2019 Project: “The Essentials”

For my 2019 movie watching project, I’m going to watch all 52 films listed in the excellent 2016 book from Turner Classic Movies (TCM) called The Essentials: 52 Must-See Movies and Why They Matter by frequent TCM collaborator Jeremy Arnold. The book was an accompaniment to the series on TCM of the same name which highlighted these outstanding films (and was most recently hosted by actor Alec Baldwin).

The plan is to watch one film a week from the list below (which is taken directly from Jeremy Arnold’s Essentials book), read Jeremy Arnold’s take on what makes the film “essential,” read any other pertinent writings and relevant information about the film, and then blog and/or podcast about my experience and learnings.

I will primarily use TCM, the Watch TCM app, DVD.com, iTunes, and Amazon Prime Video to locate and watch all of these titles. And I’m hoping to catch some of these titles on the big screen at either the TCM Classic Film Festival in April and the TCM Big Screen Classics series, which happens all year long.

(* indicates films I haven’t seen)

  1. Metropolis (1927)
  2. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)*
  3. City Lights (1931)
  4. Grand Hotel (1932)*
  5. King Kong (1933)
  6. Duck Soup (1933)
  7. It Happened One Night (1934)
  8. The Thin Man (1934)
  9. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  10. Swing Time (1936)
  11. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
  12. Gone with the Wind (1939)
  13. The Lady Eve (1941)
  14. Citizen Kane (1941)
  15. Now, Voyager (1942)
  16. Casablanca (1942)
  17. Double Indemnity (1944)
  18. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
  19. Leave Her to Heaven (1945)*
  20. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)*
  21. Out of the Past (1947)*
  22. The Red Shoes (1948)*
  23. The Bicycle Thief (1948)
  24. The Third Man (1949)*
  25. White Heat (1949)
  26. Adam’s Rib (1949)
  27. Winchester ’73 (1950)*
  28. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
  29. Gun Crazy (1950)
  30. All About Eve (1950)
  31. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
  32. Roman Holiday (1953)
  33. Seven Samurai (1954)*
  34. On the Waterfront (1954)
  35. Rear Window (1954)
  36. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  37. The Searchers (1956)
  38. Some Like it Hot (1959)
  39. North by Northwest (1959)
  40. Ben-Hur (1959)
  41. Breathless (1960)
  42. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
  43. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
  44. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
  45. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
  46. In the Heat of the Night (1967)*
  47. The Graduate (1967)
  48. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
  49. Jaws (1975)
  50. Rocky (1976)
  51. Annie Hall (1977)
  52. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Stay tuned to the blog and podcast for my progress reports. And let me know if you want to join along!