Which Film Have You Seen More Times Than Any Other?

The filmic equivalent of "comfort food."

For hardcore movie fans, it's our mission to watch as many motion pictures as possible - some we watch just once and that seems like enough. How many times is it necessary to sit through Antichrist, after all? Critic Pauline Kael famously watched a movie only once before writing her reviews, and never went back for seconds; she liked to see movies the same way that her audiences would. Of course, Kael operated in a time when it was far more difficult to revisit a picture you liked. Nowadays, the rise of DVDs, Blu-ray, Netflix and such has made it super easy. And yet, there are some movies that we find ourselves drawn back to, time and time again. What is it, exactly, about these pictures that results in us revisiting them for a second, third, fourth or even tenth time? What about them makes it possible for us to relive the same filmic moments over and over without the material feeling stale or tedious? Granted, it probably goes all the way back to personal taste; how a certain movie connects with a certain individual. Re-watching a movie you connected with makes you feel good because it plays to your own inhibitions. Most people have probably seen their "favourite" film more than any other, which usually means that a person's most watched movie is one from their childhood. It has been surmised that a person's favourite film tends to be one they watched in their transformative years - at around age 14. But "favourite film" and "most watched film" don't always go hand in hand... sometimes the films we revisit more than any other are those that we find simply easy to watch. Even if Seven Samurai is your favourite flick, it's possible you've seen Anchorman more, right? So tell us: which film have you seen more times than any other? Let us know in the comments section below.
Contributor

Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.