Most Iconic Movie?

Obviously the 4 of us have a great love for all things media (media as in books, tv, movies, music-news is another topic not yet breached!). But it had to start somewhere! So my question this week stems from wondering what movie floats around our brains as the one that started us down this path. What movie made you love movies? What movie sticks out in your life as important to you? What movie defines you (in a sense)? What movie is iconic for you?

TOMMY BOY
Honorable Mention ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE
I first saw Tommy Boy when I was about 14. Honestly, I didn't have the most well rounded childhood when pertaining to music and movies of the time (the 80's). I was exposed to a lot of country and a lot of Neil Diamond and Fleetwood Mac. Newsies is really the only movie I knew much about, I didn't watch any of the big deal movies of the 80's until I was in college. We moved when I was around 13 and I met my (to this day) funniest friend Traci. She and I laughed about everything anyway, so it was only natural that she introduced me to Tommy Boy. She could already quote it when I finally watched it, but we still watched it over and over. It was what introduced me to sarcasm and physical humor and the genius of Chris Farley. "Richard!". There's of course the schmaltzy parts of the movie, but basically I love Chris Farley. He improved the movie exponentially, and I think that movie will be funny forever. Tommy Boy is my iconic movie because of the humor, because I learned to laugh, and because I think it's the first time I realized people in movies are actors as their jobs and real people in their lives, but WOW Chris Farley was good at his job. You would never know of his personal problems while watching, but what you did know is that he knew how to be funny.
Honorable Mention goes to Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and in part my husband and my's (I'm sure the grammar is wrong there somewhere) most beloved actor of all time-Jim Carrey. The guy is freakin' awesome. I'm so glad that this was already one of my favorite movies when I met Ben, it almost sealed the deal that he could impersonate him and could also quote the movie. Jim Carrey is a comedic genius.
To sum up my iconic movies-I love comedy! I love to laugh! And what's different about these movies is there doesn't have to be all the "I'm not wearing any pants, look at my junk for long periods of time, isn't that hilarious" bull%$&* that seems to be necessary in some of the recent comedies. They're just plain funny.

10 Things I Hate About You (Cory)

While I had loved movies before this, I think this was the first movie I endlessly quoted and bought with my babysitting money not only the tape but also the Soundtrack. I actually still love this movie a whole lot and it only got funnier as I got older. I was somewhere between 7th and 8th grade because we were in AZ and Andi Kortsen was still my best friend. I remember doing that whole lets watch my fave movie and I will watch you watch it because I want you to love it as much as me. I also fell hard for Heath Ledger in this movie, as in I am still falling. What can I say it was dry and witty and fun and the first time I found a movie like that. Even as I sit here so many quotes float through my head that are still hilarious. “I want you I need you ooh baby ooh baby.” “I like my Sketcher sneakers but I love my Prada backpack.” “But I Love my Sketcher sneakers.” “That is because you don’t have a Prada backpack.” “I know you can be overwhelmed, and underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?” “I think you can in Europe.”
I watched this movie so many times I could sing along with the soundtrack the day I got it, I could also recite most of the movie in a way that is really annoying to all others in the room. I had to take a 3 year sabbatical from it because it was just too much, we weren’t appreciating each other anymore. I tend to go for a whole lot of funny and some heart in my iconic movies.
Honorable Mention: That Thing You Do! I think we pretty much broke this tape. Indiana Jones still a staple in our household and the coolest professor I have ever seen!

Anchorman - The Legend of Ron Burgandy - H
Okay I need to start with an explanation because this movie I actually didn't watch until I went to college, and I was a movie lover long before that. So this movie didn't put me on the path to movies per se but it has definitely influenced. If I were to pick the movie that definitely got me loving movies or the one I watched so much of I got sick of it, it would actually be James Bond movies. Let me preface this by saying it's going to get gushy. When I was eight we moved out to Edgewood and got this fancy satellite for our new house. Before this I watched Disney movies but had not experienced the wonders of Spike TV and their Bond marathons. When we first moved into our house, maybe a couple years after once my sisters were gone or mostly gone (Abbey wasn't home much) dad and I would be up late Friday nights watching movies, and Saturday marathons would be on while we cleaned and then again when I got home from soccer. I think I have seen every single Bond movie and it totally kick started my love of those kinds of movies. To this day I will choose an action flick over anything (unless someone else is with me then it's whatev they want.) So that's my Honorable Mention: All Bond Movies.
Second Honorable Mention goes to Gladiator. It's fairly new as well but for me, that movie introduced me to the power that a movie's score can have on a film. Really make or break it. That movie was amazing but the music put it over the top.
Now. My pick. Anchorman. This is definitely top three funniest movies to me ever. I adore it. It never fails to make me laugh hysterically and really there are lines in there that can apply to any situation you're ever going to be in. "I don't know how to say this, but, uh....I'm pretty much a big deal." Here we were introduced to the character that is Will Ferrel. Granted it's been a little overplayed but this is where he shined. His humor was like a reinvention of Chris Farley. Really bringing the fun of SNL to the mainstream. And we cannot overlook the brilliance of being introduced to hilariousness in the form of Steve Carell. "Years later, some doctors will label me as mentally retarded." Oh man I love this movie. And it is iconic for me because it brought me to comedy. Before that I had never really been interested in it. Probably because funny can slip down the line to stupid really quickly for me....But this got me on a comedy kick that I love. Before this the only comedy I can remember seeing and liking was Airplane! After this film I saw the Ace Ventura's, Tommy Boy, all the good ones. It started a Heidi-revolution in movie watching.


Undercover Blues- Kara
It seems like one of the main criteria for this iconic movie title for all of us is quotable lines, and for me, "Undercover Blues" is it- I saw it first at a middle school youth group sleepover.  Two of my friends from back then still quote this movie with me, our favorite lines being:
"Do you know who this is?"
"No, but you have a really sexy voice!"  (Lots of fun to call each other and start conversations this way!)
Another classic- "Cute baby!  Is it a boy or a girl?"  "Gosh, I hope so!" 
The premise of the movie is Kathleen Turner and Dennis Quaid are a married couple who work as spies for the government, but they've had a baby and they're trying to be a normal family by going on extended maternity leave to New Orleans, where of course they find themselves in the middle of some big international espionage situation.  Oh, another great line, Dennis returns from a walk with the baby with the stroller completely destroyed and tells his wife he got in a knife fight with would-be pickpocketers outside the hotel.  "You took our baby into a knife fight?" his wife asks, to which he replies, "It was a fair fight, two of us, two of them."  Love this movie!  Throughout the movie, they wear the same pair of pajamas- Dennis walking around in the bottoms and Kathleen wearing the top of course, and I've often threatened to buy my friends' pajamas so they can reenact those scenes with their spouses.
I have several honorable mentions, most importantly Gettysburg, because I'm a huge history nerd and this movie showed me how well historical movies can be made.  Historical accuracy can be achieved without sacrificing entertainment value and can bring the past to life about as well as anything I've seen.  It also taught me about the power of music in movies, since I can still picture the scene where Robert Lee (played by Martin Sheen) rides through the troops before he sends them to their deaths in Pickett's Charge just by hearing the first few notes of that score.  Also, this movie (and the book its based on, Killer Angels) introduced me to two of my favorite historical figures- Joshua Chamberlain and James Longstreet.
Back in the comedy region, two other classics for me would be Fools Rush In and 10 Things I Hate About You.  These were some of the first movies I saw multiple times in the theater, and like Cory said, I purchased both the movies and the soundtracks.  I actually bought both of them on DVD recently because I don't think my old VHS tapes will make it much longer and the idea of not having these movies in my collection is a bit unsettling.