It is Oscar week after all.
A couple of my kids took me to task the other day, calling me out on an expression I commonly use. Specifically, the expression, “Oh, that is one of my favorite movies.” Essentially they challenged me to list my favorite movies because they didn’t believe that I could actually do it and more, they didn’t believe that there exists today a movie that isn’t among my favorites.
I took them up on the challenge, and I now have (for the moment) a top 100 list.
I took a few liberties and set a few ground rules before getting started. First, I only included movies I have actually seen. If you look and wonder where this or that “classic” is, it is highly likely I haven’t seen it.
Second, no remakes. By remake I mean a film which is a remake of another film that was shot with much the same technology as existed for the original. I exempted Ben-Hur. The original was shot in B&W with no sound. I disqualify Cape Fear, both versions of which could make the list, but neither of which is remarkedly better than the other. If you find I’ve cheated in this regard, please let me know.
Third, no musicals, documentaries or comic book characters, with the exception of Christopher Nolan’s Batman, and I would argue that Batman isn’t really the comic book Batman anyway. Musicals are great, but on film they are merely filmed musicals not musical films. I would have included The Last Waltz, but that film is both musical and documentary.
Please appreciate that, beyond the top 20 or so, the order is kind of relative and kind of not relative. I mean i’m not prepared to defend why There Will Be Blood is 56 and Gangs of New York is 69 despite them being great vehicles for Daniel Day-Lewis, one of my favorite actors. For movies with similar components, actors, directors, genres, I compared them as between themselves. It was fairly simple to rank the work of the more prolific directors; Kubrick, Tarantino, Coens, Nolan, Hitchcock, Scorcese as between their own films. More difficult to rank A Clockwork Orange against Inglourious Basterds against Goodfellas.
Also, be aware I took liberties with Lord of the Rings and the first Star Wars Trilogy. In my mind, the LOTR movies are equally brilliant, and the third Star Wars movie doesn’t suck enough to drag down the rest of that trilogy, unlike some others like Back to the Future and Indiana Jones.
Lastly, if you are wondering why some have years and others don’t, it is because I lifted a list of 250 movies from IMDB that included years. The ones without years are the ones I added on my own.
As always, I would like your comments.
touche salesman, touche
just surprised gran torino, scarface, platoon or cool hand luke weren’t on your list.
and i though i knew you.
I haven’t seen Gran Torino. I don’t like Oliver Stone movies (not a single one on the top 100 I think). Cool Hand Luke is ok but not top 100 for me. Not a big fan of Scarface as a good movie. Like it in the Die Hard, Lethal Weapon sense.
impressive. i couldn’t have done such a list. might have to print it off to break it down
however, i think deer hunter, departed, reservoir dogs, braveheart, aliens, big lebowski, butch cassiday should all be top 50
where’s scarface, caddyshack, cool hand luke, gran torino
maybe breakfast club, bull durham, silverado, platoon, close encounters, meatballs
Being asked to defend choices is a good test of their validity. These movies are what I consider the “best” movies I have seen, not necessarily the one I might put in the player on a Saturday night.
I think you would be surprised how little room there is in the top fifty, and many of those films you mentioned we’re nearly left off the list entirely. Only The Departed and Aliens were sure things.
Scarface and the rest of that lot didn’t make the cut for me. Caddyshack is a hilarious comedy, but I think pale in comparison with Animal House and I just didn’t think there was room on the list for a mindless, screwball comedy. But, as I’ve said, the list is in flux and so there may come a time. Perhaps we could have a “Readers Choice” list.
For those of you who want to claim Holy Grail as a mindless, screwball comedy, let me remind you of the average velocity of a laden swallow….
no no…
most of your list would be on my list. those i wrote were only a few quick off the top of my head that i thought would be less common.
i think the music in stop making sense is used in the context of the movie… people in character… makes sense in the context of the movie… as much as anything makes sense in that movie. it is not just curly breaking into oh what a beautiful morning or arthur into i wonder what the king is doing tonight. it should qualify for the list just as walk the line would.
First of all, congratulations. I would have a tough time putting something like this together. Second, I’m impressed with myself for having seen many of the films that made your list, which I didn’t expect.
Regarding your list, nothing stuck out that I passionately disagree with. I do love the animated film discussion, though. Was glad to see Wall-E so much higher than Up, which is I think is a throwaway movie, though very well done. And I would have swapped The Lion King for Beauty and the Beast.
The only place I take issue is with your rules. Everything is inspired by something, and even looking at your list, a lot of films are adapted from some other book, movie or story. Therefore I’d consider everything. For example, Snow White set the stage for all other animated movies (which is why it’s on AFI’s list). But it’s a terrible movie. My argument is that you should consider every film (a documentary is not a full-length, feature film in my mind). If that were the case, a movie like True Grit could have made my list.
Lastly, we’ve had the trilogy argument before. You’re taking a big liberty by calling something like Star Wars one movie but breaking the Batman movies apart. I know, we could talk about this for days. But if a movie is released on its own, then it must stand on its own. Only The Return of the King would have made my list.
I guess to be fair, as far as remakes go, one has to consider, had the remake been made first, would the first film have ever been made?
I love discussions like this.
the apartment
mr roberts
bridge on the river kwai
being there
wings of desire
modern times
four weddings
stop making sense
on the waterfront
manchurian candidate
without looking at your list and off the top of my head (not to make another lincoln joke reference), here are some i would have that might not be on a typical list.
now comments on yers:
ben hur… hell no; heston = bad actor
saving private ryan… i see the point; could have been made quicker… no
inception will go lower as time passes
life of brian is python king
signs!?!?
not patriot… the harrison ford movie?! no
beauty and beast… i see it but not for me… FINDING NEMO YES
back to future… fun fluff; but pointless… not list worthy
otherwise… nice list and got me in the mood for a movie marathon
oh… reminds me… marathon man and boys from brazil… and brazil
I think your comment about Inception is interesting. He does point out “at the moment” in his link to the list. One should always be open to their list changing. I like that there are so many recent movies on the list, and yes, I would suspect movies like Inception move down as movies like No Country For Old Men and Inglorious Basterds continue to be made.
I find it an interesting point, though, because Christopher Nolan films have that timely feeling to me. I always feel like this movie belongs in this point in time, and this point in time only. Yet, Batman Begins, Memento, Inception, and the rest still feel like great movies to me.
On another note, I’ve never seen a Christopher Nolan movie I didn’t love. Any suggestions for helping me humble the man?
haven’t seen any.
we only agree on two? to be fair, i haven’t seen most of that list and stop making sense wouldn’t qualify.
It’s hard to remember every movie. Probably will include Marathon Man in the next incarnation of this list.
Defending my list, I think Inception will stand up over time. Ben Hur is a great story fabulously directed by William Wyler regardless (or in spite) of Heston’s abilities. The chariot race sequence alone makes it worthy of a top 100 entry.
I tried to avoid essentially pure escapism and was unable to avoid it entirely. The Patriot is largely a testosterone-laced get even story and probably qualifies as pure escapism, so probably doesn’t belong on this list (replaced by Marathon Man, perhaps). But Signs and Back to the Future had interesting and deeper commentary on human existence. Private Ryan makes the list on the basis of the first 45 minutes, the rest of the movie is, meh.