The Great 'Greatest Movie Ever' Debate
The latest 'Sight and Sound' critics' poll stirs the usual pot. Here are my picks, and a few movie tunes (from Beethoven to the Beatles and Byrds).
The much-awaited (by cineastes and a few other fools, such as yours truly) Sight and Sound poll of film critics to “determine” the 100 greatest movies ever was released yesterday—it arrives only once per decade—and folks can’t stop complaining about it.
Indeed, there is much to question and even ridicule. Hardly anyone in the world has even seen #1; several other picks are true headscratchers (Mulholland Drive? really?) and everyone has a long list of notable omissions. I mean, Kubrick’s two best films are missing (Paths of Glory and Dr. Strangelove) while The Shining and Barry Lyndon make it? Good to see plenty of Kurosawa but Portrait of a Lady on Fire shows up and Ran does not? I could go on.
They also offer their top 100 chosen by leading directors, which is a little better. But even there: Eraserhead and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?
So, I am offering below, for your approval or confusion or condemnation, a quick list of my 50 or so “greatest” with caveats that 1) I've ruled out almost any from the past ten years—too soon 2) my taste tends to be more serious/political than the norm and 3) this was done spur of the moment so even as I type this I would question some of my own picks. Also, crucially, note: some classic films I have not seen in many, many years so I have lost the ability to confidently peg them as among the "greatest." Missing, for example, are Truffaut, Ozu, Bergman, Fellini etc.).
But first, a few eclectic songs from movies…and PLEASE in comments add your own picks for best films or disagree with mine. Also, subscribe, it’s still free….and as I have noted, my new film, The First Attack Ads, is still airing on PBS stations around the USA but you can watch it now and free online right here.
Glen Hansard, from Once
Jerry Lee Lewis from High School Confidential.
Beethoven’s Ninth, A Clockwork Orange.
“As Time Goes By,” from Casablanca.
The Beatles, from Help!
Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, New Orleans.
The Byrds doing Carole King’s “Wasn’t Born to Follow” in Easy Rider.
And Now the Envelope….
Here’s my tentative list, with the best of the best near the top but in no particular order.
Paths of Glory
Ikiru
Battle of Algiers
Schindler's List
Dr. Strangelove
Citizen Kane
Army of Shadows (Melville)
Ran
Bloody Sunday (Greengrass)
Ida
All the President's Men
Hud
Chinatown
The Lives of Others
On The Waterfront
Seven Samurai
A Streetcar Named Desire
A Separation (Farhadi)
Dog Day Afternoon
Napoleon (Gance)
Casablanca
The Godfather
Kes
Breathless
Badlands
The General
Hiroshima-Nagasaki 1945
The Life of Oharu
The Third Man
Harlan County USA
Night of the Hunter
Modern Times
Grapes of Wrath
Vengeance is Mine (Imamura)
North By Northwest
The Rules of the Game
Taxi Driver
Battleship Potemkin
Close-Up (Iran)
Cache
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem
From Here to Eternity
The Act of Killing
The Salesman (Farhadi)
Reds
Julius Caesar (Brando, Gielgud etc.)
Accident
The Hustler
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Stray Dog
Mystic River
The Killing Fields
Waltz With Bashir
Don’t Look Back
The Last Waltz
They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Not on the list, but recognizing just a few comedies here: The Life of Brian, Wag the Dog, Groundhog Day, Duck Soup, The Player, The Producers, Women on the Verge, In the Loop, Bob Roberts, etc.
I might add Mystic.
Your list is much better. Still... where is Altman? Where is Woody Allen? John Sturges? David Lean? Both lists ignored these important directors. Very glad to see Bob Roberts got an almost-mention-- a very overlooked movie. I'd've included Idiocracy and Brazil. Also Animal House, Reds, and Johnny Got His Gun.