SPECTATOR Magazine - Best 50 Movies of All-Time

[ronnierocketago]

conservative British Magazine with a ritual listing.

1. The Night of the Hunter, Laughton
2. Apocalypse Now, Coppola
3. Sunrise, Murnau
4. Black Narcissus, Powell & Pressburger
5. L'avventura, Antonioni
6. The Searchers, Ford
7. The Magnificent Ambersons, Welles
8. The Seventh Seal , Bergman
9. L'atalante, Vigo
10. Rio Bravo, Hawks
11. The Godfather: Part I and Part II, Coppola
12. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Dreyer
13. La Grande Illusion, Renoir
14. Citizen Kane, Welles
15. The Scarlett Empress, von Sternberg
16. Tokyo Story, Ozu
17. Blade Runner, Ridley Scott
18. Rear Window, Hitchcock
19. Point Blank, Boorman
20. The Red Shoes, Powell & Pressburger
21. The Earrings of Madame de..., Ophuls
22. Shadows, Cassavetes
23. Pickpocket, Bresson
24. Viridiana, Bunuel
25. Barry Lyndon, Kubrick
26. City Lights, Chaplin
27. Pierrot le Fou, Godard
28. Sunset Boulevard, Wilder
29. Notorious, Hitchcock
30. M, Lang
31. The Roaring Twenties, Walsh
32. Singin' in the Rain, Donen and Kelly
33. The Long Day Closes, Davies
34. Killer of Sheep, Burnett
35. Gun Crazy, Lewis
36. Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky
37. Taxi Driver, Scorsese
38. The 400 Blows, Truffaut
39. Pulp Fiction, Tarantino
40. Kind Hearts and Coronets, Hamer
41. In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-Wai
42. Sullivan's Travels, Sturges
43. 8 1/2, Fellini
44. Pinocchio, Disney
45. Great Expectations, Lean
46. Rome, Open City, Rossellini
47. Duck Soup, McCarey
48. Jaws, Spielberg
49. Manhattan, Allen
50. Out of the Past, Tourneur

www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/features/3705178/the-spectators-50-essential-films-part-one.thtml

[quentincompson]

I really despise how the Godfather 1 and 2 are always put together in these lists.

[Omar]

Aug 5, 2009 10:55:30 GMT quentincompson said:

I really despise how the Godfather 1 and 2 are always put together in these lists.

Yeah, you said it. I was about to type the same thing. Anytime I see a list that does that, it is worthless to me (though which list isn't, aside from the ones I make).

[ronnierocketago]

I get why 1 and 2 are put together. The people behind the list want to honor another movie, and thus they can by opening up a slot.

That said, Combined wouldn't that be the greatest movie ever made?

[jrod]

Eberts blog has a pretty good write up on the usefullness of this and all lists....

blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/07/the_greatest_movies_ever_made.html

the point of the article is basically "who cares", followed by his commenters going "OMG no Kurosawa!?!?!" and "WHy is this so high!?". ha

The Godfather movies are quite different structurally and don't flow together, so i don't get putting them that way. Two completely different story arcs, vs. like say, the LOTRs, which is basically one big 9 hour story. There's always stuff like this. Ive never understood why a tv show (albiet a great one) like Dekalog is generally considered a movie while something like Band of Brothers isnt.

[svsg]

I am yet to see the following from that list. What should I see with utmost urgency? I have 'La Grande Illusion" somewhere in my netflix queue.

Aug 5, 2009 1:49:46 GMT ronnierocketago said:

3. Sunrise, Murnau
4. Black Narcissus, Powell & Pressburger
6. The Searchers, Ford
7. The Magnificent Ambersons, Welles
9. L'atalante, Vigo
12. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Dreyer
13. La Grande Illusion, Renoir
15. The Scarlett Empress, von Sternberg
16. Tokyo Story, Ozu
17. Blade Runner, Ridley Scott
19. Point Blank, Boorman
20. The Red Shoes, Powell & Pressburger
21. The Earrings of Madame de..., Ophuls
22. Shadows, Cassavetes
23. Pickpocket, Bresson
24. Viridiana, Bunuel
26. City Lights, Chaplin
28. Sunset Boulevard, Wilder
29. Notorious, Hitchcock
30. M, Lang
31. The Roaring Twenties, Walsh
32. Singin' in the Rain, Donen and Kelly
33. The Long Day Closes, Davies
34. Killer of Sheep, Burnett
35. Gun Crazy, Lewis
40. Kind Hearts and Coronets, Hamer
42. Sullivan's Travels, Sturges
44. Pinocchio, Disney
45. Great Expectations, Lean
46. Rome, Open City, Rossellini
47. Duck Soup, McCarey
50. Out of the Past, Tourneur

[jrod]

I wasnt a huge fan of the Grand Illusion and I cant really put my finger on why. Tried to watch it again recently but gave up after a half hour or so.

I think you should watch sunrise ASAP

[jrod]

Im 36/50

4. Black Narcissus, Powell & Pressburger
15. The Scarlett Empress, von Sternberg
20. The Red Shoes, Powell & Pressburger
21. The Earrings of Madame de..., Ophuls
22. Shadows, Cassavetes
24. Viridiana, Bunuel
27. Pierrot le Fou, Godard
31. The Roaring Twenties, Walsh
33. The Long Day Closes, Davies
34. Killer of Sheep, Burnett
36. Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky
40. Kind Hearts and Coronets, Hamer
45. Great Expectations, Lean
50. Out of the Past, Tourneur

[svsg]

jrod, I highly recommend Anrei Rublev

[Capo]

Yeah, I'd see Sunrise. Though I didn't read the entire list.

[bobbyreed]

Aug 5, 2009 14:01:06 GMT ronnierocketago said:

I get why 1 and 2 are put together. The people behind the list want to honor another movie, and thus they can by opening up a slot.

That said, Combined wouldn't that be the greatest movie ever made?

You haven't seen The Godfather Saga? It's the first two films re-edited in chronological order with some additional footage inserted as well. Think some of the more explicit violence might be cut or censored too.

[Kino]

Aug 5, 2009 16:21:47 GMT jrod said:

I wasnt a huge fan of the Grand Illusion and I cant really put my finger on why. Tried to watch it again recently but gave up after a half hour or so.

I'm a pretty big fan. I think it's fantastic that there are no combat sequences.

[jrod]

only seen both of these once, but I dont really recall Shawshank or Stalag 17 having action seens either. Maybe a gunshot or 2 like Grand Illusion, but thats pretty much it.

for my money, Ill take a Steve McQueen motorcycle jump.

The Great Escape = my favorite prison break movie

[Kino]

Two of the best prison break films I've seen are Becker's Le trou and Bresson's A Man Escaped. Highly recommended, jrod. Maybe go for the Becker first. Brute Force is a classic as well.

[Kino]

Aug 6, 2009 16:29:47 GMT jrod said:

for my money, Ill take a Steve McQueen motorcycle jump.

The Great Escape = my favorite prison break movie

The Renoir and this one have totally different aims. Renoir is not out to thrill or excite. He's interested in the social interactions between people for whom if it weren't for war wouldn't interact with each other.