True or False : Rewatchability Impacts "Greatness" For You?

One viewing of The Usual Suspects was enough for it to completely destroy my "movie IQ", thank you very much.

I think movies are situational. There is an objective measure to judge them by (as discussed in the thread on objectivity), but whether or not one holds up on rewatch - or works on a first watch - isn't entirely based on merit, but also your personal experiences and what you had for breakfast that day.

I mentioned Causeway in the aforementioned objectivity discussion, which I like a great deal. Objectively it's functional - there are no structural issues, plot holes, etc. that I was aware of - but it isn't very well regarded in general because it is so quiet and slow and simple. However, the struggles of the protagonist related to my personal experiences in a way that they likely wouldn't for a lot of people. The place I came from put me more in tune with the movie's presentation and themes than others, so I really liked the movie.

When it comes to rewatching, personal experiences change over time. Nikon may have closely resonated with the experiences faced in Almost Famous, but now he's old and pudgy and his favorite movie is Grumpy Old Men. (As a man of culture, I always preferred Grumpy Old Men.) The movie hasn't changed, but he has.

There are movies that have structural issues that become apparent on rewatch, of course. Sometimes the resolution to thematic throughlines is nonsensical, there are plot holes, etc. And sometimes a movie encourages you to rewatch it to mull over its ruminations (these are almost invariably dull movies imo - if you can't hook the audience into what you're doing on a first watch, you have no right to bludgeon them into accepting that they should like it on another go). So there are exceptions, but generally people just change over time. Add on top of that the fact that new things are almost always more stimulating than old things (although trolling on whether or not Denzel Washington deserves GOAT status never gets old for some people) and sometimes the newness of an experience doesn't "hold up."

Maybe? But maybe this is a different thing altogether, but I think movies need to be seen more than once to really get the full effect of them. To have everything properly wash over you and get inside your brain. There are so many things that can impact your viewing of a movie that once is never enough. Whether you loved it or hated it or somewhere in between after a first viewing, you should watch it again at some point down the line because you never know if your opinion will change.

At the same time I think any movie can be re-watchable to someone. It just depends on the person. It all follows along with the old adage "one man's trash is another man's treasure." A lot of people love and re-watch Marvel movies over and over while many others hate them after one watch and never return. Doesn't impact the greatness for the people who love them. So, like I said, it all comes down to the individual's opinion.

It's more like a cherry on top for me and there have been some things I liked a lot better on a rewatch. But a powerful first viewing means a lot for me and I have respect for movies that get that kind of first reaction, so I'm not going to downgrade something I loved the first time based on rewatches.

Like Kael, I don't rewatch movies that often. I tend to absorb movies as pure sensations, so rewatches can feel stale unless I've had some time away from the film. I rewatched films alot more when I was a kid and there were access issues (i.e. you had to go to Blockbuster Video to get new shit, rather than just turning on your computer), so yeah I watched Home Alone 1 and 2 a zillion times, the Star Wars OT, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, etc. But as an adult, I don't really do that for any films, regardless of how much I esteem them.

I am not of this mind at all - some great experiences are great because of their length. People rewatch The Lord of the Rings and Godfather movies over and over because they love how in depth the stories and worlds get. Same deal with television - there's never too much of a good thing.

I don't think rewatchability is a requisite for a film to be great - I think United 93 is a masterpiece but it gives me a fucking panic attack so I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to see it again - but if a film fails to hold up then it fails to hold up. I was never big on The Usual Suspects but I know other people who've expressed what you mentioned and I think the idea is that the ending works as a magic trick that leaves the audience on a high but on rewatches the trick is dead and the high the audience initially had is not present anywhere else in the film. It happens sometimes where a film sustains itself on misdirection and doesn't work as well once you know the trick being pulled, it loses the enchantment that other films that don't rely on such tactics can pull.

But anyway, I rewatch movies plenty. It doesn't really stop me from watching new movies or finding new challenges, and I do like to take apart why I like a movie or simply enjoy being in some more than others. My list of favorite films isn't necessarily my list of most rewatchable movies since the context is different for what I'm rewatching - whether I'm seeing it with others, seeing it for a revival, anniversary, etc. - but there are definitely movies I love more after knowing them forwards and backwards.

^ Pretty much this.

A film doesn't need to have high rewatch value for me to consider it great, but rewatchability is the main factor I considered when compiling and ranking my personal top 50. My ranking method was to pit films against each other two at a time and then either ask myself which film do I see myself rewatching more in the long term, or which film would I be more sad about never rewatching ever again, and then work my way to the top that way.

Doesn't matter to me one iota. If it did, I'd have to rewatch... well, everything in order to see if my initial impression was correct. I rewatch plenty of movies but that's more out of necessity: I forgot most things about them, it's been too long since I saw them, etc. I do believe in the phenomena of wearing a movie out so I don't really feel the need to check if something "holds up". First impressions are usually the most important ones anyway.

But of course it's great when some movies keep pulling you in or always have something different in store when you revisit them. I've seen my favorite film (8½) maybe five times and none of those rewatches have been the same. Maybe it's a reflection of me changing but what matters is that the movie attains new colors every single time and keeps playing anew. Which is of course a sign of a great one.

I already am considering a Ryan's Daughter (idk, to me really revealed itself by the very end when the picture was complete) but the next 3-hrs. slot for Mr. Lean has to be a new one like Doc Zhiv right?... right?

I don't know, I remember thinking Marketa Lazarova was great when I saw it 8 years ago but all I remember about it now is its cinematography. Retaining info is hard. Ask me 10 years from now what I think of William Wyler's Detective Story and I'll say I have to see it again. 

Stett makes good points though. So many internal and external influence your experience with a movie that I only fully trust my feelings on a film if I've seen it a couple times at least, but there's only so many hours in a day and hundreds of movies I'm still trying to see for the first time.