What movie best depicts what it's like to be a man?

"The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".

For us on DL it's Mary Poppins.

For DL I thought it'd be On the Bowery

Brokeback Mountain

What does OP's question even mean?

'Death of a Salesman'

Dawson’s 50-Load Weekend

She's the Man

"Norma Rae"

.....

Deliverance

All About Eve

The Shawshank Redemption

Yentl

Searching for Bobby Fischer

New Jack City

The Trouble with Angels

“Lifeguard,” starring the ever manly Sam Elliott.

The Devil is a Woman

This is a great thread idea OP! (not said in jest).

What makes a man? I think women have the advantage here movie-wise. Women complain they don’t understand their husbands. Society tries to understand male angst. What’s it all about?

I need to give it more thought, but I believe the answer may be in one of the English “angry young man” or “kitchen sink” type movies. Maybe Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner. Don’t Look Back In Anger.

On the Waterfront. Rebel Without A Cause. East Of Eden.

Maybe not so much an anti-hero but just a good guy.

The Pursuit of Happyness.

It’s tricky because you have different stages of life. Gay choices would be quite different than straight...

C’mon guys, don’t sell OP short and laugh this topic off with cheap jokes. This is really a deep, philosophical question.

What sums up the male identity in a 2 hour long artistic representation?

Agree with:

On the Waterfront. Rebel Without A Cause. East Of Eden.

We spent ages figuring out and displaying and celebrating the feminine mystique, and FORGOT THE MEN, with our good feminist intentions!

Goodfellas. Seriously. It captures a species of toxic masculinity perfectly.

I agree r23. But we always focus on that aspect. What would be a more well rounded choice? The delicate nuances of male sensitivity as well as the brutality?

'This is really a deep, philosophical question.'

Talk about cheap!

I smell a war movie as a possible choice.

Can’t think of a good one.

It’s hard because I can’t really relate to these types of movies and/or I dislike them.

Mascs weigh in!

The coming of age ones are obvious, but that leaves out the regret, the failings, negative emotions of midlife.

Real humdinger OP!

Little Miss Sunshine:

Yeah femmes get lost! You're not men! Not what I call MEN!

I want to see a sissy boy fuck a woman like in that movie Tea With Crackers.

When that young man starts drooling over those tits I want to cry like a baby.

r26, The Thin Red Line

What about Eyes Wide Shut

500 Days of Summer

Some Like It Hot. Masculinity has always been a duplicitous and fatal ideal.

Wouldn't that be what it's like to be a transvestite sharing a berth with Marilyn Monroe?

Or like The Sound of Music best depicts what it's like to be a postulant in a Rogers and Hammerstein musical?

Field of Dreams

Men hate women

"Mommie Dearest"

No movie ever made portrays what it's like to be a MAN!!!

Fight Club

Sideways is an interesting look at male friendship, with its secrets and bargains. Also the low-key sadness of lonely middle-aged men.

Fish, stay off this thread.

Save the Tiger.

Mr. and Mrs. Bridge.

Mad Men.

The Best Years of Our Lives.

To Kill A Mockingbird

HUD.

Dawson's 50 Load Weekend.

I can't think of a feature film that does this well but if it's depictions rather than format you're interested in I'd recommend the TV series The Detectorists.

For a black perspective, try LUV with Common and a slew of high-profile black actors.

I think a lot of people get put off by the ending, which is actually a bit surreal in how it speeds up (in a matter of hours) the shift from boy to man and all the necessary toughness it entails.

I assume Atticus Finch jerked off - a realively young man, stressful job, two high-maintenance kids. Single. He had some alone-time late at night Probably 3-4 times a week?

12 Angry Men

The dark side:

"Listen you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up. Here is . . ."

Network

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Sidney Lumet knew his stuff.

I wasn't aware men had psyches different than women's.... Lol. Let's just cancel this heteronormative thread...

"Tootsie"

"Lone Star" (along with most John Sayles' films)

"The Crying Game"

"Paris is Burning"

1990.

A fun, FIERCE, and FABULOUS way to be a man!!!

Men are a mistake.

Cabin Boy.

Some times I think it's "American Psycho".

[quote] Goodfellas. Seriously. It captures a species of toxic masculinity perfectly.

Good one.

A lot of Scorsese's films do that. Ragging Bull comes to mind.

Company Man.

The Deer Hunter.

Bicycle Thief.

Fat City

Paris, Texas

October Sky--a sentimental choice but it never got the attention it deserved. We could do a whole subthread on movors about fathers and sons.

Stand By Me

The Outsiders

The Longest Yard

Reservoir Dogs

The Fountainhead

The Big Lebowski

Rocco and his Brothers

Tunes of Glory

Full Metal Jacket

R50, I agree with Tootsie. Dustin Hoffman supposedly thought up the idea himself. He wondered what life experiences men miss out on just by being men. He thought it would be interesting to play a character forced by circumstances to impersonate a woman, who would then experience life from a woman's point of view. Hoffman's character of Michael Dorsey eventually comes to realize that by impersonating a woman, having experienced life from that side, made him a better man.

I think Victor/Victoria explores similar themes that Tootsie does, but more from a gay perspective than Tootsie's feminist perspective. James Garner as King Marchand has fallen in love with Julie Andrews as Count Grazinski and has to fake being gay to continue seeing her. In living this ruse, he starts to see there's more than a one-size-fits-all approach to being a man, which makes him more accepting.

r48 Network was Chayefsky, but I agree.

Apocalypse Now

The Outsiders

The Great Santini

Fight Club

Boys N the Hood

Do The Right Thing

River's Edge

Breakfast Club

Spartacus