We are all affected by movies in different ways, but through film history there have been some films that have stood out significantly from the rest for their influence – either on the times, or on movie making in general. This “Your View” deals with that subject.
What is the Most Influential Movie Ever Made?
My answer to this is Citizen Kane. The reason for my choice is that Orson Welles (the director) and Gregg Toland (the cinematographer) devised many new ways for filming that have appeared in almost every film since then – for example, deep focus shots and low angle shots.
This “Your View” is a double whammy! Not only do I want to know the answer to the question above, I also want to know what the most influential movie has been in your own life. For me, that is Natural Born Killers by Oliver Stone. I saw that movie just after I started College and it was the first artistic type film I had seen. I was so moved by the directing style that I have loved films ever since – knowing that they can be used as an expression of art – not just entertainment.
I agree, Natural Born Killer was one of those movies that really come hard at you.
Killers rather..:-)
However, my choice for that one movie that made me fall in love with movies would be Taxidriver. Not necessarily the best movie you’ll ever see and i’m not great with words, i just loved it’s pace and ambience, not to forget, the wonderfully etched characters.
4th??crap!!!i wanna be first so bad, any way i’d say the godfather,though i haven’t seen it yet,
scarface anyone?
NBK is definitely up there.
Luc Besson’s first movies “le grand bleu” & Leon. Great movies about love & friendship.
Lilja 4 ever
Pedro Almodovar’s all movies
Kramer vs Kramer , Mrs.Robinson
Akira Kurosawas’ s 7 samurai
Most influencial film for me? ‘The Hives, Hinduism and Me’
Well, not really. I don’t know which film has been the most influencial for me… There so many to choose from!
Blade Runner…..
“I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”
I agree with you about citizen kane its a masterpiece.
My personal choice is 2001:a space odyssey because it was realistic and so ahead of it’s time and stanley kubrick did a great job.A close second would be blade runner.
Lewis: definitely see the Godfather – it is brilliant – one of my favorite films.
Cecile: Nice pick on 7 Samurai!
sid: 2001 is a definitely contender – I agree – it never gets boring – even after 5 or 6 views!
Well, if it’s not “Magnolia” (lol) then it’s the Star Wars movies.
Star Wars, A Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner are all movies that stood out in their time as exceptions to the usual Hollywood drivel. Star Wars because of the innovative filming techniques that made the models seem believable. A Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner because they both have such a plausible future.
I have been influenced to varying degrees by a lot of different films. One that stands out is Damage, with Jeremy Irons and Juliet Binoche. It is a tale of obsession that ends badly and with the final realization that it was an obsession.
PS We are all “affected” by movies, not “effected” by movies.
I agree with Citizen Kane as the most influential ever, with its innovative shots, ideas and visual effects.
Personally…hmmm…either Rocky Horror Picture Show, as it just opened my eyes to a new world of underground alternative freaks and the ideas of fluid *****uality and to musicals!
But more recently, I saw Control and its influenced me tremendously! The film making technique and style of the movie has inspired me with numerous ideas and work since as well as spurring me to get into more music and try and carve my way into music as well…
Hmm… tough one, but I have to say Magnolia was pretty amazing, it took interweaving story telling to a whole new level. The acting is top-notch, you can understand why it won a handful of Oscars.
After that, I have to agree with Natural Born Killers & The Godfather, but also, All About Eve. The script to this movie is intelligent, clever and funny. It’s probably one of the best written scripts I’ve ever seen committed to film.
hey, it’s my first time to comment but i’m a list verse fan for a long time now.
my choice, or choices rather, would be Schindler’s List.
Although documentaries – I think Supersize me and 9/11 were influential as well (IMHO). Well, if not influential, it really stirred up some drama and raised a lot of eyebrows.
Lorcan: I love Magnolia – it is a great film.
manashiori: Supersize Me put me off McDonald’s for a LONG time.
A lot of Your View lists recently. Getting lazy Jamie? Just kidding.
Geez this is an expansive topic. You want most influential ever? Actually, I don’t know. If you’re speaking strictly of the film industry I might be tempted to say Star Wars, simply because nothing like it had ever been done before.
I know that the most influential movie for me personally would likely be Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
american history x
This is a bit silly; people are just naming movies they like. The question is about the most influential. That means it’s probably not gonna be something terribly recent. The obvious answer is indeed “Citizen Kane”. Before Kane, movies were largely done like filmed stage plays (yes, I’m generalizing). Welles taught Hollywood to use a wide variety of tricks he picked up from radio — simple stuff that we now take for granted, but was radical at the time. Stuff like adjusting the volume as someone walks into the distance, using wide angels to affect a mood, seamless camera movement, brilliant use of angels and shadows, jumbling timelines — I could go on and on (and we haven’t even talked about the movie’s story!).
Of course, one might ask: Which filmmakers influenced Welles. We know he was a fan of Ford, but he seemed to have a deep appreciation for Eisenstein, who really pioneered a raft of techniques that influence people through today.
Citizen Kane. The way that Orson Welles used to make his movie was the most revolutionary ever.
Psycho; defined a whole genre; where would we be today without that shower scene? Not only straight horror movies, but suspense movies like 7, and pretty much every movie that delves into the mystery of the subconscious mind. It also was one of the first films that was originally panned by the critics, and popular acclaim forced a re-think. Ended up winning a bunch of Oscars.
Movie: 300
What I Learned From This Movie: If I have the opportunity to kick someone down a bottomless pit, I’ll take it!
Im saying Forest Gump, very influential.
and 300, i learned how to drop-kick someone into a pit thhanks to this movie.
Depends on what you mean by influential. If you mean *artistically* influential, that’s difficult as hell because it’s different for every genre and you’d have tons of choices.
But if you mean economically influential, then there’s really no question whatsoever, and the choices come down to two, basically:
Jaws….. or
Star Wars. And more the latter, I’d say, if I had to choose between the two.
Why? Because these two films completely changed the economics of filmmaking. They made the blockbuster the standard for the Hollywood sales formula, and in my opinion ruined the industry artistically.
Influencial, I don’t really like the idea of saying the oldest classic is the most influencial.
Its true and makes sense but doesn’t make the conversation as fun.
With that way of thinking you can say well that was influenced by plays and books and it would just de-evolve.
So im going to list a few that had a big impact
Pulp Fiction-
The Matrix-
I think these were the biggest influences of there time.
Not in a profound enlightening way, but they had a huge impact on culture and they way films were shot and how a story could be told, the kind of stories that could be told.
But the movie that had the greatest influence on me was, without a doubt
Fight Club-
That movie has its own dogma
Aaahhhhhthankya
Mykel V.
jrafter: haha, in a way it influenced me to go on a fast food hiatus.
Yes, back when I took up Film Studies, they made us watch Citizen Kane. It was poignant, moving, a true work of art.
There’s this short film (i know, i know,. it’s not a movie) I saw when I was a kid and as I got older, it has a political theme to it. The Telephone Booth.
Randall; good point, big business ruins everything. I imagine McDonald’s used to make good food too, and ice cream actually used to have cream in it. There used to be choice, not the same damn thing in different brand-name packages. Death to Mega-Corp!
The Godfather, Scarface, A Bronx Tale, and Amadeus…..
to many others to name for me…….
Catch me if you can. Being based on a true story, it really shows a person that anything is in everyone’s grasp. Sure the main character was doing something illegal, but it opened many legitimate doors for him in the future after he was done cashing fake cheques.
Ohh… ok for influential above all others I will say The Jazz Singer… because without it we would still have silent movies!
I have 2 most influential movies in my own life:
The first is Forrest Gump, this movie helped me understand how important I can be to someone else.
The main one though would probably be Dogma. This movie, in all of it’s crass humour, showed me that I could still disagree with the church and have faith at the same time. Who said I have to believe exactly what they tell me to. That moment changed my entire way of viewing the world and how I respond to it.
Besides who doesn’t love Buddy Christ!
I gotta agree with some folk who’ve mentioned Star Wars, Blade Runner and A Clockwork Orange. Reservoir Dogs and I believe Slacker and Clerks inspired a whole bunch of the current independent movies.
As far as me personally 2001 A Space Odyssey and Pulp Fiction are my most influential
I would agree to Sid, except the other way around. 2001 was my first “artistic” movie and I felt in love immediately. I am a real SciFi fan so this was my movie until I saw Blade Runner. What I liked most about this movie was the strong philosophical and emotional subject. On top you can see this movie at least three times and you will each time discover new (important) aspects.
ps: My favorite director is still Stanley Kubrik for such movies as Barry Lindon or The Shining and my number three all time favorite Dr. Strangelove.
If by influential you mean influencing public opinion or public sentiment…I’d say Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or Trufaut’s Les Quatre Cents Coups would top my lists
Even before Blade Runner, there was Metropolis. You can see how it influenced almost every significant sci-fi movie ever since. But Citizen Kane was probably the most influential for all genres and directors.
For personally influential films, it would have to be Magnolia, Babel, and Crash–any movie that deals with the interconnected relationships and story of people in an artistic way.
if its influential to other movies iwould have to say Peeping Tom (1960) very well made film and quite possibly one of the most infuential horror/slasher movies
if its influential to me i have to say TRON just made me who i am today
I’m going to say Southern Comfort affected me most because it was the first intense action/adventure movie I remember seeing. I remember being glued to the screen during that one. The dogs were a really disturbing sequence.
Jaws. It’s influence was short-lived, but massive. The country canceled it’s vacation plans that summer.
Once upon a time in the west.
A lot of films mentioned already were also on my list – but no other picture made me dream so long of its scenes. its music. its dialogues. this incredible and very long intro – men waiting, nothing happens, flys are captured with a gun, water is dropping, nothing happens… it’s a kind of icecold suspense, if you know what i mean. bitter-sweet. wooden. unbearable. and then – this famous final with these two eyes of charles bronson on the screen – did you ever see this picture in an openair-cinema with a screen so big you can play football on it? these eyes… in every detail… and you know it’s gonna happen, inevitable… this consequence of sergio leone in telling a story to the end… while typing these words i remember another very influential movie from john woo, a better tomorrow – these people didn’t care about nothing – except friendship. a ballad & ballet. unbelievable gunfight action and coolness which beats even the marlboro man… both movies were the coolest cinema experiences i had in my life.
It’s not the MOST influential, but An Inconvenient Truth is still worth the mention.
I want to say so many movies that were influential to me but Star Wars I think would be way up there at the top for influencing film making. Just one example is that before Star Wars the film credits were always at the beginning of the movie with nothing at the end but “the end”, and there would also be an intermission in the middle of long films. George Lucas had the crazy idea of getting rid of the intermissions and putting the credits at the end to jump into the movie right off. Neither I’d say are a much better idea, (and I really wish some of those long movies recently had an intermission so I could pee!) but when has anyone seen a mainstream movie nowadays that still had either practice? No matter how past-his-prime he is now, George Lucas’ Star Wars series has been cinematically unsurpassed.
I have to add though that some early stuff like The General, Modern Times, Male & Female, Birth of a Nation, etc. should also be up there as those were some of the films that weren’t thinking outside the box, they were creating the box.
*cough* and Jaws is speciesism. It’s a good movie that made a horrible impression in everyone’s minds. I hate that movie. *cough*
The Great Global Warming Swindle is just as influential as An Inconvenient Truth. They’re both biased propaganda pieces trying to make the viewer sympathetic to their opinion.
The Haunting. Even before I took two film class I was amazed at the camera angles used to create the sense of the main character descent in madness.
the first line should read “affected.”
anyhoooo…….
i haven’t seen any. ok, i have seen SOME, but really, i’m pathetic. i haven’t seen Pulp Fiction, or Citizen Cane (and the list jut goes on and on.)
i need to get watching.
but the movie that affected me the most when i saw it was the Basketball Diaries.
Thank you for smoking is also really good… Really drives in how much consumers will believe if it is spun right.
My choice is not a singular movie but a singular movie maker, Alfred Hitchcock. He did more innovative things with cameras, camera angles, lighting, and story telling than anyone in the history of movies. Many of the creative movie making techniques used to this day began with Hitch. I could go on and on about each of his movies and the things that He did. Vertigo, North by Norhtwest, The Rear Window, Rope, Notorious, Rebecca, and on and on. The great movie makers of the day found something in Hitchcock’s work that influenced them in some way.
OK – as far as emotionally affected, I think all the 80s Brat Pack movies not only affected me, but an entire generation of people. Say Anything was my introduction to Cameron Crowe and continues to be the standard that I hold guys too (pathetic maybe, but why are there not enough Lloyd Dobler’s in the world?) I guess I am destined to be alone.
As far as artistic value, I am continually amazed at computer technology and movie making. Disney, Pixar, etc…..what can be done with a computer for entertainment value is astounding.
Two Words!!! The Godfather
chershey: are you serious? speciesism? are you suggesting that it is morally wrong to depict a shark in that manner?
matrix has to be in the discussion with the development of the “bullet time” filming technique.
life is beautiful is very high on this list for me. deeply effected me. not sure if it is influential to the rest of the movie culture but for me personally it ranks high.
The Wizard of Oz, has to be the first movie that showed that the possibilities of what could be done with a movie were truely unlimited. The Wizard of Oz was the original “Star Wars”.
I’m gonna have to agree with you Ledo. . . Wizard of Oz definitely
Love it or Hate it ‘Jaws’has set the tone for summer movie for the last 30 years.
Influential – Gone with the Wind and Star Wars – both opened up new visual avenues for their genre.
Mine- Reservior Dogs – I never knew a movie could be like that; so diverse, scattered, raw, yet so sparsely made. Brilliant!
dischuker: Let me rephrase. The film itself isn’t speciesism but it implies that a shark could have a malicious grudge against (specific) humans and want to eat/kill them. The film gave no objective view and gave no motive, influencing people to think that sharks (especially white sharks) are nothing but man-hating, man-eating killing machines. Humans are the shark-hating, shark-eating killing machines. Also, if you want to throw in the “unprovoked attacks” statistics, mosquitos and hippopotami are by far deadlier – but who wants to make a monster movie about them?
Did anyone else notice that a list just got deleted?
Guess the ‘science facts’ lists didn’t have enough facts.
Jaws! I love it. Roy Scheider died on sunday. Very sad. I’d have to say a pretty influential movie was Crash.
Mystern; yes and I had just urged Jim C to write us a proper science list. I can do better out of my head….
and Jamie you should have left it up there for us to shred apart, nastiness every so often is kinda fun
you don’t think it is possible for a shark to want to eat humans? and in the long run, isn’t it better for humans to be afraid of great white sharks?