The Film-Lover's Check List: Great Films Emblematic of L.A.

Great Movies Most Emblematic of Los Angeles

LISTS:


	- Los Angeles Times - by Christopher Reynolds - Dec 2011
	- Los Angeles Times - by staff - 2008
	- Time Out - Sep 2012
	- The Guardian - Mar 2014
	- My own list

L.A. Times' 140 L.A. movies - By Christopher Reynolds

	A Star Is Born (1937)
	A Star Is Born (1954)
	A Star Is Born (1976)
	Alien Nation (1988)
	American Gigolo (1980)
	American History X (1998)
	American Me (1992)
	Angels In the Outfield (1994)
	Barfly (1987)
	Barton Fink (1991)
	Battle Los Angeles (2011)
	Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
	Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
	Blade Runner (1982)
	Blast From the Past (1999)
	Bound By Honor (1993)
	Boogie Nights (1997)
	Boyz N the Hood (1991)
	California Split (1974)
	California Suite (1978)
	Changeling (2008)
	Chinatown (1974)
	Cobra (1986)
	Collateral (2004)
	Colors (1988)
	Clueless (1995)
	JAG: Crash (2004)
	Darkman (1990)
	Devil In a Blue Dress (1995)
	Die Hard (1988)
	Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001)
	Double Indemnity (1944)
	Down and Out In Beverly Hills (1986)
	Drive (2011)
	Earthquake (1974)
	Echo Park (1986)
	Ed Wood (1994)
	Falling Down (1993)
	Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
	Fletch (1985)
	Friday (1995)
	Friends With Money (2006)
	Get Shorty (1995)
	Go (1999)
	Going Hollywood (1933)
	Gone In 60 Seconds (1974)
	Grand Canyon (1991)

	Harper (1966)
	Heat (1995)
	Heaven Can Wait (1978)
	Hollywoodland (2006)
	Inception (2010)
	Indestructible Man (1956)
	Inland Empire (2006)
	Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
	It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
	Jackie Brown (1997)
	Killer of Sheep (1978)
	Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
	Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
	La Bamba (1987)
	L.A. Confidential (1997)
	L.A. Story (1991)
	Less Than Zero (1987)
	Lethal Weapon (1987)
	Lords of Dogtown (2005)
	Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
	Magnolia (1999)
	My Crazy Life (1993)
	Mildred Pierce (1945)
	Miracle Mile (1988)
	Model Shop (1969)
	Mulholland Drive (2001)
	Mulholland Falls (1996)
	Murder, My Sweet (1944)
	My Family (1995)
	Pat and Mike (1952)
	Point Blank (1967)
	Point Break (1991)
	Point of No Return (1993)
	Pretty Woman (1990)
	Pulp Fiction (1994)
	Rampart (2011)
	Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
	Repo Man (1984)
	Reservoir Dogs (1992)
	Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
	Safety Last (1923)
	Shampoo (1975)
	Short Cuts (1993)
	Show People (1928)
	Singin' In the Rain (1952)
	S.O.B. (1981)
	Southland Tales (2006)
	Speed (1994)
	Stand-In (1937)

	Stand and Deliver (1988)
	Sunset Boulevard (1950)
	Swingers (1996)
	The Aviator (2004)
	The Big Lebowski (1998)
	The Big Sleep (1946)
	The Brasher Doubloon (1947)
	The End of Violence (1997)
	The Graduate (1967)
	The Kids Are All Right (2010)
	The Last Tycoon (1976)
	The Late Show (1977)
	The Limey (1999)
	The Long Goodbye (1973)
	The Mark of Zorro (1940)
	The Omega Man (1971)
	The Onion Field (1979)
	The Outside Man (1972)
	The Player (1992)
	The Rocketeer (1991)
	The Sandlot (1993)
	Shopgirl (2005)
	The Soloist (2009)
	The Terminator (1984)
	The War of the Worlds (1953)
	The Way We Were (1973)
	Them! (1954)
	To Live and Die In L.A. (1985)
	To Sleep With Anger (1990)
	Training Day (2001)
	True Confessions (1981)
	Valley Girl (1983)
	Valley of the Dolls (1967)
	Van Nuys Blvd. (1979)
	Volcano (1997)
	Welcome To L.A. (1976)
	What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)
	White Heat (1949)
	White Men Can't Jump (1992)
	Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
	Wonderland (2003)
	2 Days In the Valley (1996)
	10 (1979)
	(500) Days of Summer (2009)
	1941 (1979)

L.A. Times' 25 best L.A. films of the past 25 years (1984-2008)

The L.A. Times' two ground rules:

1) The film must communicate some inherent truth about the L.A. experience

2) Only one film per director allowed

1.	L.A. Confidential (1997)
2.	Boogie Nights (1997)
3.	Jackie Brown (1997)
4.	Boyz N the Hood (1991)
5.	Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
6.	The Player (1992)
7.	Clueless (1995)
8.	Repo Man (1984)
9.	Collateral (2004)
10.	The Big Lebowski (1998)
11.	Mulholland Drive (2001)
12.	Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
13.	Training Day (2001)
14.	Swingers (1996)
15.	Devil In a Blue Dress (1995)
16.	Friday (1995)
17.	Speed (1994)
18.	Valley Girl (1983)
19.	To Live and Die In L.A. (1985)
20.	L.A. Story (1991)
21.	To Sleep With Anger (1990)
22.	Less Than Zero (1987)
23.	Fletch (1985)
24.	Mi Vida Loca/My Crazy Life (1993)
25.	Crash (2005)

50 films that best capture the essence of L.A.

1.	Chinatown (1974)
2.	The Long Goodbye (1973)
3.	Mulholland Drive (2001)
4.	Sunset Boulevard (1950)
5.	Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
6.	Short Cuts (1993)
7.	Blade Runner (1982)
8.	The Player (1992)
9.	The Big Lebowski (1998)
10.	In a Lonely Place (1950)
11.	Double Indemnity (1944)
12.	The Limey (1999)
13.	Safe (1995)
14.	Jackie Brown (1997)
15.	Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
16.	Heat (1995)
17.	Magnolia (1999)
18.	Repo Man (1984)
19.	The Big Sleep (1946)
20.	Model Shop (1969)
21.	Shampoo (1975)
22.	L.A. Confidential (1997)
23.	Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
24.	Body Double (1984)
25.	Singin' In the Rain (1952)
26.	Drive (2011)
27.	Barton Fink (1991)
28.	Killer of Sheep (1978)
29.	Boyz N the Hood (1991)
30.	Speed (1994)
31.	Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
32.	Less Than Zero (1987)
33.	Devil In a Blue Dress (1995)
34.	Swingers (1996)
35.	Punch Drunk Love (2002)
36.	Die Hard (1988)
37.	Clueless (1995)
38.	To Live and Die In L.A. (1985)
39.	Ed Wood (1994)
40.	L.A. Story (1991)
41.	The Graduate (1967)
42.	Them! (1954)
43.	The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
44.	Training Day (2001)
45.	The Exiles (1961)
46.	Boogie Nights (1997)
47.	The Day of the Locust (1975)
48.	Greenberg (2010)
49.	Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
50.	Gidget (1959)

Top 20 movies made in and about Los Angeles

	Sunset Boulevard (1950)
	Pretty Woman (1990)
	Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
	Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
	Reservoir Dogs (1992)
	The Big Lebowski (1998)
	Double Indemnity (1944)
	Clueless (1995)
	Heat (1995)
	Shampoo (1975)
	The Graduate (1967)
	Chinatown (1974)
	The Fast and the Furious (2001)
	Short Cuts (1993)
	Bread and Roses (2000)
	L.A. Story (1991)
	L.A. Confidential (1997)
	Boyz N the Hood (1991)
	Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles (2001)
	The Artist (2011)

My List of Great Movies Most Emblematic of L.A.

1.	Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - James Cameron - 9/10
2.	Bound By Honor (1993) - Taylor Hackford - 9/10
3.	Training Day (2001) - Antoine Fuqua - 9/10
4.	Her (2013) - Spike Jonze - 9/10
5.	Sunset Boulevard (1950) - Billy Wilder - 8/10
6.	Chinatown (1974) - Roman Polanski - 8/10
7.	Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) - Amy Heckerling - 8/10
8.	Stand and Deliver (1988) - Ramon Menendez - 8/10
9.	American Me (1992) - Edward James Olmos - 8/10
10.	Falling Down (1993) - Joel Schumacher - 8/10
11.	Pulp Fiction (1994) - Quentin Tarantino - 8/10
12.	L.A. Confidential (1997) - Curtis Hanson - 8/10
13.	The Big Lebowski (1998) - Joel Coen - 8/10
14.	Magnolia (1999) - Paul Thomas Anderson - 8/10
15.	Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001) - Stacy Peralta - 8/10
16.	Punch Drunk Love (2002) - Paul Thomas Anderson - 8/10
17.	Lords of Dogtown (2005) - Catherine Hardwicke - 8/10
18.	The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005) - Judd Apatow - 8/10
19.	(500) Days of Summer (2009) - Marc Webb - 8/10
20.	In a World... (2013) - Lake Bell - 8/10
21.	Narco Cultura (2013) - Shaul Schwarz - 8/10
22.	This Is the End (2013) - Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen - 8/10
23.	Double Indemnity (1944) - Billy Wilder - 7/10
24.	The Big Sleep (1946) - Howard Hawks - 7/10
25.	Singin' In the Rain (1952) - Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly - 7/10
26.	Rebel Without a Cause (1955) - Nicholas Ray - 7/10
27.	The Endless Summer (1966) - Bruce Brown - 7/10
28.	Easy Rider (1969) - Dennis Hopper - 7/10
29.	Killer of Sheep (1978) - Charles Burnett - 7/10
30.	Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke (1978) - Lou Adler - 7/10
31.	Beverly Hills Cop (1984) - Martin Brest - 7/10
32.	The Terminator (1984) - James Cameron - 7/10
33.	Born In East L.A. (1987) - Cheech Marin - 7/10
34.	Colors (1988) - Dennis Hopper - 7/10
35.	Boyz N the Hood (1991) - John Singleton - 7/10
36.	Point Break (1991) - Kathryn Bigelow - 7/10
37.	White Men Can't Jump (1992) - Ron Shelton - 7/10
38.	Friday (1995) - F. Gary Gray - 7/10
39.	Heat (1995) - Michael Mann - 7/10
40.	My Family (1995) - Gregory Nava - 7/10
41.	The Usual Suspects (1995) - Bryan Singer - 7/10
42.	Swingers (1996) - Doug Liman - 7/10
43.	American History X (1998) - Tony Kaye - 7/10
44.	Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) - Tamara Jenkins - 7/10
45.	Next Friday (2000) - Steve Carr - 7/10
46.	Collateral (2004) - Michael Mann - 7/10
47.	Crash (2005) - Paul Haggis - 7/10
48.	Knocked Up (2007) - Judd Apatow - 7/10
49.	Crips and Bloods: Made In America (2008) - Stacy Peralta - 7/10
50.	Funny People (2009) - Judd Apatow - 7/10
51.	Terminator Salvation (2009) - McG - 7/10
52.	End of Watch (2012) - David Ayer - 7/10
53.	Elysium (2013) - Neill Blomkamp - 7/10
54.	Pretty Woman (1990) - Garry Marshall - 6/10
55.	Speed (1994) - Jan de Bont - 6/10
56.	Friday After Next (2002) - Marcus Raboy - 6/10
57.	Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) - Jonathan Mostow - 6/10
58.	Fight Club (1999) - ??? - ??
59.	Clueless (1995) - ??? - ??
60.	The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005) - ??? - ??
61.	Viva Morrissey! A Short Documentary (2012) - ??? - ??