Seen of TSPDT's Top 100 Movies

Submitted by neptune on Sun, 04/27/2008 - 03:35
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  1. Citizen Kane
  2. Vertigo
  3. The Rules of The Game
  4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
  5. Eight And A Half
  6. The Godfather
  7. The Searchers
  8. The Seven Samurai
  9. Tokyo Story
  10. Sunrise
  11. Singin' In The Rain
  12. Battleship Potemkin
  13. Lawrence of Arabia
  14. L'Atalante
  15. Bicycle Thieves
  16. The Passion of Joan of Arc
  17. The Godfather Part II
  18. Raging Bull
  19. Rashomon
  20. Casablanca
  21. City Lights
  22. Touch Of Evil
  23. The Third Man
  24. La Dolce Vita
  25. Les Enfants Du Paradis
  26. La Grande Illusion
  27. The General
  28. Some Like It Hot
  29. Breathless
  30. Psycho
  31. Sunset Blvd.
  32. Persona
  33. L'avventura
  34. The Gold Rush
  35. Chinatown
  36. The Magnificent Ambersons
  37. Ordet
  38. Taxi Driver
  39. Dr Strangelove
  40. Jules Et Jim
  41. Rear Window
  42. The Seventh Seal
  43. The Night of The Hunter
  44. Apocalypse Now
  45. Contempt
  46. The 400 Blows
  47. It's A Wonderful Life
  48. Andrei Rublev
  49. Intolerance
  50. Ugetsu Monogatari
  51. M
  52. Modern Times
  53. Wild Strawberries
  54. La Strada
  55. Blade Runner
  56. The Wild Bunch
  57. Panther Panchali
  58. Rio Bravo
  59. North By Northwest
  60. Au Hasard Balthazar
  61. The Wizard of Oz
  62. Gone With The Wind
  63. The Mirror
  64. Greed
  65. The Conformist
  66. Fanny & Alexander
  67. The Apartment
  68. Nashville
  69. Metropolis
  70. Pickpocket
  71. The Leopard
  72. Playtime
  73. Madame De...
  74. Letter From An Unknown Woman
  75. Notorious
  76. Pierrot le Fou
  77. Ikiru
  78. Sansho the Baliff
  79. Viridiana
  80. Once Upon A Time In The West
  81. Voyage In Italy
  82. Sherlock Jr.
  83. All Abotut Eve
  84. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
  85. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
  86. My Darling Clementine
  87. Last Year At Marienbad
  88. Bringing Up Baby
  89. L'age D'or
  90. Barry Lyndon
  91. Double Indemnity
  92. Amarcord
  93. A Clockwork Orange
  94. To Be Or Not To Be
  95. The Man With a Movie Camera
  96. His Girl Friday
  97. Gertrud
  98. On The Waterfront
  99. Nosferatu
  100. Broken Blossoms
AJDaGreat07/03/2008

Ah, you stumbled upon this list too, eh? Great stuff. I loved discovering this canon of films that were rather off the beaten path from what you'd find from American critics and incorporates the opinions of critics with more of a taste for the artsy and abstract. I've successfully gotten through 92 of these fine films, and though I can't admit to getting into all of them (Antonioni continues to elude me), every one is pretty fascinating in its own right. I'll be sure to check your Films Seen list for your reactions to them.

neptune07/04/2008

I quite like They Shoot Pictures, as it covers a huge number of genres, time periods and countries, but it is only based on popularity. I only started following film seriously recently, so I haven't gotten through that many.

I really like Fellini & Bergman (though I've only seen 2 of their films each), and Hitchcock strikes me as a great directed. Although I feel Welles has made some dynamite films, some of his are a little weak which is a shame as he is rated very highly among many.

Which are your favourites off the top 100?

AJDaGreat07/04/2008

Fellini's great, but 8 1/2 is the only film of his that I really really love. I remember really getting into Amarcord and Juliet of the Spirits too though.

If you like Bergman, I highly recommend The Seventh Seal. What did you find weak about Welles's films? I will admit that the other elements of production are not always up to par, but his direction always blows me away no matter what.

My favorites off here? Jeez, so many of these would make my top 100 as well. I guess I could break it down by director. Billy Wilder is one of my favorite directors and every film he has on here (Some Like It Hot, Sunset Boulevard, The Apartment, Double Indemnity) is awesome, although Sunset Boulevard is the only one that would probably make my top 10 films of all-time.

Charlie Chaplin directed two of my favorites (Modern Times, City Lights) and also The Gold Rush which is great too.

Kubrick is another of my favorite directors. He directed 2001 which you know, but I do also love Dr. Strangelove (probably my favorite by him), Barry Lyndon, and A Clockwork Orange.

Kurosawa, another great. I love Seven Samurai and Ikiru, but Rashomon is one of my all-time favorites.

Godard is highly uneven (I'm really not a fan of Contempt), but I do love Pierrot le Fou and especially Breathless which is definitely among my favorites.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Singin' in the Rain, Taxi Driver, Once Upon a Time in the West, Chinatown, and Bringing Up Baby, all of which would probably be on my top 20 if not my top 10. North by Northwest would also come close.

I would also rank a lot of the standards among my favorites (Citizen Kane, Persona, 8 1/2), although Citizen Kane is probably the only top 10 film in there for me. I wouldn't count The Mirror as a favorite, but I saw it too long ago and on VHS. My favorite Tarkovsky film is probably Stalker.

Then there are a lot of films that would be on my top 100 but probably not in the top 30 or so. All the Coppola films (Godfather I and II, plus Apocalypse Now), Bicycle Thieves, Casablanca, Ugetsu, Metropolis, All About Eve, Last Year at Marienbad, and probably others.

It would've been easier to list the films I don't really get into, though I do owe some of these a rewatch: Vertigo, Rules of the Game, Raging Bull, L'Avventura, Magnificent Ambersons, Contempt, Pather Panchali, The Leopard, and Playtime, among others.

If you like Fellini and Bergman, I'd really be curious to see how you liked Alain Resnais films (Last Year at Marienbad, Hiroshima Mon Amour which is #103 on TSPDT's list). And I'd also be curious to know what you thought of the French New Wave (try Breathless and The 400 Blows).

neptune07/04/2008

Concerning Welles, I feel that Touch of Evil was good, as was The Lady From Shanghai but they were not 9.25+ standard for me. The direction was good, but as a whole cinematic experience they weren't as great as I expected, Touch Of Evil seemed overrated in the extreme. Kane is a masterpiece though, I do love that film so much, doesn't feel dated in the slightest. I do look forward to seeing The Magnificent Ambersons soon though, it's highly regarded.

La Strada is the next Fellini film I have available to watch, but so far it's only 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita which I've seen, both excellent films.

Kubrick is indeed a great director, I've seen probably more of his films than any other. 2001 is his masterwork, though Dr Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange etc are all really awesome pieces of cinema.

Unfortunately I have seen nothing from the other directors you have mentioned (awful I know!), but I am striving to get as hold of as many films as possible at the moment.

With the other particular films you mention, of the ones I've seen, they're all awesome, Taxi Driver, North by Northwest, The Godfather etc rating highly.

Thanks for the recs, I'll definitely check out Resnais and the french new wave when I have a chance to get hold of some :)

I find silent film to be quite dull (other than Un Chien Andalou which was short enough to not need it as much), but my experience of it isn't that vast to say the least. I really liked Metropolis, hopefully the extra missing footage will give it a more complete feel. As an experienced film viewer, any recommendations to someone such as myself who is completely new to it?

The 21st century list for TSP is pretty good too, but it gives credit to some films which I feel are really overrated. (LOTR, The Incredibles, Crouching Tiger... etc)

AJDaGreat07/04/2008

Yeah, some of Welles's films are rather pulpy, but he often makes the films so much about his direction that they're still easy to love, for me. That doesn't mean you should ignore how bad an actor Charlton Heston is, of course.

Fellini's earlier films are much more straightforward than 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita. If you like La Strada, it'll probably be for very different reasons than the Fellini you've seen; ditto for Nights of Cabiria. They do contain hints of the themes and images Fellini would later explore, and they're certainly great films in their own right, but don't expect the same type of work.

I do love 2001, but some parts are weaker than others IMHO. I prefer Kubrick's tighter, more consistent films. Paths of Glory is also highly recommended (TSPDT #181).

I got into silent comedies first, loving the Chaplin films I already mentioned plus The Circus, as well as Harold Lloyd (try Safety Last) and Buster Keaton (I actually wasn't big on The General when I first saw it, but I did love Sherlock Jr. and especially Steamboat Bill Jr.). I later discovered some silent dramas that I found exciting and fairly accessible; Sunrise, Battleship Potemkin, and The Phantom of the Opera are all pretty awesome. If you can get into those, you can move into silent films that require more patience like The Passion of Joan of Arc, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Napoleon, Greed, and F.W. Murnau's other films.

To be fair, you might want to move Passion of Joan of Arc earlier, because despite being somewhat slow, it represents a true triumph of cinematic artistry, much like Un Chien Andalou and Metropolis. I think that's more true about Joan than the other films I mentioned.

D.W. Griffith was a great innovator, but I found some of his films pretty dull today. Broken Blossoms is at least shorter than some of his other films; if you like that, try Intolerance, then Birth of a Nation.

Totally agree with you on the 21st century list (although I've never seen Crouching Tiger).

neptune07/04/2008

LOL Charlton Heston really is terrible isn't he, one of the most wooden actors - ever.

I eagerly look forward to La Strada, as soon as I see it I'll tell you my thoughts on it.

The Passion of Joan of Arc is a film I'm desperate to see, with allegedly one of the best acting performances on screen.

Perhaps comedy will make silent films more accessible to me, Chaplin is one that I have to see. I'm still a newbie to film in terms of viewing decent works of art, from a range of times, countries and genres.

My brother reckons Birth of A Nation was decent, but it had dated badly. Griffith is someone who I can imagine respecting, though not enjoying too much (in the way that I respect Mozart but don't really have an emotional connection that I do to say Bach or Beethoven.).

AJDaGreat07/04/2008

Maria Falconetti really is terrific in Passion of Joan of Arc. Her performance and the direction are so compelling that I doubt you'd find it dull. I can't say for sure though.

Yeah, as long as you don't have anything against very well-done slapstick and physical humor, the silent comedies I recommended are generally pretty exciting, and often emotional in a sweet, touching way.

That's pretty much how I feel about Griffith too.