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  The 1,000 Greatest Films The Top 400 (151-200)  
  • The 1,000 Greatest Films Home  • The Top 400 Films  • The Full List  • The Top 200 Directors  • PDF Companion  • Links  
  The Top 400 Films: • 1-25  • 26-50   • 51-75   • 76-100  • 101-150  • 151-200  • 201-250  • 251-300  • 301-350  • 351-400  
     
     
 
 151        152      153  
Belle de jour
LUIS BUÑUEL (140)
1967 | 100m | Col | France-Italy | Drama, Satire
Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Genevieve Page, Pierre Clementi, Francisco Rabal, Georges Marchal, Francoise Fabian, Maria Latour, Macha Meril
"Never before has Buñuel’s view of the spectacle seemed so obliquely Ophülsian in its shy gaze from behind curtains, windows and even peepholes... Buñuel was one of the few men of the left not afflicted by Puritanism and bourgeois inhibitions about the sex lives of the masses." - Andrew Sarris, The New York Observer, 2006
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Molly Haskell, Philip Kaufman, John Powers, Bryan Forbes.
159 → 126 → 140 → 151
Amazon  Strictly Film School  Slant Magazine
 
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
CHANTAL AKERMAN (141)
1975 | 201m | Col | Belgium-France | Avant-garde/Experimental, Feminist Film
Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck, Chantal Akerman, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Yves Bical
"Chantal Akerman's greatest film is one of those lucid puzzlers that may drive you up the wall but will keep you thinking for days or weeks... Akerman forges a major statement, not only in a feminist context but also in a way that tells us something about the lives we all live." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Amy Taubin, John Greyson, Laura Mulvey, Dennis Lim, Nina Menkes.
145 → 142 → 141 → 152
Amazon  The New York Times (1983)  Slant Magazine
 
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
ROBERT WIENE (144)
• Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (original title)
1919 | 69m | BW | Germany | Horror, Costume Horror
Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Lil Dagover, Friedrich Feher, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, Rudolf Lettinger, Rudolf Klein-Rogge, Hans Lanser-Ludolff, Henri Peters-Arnolds, Ludwig Rex
"Aided and abetted by one of Carl Mayer's best scripts and remarkable, distorted sets painted by Hermann Warm, Walter Röhrig, and Walter Reimann, this is more than just a textbook classic; the narrative frame creates ambiguities that hold certain elements of the story in disturbing suspension. A one-of-a-kind masterpiece." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Dusan Makavejev, Peter Wollen, Roger Corman, Michael Wood, Paul Bartel.
133 → 129 → 144 → 153
Amazon  All Movie Guide  Movie Reviews UK
 

          
 154      155      156    
Days of Heaven
TERRENCE MALICK (164)
1978 | 95m | Col | USA | Rural Drama, Romantic Drama
Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz, Robert J. Wilke, Jackie Shultis, Stuart Margolin, Timothy Scott, Gene Bell, Doug Kershaw
"Days of Heaven is above all one of the most beautiful films ever made. Malick's purpose is not to tell a story of melodrama, but one of loss. His tone is elegiac. He evokes the loneliness and beauty of the limitless Texas prairie." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 1997
Selected by Michel Chion, Gavin Smith, Nick Schager, M. Owen Lee, Pawil Pawlikowski.
165 → 170 → 164 → 154
Amazon  Criterion Collection Essay  Village Voice
 
Badlands
TERRENCE MALICK (166)
1973 | 95m | Col | USA | Crime Drama, Road Movie
Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri, Alan Vint, Gary Littlejohn, John Carter, Bryan Montgomery, Gail Threlkeld, Charles Fitzpatrick
"One of the most impressive directorial debuts ever... What distinguishes the film, beyond the superb performances of Sheen and Spacek, the use of music, and the luminous camerawork by Tak Fujimoto, is Malick's unusual attitude towards psychological motivation." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Selected by Sofia Coppola, David Siegel, Adrian Martin, Susan Seidelman, Hal Hartley.
183 → 179 → 166 → 155
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
 
The Band Wagon
VINCENTE MINNELLI (157)
1953 | 112m | Col | USA | Musical Comedy, Backstage Musical
Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, James Mitchell, Robert Gist, Thurston Hall, Ava Gardner, LeRoy Daniels
"The whole point about The Band Wagon, and one which sometimes makes people underrate it, was the way everything seems to mesh so seamlessly--almost effortlessly, in fact. That was due to Minnelli, whose flair and imagination... was matched by his almost perfect control." - Derek Malcolm, The Guardian, 1999
Selected by D.A. Pennebaker, Michael Phillips, Ed Buscombe, Julien Temple, Bernard Jannin.
210 → 159 → 157 → 156
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Senses of Cinema
 

         
 157        158      159  
Ivan the Terrible, Part Two
SERGEI EISENSTEIN (150)
• Ivan Groznyy II: Boyarsky zagovor (original title)
1946 | 88m | BW | USSR | Historical Film, Biography
Nikolai Cherkasov, Serafima Birman, Mikhail Nazvanov, Pavel Kadochnikov, Mikhail Zharov, Amvrosi Buchma, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Mikhail Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Mgebrov, Andrei Abrikosov
"Thematically fascinating both as submerged autobiography and as a daring portrait of Stalin's paranoia... this is one of the most distinctive great films in the history of cinema--freakishly mannerist, yet so vivid in its obsessions and expressionist angularity that it virtually invents its own genre." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Paul Verhoeven, Alexandre Astruc, Ian Christie, Jean-Louis Leutrat, Jonathan Rosenbaum.
130 → 140 → 150 → 157
Amazon  Criterion Collection Essay  Film Reference
 
Sweet Smell of Success
ALEXANDER MACKENDRICK (174)
1957 | 96m | BW | USA | Drama, Media Satire
Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner, Sam Levene, Barbara Nichols, Emile Meyer, Jeff Donnell, Joseph Leon, Edith Atwater
"A psychopathic gossip columnist (Burt Lancaster) rules Broadway with an iron fist, destroying everyone who dares to cross him. These include a small time press agent (Tony Curtis) and a sister (Susan Harrison) on whom he casts an incestuous eye. The dialogue (by Ernest Lehman and Clifford Odets) is etched in acid, and Mackendrick's direction perfectly captures the dark side of The Great White Way." - Richard Schickel, Time, 2005
Selected by F. Gary Gray, Terence Davies, Scott McGehee, Philip Kemp, James Mangold.
142 → 155 → 174 → 158
Amazon  Images Journal  Film Reference
See Also: 250 Quintessential Noir Films
 
Shoah
CLAUDE LANZMANN (152)
1985 | 566m | Col | France | History, Documentary
Simon Srebnik, Michael Podchlebnik, Motke Zaidl, Hanna Zaidl, Jan Piwonski, Itzhak Dugin, Richard Glazer, Paula Biren, Pana Pietyra, Pan Filipowicz
"Shoah is one of the most remarkable films ever made - a terrible matter-of-fact document that makes David Irving's anti-history fade into insignificance. Strangely, the quieter Shoah gets, the more it resonates. Once seen, never forgotten." - Derek Malcolm, The Guardian, 2000
Selected by Amy Taubin, Jean-Michel Frodon, Pier Marton, Daniel Talbot, Nina Menkes.
117 → 148 → 152 → 159
Amazon  Fred Camper  Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
 

          
 160        161      162   
A Woman Under the Influence
JOHN CASSAVETES (156)
1974 | 155m | Col | USA | Marriage Drama, Psychological Drama
Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Katharine Cassavetes, Lady Rowlands, Fred Draper, O.G. Dunn, Elsie Arnes, Vincent Barbi, Cliff Carnell, Nick Cassavetes
"John Cassavetes's 1974 masterpiece, and one of the best films of its decade... Cassavetes makes the viewer's frustration work as part of the film's expressiveness; it has an emotional rhythm unlike anything else I've ever seen." - Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Selected by Tom Charity, Michael Haneke, Dennis Lim, Lodge Kerrigan, Neil Hunter.
161 → 145 → 156 → 160
Amazon  Criterion Collection Essay  Reverse Shot
 
Rocco and His Brothers
LUCHINO VISCONTI (185)
• Rocco e i suoi fratelli (original title)
1960 | 180m | BW | Italy-France | Family Drama, Urban Drama
Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot, Katina Paxinou, Roger Hanin, Paolo Stoppa, Suzy Delair, Claudia Cardinale, Spiros Focas, Claudia Mori
"Rocco and His Brothers, Luchino Visconti's recently restored 1960 film about the struggles of a poor southern Italian family to adjust to industrialized, big-city life, may not be a masterpiece, but it is, nonetheless, a watershed film -- turgid, overwrought, yet still profoundly affecting." - Hal Hinson, Washington Post, 1992
Selected by Albert Maysles, Gavin Lambert, Jana Bokova, Daniil Dondurei, Ramin Bahrani.
204 → 185 → 185 → 161
Amazon  Films de France  Bright Lights Film Journal
 
Cries and Whispers
INGMAR BERGMAN (154)
• Viskningar och rop (original title)
1972 | 106m | Col | Sweden | Drama, Family Drama
Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullmann, Anders Ek, Inga Gill, Erland Josephson, Henning Moritzen, Georg Arlin, Lena Bergman
"Dreamlike and surreal, this movie impacts directly upon the soul, not the mind. Images and the disquieting feelings they engender linger long after the movie's 90 minutes have elapsed. In order to understand why Cries and Whispers is a great film, it must be experienced, not merely watched." - James Berardinelli, Reel Views, 2002
Selected by Michael Winterbottom, Terence Davies, Jonathan Glazer, Fernando Martin Pena, Santosh Sivan.
148 → 167 → 154 → 162
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Criterion Collection Essay
 

         
 163      164       165  
Brazil
TERRY GILLIAM (176)
1985 | 131m | Col | UK | Science Fiction, Satire
Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Katharine Helmond, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin, Ian Richardson, Peter Vaughan, Kim Greist, Jim Broadbent
"Terry Gilliam's ferociously creative black comedy is filled with wild tonal contrasts, swarming details, and unfettered visual invention -- every shot carries a charge of surprise and delight." - Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Selected by Ari Folman, Mark Kermode, Alexei Balabanov, Ernest R. Dickerson, Vadim Jean.
162 → 171 → 176 → 163
Amazon  Images Journal  Slate Magazine
 
Ivan the Terrible, Part One
SERGEI EISENSTEIN (149)
• Ivan Groznyy I (original title)
1944 | 96m | BW | Russia | Historical Film, Biography
Nikolai Cherkasov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Serafima Birman, Mikhail Nazvanov, Mikhail Zharov, Amvrosi Buchma, Mikhail Kuznetsov, Pavel Kadochnikov, Andrei Abrikosov, Aleksandr Mgebrov
"Thematically fascinating both as submerged autobiography and as a daring portrait of Stalin's paranoia... this is one of the most distinctive great films in the history of cinema--freakishly mannerist, yet so vivid in its obsessions and expressionist angularity that it virtually invents its own genre." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Hal Hartley, Ian Christie, Jean-Louis Leutrat, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Theo Angelopoulos.
128 → 138 → 149 → 164
Amazon  Criterion Collection Essay  Film Reference
 
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
SERGIO LEONE (187)
• Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (original title)
1966 | 161m | Col | Italy-Spain | Spaghetti Western, Epic Western
Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffre, Luigi Pistilli, Rada Rassimov, Enzo Petito, Claudio Scarchilli, John Bartha, Mario Brega
"Leone's magnificent style is all contrasts (huge panoramic shots alternating with tight close-ups, very slow build-ups to lightning-fast action). This perfectly matches a narrative that encompasses sadistic brutality, wild humor and, yes, a tragic vision of war and its consequences." - Richard Schickel, Time
Selected by Gore Verbinski, Quentin Tarantino, Errol Morris, Richard Schickel, Bruce Ricker.
173 → 189 → 187 → 165
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Chicago Tribune
 

         
 166      167        168  
The Conversation
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA (177)
1974 | 113m | Col | USA | Psychological Thriller, Paranoid Thriller
Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Cindy Williams, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr, Robert Duvall, Michael Higgins, Elizabeth MacRae, Harrison Ford
"Between The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather, Part II (1974), Francis Ford Coppola wrote and directed a small-scale thriller, The Conversation, which, like Hitchcock’s Rear Window, is an authentic American classic of voyeurism and paranoia." - David Denby, The New Yorker, 2007
Selected by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Joel Schumacher, Ted Bonnitt, Yvonne Tasker, Lizzie Francke.
180 → 183 → 177 → 166
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Gerald Peary
 
Un Chien andalou
LUIS BUÑUEL (167)
• An Andalusian Dog (English title)
1928 | 20m | BW | France | Surrealist Film, Avant-garde/Experimental
Pierre Batcheff, Simone Marevil, Jaime Miravilles, Salvador Dali, Luis Bunuel, Robert Hommet, Marval, Fano Messan, Jeanne Rucas
"Neither the title (An Andalusian Dog) nor anything else in the film was intended to make sense. It remains the most famous short film ever made, and anyone halfway interested in the cinema sees it sooner or later, usually several times." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 2000
Selected by Ian Christie, Lalitha Gopalan, Babak Payami, Matt Zoller Seitz, Andrzej Wajda.
193 → 152 → 167 → 167
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Slant Magazine
 
The Palm Beach Story
PRESTON STURGES (168)
1942 | 90m | BW | USA | Screwball Comedy, Comedy of Manners
Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Rudy Vallee, Mary Astor, Siegfried Arno, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Arthur Stuart Hull, Torben Meyer
"Rudy Vallee turns in his best performance as a gentle, puny millionaire named Hackensacker in this brilliant, simultaneously tender and scalding 1942 screwball comedy by Preston Sturges--one of the real gems in Sturges's hyperproductive period at Paramount." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Gus Van Sant, Tom Charity, Kevin MacDonald, Taylor Hackford, James Mangold.
175 → 164 → 168 → 168
Amazon  Ozu's World Movie Reviews  Time Out
 

         
 169      170       171  
The Maltese Falcon
JOHN HUSTON (161)
1941 | 100m | BW | USA | Mystery, Film Noir
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane, Elisha Cook Jr., Lee Patrick, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan
"Don't miss The Maltese Falcon if your taste is for mystery fare. It's the slickest exercise in cerebration that has hit the screen in many months, and it is also one of the most compelling nervous-laughter provokers yet." - Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, 1941
Selected by Charles Burnett, Richard Schickel, Nasreem Munni Kabir, George Armitage, Robert Benayoun.
158 → 173 → 161 → 169
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Film Reference
See Also: 250 Quintessential Noir Films
 
Partie de campagne
JEAN RENOIR (153)
• A Day in the Country (English title)
1936 | 45m | BW | France | Comedy Drama, Romance
Sylvia Bataille, Georges St. Saens, Jane Marken, Andre Gabriello, Jacques Brunius, Paul Temps, Gabrielle Fontan, Jean Renoir, Marguerite Renoir, Pierre Lestringuez
"It may be only a featurette, but this masterly adaptation of a Maupassant story is rich in both poetry and thematic content... The careful reconstruction of period (around 1860) is enhanced by a typically touching generosity towards the characters and an aching, poignant sense of love lost but never forgotten. And, as always in Renoir, the river is far, far more than just a picturesque stretch of water. Witty and sensuous, it's pure magic. " - Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Selected by D.A. Pennebaker, Denys Arcand, Kevin MacDonald, John Pym, Richard Armstrong.
216 → 147 → 153 → 170
Amazon  Film Reference  The Film Journal
 
The Travelling Players
THEO ANGELOPOULOS (155)
• O Thiasos (original title)
1975 | 230m | Col | Greece | Drama, Political Drama
Eva Kotamanidou, Aliki Georgouli, Stratos Pahis, Maria Vassiliou, Petros Zarkadis, Kiriakos Katrivanos, Yannis Firios, Nina Papazaphiropoulou, Alekos Boubis, Kosta Stiliaris
"A masterpiece in a dozen different ways, The Traveling Players is so complex that a critic attempting to explain it is in the same quandary as the proverbial blind men discovering an elephant." - Henry Sheehan, 1990
Selected by Michel Ciment, Fredric R. Jameson, Dan Georgakas, Dan Fainaru, Martin McLoone.
179 → 174 → 155 → 171
Amazon  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films  Time Out
 

         
 172      173       174    
Trouble in Paradise
ERNST LUBITSCH (162)
1932 | 83m | BW | USA | Sophisticated Comedy, Romantic Comedy
Herbert Marshall, Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Charlie Ruggles, Edward Everett Horton, C. Aubrey Smith, Robert Greig, George Humbert, Rolfe Sedan, Luis Alberni
"Trouble in Paradise is the most fondly memorable—if rarely seen—Hollywood screwball comedy. Its combination of suaveness, hilarity, and sexiness has had a mighty influence." - Armond White, Criterion Collection
Selected by Todd McCarthy, James Naremore, Richard Schickel, Pascal Merigeau, Jean-Loup Bourget.
169 → 182 → 162 → 172
Amazon  San Francisco Chronicle  Images Journal
 
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
LUIS BUÑUEL (163)
• Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie (original title)
1972 | 100m | Col | France | Satire, Black Comedy
Fernando Rey, Delphine Seyrig, Stephane Audran, Bulle Ogier, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Paul Frankeur, Julien Bertheau, Claude Pieplu, Michel Piccoli, Milena Vukotic
"In addition to being extraordinarily funny and perfectly acted, The Discreet Charm moves with the breathtaking speed and self-assurance that only a man of Buñuel's experience can achieve without resorting to awkward ellipsis." - Vincent Canby, The New York Times, 1972
Selected by Denys Arcand, Karel Reisz, Neil Hunter, Sophie Barthes, Federico Fellini.
120 → 151 → 163 → 173
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Criterion Collection Essay
 
The Quiet Man
JOHN FORD (160)
1952 | 129m | Col | USA | Comedy Drama, Romance
John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Mildred Natwick, Arthur Shields, Jack MacGowran, Francis Ford, Eileen Crowe
"A love story that packs a fearsome punch, The Quiet Man is a passionate, full-blooded film. Ford constructs the picture carefully, and lavishes the tale with some of the most visually extraordinary scenes ever filmed." - Baseline Movie Guide, 1992
Selected by George A. Romero, Stephen Frears, Amos Gitai, Franc Roddam, Montxo Armendariz.
263 → 188 → 160 → 174
Amazon  BBC  Combustible Celluloid
 

         
 175      176      177  
La Belle et la bête
JEAN COCTEAU (196)
• Beauty and the Beast (English title)
1946 | 95m | BW | France | Fairy Tale, Romantic Fantasy
Jean Marais, Josette Day, Marcel Andre, Mila Parely, Nane Germon, Michel Auclair, Georges Auric, Raoul Marco, Noel Blin, Jean Cocteau
"I'm prepared to entertain the argument that Beauty and the Beast is not Cocteau's most "important" film and that it does have some creaky moments. But it is probably his most perfect, because it speaks to so wide an audience with its intensity of vision and the emotions that it inspires in us." - Derek Malcolm, The Guardian, 1999
Selected by Ken Russell, David Siegel, Tim Lucas, Shawn Levy, Xavier Dolan.
259 → 190 → 196 → 175
Amazon  Film Reference  Criterion Collection Essay
 
The Mother and the Whore
JEAN EUSTACHE (172)
• La Maman et la putain (original title)
1973 | 210m | BW | France | Psychological Drama, Urban Drama
Jean-Pierre Leaud, Francoise Lebrun, Bernadette Lafont, Isabelle Weingarten, Jacques Renard, Jean-Noel Picq, Pierre Cottrell, Bernard Eisenschitz, Jean Douchet, Jean Eustache
"The Mother and the Whore has the energy and quick, almost surreptitious illumination of the best improvised work. The low-contrast black and white photography gives the film a cool, astringent look that cuts nicely against the gathering force of the script." - Jay Cocks, Time, 1974
Selected by Richard Linklater, Mark Cousins, John Waters, Quim Casas, Doug Block.
221 → 156 → 172 → 176
Amazon  Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)  Strictly Film School
 
Freaks
TOD BROWNING (207)
1932 | 64m | BW | USA | Drama, Psychological Thriller
Harry Earles, Olga Baclanova, Wallace Ford, Leila Hyams, Henry Victor, Daisy Earles, Roscoe Ates, Rose Dione, Daisy Hilton, Violet Hilton
"Browning's film succeeds in being, as one critic has put it, 'moving, harsh, poetic and genuinely tender'. It was undoubtedly before its time and no one has equalled it... Today, it looks like a damning antidote to the cult of physical perfection and an extraordinary tribute to the community of so-called freaks who made up its cast." - Derek Malcolm, The Guardian, 1999
Selected by Werner Herzog, Carlos Garcia Brusco, Dan Georgakas, Jean-Max Mejean, Ed Gonzalez.
284 → 221 → 207 → 177
Amazon  Bright Lights Film Journal  Slant Magazine
 

         
 178      179      180  
The Last Laugh
F.W. MURNAU (173)
• Der Letzte Mann (original title)
1924 | 77m | BW | Germany | Drama, Psychological Drama
Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Max Hiller, Emilie Kurz, Hans Unterkircher, Olaf Storm, Hermann Vallentin, Georg John, Emmy Wyda, Harald Madsen
"The 1924 film in which F.W. Murnau freed his camera from its stationary tripod and took it on a flight of imagination and expression that changed the way movies were made. Cameras had tracked and panned before, but never to such a deliberate and spectacular degree." - Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Selected by Gilles Jacob, Ingmar Bergman, Sidney Gottlieb, Richard Brody, Lawrence Kardish.
187 → 184 → 173 → 178
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
 
Do the Right Thing
SPIKE LEE (205)
1989 | 120m | Col | USA | Urban Drama, Ensemble Film
Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Spike Lee, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Paul Benjamin, John Savage
"With the possible exception of his cable miniseries When the Levees Broke, this 1989 feature is still Spike Lee's best work... Overall this is a powerful and persuasive look at an ethnic community and what makes it tick--funky, entertaining, packed with insight, and political in the best, most responsible sense." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Kevin Smith, Pam Cook, David Parkinson, Asif Kapadia, Chris Borrelli.
213 → 235 → 205 → 179
Amazon  Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)  Reel Views
 
The World of Apu
SATYAJIT RAY (165)
• Apur Sansar (original title)
1959 | 103m | BW | India | Drama, Family Drama
Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Swapan Mukherji, S. Alke Chakravarty, Alok Chakravarty, Dhiresh Majumdar, Sefalika Devi, Dhiren Ghosh, Balarani, Shanti Bhattacherjee
"In The World of Apu, the third film in his Apu Trilogy, the late Indian film maker Satyajit Ray offers a rich, sympathetic portrait of his title character as an adult -- struggling with artistic aspirations, stumbling into an arranged marriage and finding his way as the grieving father of a young son." - Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle, 1995
Selected by Bill Rothman, Daniel Talbot, Joseph Strick, Mary Harron, Simon Louvish.
164 → 178 → 165 → 180
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Strictly Film School
 

         
 181      182       183   
The Gospel According to St. Matthew
PIER PAOLO PASOLINI (159)
• Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (original title)
1964 | 135m | BW | France-Italy | Drama, Religious Drama
Enrique Irazoqui, Margherita Caruso, Susanna Pasolini, Marcello Morante, Mario Socrate, Settimo Di Porto, Otello Sestili, Ferruccio Nuzzo, Giacomo Morante, Alfonso Gatto
"Pasolini's is one of the most effective films on a religious theme I have ever seen, perhaps because it was made by a nonbeliever who did not preach, glorify, underline, sentimentalize or romanticize his famous story, but tried his best to simply record it." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 2004
Selected by Scott Hicks, Jonathan Glazer, Veronique Godard, Bruce LaBruce, Rajko Grlic.
138 → 157 → 159 → 181
Amazon  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films  The New York Times
 
Monsieur Verdoux
CHARLES CHAPLIN (170)
1947 | 123m | BW | USA | Black Comedy, Crime Comedy
Charles Chaplin, Martha Raye, Isobel Elsom, Mady Correll, Marilyn Nash, Irving Bacon, William Frawley, Charles Evans, Allison Roddan, Robert Lewis
"Monsieur Verdoux is an engrossingly wry and paradoxical film, screamingly funny in places, sentimental in others, sometimes slow and devoted to an unusually serious and sobering argument." - Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, 1964
Selected by Gavin Lambert, Jean Douchet, Mrinal Sen, Pascal Merigeau, Elliott Stein.
172 → 176 → 170 → 182
Amazon  Chicago Reader (Dave Kehr)  Slant Magazine
 
Vampyr
CARL DREYER (183)
• Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey (original title)
1932 | 73m | BW | France-Germany | Horror, Gothic Film
Julian West, Henriette Gerard, Jan Hieronimko, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Albert Bras, N. Babanini, Jane Mora
"With the help of Rudolph Maté's luminous photography, Dreyer creates a film of great beauty. Often the close-ups are particularly haunting, but the main achievement is the correctness of each shot, and their relationship to each other." - Chris Petit, Time Out
Selected by Fritz Gottler, Yomota Inuhiko, Linda Williams, Jacques Aumont, Alexandre Astruc.
186 → 193 → 183 → 183
Amazon  Film Reference  Chicago Reader
 

         
 184        185      186  
Nights of Cabiria
FEDERICO FELLINI (180)
• Le Notti di Cabiria (original title)
1957 | 110m | BW | Italy-France | Melodrama, Tragi-comedy
Giulietta Masina, Francois Perier, Amedeo Nazzari, Aldo Silvani, Franca Marzi, Dorian Gray, Mario Passante, Pina Gualandri, Polidor, Enio Girolami
"In Nights of Cabiria, Fellini weighs the cost of both isolation and connection, but it's such a graceful picture that his technique comes off as anything but ponderous -- it's more like a graceful soft-shoe, a muted shuffle on a sandy floor." - Stephanie Zacharek, Salon Magazine
Selected by James Gray, Hubert Cornfield, Susan Seidelman, Paul Mazursky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
156 → 162 → 180 → 184
Amazon  Bright Lights Film Journal  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
 
The Exorcist
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN (193)
1973 | 121m | Col | USA | Horror, Occult Horror
Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Jason Miller, Jack MacGowran, Kitty Winn, Linda Blair, Vasiliki Maliaros, Wallace Rooney, Titos Vandis
"Friedkin's real genius, it seems to me, was to juxtapose the scary rite of exorcism with the barbaric medical technology of the lumbar puncture. Max von Sydow and Ellen Burstyn give maturity and substance to this movie, especially considering the teen-irony-fest the genre was to become." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 2000
Selected by Alex Proyas, M. Night Shyamalan, Mark Kermode, Geoffrey Wright, Danny Cannon.
194 → 186 → 193 → 185
Amazon  Pop Matters  The A.V. Club
 
Performance
NICOLAS ROEG & DONALD CAMMELL (188)
1970 | 105m | Col | UK | Psychological Drama, Satire
James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anita Pallenberg, Michele Breton, Ann Sidney, Johnny Shannon, Anthony Valentine, John Burdon, Stanley Meadows, Allan Cuthbertson
"Back in 1971, I wrote the first long piece on Performance and I've revisited and written about it often since then. A landmark in British cinema and our greatest gangster movie, it's a film that encapsulates and transcends its confused time" - Philip French, The Observer, 2004
Selected by Todd Haynes, Chris Chang, Trevor Steele Taylor, Noel King, Chuck Stevens.
177 → 195 → 188 → 186
Amazon  Screen Online  Senses of Cinema
 

         
 187        188       189  
Death in Venice
LUCHINO VISCONTI (184)
• Morte a Venezia (original title)
1971 | 130m | Col | Italy | Drama, Period Film
Dirk Bogarde, Bjorn Andresen, Silvana Mangano, Romolo Valli, Mark Burns, Nora Ricci, Marisa Berenson, Carole Andre, Leslie French, Franco Fabrizi
"Dirk Bogarde gave the greatest performance of his career, in fact one of the greatest of any screen performances, in Visconti's magnificent 1971 version of the Thomas Mann novella, played out in a series of long, often wordless takes which are miraculously suffused with spiritual meaning." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 2003
Selected by Nikita Mikhalkov, Henrik Uth Jensen, Alfredo Guevara, George Sluizer, Suzi Feay.
226 → 207 → 184 → 187
Amazon  Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)  BBC
 
Raiders of the Lost Ark
STEVEN SPIELBERG (179)
1981 | 115m | Col | USA | Adventure, Action
Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina, Wolf Kahler, Anthony Higgins, Vic Tablian
"Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark plays like an anthology of the best parts from all the Saturday matinee serials ever made... The movie is just plain fun. The Kasdan screenplay is a construction of one damn thing on top of another." - Roger Ebert, Chicago-Sun Times, 2000
Selected by M. Night Shyamalan, Edgar Wright, Anurag Mehta, Louis Leterrier, Garth Jennings.
247 → 233 → 179 → 188
Amazon  Film Reference  Reel Views
 
The Music Room
SATYAJIT RAY (192)
• Jalsaghar (original title)
1958 | 95m | BW | India | Drama, Psychological Drama
Chhabi Biswas, Gangapada Basu, Pinaki Sengupta, Padma Devi, Tulsi Lahiri, Kali Sarkar, Waheed Khan, Roshan Kumari, Sardar Akhtar, Tulshi Chakraborty
"Ray's fourth film, a wonderfully evocative anecdote about an elderly aristocrat, slowly dying amid the crumbling splendours of the past, who decides to defy the egalitarian age that is encroaching... Slow, rapt and hypnotic, it is - given some appreciation of Indian music - a remarkable experience. " - Tom Milne, Time Out
Selected by Charles Tesson, Derek Malcolm, Gilles Jacob, Mira Nair, Amos Gitai.
171 → 180 → 192 → 189
Amazon  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films  San Francisco Chronicle
 

         
 190      191      192  
Celine and Julie Go Boating
JACQUES RIVETTE (181)
• Céline et Julie vont en bateau (original title)
1974 | 192m | Col | France | Surrealist Film, Avant-garde / Experimental
Juliet Berto, Dominique Labourier, Bulle Ogier, Marie-France Pisier, Barbet Schroeder, Nathalie Asnar, Marie-Therese Saussure, Philippe Clevenot, Anne Zamire, Jean Douchet
"There’s cinema, and then there’s Céline and Julie Go Boating. Jacques Rivette's free-form dissertation on the interzone between performance and spectatorship is the ideal filmgoing experience, even as the “story” transcends all long-standing rules of narrative engagement. It’s the Ulysses of moving pictures: You can feel Rivette exploring the art form’s modes of expression and then erasing their borders, one by one." - David Fear, Time Out, 2008
Selected by Ty Burr, Michael Atkinson, Dennis Lim, Neil Hunter, Peter Hames.
135 → 161 → 181 → 190
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Slant Magazine
 
Paths of Glory
STANLEY KUBRICK (195)
1957 | 86m | BW | USA | Anti-War Film, War Drama
Kirk Douglas, Adolphe Menjou, Ralph Meeker, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Timothy Carey, Joseph Turkel, Richard Anderson, Peter Capell, Suzanne Christian
"Paths of Glory is both a terrifying, grim look at battle and an excruciatingly tense courtroom thriller. Together, it's a devastating indictment of war as conducted by opportunists and liars." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, 2005
Selected by Barry Norman, Peter Bradshaw, Fernando Martin Pena, Freddie Francis, Rod Lurie.
166 → 181 → 195 → 191
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Salon Magazine
 
Blow-Up
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI (197)
• Blowup (alternative spelling); Blow Up (alternative title)
1966 | 111m | Col | Italy-UK | Mystery, Psychological Thriller
David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Peter Bowles, Sarah Miles, Jane Birkin, Gillian Hills, John Castle, Julian Chagrin, Harry Hutchinson, Susan Broderick
"This is so ravishing to look at (the colors all seem newly minted) and pleasurable to follow (the enigmas are usually more teasing than worrying) that you're likely to excuse the metaphysical pretensions." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by William Friedkin, Trevor Steele Taylor, Tom Tykwer, Pavel Branko, Raoul Coutard.
229 → 206 → 197 → 192
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Slant Magazine
 

         
 193      194      195  
L'Eclisse
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI (182)
• The Eclipse (English title)
1962 | 123m | BW | France-Italy | Psychological Drama, Urban Drama
Monica Vitti, Alain Delon, Francisco Rabal, Lilla Brignone, Louis Seigner, Rosanna Rory, Mirella Ricciardi, Cyrus Elias
"Alternately an essay and a prose poem about the contemporary world in which the "love story" figures as one of many motifs, this is remarkable both for its visual/atmospheric richness and its polyphonic and polyrhythmic mise en scene. " - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Selected by Gavin Smith, Tim Lucas, Andrey Plakhov, George Kuchar, Gilberto Perez.
149 → 197 → 182 → 193
Amazon  Criterion Collection Essay  Film Reference
 
It Happened One Night
FRANK CAPRA (198)
1934 | 105m | BW | USA | Romantic Comedy, Screwball Comedy
Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, Alan Hale, Ward Bond, Henry Wadsworth, Claire McDowell, Arthur Hoyt, Blanche Frederici
"It Happened One Night was made in 1934, in the years before there was such a thing as screwball romantic-comedy formula. It's among the first of its kind, and it's one of the greatest. Audiences responded at the time (the picture was a huge hit), and today It Happened One Night still feels unbeatably fresh and shiveringly touching." - Stephanie Zacharek , Salon, 2001
Selected by Kevin Thomas, Andrew Bergman, Ursula Vossen, Simon Relph, Fernando Vizcaino Casas.
197 → 202 → 198 → 194
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Film Reference
 
Late Spring
YASUJIRO OZU (190)
• Banshun (original title)
1949 | 108m | BW | Japan | Drama, Family Drama
Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Hohi Aoki, Masao Mishima, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko Sugimura, Yoshiko Tsubouchi, Jun Usami, Yoko Katsuragi
"Late Spring is one of the best two or three films Ozu ever made, with Early Summer deserving comparison. Both films use his distinctive later visual style, which includes precise compositions for a camera that almost never moves." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, 2005
Selected by Carl Franklin, Peter von Bagh, Bill Rothman, Barbet Schroeder, Phil Solomon.
151 → 166 → 190 → 195
Amazon  Strictly Film School  Criterion Collection Essay
 

         
 196      197      198  
Throne of Blood
AKIRA KUROSAWA (227)
• Kumonosu-jou (original title)
1957 | 108m | BW | Japan | Drama, Samurai Film
Chishu Ryu, Setsuko Hara, Yumeji Tsukioka, Hohi Aoki, Masao Mishima, Kuniko Miyake, Haruko Sugimura, Yoshiko Tsubouchi, Jun Usami, Yoko Katsuragi
"It remains a landmark of visual strength, permeated by a particularly Japanese sensibility, and is possibly the finest Shakespearean adaptation ever committed to the screen." - Derek Malcolm, The Guardian, 1999
Selected by Alex Cox, Jonathan Glazer, Peter Greenaway, Andrzej Wajda, Yiwen Chen.
219 → 187 → 227 → 196
Amazon  Criterion Collection Essay  Images Journal
 
The River
JEAN RENOIR (219)
1951 | 99m | Col | USA-India | Drama, Romantic Drama
Patricia Walters, Radha, Adrienne Corri, Nora Swinburne, Esmond Knight, Arthur Shields, Suprova Mukerjee, Thomas E. Breen, Sahjan Singh, Richard Foster
"Made on location in Bengal, this was Renoir's first movie after his wartime sojourn in Hollywood and his first in colour (the exquisite photography is by his nephew, Claude)... It's a beautifully observed rite-of-passage and culture-clash story of a crippled American war veteran's impact on a British community in the last days of the Raj." - Philip French, The Observer, 2006
Selected by Wes Anderson, Carlos F. Heredero, Amos Gitai, Alexandre Astruc, Kent Jones.
522 → 246 → 219 → 197
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  The Village Voice
 
The Great Dictator
CHARLES CHAPLIN (234)
1940 | 128m | BW | USA | Comedy, Anti-War Film
Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner, Henry Daniell, Maurice Moscovich, Billy Gilbert, Emma Dunn, Grace Hayle, Carter DeHaven
"Though the slapstick may seem tired now. there are moments of greatness, notably Charlie's graceful globe-juggling routine and, for all its idealism, the final speech during which any sense of the barber, the dictator or the little tramp fades away, leaving only Chaplin himself speaking directly from the heart." - David Parkinson, Empire
Selected by Michel Gondry, Bernard Jannin, Daniel Serceau, Santosh Sivan, Angela Baldassarre.
280 → 252 → 234 → 198
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Reverse Shot
 

         
 199        200       
Pandora's Box
G.W. PABST (189)
• Die Büchse der Pandora (original title)
1928 | 110m | BW | Germany | Drama, Melodrama
Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Goetz, Alice Roberts, Krafft Raschig, Gustav Diessl, Daisy d'Ora, Michael von Newlinsky, Siegfried Arno
"With his brilliant staging and visual mastery of the rich, shadowy blacks and whites that would later mark American film noir, Pabst re-creates the rigid, mercenary society around Lulu (Louise Brooks). Then he shows how her impish beauty throws open its doors." - Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune, 2007
Selected by Quentin Tarantino, Yvonne Rainer, Gavin Lambert, Derek Jarman, Suzanne Liandrat-Guigues.
198 → 209 → 189 → 199
Amazon  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films  Criterion Collection Essay
 
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER (186)
• Angst essen Seele auf (original title); Fear Eats the Soul (alternate title)
1974 | 94m | Col | Germany | Melodrama, Psychological Drama
Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem, Barbara Valentin, Irm Hermann, Elma Karlowa, Anita Bucher, Gusti Kreissl, Doris Mattes, R.W. Fassbinder, Karl Scheydt
"Vital link between Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows and Todd Haynes's recent homage Far From Heaven, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's achingly tender, brutally wise 1974 masterpiece retained Sirk's scenario of a scandalizing romance and rendered it extra verboten." - Dennis Lim, Village Voice, 2003
Selected by Stig Bjorkman, Jill Godmilow, Bruce LaBruce, Park Kiyong, Lodge Kerrigan.
199 → 214 → 186 → 200
Amazon  Bright Lights Film Journal  Criterion Collection Essay
 

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