Zoom-in Online

In July I expressed a good deal of alarm regarding the possible horrors that awaited us when another “100 Greatest Films” list arrived. The idea for the list (not a direct response but an “alternate list” for the AFI Top 100) sprung up at Cinema Fusion and quickly took hold with the invited online film enthusiasts. It happened so quickly that many important online film writers were left out or chose not to participate, I’m not sure which. Once the final list was revealed, some of my fears proved well founded and others were a boy crying wolf or at least crying about a larger wolf when there was only a pup.  My natural alarmist likes to be heard.

Since I aired my initial grievances I thought I should share the final outcome. It was painfully obvious from the finalist list (some 500 films) that films about women or films from genres that are often considered feminine such as melodrama, screwball, musicals, weren’t going to do well.  Even All About Eve –a mainstay of ‘all time classics’ lists--  was given the boot. If you can get over the dismissal of the feminine (a tough thing to do) and accept it for what it is: a probably accurate depiction of the taste of the many young male moviebuffs who talk about the movies online, it's interesting. As I suspected it leans heavily in favor of genre filmmaking but other lists don't give genre enough credit so there's a bit of a silver lining if you're feeling generous. This Top 100 also skewers toward contemporary filmmaking though not as badly as I feared it would. I was happy to see a few silent pictures fight there way onto the list.

The list follows. (Cinema Fusion also has a list of the contributors in case you want to know who to thank or blame)

100. Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922)
99. Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, 1988)
98. On the Waterfront (Kazan, 1954)
97. Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
96. Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992)
95. His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940)
94. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Jackson, 2003)
93. Toy Story (Lasseter, 1995)
92. Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946)
91. The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)

90. Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984)
89. 8 1⁄2 (Fellini, 1963)
88. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog, 1972)
87. Leon (Besson, 1994)
86. Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958)
85. Modern Times (Chaplin, 1936)
84. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Capra, 1939)
83. To Kill a Mockingbird (Mulligan, 1962)
82. The Manchurian Candidate (Frankenheimer, 1962)
81. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron, 1992)

80. North by Northwest (Hitchcock, 1959)
79. King Kong (Cooper/Shoedsack, 1933)
78. Manhattan (Allen, 1979)
77. Ed Wood (Burton, 1994)
76. American History X (Kaye, 1998)
75. The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941)
74. Groundhog Day (Ramis, 1993)
73. The Conversation (Coppola, 1974)
72. The Bicycle Thief (De Sica, 1948)
71. The Graduate (Nichols, 1967)

70. Network (Lumet, 1976)
69. Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)
68. The Rules of the Game (Renoir, 1939)
67. Do the Right Thing (S. Lee, 1989)
66. Heat (Mann, 1995)
65. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Jackson, 2001)
64. Aliens (Cameron, 1986)
63. Silence of the Lambs (Demme, 1991)
62. The Incredibles (Bird, 2004)
61. A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971)

60. The Apartment (Wilder, 1960)
59. The General (Keaton/Bruckman, 1927)
58. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
57. Unforgiven (Eastwood, 1992)
56. L.A. Confidential (Hanson, 1997)
55. 12 Angry Men (Lumet, 1957)
54. The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
53. M (Lang, 1931)
52. Memento (Nolan, 2000)
51. The Bridge on River Kwai (Lean, 1957)

50. Double Indemnity (Wilder, 1944)
49. The Big Lebowski (J. Coen, 1998)
48. Sunset Blvd. (Wilder, 1950)
47. This is Spinal Tap (Reiner, 1984)
46. Run Lola Run (Tykwer, 1998)
45. Goodfellas (Scorsese, 1990)
44. E.T. (Spielberg, 1982)
43. Singin’ in the Rain (Donen/Kelly, 1952)
42. The Searchers (Ford, 1956)
41. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Leone, 1966)

40. Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
39. Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968)
38. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Forman, 1975)
37. The Princess Bride (Reiner, 1987)
36. The Usual Suspects (Singer, 1995)
35. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Gilliam/Jones, 1975)
34. Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
33. Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
32. Annie Hall (W. Allen, 1977)
31. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985)

30. Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988)
29. The Third Man (Reed, 1949)
28. The Matrix (Wachowski/Wachowski, 1999)
27. The Wizard of Oz (Fleming, 1939)
26. Schindler’s List (Spielberg, 1993)
25. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004)
24. Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962)
23. Fargo (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1996)
22. It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)
21. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)

20. Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
19. Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
18. Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)
17. Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954)
16. The Shawshank Redemption (Darabont, 1994)
15. Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
14. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
13. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Lucas, 1977)
12. Chinatown (Polanski, 1974)
11. Pulp Fiction (Tarantino, 1994)

10. Alien (R. Scott, 1979)
9. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)
8. The Godfather Part II (Coppola, 1974)
7. Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
6. Blade Runner (R. Scott, 1982)
5. Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Kubrick, 1964)
2. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
1. The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)

i'd love to hear your comments but if you're feeling shy I hope the list at least sparks a DVD rental or three.