Some movies are complex stews: They taste richer the second time around when all the flavors reveal themselves. I find this most true with comedy and mystery. In funny movies I'm laughing so hard I don't catch all the jokes the first time around. In mysteries, on repeat viewing I see how and where the filmmakers have seeded the story. It wasn't until the third time I saw The Godfather that I could tell Tessio from Clemenza.
Recently Amy B asked for movies that fit the "Once is Not Enough" rule: Here is a provisional list, to which I'd add most screwball comedies and movies with fractured narratives and surprise endings. Just as certain music grows on you, so do these films.
All About My Mother; Angry Harvest; Babe; La Belle et La Bete; Blow Up; Bottle Rocket; Cache; Casablanca; Chinatown; Clueless; Contempt; The Conversation; The Crowd; The Departed; E.T.: The Extraterrestial; A Face In the Crowd; Femme Fatale; The Godfather (I & II); Groundhog Day; Howards End; I Know Where I’m Going!; It’s a Wonderful Life; Jerry Maguire; La Avventura; The Lady Eve; Laurence of Arabia; Lost in Translation; Malcolm X; Michael Clayton; Modern Times; The Man Who Would Be King; North By Northwest; Notorious; On the Waterfront; Ordet; Raging Bull; The Rules of the Game; The Searchers; Shadow of a Doubt; Sherlock, Jr.; Some Like it Hot; Something New; Spartacus; Spirited Away; Sweet Smell of Success; Swing Time; Syriana; Tokyo Story; Toy Story 2; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Singing in the Rain; The Sixth Sense; Training Day; Vagabond; Vertigo; The Wild Child The Wizard of Oz.
Your nominations?
Once is not enough: Superman (1978); Mr. Deeds Goes to Town; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Lawrence of Arabia; American Gangster; Notorious; the Naked Gun; Duck Soup; Singing in the Rain; From Russia with Love; Gladiator— jonc
Comment removed.- A Clockwork Orange; The Prestige; Pineapple Express; Dumb & Dumber; The Man Who Wasn't There; Donnie Darko— vetlincbank
- A Clockwork Orange; The Prestige; Pineapple Express; Dumb & Dumber; The Man Who Wasn't There; Donnie Darko— vetlincbank
- Fight Club. Just to be sure Fincher didn't cheat. How is he the same director of Benjamin Button?— jreese
- If you can explain what happened to Fincher between Zodiac and Benjamin Button, then you can probably run Hollywood.— carrierickey
- Rear Window, City Lights, O Brother Where Art Thou, Hudsucker Proxy, My Favorite Wife, Harvey— chazzbo
- It Happened One Night; Meet John Doe; The Birds, Witness for the Prosecution; West Side Story; Splendor in the Grass; Rio Bravo; A Day in the Country (Un Partie de Campagne); The Philadelphia Story; River of No Return; The Naked Spur; Spellbound; In Harm's Way; Open City; The Fisher King; Robin & Marian; Breakfast at Tiffany's; The Court Jester; Adventures of Robin Hood; Bataan; The Sands of Iwo Jima; Seven Chances; The Gold Rush; The Awful Truth; Charade; The Manchurian Candidate (the original); The Dirty Dozen; Help; The Man I Love; New York, New York; The Quiet Man. (Is there a limit? I'll also endorse a lot of the titles mentioned above. Somebody stop me...)— Nancy KC
- Flickgrrl is a huge fan of "The Man I Love" (an unusual Ida Lupino film that inspired Scorsese's "New York, New York") and "The Quiet Man." "Witness for the Prosecution," is the prototype of the surprise-ending movie.— carrierickey
- It is always gratifying to find a kindred spirit, Flickgrrl, among the cinema sisterhood--and what's more, one who has so clearly and thoroughly done her homework. Many thanks for your gracious endorsement of these deserving, little-known/seen films that are so dear to this movie-lover's heart.— Nancy KC
- The Big Lebowski was slightly disappointing for me the first time I watched it but got better with each subsequent viewing, when I could pick up on more background scenes and reactions.— frankenslade
- Oh, God (not the movie)--I thought of some more...The Shop Around the Corner; Now, Voyager; Letter from an Unknown Woman; An American in Paris, Dr. Strangelove; Gone with the Wind; Leave Her to Heaven; Cabaret; Sullivan's Travels; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Beauty & the Beast (Disney animated).— Nancy KC
- I forgot Dirty Harry - if only to count how many shots were actually fired.— chazzbo
- The Awful Truth, The Strawberry Blonde, In Harm's Way, Mumford, Grosse Pointe Blank, That Thing You Do!, Soapdish, Foreign Correspondent, Dave, Bell, Book, and Candle, A Hard Day's Night. These are completely off the top of my head, and many others have been mentioned already. Some are classics, some aren't (or at least, not yet), but when I stumble across one when I'm channel surfing, I know I'll be happy and content for the next two hours.— wwolfe
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