Norman Geras is running one of his polls again. The latest one is for favourite films of all time (deadline January 18th). So get over to Normblog and cast your votes (up to ten). Here are mine, in no particular order except that the first on the list is my all-time favourite (with All About Eve probably my second choice):
The 400 Blows (Francois Truffaut)
All About Eve (Joseph L Mankiewicz)
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz)
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
The Third Man (Carol Reed)
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)
The Tenant (Roman Polanski)
Boyz N The Hood (John Singleton)
Diva ( Jean-Jacques Beineix)
Lift to the Scaffold (Louis Malle)
I adopted a private one-entry-per-director rule, though, which limited my Hitchcock nominations, and I was really conflicted about which Louis Malle film to choose (Milou en Mai gets one aspect of France so right). And I’m puzzled that Stanley Kubrick didn’t end up on my final list.
I had not seen “The Tenant,” and I was pleased when I read a few months ago that it would be arriving on DVD. (Bruce Campbell says that it is one of his favorite films.). However, upon seeing it, I was immensely disappointed. Where’s the brilliance? Oh, well. Your other picks, though, are stellar.
Yes, nice list.
Ten, eh? I’ll give it a shot, in not much order.
It’s A Wonderful Life.
The Wizard Of Oz.
Casablanca.
Lawrence Of Arabia.
Citizen Kane.
The Godfather I and II.
La Grande illusion.
Double Indemnity.
The Bicycle Thief.
North By Northwest.
11: The Seven Samurai.
Oh, something has to come out for me there so Duck Soup can go in. I guess Citizen Kane.
I don’t mean to start an extended favorite movie thread here, but my duty to Art requires that I plug Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy as the single greatest achievement in film and also my favorite movie(s).
Lists of favorites are funny… I read this post and I immediately began thinking of movies I would put on such a list. I have no way of knowing however if these are actually the movies that I have enjoyed most in my life, or just the ones bubbling to the surface at the moment. Is such a distinction even meaningful? I will follow the 1 film per director rule.
The Lifeboat (Hitchcock)
The Stranger (Welles)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (Cuaron)
A Night at the Opera (Marx)
Mildred Pierce (Curtiz)
Rio Bravo (Hawks)
The Killing (Kubrick)
Brazil (Gilliam)
I guess that’s it — 8 for me bubbling up right now. Ask me another day, get a different answer. BUt “Lifeboat” would still be at the top. Best movie ever.
Oh okay, and how about #10: The Seven Samurai (Kurosawa). (And the whole list it should be emphasized, is ordered randomly by what order I thought of them.) (Well except for the top of the list; “The Lifeboat” is actually the best movie of all time, not just the first one I thought of.)
And as long as I’ve submitted a #10, I should probably back up and include #9, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Bunuel).
John Isbell—it goes without saying that The Seven Samurai is number eleven on everyone’s list of ten.
The Eleventh Commandment (Keita)
The May Lady (Bani-Etemad)
Black Market (Telmassani)
I Like it Like That (Martin)
Do the Right Thing (Lee)
Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang)
Yi Yi (Yang)
Flames (Sippy)
What Have I Done to Deserve This (Almodovar)
Destiny (Chahine)
While I was reading this, Turner Classic Movies was running their montage of great movies. Maybe if I could do 100 I could do justice to a best movies list. But I’ll do one anyway. In no particular order (except for number 1):
“The General” (Buster Keaton)
“Jaws”
“North By Northwest”
“Casablanca”
“The Empire Strikes Back”
“Lawrence of Arabia”
“It’s a Wonderful Life”
“The Evil Dead 2”
“Citizen Kane”
“Harvey”
“Dude, Where’s My Car?”
Ok, I’m kidding about the last one. If you want to make things more difficult for yourself, look at this list of 100.
City Lights
The Wizard of Oz
Pinocchio
Sullivan’s Travels
My Darling Clementine
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Singin’ in the Rain
Dr. Strangelove
The Godfather
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Films cited so far which I’ve never seen:
Y Tu Mama Tambien (Cuaron)
The Evil Dead 2
Everything on Drapetomaniac’s list except ‘Do the Right Thing’.
Movies that I can watch over and over without getting bored, and always find something new:
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, of course)
The Blues Brothers
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek: First Contact
Pride and Prejudice (I know it’s not a movie, I don’t care)
Bull Durham
Death Takes a Holiday (1932?)
Casablanca
Henry V (Branagh)
Tina
I think you’re criteria would be the one I would apply. My list of movies I’ve seen 10 times or more and still love
1. Rocky (it is unfair to evaluate this great movie based on its poor sequels)
2. Enter the Dragon
3. Up in Smoke
4. Animal House
5. The General (1927, Buster Keaton)
6. Chariots of Fire
7. Personal Best (it’s basically Chariots of Fire with lesbian americans in the 1970s instead of English twits from the 20s)
8. Star Wars (it was a tough call vs. ESB but that had no ending and Return of the Jedi sucked)
9. The Matrix
10. The Naked Gun (Yes, its stupid, but its great. When I saw it in the theater it had ten times the burst out laughter of any movie I’ve ever seen in the theater.)
Excellent lists so far, my “movies to watch” list is now ridiculously long.
Here are my top ten (in no particular order):
Fight Club
The Usual Suspects
Michael Collins
Boondock Saints
2001: A Space Odyssey
JFK
Niagara, Niagara
Apocalypse Now
Mad Max
Battle of Algiers
‘Fanny and Alexander’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’ are two that haven’t been mentioned above which would be among my top ten.
Here is a list of movies that I believe are fantastic. I’d hate to make a ‘Best 10 Movies of All-Time List’. Most people would leave out foreign films, which would be a huge mistake. If you’re looking for good social commentary, start here:
Gattaca
Memento
Boondock Saints
Chasing Amy
Butterfly Effect (in theaters)
American History X
The Graduate
Finding Forrester
Apt Pupil
Baxter (French Film, and just for the hell of it)
I’ve actually been maintaining a list on my PC for years - pared down, it looks like this:
The Best
Citizen Kane
Do the Right Thing
The Conformist
The Conversation
The Crying Game
2001
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Nashville
The Tin Drum
Secretary
Honourable mentions:
Smiles of a Summer’s Night, Crumb, What have I done to deserve this?, Madness of King George, The Usual Suspects, Withnail and I, Shooting Party, Jesus of Montreal, The Straight Story, Matewan, The Sting, Cabaret, Taxi Driver, Mephisto, Hannah and her sisters, Zelig, Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, 9 Queens, Le Colonel Chabert, In the Name of the Father, City of Women, Apocalype Now, Memento.
Worst movie of all time: Eraserhead in the art house; Family Business in the multiplex. Though anything by Peter Greenaway or US analogue David Lynch (with the shining exception of The Straight Story) would do.
My favorites generally coincide with a very minute amount of themes and some films, depending on setting (courtroom drama, halls of power) bore me to tears regardless of the strength of their mise-en-scene or plot. Like many of you, I’ve filtered out directorial overlap… much to my chagrin.
Bedazzled (Donen, 1967)
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
Branded to Kill (Suzuki, 1967)
The Ruling Class (Medak, 1971)
China Is Near (Bellocchio, 1967)
Diabolik (Bava, 1968)
An Actor’s Revenge (Ichikawa, 1963)
The Bad Sleep Well (Kurosawa, 1960)
Vij (Ptushko, 1967)
The Reckless Moment (Ophuls, 1949)
The Duellists (Scott, 1977)
Rififi (Dassin, 1954)
Le Corbeau (Clouzot, 1943)
The Phantom of the Paradise (De Palma, 1974)
Angel Face (Preminger, 1952)
Sebastian (Greene, 1968)
Niagara (Hathaway, 1953)
The Conformist (Bertolucci, 1970)
Mystery Street (Siegel, 1950)
Grisbi (Becker, 1954)
The Devil & Daniel Webster (Dieterle, 1941)
Giants & Toys (Masumura, 1958)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (Fuest, 1971)
Blow Up (Antonioni, 1966)
He Who Gets Slapped (Sjostrom, 1924)
Not all-time as much as just off the top as they came:
do des ka den
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La Strada
The Seventh Seal
Chinatown
Godfather 3
North by Northwest
Steamboat Bill Jr.
A Touch of Evil
Big Fish
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