One thing that many of us have been given during this pandemic is time – staying at home and not being able to do our usual social activities means… more time to sit around and watch movies. Without those long work commutes or the endless friends’ birthday parties, now is the perfect time to finally watch those 3 hour long epics that you’ve never gotten around to seeing.
Long movies tend to be the ones we put off – they’re often heavy, and even if we have the time for it, we may not have the attention span. But watching a 90 minute film versus a 3 hour one can be what reading a magazine article is to a novel. A great lengthy film doesn’t feel bloated as much as it feels necessary – drawing out the detail and texture that requires the essential ingredient of time. It’s no accident that many of these films are themselves based on novels, and not surprising that many of these films are among the greatest ever made.
Here is a list of movies to start with – each at least 2 hours and 45 minutes long (and many with intermissions so you don’t have to worry about bathroom breaks) – along with a suggested double feature if you really want to make it a movie ultramarathon.
Honorable Mentions
Giant; Heat; 3 Idiots; Gone with the Wind; The Irishman; Magnolia; Lord of the Rings: Return of the King; Braveheart; Saving Private Ryan
10. Casino (1995)
Runtime: 2h 58m; Available to rent now
Call Martin Scorsese the king of the gangster flicks. His underappreciated 1995 film isn’t as renowned as his classic Goodfellas, but at nearly 3 hours long it gives us plenty to savor. Many long movies are a slow burn but Casino is a straight flamethrower. The cast is absolutely stacked, headlined by Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci as east coast gangsters Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro coming to Vegas to run and grow their casino operations. But it’s Sharon Stone’s Ginger McKenna who steals the movie as arguably the greatest movie mob moll of all time.
Make it a 6 hour double feature with…. Brian De Palma’s classic Cuban gangster film Scarface (2h 50m). Al Pacino combines Rothstein’s flashy clothes with Santoro’s penchant for violence and turns it up to eleven as the famous Tony Montana: “Say hello to my little friend!”
9. Malcolm X (1992)
Runtime: 3h 22m; Streaming now on HBO Max
Based on Alex Haley’s 1965 “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, this feels like a written autobiography, with a richness of detail and an unflinchingly honest examination of the life of Malcolm X. Lee does not shy away from the more controversial parts of Malcolm X’s past actions and beliefs. Sometimes wild and funny and sometimes searing and introspective, the almost 3.5 hours fly by. This is one of the best films Spike Lee has ever made, and that is saying something.
Make it a 7 hour double feature with…. Another classic 90s true story, Oliver Stone’s JFK (3h 26m) is an achievement in editing. Stone takes some liberties but the storytelling is an impressively constructed tapestry that draws you in without feeling like conspiracy bait. Streaming now on HBO Max.
8. The Deer Hunter (1978)
Runtime: 3h 3m; Streaming now on Peacock Free
Michael Cimino’s anti-war film, interestingly, only spends about an hour of wartime in the Vietnamese jungles, but it is harrowing enough. The first and third acts, covering the pre-war and the anti-war period, reveal the torturous and transformative effects of war on a group of friends in a small Pennslyvania coal mining town, who get separated and sent off to the war. You should steel yourself emotionally before watching this one, but it is well worth it.
Make it a 6 hour double feature with…. A fellow three hour anti-war war movie – Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (2h 50m). It is a completely and utterly immersive and lush experience, with an unforgettable score and a gigantic cast. Malick effectively conveys the chaos and the loss of humanity of war, less by physical violence and more by an internal moral reckoning.
7. Barry Lyndon (1975)
Runtime: 3h 7m; Available to rent now
Stanley Kubrick is maybe the greatest filmmaker to ever live, and when he aimed, he did not miss. Barry Lyndon, Kubrick’s longest film and also his most underrated, is a gorgeous and intricate literary period piece set in late 18th century Europe that isn’t really about very much at all – following the title character as he meanders through life and various things happen to him. It is wickedly funny, unpredictable, and utterly unique.
Make it a 6 hour double feature with…. Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (3h), another rags-to-riches character study and opus on greed and remorselessness (but with exponentially more cocaine and ludes).
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
Runtime: 3h 58m; Available to rent now
Watching Client Eastwood be a badass for four hours never gets old, especially when Sergio Leone is directing. The last film of the so-called “Man with No Name” trilogy, this movie is iconic and groundbreaking in so many ways. It boasts one of the all-time legendary scores, classic opening credits, and the most famous Mexican standoff in film history. A sweeping and stylish story that is filled with a complex sense of morality,The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly doesn’t just hold up, it is remarkably rewatchable.
Make it a 7 hour double feature with…. Once Upon a Time in the West (2h 45m). Leone and Ennio Morricone are at it with another grimy spaghetti western, this time without Eastwood but featuring a hugely impressive cast, featuring not only a strong female character but the deepest emotional stakes out of any of Leone’s westerns. Streaming now on Amazon Prime.
5. Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013)
Runtime: 3h; Available to rent now
Abdellatif Kechiche’s epic (and controversial) love story is intimate and vulnerable, starring the doleful and innocent Adèle Exarchopoulos and the older Léa Seydoux with sensational performances. It is about self exploration and identity as much as it is about first love, and you go through the enchanting peaks and the heartbreaking valleys of a relationship. The extensive use of close ups make the butterflies and conflict and turmoil jump off the screen and pierce your heart. A true testament to arthouse films.
Make it a 6.5 hour double feature with…. Titanic (3h 30m). One of the great tragic love stories ever committed to film, dripping in charm and drama – James Cameron’s smash hit is slightly indulgent but undeniably enjoyable, even if there was plenty of room for Jack.
4. Hoop Dreams (1994)
Runtime: 2h 50m; Streaming now on HBO Max
Steve James’s intensely personal documentary follows two black teenage boys over the course of their four high school years in the projects of Chicago, chasing their basketball dreams. Athletics is often seen as one of the few ways out of intergenerational poverty in black America, and through the eyes of these adolescents and their families, we see the stark hardships of the world around them in the form of crime, drugs, poverty, as well as the little joys in life that they cling to ever more resiliently and desperately.
Make it a 6.5 hour double feature with…. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (3h 34m) – the legendary, Bunyan-esque figure of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion of the world, gets the full Ken Burns treatment. Johnson’s importance and impact on the racial history of America, combined with his relative anonymity, makes this essential viewing.
3. Yi Yi (2000)
Runtime: 2h 53m; Streaming now on the Criterion Channel
Edward Yang’s sprawling yet intimate slice-of-life masterwork follows a middle-class family living life in Taipei, with each generation looking to the the past and the future, each trying to make their way through this world, one day at a time. There is no one better than Yang at making Taiwan feel so lived in. This film is authentic, wistful, and quietly philosophical – a piece of art that you have to spend time with and pay attention to in order to absorb every little bit. Yi Yi is one of the cinematic treasures, full of life.
Make it a 7 hour double feature with…. Yang’s other opus, A Brighter Summer Day (3h 57m), is grittier and less tender than Yi Yi, but just as patient and novelistic, if not more so. Yang explores the lives of Taiwanese teenage gangs in the streets of 1960s Taipei with empathy and nuance. Streaming now on The Criterion Channel.
2. The Godfather (1972)
Runtime: 2h 58m; Available to rent now
What is it about gangster movies that makes you feel like you can watch them forever? Based on the 1969 Mario Puzo novel, Francis Ford Coppola’sThe Godfather is not only one of the best films of all time, it’s also one of the most influential and quotable. It is a masterpiece that transcends generations. Coppola turned the gangster genre on its head by giving us an unadulterated look at the inner workings of the Italian-American mob, focusing on psychological motivations rather than just the physical acts of crime and violence. Just like the characters in the film, you can’t help but get sucked in.
Make it a 6.5 hour double feature with…. The Godfather Part II (3h 22m). It’s almost unfair that what many consider to be the greatest film of all time was followed up with the consensus best sequel of all time. This film is even more ambitious, not only continuing the story from the first film but adding Robert De Niro to play the young Vito Corleone in the flashback storylines. That’s like adding a prime Kevin Durant to an already dominant Warriors championship team.
1. Seven Samurai (1954)
Runtime: 3h 27m; Streaming now on the Criterion Channel
Akira Kurosawa’s story of desperate villagers gathering a band of samurai for protection is a timeless epic that has everything you could want in a film – action, romance, drama, comedy, tragedy. It is an inspiring tale of courage and sacrifice and togetherness that, incredibly, keeps on building and building. Seven Samurai has been parodied and copied countless times, but the original still stands apart as (my pick for) the greatest film of all time.
Make it a 7 hour double feature with…. Kubrick’s classic Spartacus (3h 18m), a sword and sandals film of a very different sort, but deals in similar themes of freedom, love and sacrifice. Streaming now on Peacock Free.
