Movies you have seen 10 or more times

[mamselle]

It just occurred to me that if we extend this to dance films, I can include Ailey's Revelations, which I taught every year in my art history classes, as well as seeing it myself, live, twice, and the excerpts from various versions of Swan Lake, etc. that were used as comparanda.

And as for live performances, as well as films, I'd have to include Nutcracker over the years I reviewed it, and maybe Midsummer Night's Dream, which I probably saw six times at least....one has to view multiple casts, etc. for completeness' sake.

Maybe that's the other point; I enjoyed those multiple viewings (I also didn't have to pay for most of them) because they supported the analysis I wanted to do; again, if it's part of ones work, one might not also engage in as many repetitions as a leisure pursuit unless the comparative qualities of various performances are of interest.

And there's the other point; finances that allow one to see something one's already seen before aren't always available to all, or at least if they're tight, the economic questions of utility and variety come into play, as well.

Hmmm...

M. 

[Sun_Worshiper]

Also The Exorcist and It Follows. 

Very, very few horror films have anything to say, and these are two horror films which actually generate philosophical and cultural commentary.

While I agree that there are lots of horror films without any substance, there are many that offer interesting social commentary. Recent films that come to mind are It Follows, but also Get Out, Us, and the Purge movies, but also classics like Night of the Living Dead*, Dawn of the Dead**, the Fly***, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre****, among others.

* First film to have a black man in the lead role and after saving the day (and slapping a hysterical white woman in the process) he is senselessly killed by police
** Takes place in a mall and key theme is consumerism
*** Some say it is a commentary on the AIDS epidemic
**** Slaughterhouse workers put out of work by automation take to massacring teenagers instead of cows and pigs

In the spirit of the thread, I'll recommend a couple of documentaries that delve into this:
- The American Nightmare
- Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film

[AmLitHist]

As to rewatching:  some films definitely DO have plot holes and such (I defy anyone to give a clear and accurate one-paragraph synopsis of The Big Sleep).  Others are less clear-cut.  Sometimes those plot issues do bother me (Raiders of the Lost Ark, for instance), but there are other reasons that the film calls me back.

In the films I've watched over and over, I still rarely come away without seeing something new, whether internal to the film itself, or (more often) making some kind of connection of a detail to either something in contemporary film/tv or real life, OR to another film from that same era/covering the same period in its plot.  I'll also watch something on tv or another film and find myself thinking, "Ah--wait a minute.  This is like/a modern version of/directly in opposition to [something in another film]." Exploring and thinking about those similarities/homages/differences is part of the fun.

Certainly, lots of those films are just plain comfort food:  I'll watch Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story and White Heat et al. any time, anywhere, even though I can turn off the sound and deliver every characters' lines verbatim.  They're just such solid stories that hold up both for what they do and say and for what they mean, that I never tire of them. And it's hard to not see the relevance of a lot of them today, decades after they were filmed (i.e., watch Dana Andrews in the bomber junk yard in The Best Years of Our Lives now, and put yourself in his place, in our shared post-pandemic experience).

Finally, it's a chicken-and-egg thing for me, just as my personal experiences growing up, in terms of how both shaped and are reflected in my professional interests and research.  Did hearing my dad's and those family elders' stories of life during the Depression and the war lead to my interest in those eras? Was my surprisingly liberal (for the time and region) church training as a kid instrumental in my interest in 19th C reform movements?  Did my exposure to a lot of these movies from my childhood help me as I trained in American studies, and did that exposure and study feed each other?  Yes, absolutely, without a doubt. I was an old soul and a chronicler and a sponge soaking up the past from my earliest memories.  And because all these things are so intertwined, that's why I can and do re-watch movies over and over:  they're definitely old friends, but they each contain something new and unexpected and fresh.

It also probably goes without saying that I can't imagine not revisiting pieces of music, seeing a particular singer/group more than once, and so on.  Of course, this isn't to say that I'm right and anyone who feels differently is wrong--we're just different, which is the fun of getting to know other people and their ideas!

Way tl;dr version:  I watch and rewatch old movies because I can't imagine not doing so.

By the way:  I really appreciate this thread--I'm seriously thinking about using the discussion as the topic for an argument essay for my Comp II class this fall!  :-)

[ab_grp]

There are a bunch of movies I've watched multiple times, but I think the only ones I've probably watched at least 10 times were Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Princess Bride, Clue, A Few Good Men, Dirty Dancing.  Possibly Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.  Maybe A Nightmare on Elm Street 1 and 3, maybe Cloak and Dagger and Raiders of the Lost Ark.  I guess something that is on quite often like The Wizard of Oz might be in the list as well, and of course there are plenty of movies for kids that I've watched often because I have kids.  I just don't watch a lot of movies, so I tend to try to watch ones I haven't seen rather than rewatch.

[downer]

It occurs to me that since I used it in classes for a few years, I may have seen Do The Right Thing close to 10 times. It is a good movie too.

[fishbrains]

I should have added The Truman Show to my list. I've used this movie in class quite a bit. This movie becomes darker and darker each time I see it.

I tend to prefer rewatching some movies for the corny lines and the silliness of them, and so I can mouth the lines and just relax--especially with my kids. It also helps us develop an internal code of humor. For example, when one of my kids' friends lost her bike (her mother had put it in the van without telling her), my daughter chimed in, "Maybe it's at the Alamo. You know, in the basement" and she and I laughed like a couple of idiots. Anyone who hasn't seen Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure has no clue what we are talking about. Which makes it funnier. Likewise, don't ask my kids their favorite color because their obvious response is, "Blue, no, yel-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

[Wahoo Redux]

I can include Ailey's Revelations,

We saw this live.

It was unbelievably moving.

[mamselle]

Yes. The coolest thing I discovered was that my students wanted to see all of it.

I would normally pull "Fix Me, Jesus," and either "Wade in the Water," or the finale to show in class; students invariably asked to either have the whole tape put on closed reserve in the library, or to have an evening viewing time when they could bring friends, which we also did whenever possible.

Several mentioned it in evals as something they were grateful for as well.

M.

[Wahoo Redux]

It's interesting, but I think I get insights into peeps non-Fora personalities from this thread.

[Stockmann]

I don't think there's any that I've watched over 10 times, but the closest is definitely Let The Right One In (2008). Probably second place is Ginger Snaps (2000). Oddly enough both horror though I'm not usually a horror fan - but then these are not typical horror movies.

[little bongo]

Forgot about The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. In my semi-historical writings, I've gone back to the "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend" line countless times.

It's a movie that rewards repeat viewings--for example, the James Stewart-Vera Miles love story turns extremely sad, and the movie only hints at this and moves on. The film caps director John Ford's ongoing theme of the civilization of the West. And some of it is funny as hell (particularly a coroner's succinct pronouncement after a climactic shootout). Plus it's the John Wayne movie that provides the dialogue for the most efficient John Wayne impression (he addresses Stewart's character as "pilgrim").

[Charlotte]

Arsenic and Old Lace.

[apl68]

When I was growing up our family watched "What's Up Doc," with Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neill, during an early network TV appearance.  It has been a family favorite ever since.  We still watch it now and then at family get-togethers. 

I eventually learned that it's a very loose remake of "Bringing Up Baby," with Cary Grant and Catherine Hepburn.  I got Mom and Dad that one on video, and now we have fun watching it too.