Directors Your 100 favorite English Language films of all time. (1 Viewer)

[Andrew_Sch]

A lot has changed since I last posted on this thread, and since this new shit has come to light, here's my top 30. :b I'm just not man enough to go all out for 100.

1. Fight Club

2. LOTR:FOTR

3. The Big Lebowski

4. The Godfather

5. Goodfellas

6. Ferris Bueller's Day Off

7. American Beauty

8. Pulp Fiction

9. Patton

10. On The Waterfront

11. Saving Private Ryan

12. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

13. O Brother, Where Art Thou?

14. Fargo

15. The Matrix

16. Se7en

17. 12 Monkeys

18. LA Confidential

19. Gladiator

20. T2: Judgment Day

21. Braveheart

22. Unforgiven

23. Blazing Saddles

24. The Usual Suspects

25. Jaws

26. Falling Down

27. Tombstone

28. Dirty Harry

29. Dr. Strangelove

30. A Christmas Carol (George C. Scott version)

For the record, either myself or my dad owns 24 out of the 29 that are currently available, with #'s 5, 8, 10, 25, and 28 being the only ones not currently gracing our shelves.

 

[Bill J]

Andrew, please don't take offense, but I think you need to see more films.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

BillJ, I don't take offense at all to your last post, but I'd like to know what films on my list led you to the conclusion that I need to see more films. Also, what films would you suggest?

 

[Bill J]

Andrew, judging by yor top 3, you must be pretty young.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Yeah, I'm 16, but I have seen my fair share of older movies, those three just happen to be my favorites.

 

[LukeB]

Posting my list would lose any legitimacy I have on these forums! :b

 

[Bill J]

I have seen my fair share of older movies, those three just happen to be my favorites.

How many of these have you seen?
Ben-Hur
Citizen Kane
Vertigo
Psycho
The Maltese Falcon
Paths of Glory
Grand Illusion
A Clockwork Orange
The General
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Stalag 17
Gone with the Wind
Casablanca
8 1/2
Amadeus
The African Queen
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Escape
Raging Bull
ET
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Apartment
Children of Paradise
Chinatown
The Deer Hunter
The Seven Samuri
MASH
Das Boot
Or what about:
Apocalypse Now
2001: A Space Odyssey
Lawrence of Arabia

 

[Evan Case]

Bill,

Everyone was 16 once. How about giving him some time?

FWIW, I think Andrew has shown remarkable taste based on what he has seen. There are really only about 6-7 films on his list that that I don't find at least very good.

That said, let me also recommend the films on Bill's mini-list. If you're lucky, your local library should have plenty of classics on VHS or DVD. My public library provided me an invaluable source of film knowledge throughout my teen years.

Evan

 

[Gabe D]

judging by yor top 3, you must be pretty young.

For what it's worth, I think The Big Lebowski is better than any of the classics you listed (with the possible exception of Children of Paradise, which I haven't seen). I also think Fight Club is better than many of them. Big Lebowski makes my top 2, and I've seen a hell of a lot of movies.

 

[Kevin Leonard]

Wow, I had completely forgotten about this! Finally went back and finished off my Top 100.
And why are some people so down on Andrew's list? Anybody who can appreciate both L.A. Confidential and Orgazmo (see his original post on the first page) is just fine in my book.

For what it's worth, I think The Big Lebowski is better than any of the classics you listed (with the possible exception of Children of Paradise, which I haven't seen).

I love The Big Lebowski too (another viewing prompted me to put it on my list), but better than Raging Bull? I can't believe I just read that!

 

[JohnRice]

Here is my best attempt, in alphabetical order. I made sure to include several guilty pleasures.

2001, A Space Odyssey

12 Monkeys

Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, The

Alien

Always

American History X

Apocalypse Now

Army of Darkness

B. Monkey

Ben-Hur

Blade Runner

Bliss

Blood Simple

Body Snatchers

Brazil

Bridge on the River Kwai, The

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Carlito's Way

Citizen Kane

Cool Hand Luke

Cruel Intentions

Dangerous Beauty

Dark City

Dark Star

Deer Hunter, The

Doctor Zhivago

Donnie Darko

Exorcist, The

Fahrenheit 451

Falling Down

Fargo

Fiddler On The Roof

Fifth Element, The

Fight Club

Fistful of Dollars, A

For All Mankind

From Dusk Till Dawn

Game, The

Godfather, The

Godfather Part II, The

Goodfellas

Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The

Gone with the Wind

Haunting, The (1963)

Heat

High Plains Drifter

Immortal Beloved

Killer Klowns From Outer Space

Lawrence of Arabia

Leaving Las Vegas

Liebestraum

Mad Max

Magnificent Seven, The

Magnificent Ambersons, The

Magnolia

Man in the Moon, The

Man Who WasnÕt There, The

Memento

MillerÕs Crossing

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

National Lampoon's Animal House

North by Northwest

Night of the Hunter

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Once Upon a Time in America

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

On the Beach

Ordinary People

Paths of Glory

Payback

Princess Bride, The

Psycho

Pulp Fiction

Quiet Earth, The

Raising Arizona

Rapture, The

Reservoir Dogs

River Runs through It, A

Romeo is Bleeding

Room with A View, A

Scarface

Shawshank Redemption, The

Silverado

SchindlerÕs List

Sorcerer

Starship Troopers

State of Grace

Sting, The

Thelma and Louise

They Live

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Live and Die in L.A.

Tombstone

Untamed Heart

Usual Suspects, The

Waking the Dead

When Harry Met Sally

Wild at Heart

Wizard of Oz, The

Young Frankenstein

 

[Gabe D]

? I can't believe I just read that!

Well, if it helps the Scorsese/De Niro/Pesci fan in you, GoodFellas is my #1 all-time favorite. Raging Bull is great, don't get me wrong. But The Big Lebowski is just some rare kind of genius. I love it more every time I see it. An absolutely perfect movie.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Looking back at that list, it doesn't really reflect my top 30 movies, it was late when I made it and I was too tired to think of all the great movies I've seen.

BillJ, I've seen 2001, LOA and Apocolypse Now, but I won't reveal the embarrasingly low number of films on your longer list that I've seen:b . I really didn't care for 2001 or LOA at all, and I loved Apocolypse, but not as much as some of the films on my list.

Thanks to everyone who defended my taste, but I don't believe BillJ was questioning it, and he has a point, as 19 out of 30 films on the list are from the 1990's.

 

[Zen Butler]

I'd like to try this, I'm at work so this will take a while:
(also including guilty stuff) I'm doing what pops in my head first...
1. Blade Runner
2. Lawrence of Arabia
3. The Manchurian Candidate
4. Seventh Seal
5. LOTR:FOTR
6. Gladiator
7. Orpheus
8. Touch of Evil
9. The Third Man
10. Pulp Fiction
11. Welcome to The Dollhouse
12. Run Lola Run
13. Heavenly Creatures
14. Casablanca
15. Shawshank Redemption
16. O' Brother Where Art Thou?
17. Se7en
18. Fight Club
19. Batman
20. Batman Returns
21. Raiders of the Lost Ark
22. Empire Strikes Back
23. Star Wars
24. Return of the Jedi
25. Liquid Sky
26. Fifth Element
27. The Professional
28. 48 Hours
29. Die Hard
30. Silverado
31. Dances with Wolves
32. Full Metal JAcket
33. Dark City
34. The Nightmare before Christmas
35. Men in Black
36. Night Shift
37. Stir Crazy
38. Foul Play
39. Donnie Brasco
40. Once Upon a Time in the West
41. Once Upon a Time in America
42. The Killer
43. King of Masks
44. Tao of Steve
45. Cruel Intentions
46. Big Lebowski
47. Bridge/River Kwai
48. The Great Escape
49. Magnificent Seven
50. Good, Bad and the Ugly
51. High Plains Drifter
52. Firelight
53. Horror of Dracula
54. Goodfellas
55. A Bronx Tale
56. Rushmore
57. Election
58. Do the Right Thing
59. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
60. Midnight Run
61. What about Bob?
62. Fantastic Planet
63. The Man Who Fell to Earth
64. Annie Hall
65. High Fidelity
66. Treasure of Sierra Madre
67. Duck Soup
68. Jackie Brown
69. Logan's Run
70. ST: First Contact
71. Godfather II
72. Godfather I
73. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
74. The Bounty
75. Braveheart
76. Dog Day Afternoon
77. Deliverance
78. Terminator 2
79. Terminator
80. 12 Monkeys
81. Alice in Wonderland
82. East of Eden
83. Farewell my Concubine
84. Wish you Were Here
85. The Deep End
86. You can Count on me
87. Silence of the Lambs
88. U2-Rattle and Hum
89. a Clockwork Orange
90. Sleepy Hollow
91. Babe II-Pig in the City
92. Bullets over Broadway
93. Swingers
94. The Matrix
95. Gone With The Wind
96. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
97. Wizard of Oz
98. Giant
98. Blue
99. Akira
and last...
100. Buttman in Budapest!

 

[Jay E]

Zen

This is English language films only. Would you be able to subsitute those foreign language films for an Engish language one instead. Thanks!

 

[Zen Butler]

Yeah sorry, that would make me short...

98. Blue - Unforgiven

83. Farewell my Concubine - Untouchables

59. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - Memento

43. King of Masks - King of Comedy

7. Orpheus - Raging Bull

4. Seventh Seal - Gattaca

 

[JohnRice]

45. Cruel Intentions

I'll tell you what. Not only is that a fun film, it is pretty darn well done.
Jay,
You'll notice I included Metropolis which is technically a German language film, but I considered that since it is silent, it really has no language, since watching it in English is really no different from watching it in German. You have to read it either way.

 

[Jay E]

John

My original idea was for this thread to be "your 100 favorite American films", but I decided to change it to English Language as sometimes it's very hard to distinguish which country a film is from (ie; Lawrence of Arabia, Bridge Over the River Kwai).

I did not consider Metropolis for my list since it was made in Germany and I would put it on my 100 Favorite Foreign language films list. When I compile these lists (if I get enough posters), I will not include it. The only way it would skew the voting is the fact that it leave you with 99 entries and not 100.

 

[JohnRice]

Then I'll replace Metropolis with Memento. I updated my original list. Heck, it even fits in the same spot.

 

[Rob P S]

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