Discuss: Influential Movies No Longer Made, Says TCM

Posted by Paige MacGregor (paige@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 15, 2009 Share

Influential Films

According to TCM, a highly influential film has not been made since 1977. That’s right, TCM released their list of the Top 15 Most Influential Classic Films, the cut off being, apparently, 1977 (the last, of course, being Star Wars: A New Hope).

While I understand the logic behind the argument that the majority of the most influential films of all time were made during the first half of the twentieth century, when advances in transitions, lighting, effects, etc. were being made practically on a daily basis, it also seems odd not to include at least one film that could represent the 1980s on.

Check it out:

  • The Birth of a Nation (1915)
  • Battleship Potemkin (1925)
  • Metropolis (1927)
  • 42nd Street (1933)
  • It Happened One Night (1934)
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  • Gone With the Wind (1939)
  • Stagecoach (1939)
  • Citizen Kane (1941)
  • The Bicycle Thief (1947)
  • Rashomon (1950)
  • The Searchers (1956)
  • Breathless (1959)
  • Psycho (1960)
  • Star Wars (1977)

Sadly, TCM’s list contains a number of influential films that the majority of people today have not been and probably will not ever be exposed to, including Battleship Potemkin (1925) and Metropolis (1927). Even many film studies majors go their entire college career without exposure to some of these films, a fact that saddens us, the Rejects, a great deal.

I highly recommend checking out the list and taking a few minutes not only to read through the list, but to read and contemplate the justifications provided for each film’s inclusion.

What do you think? Should the 15 Most Influential Films of All Time include one or more movies from the past 30 years? If so, which one(s)?

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  • Why? I'm just not seeing it.
  • Chille
    I just figured it was a great influence in terms of special effects. I mean nobody thought that movie was possible before.
  • Not sure why 'The Godfather' isn't there. Not sure at all.

    I also propose any of these: 'The Deerhunter', 'Hallowe'en', 'Memento', 'Star Wars', 'Apocalypse Now', 'Raging Bull', 'The Sixth Sense', 'Rocky'...
  • KC Masterpiece
    I will be honest and have only seen about half of these. One that I recently watched though and was very surprised with was Rashomon. I believe it was the first movie to tell the same basic story, but with altered events and perception because the story is told by different people.

    I think it MUST have held up really well, because I have never seen it and I still really enjoyed it. I also don't mind subtitles.
  • Blair Witch Project was my first instinct - for me at least, it was the first original horror movie I'd seen in a while. And the first that had truly scared me. Definitely Toy Story; it was the first CGI movie that made it to the big screen, opening up the door for others, and for Pixar to become as huge as they have; and it's a crime that The Godfather isn't here.
  • Oh of course people are going to say The Dark Knight. I don't see how that movie could be considered influential. But I really don't want to get into it. The Godfather should be on the list for sure, and I'm shocked that it is not.

    In terms of films from the 90's I need to go with Toy Story because it really started the animated big screen push. At least it was the first one that I remember that really pulled people into the theaters. So it most definitely influenced the animated "Pixar" style of blockbusters that we see today.
  • Unfortunately, I'd have to say "Independence Day". That film showed studio execs that they didn't need established stars or much in terms of a script as much as they just needed big effects and enough explosions/one liners to fill a trailer. I'd also go with "Happiness", a film which almost reveled in not being mainstream, something which indie films have really been running with every since. Maybe there's a better example, perhaps "Pink Flamingos". Or perhaps you could argue the opposite and go with something like "Taxi Driver", a film that proved that unrepentant art house flicks could cross over to the mainstream.
  • phrenetik
    In my opinion: Finding Nemo (for starting the trend of quality animated films on the big screen), Goldfinger (for inspiring countless homages and references), The Godfather, 300 and The Dark Knight.
  • Goodnight everybody!
  • duck
    where the fuck is the pagemaster?
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