Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Film critics pick the 50 best movies of all time
The Christian Science Monitor ^ | January 30, 2012 | Molly Driscoll

Posted on 02/04/2012 12:16:26 AM PST by iowamark

Endless lists have been made, and it's a great way to start an argument at a party. What's better, 'Chinatown' or 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'? 'The Wizard of Oz' or 'Singin' in the Rain'? Everyone's picks are different, but for their new book 'The Greatest Movies Ever,' film critics Gail Kinn and Jim Piazza selected their choices for the best 101 movies of all time. First published in 2008, this edition of the book is revised with new picks like 'Slumdog Millionaire.' Here's a sampler -- the 50 films that got the top spots on Kinn and Piazza's list.

50.'Bonnie and Clyde'

49.'2001: A Space Odyssey'

48.'Rules of the Game'

47.'Top Hat'

46.'8 1/2'

45.'The Deer Hunter'

44.'City Lights'

43.'Diner'

42.'The Lives of Others'

41.'Schindler's List'

40.'The Conformist'

39.'Blade Runner'

38.'Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'

37.'The African Queen'

36.'The Best Years of Our Lives'

35.'Raging Bull'

34.'It's A Wonderful Life'

33.'The Graduate'

32.'It Happened One Night'

31.'Strangers on a Train'

30.'Saving Private Ryan'

29.'A Streetcar Named Desire'

28.'Funny Face'

27.'Jules and Jim'

26.'Goodfellas'

25.'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

24.'Vertigo'

23.'Pan's Labyrinth'

22.'Double Indemnity'

21.'La Dolce Vita'

20.'The Searchers'

19.'To Kill a Mockingbird'

18.'Gone with the Wind'

17.'On the Waterfront'

16.'Apocalypse Now'

15.'Taxi Driver'

14.'Psycho'

13.'All About Eve'

12.'Some Like It Hot'

11.'Nashville'

10.'Singin' In The Rain'

9.'Chinatown'

8.'Annie Hall'

7.'The Wizard of Oz'

6.'North by Northwest'

5.'Lawrence of Arabia'

4.'Sunset Boulevard'

3.'Casablanca'

2.'Citizen Kane'

1.'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather Part II'

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Music/Entertainment; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: movies
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-106 next last
To: iowamark
Annie effin’ Hall???

At best it should come in around 120 or 121

21 posted on 02/04/2012 1:38:26 AM PST by Rashputin (Obama stark, raving, mad, and even his security people know it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

When I was going through cardiac rehab I met a wonderful Polish woman who had also recently survived a heart attack. She was a young girl in 1939 when the Nazi’s invaded Poland and she wound up in a concentration camp during the Nazi occupation. She survived though she lost her entire family to the camps.

One day when we were talking she told me that the Pianist is a very good movie, very close to what many had experienced. She then looked at me and said, “Schindler’s List is shit!”

For that reason alone, I cannot put it anywhere on a “top” list.


22 posted on 02/04/2012 1:39:41 AM PST by CougarGA7 ("History is politics projected into the past" - Michael Pokrovski)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

If the list is to include a Truffaut film (I thought it was English only at first), I’d go with “The 400 Blows” over “Jules and Jim”. And it’s good to see “Chinatown” increasingly recognized as one of the best of all time - I’ve always thought so.


23 posted on 02/04/2012 1:42:08 AM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hosepipe

No Tombstone or Fort Apache.
I guess these movies were too lowbrow for his elite taste.


24 posted on 02/04/2012 1:44:34 AM PST by Yorlik803 (better to die on your feet than live on your knees.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SMGFan

I would have put Young Frankenstein in there instead...


25 posted on 02/04/2012 1:53:03 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Smokin' Joe

The Quiet Man.


26 posted on 02/04/2012 1:55:42 AM PST by erkelly (Never underestimate the stupidity of the stupid party!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

My favorite Western didn’t make the list. My second favorite Western did.

1. Shane
2. The Searchers


27 posted on 02/04/2012 1:56:39 AM PST by FreedomForce (Dunno 2012)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rashputin
>> Annie Hall is way too high. <<
>> #8 Annie Hall - I watched it and it was not special. <<<
>> Annie effin’ Hall??? <<

I'm with you guys on that. I could never understand why film critics always rate this film as one of the greatest movies of all time. It some really funny bits (my favorite being Christopher Walker as Annie Hall's suicidal brother), but as far as comedy's go I think it's average. Not only would this movie fail to make my "Top 10" list of "Greatest" films, it wouldn't even make my "Top 10" list of greatest WOODY ALLEN films. (I vastly prefer the zany over the top stuff he did in the late 60s and early 70s to the sappy romantic comedy stuff he did in the late 70s and early 80s).

Even more perplexing is the film he made two years later, Manhatten (1979) is ALSO beloved by critics and cited as a masterpiece. I find it to be insanely boring. The only good part about Manhatten is Woody Allen's character dating a 17 year old is UNINTENTIONALLY funny for those of us who viewed the movie AFTER the Soon-Yi scandal.

28 posted on 02/04/2012 1:57:26 AM PST by BillyBoy (Illegals for Perry/Gingrich 2012 : Don't be "heartless"/ Be "humane")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: CaptainMorgantown

I’ll second that!


29 posted on 02/04/2012 1:58:57 AM PST by TheWriterTX (All in now for Newt Gingrich)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Opinions are like... Well you know.


30 posted on 02/04/2012 2:01:26 AM PST by metesky (Brethren, leave us go amongst them! - Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton - Ward Bond, The Searchers)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark
It is my considered opinion that Scent of a Woman is a better movie than Annie Hall. In this opinion I an unquestionably correct.
31 posted on 02/04/2012 2:12:48 AM PST by muir_redwoods (No wonder this administration favors abortion; everything they have done is an abortion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”

Stupid beyond belief. Doesn’t belong on this list.


32 posted on 02/04/2012 2:13:03 AM PST by Fresh Wind ('People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.' Richard M. Nixon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

O Brother, Where Art Thou; Midnight; The Lady Eve; Song of Bernadette


33 posted on 02/04/2012 2:14:06 AM PST by Liberty Wins (Newt --named after Isaac Newton?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hosepipe
Don't forget Gary Cooper in Sgt. York
34 posted on 02/04/2012 2:14:18 AM PST by piroque ("In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: FreedomForce

#20, The Searchers


35 posted on 02/04/2012 2:15:32 AM PST by muir_redwoods (No wonder this administration favors abortion; everything they have done is an abortion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: iowamark
Gran Torino? No Eastwood movies at all? Some list.
36 posted on 02/04/2012 2:18:10 AM PST by muir_redwoods (No wonder this administration favors abortion; everything they have done is an abortion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

BS!! Not one movie with Clint Eastwood, Bruce Lee or Mel Brooks! PHOOEY!


37 posted on 02/04/2012 2:21:20 AM PST by eastforker (Don't be ornery for Romney, instead Root for Newt!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Well wait, we haven’t seen Spike Lees movie yet “BAM” about Obama starring Denzel Washington as Obama. That could be #1!! You never know!


38 posted on 02/04/2012 2:26:36 AM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (How ironic that Ann Coulter should write a book called Treason.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: muir_redwoods
IMHO, Unforgiven is Eastwood's magnum opus, and should certainly have been in the top 50% of that list.
39 posted on 02/04/2012 2:28:56 AM PST by Joe 6-pack (Que me amat, amet et canem meum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: SMGFan

But it has New York liberals in it, so therefore that automatically qualifies it to be high up on any movie list. “Oh look, Woody Allen sneezed and the cocaine flew off the table! Oh ha ha ha such genius! Give him an Oscar!”


40 posted on 02/04/2012 2:34:36 AM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (How ironic that Ann Coulter should write a book called Treason.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-106 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson