The Lady Eve (Sturges, 1941)I went back and forth like a ping-pong ball between Rear Window and Notorious. I was frustrated not to find room for Toy Story, The Wild Bunch, Badlands, All About Eve, or any Lubitsch, but a top ten is a top ten, so there we have it. Tinkety-tonk, old fruit, and down with the Nazis.*
Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946)
The Apartment (Wilder, 1960)
Jules et Jim (Truffaut, 1962)
Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
Jaws (Spielberg, 1976)
Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
Before Sunrise (Linklater, 1995)
The Social Network (Fincher, 2010)
*As I recently learned the Queen used to sign her letters during the war
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Hmmm. I'd have gone with Notorious. A lot more going on. The nice thing about your list is that every critical faction will find a reason to claim you as an ally while dismissing you as an idiot.
ReplyDeleteI recently watched Chinatown again and discovered that I still vehemently dislike Faye Dunaway.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me, David — up there with the Oxford tutor who told me I was an "alpha/gamma student." Thank-you.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lovely list. My sole surprise is The Social Network, not because I dislike it--quite the contrary--but because I don't think I could list anything that recent. That's not due to my obvious biases, but rather because I have to *live* with a movie for a long time before I can say I love it madly. (Construct your own metaphor there...)
ReplyDeleteIt's a big risk, but the thing about it that I trust is that more-than-the sum-of its parts feel — writing, direction, production, score, and acting all coming together to form something fifth-dimensional, something other — that I associate with greatness.
ReplyDeleteLove the list, but what about Romancing the Stone? A classic.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of The Social Network today, because Robert Reich was tweeting that Eduardo Saverin should never get his US citizenship back because he renounced it to avoid paying $67m in taxes on the Facebook IPO. He's such a sweet character in TSN (I remember you said that just looking at the actor said "friend") but that was indisputably a dick move.
ReplyDeleteA compelling list. Interesting to note that there's nothing from Germany, nothing from eastern Europe, nothing from Japan, nothing from India. Would you care to comment, Tom?
ReplyDeleteTokyo Story, The Double Life of Veronique, The Piano Teacher and The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser would all find their way into my top forty but I won't deny it: I think the larger talent pool and resources of North American cinema show up on the screen.
ReplyDeleteNo Godfather ! Disappointed in Cincy .
ReplyDeleteThe should be a time limit on films (and albums, TV shows and perhaps even books) and Top 10 lists. Say 5 years, at least, which would allow any buzz or publicity campaign to go away.
ReplyDeleteSuch a frustrating task... trying to wedge a lifetime of film into ten... but for my money I've gotta list "On The Waterfront". Maybe first!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the misspell, Tom, the above should've been by "scribbler 50" not "scrinnler". (It's late, what can I tell ya'?)
ReplyDeleteGreat list, Tom. I am going to get in the two I've never seen (not saying which, though there's a shark in at least one) but not much laughter. Any comedies?
ReplyDeleteRear Window, The Apartment, Jaws, Goodfellas and Before Sunrise all make me laugh, but maybe only The Apartment is a comedy per se. On the term limits thing, Tony, I'm assuming the whole list will look different in a year, let alone five, so all I can do is call it as I see it today. to do otherwise would be to pretend to an objectivity I don't think I'll ever get, no matter how long I wait. And sorry not to have some Brando on there, Scribbler and Disappointed in Cincy. I do love both those films.
ReplyDeleteGood job , Tom. Knowing you I'll bet that you put a lot of time and thought into you're daunting task of the ten best .
ReplyDeleteGreat list! I love most of these films even if I think some of the directors in this list made even greater films than the ones included. I admire "Blue Velvet" but I think "Mulholland Dr." was an even greater achievement for Lynch, and Linklater's "Before Sunset" felt to me just a tad more deeper and impacting than its predecessor "Before Sunrise." But I think "Jaws" to be Spielberg's greatest, even when given other masterpieces like "E.T." and "Schindler's List" (which is people's safe choice for Schindler's best). Anyway, just a technicality, I love "The Social Network" more than "Brokeback Mt." but you gave the latter an A+ and TSN an A. Why is Brokeback then not in your top ten instead of TSN?
ReplyDelete* Spielberg's best, not Schindler's best
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Schindler's List, if any of you get the chance to watch a documentary shown on the BBC entitled Hitler's Children, please do.
ReplyDeleteIt features Monika, the daughter of Amon Goeth, who was portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in the movie. It’s extraordinary, and moving, to learn how she discovered the truth about her father, including how she left a viewing of Schindler's List in a state of total shock.
Not that this should alter anyone's appreciation of a film, but sometimes cinema can affect the world in ways we can't ever imagine.
nice pics
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