Nick James’ introduction to the Sight & Sound poll results gives us some insight into their methodology:
As a qualification of what ‘greatest’ means, our invitation letter stated, “We leave that open to your interpretation. You might choose the ten films you feel are most important to film history, or the ten that represent the aesthetic pinnacles of achievement, or indeed the ten films that have had the biggest impact on your own view of cinema.” Each entry on each list counts as one vote for the film in question, so personal rankings within the top tens don’t matter.
The Playlist and others have been poring over the S&S Poll issue now on newstands and have culled some of the more interesting Top Ten lists compiled by the filmmakers themselves. Whether you like to think of these as the top 10 favorite movies of your favorite directors, or the top 10 greatest films according to our greatest directors, either way I’m glad to see they’re all over the map.
Woody Allen
“Bicycle Thieves” (1948, dir. Vittorio De Sica)
“The Seventh Seal” (1957, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
“Citizen Kane” (1941, dir. Orson Welles
“Amarcord” (1973, dir. Federico Fellini
“8 1/2″ (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
“The 400 Blows” (1959, dir. Francois Truffaut)
“Rashomon” (1950, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
“La Grande Illusion” (1937, dir. Jean Renoir)
“The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie” (1972, dir. Luis Bunuel)
“Paths Of Glory” (1957, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Richard Ayoade
“Persona” (1966, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
“Le Mépris” (1963, dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
“Raging Bull” (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“Ordet” (1955, dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer)
“Barry Lyndon” (1975, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
“Crimes And Misdemeanors” (1989, dir. Woody Allen)
“The Apartment” (1960, dir. Billy Wilder)
“Tokyo Story” (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
“Make Way For Tomorrow” (1937, dir. Leo McCarey)
“Badlands” (1973, dir. Terrence Malick)
Bong Joon-Ho
“A City Of Sadness” (1989, dir. Hou Hsiao-hsien)
“Cure” (1997, dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
“The Housemaid” (1960, dir. Kim Ki-young)
“Fargo” (1996, dir. The Coen Brothers)
“Psycho” (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
“Raging Bull” (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“Touch Of Evil” (1958, dir. Orson Welles)
“Vengeance Is Mine” (1973, dir. Shohei Imamura)
“The Wages Of Fear” (1953, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot)
“Zodiac” (2007, dir. David Fincher)
Francis Ford Coppola
“Ashes And Diamonds” (1958, dir. Andrzej Wajda)
“The Best Years Of Our Lives” (1946, dir William Wyler)
“I Vitteloni” (1953, dir. Federico Fellini)
“The Bad Sleep Well (1960, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
“Yojimbo” (1961, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
“Singin’ In The Rain (1952, dir. Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
“The King Of Comedy” (1983, dir Martin Scorsese)
“Raging Bull” (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“The Apartment” (1960s, dir. Billy Wilder)
“Sunrise” (1927, dir. F.W. Murnau)
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
“Accatone” (1961, dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini)
“The Big Heat” (1953, dir. Fritz Lang)
“Dodes’ka-den” (1970, dir. Akira Kurosawa)
“Germany Year Zero” (1948, dir. Roberto Rossellini)
“Loulou” (1980, dir. Maurice Pialat)
“Modern Times” (1936, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
“The Searchers” (1956, dir. John Ford)
“Shoah” (1985, dir. Claude Lanzmann)
“Street Of Shame” (1956, dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
“Sunrise” (1927, dir. F.W. Murnau)
Guillermo Del Toro
“Frankenstein” (1931, dir. James Whale)
“Freaks” (1932, dir. Todd Browning)
“Shadow Of A Doubt” (1943, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
“Greed” (1925, dir. Erich Von Stroheim)
“Modern Times” (1936, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
“La Belle Et La Bete” (1946, dir. Jean Cocteau)
“Goodfellas” (1990, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“Los Olvidados” (1950, dir. Luis Bunuel)
“Nosferatu” (1922, dir. F.W. Murnau)
“8 1/2″ (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
Sean Durkin
“The Shining” (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968, dir. Roman Polanski)
“Jaws” (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
“3 Women” (1977, dir. Robert Altman)
“The Birds” (1963, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
“The Goonies” (1985, dir. Richard Donner)
“The Piano Teacher” (2001, dir. Michael Haneke)
“Persona” (1966, dir. Ingmar Bergman)
“The Panic In Needle Park” (1971, dir. Jerry Schatzberg)
“The Conformist” (1970, dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
Michel Hazavanicius
“City Girl” (1930, dir. F.W. Murnau)
“City Lights” (1931, dir. Charlie Chaplin)
“To Be Or Not To Be” (1942, dir. Ernst Lubitsch)
“Citizen Kane” (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
“The Apartment” (1960, dir. Billy Wilder)
“The Shining” (1980, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
“North By Northwest” (1959, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
“The Third Man” (1949, dir. Carol Reed)
“Raging Bull” (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs” (1937, dir. Walt Disney)
Miranda July
“Blind” (1987, dir. Frederick Wiseman)
“Smooth Talk” (1985, dir. Joyce Chopra)
“Vertigo” (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
“After Life” (1998, dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
“Somewhere In Time” (1980, dir. Jeannot Szwarc)
“Cheese” (2007, dir. Mika Rottenberg)
“Punch Drunk Love” (2002, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
“The Red Balloon” (1956, dir. Albert Lamorisse)
“A Room With A View” (1985, dir. James Ivory)
“Fish Tank” (2009, dir. Andrea Arnold)
Michael Mann
“Apocalypse Now” (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
“Battleship Potemkin” (1925, dir. Sergei Eisenstein)
“Citizen Kane” (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
“Avatar” (2009, dir. James Cameron)
“Dr. Strangelove” (1964, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
“Biutiful” (2010, dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
“My Darling Clementine” (1946, dir. John Ford)
“The Passion Of Joan Of Arc” (1928, dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer)
“Raging Bull” (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“The Wild Bunch” (1969, dir. Sam Peckinpah)
Steve McQueen
“The Battle Of Algiers” (1966, dir. Gillo Pontecorvo)
“Zero de Conduite” (1933, dir. Jean Vigo)
“La Regle du Jeu” (1939, dir. Jean Renoir)
“Tokyo Story” (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)
“Couch” (1964, dir. Andy Warhol)
“Le Mépris” (1963, dir. Jean-Luc Godard)
“Beau Travail” (1998, dir. Claire Denis)
“Once Upon A Time In America” (1984, dir. Sergio Leone)
“The Wages Of Fear” (1953, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot)
“Do The Right Thing” (1989, dir. Spike Lee)
Jeff Nichols
“Cool Hand Luke” (1967, dir. Stuart Rosenberg)
“Badlands” (1973, dir. Terrence Malick)
“Hud” (1963, dir. Martin Ritt)
“The Hustler” (1961, dir. Robert Rossen)
“Lawrence Of Arabia” (1962, dir. David Lean)
“Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid” (1969, dir. George Roy Hill)
“Jaws” (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
“North By Northwest” (1959, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
“Stagecoach” (1939, dir. John Ford)
“Fletch” (1985, dir. Michael Ritchie)
David O. Russell
“It’s A Wonderful Life” (1946, dir. Frank Capra)
“Chinatown” (1974, dir. Roman Polanski)
“Goodfellas” (1990, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“Vertigo” (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
“Pulp Fiction” (1994, dir. Quentin Tarantino)
“Raging Bull” (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“Young Frankenstein” (1974, dir. Mel Brooks)
“The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie” (1972, dir. Luis Bunuel)
“The Godfather” (1972, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
“Blue Velvet” (1986, dir. David Lynch)
“Groundhog Day” (1993, dir. Harold Ramis)
Martin Scorsese
“8 1/2″ (1963, dir. Federico Fellini)
“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
“Ashes And Diamonds” (1958, dir. Andrzej Wajda)
“Citizen Kane” (1941, dir. Orson Welles)
“The Leopard” (1963, dir. Luchino Visconti)
“Palsa” (1946, dir. Roberto Rossellini)
“The Red Shoes” (1948, dir. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)
“The River” (1951, dir. Jean Renoir)
“Salvatore Giuliano” (1962, dir. Francesco Rosi)
“The Searchers” (1956, dir. John Ford)
“Ugetsu Monogatari” (1953, dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
“Vertigo” (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
Quentin Tarantino
“The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” (1966, dir. Sergio Leone)
“Apocalypse Now” (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
“The Bad News Bears” (1976, dir. Michael Ritchie)
“Carrie” (1976, dir. Brian DePalma)
“Dazed And Confused” (1993, dir. Richard Linklater)
“The Great Escape” (1963, dir. John Sturges)
“His Girl Friday” (1940, dir. Howard Hawks)
“Jaws” (1975, dir. Steven Spielberg)
“Pretty Maids All In A Row (1971, dir. Roger Vadim)
“Rolling Thunder” (1977, dir. John Flynn)
“Sorcerer” (1977, dir. William Friedkin)
“Taxi Driver” (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)
Edgar Wright
“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick)
“An American Werewolf In London” (1981, dir. John Landis)
“Carrie” (1976, dir. Brian DePalma)
“Dames” (1934, dir. Ray Enright & Busby Berkeley)
“Don’t Look Now” (1973, dir. Nicolas Roeg)
“Duck Soup” (1933, dir. Leo McCarey)
“Psycho” (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
“Raising Arizona” (1987, dir. The Coen Brothers)
“Taxi Driver” (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)
“The Wild Bunch” (1969, dir. Sam Peckinpah)
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“Upon the foundation of an entirely invented biosystem, Avatar is a brilliant synthesis of mythic tropes, with debts to Lévi-Strauss and Frazier’s The Golden Bough. It soars because, simply, it stones and transports you.”
Really astounding to me that Mann choose Avatar. The only explanation I found is that it seems that Mann loves flashy lights (he uses it a lot in his films) and then he’d like Avatar because of its visual aspect with all those green-blue glow lights that appear in the film.
Also now it’s easy to link Heat with Wild Bunch…
Why is Scorsese allowed to vote for 12, or have 3 films at the #10 spot?
Lots of Ingmar Bergman love going on! Me like very much!?
I thought some of the lists were rather predictable, though not in a bad way- such as Scorcese’s and there were some unexpected choice- like Mann’s inclusion of Avatar, which is defensible, believe it or not.
What’s interesting about top 10 lists is that they change with time, either because taste changes, a film becomes out of date or a new film enters your heart. If I had to make my current top 10-ish list, it’d be as follows, in no particular order. Keep in mind I am trying to be both honest to my enjoyment of the films and my respect for their cinematic achievements.
1. The Big Lebowski (1998) dir. by the Coen Bros
2. Rebel Without A Cause (1955) dir. by Nicholas Ray
3. Rashomon (1950) dir. by Akira Kurosawa
4. Some Like It Hot (1959) dir. by Billy Wilder
5. Pulp Fiction (1994) dir. by Quentin Tarantino
6. Magnolia (1999) dir. by Paul Thomas Anderson
7. Point Break (1991) dir. by Kathryn Bigelow
8. American Graffiti (1973) dir. by George Lucas
9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) dir. by Steven Spielberg
10.The Two of Us (Le vieil homme et l’enfant) (1967) dir. by Claude Berri
Honorable Mention Top 5
1. Chinatown (1974) dir. by Roman Polanski
2. The Conversation (1974) dir. by Francis Ford Coppola
3. Marathon Man (1976) dir. by John Schlesinger
4. Breathless (1960) dir. by Jean-Luc Godard
5. Halloween (1978) dir. by John Carpenter
So many I left off that could be argued as being almost as worthy.
I watched Dog Day Afternoon the toher night and it’s done nothing to raise my opinion of 70′s films. Love the 30′s, 40′s, 50′s, 60′s and 80′s and beyond, but 70′s I could easily do without…
Tarantino’s list rocks!
Dazed and Confused is a modern-day classic!
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is my favorite film of all time : )
Avatar was an incredible movie for many people, critics and average joe movie-goers alike …
12 personal favorites
2011: A Space Odyssey – Kubrick
A Man Escaped – Bresson
Before Sunset – Linklater, Hawke, Delpy
Edifício Master – Coutinho
Independence Day – Emmerich
Jurassic Park – Spielberg
Million Dollar Baby – Eastwood
The Motorcycle Diaries – Salles
The Social Network – Fincher
Titanic – Cameron
Toy Story 3 – Pixar
The Truman Show – Weir
El verdugo – Jose Luis Garcia Berlanga
Curious absence of Star Wars on younger director`s lists and those movies were often cited as reason why some directors went into movie business. The Prequels tainting the legacy, perhaps?
Also, total absence of LOTR so it looks like they have always been fanboy thing rather than trully industry appreciated despite all the Oscars.
David O.Russell’s list is the one that I can relate to the most. Still shocked that Michael Mann picked Avatar. And surprised that Woody picked Paths of Glory (he doesn’t seem to be a Kubrick kinda guy to me) Would love to see Spielberg’s, Ridley’s, and Wes Anderson’s lists.
I LOVE that QT included Friedkin’s unsung masterpiece SORCERER (a film that has Ryan Adams written all over it). My top ten would go something like this:
1. Big (1988)
2. Going In Style (1979)
3. Midnight Run (1988)
4. The French Connection (1971)
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
6. Back To The Future (1985)
7. The Verdict (1982)
8. Over The Edge (1979)
9. Sideways (2004)
10. The Wanderers (1979)
Craig Z, tell me you have never uttered a negative word about anyone working within the film industry (including your own heroes). Really? Fuck off.
Julian, Michael Mann is a 4 time Oscar nominee. Who the fuck are you?
Going through this lame personal situation I’m going through, I think notching off a few movies on this list (at least in the Top 10) would be a worthwhile pursuit. It is to my shame that I’ve seen neither Citizen Kane nor Vertigo…
“I guarantee if forced to take ten films on a desert island, the lists would differ.”
Hell, yeah. 5 epics over 3.5 hrs each, 4 HBO series, and 1 porn. Reading books would probably be more suitable.
(Never undertood the whole desert island thing, anyway.)
Spielberg’s List:
1) Empire of the Sun
2) War Horse
3) Minority Report
4) Saving Private Ryan
5) The Color Purple
6) ET
7) Jaws
8) Raiders of the Lost Ark
9) AI
10) Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Lost Crusading Skull Made of Crystal.
Sight and Sound Decided to throw it out because it was written in crayon and they asked him to use a pen.
My list:
1-Lawrence of Arabia
2-Sunset Blvd.
3-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
4-A Clockwork Orange
5-Psycho
6-Apocalypse Now
7-Stand by Me
8-Blade Runner
9-Pulp Fiction
10-Le Fabuleux Destin D’Amélie Poulain
I’m surprised by how much I love David O. Russell’s list. “Young Frankenstein” and “Groundhog Day” on a list with “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “Blue Velvet”? So, so there.
Also, of COURSE Quentin Tarantino loves “His Girl Friday.” Perhaps it’s the secret behind his own speech patterns?
I’m not a big fan but… why wasn’t Spielberg asked for a list? He isn’t qualified enough?
lists of the best films made by our grandparents?
” So don’t tell me how the electricity happened…”
I think it had something to do with breakdancing
Mine:
The Silence of the Lambs
Mamma Roma
8 1/2
Thelma & Louise
Brokeback Mountain
The Piano
Gone With The Wind
Fahrenheit 9/11
Drive
The Shining
Now, don’t go technical. Didn’t you see LOST? They had electricity and everything.
(I never saw an entire episode of Lost.) So don’t tell me how the electricity happened.
Desert island film list would be very different. You couldn’t take Jaws, but Cast Away maybe. A survival kit. Maybe I’d pick something very miserable, so I could say “hey, those guys didn’t get it too well either”.
Groundhog Day? Something where you could make fun of repetition, because that is what your days would be like – same shit every day. Why not have fun with it.
No films where they eat a lot (no Julie & Julia like stuff), cause you will miss proper food.
One of them should be an erotic film, so you can have fun with yourself more easily.
It’s always comforting to plan on landing on a desert island that has a TV and blu-ray player and electricity.
The list of movies I would take to a desert island would be very different than my ten fave list.
I would probably take 10 extraordinarily complicated well-regarded movies I haven’t seen rather than ten movies I’ve already seen a ton of times and only watch once every couple of years.
As much as I love Field of Dreams, I’m probably good not seeing that for another 5 years. If I had to watch it once a week, well, I’d rather play hide the coconut within two weeks.
Now if I had, say, Chinatown, which I’ve only seen once and fell asleep during (I was hungover!) and I’ve never revisited, I know I could watch that at least once a week for five or six weeks before I would be forced to play hide the coconut. I mean, c’mon, it’s a great movie for a reason, I just haven’t gotten around to liking it yet.
I would insist that The Wire is one big 60-hour movie and I wouldn’t budge. I’m not getting on the doomed cruise vessel unless that can be one of my choices.
I agree JJ
These lists are uninspiringly pretentious. A total crock. I guarantee if forced to take ten films on a desert island, the lists would differ.
I guarantee if forced to take ten films on a desert island, the lists would differ.
I guarantee if some of these directors were forced to watch the 10 movies you guys would take to a desert island, they would be hugely motivated to build a raft and row back to civilization.
My list would probably be something like (in no particular order) :
– The Great Dictator
– Rashomon
– Dr. Strangelove
– Solaris (original version)
– Chinatown
– Trainspotting
– Brazil
– Taxi Driver
– Les 400 Coups
– The Third Man
I also love Miranda July’s mention of After Life, a movie that’s unavailable on Netflix. I’ve only seen it once, but it stays with me still even though the details have long been forgotten.
But I do recall reaching an emotional climax about 90 minutes in and thought the movie was ending, but then it continued for like 45 minutes more going in directions that were amazing and even more satisfying than before.
I hate to include a movie in my “Best” list if I’ve only seen it once. But, damn, this was easily one of the greatest ones I’ve seen. Now I am off to search for it so I can see it a second time.
“10 most important movies
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Casablanca (1943)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Psycho (1960)
2001 (1968)
The Godfather (1972)
Star Wars (1977)
Raging Bull (1980)”
Yeah, that’s pretty spot on and similar to what I posted the other day, though I’d swap out 2001 for 12 Angry Men or To Kill A Mockingbird.
10 most important movies
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Casablanca (1943)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Psycho (1960)
2001 (1968)
The Godfather (1972)
Star Wars (1977)
Raging Bull (1980)
My 10 favorite movies
A Night at the Opera (1935)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Psycho (1960)
Star Wars (1977)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Die Hard (1988)
Training Day (2001)
Saw 2 (2005)
I love these….thanks for sharing! Also, gonna go out on a limb and say Jeff Nichols reallllly loves Paul Newman.
I like Richard Ayoade’s list, could agree with that. Usually have similar tastes to Ebert as well.
I know that most of these great artist list the films that inspired them to become filmmakers, but I’m getting kind of tired of the “they don’t make them like they used to”. Were all the best films ever made black and white and from generations ago?
On the other hand, there ARE freaky choises in there. Glad to see Jaws listed a couple of times. Shocked to see Avatar in there, a bold choise whether it’s worthy or not.
Carrie? An American Werewolf in London? Groundhog Day? FLETCH? Bold, very bold.
Glad to see that Citizen Kane doesn’t go on everybody’s list as a default (most people seem afraid NOT to include it, just for fear of being ridiculed).
Interesting that Hitchcock pops up everywhere but with different titles.
Kudos to O’Russell for saying “fuck it” and list only newer films. I admit that a lot of my favorite films are old. But there have been several masterpieces worthy of Top 10 placements in the last couple of decades. A no animation?
Pixar and Disney would be on my list. So would “Pan’s Labyrinth”. “Schindler’s List”. “The Crying Game”. And of course, yes, a lot of classics.
Ryan, where’s that poll of our own that you mentioned? :p
It looks like the most mentioned film is not Vertigo or Citizen Kane, but rather Raging Bull. Oh, and the Godfather’s only get one mention?
Now one must wonder, are these lists the truth?
http://www.moveablefest.com/moveable_fest/2012/07/seven-quirkiest-favorite-films-of-seriously-famous-directors.html
See guys, it’s okay to have your guilty pleasures, even though I know few of you are willing to admit them…
1. Les Enfants Du Paradis (Carne)
2. Lawrence of Arabia (Lean)
3. The Wild Bunch (Peckimpah)
4. The Elephant Man (Lynch)
5. The Right Stuff (Kaufman)
6. La Notte Di San Lorenzo (Taviana Brothers)
7. Gone With the Wind (Fleming)
8. Airplane (Abrahams & Zucker)
9. The Innocents (Clayton)
10. All That Jazz (Fosse)
@Question Mark: HA! I tweeted the exact same thing when this came out. Scorsese sticking Kundun at #3 or something would rule.
It would’ve been hilarious had one director just listed 10 of their own movies.
Why’d they have the Dardenne brothers submit just one list between them? Surely they had some disagreements about their own personal top 10s.
I’ve got 12 on my list, but so do QT and Scorsese so I think that’s OK:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Annie Hall
The Apartment
Blue Velvet
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
Duck Soup
Groundhog Day
North By Northwest
The Red Balloon
Tampopo
Toy Story
Things I love:
-Carrie in 2 lists <3
-Edgar Wright: American Werewolf in London
-Guillermo del Toro: Freaks + Los Olvidados
-David O. Russel: Young Frankenstein
-Tarantino: Dazed and Confused + Sorcerer! <3
-Scorsese: The Leopard <3<3<3 OMFG!!
-Jeff Nichols adores Paul Newman (I don't love this one, ew)
-Steve McQueen: Battle of Algiers + Once Upon A Time in America <3
-whoever listed Wild Bunch and Discreet Charm <3<3
I’d probably go for…
– Battleship Potemkin
– Rear Window
– Citizen Kane
– Nosferatu (Murnau)
– Day for Night
– 2001 a Space Odissey
– John Carpenter’s The Thing
– The Jungle Book (Disney)
– Seven Samurai
– To Be or Not to Be (Lubitsch)
Just a quick one off the top of my head, it’s hard to leave out Singing in the Rain, El Milagro de P. Tinto, Trainspotting, Safety Last, Airplane!, Ikiru, and plenty more, but well…
Oh no, Robert A. Rosemary’s Baby is one of my favourite films too.
Sean Durkin’s inclusion of 3 Women makes so much sense. Its influence in Martha Marcy May Marlene is very obvious.
^
as well as Persona.
I love how Sean Durkin lists “Rosemary’s Baby.” I thought maybe I was the only person on planet Earth who would be tempted to place “Rosemary’s Baby” on a personal Top 10. Also interesting that out of the 16 Top 10s listed here, two of them have “Carrie” in the Top 10. Carrie White lives!
Roger Ebert’s Top Ten
Aguirre, Wrath of God (Herzog)
Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
Citizen Kane (Welles)
La Dolce Vita (Fellini)
The General (Keaton)
Raging Bull (Scorsese)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
Tokyo Story (Ozu)
The Tree of Life (Malick)
Vertigo (Hitchcock)
1. THE WIZARD OF OZ
2. PARIS TEXAS
3. MANHATTAN
4. BRINGING UP BABY
5. THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
6. EL TOPO
7. MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE
8. TAXI DRIVER
9. WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND
10. BADLANDS
Really love how FFC chose “The King of Comedy”! In my opinion, it’s one of Scorsese most unsung gems and should be right up there with Goodfellas, Raging Bull and Taxi Driver!
Fletch, The Goonies and The Bad News Bears. Who knew?
“Since Steve and Steve have already paired off,….”
Hey – I’ll take it. Gets me onto the set of the next Fassie film!
Loved the off kilter choices.
The Birds. Fantastic!
Young Frankenstein, <3.
Durkin's list is sexy.
A lot of these lists don't have recent films. Makes sense.
QT REALLY loves the 70s. He loves them so much, that one of his few non-70s pics, 1993’s Dazed and Confused, takes place in the 70s!
A blind date with Sean Durkin will be very fun for me…
Michael Mann voted for Avatar?? Wow. Hadn’t seen that one coming! If that is what is his current fascination with film, no wonder he has made crap movies for the last decade or so…
It’s’ so good to learn from the masters! Really loving MIranda July’s recommendation of Kore-Eda’s “Afterlife” although I might put “Still Walking” in there instead.
Maybe someone should set up a dating site where film buffs will get matched by film choices. When I see a guy says in his profile that he has great taste in movies and his choices are romantic comedies with Kate Hudson in it and the Expendables, he’s less attractive x10…
Looking at the lists, I would bet that we would be able to match the director to the list had this been a game.
Liking Steve McQueen’s choices.
It works as a Match.com profile too. Which director would be most fun on a blind date?
Since Steve and Steve have already paired off, apparently Sean Durkin and I are soul mates.
Interesting to see Michael Mann choose Avatar. Even more interesting to look back at the Top 10 List Mann submitted in 2002, to see what movies he had to discard to make room for his new choices:
1. Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
2. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein)
3. Citizen Kane (Welles)
4. Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick)
5. Faust (Murnau)
6. Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais)
7. My Darling Clementine (Ford)
8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer)
9. Raging Bull (Scorsese)
10. The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah)
Looks like Faust and Last Year at Marienbad fell off.
You can find dozens and dozens of these lists from 2002 archived at the BFI.