I'd like to start with EW's top three film selections; Citizen Kane, The Godfather and Casablanca. I have seen a great many of these lists in magazines, on TV, in newspapers and online, and I have to say these three films are very frequently rated in the top 3. Sometimes in different order, and sometimes for different reasons. I must say, I agree! Citizen Kane is not only one of the most important films ever made with regards to what Orson Welles brought to the technical aspects of movie making, but it's just an incredibly interesting story. The Godfather is probably the most well-rounded film ever made, and superbly acted by everyone involved. Casablanca is one of the most quoted movies in history and is so easy to watch and melt into no matter how often it's viewed. But what about the next 97 movies? These picks change as often as the wind. My take on some of the selections in Entertainment Weekly will focus not only on the quality of the film they selected, but whether or not I think it's the director's best film. You'll see what I mean as you read....
EW's # 4 - Bonnie And Clyde directed by Arthur Penn
I believe Bonnie And Clyde was a very important film when it was made in 1967. It was one of the first movies to break out of the studio run era and use extreme violence as plot progression. It's a good movie with some very good performances but it's definitely not the fourth best movie ever!! It is one of my favourite Arthur Penn movies, but I also though his 1975 crime/thriller Night Moves was equally as good. Gene Hackman appears in both films, but he's the main attraction in Night Moves, which also has a very young Melanie Griffith as girl he is hired to track down.
EW's # 5 - Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock
I love Psycho! I love Alfred Hitchcock! I've seen almost all of his movies and probably disliked three or four of them. Psycho, released in 1960, is why we think of Hitchcock as the Master Of Suspense. Obviously, he made some extraordinary movies before Psycho (he only made 6 more before he died), but it's this film that will always be linked to him. Is it the fifth best movie of all time? I don't know, but I would put it in the top ten. I must say, with all of the great films he's made, I always go back to Rear Window as my favourite. To create so much suspense in such a limited space (only a couple of shots throughout the entire film don't originate in Jimmy Stewart's apartment) and to have enough wit and charm to keep things light when needed, I believe this was Hitchcock's most balanced film. Not to mention the unbelievably gorgeous Grace Kelly...oh, I guess I just mentioned it.
EW's # 6 - It's A Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra
Would this film be so fondly remembered if it was associated so closely with Christmas? I'm not sure. It's hard to imagine a snowy December night without watching this movie. Whoever thought up that marketing gimmick deserves a special Oscar. It's surely a great film, but I wouldn't place it as the sixth best. Maybe in the top 50. Capra certainly made many great films including Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, It Happened One Night and Arsenic And Old Lace, but of the ones I've seen, I'd place this one as my favourite of his.
EW's # 7 - Mean Streets directed by Martin Scorsese
This selection shocked me. I absolutely loved Mean Streets and I feel it's an film more people need to watch in order to find the true beginnings of a cinematic genius. (Again, my opinion). Scorsese directed a few movies before Mean Streets, but this is where his fluid camera movements, his relationship with religion and violence, his love of coupling great songs with the action on screen began. As great as I thought this movie was, it's not my favourite Scorsese film. That film is titled Raging Bull, which isn't even included in EW's list. The opening credits sequence in Raging Bull is better than 90% of the movies in theatres today. An absolute masterpiece that never gets it's due.
EW's # 8 - The Gold Rush directed by Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin only made 8 full length movies. The Gold Rush is one of his best. It's the movie where we all fell in love with his Little Tramp character, something he played in countless short films before, but for the first time we felt like we really got to know him. Beautifully sincere and hysterically funny, it's a great film to be sure. But it's not his best. For anyone who's seen City Lights, you know what I'm talking about. I would easily place City Lights in my top 5 of all time. Again, hysterically funny, but remembered for some of the most touching scenes recorded on film. My heart broke and swelled to ten times it's size during the last scene of this movie. An absolute must see for any film buff!
EW's # 9 - Nashville directed by Robert Altman
I've seen Nashville once. I liked it, a lot, but I also found it to be terribly confusing at times. Because of the way Altman films a movie, with multiple characters doing multiple things at the same time, it is sometimes hard to pick out the important moments. He got better at this as time went on with films like Short Cuts and Gosford Park, but never so clearly and interestingly than in my favourite of his films, The Player. I remember there being a lot of hype for The Player before it was released. It had cameos from dozens of movie stars, it had an 8 minute opening tracking shot (which is beautifully done), but I really loved the story and the way Altman kept me so involved in Tim Robbins' character's total paranoia. For me, The Player is very close to a perfect film.
EW's # 10 - Gone With The Wind directed by Victor Fleming
I have never sat through an entire viewing of this film. Every time I start to watch it I get bored and I go do something else. I've probably seen the whole thing, but in so many bits and pieces it wouldn't count. I can understand how big a movie this was back in the late 1930's. A huge best selling book, a search for the perfect Scarlett, the burning down of an entire city. I just can't care. Victor Fleming made a ton of movies before Gone With The Wind, none of them I've seen, but he also directed most of The Wizard Of Oz (King Vidor directed most of the black and white sequences when Fleming had to start filming Gone With The Wind) which is still a movie I need to watch every year.
So there's my take on EW's top 10 movies of all-time. But I need to say a few things about...
# 13 - Annie Hall - A fabulously funny movie (that was originally intended to be a drama!) but not Woody Allen's best. That distinction belongs to Manhattan, a gorgeously filmed movie with a heartbreaking ending, almost reminiscent to Chaplin's City Lights. EW did rate Manhattan in their Top 100, at # 37, but I feel Allen hit his pinnacle with his love letter to New York, the music and the views.
# 16 - Singin' In The Rain - Probably, screw it, not probably, definitely the absolute best musical ever filmed. This movie would easily rank in my Top 10, probably at number 4. Gene Kelly is fabulous, Donald O'Connor is hysterical and I can't take my eyes off of Debbie Reynolds whenever she's on screen. I didn't even mention the incredible sex appeal of Cyd Charisse during the "Gotta Dance" segment. Hubba hubba!!
# 21 - Some Like It Hot - I like where this is placed, actually. It has been rated by many as the best, most well-rounded comedy ever made. I tend to agree. I don't go out of my way to watch this film, but whenever it's on TV I make sure to keep myself free during that two-hour slot. I would probably place it a bit higher on my list, but I think this was a good slot for it.
# 33 - The Graduate - There are movies that we watch and forget about. There are movies that we like to quote lines from. Then, there are movies that change our lives. For me, The Graduate was on of those movies. I first saw it while I was in college, for a film class, where I was asked to dissect a few scenes...what the director and writer were trying to say and all that crap. As I watched the movie, I realized I WAS Benjamin Braddock. I felt lost, not knowing what my future held, and felt like I needed to do something, anything, that would break me out of my funk. I fell head-over-heels in love with Katherine Ross. I didn't think eyes could be that beautiful! I hated, with every ounce of my being, Mrs. Robinson. I can honestly say I "felt" so much watching this film and I get shivers just thinking about it sometimes. If a movie can do this to me, it deserves to be Top 10 on my list.
# 36 - Rosemary's Baby - EW calls this "more artful than The Exorcist". I agree with that, but it's not better. The Exorcist is not even on their list. In fact, they have a little sidebar titled "10 Greatest Horror Flicks" and The Exorcist isn't on that list either! Rosemary's Baby is interesting and fun, but I never found it scary per se. The Exorcist still scares me when I watch it. Obviously, on my list, I would switch the two.
# 49 - Goldfinger - Oh, much debate as to which James Bond movie is the best. Each one has something to offer which is why it's been the most successful movie franchise ever, just passing 50 years of Bond! I loved Goldfinger, but it's number two on my fave Bonds. From Russia With Love, for me, was what a James Bond movie is all about. I realize all the elements of a Bond film are there, but From Russia With Love has one thing that the others don't...the incredible Robert Shaw.
# 52 - Titanic - No! I'm sorry, this movie does not deserve to be on any Top 100 list. And I actually liked most of the film. The special effects were amazing, groundbreaking even, but they don't make up for so much of the sappy melodrama we had to sit through. Cut 45 minutes out of the movie, including all of the scenes with Billy Zane, and you'd have an even better film. If we're taking about James Cameron movies, why not include The Terminator or Aliens or Terminator 2? Notice how I never mentioned Avatar?!?
# 61 - The Silence Of The Lambs - It's no fluke that this movie became only the third movie in history to win all the top Academy Awards, Best Picture, Actor, Actress and Director. Some of the best, tension filled scenes in all of filmdom came from this movie. Even though others have played him, Anthony Hopkins will always be Hannibal Lecter. Another almost perfect film that I feel should have been higher.
# 63 - Network - A great film. Loved every minute of it! But, is it Sidney Lumet's best? Lumet made some of my favourite movies including The Pawnbroker, Fail-Safe, Dog Day Afternoon (# 77 on the list), Deathtrap, The Verdict and Running On Empty, but his best for me was his first feature film, 12 Angry Men. A perfectly paced, taut thrill ride of a movie that all takes place (for the most part) in one room! Lumet got phenomenal performances out of his jury that included Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Klugman and Ed Begley.
# 76 - Lawrence Of Arabia - Directed by David Lean, there is no denying Lawrence Of Arabia is a wonderful, sprawling epic that looks so amazing on the silver screen. But as with Sidney Lumet, I have to say of all the great movies David Lean made, I wouldn't rank this as my favourite...perhaps number three. Brief Encounter, which he directed in 1945, was my favourite of his, until I saw Bridge On The River Kwai, another epic film that I feel is easier to digest than Arabia. William Holden is great, but the movie belongs to Alec Guinness. He commands every scene he's in and Lean makes us feel he can do no wrong, until he does.
# 80 - Dazed And Confused - I'm just glad this film was recognized! I fell in love with this movie from my first viewing, not only because it takes place during my favourite decade, encompassing some of my favourite music, but because it's so well done. Very honest performances that take me back to 1976 each time I watch it, and I watch it a lot!
# 95 - Rushmore - Another movie I'm glad was recognized. Rushmore is hysterically funny in such a low key way that it almost sneaks up on you. Jason Schwartzman has never been this good, and Bill Murray has found a new career appearing in Wes Anderson films. Not everyone likes Anderson's style, but I love it, and have watched and liked every one of his films...none more than Rushmore.
Kubrick Films - Here's a list of all the Stanley Kubrick films on EW's top 100 list:
(# 25) 2001: A Space Odyssey; (# 47) A Clockwork Orange; (# 66) The Shining; (# 69) Dr. Strangelove. Here's how I would rate Kubrick's top four movies:
Dr. Strangelove; 2001: A Space Odyssey; Paths Of Glory; The Killing. I've always liked Kubrick films and I've seen 10 of his 12 features. The Shining is an interesting film, a scary one, but not great. Stephen King even hated Kubrick's version. 2001: A Space Odyssey was a revelation when it was released in 1968 and such an important movie in the history of film. But there are few comedies that make me laugh out loud as much as Dr. Strangelove. Peter Sellers solidified his comic brilliance in this movie, and how Sterling Hayden kept such a serious face reciting his lines is far beyond me!
Some other movies that would be on my Top 100 list (I really should get around to finalizing said list, but it's so hard): Airplane, The Third Man, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, La Strada, Magnolia, Crimes And Misdemeanors, Rashomon, Wings Of Desire, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, American Beauty, Kill Bill Vol. 1, oh, and probably way more than 100!! Geez, that would be hard!!
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