Highly influential movies

[Yora]

I was just watching Aliens again. I've seen it before twice I think, but that's probably close to ten years ago by now. And it really amazed me how many people copied pretty much directly from this movie when it comes to defining what technology humans have in a generic science fiction setting that is not all Crystal Spires and Togas.

I have to say, while the movie does many things really well, I didn't remember it as being that exceptional and having rewatched it I stand to that. I am into movies all for the narrative, and Aliens really hasn't that much to say in that department. In that regard, it's clearly overshadowed by the first movie in my oppinion.
But now that I watched it once more, I immediately realized how much influence it had on almost all the science fiction games I played in the last years. FreeSpace, StarCraft, Halo, and Mass Effect, but also Babylon 5 could all be taking be place in the same universe as Aliens with 50 more years of technological advancement and contact with other interstelar civilization. It's not the 80s anymore, so they all are a bit more refined and detailed, but humans in these settings all seem like a logical continuation of what you see in Aliens.
That really amazed me. :smallbiggrin:

A similar thing could be said about Metropolis. That movie is 85 years old by now, but the first time I watched it I thought "this is a cyberpunk movie!". It has everything every cyberpunk movie and novel had ever since. Except for computers, because that movie was made 10 years before the first touring machine. But everything else, it's already there and has been copied by pretty much everyone else when modern cyberpunk started to become a thing. Over 50 years later. :smallbiggrin:

So, thoughts on this or any other not hgely remembered movies that single handedly set the foundations for lots of things we regard as generic these days?

[Jaros]

I'm going to go with Birth of a Nation. Set the standards for editing techniques that define narrative cinema and basically the way we tell stories through cinema. Typical 'feature' length, continuity editing, narrative, a large chunk of what defines cinema (or narrative cinema at least) was either started or popularised with this film and D. W. Griffiths' subsequent films.

Oh, and it's incrediblyracist. So, yeah...

[Dr.Epic]

Disney sort of wrote the formula for how an animated kid's film is done.

[WalkingTarget]

I'm going to go with Birth of a Nation. Set the standards for editing techniques that define narrative cinema and basically the way we tell stories through cinema. Typical 'feature' length, continuity editing, narrative, a large chunk of what defines cinema (or narrative cinema at least) was either started or popularised with this film and D. W. Griffiths' subsequent films.

To build on this: what BoaN did in the silent era, Citizen Kane did again for talkies. So many cinematography tricks, shot composition, etc. were pioneered there. The movie doesn't really look that exceptional these days, but that's because everybody learned from it.

[Montanto]

I think I'll go with Seven Samurai. Not getting into just how many films are based on it, you can argue that it was the first caper film. It certainly is the first example of the "bringing everyone" together sequence which can be seen in everything from Ocean's Eleven to Blues Brothers.

[Cespenar]

If I'm not mistaken, I think Matrix invented the "bullet time" deal. So there's that.

[thubby]

the thing about this is that the movies that defined their genres were themselves products of books that had already set many of the standards

[Archpaladin Zousha]

No matter what you think of George Lucas or the EU or the prequels, Star Wars was the film that defined the summer blockbuster, and with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it created the big multi-film story. As I remember Leonard Maltin saying, "it changed the way movies were made, sold and marketed."

Regardless of what people may say about its quality of writing in any particular installment, the impact Star Wars had on the world of cinema cannot be understated.

[Jaros]

No matter what you think of George Lucas or the EU or the prequels, Star Wars was the film that defined the summer blockbuster, and with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it created the big multi-film story. As I remember Leonard Maltin saying, "it changed the way movies were made, sold and marketed."

Regardless of what people may say about its quality of writing in any particular installment, the impact Star Wars had on the world of cinema cannot be understated.

I believe Jaws would count as the first blockbuster actually, though I think you're right on the multi-film story point. Also while Jaws may have been first, Star Wars had an insanely large and popular amount of re-releases (as in running them in cinemas again, not the new versions we see these days).



If I'm not mistaken, I think Matrix invented the "bullet time" deal. So there's that.
I'm pretty sure there were earlier examples, but The Matrix at least popularised it.

And something a friend of mine proposed the other day: Saving Private Ryan was possibly the influence for the now huge wave of War-based - especially world-war based - FPS's

[thubby]

edison may not have invented the lightbulb, but he sold the crap out of them. :smalltongue:

i don't buy the private ryan thing. war games are as old as gaming itself. the FPS simply didn't have a real foot hold until golden eye in 97.

[McStabbington]

Saving Private Ryan is pretty much a paint-by-numbers war stoy about The Squad. The D-Day landing sequence, however, is the template for just about every war film that has followed. So while the movie itself isn't hugely influential in the same way that The Big Red One is, it's been immensely influential on the aesthetics used to portray war sequences in a "realistic" manner.

Since Seven Samurai has been mentioned, I'll say Citizen Kane. The film isn't as good as everyone says, and no, it really isn't the best film of all time. It's the film you name as the best ever if a) you don't follow movies beyond occasionally reading Roger Ebert, or b) you're a pretentious film school grad who finds Truffaut or Ingmar Bergman too trendy with the hipsters and you like your pretension done classic. But it and Seven Samurai are basically the foundations for modern movie editing, which is what people are usually talking about when they talk about "directing." It's hard to notice unless you've seen lots of old films because virtually every movie today uses the tricks of those films, but those two were really the first two films to use cuts and multiple camera angles in the way that modern films do. Every piece of film done today, from breakfast cereal commercials to high-concept art films, relies on the language of editing laid down in those two films.

[Fjolnir]

honestly, The Shining is a pretty influential movie because of the use of Steadicam, which is still used in all kinds of situations in film.

[Vknight]

The Usual Suspects is an amazing movie. And has been a great influence upon plot and plot twists

[Emmerask]

Blair Witch Project, I doubt it really is the first found footage movie but it surely was the first one with huge success (I still think this was garbage but anyway ^^)

Tron, CG in movies.

[Soras Teva Gee]

I believe Jaws would count as the first blockbuster actually, though I think you're right on the multi-film story point. Also while Jaws may have been first, Star Wars had an insanely large and popular amount of re-releases (as in running them in cinemas again, not the new versions we see these days).


Strictly speaking the phenomena precedes Jaws and the term even goes back to theatrical productions. However Jaws is where it broke into broader social consciousness and set the summer timing.

However its Star Wars that gives us the blockbuster franchise. In addition to proving Jaws not to be an aberration it also set up five other successful films. For better or worse its why say LOTR could be made as three full movies.

Also at the more meta-level Star Wars created a nigh unrivaled merchandising Empire which is a major influence off screen. Star Wars allows bigger movies to be made my codifying how to make even more money of a property beyond simply ticket sales to cover a budget.

[Brother Oni]

I was just watching Aliens again. I've seen it before twice I think, but that's probably close to ten years ago by now. And it really amazed me how many people copied pretty much directly from this movie when it comes to defining what technology humans have in a generic science fiction setting that is not all Crystal Spires and Togas.

Pretty much - it was the first sci-fi movie that did the 'vietnam in space' view of soldiering in the future.
However it's the little details that make the film - things like the move by section when the marines advance towards the colony, or the fact that the pulse rifle's ammo is an advancement of what we expected future firearms development tobe at that time (caseless ammo).

Back on topic, I'd argue that Bladerunner has also had a similar influence on the near future of Earth and result of globalisation with the looming omnipresent skyscrapers and the melting pot of cultures (Gaff's cityspeak).
The film noir style (along with the Vangelis soundtrack) only helps reinforce the oppressiveness in my opinion.


the FPS simply didn't have a real foot hold until golden eye in 97.

Er, Doom (1993) and Quake (1996) would disagree with you on that point. If you meant on consoles, I'd agree that Goldeneye was the bench setter, but I think you underestimate the Doom/Quake phenomenon back then.

[thubby]

Er, Doom (1993) and Quake (1996) would disagree with you on that point. If you meant on consoles, I'd agree that Goldeneye was the bench setter, but I think you underestimate the Doom/Quake phenomenon back then.

im well aware they were popular. but home computers as a whole weren't as popular, much less gaming on them.

[Killer Angel]

I would say Soldier Blue. (togheter with A man called horse)
All the western films, from that point on, were marked by its revisionism. A lesson applied also to many others films based on different historical periods.

[Mx.Silver]

The Usual Suspects is an amazing movie. And has been a great influence upon plot and plot twists
You mean Rashomon. All those 'influential plot twists' in Suspects? The camera itself being an unreliable narrator? Rashomon basically invented that. Suspects is a good film, but is very, very, heavily influenced by Rashomon.

[Avilan the Grey]

im well aware they were popular. but home computers as a whole weren't as popular, much less gaming on them.

That is not true. PC games were a large enough nice to make a decent profit, and several gaming publications to stay profitable as well (such as PC Gamer).

Commodore 64 and later Atari ST and Amiga 500 were far more common in Europe than consoles in the late 80ies / early 90ies (admittedly shoot-em ups then were not first person, but it's not like "Commando" and "Rambo II" were peaceful games with no guns in them) and many many people had a computer (PC) that their employer paid for. And virtually all of those had games on them.

Admittedly it would take another 2 or so years before the internet craze, when EVERYONE got a PC, but it was still far before GoldenEye (I don't really find that game influencing anything, really, it was not even a beep on my radar). Doom 1-3, Quake 1-2 and Duke Nukem 3D were far more important to the development of the FPS.


Blair Witch Project, I doubt it really is the first found footage movie but it surely was the first one with huge success (I still think this was garbage but anyway ^^)

Plus, it was a hillarious commedy. Not on purpose of course, but I was in stitches. :smallbiggrin:

I agree about TRON.

[Brother Oni]

Blair Witch Project, I doubt it really is the first found footage movie but it surely was the first one with huge success (I still think this was garbage but anyway ^^)

According to wikipedia, the first 'found footage' movie was Cannibal Holocaust back in 1980.

From reading the page, it seems like it's one of the earlier examples of the torture porn genre as well.

[Deth Muncher]

Well, I'm glad YOU said Metropolis. :P But actually, if you haven't seen it in a while, I'd recommend making sure you have the most complete edition: they found some more footage of it a few years back, so it's damn near complete.

While possibly not QUITE what you're asking for, I'd recommend Troll 2, Silent Night Deadly Night and The Room - all three of them are...well, fairly terrible, but the sheer number of quotes from them that are pervasive in the nerd community is staggering.

[Jaros]

Ooh, can't forget Breathless/A Bout De Souffle, the first of the French New Wave films and one of the most influential arthouse movies of all time. Most Avant Garde movements owe something to French New Wave film-makers and especially this film. It was also, I believe, a major influence of the Pythons. Not to mention the French New Wave film makers were also the first people to study film in a critical/academic sense.

So, yeah. That was pretty big.

[Telonius]

A couple that haven't been mentioned yet:

Battleship Potemkin. Famous Soviet propaganda film, and one of the early (successful) experiments in montage.

Anchors Aweigh. A generally forgettable movie, except for that one thing. There were earlier examples of films and shorts that incorporated live action with animation, but this was the one that really made the national consciousness. The scene where Gene Kelly dances with Jerry (of Tom and Jerry) is one that many people still remember. Roger Rabbit, Lord of the Rings, and the Star Wars prequels all owe a debt to it.

The Seventh Seal. You know that image you have of somebody playing chess with death? This is most likely where you got it from.

[Emmerask]

The newest example I think would be Avatar for making 3d the new thing everyone has to do...

I ****ing hate 3d and hated avatar... but still one has to acknowledge it I guess :-/



Battleship Potemkin. Famous Soviet propaganda film, and one of the early (successful) experiments in montage.


Yes very much I agree

[pffh]

Admittedly it would take another 2 or so years before the internet craze, when EVERYONE got a PC, but it was still far before GoldenEye (I don't really find that game influencing anything, really, it was not even a beep on my radar). Doom 1-3, Quake 1-2 and Duke Nukem 3D were far more important to the development of the FPS.

True it didn't do much for development of the FPS but what it did do was prove that FPS could succeed on a console (ALL modern console FPS games exist because of GoldenEye) and second it popularized the local splitscreen multiplayer for FPS games.

[Avilan the Grey]

True it didn't do much for development of the FPS but what it did do was prove that FPS could succeed on a console (ALL modern console FPS games exist because of GoldenEye) and second it popularized the local splitscreen multiplayer for FPS games.

Which was my point (the console part :smallwink:) and Split Screen? Welcome to 1973 :smalltongue: Although Maze War wasn't FPS. :smallwink:

[Cespenar]

The Seventh Seal. You know that image you have of somebody playing chess with death? This is most likely where you got it from.

Huh. I was half sure that the idea originated from Greek mythology.

[WalkingTarget]

Huh. I was half sure that the idea originated from Greek mythology.

Sisyphus tricked Thanatos (Death) a time or two, but there weren't any games involved (chess or otherwise, not even sure chess was a thing in classical Greece). I'm not familiar with any other stories with a similar theme... maybe Orpheus trying to free Eurydice from Hades, but again, that's not a game.

[Lord Seth]

Sisyphus tricked Thanatos (Death) a time or two, but there weren't any games involved (chess or otherwise, not even sure chess was a thing in classical Greece).While we don't know Chess's origins for sure, its earliest form most likely came from India around the 6th century (though the game as we know it today is quite a bit different from its earlier versions). A bit late for classical Greece.

[thubby]

Sisyphus tricked Thanatos (Death) a time or two, but there weren't any games involved (chess or otherwise, not even sure chess was a thing in classical Greece). I'm not familiar with any other stories with a similar theme... maybe Orpheus trying to free Eurydice from Hades, but again, that's not a game.

there have been a number of mortal vs god for a few things.
a sewing contest resulted in some woman being turned into a spider is the one i remember best.

[Killer Angel]

I've got another one: The silence of the lambs
I know it's not the first (Manhunter comes to mind) but from it, really started the whole subgenre of "hunt to serial killer"

(edit: staying on subgenres, a "must" is Romero, and the following zombies' proliferation...)

[Tvtyrant]

October: 10 Days that Shook the World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October:_Ten_Days_That_Shook_the_World) did amazing things with crowds that were promptly copied everywhere. Maybe not as original as Battleship Potemkin, but better known for sure.

[Greensleeves]

@The D-Day opening of Saving Private Ryan: Actually very heavily influenced by Ran, by Kurosawa. So that could be a film worth mentioning as influential.

I'd also like to mention Blade Runner. Probably the film that truly created what it is to be cyberpunk, aesthetically. Cyberpunk with a chance of rain? Blade Runner. The lovely neon signs and gritty urban landscape? Blade Runner. And so forth.

Then again, some of the shots in Blade Runner are very, very similar to some shots from Metropolis. :smallwink:

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari arguably invented the twist ending. So thank this film for every M. Night Shyamalan film ever.

Toy Story is probably worth mentioning as well.

[ThunderCat]

The Breakfast Club. I’m not an expert on teen movies, but it seems like a lot of the high school stereotypes they use were codified by it.

[Avilan the Grey]

The Breakfast Club. I’m not an expert on teen movies, but it seems like a lot of the high school stereotypes they use were codified by it.

All of those movies:
The breakfast Club
Weird Science
Pretty In Pink
Ferris Buellers Day Off
Some Kind of Wonderful

They should really be viewed as one single movie, in this regard.
There is a reason John Hughes is basically the creator of the 1980ies teenager.

[Dr.Epic]

The Hangover; seems like most comedies are now trying to duplicate its formula.

[Yora]

@The D-Day opening of Saving Private Ryan: Actually very heavily influenced by Ran, by Kurosawa. So that could be a film worth mentioning as influential.
Kurosawa in general. He invented Clint Eastwoods career. Have there been anti-heroes like those played by Toshiro Mifune before he wrote them?

[Telonius]

Humphrey Bogart comes to mind, but I really don't know many other actors in film noir. "Treasure of Sierra Madre" came out in 1948, just shortly before "Seven Samurai."

[WalkingTarget]

there have been a number of mortal vs god for a few things.
a sewing contest resulted in some woman being turned into a spider is the one i remember best.

That was Arachne. Sisyphus was the specific example of somebody cheating Death himself - I can't think of any other examples from Greece with that formula...

Ok, looked it up and there is a case where Herakles beat him up in order to save somebody else (Alkestis, wife of Admetus).

[HeadlessMermaid]

That was Arachne. Sisyphus was the specific example of somebody cheating Death himself - I can't think of any other examples from Greece with that formula...

Ok, looked it up and there is a case where Herakles beat him up in order to save somebody else (Alkestis, wife of Admetus).
Yes, playing chess (or anything) with Death is a much much older concept. Hades was once cheated by Sisyphus's cunning, once he was moved by Orpheus's music to release Eurydice, and Hercules defeated his guarding dog, I believe. But he wasn't the playing type at all.

On topic.
John Woo's multiple standoff (A points a gun at B at close range, B points a gun at C, C points a gun back at A - add participants as appropriate), as popularized later by Tarantino, is a little trick that has become almost obligatory in action films. I'm not sure which movie it was in first, though. Was it The Killer (1989)?

Citizen Cane, among other things, gave us the Flashback. It seems strange now that no one had thought of using it in films before 1941. I mean, as a storytelling device, it's been around at least since the Odyssey.

I concur that Blade Runner's cinematography influenced pretty much anything that has to do with a) science fiction b) dystopias c) grim & gritty urban whatever.

More when I remember them.

[Brother Oni]

On topic.
John Woo's multiple standoff (A points a gun at B at close range, B points a gun at C, C points a gun back at A - add participants as appropriate), as popularized later by Tarantino, is a little trick that has become almost obligatory in action films. I'm not sure which movie it was in first, though. Was it The Killer (1989)?


I think it showed up earlier in A Better Tomorrow 2 (1987), but I'm not sure. Fairly sure it wasn't in the first A Better Tomorrow.

Edit: According to IMDB, that scene was inspired by The Wild Bunch (1969) and Mad magazine's "Spy vs. Spy".

While we're on the Heroic Bloodshed genre, are there many films with scenes where the main antagonist's right hand man (The Dragon (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDragon), to use Tvtropes paralance) essentially holds an unofficial truce with the heroes to allow innocents to get out of the way before attempting to kill each other again?

The earliest one I can think of is in Hard Boiled (1992) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hDZ2F2LS7Dg#t=382s), but there's a similar one you've noted in The Killer (not quite the same thing though).

[Olfgar]

The Last Samurai was one of Tom Cruises better roles...also it influenced me to start loving Feudal japan and learning mroe about it.

[Starbuck_II]

The earliest one I can think of is in Hard Boiled (1992) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hDZ2F2LS7Dg#t=382s), but there's a similar one you've noted in The Killer (not quite the same thing though).

That was an amazing film (Hard Boiled). The shots/scenes were great.
Great action film.

[JustSomeGuy]

I'm not sure which film started them all, but 80's muscle-action movies seemed to be a recurring trend out of nowhere (schwarzenneger, stallone, van damme etc).

Also, airplane.

[Dr.Epic]

Inception: try to find a action movie made after that that doesn't use the booming music in its trailer.