So thanks again to Jonathan on getting this all put together. It was loads of work and we all appreciate it and it seems to have turned out quite nicely. I’m pretty happy with the list as I scan the titles. A few titles left off that I’d like to have seen and some that shouldn’t be there, but it’s a nice alternative list with lots of great entries. Kurt and I will discuss the list a bit on this week’s Cinecast (episode 57).
89 8 ½ (Fellini, 1963)
88 Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog, 1972)
87 Leon (Besson, 1994)
86 Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958)
85 Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)
84 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Capra, 1939)
83 To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962)
82 Manchurian Candidate, The (Frankenheimer, 1962)
81 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1992)
80 North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959)
79 King Kong (Cooper/Shoedsack, 1933)
78 Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
77 Ed Wood (Burton, 1994)
76 American History X (Kaye, 1998)
75 Maltese Falcon, The (Huston, 1941)
74 Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993)
73 Conversation, The (Coppola, 1974)
72 Bicycle Thief, The (De Sica, 1948)
71 Graduate, The (Nichols, 1967)
70 Network (Lumet, 1976)
69 Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)
68 Rules of the Game, The (Renoir, 1939)
67 Do the Right Thing (S Lee, 1989)
66 Heat (Mann, 1995)
65 Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson, 2001)
64 Aliens (Cameron, 1986)
63 Silence of the Lambs, The (Demme, 1991)
62 Incredibles, The (Bird, 2004)
61 A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)
60 Apartment, The (Wilder, 1960)
59 General, The (Keaton/Bruckman, 1927)
58 Passion of Joan of Arc, The (Dreyer, 1928)
57 Unforgiven (Eastwood, 1992)
56 L.A. Confidential (Hanson, 1997)
55 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
54 Shining, The (Kubrick, 1980)
53 M (Lang, 1931)
52 Memento (Nolan, 2000)
51 Bridge on River Kwai, The (Lean, 1957)
50 Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
49 Big Lebowski, The (J. Coen, 1998)
48 Sunset Blvd. (Wilder, 1950)
47 This is Spinal Tap (Reiner, 1984)
46 Run Lola Run (Tykwer, 1998)
45 Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
44 E.T. (Spielberg, 1982)
43 Singin’ in the Rain (Donen/Kelly, 1952)
42 Searchers, The (Ford, 1956)
41 Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The (Leone, 1966)
40 Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
39 Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968)
38 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Forman, 1975)
37 Princess Bride, The (Reiner, 1987)
36 Usual Suspects, The (Singer, 1995)
35 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Gilliam/Jones, 1975)
34 Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
33 Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
32 Annie Hall (W. Allen, 1977)
31 Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985
30 Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988)
29 Third Man, The (Reed, 1949)
28 Matrix, The (Wachowski/Wachowski, 1999)
27 Wizard of Oz, The (Fleming, 1939)
26 Schindler’s List (Spielberg, 1993)
25 Eternal Sunshine of theSpotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)
24 Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962)
23 Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1996)
22 It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)
21 Apocalypse Now (Coppola, (1979)
20 Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
19 Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
18 Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
17 Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
16 Shawshank Redemption, The (Darabont, 1994)
15 Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
14 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
13 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Lucas, 1977)
12 Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
11 Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)
10 Alien (R. Scott, 1979)
9 Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)
8 Godfather Part II, The (Coppola, 1974)
7 Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
6 Blade Runner (R. Scott, 1982)
5 Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
4 Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
3 Dr. Strangelove or: How ILearned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick, 1964)
2 Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
1 Godfather, The (Coppola, 1972)
Voters and participants - THANK YOU GUYS AND GALS!
Adam Kempenaar - Film Spotting
Adam Bonin - Throwing Things
Adam Ross - DVD Panache
Alex Vo - Rotten Tomatoes
Andrew Dykstra - Movie Patron
Andrew James - Movie Patron
Anne Thompson - Variety | Thompson on Hollywood
Brendan Connelly - Film Ick
Collin Smith – That Movie Site
Damian Arlyn - Windmills of My Mind
Dan Eisenberg - Cinemathematics
Daniel Johnson - Film Babble
Dennis Cozzalio - Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule
Domenic Lanza - Cinema Fusion
Edward Copeland - Eddie on Film
Gareth Watkins - Film Rotation
Goran S - Y Kant Goran Rite?
Ivan G. Shreve, Jr. - Salon
Jack Denault - That Movie Site
James Davie - That Movie Site
Jared Vega – Cinema Fusion
Jay Cheel - Film Junk | The Documentary Blog
Jeff Warner – That Movie Site
Jeffrey M. Anderson - Combustible Celluloid
Jennifer Yamato - Rotten Tomatoes
Jim - Talking Moviezz
John Allison - Film Grotto
John Campea - The Movie Blog
Jonathan Burdick - Cinema Fusion
Kevin Carr – Film School Rejects
Kurt Halfyard - Twitch
Marina - Mad About Movies
Martin - Film Ick
Matt Gamble - Cinema Fusion
Matt Holmes – Obsessed With Film
Mediamelt - Film Rotation
Misael Soto - Movie Patron
Nathaniel R - Film Experience
Neil Miller – Film School Rejects
Orrin Konheim - The Sophomore Critic
Pat Piper - Lazy Eye Theatre
Peter Nellhaus - Coffee Coffee and More Coffee
Peter Schiretta – Slashfilm
Roger McDorman - A Drinking Song
Ross Miller – Movie Patron, MovieWorld
Sean Dwyer - Film Junk
Serena Whitney – JoBlo
Shane Thompson - That Movie Site
Sledge - Film Ick
Steve Bland – Cinema Fusion
Ted Pigeon - The Cinematic Art
Tim Bennett - That Movie Site
Tim Footman - Cultural Snow
Vic Holtreman - Screen Rant
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I am, for the most part, content with the list. Although I am ashamed to admit I haven’t seen a WHOPPING 47 movies on the list! But I am gonna make it my mission to see every single one of the movies on the list that I haven’t seen already.
There are some adbsent that I thought were automatically going to make it onto the list in some way. Example of that are:
Saving Private Ryan - I was utterly GOBSMACKED that this didn’t make it!
Requiem for a Dream
Donnie Darko
Se7en
Mulholland Drive
OLBDOY!!
CITY OF GOD!!
American Beauty
Batman Begins
Snatch
And many, many more….
7 of MY Top 10 made it onto the list and 40 of the films I had on my ranked top 100 list made it onto the final list - so I am content.
Ross,
I am shocked too about a couple of those. SPR actually came in at about 106 and American Beauty at about 168.
I’m pissed (though not surprised) that Godfather came in at #1. Most over-rated film in history. Not only did it come in at #1, it was on FAR more voters’ lists and had a higher score than any of the films after it BY FAR.
Every title after Godfather were pretty close in contention (i.e. neck and neck throughout the entire vote tallying process). But it was clear right away that The Godfather would blow everything else out of the water. I still don’t get it.
Fun list, although I should really cut and paste it into Excel and check it against the IMDb top 250 (It looks familiar, although thank goodness that The Shawshank Redemption is not in the top 10!)
Heh. I’m not a gigantic fan of The Godfather either. It was on my list though and belongs somewhere on a top 100 for sure. Given the choice, i’ll take Citizen Kane over it though. For my money, Coppola’s The Conversation and Apocalypse are more compelling films, but I acknowlege the affect of The Godfather on the American Psyche as much as those other two films.
As I mentioned on last weeks show, the bottom 20 of the list is always more interesting than the top 20 - films that are canonized almost beyond contention. As much as I love Casablanca (and I love the film, particularly the supporting cast), it doesn’t belong in the top 10.
I hate to be the contrarian here, but most of my top 10 was in the bottom 30 on this list, perhaps massive points boosts even put them up there.
And neither Saving Private Ryan or American Beauty belong on that list. (Maybe the opening minutes of SPR, but not the rest of the film). American Beauty has not aged well. I think “Happiness” or “Little Children” have aged better (not that Little Children is all that old mind you).
I don’t think it is fair to excuse a film because it hasn’t aged well. I mean are you telling me the original King Kong or Psycho has aged well? Especially the latter - the violence is VERY dated and yet other aspects very much warrants it to be on the list. I think American Beauty should have been on the list, for sure.
Easily the most “wtf” on the list is at #23 with Fargo. Love the Coen Bros. but Fargo? And its rated better then Annie Hall, Princess Bride, Raging Bull, etc… It shouldn’t even be on the list at all. That throws me off from taking the list seriously… but there are some great ones in there!!
I agree with Ross on the whole “aged well” thing. I love American Beauty and totally agree it should make the list somewhere.
As for SPRyan, I was captivated by the entire film. Not once was I even close to being bored. Yes, the opening sequence is maybe the best part, but everything that happens afterwards is so much more important (from a character depth and story standpoint).
And Adam, “Fargo” is brilliance personified.
I also think “Star Wars ESB” is higher on the list than is “A New Hope” becasue of the age group of voters. I bet 90% of the voters saw ESB in the theater as a kid, but were too young to have seen ANHope in the theater. I think this skews their thoughts on which is better.
Well, I wasn’t even born when the Star Wars films came out and I’ve always felt The Empire Strikes Back was the best of the trilogy with the most iconic moments - especially one of my favorite parts of any film ever: “I love you.” “I know.”
Anyway, plenty of people are getting their panties in a bunch over this list, but I think that’s because some people take lists too seriously. It’s a fun list. Maybe a little predictable at points, but you can’t call having Ed Wood, Leon, L.A. Confidential, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, or Aguirre, the Wrath of God predictable.
Yes, I’m a little flabbergasted that Paul Newman (my second favorite actor EVER) was more or less snubbed: Hud, The Hustler, Butch Cassidy, The Sting, The Verdict, and ESPECIALLY Cool Hand Luke were all overlooked. What a shame. The lack of foreign films is indeed disappointing, but the reason they’re left off makes sense: our access to foreign films is limited compared to English-speaking ones and it seems that everyone had their 10-20 foreign films that they loved and voted for - but they were all different and thus canceled each other out, whereas other films like The Godfather made nearly every list regardless. Of course other all-time favorites of mine such as The Great Silence, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Deer Hunter, Le Samourai, Once Upon a Time in America, Downfall, Harvey, The Twilight Samurai, The Elephant Man, Samurai, Rope, High Noon, Ikiru, The City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, and so on were all overlooked and didn’t make the cut… yet, I’m still happy with the list. I think it’s interesting and unique, despite many of the predictable choices.
Yes, I’m actually proud of this list.
When talking how a movie has aged, I’m more in line with the fact that the films significance has dropped off, not the acting, style, etc. etc.
I’d be the first to argue that King Kong 1933 has aged REMARKABLY Well, certainly ditto on The Third Man, Citizen Kane, And yes, Psycho too (only fault with Psycho is the needless denoument which has not aged well, by my criteria…the rest of the film is great).
Fargo is an American Classic much the same way that Citizen Kane and The Godfather is, and quite a cinematically austere film. Totally belongs in the upper bounds of the list.
What surprises me is the lack of Douglas Sirk and John Frankenheimer - Sure The Manchurian Candidate is there, but I’d much rather the man have more than one title up there, SECONDS should have been on the list. In terms of very modern films, I’d have liked to see City of God and The 25th Hour there too. C’est La Vie.
Oh, and Empire beats the cinematic tar out of A new hope, whether you were old enough to catch them on the original theatrical run or not!
Kurt - WRONG!!!
Star Wars is better than TESB. Yoda looks like a muppet and I’ve always felt Darth Vader being Luke’s father is ridiculous.
In fact, No.s 4, 6, 7, 9 & 10 should not be in the Top 10, though they should be on the list.
Everyone talks about the greatness of the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan. I’ve always felt the final battle was even better. So many deaths in that sequence are the most harrowing I’ve seen in any war movie.
Wow - Empire has the dual split narrative, much better acting, Hoth and Cloud city are more interesting locales and the love triangle. Not going to argue further, as my passion for starwars has cooled in the past 10 years (mainly due to the gawd-awful prequels and Lucas’ constant tinkering upgrading and indifference to the original version of his film that people loved. Well that and a growing interest/awareness of just how much great cinema is out there to dwell on Lucas and company seems a little silly.
I agree with your last two points, triflic.
But Star Wars (the 1977 one) is a childhood favourite and inviolable when it comes to criticism. Empire just doesn’t compare.