Sight and Sound is a film magazine which, amongst other things, takes the time every ten years to poll academics, critics, directors, and other folk involved in the craft of making movies about their top ten picks for the greatest films ever made. All of those choices were then compiled into one top ten list which made the news back on August 1st by unseating CITIZEN KANE from the number one spot.
The full list of people involved in the polling is long – really long – but well worth perusing, and you can do so right here. Doing so will also give you the added benefit of being able to view any commentary that the list maker may have chosen to add, which is extra fascinating in the case of a filmmaker like Edgar Wright.
For those of you with less time on your hands, because I can guarentee that if you start reading those lists it will be nightfall before you stop, I’ve included a few of the lists below (with own my feeble attempt at the very bottom). And why not take your interest one step further and put your passion where your mouth is – make up YOUR list and strike back below! You may have already done this several times over in Movie Fan Central, which is of course fine – copy and paste it below, keep your “honorable mentions” to no more than four, and then we can all respond and discuss as much as we wish in one centralized location.
Francis Ford Coppola:
The Apartment (1960) – Billy Wilder
Ashes and Diamonds (1958) – Andrzej Wajda
The Bad Sleep Well (1960) – Akira Kurosawa
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) – William Wyler
I Vitelloni (1953) – Federico Fellini
The King of Comedy (1983) – Martin Scorsese
Raging Bull (1980) – Martin Scorsese
Singin’ in the Rain (1951) – Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly
Sunrise (1927) – F.W. Murnau
Yojimbo (1961) – Akira Kurosawa
Guillermo Del Toro:
8½ (1963) – Federico Fellini
La Belle et la Bete (1946) – Jean Cocteau
Frankenstein (1931) – James Whale
Freaks (1932) – Tod Browning
Goodfellas (1990) – Martin Scorsese
Greed (1925) – Erich von Stroheim
Los Olvidados (1950) – Luis Bunel
Modern Times (1936) – Charles Chaplin
Nosferatu (1922) – F.W. Murnau
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) – Alfred Hitchcock
Woody Allen:
Bicycle Thieves (1948) – Vittorio De Sica
The Seventh Seal (1957) – Ingmar Bergman
Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles
Amarcord (1973) – Federico Fellini
8 1/2 (1963) – Federico Fellini
The 400 Blows (1959) – Francois Truffaut
Rashomon (1950) – Akira Kurosawa
La Grande Illusion (1937) – Jean Renoir
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (1972) – Luis Bunuel
Paths Of Glory (1957) – -Stanley Kubrick
Martin McDonagh:
Badlands (1973) – Terrence Malick
Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles
Godfather: Part I, The – Francis Ford Coppola
Good the Bad and the Ugly, The (1966) – Sergio Leone
Manhattan (1979) – Woody Allen
Matter of Life and Death, A (1946) – Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger
Night of the Hunter (1955) – Charles Laughton
Seven Samurai (1954) – Akira Kurosawa
Taxi Driver (1976) – Martin Scorsese
Wild Bunch, The (1969) – Sam Peckinpah
Sam Mendes:
The 400 Blows (1959) – Fracois Truffaut
Blue Velvet (1986) – David Lynch
Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles
Fanny and Alexander (1984) – Ingmar Bergman
The Godfather: Part II (1974) – Francis Ford Coppola
Kes (1969) – Ken Loach
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) – Roman Polanski
Taxi Driver (1976) – Martin Scorsese
There Will Be Blood (2007) – Paul Thomas Anderson
Vertigo (1958) – Alfred Hitchcock
Martin Scorsese:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Stanley Kubrick
8½ (1963) – Federico Fellini
Ashes and Diamonds (1958) – Andrzej Wajda
Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles
The Leopard (1963) – Luchino Visconti
Paisa (1946) – Roberto Rossellini
The Red Shoes (1948) – Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger
The River (1951) – Jean Renoir Salvatore
Giuliano (1962) – Francesco Rosi
The Searchers (1956) – John Ford
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953) – Mizoguchi Kenji
Vertigo (1958) – Alfred Hitchcock
Quentin Tarantino:
Apocalypse Now (1976) – Francis Ford Coppola
The Bad News Bears (1976) – Michael Ritchie
Carrie (1976) – Brian De Palma
Dazed and Confused (1993) – Richard Linklater
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) – Sergio Leone
The Great Escape (1963) – John Sturges
His Girl Friday (1939) – Howard Hawks
Jaws (1975) – Steven Spielberg
Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) – Roger Vadium
Rolling Thunder (1997) – John Flynn
Sorcerer (1977) – William Friedkin
Taxi Driver (1976) – Martin Scorsese
Matthew Vaughn:
Back to the Future (1985) – Robert Zemeckis
Being There (1979) – Hal Ashby
The Deer Hunter (1977) – Michael Cimino
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) – Sergio Leone
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) – David Lean
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – Steven Spielberg
Reservoir Dogs (1991) – Quentin Tarantino
Rocky III (1982) – Sylvester Stallone
Scarface (1983) – Brian De Palma
Star Wars (1977) – George Lucas
Edgar Wright:
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Stanley Kubrick
An American Werewolf in London (1981) – John Landis
Carrie (1976) – Brian de Palma
Dames (1934) – Busby Berkeley
Don’t Look Now (1973) – Nicolas Roeg
Duck Soup (1933) – Leo McCarey
Psycho (1960) – Alfred Hitchcock
Raising Arizona (1987) – Joel & Ethan Coen
Taxi Driver (1976) – Martin Scorsese
The Wild Bunch (1969) – Sam Peckinpah
My List:
Apocalypse Now (1979) – Franics Ford Coppola
Black Orpheus (1959) – Marcel Camus
Children of Men (2006) – Alfonso Cuaron
Great Escape, The (1963) – John Sturges
Insomnia (2002) – Christopher Nolan
Killers, The (1946) – Robert Siodmak
Princess Bride, The (1987) – Rob Reiner
Proposition, The (2005) – John Hillcoat
Seventh Seal, The (1957) – Ingmar Bergman
Some Like It Hot (1959) – Billy Wilder
Honorable Mentions: BEN-HUR (1959), KINGDOM OF HEAVEN Director’s Cut (2005), SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1951), and THE TREE OF LIFE (2011). I have yet to find the fortitude to let me choose a single film from the entire career of Scorsese, Hitchcock, or Kurosawa. Their output of extraordinary and influential work is so astonishing that I consistently find myself stunned into submission.
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