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So the Radio Times has compiled a list of “essential viewing” for a crash course in film.

As a bit of a film geek myself, I do have some questions with the list. As well as having to admit to not having seen a great majority of the films on the list.

Top is Casablanca. I’ve not seen this yet, although it is on my Amazon rental list.

The rest of the list includes films such as Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s masterclass in creating a noir future, and Armageddon, cited as the best example of Bruckheimer action excess.

Notable by its absence is Citizen Kane. While I don’t subscribe to the school that says that Kane is the greatest movie ever made, it is an important film for anyone to watch. Not least because of the numerous references to Welles’ most famous piece in other movies. (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Moulin Rouge, Bowfinger and even The Simpsons).

As for the best example of 80′s/90′s excess, I’d say Top Gun fits the bill better than Armageddon. Granted Armageddon features the more spectacular effects sequences (including the destruction of Paris, Hong Kong and New York by asteroid showers), but Top Gun has the epitome of the “All American Hero”, who needs to prove himself over the legacy of his father, the high-tech weaponary and fast planes and bikes “Boys and their Toys”, and even the not so subtle gay subtext that has dated the movie, which is firmly set in the late 80s. An example of a style of movie that would set the tone for movies like Armageddon to follow.

As far as Genre films go, the list is pretty comprehensive, although I’d have added “Touch of Evil” alongside Pulp Fiction, as the latter draws heavily on Film Noir, which I regard Touch of Evil to be a perfect, and posibly more popular example. (Build My Gallows High is also noir, but I can’t comment on that one).

The List in Full:

Casablanca (1942)
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919)
Blade Runner (1982)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Build My Gallows High (1947)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
High Noon (1952)
Rear Window (1954)
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Un Chien Andalou (1928)
Armageddon (1998)
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Annie Hall (1977)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Performance (1970)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Blackboards (2000)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Shoah (1985)
Winter Light (1962)