The All-Time List Discussion Thread (Decade Project Vol. 3)

[zedz]

As for the trend of the five worst films I've seen from the list:

SpoilerShow

It's a Wonderful Life

Actually, that's another film I've never seen (at this point, it's become a matter of perverse pride), which brings my great unwatched total to 19.

[swo17]

Every time zedz doesn't watch a movie, an angel gets its wings.

[matrixschmatrix]

I like our list even if I find the top getter more an amusing choice than anything. Does Sight and Sound have that much sway over the film community?

I think it's just a movie that's hard to get away from- it wasn't on the most top ten lists, nor was it anybody's number one, but it was on fully twenty lists. For me, I think it may be in part that it's hard, when making this kind of list, not to start restricting yourself to just one Hitchcock or just one Lubitsch or whatever, and Vertigo is just such a striking movie that it's hard not to think of it first if you're going to pick one Hitch.

[matrixschmatrix]

As for the trend of the five worst films I've seen from the list:

SpoilerShow

It's a Wonderful Life

Actually, that's another film I've never seen (at this point, it's become a matter of perverse pride), which brings my great unwatched total to 19.

I dunno you guys, maybe it's just me but I thought It's a Wonderful Life was actually pretty good

[feckless boy]

2. Sans Soleil
9. City of Pirates

Happy to have helped these two into the top 100.

[domino harvey]

I like our list even if I find the top getter more an amusing choice than anything. Does Sight and Sound have that much sway over the film community?

I think it's just a movie that's hard to get away from- it wasn't on the most top ten lists, nor was it anybody's number one, but it was on fully twenty lists. For me, I think it may be in part that it's hard, when making this kind of list, not to start restricting yourself to just one Hitchcock or just one Lubitsch or whatever, and Vertigo is just such a striking movie that it's hard not to think of it first if you're going to pick one Hitch.

Why would someone need to limit themselves to one Hitchcock when there's like ten options they could vote for and fifty spots to fill? I like the film and have come to appreciate it more with time and exposure, but "I only wanted to vote for one Hitchcock film" is a terrible defense!

[A man stayed-put]

My list- oh so many also-rans:

1 A Canterbury Tale
2 Mirror
3 The Color of Pomegranates
4 The Rules of the Game
5 The Roaring Twenties
6 Blade Runner
7 Vertigo
8 The Searchers
9 Charulata
10 2001: A Space Odyssey
11 Scenes from a Marriage
12 The River
13 A Brighter Summer Day
14 It's a Wonderful Life
15 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
16 The Purple Rose of Cairo
17 The Red Shoes
18 Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
19 Late Spring
20 The Lady from Shanghai
21 Duck Soup
22 La Gueule ouverte
23 L'Argent
Orphan Ménilmontant
24 Taxi Driver
25 La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc
Orphan Yellow Sky
26 Children of Paradise
27 Port of Shadows
28 My Night at Maud's
29 The Last Picture Show
30 Goodfellas
31 Le Samouraï
32 Stage Door
33 Partie de campagne
34 Out of the Past
35 The Young Girls of Rochefort
36 The Seventh Seal
37 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Orphan A Diary for Timothy
38 Rio Bravo
39 The Conversation
40 Amarcord
41 Faust
42 Don't Look Now
43 Holiday
44 Zodiac
45 The Third Man
46 There Will Be Blood
47 The Lady Vanishes
48 Ordet
49 Chinatown
50 Pather Panchali

Thanks very much for all the hard work swo. This was a lot of fun and got me to watch a lot of really good stuff I probably wouldn't have got around to otherwise.

[John Shade]

The list swo published about auteurs is really interesting and speaks to this bit about Hitchcock. Even with all those films on the list, the man did quite well. He got four votes from me, and I still felt bad leaving Notorious and Rebecca off the list. I would've been happy with either 1 or 2 getting it, but I hope this post gets even more conversation because the rabid love for 2001 still somehow eludes me (or maybe that's over in the '60s thread, if so I'll check it out). Granted, I have never seen it on a big screen, which I think might be leaving me in the "appreciate" rather than "really love" column.

[knives]

I like our list even if I find the top getter more an amusing choice than anything. Does Sight and Sound have that much sway over the film community?

I think it's just a movie that's hard to get away from- it wasn't on the most top ten lists, nor was it anybody's number one, but it was on fully twenty lists. For me, I think it may be in part that it's hard, when making this kind of list, not to start restricting yourself to just one Hitchcock or just one Lubitsch or whatever, and Vertigo is just such a striking movie that it's hard not to think of it first if you're going to pick one Hitch.

Why would someone need to limit themselves to one Hitchcock when there's like ten options they could vote for and fifty spots to fill? I like the film and have come to appreciate it more with time and exposure, but "I only wanted to vote for one Hitchcock film" is a terrible defense!

Also if you are only voting for one and something like, I dunno, Strangers on a Train is more to your liking than voting for it instead makes more sense.

[domino harvey]

I legit had no idea what would end up at the top our list, so even Vertigo surprised me, though not as much as the Apartment being number two-- now that I never would have guessed, but how wonderful for it to place so close to the top! I don't get 2001's appeal either, JohnShade-- there are dozens of us!

[matrixschmatrix]

It's not like a rule or anything, just a habit of thought that's easy to fall into when you're trying to fit 90 picks into a 50 pick bag- the list equivalent of only packing one pair of underwear on a trip, but still.

[John Shade]

I did the same thing with Wes Anderson and my dumb coin flip between Moonrise and Budapest. I really love both of those films and they continue to hold-up on rewatches, should've just gone full Anderson (fanboy) and placed three of his top 25. Then again I really like the underwear on a trip analogy which is kind of what I ended up doing, picking two favorites from a few filmmakers and then those films that I really love and had to make it no matter what. Hitchcock just somehow ended up being the one with the most films I didn't want to leave behind.

[movielocke]

That's all right (re 2001), I feel the exact same way about Mulhulland Dr, (the film is fine, but wouldn't have made a top 100 from this list for me). And for my inclusion of 2001, it is a film that improved every time I saw it, TCM was my first viewing, letterboxed on a 13 inch tv, and my reaction was "meh" then I saw the DVD and reacted, "okay better than I thought" then I saw the DVD projected and thought, "hmm this is actually quite good" then I saw a beat to hell 35mm print and thought, "actually this is borderline excellent" then I saw a sparkling new 70mm print wet from the printer and I thought "holy shit, this film is fucking great"

I am stunned that Dr. Strangelove did not make the top 100.

I've seen 94/100, missing Celine & Julie, Stalker, Man Escaped, Phantom of Paradise, City of Pirates, Obscure Object of Desire

Here's my top fifty:

1 Lawrence of Arabia
2 The Godfather
3 It's a Wonderful Life
4 Seven Samurai
5 Casablanca
6 The Searchers
7 Dr. Strangelove
8 A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
9 Spirited Away
10 City Lights
11 My Neighbor Totoro (the only change I had Swo make was moving this up to here from 29, but I'm not going to retype forty numbers)
11 The 400 Blows
12 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
13 The Seventh Seal
14 Paths of Glory
15 Grave of the Fireflies
16 Sunrise
17 It Happened One Night
18 Grand Illusion
19 Dekalog
20 A Matter of Life and Death
21 Fantasia
22 Marketa Lazarová
23 The Apartment
24 The Incredibles
25 Make Way for Tomorrow
26 Jurassic Park
27 Citizen Kane
28 The Best Years of Our Lives
30 Shoah
31 Bringing Up Baby
32 Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
33 The Battle of Algiers
34 The Night of the Hunter
35 The Silence of the Lambs
36 Die Hard
37 The Godfather Part II
38 Unforgiven
39 Fight Club
40 Sherlock Jr.
41 Battleship Potemkin
42 The Lady Vanishes
43 Pather Panchali
44 Earth
45 Stage Door
46 Rome, Open City
47 North by Northwest
48 Alien
49 Tokyo Story
50 Gold Diggers of 1933

edit: I think that Jeanne Dielman and Daisies are the only films directed by a women on our list? (note, Jeanne Dielman is the only one on my list)

I think we really need to have a "directed by women" list project, in 2017 I've been making a concerted effort to deliberately see more films directed by women, and it has already been very worthwhile. just watched Decline 1 & 2 directed by Penelope Spheeris in the last couple days, both are amazing.

[matrixschmatrix]

Even among the also-rans, they're pretty thin on the ground- from a cursory look, I only see Ulrike Ottinger, Kátia Lund, Sofia Coppola, Claire Denis, and Leontine Sagan. A list focusing on women filmmakers would be an interesting way to hone in, since I can't claim to have been doing any better myself.

[zedz]

The list swo published about auteurs is really interesting and speaks to this bit about Hitchcock. Even with all those films on the list, the man did quite well. He got four votes from me, and I still felt bad leaving Notorious and Rebecca off the list. I would've been happy with either 1 or 2 getting it, but I hope this post gets even more conversation because the rabid love for 2001 still somehow eludes me (or maybe that's over in the '60s thread, if so I'll check it out). Granted, I have never seen it on a big screen, which I think might be leaving me in the "appreciate" rather than "really love" column.

The only time the film really worked for me was in 70mm, and that was on the basis of pure spectacle. Content-wise it still seemed like pretentious claptrap.

It's a beautiful piece of filmmaking, but I think the secret of its success is that it was the first science fiction film to take itself so incredibly seriously, and there's a large contingent of science fiction fans who love nothing more than to be taken seriously.

[Satori]

edit: I think that Jeanne Dielman and Daisies are the only films directed by a women on our list? (note, Jeanne Dielman is the only one on my list)

I think we really need to have a "directed by women" list project, in 2017 I've been making a concerted effort to deliberately see more films directed by women, and it has already been very worthwhile. just watched Decline 1 & 2 directed by Penelope Spheeris in the last couple days, both are amazing.

Even among the also-rans, they're pretty thin on the ground- from a cursory look, I only see Ulrike Ottinger, Kátia Lund, Sofia Coppola, Claire Denis, and Leontine Sagan. A list focusing on women filmmakers would be an interesting way to hone in, since I can't claim to have been doing any better myself.

To be fair, this isn't something that is limited to this list. The Sight and Sound and even TSPDT lists have paltry showings of women directors, too.

But yeah, a women director list project would be great!

[swo17]

I realized after compiling my top 50 for the 2000s list that, purely by accident, it featured seven different female directors. They just happened to make a lot of the movies I liked the most.

If you poll enough people like the kind who would post here or who would contribute to Sight & Sound, you're going to get Vertigo. That's just reversion to the mean. It is that one great equalizer between art and entertainment. At various points throughout the tabulation process for this list, another frontrunner would emerge (Marketa Lazarova, Celine and Julie, Persona, and yes, The Apartment) but with as many people contributing as they did, Vertigo was kind of inevitable. It was hanging on to its lead by a thread at the end, but then matrix gave it a last minute surge.

Also, all the HAL stuff in 2001 is fantastic. Didn't make my list though.

Finally, as Dr. Strangelove was only a few points short of making the top 100 and I had it at #50 on my list, it was totally within my power to kick it up a few spots on my list so that it would at least tie with the other two films at #99. I hope you will all appreciate that I did not do this.

[domino harvey]

You denied the list your essence

[swo17]

I was mostly just so pleased that City of Pirates and Phantom of the Paradise made the cut that I didn't see the need to tempt fate.

[knives]

Even among the also-rans, they're pretty thin on the ground- from a cursory look, I only see Ulrike Ottinger, Kátia Lund, Sofia Coppola, Claire Denis, and Leontine Sagan. A list focusing on women filmmakers would be an interesting way to hone in, since I can't claim to have been doing any better myself.

The Ring Finger was another also ran directed by a woman. That still said I'll co-sign on a womans list if just because there is no super obvious choice for number one there (probably Varda though I perversely would like to see us fail at the concept with Werckmeister Harmonies take number one).

[swo17]

Kira Muratova, Maya Deren, Lois Weber, Lucrecia Martel, Su Friedrich, Jennie Livingston, and Jane Campion also had eligible films here, and yeah, Tarr's wife.

[bdsweeney]

This is my revised top 50 as I made some slight adjustments to some rankings from my original 50 along with replacing my orphans.
Those which were first-time watches for the project are bold.

1. The Apartment (final ranking in 100: 2)
2. Chinatown (19)
3. Manhattan (85)
4. The Thin Red Line (77)
5. The Battle of Algiers (39)
6. Point Blank (-)
7. Moonrise Kingdom (83)
8. The Conversation (66)
9. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (-)
10. In a Lonely Place (-) (Really expected this to rank.)
11. L'Atalante (55)
12. Chungking Express (27)
13. Our Hospitality (-)
14. 35 Shots of Rum (-)
15. Videodrome (-)
16. La Jetée (79)
17. Sweet Smell of Success (10)
18. Seven Samurai (18)
19. Mulholland Dr. (5)
20. Vertigo (1)
21. The General (20)
22. Do the Right Thing (52)
23. The Fly (-)
24. Die Hard (-)
25. Inside Llewyn Davis (-)
26. Make Way for Tomorrow (-)
27. I Know Where I'm Going! (-)
28. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (45)
29. Man of the West (-)
30. Listen to Britain (-)
31. Badlands (-)
32. Apocalypse Now (23)
33. Lost in Translation (-)
34. Once Upon a Time in the West (75)
35. Dead Man (-)
36. Rushmore (82)
37. Paris Texas (63)
38. Brazil (-)
39. Went the Day Well? (-)
40. Notorious (-)
41. Only Angels Have Wings (-)
42. Persona (12)
43. Les demoiselles de Rochefort (30)
44. Deep End (-)
45. Three Colors: Red (80)
46. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (-)
47. To Be or Not to Be (13)
48. Twentieth Century (-)
49. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (-)
50. Killing of a Chinese Bookie (-)

Orphans:
Performance
Dead Ringers
Dazed and Confused

At a glance, there are 18 in the top 100 I haven't seen.

Quick note: Considering that when I first stared loving film I was a typical male fanboy for loving 70s American New Wave cinema (along with late-80s/early-90s 'indie'), I'm suprised how few films of that era appeared in my final 50.

Final note: I, too, would happily join in an all-female director list project.

[Red Screamer]

I was surprised Cleo from 5 to 7, The House is Black, and Meshes of the Afternoon weren't eligible. All three would've had a good shot making my list.

[Rayon Vert]

Thanks swo!!!

Wow, two Keatons in the top 20. I've got to watch those again.

1. Ordet (22)
2. Barry Lyndon (43)
3. Apocalypse Now (23)
4. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (45)
5. The Rules of the Game (6)
6. The Wages of Fear
7. Chinatown (19)
8. Pierrot le Fou (33)
9. Dr. Strangelove
(Kind Hearts and Coronets)
10. Brief Encounter - also-ran, seriously? this board of bereft of romantics...
11. The Battle of Algiers (39)
12. Anatomy of a Murder
13. Au hasard Balthazar
14. Only Angels Have Wings
15. Notorious
16. The Passenger
17. Vertigo (1)
18. 3 Women
19. The Thing
20. Red River - the western winner didn't make the list?
21. L’Eclisse (80)
22. Seconds
23. Paths of Glory
24. Double Indemnity (48)
25. Le Trou
26. The Searchers (52)
27. Walkabout
28. Out of the Past (56)
29. My Night at Maud’s
30. Casablanca (31)
31. Army of Shadows
32. The River
33. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
34. La Grande Illusion (35)
35. Black Narcissus
36. Le Cercle rouge
37. 2001: A Space Odyssey (3)
38. Alien (32)
39. It’s a Wonderful Life (36)
40. My Darling Clementine
41. Nashville
42. The Godfather (25)
43. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
44. Psycho (17)
45. The Best Years of Our Lives (78)
46. The Conversation (66) - so people voted for it after all!!
47. Rio Bravo (76)
48. The Lady from Shanghai
49. La Dolce Vita
50. Two-Lane Blacktop

I've got three Coppolas, and he's not in any way a favorite director of mine. 3 Hitchcocks, 3 Hawks, 3 Fords and 3 Renoirs - beautifully neat and fitting but I didn't plan that, it just happened that way. (Really did not select any films to "represent" favorite directors, countries, etc., just took each film on its own merits.)

(Vertigo and NBN were my no 1 and 2 in the Hitchcock list, but they're the ones I didn't rewatch - until just after that project, which altered their ranking. NBN didn't make the cut but was close.)

[movielocke]

If you took out Daisies and Jeanne Dielman and added Love Me Tonight, Alice, The Band Wagon we would have an official list of the all time films (directed by men)

therefore, rather than the decades list start over we should do a new list project of the all time films (directed by women)