A few years ago I copied an idea from Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings and made a list of 10 classics to watch in the coming year. Last year I combined that with a similar challenge, the Blind Spot Series hosted by Ryan McNeil of The Matinee. For anyone new to these projects, they’re a fun way for movie buffs to make sure they catch up with essentials from favourite genres, or more of “The Great Films,” or ones that friends have recommended (thanks to the friends that advised on this one!). My 2016 list introduced me to a dozen wonderful films with not one disappointment, so I’m eager to do this again.
Here’s my 2017 list:
- Floating Weeds (1959)
- The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
- The Merry Widow (1934)
- Band of Outsiders (1964)
- The Gunfighter (1950)
- Umberto D. (1952)
- Ugetsu (1953)
- Thieves’ Highway (1949)
- A Canterbury Tale (1944)
- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
- The Ladykillers (1955)
- Mon Oncle (1958)
Should be a fun year!
Ooh! Your list sounds great. Hmmm….maybe I should set myself a goal.
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It’s always a fun thing to do and 10 or one a month is not that tough!
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Yip…I think I’m going to plan something. I have an idea. Thanks for the inspiration. Have a wonderful New Year! Thanks for your support this year.
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Happy New Year to you too!!
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This is the weekend that I write out a much-too-long list of all of the 1917 movies I SHOULD watch next year. I never meet the goal, but it’s always fun to try!
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It certainly is! I made a long secondary list last year of hopefuls, and and saw half of those– found some amazing films.
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This is a great list, Kristina! I should have reviews of THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG and A CANTERBURY tale up sometime between now and January. (Like last year, I’m jamming most of viewing my list into December, with reviews to trickle out in the following weeks! LOL.) THE GUNFIGHTER was on my list a few years ago. I think you’ll like THIEVES’ HIGHWAY!
Have been so focused on wrapping up this year’s list, I haven’t started one for 2017. Will get there, though!
Thanks for the shout out in this post! 🙂
Best wishes,
Laura
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Hat tip to you for starting me on this, thanks! It’s been great. I didn’t even consult your list before doing this so I had no idea we had some titles in common, really looking forward to your thoughts on those, but you are responsible for me putting THIEVES’ HIGHWAY on here. I’ve been trying to get my hands on a copy since you reviewed it and this Christmas finally brought it to me 🙂 can’t wait!
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Wow, great list! Can’t wait to read your thoughts on THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC and THIEVES’ HIGHWAY.
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I could have seen PASSION at TCMFF but as you can gather, a lot of good things get skipped or don’t fit for reasons lol. So I’m looking forward to that one. Come to think of it BAND OF OUTSIDERs was another TCMFF one I missed this year! Got a lot of good Godard suggestions leading to that pick so I wouldn’t mind a mini-Godard fest when I get to that month.
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And hey, you could see LADYKILLERS at Noir City SF next month! 🙂
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Don’t I wish! I’ll pretend I’m there when I watch it
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I’ll actually have to watch that one from home too. I can’t stay for the whole festival due to a library program I’m presenting on 1/27 😦 But that’s probably a blessing in disguise – If I were there for the whole thing, I’d spend too much $$$!
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The one title that stands out for me as a huge surprise is The Ladykillers. Are you in for a treat I don’t get into rating flicks much but if my opinion carries any weight, it’s a perfect movie. P-E-R-F-E-C-T!
As for the list, I’ve only seen 4 and I think I might try something similar myself this coming year. I just picked up a copy of La Dolce Vita and realized this might fit in well with the idea as I’ve yet to see it.
Keep inspiring me…… and Happy New Year.
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I could’ve sworn I saw LK but can’t remember, so that counts as a new to me then. That’s quite a rave review so I really look forward to it! I really recommend this project, hopefully you saw something in my past lists that interested you. Happy New Year to you!
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I’ve only seen three from your list, but they were all outstanding: The Gunfighter, Umberto D, and Thieves’ Highway. The Gunfighter was especially cool…one of my all-time favorite Westerns. Can’t wait to see how you liked (or didn’t like) these three!
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Great to hear! GUNFIGHTER is a big gap movie for someone who likes westerns as much as I do, will be happy to get to that one. Thanks!
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Some wonderful titles here – some of these I’m keen to see myself.
I saw “The Passion of Joan of Arc” at TCMFF and it was utterly fabulous. I’m looking forward to your review. 🙂
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I heard it was incredible, maybe I can get the vocalists and live orchestra to appear in my TV room…? 🙂
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Haha! If you do, I’m coming.
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You bring the Nanaimo bars! Lol
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I will! If you supply the Tim Horton’s coffee.
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Deal!
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Crikey Kristina….that’s quiet an imposing list…
I hope Speakeasy is not going too up-market in 2017-
do spare a thought for your middle lowbrow readers like
yours truly. 🙂
I thought THIEVE’S HIGHWAY was good but not in
the top rank of Fox Noirs.
Most underrated of those is THE STREET WITH NO NAME
a cracking thriller by anyone’s standards.
You are in for a real treat with THE GUNFIGHTER
Peck’s best Western by a long shot.
I’ve just commented on your inspired “underrated”
choices over at Brian’s I might add.
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Ha! not at all, this is just my monthly visit to a fancy restaurant– burgers the rest of the time 🙂 speaking of which, did you notice my ongoing viewing diary at the side under “what I’m watching?” If you ever see something there you want to comment on, feel free. Tonight I’ll be watching SHOWDOWN AT ABILENE, can’t wait.
I like Street with No Name too, and will be checking over at RPS to see what you thought, now THAT was the hardest thing I did blog-wise this year, to pick just 5 gems in a year I saw so many amazing new movies.
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Hope you are enjoying “SHOWDOWN AT ABILENE”, Kristina. Go Jocko!!
“THE LADYKILLERS” is such a classic movie – love to hear your thoughts on that one. Truly black comedy! I love the quirky, crooked house owned by lovely Katie Johnson where so much of the fun takes place. I only recently found out it was erected specially for the film. Until relatively recently those little streets near St. Pancras Station were still there though very seedy latterly. Now all part of a massive regeneration of the area.
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Loving SHOWDOWN! almost done and see, now I missed putting it on my discoveries list 🙂 I want to join the Jock Mahoney fan club, where do I sign up! Will be watching more of his. Looking forward to LADYKILLERS, I saw it on another “challenge” (or as Clouseau would say, shellange) list and it clicked that I’d somehow missed it.
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I haven’t seen all your prospective picks but of the ones I have I liked them all to varying degrees. The one that I think will knock your socks off is The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. What an extraordinary film it is, I put off watching it for years because well…French musical. Not that I don’t like musicals, I most certainly do but I thought one completely sung in another language would be too difficult to engage with. I was so wrong about that.
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That’s good to hear, I like musicals too, have seen tons of them and time to see Umbrellas now. I see it getting some attention again, now with La La Land being influenced by it. Thanks!
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I’ve seen number 2 to 5 in your list, and recently live-tweeted Umberto D. Very nice list – I also want to see Mon Oncle, but I haven’t included the film in my list.
Kisses!
Le
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You’ve seen a nice variety then. Aren’t these fun to read? I always find more new-to-me movies I want to watch. I have to see your list next.
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I’ve only seen Thieves Highway, A Canterbury Tale and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. I thoroughly recommend TH. It’s amazing that a film about a humble apple delivery could be so riveting. And ACT is extremely moving. Not so the Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Apart from the show-stopper song (in English ‘If it takes forever …’), which is astoundingly beautiful, I found it pretentious and uninvolving, and the sets too garish to feel comfortable with.
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Interesting to read, thanks, I’m curious about Umbrellas since I’ve seen so many musicals and somehow never got around to this one. Canterbury I expect will be fascinating, I’ve really enjoyed all the Powell-Pressburger movies so far.
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Awesome list! I have yet to see a lot of these, so now I also have some more movie ideas! Ugetsu has been on my list for a while. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Passion of Joan of Arc are so beautiful for different reasons. I just wrote a blog post on Floating Weeds if you would like to read after you are finished watching the film/write your own review 🙂 https://charsmoviereviews.wordpress.com/2017/01/17/floating-weeds-1959/
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I would be interested, thanks for the link! I might do Umbrellas right away since it’s on TCM, curious about that one since I’ve seen such diverse opinions on it. Thanks!
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No problem! I can’t wait to read your thoughts on Umbrellas!
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Great list! Animal Farm and Jane Eyre are my recommendations. I’ve done a few posts featuring classics, would be grateful if you had a look! Xx
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