Here’s my list of the top ten gritty movies, or movies that either shocked me when I first saw them or made me wince. (These movies may not be so shocking now.):

1. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1990) — This movie features one gross scene after another. Perhaps, more unsettling than the ‘gross’ factor is how brutal the gross scenes are. I’m still wondering what the point was.
2. Born on the Fourth of July (1989) — This depiction of the life of a Vietnam veteran was really raw and riveting when I first saw it. It was pretty no holds bar, but maybe it was magnified because you were not expecting such a portrayal from Tom Cruise.
3. War of the Roses (1989) — This movie about a divorcing couple was so mean-spirited even until the very end –she wouldn’t even hold his hand as they lay dying next to each other. The brutality of this suburbanite couple (Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas) was shocking.
4. Cape Fear (1962) — Robert Mitchum is absolutely despicable. The innuendos in this film are really disturbing. A re-make of this film was made starring DeNiro but it wasn’t nearly as shocking.
5. Deliverance (1972) — This movie made the backwoods a scary place.
6. Platoon (1986) — Movies about the brutalities of war are a dime a dozen now, but this movie was the first one that I saw.
7. Midnight Cowboy (1969) — I don’t know what I was expecting when I saw this movie but this movie was pretty raw for the time with its tale of a male prostitute.
8. The Crying Game (1992) — A very different story than what is typically told. I wasn’t so much disturbed by the nude scene as by how the rest of the story proceeded.
9. The Sixth Sense (1999) — I’m still disturbed that Bruce Willis’ character was tormenting that poor little boy.
10. Dead Calm (1989) — This movie features perhaps one of the most disturbing auto accident scenes that I’ve seen depicted on film.

What are some other gritty movies?

UPDATE: I’m adding Audition to my list.