Well, like we discussed in the OP, this might very well be a list that Spielberg put together years ago and it could be one of those things that people take at face value because they want it to be true.

Considering the exclusion of the modern classics, as many of us noted, and the somewhat skewed inclusions it seems to me that this list is about two decades old. Trends and opinions change over time.

Scent of a Woman was really hot back in 1992, but how many people would put that on their list today?

Hey Scott, I've always wondered this but I never asked: how come you spell Scorsese with s-c-o-r-C-e-s-e? I know it's nitpicky, but I always noticed it and was wondering if it was intentional or that's the way he prefers it or what.

@Unknown: Simple explanation. It appears I've been misspelling it all these years! It only took me a decade to learn how to spell Coppola (as opposed to "Copolla"). Now I'm rewiring my brain to go with the correct spelling: Scorsese. Thanks.

Oh. Whoops. I've been misspelling his name all this time too, apparently.

RE: The list/Teddy. Yeah, I don't know. I take Edgar Wright's word for it. The man has been working with Spielberg for the past year, and he knows better than I do. But if you really look at that list, you can't help but notice that there are similar themes running through a lot of those movies that Spielberg touched on repeatedly.

Most of those movies also have a really strong emotional core, regardless of whether or not they're great movies--they're all emotionally told stories. And, if Steven Spielberg is anything (and he's many things), one of them is that he might be our finest mainstream emotional storyteller. Perhaps one of the finest ever.

And so even if he didn't actually write that list, someone with a really, really keen grasp on film history and on Spielberg's filmography DID write that, and that's the most important part. It's a damn good list, period.

That being said, I completely agree with Scott. It would be really awesome to get these sorts of lists from some of these guys. It seems odd that more don't exist, actually. I'm making that a side-project of mine: assemble lists from great creators.

Great idea, Nate. Maybe we can all look for lists from writers and directors and compare notes.

I looked for a list of the films that Scorssssssssssese featured in his excellent "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies" but I couldn't find any. That would be a good start.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112120/

Just today, I received a must see movie list from Spike Lee when he taught a course at NYU in 2009. This looks totally legitimate. I will post tomorrow. And special thanks in advance to David for forwarding me the list.

Don't forget about Scorsese films "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies" (1995) and "My Voyage to Italy" (1999) in which he discusses and shows clips from many of the films which have "moved" and "intrigued" him.

Oh man, I'm glad I'm not the only one that misspells, "Coppola."

What if all of us GITS readers shared our, "Top Five Must See Films?"

@Nick: I like that idea. I've asked for favorite films in the past, but this is different. Movies a person feels like someone must see to advance their understanding of the craft of screenwriting.

That's a post worth doing. With a HT to you!

Actually, I'm suprised no-one takes this up as a smart way of re-packaging old movies. A sort of 'chosen by' series. You could stick three films on a single DVD -give each top filmaker a few volumes each - boxset them even. A lot of these are films that couldn't hope to make another dollar any other way and it would get them seen.

@Lazzard: Good idea. I know that TCM has that recurring feature where they invite a guest from the film industry to select a group of key movies they recommend, then interview them as an introduction to the screening of that movie.

Also in a later post, I have another idea about this subject.