Hi, all. I'm sorry the script list is so ugly: I'm working out how to format files and get info to Scott in a useful form. Future lists should get prettier as we go. Thank you for your indulgence in the meantime. A quick request on voting: please make it clear which of your votes are for FILMS and which are for SCRIPTS so it's possible to tabulate the votes. Thank you for all the fantastic suggestions that led to this mega-list, and happy voting.

Maybe I missed something - Why isn't Die Hard included on the film list?

If it isn't, it absolutely should be. And it should be on the Top 10 as it has served as a paradigm for a bunch of movies: Die Hard in a submarine, Die Hard in an airplane, etc.

My votes : Films - Avengers, Bourne trilogy, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Dark Knight, Face/Off, Get Carter, Haywire, Heat, Leon, Seven Samurai Scripts: Bourne Supremacy, Dark Knight, Die Hard, Get Carter, Speed Fiction books: Killing Floor, Marathon Man (if it's not too late, a website recommendation - for some reason I couldn't post in comments that day... The Graveyard Shift, run by police officer turned writer Lee Lofland, covers forensics and detection, but also posts on the actual experience of being a police officer - dealing with armed suspects, walking into scary situations, being first on the scene of a violent crime etc. Some excellent real-life experiences for writers to draw on...)

All errors and omissions are mine, chrisoakes. No idea why Die Hard isn't on the list, but agreed: it should be. (I can't edit the post but Scott can; perhaps when he has a second he can add it back in.) I'm going to quickly go and double check the list. If you notice any other glaring errors, please let me know. Thank you again for the catc.

Film: Bourne Trilogy The Bridge on the River Kwai The Dark Knight Die Hard Flight of the Phoenix Kill Bill 1 & 2 Lethal Weapon North by Northwest Raiders of the Lost Ark Saving Private Ryan

PS I did try to pull most of the scifi suggestions and put them aside for the upcoming scifi week.

Actually, in the spirit of transparency, let me expand on that: Originally, Scott asked me to winnow down the list to 20 films. Then, later, he decided to put up the full list. In the interim, I was looking for films that were obvious choices for other genres. (How did I do that? I went by the categories in the film's IMDB listing.) So, for example, "The Hurt Locker" was an early suggestion for the action list. IMDB lists it as drama / war / thriller. I pulled it from the action list. Not a perfect system, and not applied consistently at all to the action list, which was a learning experience. With the subsequent lists, rather than try to narrow the field, I tried to be as inclusive as possible. Those lists should have fewer surprises (I hope). In the meantime, if you notice an omission, speak up! It's probably my error. At the same time, if the movie in question is action-sci fi, or just not strictly speaking an action movie, I may have pulled it for a reason. Again, I'm going back through the original posts to see if I can find any unintentional omissions, and I apologize for any errors.

Here is the double-checked must-see film list, with pure sci fi, drama, thrillers, etc., put back in: let the voters decide! Scott, you may want to update this in the post if you have a minute. 1. 300 2. 5 Against the House (1955) 3. 48 Hrs. (1982) 4. 11 Harrowhouse (1974) 5. Air Force One (1997) 6. Airport (1970) 7. Alien 8. Aliens 9. Armageddon (1998) 10. Assault on Precinct 13 11. Avatar 12. The Avengers (2012) 13. Bad Boys 14. Bank Shot (1974) 15. Battleship (2012) 16. Ben Hur 17. A Better Tomorrow (1986) 18. Beverly Hills Cop 19. The Big Easy (1986) 20. The Big Heat (1953) 21. The Big Hit 22. The Big Steal (1949) 23. Blade (1998) 24. Blade Runner 25. Bond movies 26. Bonnie and Clyde 27. The Book of Eli 28. The Bourne Identity / The Bourne Supremacy / The Bourne Ultimatum 29. Blue Thunder (1983) 30. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) 31. Brotherhood of the Wolf 32. Bullitt (1968) 33. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 34. Call Northside 777 (1948) 35. Casino Royale 36. Charley Varrick (1973) 37. Chronicle 38. City of God (Brazil) 39. Code of Silence (1985) 40. Commando (1985) 41. Con Air 42. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) 43. D.O.A. 44. The Dark Knight (2009) 45. Dark of the Sun (aka The Mercenaries) (1968) 46. Day Watch (2006) 47. Death Wish (1974) 48. Deep Cover (1992) 49. Deep Impact (1998) 50. Deliverance (1972) 51. Die Hard 52. Die Hard III 53. Die Hard IV 54. The Dirty Dozen (1967) 55. Dirty Harry (1971) 56. Dr. No 57. Drive 58. Eagle Eye 59. Eight Diagram Pole Fighter 60. Elite Squad (2007) 61. Empire Strikes Back 62. Enemy of the State 63. Enter the Dragon 64. Entrapment (1999) 65. Exiled 66. The Expendables 67. Face/Off 68. Fast and Furious 5 69. The FBI Story (1959) 70. Fearless 71. The Fifth Element 72. Fight Club 73. First Blood (1982) (aka Rambo I) 74. Fist Of Legend 75. Five Came Back (1939) 76. The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) 77. Foxy Brown (1974) 78. The French Connection (1971) 79. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) 80. From Russia With Love (1963) 81. The Fugitive (1993) 82. Galaxy Quest 83. Get Carter (1971) 84. The Getaway (Peckinpah version) 85. Girlfight (2000) 86. Gladiator 87. Goldfinger 88. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly 89. Gorky Park 90. The Great Escape (1963) 91. The Grey (2011) 92. The Guns of Navarone (1961) 93. Hard Boiled (1992) 94. Hard Rain 95. Hannah (2011) 96. Haywire (2011) 97. He Walked by Night (1948) 98. Heat (1995) 99. Hellboy 100. Hero 101. Hopscotch 102. The Hot Rock (1972) 103. The Hunger Games 104. The Hunt for Red October (1990) 105. The Hurt Locker 106. The Incredibles 107. Inception 108. Independence Day 109. Inglorious Basterds 110. The Ipcress File (1965) 111. Iron Man 112. Joe MacBeth (1955) 113. K2 (1991) 114. Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2 (2004/2004) 115. The Killer 116. The Killing (1956) 117. King Kong 118. Kung Fu Hustle 119. La Femme Nikita (1990) 120. Lady Snowblood (1973) 121. The Last Boyscout 122. Last of the Mohicans (1999) 123. Lawrence of Arabia 124. Léon: The Professional (1994) 125. Lethal Weapon (1987) 126. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels 127. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1995) 128. The Lord of the Rings 129. The Lost Patrol (1934) 130. The Lineup (1958) 131. Mad Max (1979) 132. The Magnificent Seven (1960) 133. The Man From Nowhere 134. Manhunter (1986) 135. The Mask of Zorro 136. The Matrix (I) 137. The Matrix Reloaded (II) 138. Mission Impossible (1996) 139. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol 140. Moonrunners 141. Mountains on the Moon (1990) 142. Ms. 45 (1981) 143. The Naked Prey (1966) 144. Night Watch (2004) 145. North by Northwest (1959) 146. Oldboy (2003) 147. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) 148. Patriot Games (1992) 149. Pirates of the Caribeean 150. Point Blank (1967) 151. Point Break 152. Predator 153. Prime Cut 154. The Public Enemy (1931) 155. Quantum of Solace 156. The Raid 157. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 158. Real Steel 159. Red 160. Ricochet 161. The River Wild (1994) 162. The Road Warrior 163. Robocop 164. The Rock 165. RocknRolla (2008) 166. Rocky 167. Rumble in the Bronx 168. The Running Man 169. Rush Hour (1998) 170. Safe House (2012) 171. Salt (2010) 172. Saving Private Ryan (1998) 173. Sea of Love 174. Serenity 175. Seven Samurai (1954) 176. Shaft’s Big Score! (1972) 177. Shaolin vs Lama 178. Sherlock Holmes (2009) 179. Sin City 180. Source Code 181. Southern Comfort (1981) 182. Spartacus 183. Speed 184. Spider-Man 2 (Tobey Maguire version) 185. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965) 186. Star Wars 187. Supercop (aka Police Story 3) 188. T-Men (1947) 189. Taken 190. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three 191. The Terminator 192. Terminator II: Judgment Day 193. Thunderball 194. The Thomas Crowne Affair (1999) & (1968) 195. Three Kings 196. The Three Musketeers 197. This Means War (2012) 198. Titanic 199. Topkapi (1964) 200. The Towering Inferno (1974) 201. Transformers 202. Transporter II 203. True Lies (1994) 204. Twister 205. Unstoppable 206. Vanishing Point 207. Vertical Limit (2000) 208. The Victim 209. The Vikings 210. Wanted 211. Where Eagles Dare (1968) 212. The White Dawn (1974) 213. The Wild Bunch (1969)

I think Westerns should have their own genre, so The Wild Bunch and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are out. Here are my votes: 20 Blue Thunder 22 Bullitt 39 The Dirty Dozen 45 Enter The Dragon 57 The French Connection 84 The Getaway (Peckinpah version) 103 Moonrunners 112 Prime Cut 123 The Running Man 145 Vanishing Point

The problem is that there are more than 10 genre defining films in this list. IMHO, not necessarily my favorite movies but these are the most important in the sense of their influence, cultural impact, classic set pieces and generally just how much they've been copied: 1) Ben Hur 2) Bullitt 3) Dirty Harry 4) Star Wars 5) Raiders of the Lost Ark 6) 48 Hrs 7) Die Hard 8) Lethal Weapon 9) Predator 10) Matrix But you could have easily replaced some of these by Alien, Terminator, French Connection, Enter The Dragon, Dirty Dozen, Foxy Brown, Armageddon, Gladiator, Dr No, Towering Inferno, etc...

I agree with Kenneth, Westerns should be in their own catagory (which helped bring my list down to a workable number). Also, a lot of these I would classify more as Drama than Action (Rocky, Thomas Crown Affair, etc...) but that's just me: Die Hard Casino Royale The Avengers Raiders of the Lost Ark 300 The Incredibles Hunt for Red October Kill Bill Leathal Weapon The Rock

Shaula, I added Die Hard. That is going on the final 10 no matter what.

Die Hard Lethal Weapon Terminator 2 The Rock The Matrix Raiders of the Lost Ark The Bourne Identity Commando Predator Independence Day My votes for movies.

Ooh, realizing I left a Bond film off that list, which really can't happen... Un-voting for Commando, and voting for "Bond movie" (don't really care which as long the series is represented.) I'd probably go Goldfinger or Goldeneye, if I'm going off the top of my head.

This is awesome. I am excited. I am really curious into diving in diving in to writing rom-action. I'll like to see Mr. & Mrs.Smith in the list..along with Knight & Day. Anyways, I am taking this concept and applying it to my self. Here is my list 1. Taken 2. Die Hard 3. Lethal Weapon 4. Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid 5. Once upon a Time in the West 6. Bourne Identity 7. 300 8. Raiders of the Lost Ark 9. The Dark Knight 10. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

Wow, that was hard =D but I managed to decide, he it goes: 1. 300 2. The Dark Knight (2009) 3. Kill Bill vol. 1 & 2 (2004/2004) 4. Inglorious Bastards 5. The Matrix (I) 6. Inception 7. Star Wars 8. The Matrix Reloaded (II) 9. Avatar 10. Hellboy I was looking at the script list and the link to the Assassins script says the script has been removed :( Here goes my script list: 1. Blade 2. The Fifth Element 3. Kill Bill 4. Salt 5. Terminator (II) 6. Top Gun 7. Die Hard 8. Bourne Identity 9. Bourne Supremacy 10. The Dark Knight :)

Sorry, but old school action is just better than today's CGI action. Films to see: Goldfinger (or whatever Connery Bond tops this list) North by Northwest Lawrence of Arabia (I'm begrudgingly calling it an "action" movie) The Naked Prey Raiders of the Lost Ark The Road Warrior The Seven Samurai Spartacus Flight of the Phoenix (really an adventure film) The Bourne Identity (please don't include the awful sequels) I'm looking all over that list for Die Hard and not finding it. It's the best action movie ever made! I'd love to throw the 1933 King Kong and Tarzan in there too. And The General. Oh well...

Films: Dirty Harry Die Hard The Bourne Identity Vanishing Point Goldfinger The Rock Terminator II: Judgment Day The French Connection The Getaway (Peckinpah version) Deliverance