frankie's - 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List

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Following the destruction of the Death Star, Imperial forces pursue the Rebel Alliance to the ice planet Hoth. After a devastating defeat, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) journeys to the planet Dagobah to train with the Jedi Master Yoda.

Meanwhile, in the Cloud City of Bespin, Darth Vader attempts to lure Luke into a trap by kidnapping Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). When Luke comes to their rescue, he must fight a fierce lightsaber duel with Darth Vader himself and come face to face with a stunning revelation that could change his destiny.

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John Merrick (John Hurt) is the elephant man, forced into circus sideshows and spurned by society because of the disfiguring disabilities he was born with.

Rescued by a well meaning surgeon (Anthony Hopkins), he tries to escape a life of prejudice and cruelty as he tries to fit into the world ruled by Victorian sensibilities.

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"The Real Glory of War", Samuel Fuller said, "is surviving". A decorated combatant with the tamed U.S. First Infantry in World War II. Fuller survived. His 1980 film version of his war experiences did not... Until now. Working with 70.

000 feet of vault materials and Fuller's shooting script critic/filmmaker Richard Schickel heads a reconstruction that adds over 40 minutes and transforms a truncated but admired war film into an epic masterwork. Lee Marvin, in a richly layered performance now revealed as one of his finest stars as the sergeant of peach-fuzzed riflemen fighting from North Africa to Normandy and across Europe. The film is the squad's combat diary, war as it's fought and sweated and bled and, maybe, survived.

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Gerard Depardieu plays Loulou, a layabout and petty criminal who meets middle-class Nelly (Isabelle Huppert) in a nightclub. Nelly is bored by her job in advertising and by the possessiveness and violent tempers of her boss and lover Andre (Guy Marchand).

Much to the dismayed disbelief of Andre, Nelly decides to leave him and move in with Loulou.

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Featuring Robert Hays as an ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning; Julie Hagerty as his girlfriend/ stewardess/ co-pilot; and a cast of all-stars including Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem

Abdul-Jabbar…and more! Their hilarious high jinks spook airplane disaster flicks, religious zealots, television commercials, romantic love…the list whirls by in rapid succession. And the story races from one moment of zany fun to the next!

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"Raging Bull" is arguably the finest work from the Scorsese and De Niro partnership. De Niro gives and amazing portrayal of a man whose animal side lurks just beneath the surface, ever ready to erupt.

Vivid and unremitting in its uncompromising brutality and honesty, the fight sequences are famed for their realism. Violent throughout, this film is a testament to Scorsese's and De Niro's skills, creating a thoroughly absorbing film about such an unlikable character. Renowned for throwing himself into the roles of his character, De Niro went on a diet to gain fifty pounds during production for the role of the faded star.

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Join the legendary hero Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) in one of the greatest screen adventures of all time with Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Accompanied by his feisty, independent ex-flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), the two-fisted archeologist embarks on a thrilling quest to locate the mystical Ark of the Covenant. Indy must discover the Ark before the Nazis do, and he has to survive poison, traps, snakes and treachery to do so. Explore the darkest jungles of South America, the bustling marketplaces of Cairo, and a top-secret submarine base with Indiana Jones as your guide to adventure.

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Das Boot is a graphic and gripping tale that follows the daring patrol of U-96, one of the famed German U-Boats known as ‘The Grey Wolves’. Prowling the North Atlantic, they challenged the British Navy at every turn.

The crew abroad the U-96 is portrayed in a desperate life-and-death struggle, coping with life beneath the waves quickly gives way to terror when confronting the enemy...

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Mel Gibson delivers an electrifying performance in directors Peter Weir's compelling story of friendship and adventure between two Australian soldiers in 1915.

They cross continents and great oceans, climb the pyramids and walk through the ancient sands of Egypt to join their regiment at the fateful battle of Gallipoli. The echoes of history blend with the friends' compelling destiny as they become part of a legendary World War I confrontation between Australia and the German allied Turks - a battle that is to Australians what the Alamo is to Americans.

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The poignant true story of two British sprinters vying for gold in the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.

Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), a driven athlete of Jewish ancestry, runs to overcome prejudice and to achieve personal fame; his rival, Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a devout Scottish missionary, competes for the glory of God. An inspirational story of spirit and strength in the face of enormous odds, the film combines the finest elements of athletic competition and human drama to create a compelling and timeless cinematic classic.

Attorney Ned Racine's life coasts along in neutral - until he meets a siren in white (with a well-to-do husband) named Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner). Ned (William Hurt) knows Matty's the kind of woman a man would kill to be with. So he does.

The film, based on actual events, tells the story of John Reed (Warren Beatty), American Communist, journalist and activist, whose love affair with writer/feminist Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) unfolds against the explosive backdrop of the Russian Revolution.

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American tourists David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are savaged by an unidentified vicious animal whilst hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. David awakes in a London hospital to find his friend dead and his life in disarray.

Retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse (Jenny Agutter) to recuperate, he soon experiences disturbing changes to his mind and body, undergoing a full-moon transformation that will unleash terror on the streets of the capital...

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Three Brothers (Tre Fratelli) explores similarly knotty social and political territory through the seemingly straightforward story of three siblings returning to their native southern Italy to pay homage to their late mother.

However, their various professions - a judge in Rome (Philippe Noiret), a spiritual counsellor in Naples (Vittorio Mezzogiorno), a factory worker in Turin (Michele Placido) - have a profound effect on their response to this reunion.

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The film is a continuation of the story of Maciej Tomczyk, the protagonist of Wajda's earlier film, Man of Marble.

Here, Maciej is a young worker involved in the anti-Communist labour movement, described as "the man who started the Gdansk Shipyard strike", and a journalist working for the Communist regime's radio station, who is given a task of slandering Maciej. The young man is clearly intended as a parallel to Lech Walesa (who appears as himself in the movie). Their narrations become flashbacks using actual news footage of 1968 and 1970 protests and of the later birth of free unions and solidarity.