There are many great movies, but only occasionally does a movie come along that has a large and lasting impact on the films that follow. These 12 movies are worth watching—or rewatching—for their cinematic importance, not just their quality…

Avatar (2009). Many films made in recent decades have incorporated computer-generated visual effects. This one digitally created an entirely new world, ushering in a new form of visual storytelling and making the unbelievable seem real.

Influenced: Life of PiGravityHugoPrometheusInception.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008). This British film, shot in India, grossed more than $140 million in the US, proving that a subtitled foreign-made film could become a major hit in the US even if it wasn’t an action-oriented martial arts movie.

Influenced: Even Hollywood movies with foreign settings are becoming more likely to include subtitles, including ­Inglourious Basterds and Million ­Dollar Arm.

The Blair Witch Project (1999). Not all influential movies are great movies. This horror hit ushered in the era of “found footage” films…for better or for worse. Found-footage films aren’t supposed to look slick and professional—they’re designed to seem as though they have been filmed by amateurs using shaky handheld cameras. Fans of the genre argue that this adds realism and allows independent filmmakers to make movies even if they lack big Hollywood budgets—Blair Witch was reportedly made for around $60,000, and it grossed nearly $250 million worldwide. Detractors point out that shaky cameras can be annoying for viewers and that the acting and pacing of Blair Witch left something to be desired.

Influenced: Paranormal ActivityThe Last ExorcismCloverfield. ­(Cloverfield actually was a big-budget Hollywood film designed to look like a small-budget found-footage film.)

Toy Story (1995). Prior to Toy Story, the consensus in Hollywood was that computer-generated animation was too cold and sterile to move an audience the way great Disney-style hand-drawn animation can. But Toy Story proved beyond question that computer animation can indeed have warmth and emotional range. Now almost all animated films are made on computers.

Influenced: Almost every major animated film of the past 15 years, such as Frozen and Pixar hits such as Wall-E and Finding Nemo.

Pulp Fiction (1994). Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece had a swaggering, audacious style that filmmakers have been trying to replicate ever since, with mixed results. Pulp Fiction’s multiple interlocking storylines told through a fragmented time line have been much imitated, too.

Influenced: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking BarrelsSnatch.

Star Wars (1977). George Lucas’s original Star Wars film used a plot based in classical myth and legend to revive the fantasy and science fiction genres. It also made possible many of the special effects films that followed. Industrial Light & Magic—the company that Lucas launched to produce Star Wars‘s ­visual effects—would go on to create the visual effects for many other huge hits, including the Jurassic Park and Harry Potter franchises.

Influenced: Almost any big-budget science fiction or fantasy picture made in the past 35 years can be traced back to the success of Star Wars, but it is ­sci-fi and fantasy films rooted in the hero’s journey of classical myth that owe it the greatest debt, including The MatrixClash of the TitansLabyrinth…and even The Lego Movie.

Blazing Saddles (1974). This Mel Brooks film helped set the stage for the modern joke-a-minute anything-for-a-laugh parody. It became a benchmark against which many later comedic filmmakers would measure their work.

Influenced: Airplane!The Naked GunAustin Powers films.

Psycho (1960). This Alfred Hitchcock film might seem tame compared with some of today’s blood-­splattered thrillers, but in 1960, it was incredibly daring. Psycho tested the boundaries of what was allowed on screen—which encouraged future thriller and horror filmmakers to push even further. Psycho also broke from traditional narrative structure, undermining audience expectations about the direction the plot would go and which characters were safe.

Influenced: Cutting-edge, violent 1960s films such as Bonnie and Clyde and The Wild Bunch might not have been made without Psycho.

Shadows (1959). John Cassavetes’s directorial debut was an independent feature made at a time when such films were rare and had a difficult time reaching audiences. Shadows lacked Hollywood polish but delivered real honesty and intensity of emotion. It showed a generation of young and aspiring filmmakers—including Martin Scorsese—what American cinema could be.

Influenced: Cassavetes has been called the father of the American independent film movement and set the stage for many of the small, independent films of the 1960s and 1970s. His work inspired mainstream filmmakers as well—Scorsese has pointed to Shadows as an influence for his Mean Streets.

Stagecoach (1939). The beautiful ­cinematography, innovative camerawork and masterful storytelling of Stagecoach all were highly influential at the time. Stagecoach also breathed new life into the Western genre. Until it came along, Westerns were widely dismissed as little more than low-budget cowboy films for kids and rural audiences.

Influenced: Famed filmmaker Orson Welles was so inspired by Stagecoach that he watched it repeatedly during the making of Citizen Kane—the film many people consider the greatest ever made. And the success of Stagecoach set the stage for the classic John Ford/John Wayne collaborations that followed, including Fort ApacheShe Wore a Yellow Ribbon…and The Searchers.

The Jazz Singer (1927). It’s remembered today as the first talkie, but The Jazz Singer was really a silent movie that featured a few sound sequences. Still, prior attempts to add sound to movies had met with mixed success, and before The Jazz Singer, most Hollywood insiders believed that talking pictures were just a fad. The silent parts of this film can be challenging for modern viewers—and a scene with star Al Jolson in blackface can be uncomfortable to watch—but nearly 90 years later, ­Jolson’s incredible charisma still shines.

Influenced: The Jazz Singer could be considered an influence for every sound film that followed—which is virtually every film that has been made in the past 85 years, as the era of the silent movie was essentially over by 1930. The Jazz Singer also paved the way for Al Jolson’s future movies, including MammyThe Singing Fool…and Go Into Your Dance.

The Birth of a Nation (1915). Director D.W. Griffith’s silent masterpiece elevated cinematic storytelling to a new pinnacle. It established some key techniques that filmmakers have used ever since, such as cutting between multiple interwoven storylines. Unfortunately, the overt racism of The Birth of a Nation casts a shadow over Griffith’s achievement as it glorifies the Ku Klux Klan. One could argue that it’s better to confront the difficult parts of American history than ignore them…but if you can’t get past this, you could try Griffith’s Intolerance instead.

Influenced: Every feature film of the past century.

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