How many of these have you seen?
It’s another list of the Top 50 movies of all time. More than anything these critics’ lists tend to show the disconnect between critics and the viewing public. Even I, cinephile extraordinaire, have only seen 37 of these. That said, I have to admit that I really love each of those 37, and my own Top 50 would likely include them. What’s your count?
Posted on December 7, 2009, in Pop Culture. Bookmark the permalink. 75 Comments.
I’ve only seen 18 of these, but anyone who puts “Clockwork Orange” in the top 50 is an idiot.
Only 23. A bunch more that I’ve always intended to see. A few are on my Netflix queue right now (but always seem to slip toward the middle).
Also, Only three of these films are younger than I am. While I am glad that films like “Singing in the Rain” are still getting their due, there are modern films like “Amistad” or “Raising Arizona” which are vastly underrated. (Boy am I sticking my neck out there on this one)
There are 20 that I have not seen.
41. I would leave out Blade Runner and Annie Hall , but otherwise they all seem worthy at least of my top 100.
I’ve seen 31. It’s hard to argue with the top ten or so, but after that, there are a lot on that list that raised serious questions for me.
Only 13, plus two more that I saw so long ago I can’t remember if I really saw them.
I wouldn’t put Some Like It Hot on the list (unless I was feeling sentimental).
There have to be some comedies on the list, but I agree that “Some Like It Hot” is probably not in my top 50.
so wait a second, this list was compiled from the judgment of today’s actors, directors, etc., right?
What does it say about them and their current creative output when they can’t even muster any examples of their own works, or their colleagues’ recent works to put on a list like this?
oops, cinephiles, critics, bloggers. Now it makes sense.
Would you believe I’ve seen all 50?
I think most of these movies are unassailable. You can argue where they might fall on the list, or if they are more top 100 or top 150 material, but as bona fide, time-tested classics it’s a fairly legit list.
The test of time is crucial to making such lists. Honestly 10, if not 20 years need to go by to see how a film holds up.
Sorry, make that 38, Brian just reminded me of one.
I have also seen 37, including 18 of the top 20. I’m missing Sunrise and Chinatown of the top 20.
I love everything in the top 10. I would demote The Searchers from the top 20, just for the unfunny comic relief.
I’ve seen 38.
The Searchers is either my all-time #1 or #2 alongside Taxi Driver (which makes sense as they’re sort of the same movie).
The ones I haven’t seen:
Singin’ in the Rain
Persona
Sunrise
Tokyo Story
The Rules of the Game
The Bicycle Thief
Lawrence of Arabia
City Lights
M
All About Eve
Ikiru
L’Avventura
For what it’s worth, a few of these films I would elevate seeing above the others. They don’t really require a graduate class to understand and love. Plus, they’re more universal and accessible.
Among those are Sunrise—a great love story, possibly the best silent film ever made. Ikiru—a great exploration of serving your fellow man. Bicycle Thief—a great story about what it takes to provide for your family, and the love between a father and a son. M—maybe the first great serial killer film, all about revenge and lines even criminals won’t cross. Chinatown—the quintessential neo-noir film.
Ugh. I’ve seen 19 of them. For shame! Time to renew the netflix subscription?
I’ve seen 22. Going to Netflix now to add some to my queue.
I can’t believe Summer School didn’t make the cut though.
aaaaaaand I take the lead for lowest count: I have seen 5 of these.
Ben, I got you beat, unless you count partial viewings. I have 4, 7 with partials (above 50%).
I’ve seen 10.
Someone wanna tell me what’s so great about Pulp Fiction?
Susan, it’s basically the quintessential post-modern film. It’s full of various pop culture references, has a mix of humor and drama (and violence), and features a very non-linear storyline. It’s a very smart, very self-aware movie that just sort shines out.
And the most post-modern thing of all: Tarantino manages to be both overrated and underrated at the same time.
My favorites from that list are Sunrise and La Grande Illusion (although Dita Parlo fans like myself will also want L’Atalante on any top 50 list).
Is Pulp Fiction really the best we could do in the 90s?
Way to go, Scott! Oops! I haven’t seen Duck Soup; it was A Night at the Opera. So we’re tied for Uncultured. Excuse me, Unkultured.
Bill, I think your question is directly related to the fact that I was a teenager during the ’90s and that I have only seen 4 of these movies.
(It’s because I grew up watching terrible, stupid movies.)
I’ve seen 48, but the two I haven’t seen (Tokyo Story and The Four Hundred Blows) are on my short list of films I know I’d like to see.
It’s a list that generally emphasizes influential films and representatives of periods and filmmakers over, say, entertainment value. I basically agree, although I wouldn’t put two Leone films there.
IMO, neither Pulp Fiction nor Blade Runner hold up very well at this point, but both were important films.
Can it be that “I Spit on Your Grave” didn’t make the list? Really?
I’ll agree that Blade Runner doesn’t hold up well, but I think Pulp Fiction is still a brilliant piece of work.
I’ve seen 21. Pathetic. But not as pathetic as Scott B!
It’s somewhat odd that the genre of animation is completely ignored. This is oh so typical of film students, they don’t like/ignore what they can’t do themselves.
I disagree – I think Blade Runner holds up extremely well. Pulp Fiction may seem dated, but that’s only a reflection of the extent to which it set the theme for its time.
23
I watched Blade Runner again recently and was underwhelmed. Seemed way cooler back in the day. This time it mostly reminded me of a less fun cousin of Escape From New York.
Leone is amazing. His two films should probably be ranked higher. I would put THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY above ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST.
I find it interesting that PULP FICTION and BLADE RUNNER are the two most recent films, and their inclusion is being questioned. At the same time people feel there’s not enough recent films on the list. You can’t really have it both ways.
I don’t know that it’s accurate to say this list was made by film students, but it’s interesting to ask the question if animation were included what films would merit a place in the top 50.
I’d say SNOW WHITE, FANTASIA, and TOY STORY are the only films that come close.
Interestingly I just saw The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about a week ago. It was even better than I remembered. (They have it on the NetFlix instaplay deal)
Here is a great scene I had forgotten from that movie:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUslGSoEH8I&hl=en_US&fs=1&%5D
“When you have to shoot, shoot; don’t talk.” Great advice for movie villains everywhere.
I’ve seen 39. For some reason I keep avoiding “A Clockwork Orange”. Where’s “The Grapes of Wrath”? And as long as Sergio Leone is in the discussion, how about his uncut “Once Upon A Time in America”? Do not see the studio cut version as it’s one of the worst cut films of all time, but if you take the time to see the uncut version, you won’t be sorry.
I’ve seen 41. I can’t believe I haven’t seen The Searchers or 400 Blows.
I’ve never seen Pulp Fiction either. Just couldn’t get into the idea of all the violence and swearing. That said, Taxi Driver is one of my favorite films of all times! Hmmm.
I love The Good The Bad and The Ugly as well. It’s definitely in my top ten.
It’s very hard to judge animated films vs. live action, but if I were doing a list of best animated films, I would put The Incredibles at or near the top.
Once Upon a Time in America is Leone’s masterpiece although the studios did a butcher job on it at release. The directors cut is great although more complex than it appears (and more dreamlike)
Be aware it has a brutal rape scene in it though.
Clark’s alive!
Clark: you’d place “Once…in America” above “Good, Bad, Ugly”? It’s been a while since I saw either, but the latter just sticks with me….
I haven’t seen Once Upon a Time in America but I’d put Once Upon a Time in the West above The Good, The Bad, & the Ugly.
This is a result of taking a poll in a field that’s so abstract and has so many entries. In a poll where there are hundreds of people participating, the movies that rise to the top aren’t necessarily the ones people place at the top of their lists, they’re just the ones that get cited the most frequently. And you have to have a handful of the institutional favorites on your list if you want to be taken seriously.
That’s how Ulysses is consistently ranked the greatest book of all time, even though no one has ever actually read the whole thing.
Nah. THE GB&U has something to say about war and its futility, and the varying degrees separating cruelty, greed, and self-interest. The performances of Eastwood, Wallach, and Van Cleef are amazing. They collectively outweigh even Bronson and Fonda. ONCE UPON..THE WEST has an amazing beginning, but GB&U has an even better ending.
Susan, typing on my phone while on an oxygen machine.
I *personally* love his westerns more. But OUATIA is a masterpiece.
I’ve seen them all.
How many do I own?
50
Here’s the link to my old post:
http://www.kulturblog.com/2005/05/fletchers-list/#more-220
Awesome, D.
How’s things?
Things good.
How u?
I’ve seen four. Whatever that means.
15
I’ve seen 30. When is someone finally going to say enough is enough? Citizen Kane is not the greatest movie of all time!! Gone With the Wind, The Godfather Part II, Casablanca, sure I’d get any of those. Some Like it Hot should not be on there. Some of my top fifty missing would be Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Graduate, Almost Famous and Dazed and Confused(that’s right). Was West Side Story on the List? It should be.
Sorry, Rose, but Citizen Kane is the greatest American movie.
Some Like it Hot totally deserves its place on the list. It’s a classic American comedy that still holds up after all these years. Billy Wilder was a genius.
Personally, I prefer Casablanca to Citzen Kane.
19. Which is actually more than I expected.
I was underwhelmed by Do the Right Thing. It’s a good movie, but I wouldn’t put it in the top 50 of films I’ve seen.
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen 50 films.
I’ve seen four, though I can’t say for sure if I’ve seen 2001 all the way through. I counted 28 that I’d never heard of.
Hardly any women in the list of critics who picked this list, and only one woman-directed film on the list. Hmm….
(sorry for the buzzkill)
yeah thanks for that. How about you, woman, name a great woman-directed film that belongs in a list of one of the greatest movies ever made?
Operators are standing by.
Some Like It Hot absolutely belongs on this list. I laughed almost continuously throughout the movie, and it has perhaps the best final line in all of cinema.
Woman-directed movie: Suburbia. But yeah, my list of greatest movies of all time would be vastly different from most people’s.
I was eyeing Some Like it Hot in a dvd store the other day but decided against it because it seems like I’ve caught a minute or two of it on TV before and thought it looked kind of stupid. But I love old movies, stupid or no, so maybe I’ll have to pick it up.
BTW, I’m looking forward to a “What DVDs did you get for Xmas” thread next week. Cuz I’m dying to talk about some of the movies I’ve picked up for my teenagers.
Suburbia as one of the greatest movies ever made, though?
Sure. It has everything I love: non-actors, cheesy writing, real bands performing live, little kids with mohawks. Plus kids sticking it to the man.
Wait. Who’s the woman on the list?
Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl is the best I could come up with for a film directed by a woman that might crack the top 50.
Not a bad pick, Brian. But top 50?
Pay it Forward!
There’s one film by a female director that just might be a contender to make the list one day.
If James Cameron beats his ex-wife* in the Best Director category at the Academy Awards this year, it will be further proof–along with Nickelback–that the universe has a sick sense of humor.
*The preceding phrase should not to be taken out of context.
Other notable female film directors:
Mira Nair (personally, I like Monsoon Wedding best, but Salaam Bombay! and The Namesake are pretty good candidates. Monsoon Wedding would probably make my top 50, but no one else’s).
Sophia Coppola (who will always be compared to her father, but is a pretty good director in her own right–nothing top 50 worthy yet, though)
Jane Campion (not my cup of tea, but a director of acclaim)
Sally Potter (see Jane Campion)
In a lot of ways, film directing is the ultimate old boys’ club, so it doesn’t surprise me that there aren’t a lot of female movie directors on the list.
Both Mira Nair’s The Namesake and Sophia Coppola’s Lost in Translation would make my top 50. Catherine Hardwick’s Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown are excellent films. Amy Heckerling has given us classics such as Clueless, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and European Vacation. No, I wasn’t being sarcastic. They’re not top 50 material but they are classic comedies.
Clueless might make my top 50.
BTD Greg – there are some prominent female directors. But I think there’s also a “style” to top films that a lot of females don’t even attempt to approach. Does that mean these lists are biased towards male films? Probably a bit. But perhaps also most women directors aren’t trying to make epic films. I’m sure some will one day. How much of that is that “old boys network” in Hollywood I can’t say. I suspect more than a little bit.
What we need are more Leni Reifenstahls!
Clark, I’m having a hard time understanding what this statement even means. Does “epic” = “great.” I don’t think so. There have been a lot of really crappy “epic”-style films (Alexander, I’m looking at you). And there are a lot of great films that are very small and personal.
There are a lot more epicish films in the top though. Yeah you can do a bad job. Look at all the Godfather like films after Copolla did so well.