Some legendary movies, as chosen by FQR’s film critic Adam Dawtrey

ET: The Extra Terrestrial
The febrile atmosphere of Cannes intensifies the reaction to any movie, whether that’s love, hatred or just boredom. The world premiere of ET as the closing film of Cannes in 1982 was therefore a moment of the purest cinematic magic. Even when you know what’s coming, ET melts the stoniest heart, so imagine the impact upon an unsuspecting audience, tired and emotional from a week and a half in Cannes. Eye witnesses recall hundreds of hardened critics and industry types stumbling out onto the Croisette in a daze of tears.

Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola torched half of the Philippines. Martin Sheen drove himself to a heart attack. Marlon Brando showed up so fat they had to shoot him entirely in shadow. Has there ever been a production whose grandiose folly so perfectly mirrored its subject matter? Apocalypse Now embodies the narcissism of the American empire in the late 20th century.

Casablanca
The potboiler that became a masterpiece. Sometimes a work of art becomes so ubiquitous that it’s impossible to see the original clearly past all its accumulated cultural resonances. Casablanca belongs in that category alongside Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, the Mona Lisa and Michelangelo’s David. It’s so packed with memorable lines and iconic performances that you forget to ask whether the plot makes sense. The story that Ronald Reagan was first choice to play Rick is a favourite Hollywood legend that’s probably not true, but it perfectly expresses the accidental nature of the film’s brilliance.

Caligula
The legend of Caligula is that rogue producer Bob Guccione of Penthouse fame inserted hardcore sex scenes, unbeknownst to his illustrious cast, who included Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud, Helen Mirren and Malcolm McDowell. They supposedly thought that it was a conventional historical epic. The truth is far more complex, intriguing and opaque. Director Tinto Brass was well known for erotica, and the script by Gore Vidal was always chockful of sex. Guccione did shoot extra footage, featuring his Penthouse pets, but this only replaced equally explicit sex action shot by Brass. The film was four years in the making under a strict press blackout, and everyone fell out with everyone else, so all sorts of myths proliferated. Numerous versions were produced by various editors, but no single definitive print exists. The whole history of the movie is shrouded with litigation. The only thing on which most people agree is that the story of its making is far more interesting than the movie itself.

It’s a Wonderful Life
Is it just me, or is It’s a Wonderful Life the most depressing movie ever made? Its reactionary message seems to be: don’t aspire to a better life, just be grateful that things aren’t a whole lot worse. Somehow, generations have lapped this up as the ultimate expression of the Christmas spirit. To which the only possible response is, “Bah humbug.”

Cleopatra
Until Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End came along, Cleopatra was the most expensive film ever made, adjusted for inflation. Originally budgeted at $2m, it ended up costing $44m, equivalent to about $295m in today’s money, which nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox. Liz Taylor, who met her two-times husband Richard Burton on the shoot, was paid the equivalent of $47m. Considering how much was at stake, perhaps the most remarkable fact is that director Joe Mankiewicz never had an actual shooting script, but pretty much made it up with the actors as they went along. Peter Finch, father of our own dear Charles, was the original Julius Caesar, but left to fulfil other commitments when the first attempt to mount the production in London failed. The financial disaster forced Fox to sell off its back lot, in a move regarded by some Hollywood historians as the beginning of the end for the old studio system.

Saturday Night Fever
The film that inspired men everywhere to dance badly at weddings. Everyone remembers John Travolta in his dazzling white suit, busting moves to the Bee Gees. Everyone forgets just how raw and dark Saturday Night Fever actually is. It was a blockbuster in 1977, but today this would be an arthouse movie. It’s still magnificent, though, with Travolta almost unbearably beautiful in his first sylph-like incarnation.

The Magnificent Ambersons
Citizen Kane may top the all-time polls, but its successor, The Magnificant Ambersons, has a greater claim to legend. Masterpiece though it is, the movie is merely a shadow of the film Orson Welles wanted to make. The studio removed an hour of his material and tacked on a happy ending. In our imagination, it’s the greatest film never made.

The Godfather: Parts I and II
The films that introduced us to De Niro and Pacino, brought Brando back from self-indulgent decline, gave us a host of macho catchphrases, created an equine myth about how Sinatra got his break, and ascribed a tragic grandeur to the Mafia that it scarcely deserved.

Blade Runner
Few movies have spawned so many imitators – and so many different director’s cuts. A legendary victim of test screenings, Blade Runner was dumbed down and jollied up after preview audiences demanded to know what the hell that was all about. Ridley Scott has taken several chances since then to restore his original vision.

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