Top 10 Films

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:24 am

English Language:

1. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah)
2. The Godfather I-II (Francis Ford Coppola. I don't think it's cheating to call it one film)
3. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorcese)
4. Treasure of The Sierra Madre (John Huston)
5. The General (Buster Keaton)
6. The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale)
7. Shadow of A Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock)
8. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks)
9. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder)
10. Jaws (Steven Spielberg)

Foreign Language:

1. Scenes From A Marriage (Ingmar Bergman)
2. The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa)
3. La Strada (Federico Fellini)
4. M (Fritz Lang)
5. Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau)
6. Talk To Her (Pedro Almovodar)
7. The Rules of The Game (Jean Renoir)
8. Simon of The Desert (Luis Bunuel)
9. Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog)
10. Fanny & Alexander (Ingmar Bergman....too big a fan not to sneak another in)

Post by **BlueChair** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 8:40 am

1. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen)
3. Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze)
4. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
5. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock)
6. Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
7. This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner)
8. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
9. Brazil (Terry Gilliam)
10. Rushmore (Wes Anderson)

As you can see I go more for the modern classics

noiseradio · Post by **noiseradio** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 9:26 am

I'll post to this later. But I must ask now:

In what way does Bride of Frankenstein qualify as one of the top 10 films of all time?

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 9:30 am

noiseradio wrote:In what way does Bride of Frankenstein qualify as one of the top 10 films of all time?

Um, costume design?

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 9:38 am

I think it's brilliant. Having a thimblefull of knowledge about James Whale and his life, I think it is one of the funniest (albeit very dry) comedies ever made and that Whale's stand-in, played by Ernest Theisenberg (sp?) is one of the most fascinating characters ever created. I mean, he interrupts Dr. Frankenstein and his wife on their honeymoon night basically to plead his case for creating a hussy for Frankenstein's monster. That's inspired. I think it is the template for sophisticated genre filmmaking and sneaks in some pretty moving observations on being the lonely outsider in a way that I've never seen before. I've always felt that American genre films are able to tackle socio-political issues far better than moralitic (often didactic) "serious" pictures. Few people remember films like The Life of Emile Zola or Wilson (the Woodrow Wilson biopic) but everybody remembers Duck Soup, Invasion of The Body Snatchers and Boris Karloff movies.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 2:12 pm

Let me also speak for "The Bride of Frankenstein" -- this actually goes back to my comments on the Elia Kazan thread about realism and very common assumption that genre works are innately inferior to more realistic works. I could go on and on and on about this, but fortunately for everyone, I've got a slight bug and, while it's not on my list (and I'm breaking a rule by even making them), James Whales film is a real masterpiece and one of the most funs films that kind of created it's genre. For me, it's sort of in the same category as another favorite, "Goldfinger."

The following list is just how I'm feeling this morning. These are "great" films that are also "favorites" -- there are lots of films that are undeniably great and massively influential that I don't necessarily personally love in a deep sort of way (examples would be "M," and "Potemkin" -- I enjoy them, but not THAT much, yet I know why they're incredibly important). On the other hand, there are other films which may not precisely be "great" (whatever that may mean) but which are also favorites, examples of this would "Sweet Charity," "The Wicker Man" and "Scaramouche" --- all movies I really, really love.

So, here by category are some personal favorites, most of which are also great films. (I hate to say "greatest" for all kinds of reasons -- including the fact that I haven't seen every movie ever made!).

1. The Rules of the Game
2. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
3. The Day the Earth Stood Still
4. Stagecoach
5. Singin' in the Rain
6. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek
7. Rear Window
8. Citizen Kane
9. Rio Bravo (or maybe Red River)
10. Weekend

Extremely honorable Mention -- Casablanca, Dr. Strangelove, The Searchers, and probably about 75 others!

I was going to do another list...but maybe later when I have more energy!

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 3:59 pm

I'm witholding my list until I've seen all the films