Movies Every Gamer Should See, But Probably Hasn't

The Princess Bride: Currently one of my favorite movies, very rewatchable. Read the book for an even better time and don’t forget to send in your SASE to the publisher for the omitted scene—almost two decades later, they will still send it out. Inconceivable!

Movie, Movie: Hard to find on video, but available. This flick spoofs double features (remember those?) with a black & white fight flick starring Harry Hamlin (as a kid) and a color Busby Berkeley style musical (using some of the same sets and actors). Also stars George C. Scott. Directed by Stanley Donan.

The Producers: Lots of silliness here as a schemer and an accountant with a security blanket produce a Broadway musical about World War II. Stars Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder.

The Inlaws: I didn’t think I’d like this movie when I saw the original trailers, but it is laugh out loud funny. My favorite line: "Flies with beaks?" Stars Peter Falk and Alan Arkin.

Bedazzled: Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (before either was known here) in Stanley Donan’s send-up of the Faust legend. Also starring Raquel Welch as "Lillian Lust, the babe with the bust".

Nice Girls Don’t Explode: Much, much better writing and production values than the title would suggest. This movie has the same type of humor as The Princess Bride. Can you spell "depilatory"?

Dr. Strangelove (Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb): Stanley Kubrick’s black and white send-up of mutual assured destruction stars George C. Scott, as well as Peter Sellers in multiple roles. For those that remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and back-yard bomb shelters, this movie can be both funny and scary.

Miracle at Morgan’s Creek: Black and white screwball comedy. You’ll never forget the name "Ratskywatsky".

Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Sure, I have a soft spot for it ‘cause it has goofy, amusing time travel and Linda drools over a young Keanu Reeves, but it is delightfully innocent in its fun. No way! Yes, way!

The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!: Alan Arkin stars in this comedy about a submarine that runs aground in New England during the Cold War. Russian? They are, of course, Norwegian.

Harvey: One of Jimmy Stewart’s best films about a man who is befriended by a pookah. What’s a pookah? It is a large, mythical animal that appears now and then, here and there, to whom it pleases and how are you Mr. Smith?

They Were Young and Willing: Despite the suggestive title, this is an old black & white screwball comedy about a group of young would-be actors and actresses who live together to save expenses. They find a script in the garbage and decide to learn the parts.

The Hudsucker Proxy: The best of the films of the Coen brothers, those guys who gave us Fargo and Blood Simple. A funny look at the business world and a lavish, period production. Stars Tim Robbins and Paul Newman. "You know, for kids."

It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: Everyone who was anyone in comedy at the time is in this picture. You can sit back and watch the zaniness or study the differences in comedic style. This one goes "sailing right out there".

Cat Ballou: Okay, maybe it’s The Legend of Cat Ballou. Who remembers? Have fun watching Jane Fonda as a wild west sex kitten or Lee Marvin as a drunken gunfighter. Remember the creation of palimony by Lee Marvin’s live-in girlfriend? It was mostly the money made from this picture that they were fighting over.

Ed Wood: Campy movie about the bizarre director who gave us such awful movies as Plan Nine from Outer Space. Stars Johnny Depp.

Flight of the Phoenix: Another great Jimmy Stewart movie. Ernest Borgnine also stars. Telling you more would give too much away.

The Great Escape: Steve McQueen and a huge cast recreate the true story of one of the biggest prisoner-of-war escapes of World War II.

The Man Who Would Be King: Michael Caine and Sean Connery star in this story of two adventurers who decide to find themselves a kingdom. Filled with Masonic signals and symbolism.

Sergeant York: The true story (more or less) of how a pacifist becomes the greatest American hero of World War I by single-handedly capturing a whole herd of German troops.

Point Break: Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves surf, sky-dive, and shoot at each other in this intense action thriller.

Zulu: Norm introduced me to this movie about a British garrison that is ordered to hold against thousands of local tribesmen. Much more realistic than any movie about the Alamo, it also provides a great demonstration of how volley fire really works.

Tombstone: Val Kilmer steals the movie as Doc Holliday in this telling of the Wyatt Earp legend. Kurt Russell takes awhile to get used to as Wyatt, but even despite that this movie is much superior to the Kevin Costner movie of the same story.

The Adventures of Robin Hood: The classic Errol Flynn version, with Basil Rathbone as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Kevin Costner’s version of this same tale doesn’t come close either.

Die Hard: Obvious, but the best straight action flick ever. Bruce Willis shoots a gun more believably than any other actor in Hollywood.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence: Okay, so I’m a Jimmy Stewart fan, but in this one you also get John Wayne and a lesson in how legends are made.

Franco Zeferelli’s Romeo and Juliet: A young, lavish production that makes Shakespeare’s dialogue come alive better than any other movie of his works.

Fail Safe: Henry Fonda and Larry Hagman carry almost the entire movie in this taut thriller about an accidental nuclear strike.

The World, The Flesh, and the Devil: Harry Bellafonte is one of the few survivors of a nuclear war.

Excalibur: A stylish telling of the story of Camelot with a great soundtrack (I’d love to buy the soundtrack if anyone can find it), this movie has an interesting twist on the character of Merlin and a quite unromantic view of the quest for the Holy Grail.

African Queen: Bogey’s best (yes, better than The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Casablanca). Also stars Katherine Hepburn at her best.

Duel: Steven Spielberg’s first feature length picture stars Dennis Weaver and a menacing truck. My dad hated the ending. In the strange facts department, I once saw an old "Incredible Hulk" episode (you know, starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno) that used a whole bunch of the action sequences from the movie without crediting it or Spielberg—very bizarre.

Dr. Zhivago: This movie has a whole lot of different things going for it, great cinematography, a classic love story, and the story of the Russian revolution (plus, a whole lot of symbolism, for those who like to dissect that sort of thing).

The SeaHawk: Actually, these semi-sanctioned pirate ships were known as sea dogs, but this made a better movie title. The best of the Errol Flynn swashbucklers.

Endless Summer: A low-budget search for the perfect wave, this movie captures an age fairly well.

The Magnificent Seven: Based on the Japanese film The Seven Samurai (watch both back to back for a really good time), this is the timeless story of good vs. evil. As everyone knows, of course, the Magnificent Seven were played by Charles Bronson, Yul Brynner, Horst Buchholz, James Coburn, Brad Dexter, Steve McQueen, and Robert Vaughn. No, not Eli Wallach—he played the bad guy.

The Thin Man: Although this launched a whole series of "Thin Man" movies (sometimes known as "Nick and Nora" movies), the "thin man" was not William Powell, but the bad guy in the first of these stylish mystery movies. Hmmmmm. Same thing happened in the "Pink Panther" series.

Sink the Bismarck: Sure, there are a lot of great war movies—but you probably have already heard of Patton, Dawn Patrol, Stalag 17, and Bridge Over the River Kwai. This flick is less famous, but just as good.

Journey to the Center of the Earth: I know it’s difficult to believe that a Pat Boone movie is on my list, especially in this category, but this is a very good movie (color, but an old-style action adventure). The score is great.

The Time Machine: More H.G.Wells—this time as a morality tale involving the future civilization of the Eloi and the Morlock.

The Day the Earth Stood Still: The classic science fiction thriller about first contact. Klaatu barada nikto.

Aliens: Perhaps this one is a bit obvious, but one can never be sure, because this is one sequel that far exceeds the quality of the original movie. A great action flick, constantly ripped off for plot lines for TSR sci-fi game tournaments. "Nuke the whole planet from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure."

Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome: In this case, the second sequel is the best of the bunch (improving on the low-budget, but unsettling, Mad Max and the bigger budget, but too serious, The Road Warrior), all starring Mel Gibson.

Dead Calm: Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill, back in their Australian movie days, star in an unsettling thriller about modern piracy. I would also love to find the soundtrack for this film, but after more than a decade, still no luck.

The Legend of Hull House: Not to be confused with The Legend of Hell House, a much inferior movie of similar name. Hull House manages to be spooky and creepy in the old style, before slasher monsters became the vogue.

Scream: A good horror movie and a spoof of horror movies all at the same time.

The Rapture: This isn’t meant to be a sci-fi or horror movie, but it’s weird and creepy all the same. Although nominated for numerous Smithees (the annual bad movie awards) for its plot, dialogue, and ending, it’s an interesting take on the end of the world. Some sex scenes make this movie unsuitable for family viewing.

Night of the Living Dead: Forget the more recent color remake (which changes the ending) and get the original black and white version. Sure, it’s a little low budget and campy, but still scary and grisly. The closing credits are especially gruesome.

Fright Night: The best vampire movie of all time, this flick is spooky, sexy, funny, and grisly at times. Avoid the lackluster sequel.

Logan’s Run: Not really a good movie, it is mainly worth seeing as an inspirational precursor of the world of the game "Paranoia".

The Pirates of Penzance: Starring Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt, this adaptation of the Broadway production of this classic Gilbert and Sullivan operetta is extremely rewatchable and amusing, with plenty of great music.

The Glenn Miller Story: Jimmy Stewart again in a performance reminiscent of his performance in It’s A Wonderful Life.

The Buddy Holly Story: Similar in tone to The Glenn Miller Story, with well done music; it tells one part of the story of the "day the music died".

Godspell: This is hard, perhaps impossible, to find at video stores or on the tube, but is really a must see, both for its music and its capsulization of the feel of the late sixties, early seventies.

Yankee Doodle Dandy: The story of George M. Cohan stars Jimmy Cagney as one heck of a performer, with a unique style of dance.

The Music Man: A great cast and consistently good songs make this one of the best of the old-time musicals. Stars Robert Preston.

Camelot: Quite a different view of King Arthur’s court than in Excalibur, this is the movie that gave the Kennedy era the name of Camelot.

West Side Story: The second best version of Romeo and Juliet ever put on screen. You’ll never forget the songs or the dance scenes of this great movie.

Fantasia: Not the success that other Disney animated classics were, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, this movie is still one of the all-time greats. Besides, from a gaming perspective, there is almost nothing in classic AD&D that isn’t in this movie (magic, centaurs, fairies, monsters, etc.).

Miracle on 34^th Street: Do not get the modern, color version (which sucks and changes the plot). Insist on the old black and white version starring a very, very young Natalie Wood.

White Christmas: Actually Holiday Inn, the same movie made just a few years earlier with a somewhat different cast, was the first movie to feature the song "White Christmas". The movie White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, is much better and better known. Rent it for Christmas Eve.

It’s a Wonderful Life: Not intended to be a Christmas movie, this film got a bit too much television exposure when legal complications with its copyright put it in the public domain for years, meaning anyone could copy it and show it without paying any royalties and, brother, did they. This is the film that reignited Jimmy Stewart’s career after he came back from World War II.

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