Friday, June 22, 2007

So What's a Classic Movie?

"Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it."

~William Haley


Yesterday I asked for suggestions for great movies I could introduce to my high school students. Of course, we could debate the "definition" of classic all morning, but I'm really just looking for quality films that were made before they were born that are funny/thought-provoking/interesting/controversial. Got some great suggestions, and so my list is slowly but surely taking form. Here, in no particular order, are a handful from the 100 that I'm considering, right now:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
To Kill a Mockingbird
Rain Man
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Breakfast Club
American Graffitti
West Side Story
My Fair Lady
North by Northwest
Psycho
From Here to Eternity
Dances with Wolves
The Sting
The Godfather
Gandhi
E.T.
On the Waterfront
The Shawshank Redemption


Interesting collection, right? Well, we'll see. I have enough time to think about it.

Speaking of which, here's me doing the TGIF happy dance, not only because it's the end of the week, but because it's the end of the school year and I have no students and no papers and no lessons for almost 2 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Hmm...wait a minute...is that my pile of unfinished promotional work calling me? And my 2 novels needing revision piping up in the background? Well, crap. Guess no school just means more time for other things.


That's OK. I'm still not complaining.

3 comments:

Marianne Arkins said...

Whaddya know... I've seen them all! C'mon... you have to show Schindler's List.

And, UGH. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". I HATE THAT MOVIE.

Hate. It.

Sorry.

The Breakfast Club -- what a perfect look at the 80s. Really, though, all those movies are worthwhile.

Have fun writing this summer!

Allie Boniface said...

M,

Schindler's List came out in 1993. Plus most of my students watch it, at least in part, in history class when they're studying the Holocaust.

I'm sticking to movies pre-1990 and hopefully ones they haven't seen yet.

But I saw SL in the theaters twice...I know how good it is!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful list, Allie. I loved The Sting and some of the others. I forgot that my kids saw SL in history class. They also saw Dance with Wolves in history. I didn't like The Godfather.

Hope you get your revisions done this summer!