Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club

In 2002, Sight & Sound magazine published the poll results of the greatest films of all-time, which were voted upon by film critics and directors from around the world.

The goal of this club is simply to watch as many of the films, with no pressure to finish a certain number of films by a deadline. This is an opportunity to see what knowledgeable people in the film community consider to be great films. Please do not be intimidated by this list; as long as you see one film on the list, then that will be satisfactory.

If you would like to join this club, then send me a private message, including the number of films you have already seen. There may be multiple appearances of a film on the list or it may be included as part of a series, so to keep things simple, count one row as one film seen.

Please update me with the films that you see. And, feel free to post your thoughts on the films; remember, there is no right or wrong opinion.

Sight and Sound Combined List

Rank	Title	Director	Year
1	Citizen Kane	Welles	1941
2	Vertigo	Hitchcock	1958
3	Rules of the Game	Renoir	1939
4	8 ½	Fellini	1963
5	2001: A Space Odyssey	Kubrick	1968
6	Tokyo Story	Ozu	1953
7	Godfather Part II, The	Coppola	1974
8	Seven Samurai	Kurosawa	1954
9	Rashomon	Kurosawa	1950
10	Battleship Potemkin	Eisenstein	1925
10	Singin' in the Rain	Donen/Kelly	1952
12	Sunrise	Murnau	1927
13	Searchers, The	Ford	1956
14	Lawrence of Arabia	Lean	1962
15	Godfather, The	Coppola	1972
16	Bicycle Thieves, The	De Sica	1948
16	Dolce Vita, La	Fellini	1960
16	Passion of Joan of Arc, The	Dreyer	1928
19	Avventura, L'	Antonioni	1960
19	Breathless (A Bout de souffle)	Godard	1960
19	Touch of Evil	Welles	1958
22	Dr. Strangelove	Kubrick	1964
22	Jules and Jim	Truffaut	1962
22	Raging Bull	Scorsese	1980
25	Atalante, L'	Vigo	1934
25	Psycho	Hitchcock	1960
25	Sunset Blvd.	Wilder	1950
28	Fanny and Alexander	Bergman	1982
28	General, The	Keaton/Bruckman	1927
28	Godfather & Godfather Part II, The	Coppola	1974
28	Mirror, The	Tarkovsky	1975
28	Some Like it Hot	Wilder	1959
33	Andrei Roublev	Tarkovsky	1969
33	City Lights	Chaplin	1931
33	Children of Paradise (Enfants du Paradis)	Carne	1945
33	Grand Illusion	Renoir	1937
37	Apartment, The	Wilder	1960
37	Apocalypse Now	Coppola	1979
37	Au hasard Balthazar	Bresson	1966
37	Pather Panchali	Ray, Satyajit	1955
37	Seventh Seal, The	Bergman	1955
37	Taxi Driver	Scorsese	1976
43	Casablanca	Curtiz	1942
43	Chinatown	Polanski	1974
43	Contempt (Le Mepris)	Godard	1963
43	Third Man, The	Reed	1949
43	Ugetsu Monogatari	Mizoguchi	1953
48	Ivan the Terrible	Eisenstein	1947
48	Metropolis	Lang	1927
50	400 Blows, The	Truffaut	1959
50	Intolerance	Griffith	1916
50	M	Lang	1931
50	Ordet	Dreyer	1955
50	Wild Strawberries	Bergman	1957
55	Amarcord	Fellini	1973
55	Barry Lyndon	Kubrick	1975
55	Conformist, The	Bertolucci	1970
55	Modern Times	Chaplin	1936
55	North By Northwest	Hitchcock	1959
55	On the Waterfront	Kazan	1954
55	Persona	Bergman	1966
55	Story of the Late Chrysanthemum, The	Mizoguchi	1939
55	Strada, La	Fellini	1954
64	Age d'Or, L'	Bunuel	1930
64	Battle of Algiers, The	Pontecorvo	1965
64	Blade Runner	Scott	1981
64	Gold Rush, The	Chaplin	1925
64	Greed	Von Stroheim	1925
64	Last Year at Marienbad	Resnais	1961
64	Magnificent Ambersons, The	Welles	1942
64	Man with a Movie Camera, The	Vertov	1929
64	Napoleon	Gance	1927
64	Nashville	Altman	1975
64	Once Upon a Time in the West	Leone	1968
64	Pickpocket	Bresson	1959
64	Pulp Fiction	Tarentino	1994
64	Rear Window	Hitchcock	1954
64	Rio Bravo	Hawks	1959
64	Sweet Smell of Success	Mackendrick	1957
64	Wild Bunch, The	Peckinpah	1969
82	City of Sadness, A	Hou	1989
82	Clockwork Orange, A	Kubrick	1971
82	Dekalog	Kieslowski	1990
82	Goodfellas	Scorsese	1990
82	Ikiru	Kurosawa	1952
82	Leopard, The	Visconti	1963
82	Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The	Ford	1962
82	Night of the Hunter	Laughton	1955
82	Ran	Kurosawa	1985
82	Sansho the Bailiff (Sansho Dayu)	Mizoguchi	1954
82	Traveling Players	Angelopoulos	1975
82	Viridiana	Bunuel	1961
82	Voyage to Italy	Rossellini	1953
95	Argent, L'	Bresson	1983
95	Black Narcissus	Powell/Pressburger	1947
95	Blue Velvet	Lynch	1986
95	Breaking the Waves	Von Trier	1996
95	Chimes at Midnight	Welles	1965
95	Don't Look Now	Roeg	1973
95	Double Indemnity	Wilder	1944
95	Earrings of Madame De, The	Ophuls, Max	1953
95	El	Bunuel	1952
95	Gone with the Wind	Fleming	1939
95	Gospel Accoring to St. Matthew, The	Pasolini	1964
95	Grapes of Wrath, The	Ford	1940
95	His Girl Friday	Hawks	1940
95	It's a Wonderful Life	Capra	1946
95	Lady Eve, The	Sturges	1941
95	Letter from an Unknown Woman	Ophuls, Max	1948
95	Matter of Life and Death	Powell/Pressburger	1946
95	McCabe & Mrs. Miller	Altman	1971
95	My Darling Clementine	Ford	1946
95	Nosferatu	Murnau	1922
95	Notorious	Hitchcock	1946
95	Once Upon a Time in America	Leone	1984
95	Pierrot le fou	Godard	1965
95	Sherlock Jr.	Keaton	1924
95	Shoah	Lanzmann	1985
95	Stagecoach	Ford	1939
95	Treasure of the Sierra Madre	Huston	1948
95	Two or Three Things I know about her	Godard	1967
95	Vivre sa Vie	Godard	1962
124	Alexander Nevsky	Eisenstein	1938
124	All About Eve	Mankiewicz	1950
124	All About my Mother	Almodovar	1998
124	Beauty and the Beast (Belle et la betek, la)	Cocteau	1946
124	Brief Encounter	Lean	1945
124	Canterbury Tale, A	Powell/Pressburger	1944
124	Close Up	Kiarostami	1990
124	Cries and Whispers	Bergman	1972
124	Crimes and Misdemeanors	Allen	1989
124	Duck Soup	McCarey	1933
124	Earth	Dovzhenko	1930
124	Eclipse, The (Eclisse, L')	Antonioni	1962
124	Floating Clouds	Naruse	1955
124	Gertrud	Dreyer	1964
124	Jeanne Dielman	Akerman	1976
124	King Kong	Cooper/Shoedsack	1933
124	Late Spring	Ozu	1949
124	Los Olvidados	Bunuel	1950
124	Loves of a Blonde	Forman	1965
124	Man Escaped, A	Bresson	1956
124	Marnie	Hitchcock	1964
124	Music Room, The	Ray, Satyajit	1958
124	Red River	Hawks	1948
124	Rome, Open City	Rossellini	1945
124	Satyricon	Fellini	1969
124	Solaris	Tarkovsky	1972
124	Throne of Blood	Kurosawa	1957
124	Time to Live and the Time to Die, The	Hou	1985
124	To Kill a Mockingbird	Mulligan	1962
124	Tristana	Bunuel	1970
124	Umberto D	De Sica	1952
124	Un Chien Andalou	Bunuel	1929
124	Yi Yi	Yang	2000
157	Aguirre, Wrath of God	Herzog	1973
157	In the Realm of the Senses	Oshima	1976
157	Ashes and Diamonds	Wajda	1958
157	Badlands	Mallick	1973
157	Belle de jour	Bunuel	1967
157	Berlin Alexanderplatz	Fassbinder	1980
157	Best Years of our Lives, The	Wyler	1946
157	Black Dog, White Devil	Rocha	1964
157	Bonnie and Clyde	Penn	1967
157	Brazil	Gilliam	1985
157	Bridge on the River Kwai, The	Lean	1957
157	Broken Blossoms	Griffith	1919
157	Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The	Wiene	1920
157	Celine and Julie go Boating	Rivette	1974
157	Charulata	Ray, Satyajit	1964
157	Chungking Express	Wong	1994
157	Conversation, The	Coppola	1974
157	Crime of Monsieur Lange	Renoir	1936
157	Day for Night	Truffaut	1973
157	Days of Heaven	Mallick	1978
157	Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The	Bunuel	1972
157	Do the Right Thing	Lee	1989
157	E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial	Spielberg	1982
157	Exorcist	Friedkin	1973
157	Exterminating Angel, The	Bunuel	1974
157	Fear Eats the Soul	Fassbinder	1962
157	Great Dictator, The	Chaplin	1940
157	In a Year of Thirteen Moons	Fassbinder	1978
157	In the Mood for Love	Wong	2000
157	India Song	Duras	1975
157	Jaws	Spielberg	1975
157	Jetee, La	Marker	1962
157	Kaagaz ke phool	Dutt	1959
157	Kind Hearts and Coronets	Hamer	1949
157	Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The	Powell/Pressburger	1943
157	Life of Oharu	Mizoguchi	1952
157	M. Hulot's Holiday	Tati	1954
157	Meet Me in St. Louis	Minnelli	1944
157	Monsieur Verdoux	Chaplin	1947
157	Mother and the Whore	Eustache	1973
157	One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest	Forman	1975
157	Out of the Past	Tourneur	1947
157	Paisa	Rossellini	1946
157	Palm Beach Story, The	Sturges	1942
157	Paths of Glory	Kubrick	1957
157	Piano, The	Campion	1993
157	PlayTime	Tati	1967
157	Providence	Resnais	1977
157	Pyaasa	Dutt	1957
157	Rise to Power of Louis XIV, The	Rossellini	1966
157	Rocco and His Brothers	Visconti	1960
157	Salo	Pasolini	1975
157	Spartacus	Kubrick	1960
157	Spirited Away	Miyazaki	2001
157	Stalker	Tarkovsky	1979
157	Star is Born, A	Cukor	1954
157	Star Wars	Lucas	1977
157	Sullivan's Travels	Sturges	1941
157	Taste of Cherry	Kiarostami	1997
157	That Obscure ****** of Desire	Bunuel	1977
157	Three Colours Trilogy	Kieslowski	1994
157	Through the Olive Trees	Kiarostami	1994
157	To Have and Have not	Hawks	1944
157	Trouble in Paradise	Lubitsch	1932
157	Unforgiven	Eastwood	1992
157	Wages of Fear	Clouzot	1953
157	Wind Will Carry Us	Kiarostami	1999
157	World of Apu	Ray, Satyajit	1959
157	Written on the Wind	Sirk	1956
226	1900	Berolucci	1976
226	Accattone	Pasolini	1961
226	African Queen, The	Huston	1951
226	Age of Innocence	Scorsese	1993
226	All that Heaven Allows	Sirk	1956
226	And Life Goes On	Kiarostami	1991
226	Angel	Lubitsch	1937
226	Annie Hall	Allen	1997
226	Apu Trilogy, The	Ray, Satyajit	1959
226	Atanarjuat	Kunuk	2001
226	Autumn Afternoon, An	Ozu	1964
226	Baby Doll	Kazan	1956
226	Bigger Than Life	Ray, Nicholas	1956
226	Birth of a Nation, The	Griffith	1915
226	Bob le flambeur	Melville	1955
226	Bride of Frankenstein	Whale	1935
226	Bringing up Baby	Hawks	1938
226	Burnt by the Sun	Mikhalkov	1994
226	Dames du Bois de Boulogne, Les	Bresson	1945
226	Day of Wrath	Dreyer	1943
226	Death in Venice	Visconti	1971
226	Demoiselles de Rochefort, Les	Demy/Varda	1967
226	Devils, The	Russell	1971
226	Don't Look Back	Pennebaker	1967
226	Double Life of Veronique, The	Kieslowski	1993
226	Naked Childhood	Pialat	1970
226	Eternity and a Day	Angelopoulos	1998
226	Europa	Von Trier	1991
226	F for Fake	Welles	1976
226	Phantom of Liberty	Bunuel	1974
226	Farewell My Concubine	Chen	1993
226	Fargo	Coens	1996
226	Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!	Meyer	1985
226	Woman Next Door, The	Truffaut	1981
226	Fires Were Started	Jennings	1943
226	Germany Year Zero	Rossellini	1947
226	Godfather Trilogy, The	Coppola	1992
226	Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The	Leone	1967
226	Great Expectations	Lean	1947
226	Hate	Kassovitz	1995
226	Hidden Fortress, The	Kurosawa	1958
226	High and Low	Kurosawa	1963
226	Hiroshima mon Amour	Resnais	1959
226	Hotel Terminous: Klaus Barbie, His Life and Times	Ophuls, Marcel	1988
226	I vitelloni	Fellini	1953
226	Red Desert, The	Antonioni	1964
226	Lacombe Lucien	Malle	1974
226	Lady Vanishes, The	Hitchcock	1938
226	Lancelot of the Lake	Bresson	1974
226	Last Laugh, The	Murnau	1924
226	Last Picture Show, The	Bogdanovich	1971
226	Limelight	Chaplin	1952
226	Lola	Demy	1961
226	Love Me Tonight	Mamoulian	1932
226	Ludwig	Visconti	1972
226	Make Way for Tomorrow	McCarey	1937
226	Maltese Falcon, The	Huston	1941
226	Masculin Feminin	Godard	1986
226	Mean Streets	Scorsese	1973
226	Meghe dhaka tara	Ghatik	1960
226	Miracle in Milan	De Sica	1951
226	Moment of Innocence, A	Makhmalbaf	1996
226	My Neighbor Totoro	Miyazaki	1988
226	Nanook of the North	Flaherty	1922
226	Navigator, The	Keaton	1924
226	Network	Lumet	1976
226	Nights of Cabiria	Fellini	1957
226	October	Eisenstein	1927
226	Odd Man Out	Reed	1947
226	Oedipus Rex	Pasolini	1967
226	Orlando	Potter	1992
226	Orphee	Cocteau	1949
226	Pakeezah	Amrohi	1975
226	Pandora's Box	Pabst	1929
226	Day in the Country, A	Renoir	1936
226	Passenger, The	Antonioni	1975
226	Performance	Roeg	1970
226	Puppetmaster	Hou	1993
226	Red Shoes, The	Powell/Pressburger	1948
226	Region Centrale, La	Snow	1971
226	Remains of the Day, The	Ivory	1993
226	Riff-Raff	Loach	1990
226	Rosemary's Baby	Polanski	1968
226	Round-Up, The	Jancso	1965
226	Rue Cases-Negres, La	Palcy	1983
226	Sacrifice, The	Tarkovsky	1986
226	Salvatore Giuliano	Rosi	1961
226	Scarlett Empress, The	Von Sternberg	1934
226	Schindler's List	Spielberg	1993
226	Shadows	Cassavetes	1959
226	Shane	Stevens	1953
226	She Wore a Yellow Ribbon	Ford	1949
226	Shining, The	Kubrick	1980
226	Short Cuts	Altman	1993
226	Silences du palais, Les	Tlati	1994
226	Steamboat Bill, Jr.	Keaton/Reisner	1928
226	Still Life	Saless	1974
226	Strangers on a Train	Hitchcock	1951
226	Stray Dog	Kurosawa	1949
226	Strike	Eisenstein	1925
226	Thief of Bagdad, The	Berger/Powell	1940
226	Thing from Another World, The	Hawks/Nyby	1951
226	Three Colours Blue	Kieslowski	1991
226	Time of Gypsies	Kusterica	1988
226	Tingler, The	Castle	1959
226	Shoot the Piano Player	Truffaut	1960
226	To Be or Not ot Be	Lubitsch	1942
226	To Sleep with Anger	Burnett	1990
226	Topsy-Turvy	Leigh	1999
226	Touch of Zen, A	Hu	1969
226	Underground	Kusterica	1995
226	Vampires, Les	Feuillade	1915
226	Vampyr	Dreyer	1932
226	Vidas Secas	Dos Santos	1963
226	Weekend	Godard	1967
226	Where is My Friend's House?	Kiarostami	1987
226	White Heat	Walsh	1949
226	Wind, The	Sjostrom	1928
226	Woman under the Influence, A	Cassavetes	1974
226	Xala	Sembene	1975

List of members
Name Total
Adam_S 155
Bob Turnbull 143
Brook K 268
Dome Vongvises
Evan Case 240
george kaplan
glen_esq 336
Henry Carmona 51
Holadem 83
Jim_K 303
Joe Karlosi
LarryDavenport
Lew Crippen 232
Mario Gauci
Martin Teller 230
rich_d 116
Seth Paxton 237
Shawn Frank
Thi Them
Thomas J. 126
thomas_jesp 49

A great list and I'm glad to see that Star Wars didn't make the top 100 (rightfully so). Unlike other lists (including HTF's own), this list falls more into line with what I see as "great" films.

There are about 30 films that I haven't seen on that list. Regrettably, many of these are not available on DVD. I don't rent VHS tapes so it would be hard for me to view these films anytime soon so I won't be able to join. But I think it's a really good idea Thai and I wish you all the best with the club!

ATANARJUAT is on R1 DVD. (Seville, Canada) It's coming out as THE FAST RUNNER in the US soon through Columbia, I think.

The possibility that I might get LOST IN SPACE as a result of joining is a powerful disincentive, but I'm still thinking about it.

I agree, a great list. In order not to cheat and count films I’d seen 30 years ago, I set an arbitrary limit of the last 12 months for my starting point. As of a few day’s ago that was 59. A very long way to go, but this should be fun.

Thi, thanks so much for running this club, I look forward to reading the discussions that follow. (The layout looks nice, too!)

These are available in R1:
Le Mépris (Contempt)
Close-up
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Atanarjuat
Day of Wrath
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort

These are available in other regions:
Rules of the Game
Jules and Jim
L'Atalante
Fanny and Alexander
The Mirror
The 400 Blows
Wild Strawberries
City of Sadness (no English subs)
Dekalog
The Leopard
Voyage to Italy
El
The Gospel According to St. Matthew
Pierrot le fou
Shoah
Cries and Whispers
Los Olvidados
The Music Room
The Time to Live and the Time to Die
La Nuit américaine
Paths of Glory
Rocco and His Brothers
Spirited Away
Stalker
Atanarjuat
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
Eternity and a Day
Europa
The Hidden Fortress
Meghe dhaka tara (The Cloud-Capped Star)
My Neighbor Totoro
The Sacrifice
Short Cuts
Stray Dog

I'm sure I've missed a few.

I've seen 199 of the list above (this is by counting each block as "one"--thus doubling up on things like the Godfather or Three Colors films, but counting long films like Shoah only once).

I've already completed my self-imposed challenge of seeing 100 of the first 128 films listed under the 2002 link in my signature, but you can certainly mark me down again here.

I'll also post here when I have the chance. Coincidentally, I just took out from the Library two films on the S&S 2002 list that I've yet to see: The Red Shoes (Criterion) and Day of Wrath. Looking forward to them.

Evan

Thank you, Doug and Donald, for providing me with the corrections.

I've changed the method of counting the number of films seen to make it easier. It shouldn't matter if we are counting some films more than once, as long as everyone uses the same method.

~T

While this was before this thread started, I would like to say that HTF in general and lists like the S&S one got me to check out many of those films in the last year or so.

Some of my more recent viewings include - 8 1/2, Battleship Potemkin, Sunrise, Passion of Joan of Arc, Rashoman, The General, Grand Illusion, 400 Blows (just last night), Ikuru, and Sullivan's Travels.

Netflix is really helping with this and my queue is loaded with many of these films. I'll have to count up just how many I've seen. At this point I would guess about 75 or so.



BTW, I'm very pleased to see von Trier's Europa (or Zentropa as it is also known) on the list. I just wish it would come out on DVD. I was lucky enough to see a print in a film class a few years ago. It's a very cool film.

I had read many of the previous challenge's posts, and in choosing which movies to watch, used the 1992 S&S list as a guide to dive into ones I was unfamiliar with. Needless to say, I'm glad these lists and clubs are here in HTF. Before I was too timid to actually join the 'challenge,' which just sounds difficult in its name. :b But I'll give it a try this time. I'm at 117. Thanks for hosting Thi, great looking layout, too.

How many films are on that list? I count 340, which seems like an odd number.

I've seen a lot of those films, but many of them not for nearly 20 years (God, I'm starting to feel old). So counting only films I don't need to rewatch, I guess I've seen 131 (like others, just using the boxes - Godfather Trilogy as 1 film).

Since there's no deadline (and no dues ), and since a number of those films are on my to watch list anyway, I'll join the club.

These are also available in other regions or alternate sources:

Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles) [R2-Spain]
The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni) [R2-Japan] {under the title Professione: Reporter}
Pyaasa (Guru Dutt) [R1] - Yash Raj DVD, very good quality, can be picked up at Indian DVD shops

I guess I had more than the two I thought I needed to see to finish the list. :b Here are the ones I haven't seen:

Kaagaz ke phool (Guru Dutt) - available as Yash Raj DVD
India Song (Marguerite Duras)
L'Enfance nue (Maurice Pialat)
Pakeezah (Kamal Amrohi) - available from India Plaza, unknown quality
Les Silences du palais (Moufida Tlatli)

I also need to rewatch Black God, White Devil (Glauber Rocha), since I only paid attention to about half of it.

Thanks for doing this, Thi. It looks like you and I are tied at 154. I just queued up about 70 more, though, so I should be able to get through most of the list in the next two years or so.

I've only seen about 67 of the films on this list but I recognize just about every one. I think the only real disappointment for me is that "Maltese Falcon" is so low on the list. It's one of my favorite films to watch
I definitely think the list as a whole seems to contain all films worthy of distinction so I definitely want to try and finish as many on this list as possible.

Michael

I got out my copy of The Hidden Fortress last night, to bring my recently watched (last year) films to 60. Out of the current top 100, I’ve seen: Readjusting to count one film per line, I’m at 62 (Godfather duplication)

Citizen Kane
8 1/2
2001: A Space Odyssey
Godfather, The Part II
Seven Samurai
Battleship Potemkin
Lawrence of Arabia
Godfather, The
Passion of Joan of Arc, The
avventura, L'
Touch of Evil
Psycho
The Godfather and The Godfather Part II
Andrei Roublev
Enfants du paradis, Les
Grand Illusion
Seventh Seal, The
Taxi Driver
Third Man, The
Ivan the Terrible
400 Blows, The
M
Ordet
Wild Strawberries
Amarcord
Barry Lyndon
Strada, La
Clockwork Orange, A
Black Narcissus
Lady Eve, The
Notorious
Stagecoach


And out of the next grouping, I’ve seen:

Alexander Nevsky
Belle et la Bête, La
Brief Encounter
Cries and Whispers
Duck Soup
Gertrud
King Kong


And out of the third group, I’ve seen:

Brazil
Bridge on the River Kwai, The
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The
Do the Right Thing
In the Mood for Love
M. Hulot's Holiday
Paths of Glory
Playtime
Salò
Spartacus
Sullivan's Travels
That Obscure Object of Desire
Wages of Fear, The


And from the last group, Ive seen:

All That Heaven Allows
Bride of Frankenstein
Day of Wrath
The Godfather Trilogy
Hidden Fortress, The
Lady Vanishes, The
Maltese Falcon, The
Nights of Cabiria
Orphée
Red Shoes, The

A very long way to go, but it will be fun, not only to watch again some films that I’ve not seen for some time, but to see for the first time, some that should be seen.

I'm in. I've seen 153 of these films.

Most recently I saw Stagecoach, which I wasn't terribly impressed with. Perhaps it's because I'm not a big fan of westerns, or perhaps it's because the film is just silly. Can anyone that thinks the film is great explain to me what they found interesting or profound?

Also recently I saw Yi Yi. There were some genuinely powerful dramatic moments, and I found the film compelling for a number of reasons. But I also found the business relationship in the film to be aggravatingly cliche and naive, and the music made me want to strangle myself. The scene in which the Japanese businessman (the name escapes me) plays the opening of the moonlight sonata is the best example of everything I disliked most about the film. The scene in which the grandmother awoke and talked to her granddaughter, on the other hand, exemplifies what I found to be good in the film.

The worst films on the S&S list (IMO):
Odd Man Out
Rocco and His Brothers
The Piano

Probably I will skip E.T., even though it is on my list of films I haven't seen. I don't really remember the film from my childhood, but I dislike Spielberg, and don't feel the need to see the films again.

I’m not one of the camp who consider this one of the best Westerns ever, as I really think it one of John Ford’s weakest. But, as with almost any film directed by Ford there are a number of things to like. To begin with, this is a fine example of a film where we get to know all of the protagonists early, and they then act and react as one would expect, based on their characters as established, but not just to further the plot as convenient (this of course within the conventions of Westerns and of the 30s). There is plenty of John Ford’s favorite setting, Monument Valley, as well photographed as ever and this film provides a nice contrast with this wide expanse and the interior setting of the stagecoach and way stations.

Many see this film, as a metaphor for westward expansion, even of manifest destiny and all that implies. True or not that kind of interpretation is now out of fashion.

Having written this, I’m not impressed overall. I think that much of the above is heavy handed and some of the writing to be predictable bordering on trite—although the cardboard characters do act (as I observed) within the bounds established for them.

This is a film that would not make my top 100 or probably even my top 339. Still, it has virtues and is worth seeing.

Hope I don’t get drummed out of the Western fan club for these comments.

Perhaps a true fan of the film, may be able to be more insightful.

I'm in. I'm at 197 and there's quite a few already on my Netflix list and more R1's I can add.

I went ahead and counted a few that I haven't seen in years, like Short Cuts, since there unavailable on DVD as of yet. But I didn't count a few that I've seen most of several times, but have never seen the ending, like Blade Runner and The Piano. (don't ask me how that happened).

I'm surprised to see Keaton's The Navigator on the list as I thought it was the most average of any of his features I've seen. Seven Chances would have been a much better choice.

Which short's disc is La Jetee on again, #2?

I'm sure I can also contribute some discs. Anyone up for an original Last of the Mohicans or Swingers? How about Fargo in the craptacular sliding case?

Ok, I'm actually at 198. I didn't realize Ai No Corrida was In The Realm Of The Senses.

Added a bunch at Netflix, but they don't carry these R1's:

Kind Hearts & Coronets
Fires Were Started
La Rue Cases-Negres
Thief of Bagdad
Close-Up
Earth

You probably fell asleep during the movie, Brook.

One of the reasons that I gave myself an artificial cutoff, is because of my view of some films seen once and dismissed, The Piano being an example. It did not really engage me (in fact I thought it poorly constructed, though beautiful enough). Time to put the lie to my view.

I'm in too. I have seen a total of 166 of those titles, so help me! There are certainly plenty left though that I want to see off that list. How many titles are there in total? I ask because there are a heck of a lot of 226's.

That's what happened with Blade Runner Lew. I've rented it twice and fallen asleep both times. Same thing happened with Dark City, though I did end up watching the ending of that and wishing I hadn't bothered.

Ok, Netflix doesn't carry Kind Hearts & Coronets or the 40's version of Thief of Bagdad, but they do carry Pyaasa and Kagaaz Ke Phool.

When I ran this into excel, I came up with 339 rows. George Kaplan’s count is 340. Of course there are some duplications, especially in the ‘Godfather’ area.

I counted 340 rows. The list was compiled by Brian W. from both the critics' and directors' lists. I decided to cut it off below where films received 2 votes.

Regarding Stagecoach, if I'm correct, it was one of the first in making the western genre serious, as opposed to being B movies.

~T

I watched Stagecoach for the first time about three weeks ago and found it to be an absolutely spectacular film. Much of what makes the film great has become passé or cliche now, unfortunately. Just briefly, some elements that makes it great: complex character interaction between the ensemble cast, it's an action movie with very little real action--the focus is on the characters instead, the cinematography is brilliant and iconic, there's a real sense of danger, the acting is very good (much better than many would probably give it credit).

Some examples of these:

1. Just the way each character is introduced to all of us, Ford doesn't use fancy camera work, but he tracks along the town and gives us a sense of its space, as well as the interaction they have with the town. Very briefly and extremely elegantly we're shown all the unique characters (save John Wayne) that the film will focus on for the rest of the film, and we have a very good idea already about how these characters will act and react to each other. To put it bluntly, the opening sequence of Stagecoach seems to have had an absolutely enormous impact on Akira Kurasawa, and while he perfected the recruitment-of-a-team sequence in Seven Samurai, Ford did it earlier, nearly as well, and kept it from seeming like a recruitment sequence. Later on the full dynamics of the group first explods brilliantly (this is the scene when The Kid says "I guess you can't break out of prison and into society in the same week", the interpersonal dynamics of this scene is only surpassed by the sequence at the second stop where the child is born and many other things happen, characters are more fully developed here, people that had only been comic relief show a surprising amount of depth beneath a gruff exterior for instance.
2. this was undoubtably sold as a John Ford Western shootemup, but the final attack on the stagecoach is a seven minute sequence at best, the final showdown/shootout of the film is cut away from to get the reactions of other towns people, quite anticlimatic. During the actual stagecoach attack, however, it should be noted that this sort of sequence was probalby never done better before or since, the stunt work, tension, and excitement of this scene is nearly unparalled, To see this on the big screen would truly be something, I'd probably place this up there with Ben-Hur as a film with a truly legendary set piece of action.
3. The Cinematography, oh the cinematography. I remember reading somewhere that Orson Welles watched Stagecoach more than any other movie in preparing for Citizen Kane. I can't remember where I read that, but I could see the similarities. The landscapes are breathtaking, and the night scenes especially breathtaking in their lighting, shadows and staging--especially the night scenes in the final sequence. Then there's the initial shot of John Wayne or "How to create a legend in just three seconds" I'm beginning to consider that shot one of the greates entrances ever, it's the shot that created the greatest screen legend of all time (Another similarity to Seven Samurai would be John Wayne/Toshiro Mifune). I could go on and on, but that would just cause me to want very badly to go watch the film again.
4. I myself experienced a strong sense of danger in the final half of the film, especially the traveling scenes of the film. The creation of this tension and suspense necessitates a delicate and skilled hand in the film's production and editing, and while none have done it better than Hitchcock, Ford did a very good job with what he was working with.
5. I personally think the acting is very good, the characters seem real and tangible, they display complexities and layers that are revealed approriately as the film unfolds. If perhaps the characters seem too ordinary, I would suggest that one of the hardest acting feats to pull off is an ordinary character (which is part of why I think Dicaprio did a much better job of acting in Gangs of New York than in Catch me if You Can). Certainly some of the characters seem to be cliche or stereotype, but those stereotypes are pretty much shattered by the end of the film, after we've come to realize there is much more to all of these characters than meets the eye.

whew!

I'll be sort of participating in this challenge, I'll post later tonight with a count of what I've seen (I bet it's much less than thirty), however my main focus will still be on the 1930's challenge for now, so where these two happily overlap (such as with L'Âge d'Or) Í'll post in both threads.

Adam

Put me up to 200, as I missed the In the Realm of the Senses translation (and I wish I'd have missed the movie too, for that matter).

Thi, Sunrise is technically now available in R1 via Fox's "Buy 3 Classics, Get Sunrise Free" (an offer which is truly killing me, as my limited funds [college student here] don't allow me to just purchase three titles I have little DVD interest in, even to get one of my Top Ten films of all-time).

One additional thing which I pointed out in the other S&S thread: though this is generally a great list, keep in mind that the titles further down the list got all of 3 or 4 total votes from the numerous selectors: an issue that is my main griping point with this list being somehow more "valid" than some of the other notable ones in release (of course, none of these lists are more valid than an individual reader/viewer wishes them to be).

Evan

I've seen a grand total of 53 of the films on the TOTAL list, yikes that makes a lot of films to see!

edit I've seen 34 in the first 123 films, and 36 in the first 155 films.

all of these are counting godfather one and two as separate movies and ignoring when they are grouped.

I'm at 118 now having finished La Règle du jeu.

Like Grand Illusion and Le Crime de Monsieur Lange, I was once again suprised at how much I cared about the characters by the time everything comes together. At first it was challenging to figure out the relationships and faces of/between every character, but soon after they arrive in the rabbit hunt everything becomes clearer. What had appeared as small talk before, such as the one Christine and Lisette have on men, also take on great importance. None of the character setups in previous scenes were trivial, each have a key role in the events to come.

Renoir doesn't overstate emotion, never does he linger on a moment with unnecessary length or facial expression. But the result is extremely powerful. When tragedy strikes, there is no chaos. Schumacher and Marceau--as if they finally learned the rules--appear calm and orderly. The Robert character reminded me very much of von Stroheim's in Grand Illusion. Initially they might appear to be villians, but by the end they emerge as sensitive nobilities who are lost in their time. It's surprising to see him deal with André and Octave in such a mild manner. The movie shows us why that is so by the end of the movie. When Octave tells Lisette to give word to Christine at the end of the movie, it's both heartbreaking and illustrative of how these people live their lives, as is Robert's final lines on the staircase that Octave once occupied.

"It's the proper thing to do," André says to Christine about telling her husband that they will leave. That seems to be the center of the movie, what is proper to do? From my viewing, I got the feeling that Renoir is essentially more sympathetic to doing the proper thing, to stay in the rules, than to be following one's primary instinct. Schumacher follows his gut instinct, and he causes harm. Octave's decision to leave with Christine without doing what André thought was proper turns bad. Lisette's uncovered fliration leads to Schumacher's rage. It is not that extra-marital affairs are inherantly bad for others, but the indiscreetness that is disallowed. André and Lisette cause problems because they are too open about their affairs. Renoir seems to be critiquing the hypocrisy of the "rules," but from my reading of the film, also arguing that the rules are necessary for social order, and therein lies the tragedy of these characters.

Last night, I watched Abbas Kiarostami's Close-Up (1990), which is just so damn good. Part documentary, part courtroom drama, part meditation on the meaning and value of art, it speaks more eloquently and more earnestly about the problems of postmodern identity than anything Charlie Kaufman could invent, and without all of those self-congratulatory winks to the audience. Ed Gonzalez has a great piece on the film at Slant. The last sentence of this first paragraph explains why, I think, the film works so well for me: http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/dvd_review.asp?ID=16

I re-watched my Criterion copy of

Great Expectations and what a truly great film. Aside from my feeling that this is one of the few times that Dickens has been rendered correctly on film, there is such excellent acting by the entire company, John Mills as Pip and Valarie Hobson as Estella shine, but a young Alex Guinness in a supporting role nearly steals the show even with all these luminaries. And Jean Simmons as the young Estella is so alternately charming and self-centered that you know the heartbreaker she will become.

Add to this the hustle and bustle of London contrasted with Joe’s simple cottage, throw in some brilliant individual scenes, such as the graveyard and Mrs. .Havisham’s final one and the result is magical.

Well I'm going to join the club, even though I've only seen a paltry 24 of these films. In some ways, though, that is a good thing, as it means I have many great films to look forward to experiencing for the first time. I need to finally get a NetFlix account set up to rent some of these soon.