Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Literature / OneThousandAndOneMoviesYouMustSeeBeforeYouDie

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wddpk80.jpeg]]
2
3
4''1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die'' is a book about movies supervised by Steven Jay Schneider. It contains a list of movies that are considered "must-see" movies, with each entry accompanied by a short essay explaining why. It was first published in 2003, with new editions having been released annually since then. Because of these updates, there have been more than 1001 movies in total in it (but always 1001 in any given edition, as there are the same number of entries added as removed each edition). As of the 2021 edition, a total of 1245 movies have been included in the English-language version. The book has also been translated to several other languages, and those editions replace some of the entries with local films (Swedish films in the Swedish edition, and so on).
5
6The book eschews TrueArtIsAngsty and TrueArtIsIncomprehensible, featuring films like ''Film/{{Babe}}'', ''Film/{{Booksmart}}'' and ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' alongside the likes of ''Film/UnChienAndalou'', ''Film/{{Persona|1966}}'', and ''Film/DancerInTheDark''. As the introduction notes, a comprehensive overview of film history does not only contain one type of movie, but all kinds – epics, documentaries, cult films, blockbusters, experimental films, and slapstick comedies. The book also does not aim to contain the 1001 ''best'' movies, but 1001 "must-see" movies. To that end, the selection has been made with care taken to ensure that it includes the entire panorama of film history, with films from all eras, regions, and genres.
7
8Treating the book as a cinematic bucket list as the title suggests has become fairly common for cinephiles. There is a [[https://www.listchallenges.com/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die-all/ List Challenge with over 50 000 users]], a [[https://1001films.fandom.com/wiki/1001_Movies_You_Must_See_Before_You_Die_Wiki wiki]], a [[https://old.reddit.com/r/1001Movies/ subreddit]], innumerable Website/IMDb and Website/{{Letterboxd}} lists, and a bunch of other places online, all dedicated to the list and watching all the movies on it.
9
10See the list at [[https://www.imdb.com/list/ls052535080/ IMDB]] or [[https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/ Letterboxd]].
11
12----
13!!The book provides examples of:
14* AnimationAgeGhetto: [[invoked]] Argued as the reason why, in later editions, the ''Franchise/ToyStory'' franchise only received one entry to cover all movies whereas every movie of the original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy each got its own entry. Out of the 1245 films that have been included (as of the 2021 edition), only 22 (1.8%) have been animated--and four of them are ''Toy Story'' films.
15* CoversAlwaysLie:
16** The 2006 version has a screenshot of Indiana Jones riding a horse and firing his revolver on the back cover, a still taken from ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' - a movie NOT among the 1001 entries. It's the first Indy film, ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', that made the list.
17** For the book's 2015 release, rather than using a still from a single movie, the book instead compiles a collage of multiple film posters together (pictured above). Some movies in the collage (such as ''Film/TheLastOfTheMohicans'' in the first row, ''Film/TheGreatDictator'' in the third-to-last row, and ''Film/TheGunsOfNavarone'' in the last) don't appear in any edition of the book.
18* CulturalTranslation: Translated editions of the book replace a certain number of entries with local entries. The Swedish edition contains movies such as ''Theatre/MissJulie'', ''Film/IAmCuriousYellow'', and ''Film/ShowMeLove'' that aren't in the original English-language edition, for instance.
19* {{Doorstopper}}: The book is 960 pages long, and the total number of pages of content is even greater due to the annual updates.
20* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The book contains a list of 1001 movies (well, kind of – see NeverTrustATitle) the author considers must-see movies, with each entry accompanied by a short essay explaining why.
21* FunetikAksent: The entry for ''Film/{{Dracula|1931}}'' renders Creator/BelaLugosi's lines as "Cheeldren of the naight, leesten to thaim" and "I nevair dreenk vine!".
22* ItsNotPornItsArt: The introduction notes that the book aims to include the entire panorama of film history, with films from all eras, regions, and genres. However, pornographic films are conspicuously absent (even though there are some pornographic films that could be argued to be important in film history), and the entry for ''Film/InTheRealmOfTheSenses'' (a film with unsimulated sex scenes) explicitly refers to it as a non-pornographic film.
23* NeverTrustATitle: The book does not contain exactly 1001 movies, but 1001 ''entries''--''Film/{{Olympia}}'' parts 1 and 2 are combined in a single entry, as are the two parts of ''Film/IvanTheTerrible'', the three films in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' trilogy, and the four ''Franchise/ToyStory'' films. Moreover, two of the entries are Creator/KrzysztofKieslowski's ''Film/TheDecalogue'' (a 10-episode miniseries) and Creator/LarsVonTrier's ''Series/{{Riget}}'' (an 8-episode, 2-season TV series), which are not movies to begin with. In addition, the book is updated annually (and has been since 2003), with the total number of works included numbering 1245 as of the 2021 edition.
24* OnceOriginalNowCommon: [[invoked]] The entry for ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' notes that while the opening scene may seem banal nowadays, that's only because it has been imitated so much.
25* ReferenceOverdosed: The essays motivating the films' inclusion in the book, written by over 50 different film critics, often make heavy use of references and parallels to other films, directors, scriptwriters, et cetera to make their point. The half-page entry for ''Film/TheSaragossaManuscript'', for instance, references Creator/JamesDean, ''Literature/ArabianNights'', Creator/FranzKafka, and Creator/RomanPolanski.
26* ScareQuotes: The entry for ''Film/{{Ran}}'' refers to its runtime as a "mere" two hours and forty minutes.
27* TakeThat:
28** The entry for ''Film/{{Planet of the Apes|1968}}'' says that it was a project that could have gone horribly wrong, and points to [[Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001 the 2001 remake]] as an example of how.
29** The review for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' takes a jab at ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' right in its first paragraph by using ''Film/TheMatrix'' as example of "a trilogy with a disappointing conclusion".
30* TakeThatAudience: The entry for ''Film/JohnnyGuitar'' says that if that film is not to one's liking, perhaps one is better off only watching documentaries.

Top