My vote is for the movie "Metropolis"--if you're talking about influence on other movies. I've seen the themes and images from that movie crop up over and over again all my life... even as recently as the movie "ANTZ".
From a commercial perspective, the first porn movie was probably very important. I suspect that the first porn movie was probably the second ever movie
I gotta vote for 'Eraserhead' by David Lynch. A commercial flop, no real social or political significance, just an all round bizarre movie.
I'd like to add I like all of Lynch's work ....
Charlie (except for Dune) Monoxide
"Female Ankles Exposed! On stereo-opticon!"
"Oh my God! I saw her shin!" *faints*
"I too was a friend of Jamis."May your blade chip and shatter!
Hey I just saw that documentary. "It" said that Kurosawa made more money off the lawsuit than any one of his films. (not that money is the measure)=1984
May I choose a director? Japanese director, Akira Kurasawa.
Inspired by the Hollywood Western genre, his Seven Samurai (1957) was, in turn, adapted to the Magnificent Seven (1960). Leone stole his plot for Yojimbo (1961) to make A Fistful of Dollars (1964), and lost a court action to Kurasawa over the matter.