CITIZEN KANE tops new BBC critics poll of 100 Best American Movies (1 Viewer)

62 international critics pick the 100 Greatest American Films ever.


The complete list is in this link:


http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/citizen-kane-still-the-best-american-movie-ever-according-to-bbc-critics-poll-20150721

The BBC has published an exhaustive, and somewhat exhausting, list of the 100 Greatest American Films ever, according to 62 film critics. Unlike the most recent Sight & Sound poll, which named "Vertigo" the greatest movie of all time, "Citizen Kane" reigns again here, leading a top ten that includes "The Godfather," "Vertigo," "2001" and "The Searchers."
The newest film on the list are Malick's "Tree of Life," McQueen's "12 Years a Slave," Nolan's "The Dark Knight," Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and, natch, Lynch's "Mulholland Drive." Kubrick is well-represented, including a surprisingly high-placing "Barry Lyndon," as are Steven Spielberg, Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock, who has moved freely between Brit and American lists.

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There's only seven films on that list I haven't seen--mostly the newer ones.


I agree with about half of the choices.


I'm surprised there's no Elia Kazan on the list. No STREETCAR, no WATERFRONT, no EDEN.


REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE isn't there either.


Nor is KING KONG. (1933, of course.)


Lots of Hitchcock there, but no SHADOW OF A DOUBT and no STRANGERS ON A TRAIN.


As for von Sternberg, I'm surprised that they picked the relatively obscure SHANGHAI GESTURE, but not THE SCARLET EMPRESS. (SHANGHAI GESTURE is the only "old" movie on the list I haven't seen.)


Ironically, Steve McQueen is represented, but not the Steve McQueen people on this board would immediately think of.

Nice to see Mulholland Dr. rank so high. I'm ecstatic to see Star Wars much higher than The Empire Strikes Back.


I could nitpick a ton of aspects of any list like this but I think my biggest gripe is that Night Of The Living Dead is on there instead of Dawn Of The Dead.

Interesting list. I'm always fascinated by these sorts of things, whether they come from an individual or a group--seeing the quirks and commonalities within each new set of rankings ("quirks and commonalities", of course, in relation to my own uniquely blinkered field of vision.)

Excellent list, but I still like Vertigo for greatest film.

Interesting list, as is usually the case with these sorts of things. Seen most, but not all.


I'm somewhat surprised at Thelma & Louise for Ridley Scott; considering the absence of Blade Runner and Alien. There are other genre films on the list, so that may not be the reason for either film's absence.


- Walter.

Interesting list for discussion. My favourite film is North by Northwest (13) followed by Vertigo (3) and Casablanca (9). However I would put 2001 in first place. An absolute masterpiece of film making.

I like lists. I agree it's compulsive behavior, but it certainly wiles away the time. That said, this list is extremely conservative and vanilla It's a little disconcerting that 40 + years after Anderw Sarris published THE AMERICAN CINEMA & championed the reputations of such so-called "hack" directors as Anthony Mann, Jacques Tourneur, Phil Karlson, Don Siegel, Joseph Losey, Andre DeToth, Raoul Walsh, Mitchell Leisen, Sam Fuller, Budd Boetticher, Douglas Sirk, John Stall, Frank Borzage, Edgar Ulmer, Robert Siodmak, Joseph H. Lewis & co, bringing to us young and aspiring filmmakers a vision of American Cinema that was multi-faceted and opened a new door to a multiplicities of style and substance as far as the eye could see, that none of these directors appear here. I could go on, for instance where is Joe Dante, Monte Hellman, Abel Ferrara, Paul Bartel, David Cronenberg, Peter Weir, Johnathan Demme, Jim Jarmusch, Richard Lester (many film enthusiasts consider PETULIA the greatest American film of the 1960's) Kenneth Anger, Michael Snow, Fredrick Wiseman, D.A. Pennebaker, King Vidor, Louis Malle & last but not least, how about Fritz Lang? I know, it's only a list, but as a starting point for young people to discover unknown American films, it's a very narrow and disappointing one.

lark144 said:

...but as a starting point for young people to discover unknown American films, it's a very narrow and disappointing one.

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I honestly wouldn't expect a list of this sort to have much in the way of unknown films. It's going to be a populist list with a well-known roster and many of the usual suspects by virtue of how it's put together. Now, if everyone who took part in the creation of this list brought their top two or three hundred to the table and we could look at those individual lists, then there'd be a lot more diversity to explore.

Just another list for people to debate about. Many of my favorites are on there. Thelma and Louise make it but not Lord of the Rings? No Sound of Music? Citizen Kane as #1 will ALWAYS baffle me. Always been a musical nut but can't understand the love for Singin' in the Rain and at #7??. Sure it's a good musical but there are so many more that I like better than that one.

Vertigo should be #1 on that list.

Francis Ford Copppola must feel honored sharing the distinction that both he and Alfred Hitchcock have 2 films in the top 10.

It's interesting to see THE BIRTH OF A NATION on there since the AFI and DGA have pretty much buried it and its director. Heck, it was the 100th Anniversary of the film this year and there wasn't any mention of it. I'd still put PSYCHO ahead of VERTIGO and I was shocked to see EYES WIDE SHUT on the list, although I'm not going to complain since I think it's an incredibly underrated picture. I'd also agree with Travis that DAWN is a better film than NIGHT. I can't say I understand KILLER OF SHEEP being included or BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN being left off.

where the Hell is Lord of The Rings?

Tim Glover said:

where the Hell is Lord of The Rings?

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When they survey fanboys and not critics, that's when you'll find LORD OF THE RINGS on such a list.


Besides, it was shot in New Zealand by a New Zealand director. Does it even qualify as an American movie?

Vic Pardo said:

When they survey fanboys and not critics, that's when you'll find LORD OF THE RINGS on such a list.

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Well, The Dark Knight is on there so I think there's some crossover between fanboys and critics.

Vic Pardo said:

Besides, it was shot in New Zealand by a New Zealand director. Does it even qualify as an American movie?

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When they say 'American', they probably mean a movie financed by an American studio.

I'm not a huge fan of these kind of lists...ones that trumpet the "greatest films" as I think most "greatest films" are pretty well known and we don't need a list of them. It is good for sparking debate because, for example, there is no Christopher Nolan film that would make it onto a list of the greatest 100 films...in my opinion. Nor would Back to the Future or Do the Right Thing.


I will admit I was amused to see Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate make it into the "top 100" as I am a fan...but that must now seal the deal on the complete reevaluation of this film as for the majority of the life of the film it has mainly just been considered one of the world's biggest bombs. Now it is making lists of the 100 greatest films ever made...wow!


I guess that gives hope to somebody like Elaine May that her stinker Ishtar may at some point be considered by some group of critics in the future "one of the greatest films ever made!"


How things change.


Rather than a list like this I would prefer a list of the 100 most underrated films of all time, or 100 great films you may have never seen, or any kind of list that draws attention to some films that have not received the kind of love the films on this list have.

Vic Pardo said:

When they survey fanboys and not critics, that's when you'll find LORD OF THE RINGS on such a list.


Besides, it was shot in New Zealand by a New Zealand director. Does it even qualify as an American movie?

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They stated that the film did not have to have an American director or be made in America. Basically, any film qualified as an "American" film if that is where the money came from.

Vic Pardo said:

When they survey fanboys and not critics, that's when you'll find LORD OF THE RINGS on such a list.

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FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING is #50 on the AFI top 100 from 2007. Darn fanboys...

I was surprised Crimes and Misdemeanors made the list while Hannah and her Sisters, Annie Hall, and Bananas did not.


The Lady Eve is on the list but none of the other Preston Sturges fims such as Sullivan Travels or the Great McGinty.

Does this imply that The Lady Eve is his best film? Not a bad choice but Iam sure the other films have their fans.

Vic Pardo said:

When they survey fanboys and not critics, that's when you'll find LORD OF THE RINGS on such a list.

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it doesn't have anything to do with fanboys. It swept the Oscars. It deserves to be on there.

Bob_S. said:

it doesn't have anything to do with fanboys. It swept the Oscars. It deserves to be on there.

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The Academy membership, apparently, includes way more fanboys than critics.