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The Pendragon Society’s 1000 Greatest Films (2019) 960-941

Introduction

960. Jackie Brown (1997) Dir. Quentin Tarantino, 154 mins.

The film follows flight attendant Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) who is busted for smuggling money for her arms dealer boss, Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson).  Facing jail if she doesn’t cooperate with the cops or death if she does, Brown decides instead to double-cross both parties and make off with her boss’s money. While this adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 1995 Rum Punch doesn’t reach the heights of Tarantino’s previous films it’s still enjoyable stuff and revitalised the careers of Grier and Robert Forster who plays her love interest. Watch

959. Donnie Brasco (1997) Dir. Mike Newell, 127 mins.

Johnny Depp stars in the true story of an FBI undercover agent who infiltrated the Mafia Bonanno crime family in New York City during the 1970s, under the alias Donnie Brasco. A tense  and compelling character study by Mike Newell that’s bolstered by a strong performance by Al Pacino as the ageing hitman that Brasco befriends. Watch

958. Reds (1981) Dir. Warren Beatty, 194 mins.

Beatty’s sprawling and ambitious epic follows the life and career of John Reed (played by Beatty), the journalist and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution in his book ‘Ten Days that Shook the World.’ It focuses greatly on Reed’s relationship with left-wing activist, Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) and also shows her romantic entanglement with a booze embittered playwright Eugene O’Neill portrayed by Jack Nicholson, whose scene stealing performance is probably the best thing in the often ponderous film. However, Reds does have its moments, enhanced by acclaimed cinematographer Vittorio Storao (The Conformist, Apocalypse Now), and Beatty did walk away with an Oscar for Best Direction. Watch

957. Les Vampires (1915) Dir. Louis Feuillade, 399 mins.

Feuillade’s celebrated underworld crime series was made up of ten feature length episodes released monthly. It follows a journalist and his friend who become involved in trying to uncover and stop a bizarre underground Apache gang, known as The Vampires. Elegantly beautiful and exhilarating, the film was despised by many critics when first released but is now revered, particularly the performance of Musidora as Irma Vep. Buy

956. The Last King of Scotland (2006) Dir. Kevin Macdonald, 123 mins.

Propelled by Forest Whitaker’s Oscar winning performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, The Last King of Scotland delivers a taut and satisfying (partly fictional) drama. James McAvoy plays the Scottish doctor who naively falls in with a monster. Watch

955. Witness for the Prosecution (1957) Dir. Billy Wilder, 116 mins.

Set in the Old Bailey in London, the film is based on the play of the same name by Agatha Christie and deals with the trial of a man accused of murder. Watch

954. Flowers of Shanghai (1998) Dir. Hsiao-hsien Hou, 130 mins.

Set in Shanghai in the 1880s the film follows the intrigues of four elegant brothels, each with a madam, a courtesan in her prime, older servants and maturing girls in training. Maybe not Hou’s best film and it does require plenty of patience, but it’s worth seeing for its exquisite imagery. Buy

953. Kwaidan (1964) Dir. Masaki Kobayashi, 125 mins.

The film consists of four separate and unrelated stories and is based on Lafcadio Hearn’s collections of Japanese folk tales, mainly ‘Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things’, for which the film is named. Watch

952. Knife in the Water (1962) Dir. Roman Polanski, 94 mins.

Polanski’s brilliant feature film debut follows three characters in a story of rivalry and sexual tension. Watch

951. United 93 (2006) Dir. Paul Greengrass, 111 mins.

The film chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked during the September 11 attacks of 2001. Treating the subject matter with real respect and apparently made with the cooperation of all of the passengers’ families, Greengrass’s film is obviously not an enjoyable watch but is well crafted, powerful and sobering. Watch



950. American Gangster (2007) Dir. Ridley Scott, 157 mins.

The partly fictionalised film is based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe). Propelled by great lead performances and an extremely well crafted story, American Gangster is an immersive experience even if it does start to lose some direction towards the end. Watch

949. Shutter Island (2010) Dir. Martin Scorsese, 138 mins.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as U.S. Marshal Edward “Teddy” Daniels who is investigating a psychiatric facility on Shutter Island after one of the patients goes missing. This psychological thriller doesn’t rank with Scorsese’s best work but it’s still cleverly constructed and boasts some compelling performances. Watch

948. Short Term 12 (2013) Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton, 96 mins.

The film stars the excellent Brie Larson (in her first leading performance) as Grace Howard, a young supervisor of a group home for troubled teenagers. Director/writer Cretton based Short Term 12 on his own experience working in a group facility. Watch

947. Week End (1967) Dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 105 mins.

Determined to collect an inheritance from a dying relative, a petit-bourgeois couple travel across the French countryside while civilisation crashes and burns around them. Buy

946. Teorema (1968) Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, 105 mins.

Pasolini’s visionary art-house film, a brutal dissection of the typical bourgeois family, follows a mysterious figure known only as “The Visitor” (Terence Stamp) who appears in the lives of an upper-class Milanese household and soon seduces each family member as well as the maid (Laura Betti). It’s full of great performances particularly from Stamp and Betti. Buy

945. Lone Star (1996) Dir. John Sayles, 135 mins.

With a narrative that becomes more and more engrossing as it progresses, Lone Star deals with the sheriff of a Mexican border town (Chris Cooper) who can’t escape the burdens of the past when he discovers a skeleton in the desert and finds himself investigating the murder of one of his predecessors and the murky past of his long dead father who was also a cop. The film, often with the help of flashbacks, moves with a graceful ease through a mosaic of different story strands and is enhanced by a hard working ensemble cast, particularly Matthew McConauhey in one of his most noteworthy roles as the sheriff’s father. Watch

944. Almost Famous (2000) Dir. Cameron Crowe, 162 mins.

Crowe’s semi-autobiographical film tells the fictional story of a teenage journalist writing for Rolling Stone magazine in the early 1970s (a former job of Crowe) who is touring with the fictitious rock band Stillwater, and trying to get his first cover story published. There’s some terrific off beat and charming moments, a wonderful soundtrack and a great ensemble cast, particularly Billy Crudup as the bands lead guitarist. Watch

943. JFK (1991) Dir. Oliver Stone, 189 mins.

Accused of taking liberties with historical facts, Stone’s examination of the events leading to the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the alleged cover-up was always going to be controversial. Kevin Costner leads a terrific cast as former New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison who is convinced that there are some big flaws in the investigation of Lee Harvey Oswald. Leaving to one side the questionable historicity, JFK works as an entertaining and well crafted conspiracy theory. Watch

942. The Devil Is a Woman (1935) Dir. Josef von Sternberg, 76 mins.

Taking place in the 19th century during the revolution, the film centres on a Spanish seductress (Marlene Dietrich) with a spider-like tendency to destroy the lives of those who love her. The film opens as Galvan, a young soldier encounters the beautiful vamp and instantly falls in love. Later he tells this to his buddy Don Pasqual who is horrified to learn that she is the same vixen who destroyed his life. Attempting to warn his friend, he tells his grim story, which unfolds via flashback. Buy

941. Easy Rider (1969) Dir. Dennis Hopper, 95 mins.

Director Dennis Hopper and producer Peter Fonda star as two bikers who travel southern America with the proceeds of a drug deal. Their journey carries them to a hippie commune and to an encounter with an alcoholic civil rights lawyer, portrayed by a scene stealing Jack Nicholson. While now looking dated, Easy Rider, helped along by the popular rock song soundtrack, still holds on to a notable place in cinema history for helping to start the New Hollywood era and for encapsulating 1960s counterculture. Watch



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1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

A list taken from the 2013 edition of the book ‘1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die’ in alphabetical order. The reference book is a part of a series designed and produced by Quintessence Editions, a London-based company, and published in English-language versions by Cassell Illustrated (UK), ABC Books (the publishing division of Australian Broadcasting Corporation), and Barron’s (US) and features original essays on each film contributed by over 70 film critics. Buy 2013 edition – 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

12 Angry Men 1957
2001 1968
39 Steps, The 1935
42nd Street 1933
8 1/2 1963
A One and a Two Yi yi 2000
A Separation Jodaeiye Nader az Simin 2011
A Throw of Dice 1929
Actor’s Revenge, An Yukinojo Henge 1963
Actress, The Yuen Ling-Yuk 1992
Adam’s Rib 1949
Adventure, The Avventura, L’ 1960
Adventures of Priscillia, Queen of the Desert, The 1994
Adventures of Robin Hood, The 1938
Affair to Remember, An 1957
African Queen, The 1951
Age of Gold, The Age d’or, L’ 1930
Aguirre: The Wrath of God Aguirre, Der Zorn Gottes 1972
Aileen Wournos: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer 2003
Airplane! 1980
Akira 1988
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul Angst Essen Seele Auf 1974
Alien 1979
Aliens 1986
All About Eve 1950
All About My Mother Todo Sobre Mi Madre 1999
All Quiet on the Western Front 1930
All That Heaven Allows 1956
All That Jazz 1979
All the President’s Men 1976
Alphaville Alphaville, une Étrange Aventure de Lemmy Caution 1965
Amadeus 1984
Amarcord 1973
American Beauty 1999
American Friend, The Amerikanische Freund, Der 1977
American Graffiti 1973
American In Paris, An 1951
American Werewolf in London 1981
Amores Perros Amores Perros 2000
Amour 2012
Anatomy of a Murder 1959
Andalusian Dog, An Un chien andalou 1928
Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublyov 1969
Angels with Dirty Faces 1938
Annie Hall 1977
Apartment, The 1960
Apocalypse Now 1979
Archangel 1990
Argo 2012
Ariel 1988
Artists and Models 1955
Ascent, The Voskhozhdenie 1976
Ashes and Diamonds Popiól I Diament 1958
Asphalt Jungle, The 1950
Asthenic Syndrome, The Astenicheskij Sindrom 1989
Atalante, L’ 1934
Atlantic City 1980
Audition 1999
Autumn Afternoon, An Sanma No Aji 1962
Avatar 2009
Awful Truth, The 1937
Babe 1995
Babette’s Feast Babette’s Gaestebud 1987
Back to the Future 1985
Bad and the Beautiful, The 1952
Bad Day at Black Rock 1955
Badlands 1973
Baker’s Wife, The Femme du Boulanger, La 1938
Ballad of Narayama, The Narayama Bushi-Ko 1983
Balthazar Au Hasard Balthazar 1966
Band Wagon, The 1953
Bank Dick, The 1940
Barefoot Contessa, The 1954
Barren Lives Vidas Secas 1963
Barry Lyndon 1975
Batman 1989
Battle of Algiers, The Battaglia di Algeri, La 1965
Battle of San Pietro, The 1945
Battleship Potemkin Bronenosets Potyomkin 1925
Beau Travail 1999
Beautiful Troublemaker, The Belle noiseuse, La 1991
Beauty and the Beast La Belle et la Bête 1946
Before the Revolution Prima Della Rivoluzione 1964
Being John Malkovich 1999
Being There 1979
Belle de Jour 1967
Ben-Hur 1959
Best Years of Our Lives, The 1946
Beverly Hills Cop 1984
Bicycle Thief, The Ladri di biciclette 1948
Big 1988
Big Carnival, The 1951
Big Chill, The 1983
Big Heat, The 1953
Big Parade, The 1925
Big Red One, The 1980
Big Sleep, The 1946
Bigamist, The 1953
Bigger Than Life 1956
Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Uccello dalle Piume di Cristallo, L’ 1970



Birds, The 1963
Birth of a Nation, The 1915
Bitter Tea of General Yen, The 1933
Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant, Die 1972
Black Cat, The 1934
Black God, White Devil Deus E O Diabo Na Terra Do Sol 1964
Black Narcissus 1946
Black Orpheus Orfeu Negro 1959
Black Sunday Maschera del Demonio, La 1960
Black Swan 2010
Blackmail 1929
Blade Runner 1982
Blair Witch Project, The 1999
Blazing Saddles 1974
Blonde Cobra 1963
Blowup 1966
Blue Angel, The Blaue Engel, Der 1930
Blue Kite, The Lan Feng Zheng 1993
Blue Velvet 1986
Boat, The Boot, Das 1981
Bob the Gambler Bob le flambeur 1955
Body Heat 1981
Bonnie and Clyde 1967
Boogie Nights 1997
Boudu Saved from Drowning Boudu Sauvé des Eaux 1932
Bowling for Columbine 2002
Boyz N the Hood 1991
Brave-Hearted Will Take the Bride, The Dilwale Dulhaniya le Jayenge 1995
Braveheart 1995
Brazil 1985
Breakfast at Tiffany’s 1961
Breakfast Club, The 1985
Breaking Away 1979
Breaking the Waves 1996
Breathless A Bout de Souffle 1959
Bride of Frankenstein 1935
Bridesmaids 2011
Bridge on the River Kwai, The 1957
Brief Encounter 1946
Brighter Summer Day, A Guling Jie Shaonian Sha Ren Shijian 1991
Brightness Yeelen 1987
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia 1974
Bringing Up Baby 1938
Broadcast News 1987
Brokeback Mountain 2005
Broken Blossoms 1919
Buffalo 66 1998
Bull Durham 1988
Burmese Harp, The Biruma No Tategoto 1956
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969
Butcher, The Boucher, Le 1969
Cabaret 1972
Cabin in the Woods 2011
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Kabinett des Doktor Caligari, Das 1919
Cairo Station Bab El Hadid 1958
Camille 1936
Captain Blood 1935
Captains Courageous 1937
Caravaggio 1986
Carmen Jones 1954
Carrie 1976
Casablanca 1942
Cat People 1942
Cave of Forgotten Dreams 2010
Ceddo 1977
Celebration, The Festen 1998
Celine and Julie Go Boating Céline et Julie Vont en Bateau 1974
Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, The 1978
Chariots of Fire 1981
Children of a Lesser God 1986
Children of Paradise, The Enfants du Paradis, Les 1945
Chimes at Midnight Campanadas a Medianoche 1965
Chinatown 1974
Chinese Ghost Story, A Sinnui Yauman 1987
Christ Stopped at Eboli 1979
Christmas Story, A 1983
Chronicle of a Summer Chronique d’un été 1961
Chungking Express Chong Qing Sen Lin 1994
Cinema Paradiso Nuovo Cinema Paradiso 1988
Citizen Kane 1941
City Lights 1931
City of God Cidade de Deus 2002
City of Sadness, A Beiqing Chengshi 1989
Cleo from 5 to 7 Cléo de 5 à 7 1962
Clerks 1994
Clockwork Orange, A 1971
Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977
Close-up Nema-Ye Nazdik 1990
Closely Watched Trains Ostre Sledované Vlaky 1967
Cloud-Capped Star, The Meghe Dhaka Tara 1960
Clueless 1995
Color of Pomegranates, The Sayat Nova 1969
Color Purple, The 1985
Come and See Idi I Smotri 1985
Come Drink With Me Da Zui Xia 1966
Conformist, The Conformista, Il 1969
Consequences of Love 2004
Contempt Le Mépris 1963
Conversation, The 1974
Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover, The 1989



Cool Hand Luke 1967
Cool World, The 1963
Cow, The Gaav 1968
Cranes are Flying, The Letjat Zhuravli 1957
Cria! Cría Cuervos 1975
Cries and Whispers Viskingar och Rop 1972
Crimes and Misdemeanors 1989
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Wo Hu Cang Long 2000
Crowd, The 1928
Crumb 1994
Crying Game, The 1992
Cyclo Xich Lo 1995
Daisies Sedmikrasky 1966
Dances with Wolves 1990
Dangerous Liaisons 1988
David Holzman’s Diary 1968
Dawn of the Dead 1978
Day for Night Nuit Américaine, La 1973
Day in the Country, A Partie de Campagne, Une 1935
Day the Earth Stood Still, The 1951
Daybreak Jour se lève, Le 1939
Days of Heaven 1978
Dead Man 1995
Dead Ringers 1988
Dead, The 1987
Dear Diary Caro Diario 1994
Decalogue, The Dekalog, Jeden 1988
Decline of the American Empire Déclin de l’Empire Américain, Le 1986
Deep End 1970
Deer Hunter, The 1978
Defiant Ones, The 1958
Delicatessen 1991
Deliverance 1972
Departed, the 2006
Dersu Uzala 1974
Deseret 1995
Destry Rides Again 1939
Detour 1945
Devils, The 1971
Diaboliques, Les 1954
Diary of a Country Priest Journal d’un curé de campagne 1951
Die Hard 1988
Diner 1982
Dirty Harry 1971
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie, Le 1972
District 9 2009
Diva 1981
Django Unchained 2012
Do the Right Thing 1989
Docks of New York, The 1928
Dodsworth 1936
Dog Day Afternoon 1975
Dog Star Man 1962
Dog’s Life, A Mondo cane 1962
Dolce Vita, La 1960
Don’t Look Now 1973
Double Indemnity 1944
Double Life of Veronique, The Double Vie de Véronique, La 1991
Down By Law 1986
Downfall Untergang, Der 2004
Dr. Mabuse, Parts 1 and 2 Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler 1922
Dr. Strangelove 1964
Dr. Zhivago 1965
Dracula 1931
Dracula 1958
Drive 2011
Drugstore Cowboy 1989
Duck Soup 1933
Dumbo 1941
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982
Ear, The Ucho 1970
Earth Zemlya 1930
Earth Entranced Terra Em Transe 1967
Easy Rider 1969
Eclipse, The Eclisse, L’ 1962
Edward Scissorhands 1990
El Norte 1983
El Topo 1970
Elephant 2003
Elephant Man, The 1980
Empire Strikes Back, The 1980
English Patient, The 1996
Enter the Dragon 1973
Eraserhead 1977
Europa ’51 1952
Europa Europa Hitlerjunge Salomon 1990
Evil Dead, The 1982
Exorcist, The 1973
Exterminating Angel, The 1962
Eyes Without a Face Yeux Sans Visage, Les 1959
F for Fake 1973
Faces 1968
Fanny and Alexander 1982
Fantasia 1940
Fantastic Planet Planète Sauvage, La 1973
Farewell My Concubine Ba Wang Bie Ji 1993
Farewell My Lovely Murder, My Sweet 1944
Fargo 1996
Fast Times at Ridgemont High 1982
Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 1965



Fat City 1972
Fatal Attraction 1987
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 1986
Field of Dreams 1989
Fight Club 1999
Firemen’s Ball, The Horí, Má Panenko 1967
Fires Were Started 1943
Fish Called Wanda, A 1988
Fitzcarraldo 1982
Five Easy Pieces 1970
Flaming Creatures 1963
Floating Weeds Ukigusa 1959
Fly, The 1986
Foolish Wives 1922
Footlight Parade 1933
Forbidden Games Jeux interdits 1952
Forbidden Planet 1956
Force of Evil 1948
Forrest Gump 1994
Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994
Fourth Man, The Vierde Man, De 1983
Fox and His Friends Faustrecht Der Freiheit 1975
Frankenstein 1931
Freaks 1932
Freedom for Us À Nous la liberté 1931
French Connection, The 1971
Frenzy 1972
From Here to Eternity 1953
Full Metal Jacket 1987
Funny Games 1997
Gabbeh 1996
Gallipoli 1981
Gangs of New York 2002
Garden of the Finzi-Continis, The Giardino dei Finzi-Contini, Il 1970
Gaslight 1944
General, The 1927
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes 1953
Gertrud 1964
Get Carter 1971
Ghandi 1982
Ghost Busters 1984
Giant 1956
Gigi 1958
Gilda 1946
Gimme Shelter 1970
Gladiator 2000
Gleaners and I, The Glaneurs et la Glaneuse, Les 2000
Glengarry Glen Ross 1992
Glory 1989
Godfather, Part II, The 1974
Godfather, The 1972
Godson, The Samouraï, Le 1967
Gold Diggers of 1933 1933
Gold Rush, The 1925
Golden Coach, The Carrosse d’or, Le 1953
Golden River Subarnarekha 1965
Goldfinger 1964
Gomorrah Gomorra 2008
Gone with the Wind 1939
Good Bye Lenin! 2003
Good Morning Vietnam 1987
Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo, Il 1966
Goodbye Children Au revoir les enfants 1987
Goodfellas 1990
Gospel According to St. Matthew, The Vangelo Secondo Matteo, Il 1964
Graduate, The 1967
Grand Illusion Grande Illusion, La 1937
Grapes of Wrath, The 1940
Grave of the Fireflies Hotaru No Haka 1988
Grease 1978
Great Escape, The 1963
Great Expectations 1946
Great Train Robbery, The 1903
Greed 1924
Groundhog Day 1993
Gun Crazy 1949
Gunfight at the OK Corral 1957
Gunga Din 1939
Guys and Dolls 1955
Halloween 1978
Hana-bi 1997
Hannah and Her Sisters 1986
Hanyeo Housemaid, The 1960
Happiness 1998
Hard Day’s Night, A 1964
Harder They Come, The 1973
Harold and Maude 1971
Haunting, The 1963
Head On Gegen die wand 2004
Heartbreak Kid, The 1972
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse 1991
Heat 1995
Heaven and Earth Magic 1962
Heavenly Creatures 1994
Heiress, The 1949
Henry V 1944
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 1990
High Noon 1952
High Plains Drifter 1972
High School 1969



High Sierra 1941
High Society 1956
Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer 1955
Hills Have Eyes, The 1977
Hired Hand, The 1971
Hiroshima mon amour 1959
His Girl Friday 1940
Hold Me While I’m Naked 1966
Hole, The Trou, Le 1959
Hoop Dreams 1994
Horse Thief, The Dao Ma Zei 1986
Hotel Terminus:The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie Hôtel Terminus:Klaus Barbie et Son Temps 1988
Hour of the Wolf Vargtimmen 1968
House is Black, The Khaneh Siah Ast 1963
How Green Was My Valley 1941
Hud 1963
Hurt Locker 2008
Hustler, The 1961
Häxan 1923
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang 1932
I Know Where I’m Going! 1945
Ice Storm, The 1997
If… 1968
In a Lonely Place 1950
In the Heat of the Night 1967
In the Mood for Love Dut Yeung Nin Wa 2000
In the Realm of the Senses Ai No Corrida 1976
In the Year of the Pig 1969
Inception 2010
Incredible Shrinking Man, The 1957
Independence Day 1996
India Song 1975
Inglourious Basterds 2009
Intolerance 1916
Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956
It Happened One Night 1934
It’s a Gift 1934
It’s a Wonderful Life 1946
Ivan the Terrible, I Ivan Groznyj I 1944
Jaws 1975
Jazz Singer, The 1927
Jeanne Dielman… 1975
Jerk, The 1979
Jezebel 1938
JFK 1991
Johnny Guitar 1954
Jules and Jim Jules et Jim 1962
Juliet of the Spirits Giulietta deglie Spiriti 1965
Jungle Book, The 1967
Jurassic Park 1993
Keeper of Promises O Pagador De Promessas 1962
Kes 1969
Kid Brother, The 1927
Killer of Sheep 1977
Killer, The Die Xue Shuang Xiong 1989
Killers, The 1946
Killing Fields, The 1984
Killing of a Chinese Bookie, The 1976
Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949
King Kong 1933
King of Comedy, The 1983
King of New York 1990
Kingdom, The Riget 1994
Kippur 2000
Kiss Me Deadly 1955
Kiss of the Spider Woman 1985
Klute 1971
Koyaanisqatsi 1983
Kramer vs. Kramer 1979
L.A. Confidential 1997
Ladies Man, The 1961
Lady Eve, The 1941
Lady from Shanghai, The 1948
Ladykillers, The 1955
Land Without Bread Hurdes, Las 1933
Last Chants for a Slow Dance 1977
Last Laugh, The Letzte Mann, Der 1924
Last Metro, The Dernier Metro, Le 1980
Last Picture Show, The 1971
Last Seduction, The 1994
Last Tango in Paris Ultimo Tango a Parigi 1972
Last Wave, The 1977
Last Year at Marienbad Année dernière à Marienbad, L’ 1961
Laura 1944
Lavender Hill Mob, The 1951
Lawrence of Arabia 1962
Le Havre (Finland) 2011
Leopard, The Gattopardo, Il 1963
Les Miserables 2012
Let the Right One In 2008
Letter from an Unknown Woman 1948
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The 1943
Life of Emile Zola, The 1937
Life of Pi 2012
Limité 1931
Lincoln 2012
Lion King, The 1994
Little Big Man 1970
Little Caeser 1930
Little Miss Sunshine 2006



Lives of Others, The Das Leben der Anderen 2006
Local Hero 1983
Lola 1961
Lolita 1962
Lone Star 1996
Long Goodbye, The 1973
Lord of the Rings, The 2001
Lost Weekend, The 1945
Louisiana Story 1948
Loulou 1980
Love Me Tonight 1932
Lucía 1969
M 1931
M*A*S*H* 1970
M. Hulot’s Holiday Vacances de M. Hulot, Les 1953
Mad Masters, The Maîtres fous, Les 1955
Mad Max 1979
Madame de… 1953
Magnificent Ambersons, The 1942
Magnolia 1999
Make Way for Tomorrow 1937
Maltese Falcon, The 1941
Man Bites Dog C’est arrivé près de chez vouz 1992
Man Escaped, A Condamné à Mort s’échappé ou Le Vent Souffle où Il Veut, Un 1956
Man in Grey, The 1943
Man of Iron Czlowiek z Zelaza 1981
Man of Marble Czlowiek Z Marmuru 1977
Man of the West 1958
Man Who Fell to Earth, The 1976
Man who had his hair cut short, The De Man Die Zijin Haar Kort Liet Knippen 1965
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The 1962
Man with a Movie Camera, The Chelovek s kinoapparatom 1929
Manchurian Candidate, The 1962
Manhattan 1979
Manhunter 1986
Manila in the Claws of Brightness Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko Ng Liwanag 1975
Marketa Lazarová 1967
Marnie 1964
Marriage of Maria Braun, The Ehe Der Maria Braun, Die 1979
Marty 1955
Mary Poppins 1964
Masculine-Feminine Masculin-Féminin 1966
Masque of the Red Death, The 1964
Matrix, The 1999
Matter of Life and Death, A 1946
McCabe and Mrs. Miller 1971
Mean Streets 1973
Meet Me in St. Louis 1944
Memento 2000
Memories of Underdevelopment Memorias del Subdesarrollo 1968
Meshes of the Afternoon 1943
Metropolis 1927
Midnight Cowboy 1969
Midnight Song Ye Ban Ge Sheng 1937
Mildred Pierce 1945
Mirror, The Zerkalo 1974
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters 1985
Modern Times 1936
Money Argent, L’ 1983
Monsieur Verdoux 1947
Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1975
Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979
Moolaad&eacu; 1995
Moonstruck 1987
Mortal Storm, The 1940
Mother and the Whore, The Maman et la Putain, La 1973
Mother India Bharat Mata 1957
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1936
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939
Mrs Minniver 1942
Muppet Movie, The 1979
Muriel’s Wedding 1994
Murmur of the Heart Souffle Au Coeur, Le 1971
Music Room, The Jalsaghar 1958
Mutiny on the Bounty 1935
My Brilliant Career 1979
My Darling Clementine 1946
My Fair Lady 1964
My Left Foot 1989
My Life to Live Vivre Sa Vie: Film en Douze Tableaux 1962
My Man Godfrey 1936
My Night with Maud Ma Nuit Chez Maud 1969
My Own Private Idaho 1991
My Uncle Mon oncle 1958
Méditerranée 1963
Naked Gun, The 1988
Naked Spur, The 1953
Nanook of the North 1922
Napoléon 1927
Nashville 1975
Natural Born Killers 1994
Natural, The 1984
Neco z Alenky Alice 1988
Network 1976
Night and Fog Nuit et Brouillard 1955
Night at the Opera, A 1935
Night of the Hunter, The 1955
Night of the Living Dead 1968
Night of the Shooting Stars, The Notte di San Lorenzo, La 1982
Night, The Notte, La 1961



Nightmare on Elm Street, A 1984
Nights of Cabiria, The Notti of Cabiria, Le 1957
Ninotchka 1939
No Country for Old Men 2007
No Fear, No Die S’en Fout La Mort 1990
No Man’s Land 2001
North By Northwest 1959
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Terror Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens 1922
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht 1979
Notorious 1946
Now, Voyager 1942
Nutty Professor, The 1963
October Oktyabr 1927
Odd Man Out 1947
Of Gods and Men 2010
Official Story, The 1988
Oklahoma 1955
Oldboy 2003
Olympia Part 1: Festival of the Nations & Part 2: Festival of Beauty Olympia 1: Teil – Fest Der Volker & Olympia 2: Teil – Fest Der Schönheit 1938
On the Town 1949
On the Waterfront 1954
Once Upon a Time in America 1983
Once Upon a Time in China Wong Fei-Hung 1991
Once Upon a Time in the West C’era Una Volta il West 1968
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 1975
Onibaba 1964
Only Angels Have Wings 1939
Open City Roma, Città Aperta 1945
Open Your Eyes Abre Los Ojos 1997
Ordet 1955
Ordinary People 1980
Orphans of the Storm 1921
Orpheus Orphée 1950
Osama 2003
Ossessione 1943
Our Hospitality 1923
Out of Africa 1985
Out of the Past 1947
Outlaw Josey Wales, The 1976
Ox-Bow Incident, The 1943
Paisan Paisà 1946
Paleface, The 1948
Palm Beach Story, The 1942
Pan’s Labyrinth Laberinto del Fauno, El 2006
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman 1951
Pandora’s Box Büchse der Pandora, Die 1929
Papillon 1973
Paranormal Activity 2007
Paris, Texas 1984
Passage to India, A 1984
Passenger Pasazerka 1963
Passion of Joan of Arc, The Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, La 1928
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid 1973
Pather Panchali 1955
Paths of Glory 1957
Patton 1970
Peeping Tom 1960
Peking Opera Blues Do Ma Daan 1986
Performance 1970
Persona 1966
Peter Ibbertson 1935
Phantom Carriage, The Körkarlen 1921
Phantom of the Opera, The 1925
Phenix City Story, The 1955
Philadelphia 1993
Philadelphia Story, The 1940
Piano, The 1993
Pickpocket 1959
Pickup on South Street 1953
Picnic at Hanging Rock 1975
Pier, The Jetée, La 1961
Pierrot Goes Wild Pierrot le Fou 1965
Pink Flamingos 1972
Pinocchio 1940
Place in the Sun, A 1951
Planet of the Apes 1968
Platoon 1986
Player, The 1992
Playtime 1967
Point Blank 1967
Poltergeist 1982
Postman Always Rings Twice, The 1946
Pretty Woman 1990
Princess Bride, The 1987
Prizzi’s Honor 1985
Producers, The 1968
Project A, Part II ‘A’ Gai Waak Juk Jaap 1987
Psycho 1960
Public Enemy, The 1931
Pulp Fiction 1994
Puppetmaster, The Hsimeng Jensheng 1993
Purple Rose of Cairo, The 1985
Pépé le Moko 1937
Quatre Cent Coups, Les 400 Blows, The 1959
Queen Christina 1933
Question of Silence, A Stilte Rond Christine M., De 1982
Quiet Earth, The 1985
Quiet Man, The 1952
Raging Bull 1980
Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981



Rain Man 1988
Raise the Red Lantern Da Hong Deng Long Gao Gao Gua 1991
Raising Arizona 1987
Ran 1985
Rapture, The 1991
Rashomon 1950
Real Life 1979
Rear Window 1954
Rebecca 1940
Rebel Without a Cause 1955
Reckless Moment, The 1949
Red and the White, The Csillagosok, Katonák 1967
Red Desert, The Deserto Rosso, Il 1964
Red Psalm Még Kér A Nép 1971
Red River 1948
Red Shoes, The 1948
Red Sorghum Hong Gao Liang 1987
Reds 1981
Report 1967
Repulsion 1965
Requiem for a Dream 2000
Resevoir Dogs 1992
Return of the Jedi 1983
Ride Lonesome 1959
Right Stuff, The 1983
Ring 1998
Rio Bravo 1959
Rio Grande 1950
RoboCop 1988
Rocco and his Brothers Rocco e i suoi fratelli 1960
Rocky 1976
Rocky Horror Picture Show, The 1975
Roger & Me 1989
Roman Holiday 1953
Romper Stomper 1992
Room with a View, A 1986
Rope 1948
Rosemary’s Baby 1968
Rules of the Game, The Règle du Jeu, La 1939
Run Lola Run Lola Rennt 1998
Rushmore 1998
Russian Ark 1989
Safe 1995
Salo, or The 120 days of Sodom Salò o le centoventi giornate di sodoma 1975
Salt of the Earth 1954
Salvador 1986
Sanshô Dayû Sansho the Baliff 1954
Saragossa Manuscript Rekopis Znaleziony w Saragossie 1965
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning 1960
Saturday Night Fever 1977
Satyricon 1969
Saving Private Ryan 1998
Scarface 1983
Scarface: The Shame of a Nation 1932
Schindler’s List 1993
Scorpio Rising 1964
Scream 1996
Se7en 1995
Searchers, The 1956
Seconds 1966
Secret Beyond the Door 1948
Secrets & Lies 1996
Senna 2010
Senso The Wanton Countess 1954
Sergeant York 1941
Serpico 1973
Servant, The 1963
Seven Samurai, The 1954
Seventh Seal, The Sjunde Inseglet, Det 1957
Seventh Victim, The 1943
Sex, lies, and videotape 1989
Shadow of a Doubt 1943
Shadows 1959
Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors Tini Zabutykh Predkiv 1964
Shaft 1971
Shame Skammen 1968
Shame 2011
Shane 1953
Shanghai Express 1932
Shaolin Master Killer Shao Lin San Shih Liu Fang 1978
Shawshank Redemption, The 1994
She Done Him Wrong 1933
She’s Gotta Have It 1986
Sherlock Jr. 1924
Sherman’s March 1986
Shine 1996
Shining, The 1980
Shoah 1985
Shock Corridor 1963
Shoot the Piano Player Tirez sur le pianiste 1960
Shop on Main Street, The Obchod Na Korze 1965
Short Cuts 1993
Silence of the Lambs, The 1991
Silver Lode 1954
Sin of Lola Montes, The Lola Montès 1955
Singin’ in the Rain 1952
Sixth Sense, The 1999
Skyfall 2012
Slacker 1991
Sleeper 1973



Sleeping Dogs 1977
Sleuth 1972
Slumdog Millionaire 2008
Smiles of a Summer Night Sommarnattens Leede 1955
Smiling Madame Beudet, The Souriante Madame Beudet, La 1922
Smoke 1995
Snake Pit, The 1948
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937
Solaris Solyaris 1972
Soldier of Orange Soldaat Van Oranje 1977
Some Came Running 1958
Some Like it Hot 1959
Sons of the Desert 1933
Sorrow and the Pity, The Chagrin et la Pitié, Le 1971
Sound of Music, The 1965
Spartacus 1960
Spider’s Stratagem, The Strategia del Ragno, La 1970
Spirit of the Beehive, The Espíritu del la Colmena, El 1973
Spirited Away Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi 2001
Splendor in the Grass 1961
Spring in a Small Town Xiao cheng zhi chun 1948
Stagecoach 1939
Stalker 1979
Stand By Me 1986
Star is Born, A 1954
Star Wars 1977
Steamboat Bill, Jr. 1928
Stella Dallas 1937
Sting, The 1973
Storm over Asia Potomok Chingis-Khana 1928
Story of a Cheat, The Roman d’un tricheur, Le 1936
Story of the Late Chrysanthemums, The Zangiku monogatari 1939
Strada, La 1954
Stranger than Paradise 1984
Strangers on a Train 1951
Straw Dogs 1971
Streetcar Named Desire, A 1951
Strictly Ballroom 1992
Strike Stachka 1924
Stroszek 1977
Sullivan’s Travels 1941
Summer with Monika 1953
Suna No Onna Woman in the Dunes, The 1964
Sunless Sans Soleil 1983
Sunrise 1927
Sunset Blvd. 1950
Superfly 1972
Suspiria 1977
Sweet Hereafter, The 1997
Sweet Smell of Success 1957
Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song 1971
Swing Time 1936
Sátántangó 1994
Tabu 1931
Tale of the Wind, A Histoire de Vent, Une 1988
Tale of Winter, A Conte d’hiver 1992
Tales of Ugetsu Ugetsu Monogatari 1953
Talk To Her Hable Con Ella 2002
Tampopo 1986
Targets 1968
Taste of Cherry Ta’m e Guilass 1997
Taxi Driver 1976
Ten Commandments, The 1956
Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991
Terminator, The 1984
Terms of Endearment 1983
Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The 1974
The Adventures of Prince Achmed 1926
The Artist 2011
The Dark Knight 2008
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly La Scaphandre et le Papillon 2007
The Draftsman’s Contract 1976
The Eagle 1925
The Exiles 1961
The Goddess 1934
The Great White Silencet 1924
The Kid with a Bike Le gamin au vélo 2011
The King’s Speech 2010
The Lady Vanishes 1938
The Man with the Golden Arm 1955
The Social Network 2010
The Tree of Life 2011
The White Ribbon Das Weisse Band 2009
Thelma and Louise 1991
There Will Be Blood 2007
Thief of Bagdad, The 1924
Thin Blue Line, The 1988
Thin Man, The 1934
Thin Red Line, The 1998
Thing, The 1982
Things To Come 1936
Third Man, The 1949
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould 1993
This is Spinal Tap 1984
Three Colors: Blue Trois Couleurs: Bleu 1993
Three Colors: Red Trois Couleurs: Rouge 1994
Three Kings 1999
Three Lives and Only One Death Trois Vies & Une Seule Mort 1996
Throne of Blood Kumonosu Jo 1957
Through a Glass Darkly Såsom I En Spegel 1961



Through the Olive Trees Zire Darakhatan Zeyton 1994
Time to Live and the Time to Die, The Tong Nien Wang Shi 1985
Tin Drum, The Blechtrommel, Die 1979
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 2011
Titanic 1997
To Be or Not to Be 1942
To Have and Have Not 1944
To Kill A Mockingbird 1962
To Live Ikiru 1952
Tokyo Olympiad Tokyo Orimpikku 1965
Tokyo Story 1953
Tongues Untied 1991
Too Early, Too Late 1982
Tootsie 1982
Top Gun 1986
Top Hat 1936
Total Recall 1991
Touch of Evil 1958
Touch of Zen, A Hsia Nu 1969
Towering Inferno, The 1974
Toy Story trilogy 2010
Trainspotting 1996
Travelling Players O Thiassos 1975
Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The 1948
Tree of Wooden Clogs, The Albero degli Zoccoli, L’ 1978
Trip to the Moon, A Le Voyage dans la Lune 1902
Tristana 1970
Triumph of the Will Triumph des Willens 1934
Trouble in Paradise 1932
Trust 1990
Tsotsi 2005
Turkish Delight Turks Fruit 1973
Two or Three Things I Know About Her 2 ou 3 Choses Que Je Sais D’Elle 1967
Two-Lane Blacktop 1971
Umberto D 1952
Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Parapluies de Cherbourg, Les 1964
Unbelievable Truth, The 1989
Underground 1995
Unforgiven 1992
Unknown, The 1927
Untouchables, The 1987
Unvanquished, The Aparajito 1957
Up in Smoke 1978
Usual Suspects, The 1995
Vagabond Sans Toit Ni Loi 1985
Vampire, The Vampyr 1932
Vampires, Les 1915
Vanishing, The Spoorloos 1988
Vertigo 1958
Videodrome 1983
Vij 1967
Vinyl 1965
Viridiana 1961
Voyage in Italy Viaggio in Italia 1953
W.R.:Mysteries of the Organism W.R.—Misterje Organizma 1971
Wages of Fear Salaire De La Peur, La 1953
Wake in Fright 1971
Walkabout 1971
Wall Street 1987
Wall, The Deewar 1975
Wanda 1971
War Game, The 1965
Wavelength 1967
Wedding Banquet, The Hsi Yen 1993
Week End 1967
West Side Story 1961
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 1962
Wheel, The Roue, La 1924
When Harry Met Sally 1989
Whiskey Galore! 1949
White Balloon, The Badkonake Sefid 1995
White Heat 1949
Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1988
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf 1966
Wicker Man, The 1973
Wild Bunch, The 1969
Wild Reeds Roseaux Sauvages, Les 1994
Wild Strawberries Smultronstället 1957
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 1971
Winchester ’73 1950
Wings of Desire Der Himmel über Berlin 1987
Within Our Gates 1920
Withnail and I 1987
Wizard of Oz, The 1939
Wolf Man, The 1941
Woman Under the Influence, A 1974
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios 1988
Woodstock 1970
World of Apu, The Apur Sansar 1959
Written on the Wind 1956
Wrong Man, The 1956
Wuthering Heights 1939
Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942
Yol 1982
Young and the Damned, The Olvidados, Los 1950
Young Frankenstein 1974
Young Girls of Rochefort, The Demoiselles de Rochefort, Les 1967
Z 1969
Zabriskie Point 1970
Zero for Conduct Zéro de conduite 1933

Zero Kelvin Kjærlighetens Kjøtere 1995

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die 2018 (book)
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die 2017 (kindle/book)
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die 2015 (book)
1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die 2005 (book)
1001 Movies : You Must See Before You Die 2004 book




 

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Motion Picture Editors Guild’s 75 best-edited films of all time

For their Jan-Feb 2012 edition the Motion Picture Editors Guild’s members voted, to celebrate their 75th anniversary, on what they considered to be the 75 best edited feature films of all time. Raging Bull a great choice for no. 1 but All That Jazz in the top 10?

1 Raging Bull 1980 Martin Scorsese
2 Citizen Kane 1941 Orson Welles
3 Apocalypse Now 1979 Francis Ford Coppola
4 All That Jazz 1979 Bob Fosse
5 Bonnie and Clyde 1967 Arthur Penn
6 The Godfather 1972 Francis Ford Coppola
7 Lawrence of Arabia 1962 David Lean
8 Jaws 1975 Steven Spielberg
9 JFK 1991 Oliver Stone
10 The French Connection 1971 William Friedkin
11 The Conversation 1974 Francis Ford Coppola
12 Psycho 1960 Alfred Hitchcock
13 Bronenosets Potemkin 1925 Sergei M. Eisenstein
14 Memento 2000 Christopher Nolan
15 Goodfellas 1990 Martin Scorsese
16 Star Wars 1977 George Lucas
17 Cidade de Deus 2002 Kátia Lund, Fernando Meirelles
18 Pulp Fiction 1994 Quentin Tarantino
19 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Stanley Kubrick
20 Dog Day Afternoon 1975 Sidney Lumet
21 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 Steven Spielberg
22 The Godfather: Part II 1974 Francis Ford Coppola
23 The Wild Bunch 1969 Sam Peckinpah
24 Saving Private Ryan 1998 Steven Spielberg
25 The Matrix 1999 Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
26 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 Jonathan Demme
27 À bout de souffle 1960 Jean-Luc Godard
28 Fight Club 1999 David Fincher
29 Requiem for a Dream 2000 Darren Aronofsky
30 Cabaret 1972 Bob Fosse
31 Chinatown 1974 Roman Polanski
32 Moulin Rouge! 2001 Baz Luhrmann
33 Shichinin no samurai 1954 Akira Kurosawa
34 Casablanca 1942 Michael Curtiz
35 Inception 2010 Christopher Nolan
36 Rope 1948 Alfred Hitchcock
37 Schindler’s List 1993 Steven Spielberg
38 West Side Story 1961 Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise
39 The Fugitive 1993 Andrew Davis
40 A Clockwork Orange 1971 Stanley Kubrick
41 8½ 1963 Federico Fellini
42 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 1975 Milos Forman
43 Reds 1981 Warren Beatty
44 The Shining 1980 Stanley Kubrick
45 Days of Heaven 1978 Terrence Malick
46 Ben-Hur 1959 William Wyler
47 Vertigo 1958 Alfred Hitchcock
48 Apollo 13 1995 Ron Howard
49 Rear Window 1954 Alfred Hitchcock
50 Touch of Evil 1958 Orson Welles




51 Chelovek s kino-apparatom 1929 Dziga Vertov
52 The Graduate 1967 Mike Nichols
53 Out of Sight 1998 Steven Soderbergh
54 High Noon 1952 Fred Zinnemann
55 Black Hawk Down 2001 Ridley Scott
56 Titanic 1997 James Cameron
57 The Limey 1999 Steven Soderbergh
58 The Exorcist 1973 William Friedkin
59 Annie Hall 1977 Woody Allen
60 Rashômon 1950 Akira Kurosawa
61 Sherlock Jr. 1924 Buster Keaton
62 Speed 1994 Jan de Bont
63 L.A. Confidential 1997 Curtis Hanson
64 The Sound of Music 1965 Robert Wise
65 The Tree of Life 2011 Terrence Malick
66 The Bourne Ultimatum 2007 Paul Greengrass
67 Z 1969 Costa-Gavras
68 A Hard Day’s Night 1964 Richard Lester
69 Hugo 2011 Martin Scorsese
70 Midnight Cowboy 1969 John Schlesinger
71 Miller’s Crossing 1990 Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
72 Blade Runner 1982 Ridley Scott
73 Mulholland Dr. 2001 David Lynch
74 Rocky 1976 John G. Avildsen
75 North by Northwest 1959 Alfred Hitchcock

The Years

1970s – 17 films
1990s – 16 films
1960s – 13 films
1950s – 8 films
2000s – 7 films
1980s – 5 films
1940s – 3 films

The Directors

5 Films – Alfred Hitchcock
4 Films – Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola
3 Films – Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese
2 Films – Terrence Malick, Bob Fosse, William Friedkin, Akira Kurosawa, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Steven Soderbergh, Orson Welles and Bob Wise

The Editors

4 Films – George Tomasini
3 Films – Dede Allen, Michael Kahn and Thelma Schoonmaker
2 Films – Richard Chew, Anne V. Coates, Gerald B. Greenberg, Akira Kurosawa, Ray Lovejoy, Craig McKay, Sam O’Steen, Jay Rabinowitz, William Reynolds, Daniel Rezende, Pietro Scalia, Billy Weber and Peter Zinner



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The Pendragon Society’s 1000 Greatest Films (2018) 780-761

Introduction

780. My Own Private Idaho (1991) Dir. Gus Van Sant, 104 mins.

Hated by some but deemed unique and important by others, Van Sant’s unsettling tone poem follows two friends, troubled rent boy Mike (River Phoenix) and the object of his affections Scott (Keanu Reeves), as they embark on a journey of personal discovery that takes them to Mike’s hometown in Idaho and then to Italy in a quest to find Mike’s mother. It’s an audacious attempt with an artful direct style that is hard to ignore.

779. Nightcrawler (2014) Dir. Dan Gilroy, 117 mins.

Gilroy’s neo-noir morality tale stars Jake Gyllenhaal as loner Lou Bloom, who struggling to find work turns to recording violent events late at night in Los Angeles, and selling the footage to a local television news station. Questioning the ethics surrounding modern media’s penchant for lurid news stories, the film is gripping at times and made uncomfortably watchable by Gyllenhaal’s creepy performance.

778. Reds (1981) Dir. Warren Beatty, 194 mins.

Beatty’s sprawling and ambitious epic follows the life and career of John Reed (played by Beatty), the journalist and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution in his book ‘Ten Days that Shook the World.’ It focuses greatly on Reed’s relationship with left-wing activist, Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton) and also shows her romantic entanglement with a booze embittered playwright Eugene O’Neill portrayed by Jack Nicholson, whose scene stealing performance is probably the best thing in the often ponderous film. However, Reds does have its moments, enhanced by acclaimed cinematographer Vittorio Storao (The Conformist, Apocalypse Now), and Beatty did walk away with an Oscar for Best Direction.

777. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) Dir. Benh Zeitlin, 91 mins.

A pulsating and atmospheric fable set in a forgotten but defiant bayou community, cut off from the rest of the world by the sprawling Louisiana levee, that follows a big hearted six-year-old girl (the enchanting Quvenzhane Wallis) and her relationship with her no-nonsense father (Dwight Henry). Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. First time director Benh Zeitlin delivers an impressive and visually engaging mix of magical fantasy and biting realism despite a small budget.

776. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) Dir. Wes Anderson, 87 mins.

Anderson’s first full length animation, using stop-motion effects, is about a fox (voiced by George Clooney) who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers, despite promising his wife (Meryl Streep) he’ll stop his chicken thievery. The farmers have become so fed up with Mr. Fox’s theft that they try to kill him, digging their way into the foxes’ home, but the animals are able to outwit the farmers and live underground. While the American accents don’t seem right for an adaptation of Roald Dahl and the female characters are under used, Anderson’s amusing tale successfully channels the writer’s darkly comic humour.

775. Waltz With Bashir (2008) Dir. Ari Folman, 90 mins.

It depicts filmmaker Ari Folman in search of his lost memories of his experience with the Israel Defence Force in the 1982 Lebanon War, where he witnessed the aftermath of a massacre of Palestinians in refugee camps by a Christian militia. A surreal and harrowing vision that uses a mix of interviews with his former comrades and animation to show how the atrocity and the role of the Israeli Army in it, left Folman and others suffering with guilt and post traumatic stress.

774. Mystic River (2003) Dir. Clint Eastwood, 137 mins.

This murder mystery drama was something of a return to form for Clint Eastwood. The story revolves around reformed convict Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) and his devoted wife Annabeth (Laura Linney) who have their lives torn apart when their teenage daughter Katie (Emmy Rossum) is beaten and killed. The film is competently directed, ambitious and features great performances, but perhaps just falls short of Eastwood’s best work due to great individual scenes failing to come together to create a truly convincing whole.

773. White Nights (1957) Dir. Luchino Visconti, 97 mins.

Based on a story by Dostoyevsky, the dreamlike tale follows a meek and lonely clerk (a terrific performance by Marcello Mastroianni) and his attempts to win the love of a woman (Maria Schell) who visits a bridge every night awaiting the return of her lover, a long absent sailor. A moving fantasy, shot on artificial sets that’s more in tune with Fellini than something you’d expect from neo-realist Visconti.

772. Only Angels Have Wings (1939) Dir. Howard Hawks, 121 mins.

Hawks’s adventure film takes place in the Peruvian Andes where Cary Grant heads a ramshackle civil airline flying mail and freight, in the most perilous of weather conditions, to the most treacherous of destinations. Facing death on a near-hourly basis, Grant and his flyers have adopted a casual attitude towards mortality. Released in an extremely strong year for cinema, the film was initially underappreciated and dismissed as nothing more than an exciting actioner, but is now recognised for its strong storytelling and for its mature insight into how the pilots could operate in such a pressured environment.

771. The Green Mile (1999) Dir. Frank Darabont, 188 mins.

It’s another prison drama adaptation of Stephen King from Darabont following on from the The Shawshank Redemption. The film, told in flashback, tells the story of Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks) a death row corrections officer in Louisiana during the U.S. Great Depression, and the supernatural events he witnesses at work. Some will find the fantastical elements too much and it is at times overly sentimental, but it’s likely fans of the filmmaker’s earlier work will find it a compelling and uplifting tale.




770. A. I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) Dir. Steven Spielberg, 146 mins.

A sci-fi fable developed by Stanley Kubrick and taken on by Spielberg. It’s a bleak and ambitious film that takes the tale of Pinocchio into a future where humanity’s best efforts to maintain civilisation have led to the creation of new robots known as mechas including David (a fine performance from Haley Joel Osmant), a child-like mecha programmed with the unique ability to love. His quest to become a ‘real boy’ takes him from abandonment by a human mother, whose loving acceptance he craves, into a dangerous futuristic world (brought to live by brilliant effects) where his only guidance comes from Jude Law’s mecha gigolo. Some will find the tale disturbing but it’s perhaps Spielberg’s most intriguing effort to date.

769. The Red Balloon (1956) Dir. Albert Lamorisse, 34 mins.

A thirty-five-minute short, which follows the adventures of a young lonely boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon. Notable at the very least for being the first film without dialogue since the silent era to be Oscar nominated for best screenplay, it’s also an enchanting journey that sees the balloon following the wonderfully responsive Pascal Lamorisse (son of director Albert) across Paris towards an uplifting finale.

768. Nanook of the North (1922) Dir. Robert J. Flaherty, 79 mins.

Operating on the border between fiction and documentary, the film captures the struggles of an Inuk man named Nanook and his family in the Canadian Arctic. Seen at the time as a masterful depiction of a vanishing way of life, the director Flaherty was actually guilty of romanticisation and adapting the tale for the western audience. He had the Inuits dressed in traditional costumes they no longer used to reenact events they no longer practiced. These people were certainly not the naive primitives he depicted as mystified by a simple record player as they actually fixed his camera, developed his film and actively participated in the film making process. Ultimately, Flaherty was more interested in the spirit of the Inuits rather than just recording what he witnessed and the film remains a landmark production for its part in the development of documentary cinema.

767. Nazarin (1959) Dir. Luis Bunuel, 94 mins.

The first of two adaptations of the novels of Spanish writer Galdos (Bunuel had known him in his youth), the film follows a priest (a haunting performance from Francisco Rabal) who is defrocked for championing a prostitute and an outcast and takes to the road with the two women, living out his ideals in rural Mexico until they are smashed by the brutish reality of the world. Somewhat ambiguous but taken by most as an attack on religion.

766. In Cold Blood (1967) Dir. Richard Brooks, 134 mins.

An adaptation of Truman Capote’s bestseller, the film follows the trail of real life murderers Perry Smith and Dick Hickock who went to rob the home of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, and ended up killing all four members of the family who were present. They then went on the run before being caught by the police, tried for the murders, and eventually executed. Brooks delivers a remarkably faithful adaptation given the source material had been deemed unfilmable. Holding onto a relentlessly grim mood throughout, the film has some harrowing moments enhanced by a strong cast.

765. Black God, White Devil (1964) Dir. Glauber Rocha, 120 mins.

Set in 1940s Brazil during a drought in the wilderness of the north east, the film is a densely metaphorical story of a peasant couple. The husband, a ranch hand named Manuel, is fed up with his situation and when his boss tries to cheat him of his earnings, he kills him and flees with his wife, Rosa. Now an outlaw, Manuel becomes involved with the ‘Black God’ a messianic religious leader and then the ‘White Devil’ a bandit. Displaying a range of cinematic influences including long takes and montage sequences, Rocha’s western depicts the dangers for the uneducated peasantry in going up against unsympathetic landowners when they don’t know where to place their allegiance.

764. The Cloud-Capped Star (1960) Dir. Ritwik Ghatak, 126 mins.

The first of an audacious and politically charged trilogy based in Calcutta that controversially addressed the condition of refugees, The Cloud-Capped Star is a devastating tale that centres on a working woman (Supriya Choudhury) who sacrifices her freedom and eventually her life to provide for her uncaring siblings. A basic and at times starkly realist narrative is enhanced by Ritwik Ghatak’s inventive direction and an overlaying mythic reference to a Bengali legend, about the Goddess Durga, that defines the actual means by which women are oppressed.

763. Kin-Dza-Dza (1986) Dir. Georgiy Daneliya, 135 mins.

A dystopian comic satire that follows two Russians,  a gruff construction worker and a Georgian student, who find themselves transported to an alien landscape after pushing the wrong button on a strange device. They’ve ended up on a planet named Pluke, a barren desert world that’s home to an oppressive bureaucratic society and where the humanoid inhabitants are telepathic. An imaginative cult sci-fi that parodies Russian society with the sort of absurdist humour that could be classed as Pythonesque.

762. Shame (1968) Dir. Ingmar Bergman, 103 mins.

The film explores shame, moral decline, self-loathing and violence through a politically uninvolved couple, concert pianists Max von Sydow  and Liv Ullmann, who are attempting to flee a civil war-ravaged European nation. They take refuge on a remote island but find no escape when large numbers of soldiers arrive. Bergman provides a chillingly real vision of a world in tatters where love and trust have fallen by the wayside.

761. Where is the Friend’s Home? (1987) Dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 87 mins.

The first part of Kiarostami’s friendship trilogy, the film was made under the auspices of Iran’s Institute for the intellectual development of children and young adults and tells a deceptively simple account of a conscientious 8 year old schoolboy’s quest to the neighbouring village to return his friend’s notebook, that he took in error, as should his friend fail to hand it in the next day, it is likely he will get expelled. An often realistic and touching tale of loyalty and compassion that helped launch Kiarostami onto the world stage.



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AFI’s 100 Years…100 Passions

In June 2002, as part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI unveiled their 100 Years…100 Passions list of the top 100 greatest love stories in American cinema. There’s some film classics, weepies and romantic comedies among the list. As much as I despise it, I guess you couldn’t have a list of the greatest love stories and not include Love Story from 1970.

1 Casablanca 1942
2 Gone with the Wind 1939
3 West Side Story 1961
4 Roman Holiday 1953
5 An Affair to Remember 1957
6 The Way We Were 1973
7 Doctor Zhivago 1965
8 It’s a Wonderful Life 1946
9 Love Story 1970
10 City Lights 1931
11 Annie Hall 1977
12 My Fair Lady 1964
13 Out of Africa 1985
14 The African Queen 1951
15 Wuthering Heights 1939
16 Singin’ in the Rain 1952
17 Moonstruck 1987
18 Vertigo 1958
19 Ghost 1990
20 From Here to Eternity 1953
21 Pretty Woman 1990
22 On Golden Pond 1981
23 Now, Voyager 1942
24 King Kong 1933
25 When Harry Met Sally… 1989
26 The Lady Eve 1941
27 The Sound of Music 1965
28 The Shop Around the Corner 1940
29 An Officer and a Gentleman 1982
30 Swing Time 1936
31 The King and I 1956
32 Dark Victory 1939
33 Camille 1936
34 Beauty and the Beast 1991
35 Gigi 1958
36 Random Harvest 1942
37 Titanic 1997
38 It Happened One Night 1934
39 An American in Paris 1951
40 Ninotchka 1939
41 Funny Girl 1968
42 Anna Karenina 1935
43 A Star Is Born 1954
44 The Philadelphia Story 1940
45 Sleepless in Seattle 1993
46 To Catch a Thief 1955
47 Splendor in the Grass 1961
48 Last Tango in Paris 1973
49 The Postman Always Rings Twice 1946
50 Shakespeare in Love 1998




51 Bringing Up Baby 1938
52 The Graduate 1967
53 A Place in the Sun 1951
54 Sabrina 1954
55 Reds 1981
56 The English Patient 1996
57 Two for the Road 1967
58 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 1967
59 Picnic 1955
60 To Have and Have Not 1944
61 Breakfast at Tiffany’s 1961
62 The Apartment 1960
63 Sunrise 1927
64 Marty 1955
65 Bonnie and Clyde 1967
66 Manhattan 1979
67 A Streetcar Named Desire 1951
68 What’s Up, Doc? 1972
69 Harold and Maude 1971
70 Sense and Sensibility 1995
71 Way Down East 1920
72 Roxanne 1987
73 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir 1947
74 Woman of the Year 1942
75 The American President 1995
76 The Quiet Man 1952
77 The Awful Truth 1937
78 Coming Home 1978
79 Jezebel 1938
80 The Sheik 1921
81 The Goodbye Girl 1977
82 Witness 1985
83 Morocco 1930
84 Double Indemnity 1944
85 Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing 1955
86 Notorious 1946
87 The Unbearable Lightness of Being 1988
88 The Princess Bride 1987
89 Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966
90 The Bridges of Madison County 1995
91 Working Girl 1988
92 Porgy and Bess 1959
93 Dirty Dancing 1987
94 Body Heat 1981
95 Lady and the Tramp 1955
96 Barefoot in the Park 1967
97 Grease 1978
98 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1939
99 Pillow Talk 1959
100 Jerry Maguire 1996

Becoming AFI: 50 Years Inside the American Film Institute (book)
AFI’s 100 Years – 100 Movies (CBS Television Special) (DVD)
AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Stars: American Film Institute (CBS Television Special) (DVD)
[(AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Songs: America’s Greatest Music in Movies)] [Author: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation] published on (March, 2007) (book)
AFI-100 Years of Movies POSTER (27″ x 40″)