52 Reasons Why Jurassic Park Might Just Be the Greatest Film of all Time

31. "They're flocking this way..."

Biggest of '93... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYyNDWjIivo Jurassic Park made nearly a billion dollars at the international box office ( $914,691,118), temporarily becoming the highest-grossing film of all time and ensuring that Chris Columbus comedy Mrs. Doubtfire (above) was not the biggest film of 1993.

32. "Mr. DNA! Where did you come from?"

Killer VHS set... I was never lucky enough to own it myself (I had the standard VHS copy seen in the picture) but the so-called DNA Case version was pretty spectacular for the time: a briefcase containing, among other things, a watch and a replica InGen security pass. There weren't that many gimmicky box sets of this kind back in those days so I remember being pretty impressed. Incidentally, this was the first film I personally owned on video.

33. "Does someone go into the park and pull up the dinosaurs skirts?"

They found a wealth of extras for the DVD... Not only was this the first film I bought on the format (in a lovely slipcase with The Lost World that I still own), but it remains one of the best packages on DVD in terms of extras and beautifully presented menus. The highlight is a very candid documentary made sometime in 1992, in which you see Spielberg taking a production meeting with effects guys and altering their ideas. It's a great look at his creative progress which is especially impressive seeing as it wasn't a film he was especially enthusiastic about making, as mentioned previously.

34. "I'm afraid those things will harm me/'Cos they sure don't look like Barney"

Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh4zvQfDhi0 Not one of Weird Al's best but it's nice to see a (admittedly crude) clay animation version of the film to accompany this parody of MacArthur Park (a song first recorded by actor Richard Harris).

35. "You crazy son of a bitch, you did it"

Another classic scene... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJlmYh27MHg&feature=related What a moment, shot by a master craftsman who understands that delaying that reveal, as we see the characters' reactions first, is crucial to building up our excitement. The music is, as already mentioned, especially effective in this scene.
Contributor
Contributor

A regular film and video games contributor for What Culture, Robert also writes reviews and features for The Daily Telegraph, GamesIndustry.biz and The Big Picture Magazine as well as his own Beames on Film blog. He also has essays and reviews in a number of upcoming books by Intellect.