My vote for the greatest film goes back and forth but for the past 2 or 3 years it's been ON THE WATERFRONT. At one time RAGING BULL was #1 followed by BRIDE but I didn't watch BULL for a few years so I slipped it down to #3 and moved BRIDE to #2 and WATERFRONT at #1. Still with me?
After watching BULL again, I now put it at #2 with WATERFRONT at #1, BRIDE at #3 and 12 ANGRY MEN at #4. I haven't taken the time to think out the rest but some candidates would be: THE GENERAL, SUNRISE, CITY LIGHTS, KANE and PSYCHO. There are many others I'd have to consider as well. THE OX BOW INCIDENT would probably make my list since it's the greatest film I've ever seen that doesn't have the reputation it deserves. With my recent viewing of THE CAMERAMAN, it might make the list and remove one of the Chaplin's, probably MODERN TIMES.
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RB was already your favorite
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As we've discussed, I usually keep my "greatest" list and "favorites" list seperate. My favorite movie of all time is ANNIE HALL and other things like PLAN 9, FRANK MEETS THE WOLF MAN, THE WOLF MAN, MANHATTAN, nearly any John Carradine plus all those Lugosi Monogram films. I mean, hell, I've watched BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA more times than CITIZEN KANE. Kubrick is one of my favorite filmmakers and I love his films but I need to be in the right mood for them so they don't get as many viewings as something like THE APE MAN, which is just a favorite of mine.
Re: LAST TANGO IN PARIS
I pretty much agree with what Mario said but I think the performance is so great that I can overlook the flaws. The biggest flaw is EVERYTHING with the boyfriend, which is just boring and really stops the film in its tracks. I use to not enjoy the woman but on my last viewing, I think she does a fine job. The jail house scene in RAGING BULL and the coffin scene in LAST TANGO are the greatest examples of pure acting IMO.
Mario, I'm not sure if you've read Brando's bio but he said he quite acting because he gave too much in his performance in TANGO. He said the method acting and putting himself through that pain made he never want to act again or at least in nothing as serious. He also mentions a scene that was cut from the film. At one point he was suppose to stand nude in front of the camera with a hard on but it was so cold in the apartment he couldn't get it up. He said he tried everything for a couple hours but he couldn't "rise up" so they simply didn't shoot the scene. He said this was his most embarrassing moment of his career.
I also agree with Mario when it comes to why Hepburn won the Oscar, although I still think her performance was great. THE SPENCER TRACY LEGACY and KATHARINE HEPBURN: ALL ABOUT ME both feature Hepburn saying the same thing. As for the film, sorry but it's a four star film to me. I think the story still holds up very well today and once again, you've got my opinion of the third greatest actor delivering an incredible final performance. The final speech is right on the mark and as I said earlier in this thread with Tracy in THE HARD GUY, it's really amazing how much power he could bring to a film. I've got 7 unwatched Tracy films here so I can't wait to dig into them especially one called THE SEVENTH CROSS. I also think the Hepburn/Tracy lineup is near flawless. WOMAN OF THE YEAR would be my favorite followed by GUESS, ADAM'S RIB and then WITHOUT LOVE, which I found very underrated. PAT AND MIKE is decent but both actors have better films to see first.
I'm actually quite upset with myself for not checking these Bergman films out earlier because after WS, I jumped most of his films to the top of my Netflix list. PERSONA, CRIES AND WHISPERS and another one I can't think of at the moment. I've had FANNY AND ALEXANDER: CRITERION here since Christmas but haven't sat down to watch it yet. Hopefully I'll be off work this weekend. You should really check out that documentary on the WS disc because it's really shocking to see how much he talks about his personal life. Even with only seeing one Bergman film, it's was easy to tell how much he put into these films.
As for DRACULA, the film has no atmosphere after you've seen the wonderful Spanish version. Browning, IMO, couldn't direct a sound film to save his life and I'm also talking about THE DEVIL DOLL, FREAKS and MARK OF THE VAMPIRE. He's one of my favorite silent director's and THE UNKNOWN is one of the greatest horror films ever made IMO. When Weaver said a couple cast members said they didn't remember Browning directing them then I realized he didn't. These sound films have nothing visually like the early silents and you can go back to his first film, 1914's BY THE SUN'S RAYS, an early short with Lon Chaney.
As for Bela, I love the guy but when it comes to him playing Dracula I'll always remember him in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. I also prefer RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE over the 1931 film.