Greatest Films Ever

[MacGuffin]

Time Compiles List of 100 Greatest Films

A list of the greatest films of all time without "North by Northwest?" No "Annie Hall," "Bicycle Thief" or "Apocalypse Now"? Take a deep breath and relax. This is supposed to be fun.

The movie critics for Time magazine, Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss, have compiled an unranked list of the 100 greatest films. It was posted Sunday on www.Time.com. Included are traditionally acclaimed flicks like "Lawrence of Arabia," "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane," as well as more atypical choices like "Finding Nemo," "Star Wars" and the 2002 Brazilian gang story, "City of God."

Disagree? Schickel says that's the idea.

"100 lists are fun to discuss, fun to argue over," Schickel told The Associated Press. "I don't think anybody should say, `That's it, that's the final 100! No disputing this for the rest of eternity!' You know, stuff changes. Life changes. You change."

That perspective is even more difficult for contemporary movies, says the critic who has also produced many documentaries and led the acclaimed reconstruction of Samuel Fuller's 1980 war pic, "The Big Red One" Recent films on the list include Pedro Almodovar's "Talk to Her," the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and, of course, "Pulp Fiction."

Schickel acknowledges some regret for a few older reviews of his like not trumpeting "Bonnie and Clyde" more or failing to immediately recognize "Chinatown" as "close to a perfect movie." All the original reviews from Time will be linked on the subscription Web site but perusing old write-ups can be a cringing experience for a critic.

Though it was before Schickel's time, the original 1942 review of "Casablanca," for example, read, "Nothing short of an invasion could add much to `Casablanca.'"

"If you're involved with movies, they are a living organism in your memory," Schickel says. "It's like some creature in a sci-fi movie that keeps shape-shifting."

The most popular director turned out to be Martin Scorsese, who has three films on the list. Scorsese's frequent actor of choice, Robert De Niro, leads actors with five.

Since Schickel and Corliss also have divergent tastes, much of the finalized list is one of compromise.

"Most 100 lists are the product of a single sensibility and this is a compromised list because his sensibility and mine, I think, agreed between 40 percent and 50 percent of the time ... and then it gets to a wrangle."

In Monday's issue of the magazine, the two critics also name the best film from each decade since Time began: "Metropolis" (1927), "Dodsworth" (1936), "Citizen Kane" (1941), "Ikiru" (1952), "Persona" (1966), "Chinatown" (1974), "Decalogue" (1988), "Pulp Fiction" (1994) and "Talk to Her" (2002).

But Schickel still says to reserve any great reverence for the result of their toil.

"In a way this is supposed to be fun. ... The notion that any kind of movie reviewing or movie commentary is an opinion handed down from on high by somebody in judicial robes is nonsensical. They're all kind of first opinions and depends on, I don't know, what you ate for breakfast that morning."

http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/the_complete_list.html


Aguirre: the Wrath of God (1972)

The Apu Trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959)

The Awful Truth (1937)

Baby Face (1933)

Bande à part (1964)

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)

Blade Runner (1982)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Brazil (1985)

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Camille (1936)

Casablanca (1942)

Charade (1963)

Children of Paradise (1945)

Chinatown (1974)

Chungking Express (1994)

Citizen Kane (1941)

City Lights (1931)

City of God (2002)

Closely Watched Trains (1966)

The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)

The Crowd (1928)

Day for Night (1973)

The Decalogue (1989)

Detour (1945)

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)

Dodsworth (1936)

Double Indemnity (1944)

Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Drunken Master II (1994)

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

8 1/2 (1963)

The 400 Blows (1959)

Farewell My Concubine (1993)

Finding Nemo (2003)

The Fly (1986)

The Godfather, Parts I and II (1972, 1974)

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

Goodfellas (1990)

A Hard Day's Night (1964)

His Girl Friday (1940)

Ikiru (1952)

In A Lonely Place (1950)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

It's A Gift (1934)

It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

Kandahar (2001)

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

King Kong (1933)

The Lady Eve (1941)

The Last Command (1928)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Léolo (1992)

The Lord of the Rings (2001-03)

The Man With a Camera (1929)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Metropolis (1927)

Miller's Crossing (1990)

Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980)

Mouchette (1967)

Nayakan (1987)

Ninotchka (1939)

Notorious (1946)

Olympia, Parts 1 and 2 (1938)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Out of the Past (1947)

Persona (1966)

Pinocchio (1940)

Psycho (1960)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

Pyaasa (1957)

Raging Bull (1980)

Schindler's List (1993)

The Searchers (1956)

Sherlock, Jr. (1924)

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Singin' in the Rain (1952)

The Singing Detective (1986)

Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Star Wars (1977)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Sunrise (1927)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Swing Time (1936)

Talk to Her (2002)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Tokyo Story (1953)

A Touch of Zen (1971)

Ugetsu (1953)

Ulysses' Gaze (1995)

Umberto D (1952)

Unforgiven (1992)

White Heat (1949)

Wings of Desire (1987)

Yojimbo (1961)

[Myxo]

I love Barry Lyndon, but why not 2001 if they're going to pick a Kubrick film? That seems really odd. Hell, even Clockwork Orange is a bigger achievement in my opinion.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

Few real objections except... Finding Nemo?

[modage]

i've seen 63.  

also: The Singing Detective was a TV mini-series, not a film.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090521/

[w/o horse]

also: The Singing Detective was a TV mini-series, not a film.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090521/

Why did you single that one out?  Hell, their best film for the decade of the 80s was a mini-series.

The list is just as good as any other list I suppose.  Finding Nemo is surprising if not random, but so is Detour, The Fly, and The Purple Rose of Cairo.  I don't think Kandahar would have made the list any other day.

[Gamblour.]

The Fly is a funny pick. Miller's Crossing is a strange one, why not Fargo or Barton Fink? Why Ikiru and not Seven Samurai or Rashomon? 2001 is missing. But it seems interesting that Persona is their best film of the 60s, which is a great choice. 2001 has to be on there. And I've never even heard of Dodsworth.

[modage]

i think at this point, the lists are concious of other lists.  if no one had ever sat down to make a 'best of all time' list then more obvious choices like 2001 or apocalypse now or whatever would definitely be on it.  but it seems like by now, theres been SO MANY lists, the only way to really make yours different is by substituting a handful of random choices among the many classics to get  people to be like 'hey, i've seen all those movies but that one,  i'll have to check it out."  which is kind of good idea, but dumb.

[cowboykurtis]

i cant believe 2001 and apacolypse now arent on here

this list can go fuck itself

[Jeremy Blackman]

Why do people even care about a "greatest films" list made by two magazine writers?

[03]

i guess the same reasons they cared about a list of obscure recommendations from a complete stranger on a message board.

[w/o horse]

Why do people even care about a "greatest films" list made by two magazine writers?

I read that and then clicked back to make sure that indeed just one topic up from this one was a list topic started by you.

Lists are obviously interesting, and furthermore conversation can arise from them.

Care is a bit of an overkill, but hell, these guys made the lists for us to talk about and some of us did, 03 made a list and people talked about it, so we know for sure:  people talk about lists.

If Xixax did a favorites movie list I'd participate.  Jeremy you should organize it, I'll count if you're busy, and obviously it sould be done anonymously.  A point system I imagine, perhaps a top 20 with a reverse point scale.  Also, there could be links from the movies to the topics about the movies, so that repeat topics would not occur for at least 100 movies.  Then it could be broken down into directors with the most movies on the list too, which is what I'd be more interested in.

Something like that has probably been done here at Xixax before, and if so I'd like to be linked, and if not it should be done now.  It could be fun, interesting, and put a little action back into the board.  Hell, maybe it wouldn't even turn into a bitchfest.

[MacGuffin]

If Xixax did a favorites movie list I'd participate.  Jeremy you should organize it, I'll count if you're busy, and obviously it sould be done anonymously.  A point system I imagine, perhaps a top 20 with a reverse point scale.  Also, there could be links from the movies to the topics about the movies, so that repeat topics would not occur for at least 100 movies.  Then it could be broken down into directors with the most movies on the list too, which is what I'd be more interested in.

Something like that has probably been done here at Xixax before, and if so I'd like to be linked, and if not it should be done now.  It could be fun, interesting, and put a little action back into the board.  Hell, maybe it wouldn't even turn into a bitchfest.

http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=5109

[w/o horse]

Oh wow.  That was really fancy, too.

That's over a year old and only 15 movies long, so if someone with seniority is down to sponsor I'm still down to help with my proposed 100 list idea.

[soixante]

Schickel is one of the best critics working today, and is much more thoughtful than Corliss.

It is strange, Schickel originally panned Taxi Driver in 1976, now it's in the Top 100 of all time.   I think it's odd to put Purple Rose of Cairo in lieu of Annie Hall or Manhattan (in fact, Manhattan made the cover of Time in 1979).

Where was Birth of a Nation, Intolerance or Battleship Potempkin?

[cowboykurtis]

Oh wow.  That was really fancy, too.

That's over a year old and only 15 movies long, so if someone with seniority is down to sponsor I'm still down to help with my proposed 100 list idea.

more often than not you're a fucking smart ass. just thought i'd do you the favor of making you aware of how your tone is percieved, regardless of it's intent.