THE ESSENTIALS WITH ROBERT OSBORNE & RICKSTER. Actually, in my capacity as Pope Hilarius II I have been invited to cohost TCM's recurring program called THE ESSENTIALS in which Robert Osborne and myself choose those movies which we feel are "essential viewing". My movie choices will air after the current series cohosted by Rose McGowan finishes up. I hear that Ole Robbie saw my recent blog entries on my favourite 100 films and got the idea of having a major religious icon like myself pick some essential movies. Obviously it was a ratings booster for sweeps week! After all, my gams are ten TIMES better than Rose's! While the list won't necessarily coincide with my 100 favourite films, I am choosing the films which I feel are essential movies; and funnily enough many of them DO NOT appear on my top 100 faves list. So here they are: a list of those films which I feel are "essential viewing":

• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• The African Queen (1951)
• All About Eve (1950)
• Amadeus (1984)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
• And Then There Were None (1945)
• The Apartment (1960)
• L'Avventura (1960)
• The Awful Truth (1937)
• The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
• The Band Wagon (1953)
• The Body Snatcher (1945)
• Born Yesterday (1950)
• Brazil (1985)
• Brief Encounter (1945)
• Once Upon A Time in the West (1968)
• A Canterbury Tale (1944)
• Casablanca (1942)
• The Cat and the Canary (1927)
• Cat People (1942)
• Chinatown (1974)
• Citizen Kane (1941)
• City Lights (1931)
• Curse of the Cat People (1944)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
• Dead of Night (1945)
• Gun Crazy (1950)
• Desk Set (1957)
• Destry Rides Again (1939)
• Dinner at Eight (1933)
• Double Indemnity (1944)
• Duck Soup (1933)
• L'Eclisse (1962)
• Educating Rita (1983)
• Executive Suite (1954)
• Fatso (1980)
• The Flowers of Saint Francis (1950)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Get Carter (1971)
• The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
• Giant (1956)
• Gilda (1946)
• The Godfather (1972)
• Grand Hotel (1932)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Harold and Maude (1971)
• The Haunting (1963)
• His Girl Friday (1940)
• Holiday (1938)
• How Green Was My Valley (1941)
• I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
• In Cold Blood (1967)
• The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
• The Informer (1935)
• The Innocents (1961)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• It's A Gift (1934)
• It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
• The Italian Job (1969)
• Johnny Guitar (1954)
• Ju-On (2000)
• The Killing (1956)
• King Kong (1933)
• Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
• Throne of Blood (1957)
• Bicycle Thieves (1948)
• Laura (1944)
• The Lion In Winter (1968)
• Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)
• M (1931)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• Mary Poppins (1964)
• A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
• Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
• The Mummy (1932)
• Murder, My Sweet (1944)
• My Darling Clementine (1946)
• My Dinner With Andre (1981)
• My Fair Lady (1964)
• My Man Godfrey (1936)
• Night of the Demon (1957)
• Night of the Hunter (1955)
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• The Ninth Configuration (1980)
• Now, Voyager (1942)
• The Old Dark House (1932)
• On Borrowed Time (1939)
• Onibaba (1964)
• Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
• Out of the Past (1947)
• Phantom Lady (1944)
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• Pickup On South Street (1953)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
• Quatermass 2 (1957)
• The Quiet Man (1952)
• Raw Deal (1948)
• Rear Window (1954)
• Red River (1948)
• Repulsion (1965)
• Rio Bravo (1959)
• Rosemary's Baby (1968)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
• Sabrina (1954)
• The Scarlet Empress (1934)
• The Searchers (1956)
• The Seven Samurai (1954)
• The Seven Year Itch (1955)
• Shirley Valentine (1989)
• Singin' in the Rain (1952)
• Wild Strawberries (1957)
• Stagecoach (1939)
• Summertime (1955)
• Sunset Blvd. (1950)
• The Sunshine Boys (1975)
• Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
• The Tall T (1957)
• Them! (1954)
• The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
• The Thing from Another World (1951)
• Three Little Words (1950)
• To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
• Trouble In Paradise (1932)
• The Trouble with Harry (1955)
• Umberto D. (1952)
• Vertigo (1958)
• Viaggio In Italia (1954)
• Wait Until Dark (1967)
• The Woman in the Window (1944)

CHECK YOUR LOCAL LISTINGS!