For example Dirty Harry and its sequel Magnum Force.
Great all around films but what I really like about them is how they get me thinking about the concept of Justice, and about how Harry deals with justice and the limitations of our judicial system.
The Dirty Harry movies get me thinking about how much the film industry has changed since that movie was first released.
If you think aobut Dirty Harry, that movie is still great but in today's movie climate I bet it wouldn't be as well embraced. It's actually a pretty subtle, respectable movie compared to what passes for police action movies today. Dirty Harry is the movie I always point to when I have conversations with my friends about how far the movie industry has, and hasn't, come in all this time.
Das Boot - a great film to get you thinking about how war isn't so black and white.
Try the original mini series that was edited down to make the movie. Das Boot is a great movie, but I thought the series was even better. Tons of decompression, which is perfect for getting you into the mindset of those German submariners.
I don't think, because of the German laws against the use of the symbol, there wa one single use of the swastika in the film. I remember Prochnow saying 'we're not Nazis, we're Germans' as a way to avoid the usage while remaining true to the actual sentiments many German soldiers had at the time. Great stuff.
A few thought provoking movies, all done by Mr. Eastwood
Unforgiven
Flags Of Our Fathers
Letters To Iwo Jima
Million Dollar Baby
Gran Torino