The Graduate (though I probably should have seen it at 21 instead of 41)

I saw it recently and also didn't really see what was so ultrabrilliant about it, but I generally liked it.

Chinatown (but Nicholson and Dunaway both make my teeth hurt)

I haven't puzzled out what makes this one of the best screenplays ever, but again, I liked it.

Annie Hall

I saw this again a few months ago. Still funny. Subtitle scene? Brilliant. Waiting for the movie scene? Great. And I don't know, it seems to do a good job of tracking the rise and fall of a relationship without making judgments. And now that I think about it, the final line makes me think the movie's not too different from Eternal Sunshine.

I haven't puzzled out what makes this one of the best screenplays ever

Have you read Story by Robert McKee? He works a lot on the screenplays of Casablanca and Chinatown and if you agree with his criteria for what's a good screenplay, he'll convince you.

I wish I was all analytic like y'all so I could describe why I love them. But I'd get boring, anyways, like the Homicide pimpage.

Erika, I'll give you The Graduate. I can see how the youth of the '60s took it to heart. But I think you need to see it at a certain time of your life to appreciate it. And I saw it a lot later. (Edit: And Raquel said it in 4 words....)

And I saw Godfather on basic cable. So it may have been edited for content. (And the novel has special meaning for me as a sex ed class, but that's another story....)

Have you read Story by Robert McKee? He works a lot on the screenplays of Casablanca and Chinatown and if you agree with his criteria for what's a good screenplay, he'll convince you.

I haven't. files name away in brain for future reference

But hey, any movie where the director gets to slit the lead actor's nose is a winner, right?

Hmm, depends on which channel... And maybe I do watch movies like a renegade member of Woodstock Nation. And it's not every mom and daughter that have a tender moment because "Luca Brassi sleeps with the fishes."

The Graduate (though I probably should have seen it at 21 instead of 41)

I did see it at 21. I didn't like it at all, and thought the main character was pretentious and whiny. Also, by the time we got to yet another underwater shot, I was just rolling my eyes and saying, "OK, we get the point, can we move on now?"

Might have been TBS. I was at a friend's when it came on -- and it's his favorite, too. It may be that gangster movies tend not to be my cuppa.

Well, I liked Little Caesar, but I have an enormous crush on Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

They probably cut the crap out of it...dang, so elegant, me. A regular Grace Kelly. The Graduate does hang on Ben. If you don't like him, you'll hate the movie. But I think he's a woobie.

an enormous crush on Douglas Fairbanks, Jr

And once again, Fred proves his excellent taste.