We all have a number of famous films we’ve somehow never managed to see. In an ongoing feature, we’re going to try to catch up with the most glaring omissions from our movie watching by the end of the year. Here, Sophie Brown comes clean about her Top 10 unseen…

It’s hard to list reasons why I haven’t seen these films because they generally fall into the same category of never finding the time. With the rich history of film, it can be difficult to retrieve all those years of brilliant filmmaking that passed before I reached my cinema-going age. Here’s a slice of some of the more mainstream big deals, cult films and old classics…

Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
With his wealth of experience in television crime dramas, Mann has a sharp ability for building tension. More recently, he displayed innovative talent with his strikingly different approach to a period gangster film in Public Enemies. His choice of HD format instead of 35mm stripped the film of the protective, ‘cinematic’ veil and exposed the action with a very raw, documentary aesthetic. His earlier film Heat has won critical acclaim for its impressive script and deftly structured, intricate narrative. Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer star in this mid-90s crime tour-de-force.

Road House (Rowdy Herrington, 1989)
The tag line is: ‘The dancing is over. Now it gets dirty.’ The captivating edge to Patrick Swayze’s performance as Bodhi, the adrenalin-addicted, system-smashing surfer in Point Break, was pushed to the wayside by his sensitive ‘dreamboat’ persona in films such as Dirty Dancing and Ghost. Road House rolled outside of my radar. Swayze plays Dalton, a man hired to straighten out a rowdy bar in Missouri. His role may not be as anarchic as Bodhi’s, but this film has a cult following nonetheless. After mentioning to a friend that other day that one of my favourite film lines is: ‘Back off Warchild, seriously,’ she told me Road House was definitely one to watch.

Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976)
Sylvester Stallone’s screen presence never really struck a chord with me. But with regards to my lack of experience with Rocky, there are times I feel like there’s something missing. This film is considered by a number of people to be a classic and it emerges in countless situations and topics. I saw a brilliant Greek film at the Brighton Film Festival called Dogtooth, in which a young woman’s (unhealthily delayed) first taste of the outside world is through a viewing of Rocky. Rocky was hugely successful at the box office and it turned Stallone into a major star, so there must be something in there.

Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971)
‘You’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?’ Clint Eastwood is a detective dealing with high levels of crime and serious incompetence among his bosses. Following its release, this film had a colossal influence on future cop films, music and the popularity of guns. It also raised controversial questions about the topic of police brutality. A contentious action film with supposedly fascist undertones, a brilliant script and tremendous popularity. Sounds like a risky combination.

The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
This is the number one film in the British Film Institute’s Top 100, beating thousands of other films in cinema history, so it certainly rates as a must-see. Graham Greene wrote the screenplay and Orson Welles stars in this film noir. Shot in an expressionist style, the story unfolds in post-World War Two Vienna, following the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Welles’ character Harry Lime.

Enter The Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973)
Enter The Dragon was Bruce Lee’s final film, released six days after his death. The film is now protected as a ‘culturally significant’ piece of cinematic history by the National Film Registry. Lee was dynamically involved with the production of this film, writing and directing parts of it, and it’s considered to be one of the greatest martial arts films.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)
It’s come as a surprise to find out what a Spaghetti Western is: a politically incorrect slur for a genre of Western films that were mostly made in Spain by Italians. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly divided critics upon its release, but it‘s now considered to be one of the greats in cinematic history and it’s Quentin Tarantino’s number one film.

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)
This film featured Robert Redford and Paul Newman as bank robbers on the run. Redford went on to start a film festival that’s now one of the most important for independent film – the Sundance Film Festival, which is held annually in Utah.

Monty Python’s Life Of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979)
On most occasions I’ve had a conversation about films with an American, they begin to rave about Monty Python: ‘I love those guys, they’re so awesome!’ When it inevitably emerges that I haven’t seen any of the films or television programmes, their faces fall. It’s as if I’ve shattered their belief that every one in Britain lives and breathes Monty Python and we’re left with nothing to bridge the gaping chasm between our cultures. The reality is that I’m ashamed I haven’t seen it, with its comedy greats and legendary, influential humour. The controversy that surrounded the film’s release is intriguing and their reinterpretation of the severe censorship barriers they faced all over the world is brilliant: ‘So funny, it’s been banned in Norway.’

The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
With Hollywood greats Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart and Cary Grant in the leads, this film stands as a glowing figurehead of classic cinema. It’s one of the early romantic comedies, a genre that has been reduced to pulp over the history of cinema and become the butt of many a joke. I indulge in romantic comedies occasionally as a guilty pleasure and always feel the need to justify the viewing to others as an experiment. But these classic Hollywood films radiate an enchanting visual beauty and presence that modern productions often struggle to recapture. Adapted from a hit Broadway show, this film was nominated for six Academy Awards, with Stewart winning Best Actor, and provided a platform for Katherine Hepburn to relaunch her career. It was later adapted into the musical High Society, starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. It’s considered to be one of the great ‘comedy of remarriage’ genre films – a term coined by American film philosopher Stanley Cavell, who argued that beneath the screwball humour there was an emphasis on love presiding over economic necessity and an emerging focus on one’s personal journey.

Do you have a famous film you’ve never got around to watching? Email popcorndoublefeature2009@googlemail.com or Tweet @PopcornDouble with your confession. Then you’ll have no excuse not to watch it…