Top 250 films - any takers?

anonymous1980
Laureate
Posts: 6374
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 10:03 pm
Location: Manila
Contact:

Post by anonymous1980 »

Damien wrote:Irvin, I suspect that had you seen it, Make Way For Tomorrow would also have been on akk four lists.

Someone has borrowed my tape, but when I get it back I'll make you a copy of the McCarey film.

Thanks, Damien.

Hmmm. I am planning to go the States sometime on October. Will you be in the San Francisco Bay Area at that time by any chance just in case we can't afford to take a trip to New York?




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193203
joshua
Graduate
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 4:40 am
Location: London, UK

Post by joshua »

I rarely spot genuine celebrities - well I almost walked into a rather grubby-looking Eddie Izzard a while back - so lookey-likeys have to do for me. Naturally, an Ethan Hawke lookey-likey is no bad thing.

I have indeed seen Wonderland/The Fruit Machine. It's a charming, disarmingly eccentric little movie that bangs a drum all of it's own, and the dolphins are great.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193211
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

joshua wrote:
Damien, by the way, thought you might like to know that my boyf and I were in Brighton this weekend where we met a really entertaining guy from Boston who bore an uncanny resemblance - both physically and in mannerism - to one Mr E Hawke. Not the real deal, but an acceptable substitute.

Joshua, very cool that you saw an Ethan clone. You know, here in new York, my friends are always reporting to me of Ethan sightings -- most recently two weeks ago -- but I never seem to be at the right place at the right time.

Speaking of Brighton, have you ever seen the 1988 Philip Saville movie Wonderland (I think in Great Britain its title was The Fruit Machine)? It's a lovely, small film that takes place in Brighton about the friendship between two gay teenagers who witness a murder.

The one time I was in Brighton, I eschewed the Pavilion, and instead went to a supermarket and bought some rabbit cat food to bring back to my kitty in the States.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193216
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

Irvin, I suspect that had you seen it, Make Way For Tomorrow would also have been on all four lists.

Someone has borrowed my tape, but when I get it back I'll make you a copy of the McCarey film.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
anonymous1980
Laureate
Posts: 6374
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 10:03 pm
Location: Manila
Contact:

Post by anonymous1980 »

Well, I gotta give Chicago SOMETHING........



Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193231
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19311
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

If our lists were to expand to 500 or 1,000 ther would probably be a lot more that would make all four lists.

Just of curiosity, anonymous, why do you have Talk to Her at 106 and Chicago at 229 when the latter won your 2002 best picture award over the former?




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193239
anonymous1980
Laureate
Posts: 6374
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 10:03 pm
Location: Manila
Contact:

Post by anonymous1980 »

Four 250 lists have been posted so I took it upon myself to find out which films made it to all four lists. As far as I know, there are only SIX films and they are:

The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles)
Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch)
Rebel Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray)
Sullivan's Travels (Preston Sturges)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan)
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Flemyng)

These are all films all four have seen and loved enough to place it on a top 250 list.

There are dozens of second place with three out of four: Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Grapes of Wrath, The Rules of the Game etc.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193244
User avatar
Precious Doll
Emeritus
Posts: 4453
Joined: Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:20 am
Location: Sydney
Contact:

Post by Precious Doll »

Well here is my top 250 in as good as order as I can get.....

1. Badlands (1974) Terrance Malick
2. The Devils (1971) Ken Russell
3. Three Women (1977) Robert Altman
4. L’Avventura (1960) Michelangelo Antonioni
5. Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) Robert Bresson
6. Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) Alain Resnais
7. Imitation of Life (1959) Douglas Sirk
8. Night of the Hunter (1955) Charles Laughton
9. Sunrise (1927) F W Muranu
10. Eureka (1983) Nicolas Roeg
11. Vertigo (1958) Alfred Hitch####
12. The Wizard of Oz (1939) Victor Fleming
13. Wild Strawberries (1957) Ingmar Bergman
14. Missing (1982) Costa-Gavras
15. East of Eden (1955) Elia Kazan
16. Carrie (1976) Brian De Palma
17. Taxi Driver (1976) Martin Scorsese
18. Blow Up (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni
19. Ninotchka (1939) Ernst Lubitsch
20. Savage Messiah (1972) Ken Russell
21. Three Brothers (1980) Francesco Rosi
22. Silence of the Lambs (1991) Jonathan Demme
23. The King of Comedy (1983) Martin Scorsese
24. The Music Lovers (1971) Ken Russell
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Robert Mulligan
26. Make Way For Tomorrow (1937) Leo McCarey
27. Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948) Max Ophuls
28. The Scarlet Empress (1934) Josef von Sternberg
29. Good Morning (1959) Yasujiro Ozu
30. Member of the Wedding (1953) Fred Zinnemann
31. The Lady Eve (1941) Preston Sturgess
32. Female Trouble (1974) John Waters
33. The Magnificent Obsession (1954) Douglas Sirk
34. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) Nicolas Roeg
35. Tommy (1975) Ken Russell
36. Walkabout (1971) Nicolas Roeg
37. Weekend (1967) Jean-Luc Godard
38. Louisana Story (1948) Robert Flaherty
39. Now, Voyager (1942) Irving Rapper
40. Pretty Poison (1968) Noel Black
41. The Heiress (1949) William Wyler
42. Coming Home (1978) Hal Ashby
43. Written on the Wind (1956) Douglas Sirk
44. The Search (1948) Fred Zinnemann
45. Crimes of Passion (1984) Ken Russell
46. Shame (1968) Ingmar Bergman
47. 8 ½ (1963) Frederico Fellini
48. Sansho, The Bailiff (1954) Kenji Mizoguchi
49. Nashville (1975) Robert Altman
50. La Luna (1979) Bernardo Bertolucci
51. Dressed to Kill (1980) Brian De Palma
52. The Sound of Music (1965) Robert Wise
53. All That Heaven Allows (1955) Douglas Sirk
54. A Man Escaped (1956) Robert Bresson
55. In the Bedroom (2001) Todd Field
56. The Night, The Prowler (1978) Jim Sharman
57. Midnight Cowboy (1969) John Schlesinger
58. Days of Heaven (1978) Terrance Malick
59. Bad Timing (1980) Nicolas Roeg
60. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemuns (1939) Kenji Mizoguchi
61. Bad Boy Bubby (1993) Rolf De Heer
62. 2001: A Space Odessy (1968) Stanley Kubrick
63. Random Harvest (1942) Mervyn LeRoy
64. Ordet (1955) Carl Dreyer
65. The Life of Oharu (1952) Kenji Mizoguchi
66. The Lady and the Duke (2001) Eric Rohmer
67. All About Eve (1950) Joseph L Mankiewicz
68. Amarcord (1974) Frederico Fellini
69. The Rainbow (1989) Ken Russell
70. Performance (1970) Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg
71. Tokyo Story (1953) Yasujiro Ozu
72. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Stanley Kubrick
73. The Straight Story (1999) David Lynch
74. Crimes of the Heart (1986) Bruce Beresford
75. Blue Velvet (1986) David Lynch
76. The Kingdom (1994) Lars Von Trier
77. The Killing of Sister George (1968) Robert Aldrich
78. Crash (1996) David Cronenberg
79. White Dog (1982) Samuel Fuller
80. Star 80 (1983) Bob Fosse
81. Bay of Angels (1962) Jacques Demy
82. Pride and Prejudice (1940) Robert Z Leonard
83. 1900 (1976) Bernardo Bertolucci
84. The Lion in Winter (1968) Anthony Harvey
85. Mahanager (1963) Satyajit Ray
86. Clare’s Knee (1971) Eric Rohmer
87. Heat (1974) Paul Morrissey
88. I Was Born But…(1932) Yasujiro Ozu
89. Themroc (1973) Claude Faraldi
90. Do the Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee
91. The Childrens Hour (1962) William Wyler
92. Persona (1966) Ingmar Bergman
93. Nightmare Alley (1947) Edmund Goulding
94. The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947) Joseph M Mankiewicz
95. The Mother and the Whore (1973) Jean Eustache
96. Day of Wrath (1943) Carl Dreyer
97. In Cold Blood (1967) Richard Brooks
98. The Pride of the Yankees (1942) Sam Wood
99. Atlantic City (1981) Louis Malle
100. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) Carl Dreyer
101. I Want to Live (1958) Robert Wise
102. Paths of Glory (1957) Stanley Kubrick
103. Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill (1966) Russ Meyer
104. Providence (1976) Alain Resnais
105. The Magdalene Sisters (2002) Peter Mullan
106. Whoose Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? (1966) Mike Nichols
107. Raise the Red Lantern (1991) Zhang Yimou
108. Women in Love (1969) Ken Russell
109. Bad (1977) Jed Johnson
110. The Holy Mountain (1973) Alexandro Jodorowsky
111. Zabriskie Point (1970) Michelangelo Antonioni
112. Wild at Heart (1990) David Lynch
113. Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974) Jacuqes Rivette
114. Hondo (1953) John Farrow
115. Kiss Me Deadly (1955) Robert Aldrich
116. Mulholland Drive (2001) David Lynch
117. The Witches (1990) Nicolas Roeg
118. Ivan’s Childhood (1962) Andrei Tarkovsky
119. The Battle of Algiers (1966) Gillo Pontecorvo
120. Bigger Than Life (1956) Nicholas Ray
121. The Piano Teacher Michael Haneke
122. Leave Her to Heaven (1945) John M Stahl
123. Brief Encounter (1945) David Lean
124. Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) Bryan Forbes
125. Central Station (1998) Walter Salles
126. Pickpocket (1959) Robert Bresson
127. Double Indemnity (1944) Billy Wilder
128. Chinese Roulette (1976) Rainer Werner Fassbinder
129. Teorema (1968) Pier Paolo Pasolini
130. Belle de Jour (1967) Luis Bunuel
131. Kiss Me Deadly (1955) Robert Aldrich
132. Interiors (1978) Woody Allen
133. Replusion (1965) Roman Polanski
134. A Place in the Sun (1951) George Stevens
135. No Mercy, No Future (1981) Helma Sanders-Brahms
136. In a Year of 13 Moons (1978) Rainer Werner Fassbinder
137. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935) Leo McCarey
138. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Orson Welles
139. Black Narcissus (1947) Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger
140. The Discret Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) Luis Bunuel
141. The Ceremony (1971) Nagisa Oshima
142. Duck Soup (1933) Leo McCarey
143. The Virgin Spring (1959) Ingmar Bergman
144. Ratcatcher (1999) Lynne Ramsay
145. The Circus (1928) Charles Chaplin
146. Morocco (1930) Josef von Sternberg
147. Waterloo Bridge (1940) Mervyn LeRoy
148. The Flower of My Secret (1995) Pedro Almodovar
149. The Crowd (1928) King Vidor
150. Viridiana (1961) Luis Bunuel
151. High and Low (1962) Akira Kurosawa
152. Modern Times (1936) Charles Chaplin
153. Johnny Belinda (1948) Jean Negulesco
154. Spider (2002) David Cronenberg
155. Vixen (1968) Russ Meyer
156. Liquid Sky (1983) Slava Tsukerman
157. The Ballad of Narayama (1983) Shohei Imamura
158. Stevie (1978) Robert Enders
159. The Boy with Green Hair (1948) Joseph Losey
160. Last Tango in Paris (1973) Bernardo Bertolucci
161. Breathless (1959) Jean-Luc Godard
162. Petulia (1968) Richard Lester
163. Boy (1969) Nagisa Oshima
164. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) Phillip Kaufman
165. The Seventh Seal (1956) Ingmar Bergman
166. Olivier Olivier (1993) Agnieszka Holland
167. The Gospel According to St Matthew (1966) Pier Paolo Passolini
168. City Girl (1928) F W Muranu
169. Freaks (1932) Tod Browning
170. Peeping Tom (1960) Michael Powell
171. Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Otto Preminger
172. My Life to Live (1962) Jean-Luc Godard
173. Edward II (1992) Derek Jarman
174. M (1931) Fritz Lang
175. The Magnificent Obsession (1935) John M Stahl
176. Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Mike Figgis
177. Day for Night (1973) Francois Truffaut
178. Show Boat (1936) James Whale
179. Zoo in Budapest (1933) Rowland V Lee
180. The Piano (1993) Jane Campion
181. Gone With The Wind (1939) Victor Fleming
182. Flesh for Frankenstein (1974) Paul Morrissey
183. Six Degree’s of Seperation (1993) Fred Schepisi
184. Pick Up on South Street (1953) Samuel Fuller
185. Kanal (1956) Andrzej Wajda
186. El Topo (1971) Alexandro Jodorowsky
187. My Darling Clemtentine (1946) John Ford
188. The Big Heat (1953) Fritz Lang
189. The Palm Beach Story (1942) Preston Sturgess
190. Yi YI (1999) Edward Yang
191. The Bridge Wore Black (1968) Francois Truffaut
192. The Last Picture Show (1971) Peter Bogdonovich
193. Blood for Dracula (1974) Paul Morrissey
194. Little Man, What Now ? (1934) Frank Borzage
195. The Tarnished Angels (1958) Douglas Sirk
196. The Body Snatcher (1945) Robert Wise
197. The General (1927) Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
198. Personal Best (1982) Robert Townie
199. Z (1969) Costa-Gavras
200. Moonfleet (1954) Fritz Lang
201. Roma (1972) Frederico Fellini
202. The Great Dictator (1940) Charles Chaplin
203. Under the Skin (1997) Carine Adler
204. The Ox Bow Incident (1943) John Ford
205. Sullivan’s Travels (1941) Preston Sturgess
206. Cul De Sac (1966) Roman Polanski
207. The Wicker Man (1973) Ron Hardy
208. Raggedy Man (1981) Jack Fisk
209. A Star is Born (1954) George Cukor
210. A Time to Live and a Time to Die (1958) Douglas Sirk
211. The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1975) Werner Herzog
212. Peyton Place (1957) Mark Robson
213. Muriel (1963) Alain Renais
214. The Damned (1969) Luchino Visconti
215. Death in Venice (1971) Luchino Visconti
216. Diaryof a Country Priest (1950) Robert Bresson
217. Heavenly Creatures (1994) Peter Jackson
218. Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors (1964) Sergei Paradzhanov
219. Rebecca (1940) Alfred Hitch####
220. The Night Porter (1974) Lillana Cavani
221. Queen Christina (1934) Rouben Mamoulian
222. Annie Hall (1977) Woody Allen
223. The Confession (1971) Costa-Gavras
224. Metropolis (1926) Fritz Lang
225. Cutter’s Way (1981) Ivan Passer
226. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) Louis Malle
227. Seconds (1966) John Frankenheimer
228. Blithe Spirit (1945) David Lean
229. Masculin-Feminin (1966) Jean-Luc Godard
230. A Room with a View (1986) James Ivory
231. Zelig (1983) Woody Allen
232. Radio Day (1987) Woody Allen
233. He Who Gets Slapped (1924) Victor Sjostrom
234. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Nicholas Ray
235. Bringing Up Baby (1938) Howard Hawks
236. Smile (1975) Michael Ritchie
237. Beat the Devil (1954) John Huston
238. An Autums Afternoon (1962) Yasujiro Ozu
239. Unholy Desire (1964) Shohei Inamura
240. La Notte (1961) Michelangelo Antonioni
241. The Last Woman (1976) Marco Ferriri
242. Death Takes a Holiday (1934) Mitchell Leisen
243. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) Roman Polanski
244. Barry Lyndon (1975) Stanley Kubrick
245. Some Like it Hot (1959) Billy Wilder
246. Cabaret (1972) Bob Fosse
247. Penney Serenade (1941) George Stevens
248. A Labour of Love (1982) Margarethe Von Trotta
249. Deep End (1971) Jerzy Skolimowski
250. La Dolce Vita (1960) Frederico Fellini




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193249
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19311
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

Yes, Damien, I remember. I don't recall Mike being vehement in his defense of the film but Italiano sure was. I also recall the discussions about Umberto D and Kiss Me Deadly, two films that I also love. You love Kiss Me Deadly, Italiano hates it. He loves Umberto D, you hate it. I was bemused thinking of that when the two films wound up next to each other on my latest revised list.

Anyway, getting back to The Bad Seed, I suppose it's when you first encounter it. For me, it was as a 12 or 13 year old, who took it more seriously than I would have had I first encountered it as an adult.

I really felt Eileen Heckart's pain as a child. I would have been mortified to see someone make fun of her. She instantly became one of my favorite character actresses. Although I loved Rosalind Russell in Picnic and Eve Arden in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, I always felt bad for Heckart having lost the roles she created in the Broadway versions when it came time to film them. I was beside myself with joy for her when she beat out some of the biggest names in Hollywood to recreate her stage role in Butterflies Are Free and then won the Oscar for it, one of the most satisfying in Oscar history given her many disappointments over the years.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193260
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

Big Magilla wrote:
I love The Bad Seed. I wouldn't call it a great movie, but it's not a bad one. The performances of Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Eileen Heckart and Henry Jones are impeccable.

Magilla, I remember years ago when I was new to the board, citing The Bad Seed as a great bad movie, and you (and several other people -- Mike Kelly perhaps, or cam or Italiano?) took objection, praising it as a genuinely good movie. I was shocked, because everyone I know to whom I've shown it -- quite a few people -- all instantly embraced it as a camp classic.

From the ludicrous names of the characters (Rhoda Penmark, Hortense Daigle) to the hilariously overwrought emoting (all the more delightful because it comes withing the context of a completely flat visual style) to the deus ex machina ending, it's a delight throughout. After seeing the film, an actor friend of mine incorporated an imitation of Eileen Heckert's performance as part of a performance piece he did.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193266
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Pamela-Marie
Graduate
Posts: 145
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2003 3:27 am
Location: n/a
Contact:

Post by Pamela-Marie »

My brother asked me a couple of years ago if I had any guilty pleasure films. It took me awhile but the only two films I could come up with were UHF (the theme song being one of the songs I forgot on my favorite film songs list) and Spice World. I didn't give it much thought after that.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193271
-- "Say I was Tom Cruise, where would you seat me?"
-- "In acting class."
Gilmore Girls, 10/28/03
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19311
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

Damien, under your criteria the only film I can think of is Can't Stop the Music. The Village People can't act, Bruce Jenner can't dance, Steve Guttenberg looks oblivious and Barbara Rush looks like she wandered into the wrong movie. Only Valerie Perrine seems to know she's making a camp classic. Poor Nancy Walker, one of the 20th Century's greatest comediennes trashed her entire career with her inept one-time big screen directoral shot here, but I love it anyway. The whole thing's a hoot.

I love The Bad Seed. I wouldn't call it a great movie, but it's not a bad one. The performances of Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Eileen Heckart and Henry Jones are impeccable.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193279
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

Magilla, for me Guilty Pleasures are movies that you know are -- objectively -- not very good, but you enjoy anyway. These constitute primarily very campy films -- for instance, I don't think I've ever been part of an audience that laughed so much as the time I saw The Love Machine in Nantucket in 1971. And seeing Orson Welles's facial expressions indicating he'd rather be anywhere else but here when he played a judge in Butterfly was a priceless experience.

For me, the most difficult inclusion was the Bowery Boys, because I think most in the series are good films -- and they do have a lot of laughs (I can't compare them to things like Everybody Loves Raymond because I don't watch TV sit-coms), but the Boys are so culturally disreputable that I'm made to feel guilty.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193285
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19311
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

It had to happen. I revised my list slightly. The Player is out, Home From the Hill is in, and a dozen or so films have been re-numbered.

I tried to come up with a guilty pleasures list, but I couldn't. I don't think anyone should feel guilty about enjoying films, any films. I thought I might list some of the old Warner Oland and Sidney Toler Charlie Chan movies because they aren't considered politically correct. But then I thought they're too good to feel guilty about. Then I thought about listing such 1940s farces as Lady of Burlesque, Up in Mabel's Room and Getting Gertie's Garter, but decided they're still funnier than most TV sitcoms, so why feel guilty? Then I thought maybe I should list some recent films that it's not considered cool to like, like Antwone Fisher, but I couldn't think of any others so I watched Talk to Her and gave up on making any more lists.




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193291
joshua
Graduate
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 4:40 am
Location: London, UK

Post by joshua »

Thanks for these all of you guys - they're making great reading and proving very useful in IDing films I need to see. Precious Doll, I am fully anticipating your list to offer a wide range of movies I've never heard of, let alone seen.

Damien, by the way, thought you might like to know that my boyf and I were in Brighton this weekend where we met a really entertaining guy from Boston who bore an uncanny resemblance - both physically and in mannerism - to one Mr E Hawke. Not the real deal, but an acceptable substitute.

joshua




Edited By Big Magilla on 1116193296
Post Reply

Return to “Other Film Discussions”