50 Movies That All Guys Should See Before They Die – A Modern Guide

March 26th, 2008 by Jon Roth

Classic movies like Bullit, Easy Rider, The French Connection, amongst others, are guy movies, but our list is a modern guide (past 20 years). The movies in this list are pretty much everything that chick flicks are not: any or all of bad ass cars, ass-kickings, kick-ass girls, scary monsters, super creeps, outrageous or immature comedy, with the occasional bit of real emotional or intellectual depth. It’s not necessarily about an award-winning film, though we’ve included lots of those. It’s about the elements of a guy movie. Some of these should be seen for the actors/ acting, some for the story, others for the cinematography or special effects, and still others for more obscure reasons that are harder to define well.

Enjoy, and feel free to commend us or tell us how dumb we are for forgetting YOUR fave guy movie. But beg, borrow, torrent, buy, rent, pay per view, and pass the buttered Orville, please. In each of the five main sections (#50-41, #40-31, etc.), to see a larger poster, trailer, and movie details, please click on the movie title.

Please also note that much of the content in these movies, and sometimes the video trailers, is intended for adults and might be occasionally be NSFW. View with discretion.

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27 Comments, add yours

27 Responses to “50 Movies That All Guys Should See Before They Die – A Modern Guide”

On March 27th 2008, Television Spy wrote:

Just the top ten of the main ones I’d say should be watched:
1) shawshank redemption
2) office space
3) fight club
4) godfather
5) scarface
6) goodfellas
7) se7en
The Big Lebowski
9) Kill Bill / Sin City / Grindhouse
10) 300
On March 27th 2008, Daniel Terestenyi wrote:

Please remove Natural Born killers, from the list. That is a much overrated film, not worth seeing before you die! Add Blade Runner, if it is not already on the list.
On March 27th 2008, Jon Roth wrote:

The list only covers the past 20 years (as stated in the first sentence). So 1988-2007. So some of the best “guy movies” ever are not on our list. It’s never easy to get everything – something always gets left off.
On March 27th 2008, Lawk Salih wrote:

Heat-aaah! What a movie.
On March 27th 2008, Tyler @ Building Camelot wrote:

Still a great list. I’d say I’ve seen about half of these movies…Looks like I need to add some movies to my Netflix queue.
On March 27th 2008, eric gieseke wrote:

kinda diffccult to generalize, the list is good but there’s so much more,
guy /girl bad ass i love watching /action most of these flix with gf!
she was the hottest..coolest gf i ever had, yea
On March 27th 2008, Jesse wrote:

Hey, I liked your idea of this list so I made the list in Netflix if anyone wants to rent them.

http://rss.netflix.com/ListRSS?id=P4684681932431816852130761529274622&listID=198738

The Fight Club movie is not the right one. I cant get it to pick up the right movie.

Also I think you need to add the Korean Film OldBOY to the list.
On March 27th 2008, Billy Me wrote:

Yeah this sucked balls….
On March 27th 2008, Dave wrote:

Crank?, I love Jason Statham, Snatch and Lock Stock in particular, neither of which make the list, but there is no way Crank is top 50 material let alone top 10.
On March 27th 2008, Koen wrote:

Please get the link to fight club right. It’s one of the most important in the list so it should have a correct link at least.
On March 27th 2008, Rod wrote:

Boondock Saints certainly deserves a spot on this list. Very good otherwise, though.
On March 27th 2008, Ramith wrote:

i know that some might not consider this an epic, but what about the rocky series? its great, and has to be one of the greatest guy movies of all time!
On March 27th 2008, bocaperro.com » Blog Archive » 50 peliculas que se cualquiera debería ver antes de morir wrote:

[...] Una lista bastante afín por lo menos a mi gusto de 50 peliculas que cualquier debería ver antes de morir, porque son todas muy buenas. [...]
On March 27th 2008, MikeD wrote:

where is scarface

you cant make a list like this and leave out scarface
On March 28th 2008, injustice wrote:

American Gangster higher than Donnie Brasco??? Pffthbbt! Donnie Brasco allowed a movie like American Gangster to be made. Fuhgeddaboudit.
On March 28th 2008, Ruel wrote:

add Azumi I and II , it is a Japanese action film
On March 29th 2008, Skribble wrote:

“36. Scent of a Woman. Pacino won the Best Actor Oscar in 1993 for his portrayal of the blind Lt. Col. Frank Slade, who loves living it up, including driving a Porsche at high speed.”

That’s a Ferrari he drives mate, great movie and great list by the way.
On March 31st 2008, Help, ik ben een man! « Debby Vervoort wrote:

[...] 31, 2008, 10:41 am Ingedeeld onder: lezers wegsturen, zever, gezever Ik heb bijna alle films uit deze lijst gezien. Ben ik dan nu officieel een man? Geen Reacties tot nu toe Plaats een reactie RSS [...]
On April 1st 2008, #44: A review of M83’s newest album Saturday = Youth, a preview of Son of Rambow, and MyFootballClub; has a good idea gone sour already? « thelump.net wrote:

[...] That was the week in lumps, a week in which: McKellen will be Gandalf again, Mr T can bring kids out of comas, Danish girls are free to go topless in pools and beaches, redheads have more sex than blondes and brunettes, Rick Astley is embracing the RickRoll’d phenomenon, Kevin Spacey isn’t happy with the beeb, and here’s a big list of 50 movies all guys should see before they die. [...]
On April 2nd 2008, Sav wrote:

Crank? Not sure that belongs in “Movies that must be watched before I die”. However, the fact that they are making Crank 2 and 3 says something about the media I suppose.
I’ve seen 46 of these so I guess I’m already in the stereotype category.
I like the description/summaries for the movies.
On April 9th 2008, C wrote:

Wow.
this is a really gay list
we should see more of these in the TOP 10.
300
Saving Private Ryan
Napoleon Dynamite? HELLO
S7even
Die Hard
War
I AM LEGEND
SCARFACE
GODFATHER
AMERICAN PIE
JACKASS
did a women make this?
o.o
if she did..
PUT IN
RUSH HOUR
FRIDAY, Friday after the next, …
THIS WAS A GEY LIST
On April 11th 2008, sullibe wrote:

Dude. I’m a girl and even I can tell this list has serious flaws for guy movies.

um….. Terminator 2, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The South Park Movie, Batman Begins, Clerks, Saw, the Matrix(just the first one), The Right Stuff, Akira(I know it’s ‘82, but puh-leeese)….the list goes on.

I mean if you’re going to come up with the quintessential guy movies at least acknowledge the most guys do enjoy quality (Training Day, really?)

And for the record, I enjoyed Casino Royale; any reason to see Daniel Craig naked is good enough for me.
On April 18th 2008, thedude wrote:

You forgot The Departed too that movie should be in the top 15
On May 27th 2008, RAJIV wrote:

I WANT TO THAT WHAT IS MEANING OF RETAIL AND HOW WE CAN ACHIVE OUR STORE TARGET
On July 11th 2008, 50 Movies That All Guys Should See Before They Die wrote:

[...] necessarily about an award-winning film…It’s about the elements that make up a guy movie.read more | digg story I Love Social [...]
On November 25th 2008, 50 filmes de menino « Pensamentos de Uma Batata Transgênica wrote:

[...] Batata faz um agrado e traz a lista do site Movie Crunch dos 50 filmes que os mano devem assistir antes de morrer [só para constar, eu o-d-e-i-o essa [...]
On June 17th 2009, Mitch Darnell, MA, OM wrote:

Freakin’ GREAT Site!!

…MY “Top 3 Gotta See”:
1. Tombstone
2. The Game
3. Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

- Mitch