The list of movies in Reel Culture spans 53 years from 1938’s Bringing Up Baby to 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, with 48 others in between that have helped shape and influence the course of American culture. As its subtitle, 50 Classic Movies You Should Know About (So You Can Impress Your Friends), illustrates, the book’s purpose is to start young film fans out on the right path. It does so by encouraging them to check out the biggest, most well-known movies in the cinematic canon... well, to a point. As the introduction states, Star Wars and its ilk are excluded because, “Everyone already knows it — if you don’t, go rent it. Now.”
These are movies so iconic that when I came across two I hadn’t seen, I was pretty well shocked and resolved to add them to my Netflix queue. (For the record, they were the classic musical West Side Story and the Rolling Stones documentary Gimme Shelter.) Mimi O’Connor breaks down the pertinent info for each entry, summarizing plots in ways that are easy to digest and understand. Even if the description of Sunset Blvd.’s Norma Desmond as Joe Gillis’ “sugar mama” made me wince. Indeed, there are forced attempts at teen lingo throughout the book, and it’s jarring every time.
More helpfully, in the “Why All the Fuss?” sections, O’Connor explains exactly why each movie is so important or beloved. Because haven’t we all finished an underwhelming “classic,” sat back, and wondered, “Why do people like that again?” O’Connor relates these films to movies and TV shows that her target demo already likes, for example comparing Breakfast at Tiffany’s Holly Golightly to Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City or telling how The Graduate led to something like American Pie. It’s a little crude, but it works out.
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