
Christy & Michael have made my day! I thought I was the only one who rewatches Hudson Hawk.
Also:
The Pricess Bride
SW (the original trilogy)
The Incredibles
Blade Runner
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
I finally "got" Marilyn Monroe
Yeah, she's "like Jello, on springs!" (I think it was Jack Lemmon's character who says that.)
This is a wonderful discussion; I'm making a list now of things to see and re-see. How did I leave off Blade Runner, and Fargo? And Ferris Bueller? I actually used the "anyone? anyone?" line in class the other day (it's summer, we're all hot and sleepy in class) and they're all so young, no one got it. At least I didn't follow up with Principle Rooney's famous "smooch" line.
Strange, really funny little set called "The Gods Must Be Crazy" -- and it's Part II.
Elizabeth, I quote movies in class all the time and no one ever gets it. It's specially embarrassing to quote a really quirky line that you assume the students will get and they all just stare at you.
Ben Stein is cracking me up with a current TV ad (for cable movies), where he's cut back into "Ferris Bueller" (looking not too much older after the hair re-touch) taking roll, calling out--well, you know.
This posting got me thinking that I should go ahead and buy "Andre" on DVD, but it's way expensive over at Amazon. $149. What gives?
Movies I enjoy watching again and again:
Seven Samurai
Groundhog Day
early Woody Allen
the first three Wallace and Grommit movies
Strangers in Good Company
Peter - it's rare and out of print. Amazon.com is a seriously efficient market.
Yeah, I know that it's out of print. I just don't get why a dvd goes out of print. I mean, it's data and a package.
I know that Disney intentionally games the market by putting popular titles in its "vault" for a decade or so. Not a practice that I support, which is why I refuse to buy any Disney crap that's advertised as "going into the vault."
However, Disney has one gem of a short film -- Donald in Mathmagic Land -- that I wish they would stop screwing around with. I've been trying to buy it for years. Seems that Disney may have released it for a short time a year or two ago, but I missed it. Damn.
This is a two part discussion.
The first is what do you really rewatch often. And for me that includes the usual suspects of The Seven Samurai, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and Godfather I +II.
The more interesting question is probably what do you rewatch often that's not the usual film student answer. One of my most rewatched films is the original Nosferatu. It's not exactly scary, but I love the atmosphere. I'm surprised to say that the other is Tim Burton's Batman. It's certainly a flawed film, but it's a film I enjoy picking at. The references to Citizen Kane, the expressionistic aspects, the way it holds back from fulling embracing the lead, and the fact that while most people dismiss it as a over the top fantasy, the Joker's plots echo the Tylenol tampering case and the Tokyo subway Sarin gas attacks. There's a blend of reality and unreality there that I just find interesting.
It is a good discussion--Netflix must be having an upsurge of traffic all of the sudden! I'm ordering Dinner/Andre, the Conformist (just saw Garden of the Finzi-Continis again), Fargo, Some Like it Hot (nobody's perfect!), and Looney Tunes Classics.
Thunderheart is also very good and currently on HBO all the time. Ignacio, you might like Diva by Beineix.
OK I will indulge myself in revealing my top 11 in no particular order
Star Wars: A New Hope Ep. IV (but really, still just Star Wars, and mostly when it first came out)
The Lavender Hill Mob (I can't believe they are remaking this film, most likely bad, bad, bad, given the lack of casting details, hopefully they saw the Ladykillers remake and realized, you can't touch Alec Guinness/Ealing comedies)
Dr. Strangelove, commentary is useless, a nearly perfect film.
Monty Python's Meaning of Liff (that's not a typo), uneven, but the good bits are very good, and even the bad bits have their charm.
Russ Meyer's SuperVixen (the best of the Vixen Trilogy) (It's a Chuck Jones cartoon with large breasted women, what could be better?)
Tampopo (Best Noodle Western / Sex Comedy / Middle Aged Romance Film EVAHHH!!!)
Absolute Beginners (Great music, Amazing tracking shot to start the film, not a great film, but so what)
Rashomon, wrote a final project for an English class on this film, so watching and rewatching was a self-imposed chore, still not sick of the film, despite that.
Team America: World Police, America F#@& Yeah!, enough said really.
Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, finest fairy tale ever filmed by a surrealist icon, all films should begin with a title card that says, 'Once upon a time . . .' (haven't tried to find the Opera version)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Not Almodovar's best, but definitely his most watchable film. He's a great director, and Carmen Maura is terrific in this picture.
And speaking od Donald in Mathemagic Land, I must have seen that dozens of times in Elementary School, that and The Red Balloon were the 'Rainy Day Reels' that would be played when it was too wet outside during recess.
(and yes, I'm old enough to have been in school back when they would have played those on film, favorite part is when they would rewind the film with the film in the projector, usually at double speed, so got to see everything backwards, trippy stuff that (at least to a 7 year old))
I just don't get why a dvd goes out of print. I mean, it's data and a package.
Demand dwindles.
Working Girl.
Can't get enough of that one.
And newer one: Napoleon Dynamite.
Classics: Doctor Zhivago and Gone with the Wind.
In addition to many that have already been mentioned, I rewatch
--Wayne's World. [Who doesn't hear Bohemian Rhapsody and bang their heads just like that?]
--Stripes
--Finding Nemo [3 kids. The oldest is 4.]
XWL said,
favorite part is when they would rewind the film with the film in the projector, usually at double speed, so got to see everything backwards, trippy stuff that...
I am, too. I remember watching On the Waterfront and The Bedford Incident in class. Watching the last rewind double-time relieved a lot of the tension in the room, as I remember.
Knocking out the obvious, the two films I re-watch obsessively are Whit Stillman's Metropolitan & Martin Scorsese's massively under-rated Age of Innocence.
Helter Skelter
Exorcist 2-The Heretic
Damien Omen 2
Deliverance
Hotel New Hampshire
Shampoo with Warren Beatty
Porkys
---That pinball wizard movie 'Tommy'???
What's that one 70s film about the roller disco ????
Does anybody know the title of that weird 70s sci-fi/horror flick where some gal gets forcibly impregnated by a robot?
Peace, Maxine
The Princess Bride, hands down
"No more Rhyming, and I mean it!"
"Anybody want a peanut?"
Thats good stuff!
The Ninth Configuration by William Peter Blatty is my number one re-watched film. I lost count at around 17 times but I'm sure it is up to about 25 by now. (And it gets extra point on this thread for having a "Famous Lines from Famous Movies" sub-theme.)
I saw Silence of the Lambs 7 times in the theater but it had such an impact on my finances that I had to buy the book to tide me over until it came out on video. The book wasn't as good as the movie -- something I don't say very often. I can't watch it very often now because it gives my wife nightmares.
I also saw Alien 3, Batman and David Lynch's Dune multiple times in the theater. Preferably the show that gets out after midnight so you can drive home alone and go to sleep without breaking the mood.
Other multiple re-watches:
Seven Samurai
Brideshead Revisited (Do miniseries count?)
Babette's Feast
Breaker Morant
A Soldier's Story
Edward Scissorhands
L.A. Story
Lethal Weapon
The Seventh Seal
I've only seen Groundhog Day once, but doesn't that sort of count as multiple viewings just by the nature of the thing?
peter hoh said.."This posting got me thinking that I should go ahead and buy "Andre" on DVD, but it's way expensive over at Amazon. $149. What gives?"
The existing DVD is terrible quality. Hopefully, a new one will come out. Rent, don't buy.
Maxine:
Yes, Tommy.
Roller Boogie?
Demon Seed?
Also, try watching Tommy and The Matrix back to back. Unexpectedly parallel themes.
Thanks, Ann, for that word of advice. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a new issue in the offing. Usually, I have to buy the old, overpriced, bad version for the studio to release the new, improved, and cheaper version.
I'm delighted to hear it's become rare.
Alan, oddly enough I've never SEEN Big Wednesday.
A few others I haven't seen mentioned yet, although I haven't gotten past Alan's comment.
Victor/Victoria
A Fistful of Dollars
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Lonesome Dove (if TV mini-series count)
The Producers (the original, not the new one)
And of course, Office Space.
Palladian and Joe: given Joe's daughter as an example, I'm led to believe they KNOW exactly what we're referring to, but they like unnerving us with the blank stare.
Thanks for mentioning Tampopo!
Ignacio, I second Pat's recommendation of Diva. You'll have to go buy a good Satie collection afterward. I worked at a small theater in the early 80s and watched that movie about 20 times, from the lobby door.
For music and story and/or singing and dancing:
Blues Brothers
Cabaret
Last of the Mohicans(Michael Mann)
Royal Wedding
Singing in the Rain
Yankee Doodle Dandy
For human nature:
Blade Runner
Manhattan
North by Northwest
Rear Window
The Searchers
Treasure of Sierra Madre
Escapist flicks:
Sea Hawk
Star Wars 4,5,6
Terminator flicks
I'm a little surprised no one's mentioned "The Chocolate War", from the book by Robert Cormier. The soundtrack is great, with cuts by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Hauntingly beautiful in places.
And no votes for "The Graduate"? Huh?
I mostly rewatch movies. There are a lot of well-known movies I've never seen, but I'll stop and watch part or all of:
Dr. Strangelove
Pulp Fiction
Groundhog Day
Ed Wood
A Night at the Opera
Chinatown
Some Like it Hot
The Odd Couple
Seven Days in May
Notorious
Rear Window
A Place in the Sun
Red River
The Cowboys
The Sons of Katie Elder
Godfather and Godfather II
The In-Laws (original version)
Prizzi's Honor
What About Bob?
the first Lord of the Rings movie
North By Northwest
Duck Soup
Election
Ghost
LA Confidential
Dr. No
The Third Man
The Seven-Year Itch
and now I'll stop. There are quite a few. I don't need a desert island, I already act like I have one.
I'm not surprised several have named The Big Lebowski. It's gotta be my most re-watched DVD! If I'm bored or depressed and don't know what to watch, that's one I can always plop in and never be sick of. Like most Coen movies, it gets funnier with more viewings. John Goodman is fantastic! I think it's so re-watchable because it's more about the characters than the plot.
Anyway, here's my list:
Big Lebowski
Dawn of the Dead - original (having a mall to yourself is a cool fantasy)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Barry Lyndon
Jackie Brown (Tarantino writing for Samuel Jackson is movie gold)
Scarface
The Spanish Prisoner (it's odd how re-watchable it is even after you know the plot twists)
Deliverance
Romper Stomper
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Die Hard
Rushmore
After Hours
Sorcerer
Notorious
Come & See (you can't watch this WW2 movie too often because it's too upsetting, but I've watched it many times over the years)
And...my fave movie of all-time: The Elephant Man
Always watch these when I accidentally stumble upon them on tv:
Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Groundhog Day, and any of the Meg Ryan romantic comedies (accept Kate and Leopold), especially "You've Got Mail".
These I have on dvd and deliberately re-watch them: "Once Upon A Time in the West", "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Mystic Pizza."
What I plan to re-watch (and have not yet, neither owning the dvd's nor seeing them rebroadcast on standard tv) is Magnolia for a third time, and Unbreakable for a second time.
OMG, Freeway starring Reese and Keifer Sutherland. Yes. Little red riding hood. That's a classic!
Lawrence of Arabia - it has it all - riveting story line, all around acting including the incredible Peter O'Toole, music, photography.
BBC TV series:
As Time Goes By - about 50 episodes or so and has been running continuously since mid '90's
All Creatures Great and Small - many episodes - saw at least half a dozen times
Derogatory comments re: Citizen Kane, I first saw it as an art movie rerun in a theatre. It is a knock-out on a full size movie screen.
Fred Astaire movies
Movies that I have re-watched over fifty times (and this short list doesn't include these: Casablanca, Rear Window, North by Northwest, and countless other "classics") include:
Panic
Ghost Dog
The Magnificient Seven
Grand Prix
Groundhog Day
to name but a few.
Oh, and I've probably seen My Dinner with Andre maybe twenty times (I have my own personal copy thanks to the magic and power of the VCR/DVR...
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