I can’t do Best Film lists. Somebody recently asked me to—a former student—it was sweet of him and all—but I can’t. They’re so embarrassing. You no sooner put down a title than you feel like an idiot—really, this is the BEST film ever made, of all films from all nations, in all genres, for all time, the very BESTEST??
Best Film lists are in the news lately because the BFI—that’s British Film Institute for those non-film-snobs among you, and thank you for your non-snobbery—has announced to the world, via its toffish publication Sight and Sound, that Citizen Kane is no longer the Best Film Ever Made. It WAS the Best Film for decades, since 1962 to be exact. But no longer!
Now it’s Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s insightful mind-fuck. Citizen Kane is merely the SECOND-BEST FILM EVER MADE in what we sadly call “human history.”
So you see what I mean by how stupid all this is. I mean, Citizen Kane is an excellent first film by a newbie, no question; it’s lively, and a great catalog of the state-of-the-art 1941, because young Orson Welles wanted to do everything you COULD do in film plus a few things people said you couldn’t. But Best Film of all time? That’s just silly. It’s not even clearly the best feature film DEBUT, not when you factor in George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, and Nicholas Ray’s They Live by Night, and other brilliant firsts.
But then, no matter what damn film you put down, you’re wrong, you’re being arbitrary, you can’t possibly defend it seriously. And even so, even if you can bracket all that off for the sake of giggles and enjoyable arguments on social media (“You horse’s ass, you think _______ is the Best Film ever made????”), you have to face the fact that naming Best Films brings out the worst in everyone. It’s actively BAD for us, as human beings, and we’re a species defined by our propensity for rottenness even without provocation.
This is because when asked to name Best Films, people inevitably get nervous and sweaty and don’t want to look unejjicated, and therefore they conform themselves to despicable, desiccated high culture standards that should’ve died out decades ago, and name the usual suspects: Citizen Kane, and 8½, and Tokyo Story, and all that other lofty art cinema stuff we force-feed you in Film History 101. (We have to do it—those films were important in their times, and highly influential and all—we ain’t lyin’—but that doesn’t mean we all have to worship them forever like holy relics.)
If you DON’T choose the usual suspects, you’re subject to an all-out attack by the conformist culture-guarding Furies. There was a Great Moment in History a while back, when the New York Times Magazine asked philosopher Stanley Cavell what work would stand the test of time and still be admired and loved a hundred years from now, and Cavell, inspired as usual, picked Groundhog Day.
The outcry in response was terrific! How DARE he choose a mere Bill Murray comedy when he could’ve said 8½!
You’ve got to give it to Stanley Cavell, even if he does write so clausey and convoluted it gives you a migraine, he’s really onto something when it comes to film, and he’s not afraid. Stan the Man!
But most people aren’t equal to such fearless free-thinking. Just to give you an idea of a typical Best Film list, look no further than Woody Allen’s:
Bicycle Thieves (1948, dir. Vittorio De Sica)
The Seventh Seal (1957, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles
Amarcord (1973, dir. Federico Fellini
8 1/2 (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
The 400 Blows (1959, dir. Francois Truffaut)
Rashomon (1950, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
La Grande Illusion (1937, dir. Jean Renoir)
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (1972, dir. Luis Bunuel)
Paths Of Glory (1957, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
My God, that’s a tragic list! Tells the whole story of Woody Allen’s misspent post- 1980 career! A man with his comedic gifts, just pissed away because he had such contempt for comedy, and never got over worshipping the high-minded art-house dramas of his younger days! Gah! He even chooses Rashomon, one of the artiest and LEAST exciting Kurosawa films of that great man’s career, but the one you always have to teach in Film History 101 because it’s epochal for reasons we won’t go into here. And Paths of Glory, similarly the dullest Stanley Kubrick film, but the one pompous types always pick because it has a strident anti-war message!
What a wonderful bunch of post-1980 films Woody Allen might have made if he’d had Charlie Chaplin’s A Dog’s Life, Buster Keaton’s The General, the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup and W.C. Fields’ It’s a Gift on his mental list instead!
Well, at least he didn’t pick John Ford’s The Searchers. Pretty much everyone picks that one because of the cinematography—which is staggering, like always in Ford films—and even more because of the racial angle—Ford finally got sensitized, sorta, by the Civil Rights movement, and started wondering whether hating Native Americans unthinkingly was a good way to go. Here it is, Spot #7 on the Sight and Sound List:
- Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
- Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
- Tokyo Story (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
- La Regle du jeu (1939, dir. Jean Renoir) – that’s Rules of the Game to you rubes who don’t speak French
- Sunrise (1927, dir. F.W. Murnau)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
- The Searchers (1956, dir. John Ford)
- Man With the Movie Camera (1929, dir. Dziga Vertov)
- Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer)
- 8 ½ (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
The Searchers isn’t even Ford’s most thoughtful film about race—that’s Sergeant Rutledge, starring the godlike Woody Strode.
Plus The Searchers is one of the most outrageously flawed Ford films, with dreadful cornpone humor that nobody ever mentions, and huge chunks of forgettable nonsense involving the romance between the appalling second-leads. Young Mr. Lincoln, Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance are all better Ford films.
But note the thinking behind the Sight and Sound list. It’s still got the usual suspects, but the panel of judges wants a little bit of a spread as far as national origin, so there’s a film by a Russian, Dziga Vertov, a Dane, Carl Theodor Dreyer, a Japanese, Yasujiro Ozu, a German, F.W. Murnau, a Frenchie, Jean Renoir, a Brit, Alfred Hitchcock, and so on. They’re also looking for films representing a bigger span of decades than usual, not all clumped up in film critics’ favorite place in the world, the glory years of Europe-centered art cinema circa 1946 – 1966 (aka “Second Cinema,” as the Third Cinema radicals called it with grand scorn, intending to bypass Second Cinema like it was standing still— which it was). So we get some silent films from the ‘20s (Sunrise, Passion of Joan of Arc, Man With the Movie Camera).
Still, it’s a terrible, rote list of critically pre-approved films, seemingly generated without conscious thought.
Notice how nobody comes anywhere near present-days films? Scared to. Most don’t have the nerve to place their bets on more contemporary works, which might fall out of favor with the Judging Classes, so they hang back in safe, long-dead territory, waiting to see what “the consensus view” says is a “classic.”
Except for Quentin Tarantino, who, as always, draws uneasy praise because, whatever else he is, he ain’t afraid. Here’s his list:
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966, dir. Sergio Leone)
Apocalypse Now (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
The Bad News Bears (1976, dir. Michael Ritchie)
Carrie (1976, dir. Brian DePalma)
Dazed And Confused (1993, dir. Richard Linklater)
The Great Escape (1963, dir. John Sturges)
His Girl Friday (1940, dir. Howard Hawks)
Jaws (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
Pretty Maids All In A Row (1971, dir. Roger Vadim)
Rolling Thunder (1977, dir. John Flynn)
Sorcerer (1977, dir. William Friedkin)
Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)
See how bracing, how heart-warming that is? You don’t even have to agree with him (Dazed and Confused? hell, no!) to appreciate that here’s somebody who can ignore the usual suspects without a tremor and go right for the flagrant expression of his own sensibility. I personally have to hug myself with happiness to see The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, The Bad News Bears, His Girl Friday, and Jaws, all films that set up their own aesthetic terms and then fulfill them to perfection.
Then I want to argue vociferously about some choices , and make a mental note to see others .
These instigating effects are the only real use for Best Film lists. The feeble Sight and Sound-type ones are worthless, just repeating old snobberies generated long ago. In fact, they’re worse than useless, they’re pernicious in the way they create new generations of cowed conformists swearing they revere 8 ½ and The Searchers and, God help us, La Regle du jeu, when they don’t, when they have no feeling for those films at all, but believe they ought to have.
Lists like Tarantino’s, they’re self-portraits in itemized formats, little manifestos proclaiming who you are at a particular moment in time. And therefore—changing my mind with whiplash speed—they’re interesting, and worth doing.
But I still can’t do a Best Film list. Self-portraits, they’re scary. I keep mine hidden in the attic, like Dorian Gray.
Read more: 8 1/2, Alfred Hichcock, art cinema, Best Films, BFI, Citizen Kane, Jaws, John Ford, Quentin Tarantino, Sight and Sound, Vertigo, woody allen, Eileen Jones, movies
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97 Comments
Add your own1. Brad Pitt | August 6th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rambo
Without a Clue
The Producers
The Shining
The Deerhunter
Withnail & I
The Matrix
The Third Man
Barry Lyndon
… Depends on the mood really, no?
2. Brad Pitt | August 6th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Shit, forgot Fightclub and The Pink Panther. And Dirty Harry.
3. marc | August 6th, 2012 at 4:16 pm
The Duelists
Ghostbusters
Robocop
Predator
Aliens
Star Wars, Ep4 only.
Not in that order.
4. ariot | August 6th, 2012 at 4:38 pm
i like the thing where people have to list the one movie they’d have if they could only watch one…. more interesting and don’t we have enough freakin’ lists all over the place?
fuck lists, especially web-based ones that make you click 10 or 15 times to bump ad revenue.
anyway, pick a Kubrik film and go I guess, just not the one with Tom Cruise k?
5. zhubajie | August 6th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
How ’bout all 50 (or so) Godzilla movies?
6. tom melarge | August 6th, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Paths of Glory is probably the only movie I’ve seen about war that does not glorify it, either intentionally or unintentionally. That alone makes it stand out as a notable achievement. I suppose it wouldn’t make my “Best Of” lists, but I wouldn’t consider it a pretension to name it as one. Otherwise, I completely agree with you on the main premise- Citizen Kane is not the best movie that has ever been made but the “best of” lists would have you believe it was so. Also I watched 8 1/2 and I can’t remember anything about it.
If I had to name the best movie ever made I’d say Apocalypse Now. It’s just scene after scene of epic intensity. They don’t make movies like that anymore, sweating it out in the jungle, scratching yourself crazy from both the mosquitoes and coke bugs….
7. EJK | August 6th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Christ, Eileen, I was just telling people you’re the best active film critic around. And now I’ll continue telling people that, rather than pretending that I’m suddenly shocked by something you’ve just written, you know like some sort of concern troll or something. No seriously, your articles never offended the shit out of me or hurt my feelers, I swear to god they haven’t.
8. EJK | August 6th, 2012 at 5:23 pm
Okay . . YOUR Kaelist anti-snob snobbery. . .
Thanks for the great Nolan piece.
9. Char Aznable | August 6th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
BFI is also the name of a reputable waste management agency, which is to say that “BFI” is apparently synonymous with trafficking in garbage.
I don’t know what my list says about me, if we’re going to view it as a self-portrait, but films that I define as qualifying for a “best of” list need to rate highly in how influential they were to the world as a whole and/or highly in the “WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH” category.
El Mariachi
Life of Brian
Battleship Potemkin
Megalon Vs. Godzilla
Salo or 120 Days of Sodom
Metropolis
Il Decameron
My Neighbor Totoro
Akira
Triumph of the Will (I would have chosen Olympia over this, except that there’s no denying this film had more of an effect on the world at large than Olympia’s use of extreme camera angles ever did)
10. captain america | August 6th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
i thought everyone agreed that the road warrior and no country for old men are the greatest films of all time, with TRW edging out NCFOM for the win by pulling off a rare convincing positive ending.
11. Sexy Claus | August 6th, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Hey I liked Paths Of Glory srs
12. EJK | August 6th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Ha ha, Mister Editor. You must.
I once worked for a PR agency.
13. EJK | August 6th, 2012 at 5:59 pm
You forgot to hijack the second one, btw.
And since you asked:
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (1945)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
Late Spring (1949)
Europa ’51 (1952)
Ugetsu (1953)
Madame de. . . (1953)
Ordet (1955)
The Wrong Man (1956)
14. Roquentin | August 6th, 2012 at 6:00 pm
When Walter Benjamin connected reverence for the work of art, which he called its aura, to religious worhip of icons and symbols he was dead on. Reading these lists where people cite the established classics has the flavor of dogmatic religious worship, something like reciting the Apostle’s Creed or the Pledge of Allegience and responses given on reflex without a shred of emotion or genuine conviction. Even if the movies considered to be the high water mark of classics are truly great, most of the people saying so don’t believe that and it takes on the character of repulsive cant.
These “best of” lists are a lot like being forced to say The Lord’s Prayer, it’s a canned recitation meant to show you have the ideologically acceptable opinion.
15. Sexy Claus | August 6th, 2012 at 6:11 pm
Especially in contrast with vapid “Vainglorius Bassturds”
16. C. W. Buttsworth | August 6th, 2012 at 6:49 pm
@Sexy Claus
I’m sorry, I don’t know what “srs” means. Is it an abbreviation of “serious” meant to show that while you are voicing an opinion, you don’t really take it all that ‘srsly’ and it is therefore not something that can be used against you or to make you look stupid?
17. Shade | August 6th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Ok, lemme take a stab at this, although, my mind will be changed before it’s finished…
Blade Runner
Aliens
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Wrath of Khan
Fight Club
Doomsday
Serenity
No particular order, except for Blade Runner topping the list… Just my faves for the moment; now I gotta sleep on it…
18. Martin Finnucane | August 6th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
There’s three I’d have to mention:
Repoman
Seven Samurai
Blazing Saddles
Making lists makes me feel clever. But seriously, watch these if you haven’t.
19. Adam | August 6th, 2012 at 7:27 pm
I watched Milla Jovovich take her shirt off in the 5th Element when I was fifteen; all these years later, I’m still there, in complete awe, living that moment over and over again.
20. techno | August 6th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
My List?
Slap Shot—Paul Newman’s personal favorite about violence in minor league sport as a tonic for a dying mill town.
The Big Chill—a stunning portrayal of 60s idealism looked at with nostalgia by some of the shallowest humans on earth.
Nobody’s Fool—another stunning Newman film that portrays being old and poor in an economic backwater that thinks it has one more chance at “prosperity” for the petty real estate speculators.
Trading Places—funny, sweet, and important.
Love, and Other Drugs—a sexy look at the absurdities of for-profit medicine.
State and Main—an incredibly well-written take on just how superficial most film-making actually is. Macy at his best!
I’ll stop now. I am never going to be asked to teach a film appreciation course because I utterly loath “Singing in the Rain” “North by Northwest” “2001” or “Citizen Kane.”
So sue me.
21. jimmyj | August 6th, 2012 at 8:58 pm
Repo Man
The Killer (Chinese)
Kid With The Golden Arm(Chinese)
The Princess Bride
Return of the Living Dead
Frantic
X-Men:First Class (best comic book movie ever)
The Terminator
Robocop
The Blues Brothers
22. Dr Sanchez | August 6th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
Whats this, no love for Bowfinger?!
I’ll submit “The Wind That Shakes The Barley” for consideration. most gut wrenching film I’ve ever watched, without being the least bit manipulative
23. CensusLouie | August 6th, 2012 at 9:12 pm
The AFI (American Film Institute) is just as bad, if not worse. Their 100 Funniest Movies of All Time list was 50% dated cross dressing movies and 45% dated “witty” comedies.
Internet personality Seanbaby did a brilliant takedown of that stupid list a decade ago.
http://www.seanbaby.com/ifls/
Is there any genre that ages worse than comedy and horror? Jesus Christ, if I have to listen to one more person tell me Some Like it Hot or Blazing Saddles are the funniest movies of all time I’m going to go Clockwork Orange on them until they vomit at the thought of Mel Brooks (sorry guys, he peaked with The Producers). You have an uncanny valley in comedy history where early slapstick is still funny, but every comedy made between 1935 to 1970 consists of solely of characters exchanging “witty” dialog like a prototypical Aaron Sorkin script.
Groundhog day was an excellent listing, but another depressing reminder of how movies are doomed. Bill Murray is a genius (Scrooged? Hands down best ever Dickens adaptation) and we’ve got no one to replace him. Nobody is going to give a shit about Seth Rogan or Vince Vaughn movies (post-Swingers anway) 20 years from now.
24. RobertD | August 6th, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Come on Eileen, stop being coy and post up your favourite movie list.
25. Tristan | August 6th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
These lists are great! They get regular people to think critically about the value and purpose of canonization, and they also prompt film fans to write their own lists. If those lists do like Tarantino’s and appear to be honest, not particularly pretentious reflections of a person’s tastes, then they can be gold mines of film recommendations.
So why not write your own, Eileen? I like your reviews and would love to see what your favorites were. So long as you realize that they’re just a reflection of your personal tastes and you don’t try to make any grand statement with the list, your readers will love you for it.
26. Bankotsu | August 6th, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Memento
27. JosephW | August 6th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Well, ALL “best” lists are completely subjective. Even a list that purportedly claims to be THE definitive list because it’s surveyed a number of people and done some sort of mathemagic to rank all the films before producing that “definitive list” is ultimately subjective because of all the individuals being surveyed.
I vaguely seem to recall a list from one of the 1970s and 1980s “Book of Lists” series where a prominent music critic was trying to compile his “ultimate” jazz ensemble/orchestra (sax players, trumpeters, guitarists, drummers, vocalists, etc) and he actually allowed that his list was purely subjective and even broke some rules for the number of members at some positions and he also noted that his list was completely fluid–that the list he compiled for the book might be completely different if he had to compile the list a few months later.
As for films, I’ve seen lists compiled of “Best Directors” yet when you look at the companion “Best Films,” many of the directors aren’t represented in the films which isn’t entirely unreasonable since one director might have 2 or 3 “best films” thereby knocking out another “best” director’s work/s (the reverse, of course, is somewhat expected–a director could turn out a singular masterwork but everything else barely merits a second look so the film could place high on the list but the director wouldn’t because he only had 1 excellent work from a body of 10 films).
For me, any list of “Best” films depends entirely on my mood at the time. I like dramas as well as comedies. I like horror, SF, fantasy. I like “G” as well as “NC-17.” But despite all that, one day a list might be all horror except for that one musical and the next day, the list could be laden with crime dramas and noir with an odd peppering of Disney films, and the day after that, it might be a complete potpourri.
28. Mason C | August 7th, 2012 at 2:38 am
Film lists should be done by genre. Any poser academic or critic can rattle off the usual Top 40 and not sound like an ass, but it takes more talent and insight to illuminate a particular form. And it’s always more interesting. So pick a few and let us have it, Eileen.
Some comedy superlatives, in no particular order after Dr. Strangelove, which is the heavyweight champ: Bull Durham, Little Miss Sunshine (the motorcycle cop scene is priceless), This Is Spinal Tap, Zack and Miri, Grosse Pointe Blank, Made, Duck Soup, The Big Lebowski, and Tropic Thunder (the best thing Tom Cruise will ever do, except come out of the closet). Blazing Saddles lost its luster when I learned Richard Pryor was denied the lead. Hamlet 2 gets an honorable mention.
29. Punjabi From Karachi | August 7th, 2012 at 3:28 am
Kill Bill
Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Inglourious Basterds
The Harry Potter Series, pick whichever matches your mood
Return of the Empire
To Be Or Not To Be
Scott Pilgrim
Lagaan (Indian Film)
Rambo III
Apocalypse Now
Carrie
30. FOARP | August 7th, 2012 at 3:52 am
1) In The Mood For Love, Wong Kar-Wai, 2000. Quite simply a beautiful film, subtle direction, brilliant acting by Leung and Cheung. Portrays all the beautiful forbearance of Brief Encounter with the addition of an obvious love for the time and setting of the film (1960’s Hong Kong).
2) The Producers, Mel Brooks, 1968. The best film of one of the greatest directors of comic movies living. Just pips it over Blazing Saddles in its daring choice of subject and the excellent way it pulls off the scenario. Both Zero and Wilder fanastic in their respective roles.
3) Lost In Translation, Sofia Coppola, 2003. A brilliant film that captures and encapsulates the feeling of being in a totally alien situation, and the relationships you find yourself throwing yourself into in such circumstances. Great, moody sound-track, and a convincing and humourous performance from Murray that deserved every bit of the praise it received.
4) The Graduate, Mike Nichols, 1967. Hofman very convincing in his role as a young man with no direction, and Bancroft simply smoking as the architypal bored housewife. Good sound-track and fantastic ending scene.
5) 2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick, 1968. Great direction from Kubrick and well-conceived plot puts this film ahead of other Kubrick pictures like Full Metal Jacket.
6) Goodfellas, Martin Scorcese, 1990. Ahead of all other Mafia films in that this film portrays a genuine true story in a way that makes organised crime is more violent and more nasty than the fictional version shown to us in The Godfather. Sound-track, acting, direction all first-rate in this film.
7) Alfie, Lewis Gilbert, 1966. Michael Caine is simply stunning in this film.
8) Destroy All Monsters, Ishiro Honda, 1968. Lots of monsters, aliens, explosions and cities being levelled to the ground. Quite simply the perfect monster movie in every respect.
9) The Man Who Would Be King, John Houston, 1975. Two colonial adventurers set off to build a kingdom of their own in the high Himalayas. The rippingest of ripping yarns.
10) Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958. Because it is actually quite a good film.
31. Gustavo Millebrand | August 7th, 2012 at 5:09 am
Shakes the Clown –
God Bless America –
Police Academy III –
Apocalypse Now (original) –
Revenge of the Nerds 1 –
Revenge of the Nerds 2 –
Duck, you sucker –
Swept Away (2002 version) –
Manos: hands of fate –
Child’s play 4: The Bride of Chucky –
32. Trevor | August 7th, 2012 at 5:10 am
Aliens, Barton Fink, Dr. Strangelove, Lost Highway, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I will never forgive the goths for ruining that last one.
33. G.G. Allin | August 7th, 2012 at 5:30 am
Eyes Wide Shut
Vertigo
Chinatown
Ninotchka
Man of the West
Serie Noire
Duck Soup
River’s Edge
A Clockwork Orange
Blue Collar
34. chabinga | August 7th, 2012 at 5:31 am
A few goodies from my Netflix ratings:
The King of Masks
Red Beard
The Good Fairy
After the Wedding
A Somewhat Gentle Man
A Film With Me In It
Trace of Stones
Spring Forward
Paper Man
Buffalo 66
The Perfect Host
Julia
Evil
Adam’s Apples
35. David Jackmanson | August 7th, 2012 at 5:42 am
The Usual Suspects. From Dusk Till Dawn. The Battle of Algiers. Blazing Saddles. Airplane! Reservoir Dogs. Trading Places. Little Shop of Horrors.
36. Flesh | August 7th, 2012 at 5:45 am
Alien
Bladerunner
When Trumpets Fade
A Midnight Clear
Das Boot
The Killer
Drive
Made In Britain
Meantime
Defence Of The Realm
Excalibur
Laws Of Gravity
Stranger Than Paradise
Trees Lounge
Street Trash
Hidden City
Violent Cop
Straight To Hell
Suburbia
The Wraith
Mad Max
Near Dark
The Warriors
Streets Of Fire
Cargo
The Boondock Saints
The Rumble Fish
Diner
Lifeforce
Les Demoiselles De Rochefort
37. Lee Ramus | August 7th, 2012 at 5:58 am
I usually hate to re-watch movies. Ten exceptions:
Full Metal Jacket
The Big Lebowski
Idiocracy
Amelie
The King of Masks
Dreamcatcher
Pulp Fiction
Seven Samurai
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Dr. Strangelove
38. jwthomas | August 7th, 2012 at 7:50 am
Well, I can’t resist making lists even if I don’t necessarily believe in them. These are favorites, not *bests*.
In no particular order:
Annie Hall
Groundhog Day
Citizen Kane (so there!)
Back to the Future Trilogy
Dawn of the Dead
When Harry Met Sally
Seven Samurai
Brazil
Taxi Driver
Chinatown
39. mijj | August 7th, 2012 at 8:25 am
i want to see a “the most average” film list – listed in strict hierarchy of averageness.
40. Flatulissimo | August 7th, 2012 at 8:34 am
A quick scan of my highest-rated films on Netlfix, combined with the ones I have re-watched the most, reveals, as of this instant:
Touch of Evil
Police Story 3: Supercop
Return of Drunken Master
Wages of Fear and/or Sorcerer
Army of Shadows
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Third Man
Goodfellas
Fargo
Yojimbo
It’s tough, because that leaves out some great shit like Charley Varrick or Taking of Pelham 123, a comedy like Office Space (which I musta watched a million times) or horror movies like The Changeling or Ringu (both of which I watched once, thought were great, and never re-watched because I don’t want to ruin the experience of seeing it the first time. Horror movies don’t stand up to repeated viewings if they aren’t kitschy).
I guess Fargo beats out Big Lebowski, though just barely. Once Upon a Time over Duck, You Sucker, because I’ve watched Once Upon a Time way more, though I might prefer Duck You Sucker now that I think about it.
Army of Shadows is perhaps the one nod to high-falutin-ness on the list, not like I’ve seen it as many times as something I didn’t include like, say, Back to the Future, but damn, after watching that one I felt like I got punched in the gut with all the wind knocked outta me, but in a good way. So if a movie that does that can’t make your list what good is your stupid list?
And two Jackie Chan movies, because: fuck you, BFI. Tough call whether to pick the first Police Story or the third, though. I went with 3 because Michelle Yeoh jumps a motorcycle onto a moving train.
No Kubrick? I dunno, I might actually pick Paths of Glory if I had to pick one of his, instead of two Jackie Chan movies.
41. Mike | August 7th, 2012 at 9:27 am
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford – Our modern masterpiece. The last half hour is just jaw-dropping in its beauty.
42. dogbane | August 7th, 2012 at 9:37 am
Tarantino once said in an interview that “Dazed and Confused” is what he calls a “hang-out movie.” This is a movie that is like a friend that you hang out with around the house on an idle day. You can go in and out, putter around, have light conversations. “The Big Lebowski” is my “hang-out movie.”
My obligatory and mercurial list:
1. Brazil – Terry Gilliam
2. Raising Arizona – Coen Bros.
3. Do the Right Thing – Spike Lee
4. LA Confidential – Curtis Hanson
5. Chinatown – Roman Polanski
6. The Fisher King – Terry Gilliam
7. The Life of Brian – MP
8. Last of the Mohicans – Michael Mann
9. The Edge – Lee Tamahori
10. At Play in the Fields of the Lord – Hector Babenco
Honorable mention: 28 Days Later – Danny Boyle
43. LIExpressway | August 7th, 2012 at 11:05 am
“Paths of Glory is probably the only movie I’ve seen about war that does not glorify it, either intentionally or unintentionally” I agree Das Boot is also effective as antiwar Cinema. Citezen Kane is loved due to it’s technical achievements as well as the fact that it’s a fun movie about uniquely american characters. In terms of technique; Citizen Kane is still quite ahead of it’s time. I can understand not thinking Kane is the best but to not lie it perplexes me.
44. Hah! | August 7th, 2012 at 11:31 am
I take it there’s a lot of hipsters at Sight & Sound?
As for Vertigo, Hitchcock was creepy because he ogled blonde actresses without having the decency to be Jewish, so S & S’s argument is invalid on PC grounds.
45. Rex | August 7th, 2012 at 11:32 am
Vertigo should be on the list of ten most overrared films ever, Groundhog Day in the top ten of most underrated. In a strange way its a lot like a movie that all the movie critic wankers would like, too, if only it was black and white and had funny hairdos and crappy acting and – most important of all – some higher authority figures had told those eunuchs that this here is a classic.
46. gc | August 7th, 2012 at 11:34 am
I realize that it’s probably futile to ask Eileen to reconsider and make a list, but I’m doing it anyway.
And granted, Kirk Douglas making long righteous pronouncements and walking around looking earnest is not something anyone needed, but Paths of Glory is fantastic if only for the gorgeously shot courtroom scene, the cockroach scene, the crooked general’s Satanic big speech at the end, and the singing scene.
47. gc | August 7th, 2012 at 11:44 am
Oh, and thank you thank you thank you to Eileen for making one more little pinprick in The Searchers‘ erroneous reputation as the best John Ford movie.
48. tamboo27 | August 7th, 2012 at 11:57 am
screw all this mainstream crap, get yer asses over to cinemageddon.net and experience some real film making. request an invite:
tamboo27@gmail.com
La Jetee
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056119/
Le jeu de la vérité
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055029/
La schiava io ce l’ho e tu no AKA The Slave
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069230/
Les Dimanches De Ville D’Avray
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055910/
Thalassa, Thalassa! Return to the Sea
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111406/
H2S
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178544/
La Calda Vita
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159318/
Continental Circus
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164503/
Le parfum d’Yvonne
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110776/
You Am I
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811164/
Moonlight Whispers
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208178/
Africa Erotica
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189634/
Copacabana Palace
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056020/
Der Ruf der blonden Göttin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076645/
Infinite Space: The Architecture of John Lautner
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1284027/
Let’s Get Lost
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095515/
Je Suis Une Nymphomane
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065915/
sorry if that’s too many, just wanted to offer up a strong antidote to all this same old crap circle jerking. happy viewing! 8)
49. Galtic Fairie | August 7th, 2012 at 11:58 am
The Fountainhead
Atlas Shrugged 1
Atlas Shrugged 2
Gay *iggers from Outer Space
50. Typhaeon | August 7th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Basically anything Ralph Bakshi’s done is sadly overlooked, in particular.
See Coonskin and Heavy Traffic, perhaps Wizards as well.
51. Tiresias | August 7th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
1. The Godfather
2. Eyes Wide Shut
3. Three Colors: Red
4. The Big Lebowski
5. No Country for Old Men
6. Office Space
7. The Thin Red Line
8. The Shining
9. The Incredibles
10. Three Times
52. Colonel | August 7th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Tarantino was born in 1963. Seven of the films he included were made when he was 13-16. How is including a bunch of films one saw when they were a teenager refreshing? It just further shows how adolescently minded the man is. And does anyone actually think Scorsese, Coppola, De Palma, Spielberg, Friedkin, or anyone else he named aren’t going to maintain their reputation?
You want a good list full of a great mix of classic and contemporary work —
Apichatpong Weerasethakul:
“Goodbye Dragon Inn” (2003, dir. Ming-liang Tsai)
“A Brighter Summer Day” (1991, dir. Edward Yang)
“Rain” (1929, dir. Joris Ivens)
“Empire” (1964, dir. Andy Warhol)
“Valentin de la Sierras” (1971, dir. Bruce Baillie)
“The Conversation” (1974, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
“Full Metal Jacket” (1987, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
“The Eighties” (1983, dir. Chantal Akerman)
“The General” (1926, dir. Buster Keaton)
“Sátántangó”(1994, dir. Bela Tarr)
53. Fissile | August 7th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
I have to agree with Eileen, I don’t see how you could pick just 10. I’ve seen a lot of excellent movies mentioned in the comments section. I’ll add two no one has mentioned yet: Nosferatu and Bad Lieutenant
54. Flatulissimo | August 7th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
@45 – Yeah, I don’t get the love for Vertigo. It isn’t even Hitchcock’s best film (that would be Rear Window, for my money). But I find Hitchcock over-rated in general, and find it hard to overcome all the hokey sets and rear projection. Vertigo is a dusty museum piece, while Citizen Kane is 17 years older than Vertigo yet somehow still looks a lot fresher to my eyes.
55. The Dude | August 7th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
The Big Lebowski
Blade Runner
Alien
Pan’s Labyrinth
Fargo
No Country for Old Men
Duck Soup(thanks for reminding, Eileen)
The Fall
Full Metal Jacket
Taxi Driver
That’s my list, more or less in no particular order. I
know I’m forgetting some, but that’s off the top of my
head.
56. Chest Rockwell | August 7th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
In no order:
Fargo
The Godfather
Full Metal Jacket
Land of the Lost
Office Space
Blade Runner
Tommy Boy
The Seven Samurai
Raising Arizona
Rosemary’s Baby
The Terminator
Idiocracy
Apocalypse Now
Taxi Driver
Predator
57. Required | August 7th, 2012 at 2:47 pm
Rambo
Rambo
Rambo
Borat
Rambo
58. Chest Rockwell | August 7th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Appendix to above:
Dr. Stangelove or: How I learned to stop worrying and Love the Bomb
Das Boot (fuck yeah! saw 20 years ago and still memorable!)
Apocolypto
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
59. Mr. Bad | August 7th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
A MOVIE LIST POST? Eileen you’re basically only their favorite human being. YOU have the wonderful Exiled.
BTW – great job on the Adam Davidson profile – do more NPR hack Journalists while you’re at it.
Eileen, thanks.
60. gc | August 7th, 2012 at 3:26 pm
Yep, that’ sure is a “great mix of classic and contemporary work” right there.
Why, you’ve got a whole THREE movies made before the 70s! (Two before the 60s!)
61. Kraken | August 7th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
So rude not to give your list! Here is mine…Im sure im leaving some behind…
American history X
Akira
Fight Club
The Good Thief (2002 Nick Nolte)
Casino
Inception
The last boy scout(Spanish dubbing is EPIC)
Lord of the rings
Matrix
Avatar
62. Diablo | August 7th, 2012 at 5:54 pm
I ain’t no art super star. I can’t honestly tell the differences between various high end art films and the like, but I love to take cinema.
I agree with whoever mentioned it previously, but just listing films, with reflection of genre, style, or whatever seems silly to me. Here’s my list and please feel free to mock or comment…
Battlefield Earth- it answers the question “What would Ed Wood do with $100 million budget”. Seriously this films blows my mind in how EVERYTHING is just wrong. From casting to the story, its HILARIOUS!!!
Rocky Balboa- Totally sneaked up on me and I really enjoyed it. I expect to just find it ridiculous and it ended up reminding me what I loved about the original Rocky.
Touch of Evil- Like I said before…I can’t really tell the difference between what makes films GREAT but this is my favorite Hitchcock films.
Wicker Man (the remake)- Watch it with the rifftrax (the dudes from MST3K). Again another terrible flick that is just so damn enjoyable for its ineptitude.
Southpark: Bigger, Longer, Uncut- I got a soft spot for musicals. I went into the film, not expecting much but I got to say, that score is pretty amazing.
Stalker- I was just blown away by the beauty of the film and the performances. Its one of those flicks that they could never make today.
The Longest Yard- The original. As a perfect example of everything wrong with Modern American cinema, watch the first film and then the second one.
63. Barry Obama | August 7th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
If you got a top ten list, you didn’t film that, someone else did.
64. RobertD | August 7th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
It’s kind of funny how everybody used this as an opportunity to post up their own best movie list, as if anybody gave a crock of monkey snot.
65. swr | August 7th, 2012 at 8:01 pm
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance would have been a great film except for the fact that the actors are all ridicuously old for their parts.
Any best 10 list that doesn’t include Goodfellas deserves to be fed to the lions.
66. ribbon | August 7th, 2012 at 8:43 pm
Sorcerer’s on Tarantino’s top 10? Must be the bridge scene.
67. bulfinch | August 7th, 2012 at 9:43 pm
My baker’s dozen. Whether they’re the best or not, they’re the ones I obsess on and watch again and again and again. The ones that cheer you up are probably the best films.
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Black Narcissus (1947)
Phantom Lady (1944)
A Fine Madness (1966)
Naked Prey (1966)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)
Two Lane Black Top (1971)
Turkish Delight (1973)
The Ski Bum (1971)
Lonely are the Brave (1962)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Hombre (1967)
The Parallax View (1974)
68. DoctorB | August 7th, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Videodrome.
69. Strangefate | August 7th, 2012 at 11:25 pm
Intentionally trying to hit some films others have not already…
Miller’s Crossing
Death Race 2000
Barry Lyndon
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
They Live!
Maltese Falcon
Halloween
Dead Man
Unforgiven
Westworld
I don’t know if I’d swear to that list as The Best but those are all interesting films to me and if people can no longer stand to watch them one hundred years from now, then there’s probably something gone wrong with society. As usual.
And I’d make a case for They Live! being one of the most ‘important’ films of its time and from John Carpenter’s already memorable career. It’ll remain one of those cult classics people ‘rediscover’ every generation because, frankly, a movie in which 1% types are revealed to be evil alien ghouls is always timely.
70. Doug | August 8th, 2012 at 12:46 am
Trying to deny that some of the greatest fiction filmed hasn’t occurred on television is intentionally close-minded in the year 2012.
Breaking Bad, The Wire and Arrested Development among others easily out gun the large majority of films put on these lists.
71. Derek | August 8th, 2012 at 1:18 am
First, fuck all these goddamn lists in the comments. It’s so insipid, it has to be purposeful. Like some kind of complex triple-troll. Maybe there should be an Olympic event.
Anyway, you’re my hero, Eileen. I was finding all the “news” bits I’ve been hearing and seeing about the list revision nauseating.
72. Oelsen | August 8th, 2012 at 3:11 am
Well… Galtic Fairie has absolutely the best list!
73. John Figler | August 8th, 2012 at 4:37 am
What the fuck is an aesthetic term?
74. Deuce | August 8th, 2012 at 9:24 am
—Little French Maid (great anal, plus Connie Peterson!)
—Dirty Debutantes #2 (more daring than the debut, plus anal!)
—Ikiru (no anal, but he;’ fucked)
—Immoral Mr Teas (no anal, but Meyers went on to direct better films about bigger assholes, and this provided the moolah)
—The ANALyst (well-shot anal, including some early rough sex)
—2001 (no anal)
—Deliverance (yes, anal)
—Boogie Nights (no anal, and no reality, but some say Burt Reynolds enjoys anal ((see above))).
—TRUMPED! (about a human anus)
75. CW | August 8th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Where is ‘They Live’ in all these lists?
76. Gina | August 8th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
In no order…
Mulholland Dr. – David Lynch
The Elephant Man – David Lynch
Chinatown – Roman Polanski
The Pianist – Roman Polanski
Manhattan – Woody Allen
The Hudsucker Proxy – Joel Coen
The Hustler – Robert Rossen
Suddenly, Last Summer – Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?-Mike Nichols
Heavenly Creatures – Peter Jackson
Midnight Cowboy – John Schlesinger
Being John Malkovich – Spike Jonze
Nosferatu the Vampyre – Werner Herzog
Annie Hall – Woody Allen
Pulp Fiction – Quentin Tarantino
Taxi Driver – Martin Scorsese
The Departed – Martin Scorsese
Apocalypse Now – Francis Ford Coppola
The Godfather – Francis Ford Coppola
77. Bought&Sold | August 8th, 2012 at 5:32 pm
In No Order: Casablanca…Grapes Of Wrath…Song Of The South…Dr. Stangelove…Mr. Roberts…The Apartment…Shakesphere Wallah…Excalibur…The Godfather 1+2…Any Of The ‘Goodbye Mr. Chips’…Mr. 880…And Many More
78. Jame | August 8th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Agree with so many lists here (others, not so much – Scott Pilgrim? Ah hell no)
Some more not already mentioned (I think)
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Children of Men
Ronin
The Castle
The Crow
Once Were Warriors
Boy
79. Andragog | August 8th, 2012 at 11:47 pm
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
On the Beach (2000)
White Heat (1949)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Godfather (1972)
Bladerunner (1982)
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
The Razor’s Edge (1984)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Long Good Friday (1980)
These work for me.- No particular order.
80. Mitchell | August 9th, 2012 at 1:06 am
It Depends (1937)
Gary Gordon (the 1976 remake)
Awake on the Wild Side (1963)
Luton’s Drum (1949)
Cassandra (2009)
A Long Time Burning (1988)
Fei Du (2002)
Path of Crimson II (1987)
Dreamworld 3000 (1978)
Icon (1991)
81. Warren Bernstein | August 9th, 2012 at 7:47 am
ISHTAR
YOU’VE GOT MAIL
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY
HEARTBURN
JULIE AND JULIA
I’M STILL DEAD, SUCK ON IT!
82. DJKM | August 9th, 2012 at 11:24 am
@40 “Tough call whether to pick the first Police Story or the third, though. I went with 3 because Michelle Yeoh jumps a motorcycle onto a moving train.”
Police Story 2 is the best Police Story film by a country mile. Come to think of it Jackie Chan’s best movies are his sequels:
Drunken Master 2 (my favorite movie of all time)
Project A 2 (narrowly beating out Project A’s astonishing Harold Lloyd rip-off with a Buster Keaton rip-off)
Police Story 2
83. Allen | August 10th, 2012 at 1:15 am
Nothing but idiosyncrasy here … (I’m not looking up dates)
Ran
Bladerunner
Aliens
2001
Barry Lyndon
Dawn of the Dead
No Country for Old Men
Casino
Dr.Strangelove
The Shining
Honorable mention:
A Clockwork Orange
Full Metal Jacket
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
A Serious Man
(Basically I like Kubrick and the Coen Bros a lot..)
Also:
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Alien
Robocop, Total Recall (the original), Day of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead
84. The Gubbler | August 10th, 2012 at 8:43 am
In case you are interested, and I realize you probably are not, the best movie ever is….
Gone To Earth
85. The Gubbler | August 10th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
You all suck.
86. The Gubbler | August 10th, 2012 at 3:04 pm
I hesitate to recommend this film as the story is incredibly simple and you would think, easy to grasp including the end, but I fear some folks might get lost nevertheless.
I imagine these people who cannot follow such a simple story, would probably be used to having a story which makes no sense if you think about it for more than ten seconds explained to them in the most condescending manner over the course of some crappy cliche loaded baloney-fest.
Well you don’t get that here in….
Eyes Of Fire
87. Frederich Krueger | August 10th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
Who’s to argue with these?
1 THE ANAL GIRLS OF TOBACCO ROAD
2 LET’S PLAY STAIN THE COUCH
3 CRACK WHORES OF AMERICA
4 SEX STARVED FUCK SLUTS #22: STINKY WHITE WOMEN
5 GROAN
6 DUDE, WHERE’S MY DILDO
7 ULTRA KINKY #79: BOWLIN’ IN HER COLON 8 ASS-HOLE O MIO
9 BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE VAGINA
10 BACKDOOR ADVENTURES OF BUTTHEAD AND BEAVER
88. iwatchmovstoo | August 10th, 2012 at 9:23 pm
I’m only going to list American cinema because I think it’s ridiculous to try and lump them in all together.
His Girl Friday
Casablanca
Blade Runner
Children of Men
The Princess Bride
Full Metal Jacket
Dead Man
They Live
Boogie Nights
Network
12 Monkeys
Goodfellas
Peggy Sue Got Married
Breaking Away
A Christmas Story
Unforgiven
Dancer in The Dark
Black Swan
The Great Outdoors
The Usual Suspects
Before Sunset
The Notebook
Big Fish
The Shawshank Redemption
The New World
Pumpkin
89. pug | August 11th, 2012 at 9:46 am
20. The Savages
19. Play Misty for Me
18. Moulin Rouge
17. Scarface
16. Good Will Hunting
15. Shakespeare in Love
14. Minority Report
13. E.T.
12. Magnificent Ambersons
11. Gone With the Wind
10. Gummo
9. The Island
8. Disney’s Beauty & the Beast
7. American Ninja
6. Rocky 5
5. The Wash
4. Cool as Ice
3. The Last Unicorn
2. Austin Powers
1. Pooty Tang
90. dumpster juice | August 11th, 2012 at 5:34 pm
black comedy list:
FREEWAY with Reese Witherspoon as a potty mouth badass killer teen. You won’t regret watching.
BAD BOY BUBBY Aussie masterpiece that must be seen. I’m serious.
KIND HEART AND CORONETS feel-good murder as only the Brits can do it. Alec Guinness plays like 6 parts.
TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL a good time killin’ comedy that turns the tables on stereotypes.
THE GREEN BUTCHERS Danish. You can handle subtitles. Don’t be a pussy.
91. iwatchmovstoo | August 12th, 2012 at 11:05 am
Cool As Ice really is a terrific, landmark film.
92. Tom | August 13th, 2012 at 11:15 am
Ha! Starship Troopers (of course)
93. The Gubbler | August 16th, 2012 at 4:24 am
No Mercy No Future
That’s a good one.
IDIOTS!!!
94. Ole | August 20th, 2012 at 11:11 am
I also get irritated by the safe choices in lists like the one by Woody Allen. However, I think it could easily become some sort of snobbery the other way too. “Look at me, I’m only choosing neglected or super mainstream films.” Look at Slavoj Zizek’s lists, it’s hard to know if you could take that seriously, an intelligent man placing “Hitman” among his top ten. But yeah, I guess it’s better than the KaneSearchersSevenSamurai lists.
95. Peter Thiel | August 21st, 2012 at 11:17 am
Socialist Scum: Each of these films I watch each day after taking a dump on a homeless naked boy, rimming Peter D. Schiff’s heine-hole, and buying some floating jetsam via PayPal:
1. 8 1/2 Inches
2. The Fountainhead
3. Giving Head
4. Atlas Shrugged Part I
5. Atlas Shrugged Part II
6. Atlas Shrugged Part III
7. Atlas Shrugged Part IV
8. The Anti-Socialist Network
9. The Island
10. Triumph of the Will
96. tarko | October 1st, 2012 at 6:57 pm
1) Miller’s Crossing
2) The Apartment
3) Road Warrior
4) The Big Sleep
5) Reservoir Dogs
6) ET
7) Raiders
8) Godfather II
9) Apocalypse Now
10) Midnight Cowboy
97. Darryl | October 14th, 2014 at 1:12 am
Below are some of my “favorites”. I doubt a consensus will ever be reached on any list of “Bests” (with the exception of the “Best Rock and Roll Band Ever”)
To Kill A Mockingbird
Matewan
Bad Day At Black Rock
Lives Of A Bengal Lancer
Babette’s Feast
The Hustler
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Lawrence Of Arabia
The Ox-Bow Incident
Network
The Unforgiven
Local Hero
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