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North by Northwest (1959):

The corn field chase, the United Nations building sequence and the Mount Rushmore climax. It could be argued that outside of Psycho, North by Northwest is the most iconic movie Alfred Hitchcock ever made. Cary Grant stars as Roger Thornhill, an advertising executive who gets mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies. While Thornhill is on the run, he befriends Eve Kendall, a sexy blonde who may or may not be in cahoots with the Communists after Thornhill. For a movie that is over two hours, Hitchcock keeps it moving at a brisk pace, interspersing action bits or moments of suspense. If you’re looking for Hitchcock movies like North by Northwest, check out The 39 Steps and Spellbound and Saboteur, which are very similar in tone and feature man-on-the-run plot lines.

The Big Lebowski (1998):

Taking the mistaken identity plot and turning it on its ear, the Coen Brothers deconstruct the film noir like never before with one of my favorite comedies of all time. Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is a hapless stoner who spends his time bowling and hanging out with his friends Walter (John Goodman) and Donny (Steve Buschemi). When a couple of mobsters mistake him for a millionaire named Lebowski, The Dude gets caught up in a kidnapping plot and many other nefarious deeds. With dialogue very akin to His Girl Friday and enough “F bombs” to give a priest a heart attack, the movie is consistently hilarious throughout its run-time, a rare feat for a movie.

The Great Dictator (1940):

In Charlie Chaplin’s first talkie, he decided to take Hitler down a peg. This satire has Chaplin playing both the role based on Hitler and a Jewish barber who is constantly persecuted. Obviously, they look exactly alike, which leads to the two getting switched and the Jewish barber having to give a speech in front of the entire country. What could now be perceived by hopeless cynics as overly heavy handed (watch more old movies pessimists; a lot of them aren’t exactly subtle), Chaplin looks directly into the camera and delivers a 5 minute speech begging for World War 2 to stop, and it’s darn heartbreaking. Of course, there are still many great Chaplin routines, but it’s the political message that will always be remembered.