I’ll select 10 unorthodox films:

Disney’s Robin Hood, Barry Lyndon, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Walkabout, Brother Sun Sister Moon, Days of Heaven, Charlotte’s Web, Badlands, Perfumed Nightmare, The Legend of Hell House.

@catmydogs said:

I’ll select 10 unorthodox films:

Disney’s Robin Hood, Barry Lyndon, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Walkabout, Brother Sun Sister Moon, Days of Heaven, Charlotte’s Web, Badlands, Perfumed Nightmare, The Legend of Hell House.

That is an interesting list. I have only seen half of those. Thanks for being the only one (so far) to participate in a thread I thought might garner some interest.

I'd be ill-prepared for the stranded two weeks in a snow-covered cabin, as I never naturally gravitate to '70s films, so wouldn't (in real life) come prepared with any. Would primarily have pre-1955 films with me, though no doubt also a smattering of some titles from throughout the last 35 years.

Having said that, if I were to select ten '70s flicks to have in tow, I'm sure that included would be The Godfather I & II, three or so James Bond films, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, The Poseidon Adventure, Jaws, and Murder by Death. Those all (with exception of The Godfather II) are movies (along with some others, that at present I can't recall what they are) I saw in theatres when they first came out, therefore that I remember most readily and fondly. Most of them I saw with my late brother, which adds to their standing with me.

OK, so I am stranded and alone (so Alien and the like are out of consideration!) and it's a long haul, so no running the risk of anything I haven't seen before and may not appreciate... so I need a list composed primarily of pure pleasurable entertainments with a bit of visual beauty thrown in, films which I know I would always enjoy...

Maybe...

• The Railway Children (1970)
• The Last Detail (1973)
• Fox and His Friends (1975)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
• Nashville (1975)
• Smile (1975)
• Annie Hall (1977)
• Days of Heaven (1979)
• All That Jazz (1979)
• Breaking Away (1979)

Now, if we were to just stick with non-English 70's films, I would select: Aguirre: the Wrath of God (descent into madness) Day for Night (Truffaut) Nosferatu the Vampyre (the non-English version is superior) Solaris (great sci-fi) Donkey Skin (Catherine Deneuve film, based on the classic fairy tale) Le Cercle Rouge (great French crime heist film) Cries and Whispers (Liv Ullman is incredible) The Mirror (great Russian film but depressing, like all of them) That Obscure Object of Desire (starring one of my favorite Bond Girls) Perfumed Nightmare (surreal Filipino film, like Little Prince)

@catmydogs said:

Nosferatu the Vampyre (the non-English version is superior)

Trapped alone in a cabin and watching a film with literally hundreds of rats creeping around? Rather you than me!

No, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the scene with 100s of daddylong leg spiders in a massive ball was much creepier!!!

How about Ben (1972) this? I'd want to stay outdoors in the snow, where I'd feel safer, following a viewing of that!

But the Michael Jackson song is so sweet! :)

@rudely_murray said:

OK, so I am stranded and alone (so Alien and the like are out of consideration!) and it's a long haul, so no running the risk of anything I haven't seen before and may not appreciate... so I need a list composed primarily of pure pleasurable entertainments with a bit of visual beauty thrown in, films which I know I would always enjoy...

Maybe...

• The Railway Children (1970)
• The Last Detail (1973)
• Fox and His Friends (1975)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
• Nashville (1975)
• Smile (1975)
• Annie Hall (1977)
• Days of Heaven (1979)
• All That Jazz (1979)
• Breaking Away (1979)

Forgot all about Breaking Away. I recorded Breaking Away and My Bodyguard off of HBO on my old VCR, two movie I had never heard of, a couple friends from work watched it with me and that tape was probably loaned out 20x over the next couple months. I was in my early 20's and I wonder how I would feel about both movies now?

BTW, you are the second person to have Days of Heaven on their list...so I guess I will have to check it out.

@HarrisonHanksHackman said:

Forgot all about Breaking Away. I recorded Breaking Away and My Bodyguard off of HBO on my old VCR, two movie I had never heard of, a couple friends from work watched it with me and that tape was probably loaned out 20x over the next couple months. I was in my early 20's and I wonder how I would feel about both movies now?

BTW, you are the second person to have Days of Heaven on their list...so I guess I will have to check it out.

Breaking Away is simply sublime and holds up very well.

I have only seen My Bodyguard once but I quite enjoyed it, a cut above the average teen comedy.

Days of Heaven is surely one of the most beautifully shot films in the history of cinema. Absolutely dazzling from start to finish.

I started my list last night but halfway through the site decided to make it disappear (I sometimes really hate this site!). Anyway, I'm not sure I can keep it to 10, but I'll try. As someone else said, I'm going to stick to ones I really enjoy, so not necessarily the 'best movies ever' (although some definitely are in that category).

1. The Godfather Trilogy (I'm counting them as one)

2. Serpico

3. Dog Day Afternoon

4. ...And Justice For All

5. Up In Smoke

6. Annie Hall

7. Shaft

8. The Spirit of the Beehive

9. 1900

10. Le Cercle Rouge

Sleeper, The Rose, the Woodstock documentary, a collection of Price, Lee, & Cushing horror films as backups.

• Enter The Dragon
• Taxi Driver
• Godfather 1
• Godfather 2
• A Clockwork Orange
• Warriors
• Barry Lyndon
• Young Frankenstein
• Patton
• French Connection