Movies in the National Film Registry

Tagged with movies on July 28, 2024

The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board’s collection of films selected for preservation. The registry was created in 1988 and the first films were added to it in 1989. It contains more than full-length theatrical movies, but I focus on movies.

I’ve watched quite a few of the movies listed in the registry. Some I will never watch because they feature genres that don’t interest me in the least. Even those I want to watch will be on my mental “to watch” list for a long time. I simply have no desire to watch movies very often.

The Movies I’ve Watched

My first list contains the movies I’ve watched and clearly remember, probably because I’ve watched them more than once. I watched “High Noon” when I saw it in the registry.

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• Airplane! (1980)
• Alien (1979)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• Back to the Future (1985)
• Being There (1979)
• Ben-Hur (1959)
• The Big Lebowski (1998)
• The Birds (1963)
• Blade Runner (1982)
• The Blues Brothers (1980)
• A Christmas Story (1983)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
• Die Hard (1988)
• Dirty Harry (1971)
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• Enter the Dragon (1973)
• The Exorcist (1973)
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
• Field of Dreams (1989)
• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• Forrest Gump (1984)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• The Godfather (1972)
• The Godfather Part II (1974)
• The Goonies (1985)
• The Graduate (1967)
• Grease (1978)
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• Halloween (1978)
• High Noon (1952)
• Home Alone (1990)
• The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
• Iron Man (2008)
• It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
• Jaws (1975)
• Jurassic Park (1993)
• King Kong (1933)
• La Bamba (1987)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2002)
• The Lost Weekend (1945)
• M*A*S*H (1970)
• The Matrix (1999)
• National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
• The Nutty Professor (1963)
• Oklahoma! (1955)
• Planet of the Apes (1968)
• Platoon (1986)
• Psycho (1960)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Rocky (1976)
• Saturday Night Fever (1977)
• Selena (1977)
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
• The Shining (1980)
• Shrek (2001)
• Star Wars (1977)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• The Terminator (1984)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
• Titanic (1997)
• Tootsie (1982)
• Top Gun (1986)
• Toy Story (1995)
• Unforgiven (1992)
• WALL-E (2008)
• The War of the Worlds (1953)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1998)
• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Movies I Want to Watch Again

My second list contains the movies I know I’ve watched, but don’t remember or don’t clearly remember.

• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
• Cool Hand Luke (1967)
• House of Wax (1953)
• Little Big Man (1970)
• Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
• The Pink Panther (1963)
• Rio Bravo (1959)

The Movies I Want to Watch for the First time

My third and final list contains the movies I’ve never watched. Watching the trailers for them doesn’t count. Neither does movie clips.

• American Graffiti (1973)
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
• The Breakfast Club (1985)
• Carrie (1976)
• Clerks (1994)
• Dances with Wolves (1990)
• Deliverance (1972)
• Easy Rider (1969)
• The French Connection (1971)
• How the West Was Won (1962)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• The Invisible Man (1933)
• Memento (2000)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• The Searchers (1956)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Vertigo (1958)

Movies and More Movies

As I already mentioned, I simply have no desire to watch movies very often. They eat up a lot of time. That’s probably why I will only watch older ones when I’m in bed, getting ready to sleep. There are many I’ve started on one day and finished on another. I’m more likely to watch something on YouTube for an hour or two.

There are so many movies, both on and off the registry, that I’ve never watched. Even if I ignore new movies when they’re released, there are enough movies that I haven’t watched to keep me occupied for years.

Image by Devon Breen from Pixabay