Heat (1995) -- LA Film Pick

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Michael Mann is another film maker that has done more than one strong LA film, but it's hard to top Heat (1995) as the perfect contemporary LA crime film. The only one that beats it, in my opinion, is John Boorman's Point Blank (1967). Honorable Mentions go to The Onion Field (1979) and ..

Obviously there is a modern master of the LA crime film -- no one does it like Quentin Tarentino, director of Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997).

Zoot Suit (1981) - LA Film Pick

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So I was going to just list Zoot Suit as an alternative choice under a musical category, but then I started thinking about Edward James Olmos, and realized that he had been in several important LA films, often exploring the neglected area of East LA. His other LA films include Stand and Deliver (1988), American Me (1992) and My Family (1995).

Freeway (1993) -- LA Film Pick

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There is a whole sub-genre of the L.A. Teen in trouble, with the most famous obviously being Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without a Cause (1955). However I'm going with this Little Red Riding Hood in the Hood parody, Matthew Bright's Freeway (1993) as my pick in this category. Other choices in this genre are Catherine Hardwicke's Thirteen (2003) and Greg Araki's Doom Generation (1995).

The Player (1992) -- LA Film Pick

We can label this selection under Altman's L.A., or as a Hollywood satire.

Robert Altman is one of those directors that kept making LA movies, and several of his could be on any best ten list. For this list, I'm going with The Player, but my personal favorite of his LA films is The Long Goodbye (1973). I also love his ode to Raymond Carver's short stories Short Cuts (1993)

Now if you're interested in contemporary "industry" satires like The Player, I'd also recommend Swimming with Sharks (1994) starring Kevin Spacey, Get Shorty (1995) and Robert Townsend's Hollywood Shuffle (1987). Contemporary at its time, and one of the all time greats: Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941)

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Chinatown (1974) - LA Film Pick

On the top films you should see about Los Angeles, Roman Polanski's Chinatown (1974) is one of the most obvious, but if you have never seen this, it's required viewing. Best quote:"Can you believe it? We're in the middle of a drought, and the water commissioner drowns. Only in L.A.

The runner ups for this kind of period piece crime LA film goes to Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) and LA Confidential (1997)

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Sunset Boulevard (1950) -- LA Film Pick

Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950) -- Perhaps the greatest film about classic Hollywood and one of the best noirs ever. If you see this film and want more noir/Hollywood films of the 50s, try Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place (Bogart as screenwriter), Vincente Minnelli's The Bad and the Beautiful, and Robert Aldrich's The Big Knife.

Stepping out of the classic noir era, but on the subject of the dark aspect of Hollywood, there is also John Schlesinger's The Day of the Locust (1975) and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001).

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Blade Runner -- LA Film Pick

The best science-fiction film ever done that takes place in LA. This film is so rich in content that whole courses are taught just on it. Other interesting science fiction LA films are John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. and They Live, plus Gordon Douglas' Them! (good LA landscapes) and The Terminator series.

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Barfly - LA Film Pick

Okay, this slot should be taken up by the Coen Brother's the big lebowski. However, my guess is that every one of you has seen that film and Barfly reflects the notion of literary LA (It's about Charles Bukowski) so I'm substituting this one. Sorry, Dude.
I'm also going to give an honorable mention to Tim Burton's Ed Wood, another LA misfit movie.

Repo Man (1984) -- LA Film Pick

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Lots of teen comedies -- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Clueless (1995) and Valley Girl (1983) stand out, but Repo Man puts a little more edge in its humor.

There's also the teen/sci-fi hybrid aspect. If that's appealing, check out Night of the Comet (1984) or Greg Araki's Nowhere (1997).

LA Movies

Just like with LA songs, I've linked on the border a list of films that one should view in order to understand Los Angeles. I'm going to screen Blade Runner in class, but all of the others are well worth viewing on your own. Hit the link and you'll get a taste of each film.

If you have a suggestion for something I left out, please post it here. Also if you go out and rent one of these and have thoughts, let us all know.
Thanks.

Another L.A. film: Kiss Me Deadly

If I remember correctly, this is an L.A. film. If I'm wrong, you should still see it anyway, if only to understand the concept of the mysterious suitcase in Pulp Fiction.

JACKIE BROWN LA Film #10

I picked this one, but it's meant to carry the water for QT's other films, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and even his script True Romance. Jackie Brown may be his best film, and it's the one you've most likely missed. Order it now.

the other close-calls you should see too

Besides the ten films, and the extra films listed in individual posts, i.e. See Big Lebowski under Barfly, here's some more that reveal shades of LA.

1. L.A. Confidential
2. Freeway
3. Training Day
4. American Me
5. City of Angels (Some really nice visuals)
6. To Live and Die in L.A.
7. Swimming with Sharks
8. The Player
9. Falling Down
10. Up in Smoke
11. The Limey
12. Point Blank
13. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
14. Menace II Society
15. Boyz 'n the Hood
16. LA Plays Itself
17. (500) Days of Summer

L.A. Story -- LA Film Pick

Here's the other comedy. I'm including it because it has so many good LA jokes, but if you haven't seen Swingers or Hollywood Shuffle, those are possibly more entertaining for you guys. The Graduate is even better, I just thought you might find it dated.

Magnolia -- LA FILM #7

Here's our representative of the slightly apocalyptic cross-storyline multi-character LA film. A word on P.T. Anderson -- I wanted to put Boogie Nights (1997) and Punch Drunk Love (2002) on our list as well. They are all excellent LA films.

As for our sub-category, I easily could have substituted Robert Altman's Short Cuts or, very reluctantly, Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (1991). The "Oscar winning" Crash (2004) would also qualify, if it wasn't a total abomination as a film.

The more overt form of this sub-genre is the LA disaster film, such as Earthquake (1974) and Volcano -- (1997) both fun awful films -- and both better than Crash.

One further observation -- Magnolia is a street, as are Sunset and Mulholland.

Mulholland Drive (2001) - LA film #6

Okay, there's the "weird" LA picture and I went with this one, but it was almost a tie with Todd Haynes' Safe, the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink, and Gregg Araki's Nowhere and The Doom Generation.

Blade Runner LA Film Pick

The best science-fiction film ever done that takes place in LA. This film is so rich in content that whole courses are taught just on it. Other interesting science fiction LA films are John Carpenter's Escape from L.A. and They Live, plus Gordon Douglas' Them! (good LA landscapes) .

Collateral Movie Trailer - L.A. Film Pick

I knew I wanted a Michael Mann film -- he makes fascinating mapping movies of LA -- and it was tough to decide between this and Heat. It's shot in video and it's just beautiful film making -- plus Cruise is fantastic in it as the hitman. (Honest!)