I was muddling around in Sight & Sound's latest edition of their 100 Best Films of All Time poll, and I got curious about which director seems to be the critics' favorite. It turns out there are five with more than two movies on the list:
- Alfred Hitchcock
Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest - Jean Luc Godard
Breathless, Contempt, Pierrot le fou, Histoire(s) du cinéma
. - Andrei Tarkovsky
Mirror, Stalker, Andrei Rublev - Billy Wilder
Sunset Boulevard, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment - Stanley Kubrick
2001: A Space Odyssey, Barry Lyndon, The Shining
All four of Hitchcock's winners were made within a period of six years. Kubrick would be one of the select group of directors with four films on the list if Dr. Strangelove had made it. It's odd that it didn't, especially since it made the Directors' List at #46. However, Kubrick is the only director whose winners span three decades, and 2001: A Space Odyssey is #1 on the Directors' List.
Hmm.. so looking at the full list, essentially these directors found nothing of note in the past 20 years, and really you have to go back at least 40 year for most of these. Not to mention how depressing their selections are in general (which is not to detract from their greatness, but it just seems to me that many fun and/or uplifting stories are also great). Is North by Northwest the most lighthearted movie on this list?
(The "critics, etc." list, at least, puts Singing in the Rain in the top 10.)
My cousin could truly receive money in their spare time on their laptop. their best friend had been doing this 4 only about 12 months and by now cleared the debt. in their mini mansion and bought a great Car.
That is what we do.. https://profitguru9.blogspot.com/
Easy and easy job on-line from home. begin obtaining paid weekly quite $4k by simply doing this simple home job. eds I actually have created $4824 last week from this simple job. Its a simple and easy job to try to to and its earnings far better than regular workplace job. everyone (nhf-06) will currently get additional greenbacks on-line by simply open this link and follow directions to urge started.
Click On This Link———>>> https://salaryboost254.blogspot.com/
Which is as it should be. Great art takes time to settle in. In 40 years, when the youngsters who become future filmmakers grow up, I wouldn't be surprised to see a superhero movie or two make the list. And if you think that's unlikely, I can assure you few if any movie critics in 1960 would have put any of the Hitchcocks on the list.
If I'm not already dead in 40 years, that news will finish me off.
I'm a Hitchcock fan and I still think he's overrated. I'm an even bigger Billy Wilder fan and don't think he gets enough credit, so good to see three of his films on the list. "Ace in the Hole" could have been his fourth.
The biggest and most indefensible snubs: Howard Hawks and Sidney Lumet.
Here here! "Shut up and deal" has got to be one of the most romantic final lines in the last century.
GOOD
Can you assure that? By 1960 Hitch had already been making films for almost 40 years and he was quite well thought of. While it is true that art takes some time to settle in, sometimes you can just look at a film and go, yep, that's a classic. There are two of those on this list: Get Out! and Parasite.
I remember when Apocalypse Now came out in '79. I saw it over and over and over because it was such an amazing film. It has never left my all time great list, and I continue to watch it from time to time even to this day. I am surprised to see that only Taxi Driver from the great stretch of films made by Americans in the late 60's and early 70's made it. Surely a spot can be made for something like Little Big Man, Bonnie and Clyde or Midnight Cowboy?
But superhero films? Meh. If one were to make the list the only one I could see doing it is Black Panther. It at least had interesting characters and relationships (especially Killmonger) so it was OK. Otherwise the only superhero movies I like are the decidedly satirical Deadpool films. They give me a good laugh and crack open the BS which underlies the whole genre.
Oh, Rattus, you and I definitely share very similar taste in film!
Both Parasite and Get Out will be forgotten soon enough I imagine.
A far better and more subtle version of Parasite already got international notice only the year before:Shoplifters
I just put it on my watchlist, thanks!
Get Out! came in at #100, don't know whether I would call it lighthearted. Parasite is on there and it is a vicious satire. There are several Chaplin films on there, as well as The General by Buster Keaton. Hell, Some LIke it Hot is on there and it is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Marilyn is radiant and funny as hell in this one.
For me, I was glad to see two Agnes Varda films on the list. The first of her films I saw, Faces Places, was about a public art project to bring to life the people of rural France. The two films in this list, Cleo From 5 to 7 and The Gleaners and I are two very different films, yet each is brilliant in its own way. Check her stuff out, she is a brilliant director.
Huh? "Some Like It Hot" and "The Apartment" are both straight up comedies. Two of the greatest ever made...
The last line in "Some like it hot" is so perfect that even cartoons have used it. As the last line.
Yep, Some LIke it Hot is as close to a perfect comedy ever made.
Oh, nobody's perfekt!
No Brian DePalma? David Lynch? Peter Weil?
David Lynch made it three times. Scorsese three times, Coppola three.
I could have sworn that Coppola made it 3 times, but the critic's list only has Apocalypse Now and The Godfather. The director's list has him three times with the addition of The Godfather Part II.
You're right, I must've crossed wires.
I'm not sure why the critics' list is called "the greatest films of all time" and the directors' list is called "the directors' 100 greatest films of all time." Used to be, there was a critics' survey and a filmmakers' survey, and they could have left it at that. That is, two surveys of the same thing by different groups. But to assume the critics know better than the filmmakers is ridiculous, in my opinion. In short, I like the directors' list more. Critics are trendy and lean toward groupthink. Directors are more independent-minded and know the score.
What I like about the new lists is that they are a rebuke to today's Hollywood. What I don't like about the new lists is that they undervalue classic Hollywood.
The big news is the (relative) rise of of women. Ten years ago, 2 of 100 films were directed by women. Now it's 10 of 100 (if my math is correct), with the #1 spot going to Chantal Ackerman's "Jeanne Dielman" (#36 last time). It's a wonderful film but not a wonderful choice. It's a quiet film, engaging in ways our modern American culture has no patience for, and should be more widely seen. As a feminist statement though, I think it's not entirely successful.
But I understand that for most of cinema history, women have been on the short end of getting to tell the stories. Men have dominated the directing profession, and "top films" lists, for generations. That's changing, finally. Good.
My guess is the #1 pick would not have happened except for the MeToo movement and this year's Dobbs decision. More films of women are on the list, and fewer films of men. It's a good thing to reassess works from the past. But what's the criteria for films moving up and down on the list? "Chinatown" was on the list ten years ago and it's off the list now. Is that because the film has lost some of its "greatness," or is it that Roman Polanski is now too toxic to let any of his work merit any recognition?
I think the best way to look at lists like this is to see them as notable films worth seeing and knowing about, but don't take the rankings seriously. Half or more of them could be replaced and there would be good argument for it.
The lists are more a measure of the tastes of the taste-makers at a point in time than a definitive measure of the films themselves.
+++
I've only seen Ackerman's Saute ma Ville and found it to be, um, explosive. I put Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles on my list at Criterion and will probably watch it tonight once the Sac State v. Richmond game is over (yeah, I watch FCS football, I work at a school whose team is into the quarterfinals and I want to see our competition!).
To some extent I agree with you, but there is also something to disagree with also. Many, if not most of these films are evergreens. I studied some of them when I was taking film history and theory classes in college. Some I've seen many times, some -- Citizen Kane -- I have seen at least 50 times. There really is a reason it is considered one of the greatest films ever made.
Could you really remove films like Citizen Kane, Man With a Movie Camera, 8 1/2, or any of the French new wave films from this list? Would you remove The Passion of Jean d' Arc? If you want to call it a list of 100 essential films, I would be fine with that even though I think that the silent era got screwed. After all, where is Greed? Where is Napoleon? And while I'm at it, why aren't there more Agnes Varda films on this list!
Current taste is probably more reflected in the additions and deletions. Adding Get Out and Parasite to the list this go around was interesting. Both are interesting stories told with incredible verve. I liked both of them, but will they survive in 2032? Who knows, but both Jordan Peele and Bong Joon-Ho are interesting directors, and Bong Joon-Ho has a huge body of work in all sorts of genres. Two of his best are The Host and Memories of Murder, both easy to find and well worth watching.
Some I've seen many times, some -- Citizen Kane -- I have seen at least 50 times. There really is a reason it is considered one of the greatest films ever made.
The thing that pops out at me when I've watched that film is the sheer "ahead of its time" quality. The vibe, attitude and point of view of the film seem from the 1960s—not 1941. And Welles was twenty-freaking-five when he made Citizen Kane. The word "genius" is bandied about too freely in our age, perhaps, but Welles was the real deal.
I wholeheartedly agree, even his acting is modern.
@Rattus Norvegicus
Agree with you that silent films get no respect. They are not only immensely influential -- what would film be without them? -- but also gems worth watching today. Yet it's hard enough to get (young) people to watch black-and-white films. Getting them to like silents is a monumental task.
I do think a lot of the rankings are arbitrary. It's one thing to say whether a film is top 10 or top 20. Maybe that matters. It's a harder thing to say whether one is #35 or #85. In saying that many of the films could be replaced, I just mean that ranking in the top 100 or the next 100 is not a great difference.
Here are a few films that I'd say are as "evergreen" as your examples: "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Godfather Part II," "Touch of Evil," "Chinatown," and "Raging Bull." All were once in the top 100, and some high on lists of the past, yet in this poll none of them made the top 100. If it can happen to them, it can happen to (almost) anyone.
There's a clear move for more diversity among this year's voters. Asian and African films are getting more notice. French New Wave (but not Godard), some Italian masters, and some American classics are getting downgraded. I applaud inclusiveness but I also think today's younger voters have some notable blind spots.
That said, 100 films is not really a lot. Any list is going to omit a vast number of great movies.
"Chinatown" was on the list ten years ago and it's off the list now. Is that because the film has lost some of its "greatness," or is it that Roman Polanski is now too toxic to let any of his work merit any recognition?
And more egregiously in my view, no Woody Allen film makes either list, even a single time. That just seems bizarre.
Totally agree. "Annie Hall"? "Hannah and her Sisters"? C'mon guys.
Blue Jasmine.
Kobayashi's trilogy The Human Condition is not on the list. Too anti-war or just not seen?
I haven't had a chance to review the whole list, but Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity definitely belongs there.
And I sure hope His Girl Friday is there, too.
I haven't had a chance to review the whole list, but Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity definitely belongs there.
Wonderful film. But didn't make either list.
Some directors suffer from having made too many greats and thus having their votes split.
Surprised "Barry Lyndon" made the top 100. There are some things to be said in its favor, I suppose, but it was rather disappointing. Thackery's novel is a very funny satirical romp but Kubrick's film is downbeat and depressing by comparison. I can think of at least three movies just of the ones directed by Kubrick that are better. (Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange)
I've only seen it once and I rather enjoyed it. Is it Kubrick's best film? Probably not and like all three of the ones you mentioned better, although Barry Lyndon's cinematography is amazing.
A superior film in a similar vein is Michael Powell's The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp. It is a great send up of upper class/military manners. Quite funny.
There is a whole story behind the cinematography for Barry Lyndon:
To capture this authentic painterly look and transport the audience back in time, Kubrick and his collaborator, director of photography John Alcott, were determined to use little to no artificial lighting and do what had never been done before in film: shoot interior night scenes lit solely by candlelight.
Yet there was one very large hurdle to overcome: Kubrick and Alcott were shooting before the advent of digital photography and there was no such motion picture lens fast enough to capture an acceptable exposure in such low lighting conditions. Kubrick, a fanatical perfectionist, scoured the globe in search of a lens that could work, eventually discovering one of the largest relative aperture lenses in the history of photography: the famed Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/0.7.
The lens had been specifically designed and made for the NASA Apollo lunar program to photograph the dark side of the Moon in 1966. There were just ten in existence, of which Kubrick bought three (six were sold to NASA and Carl Zeiss kept one himself).
https://www.domestika.org/en/blog/8022-the-nasa-lens-that-ended-up-in-the-hands-of-stanley-kubrick
Surprised "Barry Lyndon" made the top 100. There are some things to be said in its favor, I suppose, but it was rather disappointing.
I've never seen it, but I'm not surprised it made the cut. It's generally hailed as an all-time great, deseverdly or not, on these kinds of lists.
Kubrick's best movies? "Barry Lyndon" has great cinematography, but "Paths of Glory" is way better. Interestingly, both movies depart significantly from the books they are based on. "Paths of Glory" was banned in France till 1975 because, Sacre bleu, it portrays the French army (actually all armies) in a bad light. It was also favorite movie of John McCain, who undoubtably identified with Colonel Dax.
Yes, and I think I would also rank "The Killing" higher than "Barry Lyndon."
Saw Jeanne Dielman earlier this year and I agree with everything with the review in Vox.com. I will add a couple thoughts, the movie’s appeal lies in its voyeurism. To be sure, nothing ever happens but one feels as if they are spying on someone’s else life and one feels as if something is going to happen even though it doesn’t. One doesn’t want to look away less you miss something when you are not looking. In others words, the movie really is a personal experience, it belongs to a genre that is rarely made. The closest I can think of, and it is not that close, except for certain scenes, is The Conversation. The great film Cache pushes a similar theme but in a more conventional manner. The other thing about the movie, and I’m sorry to use a cliche, it nails the ending. Now let me prepare some veal (like they do in the movie if you must ask).
Easy and easy job on-line from home. begin obtaining paid weekly quite $4k by simply doing this simple home job. I actually have created $4824 last week from this simple job. Its a simple and easy job to try to to and its earnings far better than regular workplace job. everyone (nhf-06) will currently get additional greenbacks on-line by simply open this link and follow directions to urge started.
Click On This Link———>>> https://salaryboost254.blogspot.com/
No love for Feuillade?
Reading the list I'm only reminded of all the movies I haven't seen. Then I get to #16, Meshes of the Afternoon. Well, I've seen that, and that is simply home movie calibre film making.
Isn't a certain test how often can you re-watch a movie? How often can you re-watch Mulholland Drive before hanging yourself? There is no Robert Altman, or The Pianist, His Girl Friday or Young Frankenstein.
Touki Bouki may be terrific, but who has seen it twice, or can remember even one line of dialogue?
If in the span of 100 years across multiple countries, just 12 directors are responsible for over a quarter of the critics' top-100 films, I suggest maybe there's been a longstanding problem of bias.
Not a single Quentin Tarantino film, not even Pulp Fiction? No Graveyard of the Fireflies?
NEXT TIME, they should ask critics to pick 100 films limited to 1 film per director. Show me your chops or you're just a film critic hack.
My cousin could truly receive money in their spare time on their laptop. their best friend had been doing this 4 only about 12 months and by now cleared the debt. in their mini mansion and bought a great Car.
That is what we do—————————➤ https://easyhomeincome2.pages.dev
He was a horrible (really, really horrible) person with horrible politics, but John Ford is arguably the greatest director of all time and certainly deserves a shout out here. Though I can't get too upset with this list since Wilder, Hitchcock, and Kubrick (in that order) are the guys who are arguably better. Maybe add in Scorsese and Hawks (another guy with really horrible politics) to that list.
Just realized the only Spielberg movie on either list is Jaws.
Whom is kidding whom?
My cousin could truly receive money in their spare time on their laptop. their best friend had been doing this 4 only about 12 months andd by now cleared the debt. in their mini mansion and bought a great Car.
That is what we do..... https://rb.gy/n0gsld