"The list is an absolute good. The list is life."In response to the AFI's most recent "100 Years, 100 movies" list (and since folks like Jim Emerson, The Siren and Ed Copeland are chiming in with lists of their own) I figured I would go ahead and share my list of the 100 greatest films I've ever seen. Although this list is (obviously) hindered by the large amount of movies I have not seen yet, and although it is a list constantly in flux (it could easily change tomorrow; it's already changed eight times just in the making of it), for RIGHT NOW I'd say this accurately represents my own personal ideas/opinions regarding the best movies I've ever seen (with #1 undoubtedly proving to be no surprise for those who know me).
100. The Red Violin (1998)
99. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
98. The Player (1992)
97. Lost In America (1985)
96. The Verdict (1982)
95. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
94. Broken Blossoms (1919)
93. Downfall (2004)
92. Being There (1979)
91. Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
90. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
89. Night at the Opera (1935)
88. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
87. Goodfellas (1990)
86. Rebecca (1940)
85. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
84. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
83. The Matrix (1999)
82. Grand Canyon (1991)
81. Wizard of Oz (1939)
80. Gandhi (1982)
79. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
78. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
77. Ben-Hur (1959)
76. The Misssion (1986)
75. Silence of the Lambs (1991)
74. Robocop (1987)
73. Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
72. On the Waterfront (1954)
71. JFK (1991)
70. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
69. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
68. L.A. Confidential (1997)
67. Annie Hall (1977)
66. It Happened One Night (1934)
65. Stagecoach (1939)
64. This is Spinal Tap (1984)
63. Strangers on a Train (1951)
62. The General (1927)
61. Wild Strawberries (1957)
60. Visions of Light (1992)
59. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
58. Safety Last (1923)
57. Laura (1944)
56. Young Frankenstein (1974)
55. Fargo (1996)
54. Sunrise (1927)
53. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
52. Brazil (1985)
51. The Exorcist (1973)
50. The Usual Suspects (1995)
49. Gone With the Wind (1939)
48. The Searchers (1956)
47. Raging Bull (1980)
46. 400 Blows (1959)
45. Rear Window (1954)
44. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
43. M (1931)
42. High Noon (1952)
41. E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
40. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
39. Deliverance (1972)
38. Goldfinger (1964)
37. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
36. Vertigo (1958)
35. Alien (1979)
34. Day for Night (1973)
33. Chinatown (1974)
32. Back to the Future (1985)
31. La Strada (1954)
30. Apocalypse Now (1979)
29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
28. The Seventh Seal (1957)
27. Casablanca (1942)
26. Blade Runner (1982)
25. City Lights (1931)
24. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
23. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
22. Taxi Driver (1976)
21. Pinocchio (1940)
20. 12 Angry Men (1957)
19. Tootsie (1982)
18. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
17. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
16. Se7en (1995)
15. Amadeus (1984)
14. Jaws (1975)
13. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
12. Double Indemnity (1944)
11. 2001: a Space Odyssey (1968)
10. Die Hard (1988)
9. Top Hat (1935)
8. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
7. Unforgiven (1992)
6. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
5. Manhattan (1979)
4. Citizen Kane (1941)
3. Psycho (1960)
2. The Godfather (1972)
1. Schindler's List (1993)
Runners-up (a list of about a dozen or so films that came THIS close to making the final cut): Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Network, Ed Wood, Aguirre: the Wrath of God, Midnight Cowboy, Trouble in Paradise, Kurasawa's Dreams, The Manchurian Candidate, Public Enemy, Das Boot, The Untouchables, Grand Illusion, Big Night
27 comments:
The reason I'm enjoying reading everyone's lists is that only the true film lovers can generate a list of 100 movies. A top 10 list isn't that hard to do, but a top 100 list takes real thought to compile.
I'm too lazy to undertake this, but as for your list Damian, it's pretty damn good. Alien, Close Encounters and GoodFellas would all rank higher for me, while The Usual Suspects wouldn't at all, but you listed a lot of stuff that I'm going to throw onto my Netflix queue. I haven't seen Top Hat, La Strada or Double Indemnity yet.
Great work. I'm looking forward to the 31 days of Spielberg. This should much more stimulating than six days of Michael Bay.
Thanks, Joe. I'm enjoying reading everyone's lists as well.
Alien, Close Encounters and GoodFellas would all rank higher for me
You know the funny thing is that they'd probably rank higher for me too. Many times during the making of this list I wanted to just declare a thirty-way tie for number twelve (just go right from 13 to 50 or something like that), but I coulnd't. I had to rank them in some sort of order and I found that after a while the list itself became the focus of my attention rather than the films I was listing ("I don't want to put two Ridley Scott films or three Spielberg films so close to each other," etc). That's one of the many things that makes costructing a list like this so monumentally difficult.
I'm looking forward to the 31 days of Spielberg. This should much more stimulating than six days of Michael Bay.
I agree. I'd probably shoot myself after the third day.
I think I'm finally understanding the scariness, Damian. Your list is oddly similar to my own. This is freaky... Obviously, there are differences. I for one haven't come up with 100 I can settle on or even ranked them, but in my failed attempts at doing so over the years, they have been made up of many of the films you have chosen for your list. The only film on which you and I are like day and night is The Passion of the Christ. I admire your choice of course, but I am not a very big proponent of that movie. It's a conversations starter, though. That's for sure.
I just may have to post my own sometime.
The only film on which you and I are like day and night is The Passion of the Christ. I admire your choice of course, but I am not a very big proponent of that movie. It's a conversations starter, though. That's for sure.
Yeah, I figured that out of all the titles I included here that one would probably spark the most controversy (I even wondered if some people would stop reading the list once they saw it there). I debated whether or not to put it on there for a while, but in the end I just had to follow my gut. You're right, though, in that it's certainly a conversation starter.
Thank you for including Robocop -- it will definitely be in my list, which will be similar to yours in a few spots (I had mentally pegged "Pinocchio" at No. 21 recently).
Thank you for including Robocop -- it will definitely be in my list,...
Well, I re-watched it again recently and was reminded of what a truly great (and highly underrated) film it is.
I had mentally pegged "Pinocchio" at No. 21 recently.
There were SO MANY animated films I could've put on this list (Fantasia, Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Lion King, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Prince of Egypt, etc) that it pained me to leave them all out, but I think the two that I included (Nightmare Before Christmas and Pinocchio) richly deserve it.
Maybe it's just because I'm a boy but I've always sympathized more with Pinocchio than with Snow White and found the whole thing to be a more compelling story. Also, to this day, it STILL has some of the best sequences I've ever seen in an animated film: the climactic Monstro attack (I mean... WOW!) and that shot of the shadow on the wall as Lampwick turns into a donkey while screaming "Momma! Momma!" has to be one of the most frightening things I've ever seen depicted onscreen.
Neat list, Damian! And I have good news for you -- there's room for one more, because you have Dr. Strangelove down twice. :) I was surprised but pleased to see Die Hard on there -- I've always thought it was a really well-constructed film. Don't know if I'd have it among my all-time favorites, but I've sure watched it more times than a lot of my all-time favorites! :) And I've never heard of Visions of Light before, it sounds really good! Don't suppose you have it in stock down there?
I'm sorry I didn't get a post in for the film music blogathon -- I'm trying to get my house cleaned up and packed up for moving, and things have just been too crazy. Maybe the next one though!
And I have good news for you -- there's room for one more, because you have Dr. Strangelove down twice.
I do? Uh-oh. That's a little disconcerting actually because it means that somewhere in the shuffle a title got lost. I'd have to go through my eight pages of notes to find out which one it was because I know it wasn't one of the dozen titles that I list as runners-up.
In the meantime, I'll replace it with Truffaut's brilliant 400 Blows (the last movie to be cut from my top 100) as far as the ranking goes, as long as it's beneath Day For Night, I'm satisfied. Thank you for pointing that out, Weigard, and don't worry about the blog-a-thon. You can still submit something if you like. I can tell you now that It'll be a long time before I do another blog-a-thon.
Good list. I'm posting mine soon. Was surprised and delighted to see Grand Canyon on there. It is a flawed film, but a good one. Much better and less heavy handed than Crash.
Thanks, Piper. :)
Incidentally, I agree. I actually quite liked Crash (maybe because of its similarities to Grand Canyon) but was surprised that in the midst of all the praise and criticism that was directed at it a couple years ago, NOBODY mentioned Lawrence Kasdan's 15-year-old meditation on racial prejudice and class distinction in modern-day Los Angeles.
I agree. That's what bugged me about Crash so much. Haggis acted like it was so profound (he said it came to him in a dream - Good Lord) when in fact Kasdan had covered this long before.
I have seen a scant 28 from your top 100. Boo. :(
May I ask, how on earth did you go about compiling that list? I speak as someone who nearly tore her hair out trying to pick a top TEN, so how is picking 100 even possible? Why is 37 better than 38?
Anyway, delighted to see Tootise so high.
Glad that The Red Violin squeaked in.
Catherine:
One of the things I eventually had to realize about my list was that the ranking was going to be more an approximation than anything else. My concern, for example, was not so much that #37 be better than #38 but that both titles be, say, in my top 50. So, I wouldn't put too much stock in the minutiae of the actual numbering.
J.J.:
I had to have the Red Violin on there. I just had to. Not only is it one of my favorites but I think it is a criminally under-appreciated work.
Damnit Damian!
You got me thinking about what you posted on my list of 100 movies about being favorites and being the best movies we've seen thus far. I felt like I had cheated in not calling it the best movies I've seen so far. But in looking back, I wouldn't change a thing. There are some favorites in there that aren't necessarily the best films. I think immediately of Gross Pointe Blank and Fandango which are excellent films, but I'm not sure they were milestones. And I'm guilty of Army Of Darkness, but I would be struck down before I put together a list of 100 and didn't pay props to Raimi and not with Spiderman movies.
But I think of There's Something About Mary and I specifically picked that movie because when it came out, it helped revive the 'R' rated comedy. It was the Zuckers to the extreme, so I wanted to acknowledge that. And Blow Out is a fine, fine film and I would argue DePalma's best. And now I'm just rambling.
Oh well, thanks for making me think about all this stuff.
I almost included Blow Out on my list as well because I agree with you that it is arguably (along with The Untouchables) DePalma's best movie to date. My personal favorite DePalma film, however, would be the first Mission: Impossible. So, you see, before creating a list like this I had to decide (in my own mind) what exactly it was that I was listing.
Many of these titles would also be included in a list of my favorites but, at the same time, there are a number of favorites I have that I would never say are great films (or even particularly good films). For whatever reason, I just happen to love them.
And yet, there are also a number of films I've seen that I can acknowledge as being great and/or important works of art but which just don't resonate with me personally (such as Potemkin, Nosferatu, From Here to Eternity, Triumph of the Will). These are films which I find it much easer to admire, respect and/or appreciate rather than necessarily love and/or thoroughly enjoy.
In the end, I decided that the 100 films I listed had to have both elements: they had to be great films which I personally loved. That's when I thought they could earn the monkier of "one of the best films I've ever seen." It's like an analogy that my friend Tucker likes to make regarding art (including movies) and food. There are some foods that are good for you, but which don't necessarily appeal to your personal taste buds (green beans for me) and then there are foods that you might love the taste of but which aren't particularly healthy for you (candy bars). When you find a food that you not only love the taste of but which is actually very good for you, then you know you've found something special. That's always made sense to me and this list represents the foods which I love and happen to think are good for us.
Yep. Right on.
The thing I struggled with is including movies that are very good that I personally didn't like.
No offense, I feel that way with Schindlers List. It was a very good movie, but I personally didn't like it. Too brutal. It's not something that I would say to my wife, let's make a nice bowl of pasta, relax and watch us some Schindler's List. Meanwhile, I'm perfectly fine with Munich which is a rather brutal film, but one that I could watch over and over again - mainly because it deals with revenge and for some reason or another I enjoy those very much.
Damian, that's a great list. I've been meaning to respond, but I've been on vacation for a week. There are only a couple of films on your list that I have not seen: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and The Shawshank Redemption. Both of which you have told me (probably more than once) that I should see, and I will someday. And I guess I've only seen part of JFK. If I were to make my own list I know it would be somewhat different, but I think my process would be similar to yours. How does one actually rank so many great films? After the first few (which are even difficult to rank anyway) the ranking must become very problematic and ever changing. I like that you picked films that you personally like and that are inherently good. That keeps the list both personal on the one hand and objective enough to be a list of excellent recommendations. I love that you include some films that I would probably have entirely forgotten to even consider, but now that I see them on your list I go "aahhh yes." They include Young Frankenstein, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Back to the Future. I've been meaning to introduce Lily to Back to the Future someday soon. If I had the time I would work on my own list. I'm sure I will eventually.
* * * *
Piper, I hear you about the brutality of Schindler's List, but isn't it true that that's true about so many works of art that deal upfront with human evil and redemption? There are so many great films that I would not want to "say to my wife, let's make a nice bowl of pasta, relax and watch" it. And I do love pasta: PilgrimAkimbo: The Red and the White. I'm not defending Schindler's List as a number one film, I'm just saying the "pasta test" might actually be one indicator of a film's excellence. But, then again, it is my kinda film, and any list is hugely a matter of persanal taste.
Piper:
No offense taken at all. I don't remember who it was that said this (it might have been Dennis Cozzalio but I wouldn't swear to that) but in one of my many online conversations, someone referred to Schindler's List as "the greatest film he'd never want to see again." I can understand that. It's difficult to watch man being so cruel to his fellow man and although I've seen it many times I don't know that it's ever gotten easier for me either. However, what keeps me going back to it (and I'll talk about this in greater detail during my Spielberg project), besides its incredible craft and the need I feel to remind myself of the kind of depravity which we are all capable of (it sort of "resets my compass"), is that it also simultaneously shows humanity at its most noble and heroic. Schindler's List is not just a film about doing evil, it's a film about doing good. It makes me want to be a batter person (how many movies can one say that about?) and that's what makes it, in my eyes, a truly great film.
Again, I'll talk about this in "31 Days of Spielberg" but I think Munich, while just shy of the greatness of Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, is one of Spielberg's most morally complex and sophisticated films to date.
Tucker:
Good to hear you made it back from your vacation in one piece. I'm glad you liked the list too. I was curious as to what you'd think of it. I knew there were several picks on there you probably wouldn't agree with but if/when you make your list (and I'd be very interested to see it) I have little doubt that there'll be titles on there that I won't have even seen.
Regarding The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: I know I've talked about it quite a bit because it is one of my favorite films. I almost didn't include it because I think a good argument could be made that Danny kaye's wonderful Court Jester is a better movie. In the end, I went with Mitty because I felt it was ultimately just as good as Jester but not nearly as highly regarded. Incidentally, you mention not having seen it, but I remember showing it you and Maricel one night. You both enjoyed it (I can even recall a few of the things you laughed at and the comments you each made afterwards) but neither of you found it especially brilliant or, since you don't remember watching it, that memorable either I guess. Lily would probably love it (and Court Jester too).
I'm almost wondering if by now I've built The Shawshank Redmeption up too much for you that you can't help being somewhat disappointed. I know how discerning your tastes in film can be and if you had been able to "discover" it on your own (as many people did at the time) perhaps you would have praised it more than you will end up doing if you to watch it now. I still think it's a great movie and there's enough substance there for you to like it and to find it a worthwhile viewing experience. I am skeptical as to whether you'll think it belongs among such esteemed company as Citizen Kane, Manhattan and so forth, but I do highly recommend that you and Maricel see it at some point. I don't think you'll be too disappointed.
P.S. Did you hear that "Flicks and Picks" is closing its doors?
Wow Damian, I totally forgot about watching Mitty with you. That was years ago. Maybe I just forgot that it was that film, because I do remember Kaye's performance - which was brilliant. But you're right. The film did not strike me the same was it has you. I am surprised I forgot watching it though - a rather rare occurence for me, but then I am getting old. I did show Lily The Court Jester recently, and she loved it.
As for Flics & Pics - I did not know it was closing, but, as you and your dad know all too well, running an independant video store is not always easy these days. Do you know what they're going to do with all those films?
Glad to hear that Lily loved Court Jester. That might maker her receptive to Walter Mitty now because it has the same actor in it.
You are right in that it is indeed very difficult to run a video store (any video store; corporate chain or independent) nowadays. The video rental business is changing due to things like Ntflix and the internet. The owner of "Flics & Pics" doesn't even think there's a future in it. My dad has already spoken with him and even he doesn't know what he's going to do with the thousands of VHS tapes that he has. I think we're hoping to snatch some of the DVD's that we don't already own for our library. We're hoping to weather the storm. Whether we can accomplish it or not remains to be seen though.
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