To qualify as an American, see these movies (Part 2)

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Mark Metcalf offers his list of films you must see to “seriously qualify yourself as an American.”

BACHELOR’S DEGREE

Taxi Driver (1976): When a man returns from war he may be a little twisted.

Up (2009): Pixar storytelling at its finest.

Duck Soup (1933) or any Marx Brothers movie: They bring it all the way from vaudeville.

Apocalypse Now (1979): The closest they’ll ever get to Vietnam and the way it felt.

My Man Godfrey (1936): The “forgotten man” wins the girl.

Sullivan’s Travels (1941): Hollywood will never understand, but Preston Sturges does.

Red River (1948): Montgomery Clift and John Wayne, son and father, with Joanne Dru, simply the best of the West. Howard Hawks could do it all.

Stand By Me (1986): So much was so simple and so perfect.

Seabiscuit (2003): Even a horse can be an underdog.

Rudy (1993): Or a little guy with heart and a borrowed jersey.

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964): Peter Sellars is everywhere, but George C. Scott is all you need.

Young Frankenstein (1974): “Walk this way.”

Taking Chance (2009): Honor the fallen, respect them with your lives, everyday.

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949): One of the John Ford cavalry trilogy. They’re all great.

To graduate to your Master’s, click here.

To visit the full list, start here with Part 1. 

For more of TCD’s film coverage, including Mark Metcalf’s “Moving Pictures” reviews, visit our Film Page.