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"£1000 to spend on DVD's- need help!"

No, it's not my money, which is what makes it all the more brilliant. My school has decided to take a flying leap into the 21st century and purchase a DVD player and film library. On top of that I get a large say in which films to buy, and they've touted about a figure of one grand as a budget for the film side of the venture.

Basically in the next few weeks I'm supposed to be drawing up a list of ESSENTIAL films to buy. I would appreciate the opinions of the wise men (and women) who populate this forum as to which films are must buys.

From a personal view I'm aiming to introduce the people in the sixth form to some decent films and I don't plan to set aside a huge portion of the sum for dumb action movies. The only rules are:
1. It must be avaliable to buy on DVD
2. It should have some value as a cintematic work

So, while the Matrix would be included, Rush Hour might not. I'm going to push for the entire Coen brothers back catalogue but apart from that I'm open to suggestions..

Now it's over to you.

Thanks everyone, keep 'em coming and I'll post you a final list once we actually buy the things.. It is proving very hard though, basically the school can only pay by cheque, for complicated reasons, and so we need a company to let us buy DVDs and then send us a monthly invoice. This is probably going to mean going for a hugely expensive High Street store.

Still, thanks a lot for all the suggestions, it's been the basis for my list so far.

£1000, nice! Here's my suggestions.

The Matrix
Sawshank Redemption
American Beauty
Arlington Road
Blade Runner
The Blair Witch Project (from a filmmakers standpoint)
Braveheart
Bridget Jones Diary
Cast Away
Cliffhanger
Cruel Intentions
Dogma
The Abyss
Edward Scissorhands
Enemy of the State
Eyes Wide Shut
Fight Club
Final Fantasy: The Spirit's Within
From Dusk Til Dawn
Ghost In A Shell
Full Metal Jacket
Gladiator
The Great Escape
Heat
Lawnmower Man
Leon
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
The Green Mile
A Perfect Murder
Magnolia
Mallrats
Men In Black
The Mummy
Opposite of Sex
Planet of the Apes
Pulp Fiction
Requiem For A Dream
Resevoir Dogs
Romeo and Juliet
Seven
Shrek
The Sixth Sense
Snatch
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
Starship Troopers
Stigmata
Superman
The Talented Mr Ripley
Taxi Driver
The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Faculty
The Godfather Box Set
The Mexican
The Road to El Derado
The Shining
The Silence of the Lambs
The Thing
The Thomas Crown Affair
Titanic
Unbreakable
Vertical Limit
X-Men

So, I take it you will be able to buy 50 DVD's (in theory), unless you shop arond for lower priced ones for about £10. Also, some DVD's ARE £10 brand new. Good luck shopping!

MOW

Taxi driver sure was a messed up film!

Still good though

Taxi Driver.

Superman
American Beauty
Pulp Fiction

High Fidelity is a good choice, whoever said that.

I wish I'd added it to my list.

How about Predator.
No cinematic value whatsoever/mindless violence, but what the heck (18 though)

Goatboy wrote:

To Kill a Mockingbird
12 Angry Men


2 Great films, good choices.

Most of my choices have already been mentionned

Could you get away with the Transformers Movie? Probably not I suppose!

A Time To Kill is a great film, probably the best conversion of a Grisham novel.
Man On The Moon, great performance from Carey
Green Mile - amazing film.
High Fidelity - just cos I'm a Cusack fan, although maybe Being John Malkovich is a better choice?

I'd suggest:

Arlington Road
Shawshank Redemption
Raging Bull
Sleepers
GodFather Trilogy
Jaws
All Monty Python
Memento

Trouble with it being a school is the under-18 thing.
But if they're cool with it, try some of these (most of which are considered classics or with something to say):

DRAMA
Shawshank Redemption
Glengary Glenross
Dog Day Afternoon
The Taking of Pelham 123
To Kill a Mockingbird
12 Angry Men
Battle Royale
Fight Club
Se7en
La Haine
City of Lost Children

HORROR
The Thing
Halloween
The Exorcist
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Evil Dead
American Werewolf in London
Hammer Horror movies

COMEDY
Withnail & I
Some Like it Hot
Mallrats/Clerks/Chasing Amy etc
Cannonball Run
Monty Python movies

and some others, but I need a smoke now.