47 Comments Add your own

• 1. Behme Up Scotty  |  March 6th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

  GET YOUR CRAP TOGETHER, movie man. From reading this, you can be pretty high brow, too. You haven’t liked a popular movie since Indiana Jones.

• 2. elDizzle  |  March 6th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

  This is hard…and I haven’t seen alot of the “Classics” but here goes in alphabetical order:

  Children of Men
  City of God
  Fargo
  Garden State
  House of Flying Daggers
  Last of the Mohicans
  Life of Brian
  Pulp Fiction
  Starship Troopers
  The Royal Tenenbaums

• 3. Will Pfeifer  |  March 6th, 2008 at 6:54 pm

  Don’t worry about those classics — any list with both CHILDREN OF MEN and STARSHIP TROOPERS is a classic all by itself.

• 4. Johnny Bacardi  |  March 6th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

  That’s Slap Shot. Go Chiefs!

  Ze list!

  Citizen Kane (1941)
  The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
  The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
  Snatch. (2000)
  The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
  The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
  The Last Emperor (1987)
  The Black Cat (1934)
  Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  Scrooge (1951)

  Here’s my ist of 20, in case anybody’s curious…

• 5. Will Pfeifer  |  March 7th, 2008 at 11:19 am

  Johnny — Great list. There’s at lease one 1934 horror movie that’s going to show up on mine, too. And though PELHAM didn’t quite make it, I just watched it again a week or so ago, and was once again amazed by how funny, suspenseful and sharp it is.

• 6. Adam  |  March 7th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

  #1 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the rest in no particular order:

  Fight Club
  Garden State
  On the Waterfront
  Vertigo
  Star Wars saga
  Back to the Future
  The Big Lebowski
  The Shining
  The Third Man
  Braveheart
  The Godfather

  Sorry I guess that’s 12 and I had more but I’ll stop. This is really tough to narrow it to 10.

• 7. Will Pfeifer  |  March 7th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

  Nice, Adam. FIGHT CLUB is on mine, and your top pick might be there, too. Ten is a hard number to narrow it down to. I’ve got a list of my top 25, then 75 more divided by decades (as I’ve said before, I’m a geek) and getting it down to 10 isn’t going to be easy.

• 8. John N  |  March 7th, 2008 at 12:53 pm

  VERY hard to narrow it down

  CITIZEN KANE and THE GODFATHER tie for first with me.

  The other 8 for today are:

  DR. STRANGELOVE
  THE GENERAL
  TAXI DRIVER
  WIZARD OF OZ
  RAN
  M
  NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
  THE MALTESE FALCON

  It pains me to not have included lots of other favorites.

• 9. Will Pfeifer  |  March 7th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

  NIGHT OF THE HUNTER — excellent. If any of you haven’t seen this amazing movie starring Robert Mitchumn as a maniacal preacher, Netflix it now. One of the strangest — and most enchanting — movies ever made. It’s like a fairy tale crossed with a film noir.

• 10. Rob Ullman  |  March 7th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

  Tough narrowing it down to 10. No order:

  REAR WINDOW
  THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
  BACK TO THE FUTURE
  THE CONVERSATION
  RUSHMORE
  SWINGERS
  THE FRENCH CONNECTION
  GOODFELLAS
  THE APARTMENT
  MATCH POINT

• 11. Adam  |  March 7th, 2008 at 1:21 pm

  Hey John great picks of M, Ran, and The General

• 12. Will Pfeifer  |  March 7th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

  Rob, you’ve got at least three I think will make my list. And though THE CONVERSATION is going to (narrowly) miss, it’s a classic. Maybe Coppola’s best film!

• 13. John N  |  March 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

  Thanks, Adam! Back to you with THE THIRD MAN, ON THE WATERFRONT, THE SHINING, and the first 2 STAR WARS movies. There’s lots of great ones mentioned so far. Mighty selfish of The Movie Man to restrict us to only 10, don’t you think? LOL

• 14. hokumboy  |  March 7th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

  Here’s my 10 (subject to revision)
  THE GENERAL
  THE 39 STEPS
  M
  FORT APACHE
  THRONE OF BLOOD
  12 ANGRY MEN
  FARGO
  HEAR MY SONG
  BRAZIL
  BEST IN SHOW

• 15. mtrowbridge  |  March 7th, 2008 at 3:30 pm

  Wages of Fear — Action movie with deep meaning; men emasculated by lack of jobs, then by fear of dangerous job.

  Local Hero — quiet movie that’s quietly great

  Animal House — just about the only comedy in history that’s actually funny throughout

  Purple Rose of Cairo — a movie about why we like movies.

  Unforgiven — an unforgiving look at the Old West.

  It’s a Wonderful Life — I’ve seen it at least 20 times and can see it 20 more

  Sound of Music — Good story, great songs. Most musicals tend to have one or two good songs and people breaking out in song for no reason. Here, every song is good and there’s a reason for every song.

  Reservoir Dogs — The only Tarantino movie worth raving about

  Third Man — Orson Welles’ entrance is best scene in history of movies.

  The Magnificent Ambersons. These are Welles’ two best movies, not Citizen Kane.

• 16. John N  |  March 7th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

  I love the movies by Welles I’ve seen and I’ve always wanted to see MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, but it’s not available in an R1 DVD. Isn’t his daughter the one behind keeping it (and some of his other movies) not available? Anyway, another Welles movie that comes close to being on my list is TOUCH OF EVIL.

• 17. Jen Sensible  |  March 7th, 2008 at 3:54 pm

  Finding Nemo
  Toy Story 2
  Monsters Inc.
  Chicken Run
  Wallace and Gromit, the Wrong Pants
  Anything starring Steven Seagal
  Grinch Who Stole Christmas (Carrey version)
  Who Framed Roger Rabbit
  Scrooged!
  Anything Recommended by Mr. Skin

• 18. Will Pfeifer  |  March 7th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

  Matt — Nicely eclectic selection. Any list that includes both THE SOUND OF MUSIC and RESERVOIR DOGS deserves extra credit.

  John — Supposedly, Warner Bros. is working on a DVD version of AMBERSONS, but there’s no word on a release date. The pop culture experts over at the Onion AV Club addressed the question of Welles’ daughter. Here’s what they said: “So why can’t you sit in the comfort of your own home and watch sparkling, features-packed editions of The Magnificent Ambersons, Chimes At Midnight, Othello, and The Immortal Story? Two words: Beatrice Welles. The daughter of the legendary director is notoriously protective of her father’s work, and even caused the DVDs of Citizen Kane and Touch Of Evil to be held up in the past. Whenever Welles scholars work to increase access to Welles’ short films and unfinished works, Beatrice Welles brings the big squash.” The full answer is here:
  http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/ask_the_a_v_club_february_22

  Jen — Either you’re having a bit of fun or that’s the most amazing list I’ve ever seen. I actually like most of SCROOGED and my daughter would definitely put (the excellent) FINDING NEMO on her list. But Seagal? Really?

• 19. Wayne Alan Harold  |  March 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

  In somewhat chronological order:

  NIGHT NURSE
  TROUBLE IN PARADISE
  LOVE ME TONIGHT
  DUCK SOUP
  FOOTLIGHT PARADE/GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (tie)
  BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
  REAR WINDOW
  VERTIGO
  PSYCHO
  ANNIE HALL

  Color Me Geezer!

• 20. Will Pfeifer  |  March 7th, 2008 at 5:38 pm

  Excellent list, Wayne — heavy on the pre-Code Hollywood movies, which is one of the most fascinating slices of film history, If anyone out there hasn;t seen NIGHT NURSE, be sure to check it out — it’s crazy (and available in the new FORBIDDEN HOLLYWOOD 2 DVD set)

• 21. hokumboy  |  March 7th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

  John,
  Several months ago I got an all region Magnavox DVD player from K-Mart for under $30. It works fine.
  Ordering from Amazon UK is quite simple and takes only a few days longer to get it than ordering from the States.
  I feel Amberson’s is a far better film than Kane. Even with the screwed up ending.
  Wells also did a radio version on Campbell Playhouse, which was a replacement for his famous Mercury Theater of the Air.

• 22. hokumboy  |  March 7th, 2008 at 6:02 pm

  By the way,
  You can hear “Ambersons” and all the other Mercury/Campbell shows here:
  http://sounds.mercurytheatre.info

• 23. Will Pfeifer  |  March 7th, 2008 at 6:04 pm

  Thanks for the link, Hokumboy. And I second the suggestion to get a region-free player. It opens up a whole new world of movie viewing. There’s a lot of stuff out there not available on Region 1 (that’s the US) DVDs

• 24. odessa steps magazine  |  March 7th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

  my problem with doing lists like this is that I know that I could do in five minutes and it would be completely different.

  with that said,…

  CITIZEN KANE
  DUCK SOUP
  SHADOW OF A DOUBT - perhaps the most underrated Hitch movie
  GRAND ILLUSION - Criterion # 1
  BRAZIL - the dystopic ending please
  BLAZING SADDLES
  ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI - my favorite cult movie
  FORT APACHE - favorite classic Ford Western
  DR STRAGELOVE - favorite Kubrick
  OLYMPIA - shaped modern day sports coverage

• 25. Will Pfeifer  |  March 7th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

  Excellent list, Odessa. I count three, maybe four that will end up on mine. (And you’re right — for BRAZIL, you need the downbeat ending. It’s a sham, otherwise!) And I think I read somewhere that SHADOW OF A DOUBT was Hitchcock’s personal favorite.

  That is the trouble with these lists — if you’re a film lover, you do tend to switch your favorites all the time.

• 26. odessa steps magazine  |  March 8th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

  Humourously enough, I just noticed the one movie I left off my list: BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, the picture from where our magazine gets its name. :>

• 27. hokumboy  |  March 8th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

  That’s probably because silents are ignored by most “movie lovers”. It’s a shame since there were so many great films of that era.
  The steps scene from POTEMKIN is an absolute classic piece of editing but I feel the film in it’s entirety kinda drags. My fav silent (discounting any of the great Keaton works Griffith’s short films) is THE CROWD.

• 28. odessa steps magazine  |  March 8th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

  i find it hard to say that the film drags given how short it actually runs.

  Apart from eisenstein, I will take German Expressionist stuff over most other silents, even keaton and lloyd and the tramp.

• 29. jan  |  March 9th, 2008 at 11:32 am

  OK. Here it is in no particular order:

  1. The Court Jester–one of the funniest movies ever
  2. Night of the Hunter–I bought the VHS tape before I even had a player
  3. Svengali–repeated viewings highlight even the minor characters. The first time I ever saw a clip from it was as a kid in some kind of short called “The Days When Talkies Were Young.” I remember distinctly thinking, “Oh, no. I was born too late to ever see ‘Svengali.’” Thanks to a film collection at the Rockford Public Library–that, unfortunately, no longer exists–I finally was able to see it, and it did not disappoint.
  4. Before the Rain–unavailable on DVD but shows up sometimes on pay channels. Poweful film.
  5. Lone Star–hard to pick one Sayles, but this one sure holds up on repeated viewings
  6. Harold and Maude–wondeful film, wonderful Cat Stevens music
  7. Tunes of Glory–fantastic performances by Alec Guiness and John Mills. Very moving.
  8. McCabe and Mrs. Miller–it’s got a score by Leonard Cohen, beautiful cinematography, great performances by Julie Christie and Warren Beatty, and an unromantic view of the West
  9. All at Sea–drole comedy from Ealing, I think. Also Alec Guiness, and also not available on DVD but TCM has it from time to time. I used to see it all the time on Channel 9 years ago, but I had a chance to see it more recently, and it’s just as wonderful as I had remembered.
  10. The Full Monty–repeated viewings highlight the growth in the relationship between the characters
  11. Bubba Ho-Tep–OK, that’s 11, but I just loved this movie and have been recommending it to everyone I know.
  12. The Secret of Roan Inish–I just had to add this lovely Irish film by Sayles to the list.

  I’ll send this off now before I add more. It’s so hard to narrow them down.

• 30. Will Pfeifer  |  March 9th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

  Silents are a tough sell these days. The pacing seems off to modern eyes, and though they were groundbreaking in their day, the advances they made have ben absorbed (again and again) so long ago that it’s hard to appreciate their original energy and imagination. I think comedies tend to work best, partly because of their links and partly because it’s such a purely visual type of humor. THE CROWD is pretty great, though — I wish it were on DVD, but it shows up on Turner Classics fairly often. Others I like include Murnau’s THE LAST LAUGHT, FAUST and SUNRISE, Lang’s METROPOLIS (though it definitely has its slow spots) and THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE and Paul Leni’s THE MAN WHO LAUGHED, a thrilling horror-adventure that inspired the look of the Joker.

• 31. Will Pfeifer  |  March 9th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

  Jan — Great list. I’ve already mentioned how much I like NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, and the two John Sayles films you picked, LONE STAR and ROAN INISH, are very imaginative, evocative films — and completely different. HAROLD AND MAUDE is another favorite — I saw it after I saw RUSHMORE, and realized how much it must”ve influenced Wes Anderson, right down to the use of Cat Steven’s music. Great, great ending, too.

• 32. Bob Schaper - Assistant Metro Editor  |  March 9th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

  Animal House
  Casablanca
  Children of Men
  Crimes and Misdemeanors
  Fargo
  Hannah and Her Sisters
  Jaws
  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  Runaway Train
  Stuck on You

• 33. John N  |  March 9th, 2008 at 5:56 pm

  THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE is a great film and so close to being in my top 10. But it’s not a silent movie. In fact, Lang used sound very creatively in it.

  Thanks for the region-free DVD advice. I plan on holding out for a region-free Blu-Ray as soon as they come out. There’s so many great Region2 DVDs I wished I owned, especially from Eureka, who supposedly makes DVDs as good as Criterion.

  And, thanks, Will, for this topic. I haven’t seen some of the suggestions and they’ve given me great ideas. In fact, tonight, I’ll be watching NIGHT NURSE, thanks to Wayne’s suggestion.

• 34. Adam  |  March 9th, 2008 at 11:44 pm

  I agree Dr. Mabuse is fantastic . I believe it was the sequel to Dr. Mabuse the Gambler which is a silent film. And I agree about silent films being a tough sell. Hardly anyone I know will even give them a chance. Like many others have mentioned I also
  think Keaton is better than Chaplin. Some of my favorite silents are The Phantom of thw Opera with Lon Chaney, Sunrise, and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Also on the subject of genres being overlooked I don’t think the average person gives foreign films a chance either. I think two of the best films of 2006 were Pan’s Labryinth and The Lives of Others. I did notice a few Kurowsawa films some 10 best list. Anyway just wondering what anybody’s favorite foreign films are?

• 35. hokumboy  |  March 10th, 2008 at 10:00 am

  John N,
  speaking of Criterion,
  Do you know this site?

  http://criterioncollection.blogspot.com/

• 36. Justin Time  |  March 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am

  Begins and ends with Roadhouse.

• 37. jan  |  March 10th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

  Favorite foreign language films–good idea:

  “My Left Eye Sees Ghosts”—Chinese. A little over the top in places, but I just loved it. I laughed, I cried, I bought my own copy.
  “The Motorcycle Diaries”–about the young Che Guavara.
  “Nosferatu”–the original silent version with Max Schreck
  “The Marriage of Maria Braun”–excellent Fassbinder about the rise of Germany after WW Diva—French thriller. I saw the previews in Germany and had to see the film. It did not disappoint.

  “Carmen”—Spanish film about the remaking of the opera Carmen as a flamenco performance. Some of the music from the opera is used—which got me first into the opera Carmen and then into opera in general—and the flamenco stuff is really intense. It’s the one with Antonio Gades, Paco de Lucia, and Laura del Sol—not the Placido Domingo/Julia Migenes (?) Johnson version of the opera, so make sure you get the right one. Fantastic flamenco dance sequences. Criterion just put out a DVD.

  “Bleu,” “Blanc,” and “Rouge”: Three films based on the colors of the French flag (liberté, égalité, fraternité) and the colors work symbolically. “Rouge,” or Red, is perhaps the best of the three, so try to watch them in order building up to that one. There are scenes from each film in each of the others, and notice how the people and the recycle bins work symbolically. Really nice films.

  “La Chèvre” and “Les Compères”: two French comedies, both very funny. The same to people star in them, but they don’t play the same characters. Pierre Richard is more the physical comedian, and Gérard Dépardieu acts the straight man to a certain extent. Both are delightful.

  “The Pillow Book”: Japanese. All I can say is WOW, but not for everyone. It’s one of those movies you want to discuss and see again, but there is lots of nudity and some violence, which may turn people off. I loved it—I thought it was much better than I had anticipated –and I immediately went back to see it again and take notes. Very thought-provoking, dealing with the relationship of the written word and sexual pleasure, with revenge and tradition (childhood rituals) thrown into the mix. One of those movies you want to discuss and share.

  I really like “The Triplets of Belleville,” too. French cartoon with almost no dialogue. The first time through is not as satisfying as repeat viewings. There’s so much going on in it. And speaking of French movies: “My Father’s Glory” and “My Mother’s Castle”—in that order. They’re two parts of the same film really which take place in Provence around 1900. Lovely films. And “City of Lost Children”—very strange and kind of surreal. Lots of things going on. If you turn away for a minute from COLC you might miss some vital link in a sequence, and there are three or four different groups interacting, so it really makes more sense the second time through. A hint: the boy at the beginning is NOT Little Brother.

  “Zentropa”—post WW II Germany. There really was an organization called the Werewolves who wanted foreign occupation to end.

  “Before the Rain”: Takes place in Macedonia, but tells you a lot about the Bosnian War. Haunting and powerful. Bears repeating because you can’t really take it all in at once. Not available on DVD, but it shows on IFC from time to time.

  “The Story of the Weeping Camel” is just a delightful film which takes place in Tibet. The combination of the old and new ways is fascinating, and you’ll think a lot more of camels after you see it. I mean, I’d noticed them before, but didn’t ever pay too much attention to their faces. Great film, and good family viewing.

  “Sugar Cane Alley”–French memoir about Martinique in the 1930’s.
  “Good-bye Lenin”–German. Fun film.

  OK, so I went to 20 with them. It’s REALLY hard to narrow them down. And I didn’t even include any Australian, Irish, or British films. Anyone interested in that list? (I LOVE to make movie lists and recommend films to others. I guess you can tell that already.)

• 38. Jason Cox  |  March 10th, 2008 at 5:45 pm

  Impossible to answer. However, I offer up these gems as my list (in chronological order)…

  1. Lifeboat (1944)
  2. Mister Roberts (1955)
  3. Spartacus (1960)
  4. Young Frankenstein (1974)
  5. Alien (1979)
  6. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
  7. The Shining (1980)
  8. Stand by Me (1986)
  9. The Usual Suspects (1995)
  10. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

  Why impossible to answer? Here are a few reasons why…

  Wizard of Oz
  A Christmas Story
  Rear Window
  Seven Samurai
  The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  etc.

  How about a list of top 100 favorites? That I could do…well, maybe.

• 39. Will Pfeifer  |  March 10th, 2008 at 9:54 pm

  More great lists and — even better — great discussion of movies. In all seriousness, just when I get depressed about the state of movies (and movie audiences), the comments section of this blog renews my faith. You don’t know how exciting it is to hear from such devoted fans of movies!

  And of course you’re right, John — TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE is a sound movie, with some great use of sound, too. (And speaking of Criterion, there’s a great DVD of it available.) There are thousands of great foreign films out there, and in this age of region-free DVD players and subtitles, there’s no reason to check them out. Hong Kong has some great action/adventure movies, and there’s the French New Wave (BREATHLESS, WEEKEND and ALPHAVILLE are three of my faves, all by John Luc Godard). There’s Bergman’s Swedish classics, lots of Japanese dramas by Ozu, Kurosawa and others, and that’s all stuff that’s decades old. Want something newer? Check out the Korean movies like THE HOST and OLDBOY — a great monster movie and a punch-to-the-gut drama, and nothing like their American counterparts.

  A 100 list? I’ve got one of those all set to go — but I’m going to limit myself to 10, too. I’m hoping to post it tomorrow…if I can get it narrowed down in time.

• 40. elDizzle  |  March 11th, 2008 at 8:44 am

  Oldboy is great. Was that an Oldboy poster in Sam’s bedroom in Transformers? Or am I thinking of a different movie?

  I watched Casshern last night. Take some sci-fi, add a superhero, add some anime and a touch of horror and you’ve got something that’s uniquely Japanese. I highly recommend it.

• 41. charlie schoeneck  |  March 11th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

  Not in order:
  The Good, THe Bad, & The Ugly
  The Grapes of Wrath
  She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
  Battleship Potemkin
  North by Northwest
  The Spirit of St. Louis
  For Whom the Bell Tolls
  The Big Sleep
  Casablanca

  My wife hates ALL of em!!

• 42. Will Pfeifer  |  March 12th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

  Charlie: Nice to see POTEMKIN on another list. And I’ve always loved THE BIG SLEEP — the dialogue is so sharp and funny it raises the movie to classic level all by itself!

• 43. babypit  |  March 13th, 2008 at 12:14 pm

  Movies I have to return to periodically
  I’m sure I’m forgetting many.

  Young Frankenstein
  Dr. Zhivago
  Last of the Mohicans (sp?)
  Holiday Inn
  Gone with the Wind
  Goodfellas
  Moulin Rouge
  Anne of a Thousand Days
  Blazing Saddles
  Hero
  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
  Elizabeth

• 44. babypit  |  March 13th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

  Oh, how could I forget….

  The Usual Suspects is amazing.

• 45. cinesven  |  March 17th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

  Just ten is REALLY tough, but here goes (in no particular order):

  Blade Runner
  Gallipoli
  Rushmore
  HEAT
  The Bridge on the River Kwai
  Throne of Blood
  2001: A Space Odyssey
  The Sand Pebbles
  Miller’s Crossing
  The Duellists

• 46. temy56  |  March 20th, 2008 at 6:21 pm

  My top ten:
  l0. Shindler’s List
  9. Batman Begins
  8. Elephant Man
  7. Ordinary People
  6. Sophie’s Choice
  5. Deer Hunter
  4. Broke Back Mountain
  3. Amadeus
  2. A River Runs Through it
  1. East of Eden

• 47. Thomas V. Bona  |  March 21st, 2008 at 1:02 pm

  Time to finally do this. And yes, it’s woefully lacking in older movies. I’m working on that.

  1. Fargo
  2. Citizen Kane
  3. Magnolia
  4. Requiem for a Dream
  5. The Shawshank Redemption
  6. High Fidelity
  7. Amelie
  8. Kill Bill (counting them together, deal with it)
  9. The Paper
  10 (a tie!) The Princess Bride and The Life of Brian

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