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My top 100 movies: #1: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1 Viewer)

#97 - All The King's Men

Best Picture/Actor/Actress winners were given for good reason. Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark (as Huey Long) is tremendously powerful without the melodrama particular to the time. Mercedes McCambridge is his equal (even though her powerful character is still bulldozed by Stark).

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Clever populism isn't intelligence (hello, Donald)

Idealism takes a back seat to naked ambition (hello, Hillary)

This film is a great critique of the American political system.

Trivia: 

Mercedes McCambridge was cast after she got angry with the producers. She and other actresses were kept waiting in an office in New York City during open auditions. McCambridge told the producers off and stormed out of the office. They called her back and eventually cast her because she fit the part of Sadie.

 
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#96 - Shadow of a Doubt

Small town denizen Charlotte "Charlie" Newton eagerly awaits the arrival of her sophisticated uncle of the same name, hoping for some excitement in her life. What she gets instead is a confrontation with a menace for which she is ill prepared to face - or is she?

Yes, I'm a bigger fan of Hitch's lesser known films than the more popular ones (except Psycho). 

Hitchcock liked the idea of "bringing evil to a small town". A similar motif to the super awesome (and way up on this list) Fargo.

The coolest thing about this one is that it is essentially a vampire movie.

There are several vampire references throughout the film, including: - Jack Graham asks Ann to tell Catherine the story of Dracula. - Uncle Charlie comes from Philadelphia, "Pennsylvania." Dracula comes from "Transylvania." - Uncle Charlie's line 'The same blood runs through our veins' is from Dracula (1931), were Dracula says the exact same line in reference to Mina when he and Van Helsing have their "battle of wills" to prove he now has power over her. - Telephathic communication between Young Charlie and Uncle Charlie is also connected to the relationship between Mina Harker and Dracula. - Uncle Charlie is also killed on the train "returning" to the east, much like how Dracula dies returning to the east. - As the landlady lowers the blind and the light disappears from his face, Uncle Charlie rises. This image is also interesting to note, as the blinds are traditionally drawn where there is a dead man in the room.

Other vampire references: When the audience is first introduced to Uncle Charlie, he is lying on his bed, arms folded across his chest, suggestive of a vampire lying in his coffin. Uncle Charlie remains unseen on the train (traveling to Santa Rosa) is a lot like Dracula's trip from Transylvania to London. Unlike Dracula who drains the blood from a living being, Uncle Charlie corrupts the minds of the young ones by taking their innocence from them.

I also just found out that 2013's "Stoker", starring Nicole Kidman, is essentially a remake of this film. Will have to check that out.

 
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I've never seen Shadow of A Doubt. 

I did see All The King's Men and I didn't love it. I actually think the remake, with Sean Penn, was a better film. 

 
timschochet said:
I've never seen Shadow of A Doubt. 

I did see All The King's Men and I didn't love it. I actually think the remake, with Sean Penn, was a better film. 
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There's no way Penn's movie is better. A 37 score on Metacritic. I'm guessing Penn was over the top overwhelming in his angling for an Oscar nom.

Shadow of a Doubt is terrific. The words that come to mind are "nuanced" and. "foreboding". But like a Tarantino movie the stretched rubber band does eventually snap.

 
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Andy Dufresne said:
#96 - Shadow of a Doubt

Small town denizen Charlotte "Charlie" Newton eagerly awaits the arrival of her sophisticated uncle of the same name, hoping for some excitement in her life. What she gets instead is a confrontation with a menace for which she is ill prepared to face - or is she?

Yes, I'm a bigger fan of Hitch's lesser known films than the more popular ones (except Psycho). 

Hitchcock liked the idea of "bringing evil to a small town". A similar motif to the super awesome (and way up on this list) Fargo.

The coolest thing about this one is that it is essentially a vampire movie.

There are several vampire references throughout the film, including: - Jack Graham asks Ann to tell Catherine the story of Dracula. - Uncle Charlie comes from Philadelphia, "Pennsylvania." Dracula comes from "Transylvania." - Uncle Charlie's line 'The same blood runs through our veins' is from Dracula (1931), were Dracula says the exact same line in reference to Mina when he and Van Helsing have their "battle of wills" to prove he now has power over her. - Telephathic communication between Young Charlie and Uncle Charlie is also connected to the relationship between Mina Harker and Dracula. - Uncle Charlie is also killed on the train "returning" to the east, much like how Dracula dies returning to the east. - As the landlady lowers the blind and the light disappears from his face, Uncle Charlie rises. This image is also interesting to note, as the blinds are traditionally drawn where there is a dead man in the room.

Other vampire references: When the audience is first introduced to Uncle Charlie, he is lying on his bed, arms folded across his chest, suggestive of a vampire lying in his coffin. Uncle Charlie remains unseen on the train (traveling to Santa Rosa) is a lot like Dracula's trip from Transylvania to London. Unlike Dracula who drains the blood from a living being, Uncle Charlie corrupts the minds of the young ones by taking their innocence from them.

I also just found out that 2013's "Stoker", starring Nicole Kidman, is essentially a remake of this film. Will have to check that out.
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Charlie is traveling on the train under the assumed name of Otis.  :scared:

 
#95 - Once Upon A Time In The West

Claudia Cardinale! :wub:

Sergio Leone's requiem to the idealistic "anyone can build a dream in The West" idea is a film that requires patience. After the gripping opening(s) (Henry Fonda is a BAD guy!?) it does meander a bit, but never gets boring. And it all leads to a great, great conclusion.

And, of course, there's great performances that made the legendary actors legendary.

It looks great and is simultaneously hopeful yet filled with sorrow.

Trivia: Filmmakers lightly coated the face of actor Jack Elam with jam to film his reaction to the flies it attracted.

 
#94 - A Streetcar Named Desire

In another Elia Kazan masterpiece, Self-styled sophisticated Blanche Dubois moves in with her sister Stella and "brutish" brother Stanley in a cramped apartment in steamy New Orleans. But Blanche isn't what she seems, even to herself, and as she loses her mental grip she's confronted head on by the world wise Stanley.

Most people think of this only as a "Brando" Movie (Hey STELLA!) which is ironic since he's the only principle that DIDN'T win an Oscar (although his performance WAS worthy). Leigh, Hunter, and Malden won for Best Actress and the two Supporting awards. 

IMO, however, this film is all Vivien Leigh. It's a question how much she's acting considering her own mental issues.

Most interesting, I think, is that this is really an examination of mental health. We're initially repulsed by Blanche's attitude but then we take pity on her as we realize her mental state. It's an issue we still don't know what to do with even today.

Trivia: 

As the film progresses, the set of the Kowalski apartment actually gets smaller to heighten the suggestion of Blanche's increasing claustrophobia.

Vivien Leigh, who suffered from bipolar disorder in real life, later had difficulties in distinguishing her real life from that of Blanche Dubois.

 
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Andy Dufresne said:
As the film progresses, the set of the Kowalski apartment actually gets smaller to heighten the suggestion of Blanche's increasing claustrophobia.
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Neat, but now I feel  :whoosh:  for never having caught that detail before. 

I like this movie, but TBH, I always saw Stanley more as an overgrown child than being world wise. 

Also, once again the casting of Karl Malden as a counterbalance to Brando is :moneybag: .

 
Charlie Steiner said:
Neat, but now I feel  :whoosh:  for never having caught that detail before. 

I like this movie, but TBH, I always saw Stanley more as an overgrown child than being world wise. 

Also, once again the casting of Karl Malden as a counterbalance to Brando is :moneybag: .
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Yeah, world wise maybe isn't right.

How about street smart instead? He sees right through Blanche even though he's a "brute" and she's "sophisticated".

I think one if of the things the story is trying to say is that the distance between civilized and savage isn't very far - even in your own head.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
Yeah, world wise maybe isn't right.

How about street smart instead? He sees right through Blanche even though he's a "brute" and she's "sophisticated".

I think one if of the things the story is trying to say is that the distance between civilized and savage isn't very far - even in your own head.
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:goodposting:

Street smart makes better sense to me, as I always thought his 'smarts' extended only as far as his little corner of the world.

 
#93 - Notorioius

Ingrid Bergman's Alicia is recruited by Cary Grant's Devlin to spy on a Nazi ring that includes Claude Rains' Alexander. Because she falls so in love with Devlin, she agrees to the scheme of marrying Alexander. Its not long, however, before she's found out and Devlin is forced to find her a way out before she's killed.

Filmed immediately after the end of WW2, this is one of the first movies to deal with Cold War (although we still have Nazis instead of Communists). 

I like that the ending is subdued in the surface (there's no shoot out, for example) but is boiling over just beneath. The plot solution is terrifically clever and the final line wickedly ominous.

Trivia: 

While filming one shot, Cary Grant carped that he was supposed to open the door with his right hand but he was holding his hat in that hand. "Have you considered the possibility of transferring the hat to the other hand?" Alfred Hitchcock replied.

The legendary on-again, off-again kiss between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman was designed to skirt the Hayes Code that restricted kisses to no more than three seconds each.

That's the last Hitchcock for a while, I promise.

 
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I don't always line up with Ebert either.

He was wrong about Once Upon A Time in the West and Fight Club, for example.

But this review gives a good list of good things to look for in Notorious.

 
#92 - Double Indemnity

Walter Neff (with two "F"'s, like as in Philadelphia) an insurance salesman meets Phyllis Dietrichson who proposes that they murder her husband for the insurance claim money. Neff's boss and friend Barton Keyes, because he's exceptionally good at his job, sniffs out the scheme. Will they get away with it? Hey, this is Film Noir baby!

Edward G Robinson steals the show here. People think that The Maltese Falcon embodies Noir...nah, its THIS one.

Trivia:

On viewing the film's rushes, production head Buddy G. DeSylva remarked of Barbara Stanwyck's blonde wig, "We hired Barbara Stanwyck, and here we get George Washington".

The blonde wig that Barbara Stanwyck is wearing throughout the movie was the idea of Billy Wilder. A month into shooting Wilder suddenly realized how bad it looked, but by then it was too late to re-shoot the earlier scenes. To rationalize this mistake, in later interviews Wilder claimed that the bad-looking wig was intentional.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
#92 - Double Indemnity

Walter Neff (with two "F"'s, like as in Philadelphia) an insurance salesman meets Phyllis Dietrichson who proposes that they murder her husband for the insurance claim money. Neff's boss and friend Barton Keyes, because he's exceptionally good at his job, sniffs out the scheme. Will they get away with it? Hey, this is Film Noir baby!

Edward G Robinson steals the show here. People think that The Maltese Falcon embodies Noir...nah, its THIS one.

Trivia:

On viewing the film's rushes, production head Buddy G. DeSylva remarked of Barbara Stanwyck's blonde wig, "We hired Barbara Stanwyck, and here we get George Washington".

The blonde wig that Barbara Stanwyck is wearing throughout the movie was the idea of Billy Wilder. A month into shooting Wilder suddenly realized how bad it looked, but by then it was too late to re-shoot the earlier scenes. To rationalize this mistake, in later interviews Wilder claimed that the bad-looking wig was intentional.
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Are there more noir films on this list? :popcorn:

 
BTW - Edward G Robinson was an AWESOME actor. Another film he practically carries is Orson Welles' "The Stranger". That movie isn't on this list but is definitely worth watching.

In filming Key Largo, although they played on-screen enemies, off-screen Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson treated each other with great respect. Bogart insisted Robinson be treated like a major star and would not come to the set until he was ready. Often, he would go to Robinson's trailer to personally escort him to the set.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
BTW - Edward G Robinson was an AWESOME actor. Another film he practically carries is Orson Welles' "The Stranger". That movie isn't on this list but is definitely worth watching.

In filming Key Largo, although they played on-screen enemies, off-screen Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson treated each other with great respect. Bogart insisted Robinson be treated like a major star and would not come to the set until he was ready. Often, he would go to Robinson's trailer to personally escort him to the set.
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Edward G Robinson is one of my all time favorite actors.  I know, not too far out on a limb, but he seems to get short shrift when people reminisce about the olden time greats.  He was as strong as a lead as he was as a supporting actor.

 
#91 - The Great Dictator

Chaplin's self-funded satire of war and the Third Reich & Co is more than just a comedy. I think Chaplin truly believed his movie could stave off war.

The speech he does in made up German is awesome. As is the dancing globe skit. 

But I love the often derided closing speech. Critics have often cited it as out of character and out of place in the movie. But I think that was Chaplin's point. I think he's saying, "Look, we've all been having fun up until now and the people these characters have been sending up haven't seemed serious to us. But that isn't the case at all. This is serious business and we have to speak up about it!"

Trivia: 

When Charles Chaplin had heard that studios were trying to discourage him from making the film, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a representative, Harry Hopkins, to Chaplin to encourage him to make the film.



The bubble dance was a popular burlesque dance form, dating back to the early 1920's and most likely even earlier. By the 1930's, Sally Rand's bubble dance routine was quite famous. Many in a movie audience would have recognized Charlie Chaplain's globe dance, laughing all the louder.

 
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Andy Dufresne said:
#95 - Once Upon A Time In The West

Claudia Cardinale! :wub:

Sergio Leone's requiem to the idealistic "anyone can build a dream in The West" idea is a film that requires patience. After the gripping opening(s) (Henry Fonda is a BAD guy!?) it does meander a bit, but never gets boring. And it all leads to a great, great conclusion.

And, of course, there's great performances that made the legendary actors legendary.

It looks great and is simultaneously hopeful yet filled with sorrow.

Trivia: Filmmakers lightly coated the face of actor Jack Elam with jam to film his reaction to the flies it attracted.
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Criminally underrated (also here)

:P

 
Andy Dufresne said:
#91 - The Great Dictator

But I love the often derided closing speech. Critics have often cited it as out of character and out of place in the movie. But I think that was Chaplin's point. I think he's saying, "Look, we've all been having fun up until now and the people these characters have been sending up haven't seemed serious to us. But that isn't the case at all. This is serious business and we have to speak up about it!"
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I couldn't agree more.

 
#90 - Chinatown

A surprisingly idealistic private detective can't get the straight story from the woman who hired him and it causes him to become dangerously entangled in forces he cannot possibly win against. You can't fight City Hall is one thing, this is another level entirely. Better to forget it, Jake...It's Chinatown.

I can't say much more than that this movie is awesome.

Trivia:

The screenplay is now regarded as being one of the most perfect screenplays and is now a main teaching point in screen writing seminars and classes everywhere.

Although Los Angeles is given its modern pronunciation in the film ("an-je-les"), prior to the mid-1950s residents said the city's name with a hard G ("angle-es").

 
Probably one of my most memorable experiences -- watching this movie. Wound up with a different girlfriend and a different life. That's not a callous statement about the previous girl; it just wound up that way. 

eta* Also, one of the greatest animated derivatives from that movie.  Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is straight Chinatown. 

 
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Andy Dufresne said:
#95 - Once Upon A Time In The West

Claudia Cardinale! :wub:

Sergio Leone's requiem to the idealistic "anyone can build a dream in The West" idea is a film that requires patience. After the gripping opening(s) (Henry Fonda is a BAD guy!?) it does meander a bit, but never gets boring. And it all leads to a great, great conclusion.

And, of course, there's great performances that made the legendary actors legendary.

It looks great and is simultaneously hopeful yet filled with sorrow.

Trivia: Filmmakers lightly coated the face of actor Jack Elam with jam to film his reaction to the flies it attracted.
Click to expand...
Yes, a little patience is required.   Henry Fonda claimed this was his favorite character.   He shot up a 10 year old kid face to face from 4 feet for pete's sake.   He also kicked and mocked a cripple around on the ground.  Bad, bad guy.   Bronson is terrific also along w/ Jason Robards.    Music is haunting.  Showdown at the end is awesome.   Yes I like this movie.

 
rockaction said:
Probably one of my most memorable experiences -- watching this movie. Wound up with a different girlfriend and a different life. That's not a callous statement about the previous girl; it just wound up that way. 

eta* Also, one of the greatest animated derivatives from that movie.  Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is straight Chinatown. 
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That's funny. I'd never thought of that. But it's been a long time since I've seen WFRR. Not a favorite of mine.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
That's funny. I'd never thought of that. But it's been a long time since I've seen WFRR. Not a favorite of mine.
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Big favorite of mine, but that's fair. We all like what we like.  

As far as the derivative, yeah, it's a Private Investigator down on his luck, it's a Frisco setting. There's even a moment or two when he's reminded it's Toontown -- it's noir, but Roger and his lover get away because it's a cartoon. 

 
Andy Dufresne said:
#90 - Chinatown

A surprisingly idealistic private detective can't get the straight story from the woman who hired him and it causes him to become dangerously entangled in forces he cannot possibly win against. You can't fight City Hall is one thing, this is another level entirely. Better to forget it, Jake...It's Chinatown.

I can't say much more than that this movie is awesome.

Trivia:

The screenplay is now regarded as being one of the most perfect screenplays and is now a main teaching point in screen writing seminars and classes everywhere.

Although Los Angeles is given its modern pronunciation in the film ("an-je-les"), prior to the mid-1950s residents said the city's name with a hard G ("angle-es").
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I loved the movie, but have a hard time buying Jack/Jake as an "idealist"...though he did play such a role to perfection in "Easy Rider"...

 
Kafka said:
I loved the movie, but have a hard time buying Jack/Jake as an "idealist"...though he did play such a role to perfection in "Easy Rider"...
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I just mean that he's not the typical hard boiled noir detective. The untold  backstory seems to me to be saying that he's made a nice living out of easy cases and therefore he takes the dame at her word - WAY past when he shouldn't - and it nearly costs him everything.

 
#89 - 12 Angry Men

The jury's decision in a murder trial seems like a foregone conclusion until one man asks the question "What if it's not?"

I like that the movie doesn't really answer the question as to whether or not the jury got it right. The important thing is that it's a reasonable doubt. And that is definitely better than unreasonable certainty.

Trivia:

At the beginning of the film, the cameras are all positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses to give the appearance of greater distance between the subjects. As the film progresses the cameras slip down to eye level. By the end of the film, nearly all of it is shot below eye level, in close-up and with telephoto lenses to increase the encroaching sense of claustrophobia.

When Juror #10 concludes his ethnic-centered rant in which all other jurors leave the table or notably disagree with him, he is told to sit down and not talk again. Indeed, from that moment until the end of the film he utters not a single word more, not even when asked to give his vote (to which he responds by shaking his head).

 
whoa... Chinatown and 12 Angry Men- all the way down the list, IMO- looking forward to waht you think are better than those.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
#90 - Chinatown

A surprisingly idealistic private detective can't get the straight story from the woman who hired him and it causes him to become dangerously entangled in forces he cannot possibly win against. You can't fight City Hall is one thing, this is another level entirely. Better to forget it, Jake...It's Chinatown.

I can't say much more than that this movie is awesome.

Trivia:

The screenplay is now regarded as being one of the most perfect screenplays and is now a main teaching point in screen writing seminars and classes everywhere.

Although Los Angeles is given its modern pronunciation in the film ("an-je-les"), prior to the mid-1950s residents said the city's name with a hard G ("angle-es").
Click to expand...
 John Huston was absolutely perfect as the villain. 

 
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