Variety: 100 Greatest Movies of All Time (1 Viewer)

[Joe Wong]

Following the recent Sight & Sound poll, we now have Variety's first ever (!) list of greatest films.

The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time

The movies are now more than 100 years old. That still makes them a young medium, at least in art-form years (how old is the novel? the theater? the painting?). But they’re just old enough to…

variety.com

The list:

1 PSYCHO
2 THE WIZARD OF OZ
3 THE GODFATHER
4 CITIZEN KANE
5 PULP FICTION
6 SEVEN SAMURAI
7 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
8 IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
9 ALL ABOUT EVE
10 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
11 SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
12 GOODFELLAS
13 THE RULES OF THE GAME
14 DO THE RIGHT THING
15 SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS
16 CASABLANCA
17 NASHVILLE
18 PERSONA
19 THE GODFATHER PART II
20 BLUE VELVET
21 GONE WITH THE WIND
22 CHINATOWN
23 THE APARTMENT
24 TOKYO STORY
25 BRINGING UP BABY
26 THE 400 BLOWS
27 BONNIE AND CLYDE
28 CITY LIGHTS
29 DOUBLE INDEMITY
30 THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
31 NETWORK
32 VERTIGO
33 8 1/2
34 STAGECOACH
35 THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
36 ON THE WATERFRONT
37 ANNIE HALL
38 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
39 SOME LIKE IT HOT
40 FARGO
41 THE WILD BUNCH
42 MOONLIGHT
43 SHOAH
44 L’AVVENTURA
45 TITANIC
46 NOTORIOUS
47 MEAN STREETS
48 THE PIANO
49 THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE
50 BREATHLESS (1960)
51 APOCALYPSE NOW
52 THE GENERAL
53 IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
54 THE ROAD WARRIOR
55 PATHER PANCHALI
56 ROSEMARY'S BABY
57 BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
58 E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL
59 VAGABOND
60 MOULIN ROUGE!
61 THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
62 DAZED AND CONFUSED
63 BAMBI
64 CARRIE
65 A MAN ESCAPED
66 PARIS IS BURNING
67 BICYCLE THIEVES
68 KING KONG
69 BEAU TRAVAIL
70 12 YEARS A SLAVE
71 MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING
72 BREAKING THE WAVES
73 INTOLERANCE
74 MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO
75 BOOGIE NIGHTS
76 THE TREE OF LIFE
77 GOLDFINGER
78 JEANNE DIELMAN, 23, QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES
79 WAITING FOR GUFFMAN
80 PIXOTE
81 THE DARK KNIGHT
82 PARASITE
83 KRAMER VS. KRAMER
84 PAN'S LABYRINTH
85 NATURAL BORN KILLERS
86 CLOSE-UP
87 THE SOUND OF MUSIC
88 MALCOLM X
89 BELLE DE JOUR
90 THE SHINING
91 SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE
92 PINK FLAMINGOS
93 LE SAMOURAÏ
94 BRIDESMAIDS
95 TOY STORY
96 A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
97 ALIEN
98 WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
99 12 ANGRY MEN
100 THE GRADUATE

 

[Tino]

Decent list bUT
REALLY….No JAWS??

BridesmaIds?
My Beat Friends Wedding?
Etc

Better than Jaws?

C’mon. That’s absurd.

 

[Joe Wong]

Bridesmaids was definitely a head scratcher. I didn't even think the movie was that good!

And definitely a question mark given no Jaws or Raiders?

I did like that they chose a horror film to be #1. "Genre" films don't often take the top spot.

Also interesting to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) in the top 50! Never seen it myself so I can't judge.

I would have also liked to see Beauty and the Beast (1991) in there. But good to see Titanic (1997) in the top 50, Saving Private Ryan in the top 10 (and no Schindler's List, which typically ranks above SPR on these lists), and The Godfather above Godfather Part 2.

But as with all subjective lists, disagreements are to be expected.

 

[RobertMG]

The Sound Of Music 87

No Mary Poppins?

GWTW 21

No North By Northwest?
No Ben Hur 1959

I agree where is JAWS?

It's A Wonderful Life 8 - it is a great film but 2.5 hours of torture for George Bailey and we never see Mr Potter get his due what did he do with the money that he Georges Uncle left at the Bank desk?

 

[RobertMG]

The Sound Of Music 87

No Mary Poppins?

GWTW 21

No North By Northwest?
No Ben Hur 1959

I agree where is JAWS?

It's A Wonderful Life 8 - it is a great film but 2.5 hours of torture for George Bailey and we never see Mr Potter get his due what did he do with the money that he Georges Uncle left at the Bank desk?

I bet us regular folk could do better than them And Where is GREAT EXPECTATIONS?

1 Citizen Kane
2 GWTW
3 Wizard Of Oz
4 King Kong
5 Godfather
6 Casablanca
7 Ben Hur 1959
8 The Maltese Falcon
9 Yankee Doodle Dandy
10 Jaws
11 The Adv Of Robin Hood

REEL CLASSICS

 

[Lord Dalek]

Weird list.

 

[Joe Wong]

Waiting for Guffman at #79 is a nice surprise for fans of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries (Best in Show, etc.)!

 

[ajabrams]

No Sunset Boulevard? and Moulin Rouge! doesn't belong on that list -- the 50's one maybe but not that garish mess!!
These "All-time Best" lists are so annoying.

 

[sleroi]

While I might disagree with the rankings, and don't understand some omissions, (Jaws, Schindler's List, Apollo 13), I can't really argue against any of the titles... Until I got to Pink Flamingos.

But then again, supposedly Damien Chazzelle's Babylon includes close up shots of an elephant's b***hole spewing liquid diarrhea, so maybe it was groundbreaking and influential. But like Tino said, "better than Jaws?"

 

[RobertMG]

No Sunset Boulevard? and Moulin Rouge! doesn't belong on that list -- the 50's one maybe but not that garish mess!!
These "All-time Best" lists are so annoying.

Wish I could have said that ---- the young-uns do not know film

 

[David Norman]

Bridesmaids was definitely a head scratcher. I didn't even think the movie was that good!

And definitely a question mark given no Jaws or Raiders?

I did like that they chose a horror film to be #1. "Genre" films don't often take the top spot.

Also interesting to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) in the top 50! Never seen it myself so I can't judge.

I would have also liked to see Beauty and the Beast (1991) in there. But good to see Titanic (1997) in the top 50, Saving Private Ryan in the top 10 (and no Schindler's List, which typically ranks above SPR on these lists), and The Godfather above Godfather Part 2.

But as with all subjective lists, disagreements are to be expected.

A bit off topic.
When did Genre become a genre of its own?

I don't think I'd ever heard that designation until 10-15 years ago and now it seems accepted? Maybe it was always used that way and I just missed it entirely for 50 years

 

[RobertMG]

Weird list.

All those lists are useless NO A Man For All Seasons?

 

[Joe Wong]

A bit off topic.
When did Genre become a genre of its own?

I don't think I'd ever heard that designation until 10-15 years ago and now it seems accepted? Maybe it was always used that way and I just missed it entirely for 50 years

My interpretation is that “Drama” tends to be the default, and then films that fall under “Horror”, “Sci-Fi”, “Fantasy”, etc are often labeled as “genre”. But given how prevalent (and often, how popular) these films are, then maybe genre is not the right word.

That’s just my take. I believe a film is a film, regardless of subject. But the industry often categorizes films into certain buckets. Comedy, westerns, thriller, action, etc. Such labels are subjective, as well (for the most part). For instance, I consider Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to be funnier than many so-called comedies! But it’s usually considered an adventure film.

I think Silence of the Lambs and Beauty and the Beast (both 1991) are brilliant films, period. But one was called out as the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, and I’ve seen the other called the first horror film to win Best Picture.

Anyway, just my 2c.

 

[BobO'Link]

Interesting list - like with all of these lists there are movies I just don't like ranked quite highly... I just ignore those as many of them are on *every one* of these type lists - things like The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, The Godfather (and/or II/III), E.T., Titanic, and Bambi to name a few... At least Citizen Kane wasn't at #1 like is normal for these lists.

 

[RobertMG]

Interesting list - like with all of these lists there are movies I just don't like ranked quite highly... I just ignore those as many of them are on *every one* of these type lists - things like The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, The Godfather (and/or II/III), E.T., Titanic, and Bambi to name a few... At least Citizen Kane wasn't at #1 like is normal for these lists.

Bambi but no Snow White? Bambi deserves a spot but so does Snow White - so Does Frankenstein 1931problem is they are muckety mucks doing thee lists noy REAL people like you Friend or the rest of this family here hey HTF how about doing your Top 100 films that would be real top films!

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Psycho is a good film but i would put it in the middle of the list. Noticed The Third Man & The Best Years of Our Lives not on the list.

 

[RobertMG]

Psycho is a good film but i would put it in the middle of the list. Noticed The Third Man & The Best Years of Our Lives not on the list.

The Best Years of Our Lives How quick the scholars of today forget ==== YEP A Stunning film!

 

[Jeffrey D]

Shoot- I just posted my top 25 at our thread, and I forgot Network. Doing this stuff off the top of your head likely means things will get forgotten.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Wish I could have said that ---- the young-uns do not know film

I’m sorry but I really dislike comments like that. Young people know film just fine. It’s simply that the majority seek out films of their era that are relevant to their lives. Which is exactly what people of every generation do. The problem, in my opinion, is the view that certain eras (most often past eras) are intrinsically more worthy than material being produced today. Something like half the items on that list are more than 50 years old. Think back to when you were young, whatever age “young” means to you. Were you and your friends more interested in what were new movies, books, TV shows, music, theater, art that was being made in that time period? Or were you more interested in material from 50 years before you were born?

This idea that “knowing film” means you need to prefer things that are half a century old to be able to have an opinion on anything is a noxious one. That’s how art forms die, when we glorify the future while disregarding the present and foreclosing the possibility of a future. If the best films that will ever be made have already been made, what’s the point?

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with preferring films from certain eras. But I think there’s something wrong with the assumption that people today don’t have the same kinds of deeply meaningful experiences with the movies that you did when you were younger. It’s simply that what moves them is different from what moved you, and that’s more of a function of the passage of time and the evolution of an art form than it is about relative quality.

A bit off topic.
When did Genre become a genre of its own?

I don't think I'd ever heard that designation until 10-15 years ago and now it seems accepted? Maybe it was always used that way and I just missed it entirely for 50 years

“Genre” is generally used in a derisive way to separate what gatekeepers consider to be “real” movies from everything else. A drama is a “real” movie. A sci-if movie is “genre”. Horror is “genre”. Action is “genre”. Fantasy is “genre”. It’s a way to establish that only one sort of picture is worthy of recognition, thus giving license to automatically exclude all other types that aren’t to the gatekeepers’ tastes.

 

[David Norman]

“Genre” is generally used in a derisive way to separate what gatekeepers consider to be “real” movies from everything else. A drama is a “real” movie. A sci-if movie is “genre”. Horror is “genre”. Action is “genre”. Fantasy is “genre”. It’s a way to establish that only one sort of picture is worthy of recognition, thus giving license to automatically exclude all other types that aren’t to the gatekeepers’ tastes.

This I do understand, but it seems the term Genre Film in the last decade+ almost always be used exclusively for horror films -- even more specifically low budget giallo and slasher/exploitation horror (usually extremely high body count, blood volume and especially grisly gore, and nudity) . I've rarely seen a discussion in most of these type Home Media forums that used the term of Sci-Fi, Action, Kungfu, Fantasy categories. Old School Monster movies don't seem to be included nor films like Alien, Hitchcock, and the original Predator.

Last House of the Left, I Spit on Your Grave style would be. Jean Rollin gets his own sub category, but wouldn't really include Frank Langela's Dracula or American Werewolf in London.