My Top Ten
Jul 06 '03
The Bottom Line This list tells the top ten and why they are on the list. I love these films, and you will too.
Since there are so many great films that I love, and since there are so many others that I also love, I am forced to
put this Top Ten in alphabetical order. This list has films from about every genre, such as Drama, Historical
Drama, Character Study, Epic, Crime, Film Noir, Romance and Science Fiction. It was very hard to sit down and
think of the 10 best. There are many others that I’m sorry to say didn’t make the list, such as “Lawrence of
Arabia”, “On The Waterfront”, “King Kong”, “The Manchurian Candidate”, “Casablanca”, “Sweet Smell of
Success”, “Rear Window”, “The Wizard of Oz” and “Singin’ In The Rain”. But the top ten I think is satisfactory.
It has some films from some of the world’s best and most successful directors...Alfred Hitchcock (my favorite),
Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Fritz Lang, Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg. These
films in my opinion broke barriers for film-making, or set new limits for film-making, or made history, or all three
put together. I’ll admit that I did a review on this subject before on this site, about a year and a half ago, and it was poorly constructed and lacked the films that are on this top ten. I had not seen as many films then as I have now, and I think this list is much better. So here it is.
CHINATOWN
Roman Polanski made this film five years after his successful “Rosemary’s Baby”, about satanic worshipers. I did not think much of the film, but this film tops that extraordinarily. Even after this year for “The Pianist”, a
holocaust film which he won an Oscar for Best Director for. I have not seen “The Pianist” yet, but I think that
“Chinatown” will always be my favorite Polanski film. Film noir is a genre that had been lost for years at this
point. The great film noirs before were from the 1940’s and 50’s, such John Huston classics as “The Maltese
Falcon” with Humphrey Bogart. This film single-handedly revived the genre for the 70’s and 80’s. This film has
the twist of a classic film, even with it’s cast that includes Jack Nicholson in his first Oscar nominated role for Best Actor, and Faye Dunaway, seven years after her first success with “Bonnie & Clyde”, from 1967. It’s about a private-eye that is hired to find out if a Mr. Hollis Mulwray is cheating on his wife. But when Mulwray is found
dead in a stream, the film reveals surprises and twists...just like a film noir. And also, I forgot to mention that the great director himself, John Huston plays a superb supporting role in the film. I also recommend that the film be seen in letterbox, because you can never see the full entirety of the film if it’s shown in full screen. Robert Towne’s screenplay is among one of the greatest in Hollywood, and he won an Oscar for it. This is truly Roman Polanski’s masterpiece.
CITIZEN KANE
Orson Welles was 25 when he directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in what millions of critics and moviegoers
around the world would call the best movie ever made, and I couldn’t agree more. Wow. What an experience to
sit and watch. Not only were the photographic techniques dazzling, but the script, direction, and acting was as
well. Orson Welles had made his name famous in 1938 for creating the radio show “War of the Worlds”, which
was about Aliens conquering earth. It caused so much controversy that it even drove people to hide out and
commit suicide. So after the show, he was known as a boy genius. Three years later, he came to Hollywood. As if
it wasn’t enough to have your face on every popular magazine, when he went to RKO, he was given a contract to
die for. He was allowed to make two movies and make as much or as little as he wanted. He also had total control
of casting and the hiring of the crew. Imagine directors today being able to have contracts like that. And that’s
not all. He also made his own studio entitled “Mercury” which was to produce his first feature film entitled
“Citizen Kane”. Before the film even came out, it was already the most talked about movie of the year. It was to
be the most anticipated movie in Hollywood at that time. Everyone knew who Orson was and knew that he was to
do the film. “Citizen Kane” was to be about a man who created a newspaper and became the richest man in the
world. Beforehand, Orson had no idea what to make the movie about, until the story of William Randolf Hearst
came to his attention. He did something very odd. He made almost every character in the film a fictional character
based on a true person. So when the movie finally came out, it would be proclaimed not as the best movie of the
year, but the movie that caused huge controversy with the real William Randolf Hearst, played as Charles Foster
Kane in “Citizen Kane”. It began Orson’s career, but at the same time, nearly finished it as well. Still with all the controversy, it was able to pull out one Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. When Orson went up and accepted,
people literally booed at him. It was the only Oscar he would ever win. Another one of Oscar’s horrible mistakes.
“Citizen Kane” was placed in it’s own private vault for years. The contract for Orson was very soon renegotiated.
Orson would find some success in such films as “The Magnificent Ambersons” based on the book, and in 1958,
with “Touch of Evil”, his last Hollywood film. After “Touch of Evil”, the vault containing “Citizen Kane” was opened and rewatched only this time, it was called the best movie ever made. Sight & Sound Critics and Directors
Top Ten Lists have had “Citizen Kane” #1 for 40 years. It’s been called the best movie ever made by thousands of
movie sites. It’s been called best movie ever made by the American Film Institute. I want to point out, the movie
has many locked secrets, if you haven’t seen the film. Every single frame has a secret attached, but we don’t see it. We can watch the movie 150 times over and still not find out everything about it. Even Roger Ebert, the world’s
most famous film critic, admits that as many times as he’s seen the film, he still hasn’t found all the secrets that lie beneath the frames. “Citizen Kane” is one of his ten favorite films. And he has probably seen “Citizen Kane”
more than any other film he has ever watched. Perhaps the only man that can possibly know all the unlocked
secrets of “Citizen Kane” is it’s creator. The boy genius. I have found about 10 or 11 secrets of “Citizen Kane” after watching it about 20 times. There are probably thousands more that I haven’t found. It shows the difficulty of trying to figure out the film. But other than that, if you like to have fun watching movies around great stories, “Citizen Kane” is the movie that you will most want to see. And I also take this movie kind of personally. Well, I was going through my family tree, and I saw a name...the boy genius...and the creator of “Citizen Kane”.
“Rosebud...”
DR. STRANGELOVE: OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB
There it is...the longest film title in history. Thirteen words crammed into one movie title. Well, the only good
reason I can come up with on why this is in my top ten is because it is the funniest movie I’ve ever seen. “To Be
Or Not To Be” is a film that came out in 1942. The point around the whole film was to make fun of Hitler and
Nazi Personnel. Well, “Dr. Strangelove”, which came out in 1963, does the same thing only it makes fun of United States Army Personnel. I guess you could say that in a way, this film is masterful in the aspect of making a
comedy. AFI said that “Some Like It Hot” was the funniest movie, and they placed “Dr. Strangelove” #3. Well, in
a word, if you like dark comedies, this is the darkest. It’s about a psychotic Military Captain that gives an
order...Wing Attack: Plan R (for Robert). This attack is to be initiated if there is a huge terrorist attack on the U.S. The problem is that no attack has happened. So the airplane bombers head for the Ruskies to do Wing Attack:
Plan R. But if the bomb goes off on the country, it will set off a doomsday machine that will destroy all human and
animal life for nearly 100 years. So the president and his personell have to find a way to stop the American
invasion. The actors portraying the characters make them look like goofy, completely idiotic men. Peter Sellers,
the well known comic actor plays three roles in the film. Mandrake, The President, and the title character, Dr.
Strangelove. This was one year after he appeared in another Stanley Kubrick film entitled “Lolita”, with James
Mason. Although Dr. Strangelove is the title character, he is one of the smallest roles. Sellers’ main character is
as Mandrake. And the funniest character in the film is the psychotic Captain played by Sterling Hayden, who also
played the Police Captain in “The Godfather”. Now this is one of two Stanley Kubrick’s masterpieces in my
opinion. But this is one of the greatest because it is the funniest.
THE GODFATHER & THE GODFATHER, pt. II
Now, Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” is a book that was adapted into this film which is without serious rivals as
America’s most popular film. There is hardly a soul who hasn’t seen “The Godfather”. The Best Picture winner
of 1972, this film revolves around one of New York’s 5 organized crime families, the Corleone family. The cast
for this film is unbelievable. Marlon Brando, in his spectacular comeback from many failures, and Al Pacino, in
his star role. And also in the cast includes James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Cazale, and Diane
Keaton. This is Francis Ford Coppola’s high mark. Instead of just adapting the book into the film, he made this
film a personal experience of his life. He said himself that all he did was just make the Corleone family off of his
own. Because, family is the most important thing in life. He even had some of his family play roles in the film.
Talia Shire, his younger sister, plays Connie Corleone, and his daughter plays the child in the baptism sequence.
The film captured oscars for Best Picture, as well as for Best Actor for Marlon Brando, his second Oscar (his first
for “On The Waterfront”...), and Best Adapted Screenplay. The Best Director Oscar went to Bob Fosse for “Cabaret”. But Coppola would still win Best Director in 1974, for the superb sequel to “The Godfather” entitled “The Godfather, pt. II”, which was made nearly an hour longer than part I, and was on a much wider scale. When I say on a much wider scale, I mean it outlines the life of Michael Corleone after part I, and it outlines the life of Vito Corleone before part I. Very peculiar, it’s like a sequel and prequel in one film. It captured 6 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro playing the young Vito Corleone. That performance in my opinion, is the best supporting performance I’ve ever seen. One of the many reasons that Robert De Niro is my favorite actor. And also, I don’t think that there’s ever been an instance where two different actors have won Oscars for playing the same person, that being Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro
playing Vito Corleone. That film also featured Talia Shire. And in “The Godfather, pt. III” from 1990, it featured Francis Ford Coppola’s father as the Orchestra leader. Coppola would also find success as well in 1978 for the film “Apocalypse Now” about the Vietnam War. But “The Godfather” and “The Godfather, pt. II” are always the fans’ favorite. On IMBd.com, there was a poll of the 100 greatest movies compared with the AFI’s 100 greatest
movies. The AFI first three were
1. Citizen Kane 2. Casablanca 3. The Godfather
and the first three for the IMBd poll were
1. The Godfather 2. Schindler’s List 3. The Shawshank Redemption
And remember about the cast. The cast is one of the most famous in the movies. Right along up with the “Gone
With The Wind” cast, and the “Schindler’s List” cast, and even the cast of “Sweet Smell of Success”, with Burt
Lancaster and Tony Curtis. The movie is an offer you can’t refuse.
METROPOLIS
Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” has, and probably always will be my favorite silent film. I have not seen alot of silent
films though. I have still yet to see “The Birth of a Nation”. But I caught this film and watched it, and I was
absolutely stunned at how good it was, and how long. For a silent film, it was very long. Nearly 2 hrs. and 15
mins. This is a silent German film that revolves around an epic story of a city of the future called Metropolis, and
how the rich and wealthy stay above ground with all the beautiful landscape, and towering buildings, and great
spectacle, but the poor and helpless stay below ground and work to keep the machines which rule the city running.
But when evil overpowers the city and the poor go above ground to destroy the machines, there is a big problem.
This film broke huge barriers because it is considered to be the very first science-fiction film ever made. It set the way for such science-fiction films as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “Star Wars”, ?: A Space Odyssey”, and even the very recent Spielberg film, “Minority Report”. So the film has had huge impact on film-makers everywhere. Fritz Lang was always known as a perfectionist, and he really perfectionized this film. Simply the images are dazzling. It’s almost to the effect of “Citizen Kane”. I wish science-fiction films today were as good as this one. “Minority Report” was a very good adaptation of the short stories, and well made. That’s about the only film. "2001: A Space Odyssey” is the best science-fiction film in my opinion, but there might not be any ?: A Space Odyssey” if it were not to the credit of “Metropolis”.
“THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN THE HEAD AND THE HANDS MUST BE THE HEART”
NOTORIOUS
“Notorious” is a very unrecognized Hitchcock film. There were four Hitchcock films on the AFI list, and
“Notorious” was not one of them. They were “Psycho”, “Vertigo”, “Rear Window”, and “North By Northwest”. As praised as Hitchcock has been for his films, there are still several films that he has not been very recognized for. “Notorious” is one of them. Another such film is “Marnie”, which takes a turn from the usual Hitchcock thriller, and mixes with character study. And another is “Dial M For Murder”, about a husband who hires a man to kill his wife. But “Notorious” is in my opinion, by far, atleast one of two of Hitchcock’s best. It also mixes with romance, as alot of Hitchcock’s does, but Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman have just about as much chemistry as Humphrey Bogart and Bergman did in “Casablanca”. “Notorious” is about an agent who is to get a woman who can go undercover inside the life of a man connected in being a trader to his country. The plot focuses then on how the woman has to marry the trader although she is in love with Cary Grant. It’s an extraordinarily concieved masterwork of two superb performances. It’s like an artwork, and the man behind the camera, Hitchcock, is the painter. If you like Hitchcock, you’ll adore this film.
RAGING BULL
There are so many reasons why I could say that “Raging Bull” is one of the greatest movies ever made, but I’ll just
name a few. For one, Martin Scorsese. We have seen many great films by Martin Scorsese, such as “Mean
Streets”, “Taxi Driver”, “The King of Comedy”, but “Raging Bull” is by far his masterpiece. It is based on the true
story of boxing champion, but flawed human being Jake La Motta, played by Robert De Niro. Now, it’s no
coincidence that De Niro won Best Actor that year for this film. Well I say that because this is most likely the
greatest performance in cinema, or atleast I think it is, and everyone I know agrees. I can only think of just a few
performances that come close. One comes to mind...Marlon Brando in “On The Waterfront”, and perhaps Sir Ben
Kingsley in “Gandhi”, but this is the best. Robert De Niro does a complete change of appearance in the film. For
the film, he had to put on 60 pounds to reflect the weight that La Motta gained over a period of his life. Not only
the physical aspects, but the mental aspects as well. When you watch the film, you’re seeing Jake La Motta, not
Robert De Niro playing Jake La Motta, but the actual guy. De Niro tamed himself for the film. He learned to be a
boxer on one hand, and he learned to completely inhabit the character he was playing. Now I’m gonna be honest.
Everything I know about Jake La Motta is pulled from this film. I know he defeated Sugar Ray Robinson once, he
defeated Marcel Cerdan to become the middleweight boxing champion, he had extreme sexual tension with his
wife Vicky during the period they were married, he was arrested for letting a 14 year old girl into his night club,
and so on and so forth. Now I might add that the film was made in black and white. The reason? I haven’t got
the answer. It might be perhaps because of the unblinking boxing violence depicted in the ring, or maybe just to
reflect on Scorsese’s life at the time. Scorsese made this a very true, personal film. At the time, he was strongly
addicted to drugs, and he thought this was the last movie he was to make because of his addiction. So he played
this film brilliantly. At the end of the film, it has a verse, from a chapter of the Bible... “Once I was blind, but now I can see...”. That did not just reflect on the life of Jake La Motta, but also on the life of Martin Scorsese. And also, the editing for this film was brilliant, and the best I’ve ever seen. It was edited by Thelma Schoonmaker, long time partner of Martin Scorsese. The film captured 2 Oscars for Best Actor and Best Editing. 10 years after, Scorsese made “Goodfellas”. “Goodfellas captured 1 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Joe Pesci). To this day, Scorsese has yet to win a Best Director Oscar, just like many other greats like Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Stanley Kubrick. Just this year he was nominated for “Gangs of New York”, but failed to Roman Polanski for “The Pianist”, and Best Picture went to “Chicago”. Another one of Oscars’ great oversights.
SCHINDLER’S LIST
“Schindler’s List” is the most recent film in my top ten, being it was made in 1993, ten years ago, by 2 time Oscar
winner Steven Spielberg. Now this is the first film he won an Oscar for. The second was “Saving Private Ryan”
in 1998. But “Schindler’s List” is by far the directors’ masterpiece. It is about a man named Oskar Schindler, a
Nazi war profiteer of slave labor during the holocaust who hires thousands of Jews to work for him, to make him
pots and pans. The plan is that the Jews made the product, Schindler makes money, then he pays them back in the
product. So basically the Jews are making the pots and pans for themselves while Schindler counts his money. In
doing the work, Schindler promises them life. But that promise is broken when Amon Goeth comes and wipes out
population. Schindler is disgusted. So after long and painstaking thought, he becomes a hero. He uses the money
the Jews made for him and turns around and buys them to take them to a place where they will be safe from the
horrors of the holocaust. Of all the holocaust films that have been made, this is by far the most accurate portrayal.
I’m glad that Spielberg did not make Schindler look like a hero from the beginning, he was a hero only after he
decided to save his Jews. For Spielberg, being Jewish made the film a very personal experience for him. He
gathered crew and cast and headed out to the actual spots where the film took place, to avoid any slickness, without
his usual aid of storyboards. Liam Neeson, the man that played Oskar Schindler said that each day, 8 times out of
10, they would shoot on the very spots where the whole film took place. It must’ve been thrilling to be walking on
a piece of history. Of course, “Schindler’s List” is not a piece of cake to watch. For a movie of nearly three and a
half hours, it has the look of “Citizen Kane” and the feel of “Lawrence of Arabia”. It was an excellent decision to
make the film in black and white, to better give the feel of a holocaust environment. It seems more like a
documentary than a movie, because of its truthful realism. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t see the film, because
you should. It is a cinematic masterpiece. The cast includes Liam Neeson as Schindler, Sir Ben Kingsley as
Itzhak Stern, Ralph Fiennes in his best performance as Amon Goeth, and performances by Caroline Goodall,
Jonathan Sagalle, and Embeth Davidtz. It’s very peculiar because there is no actor in the film that is American.
But yet the cast is one of the best in cinema. In 1982, when Spielberg was first introduced to the book “Schindler’s
Ark” by Thomas Keneally, he resisted signing on to make the movie. He was at the highlight of his success. He
had made some of the highest grossing films of all time including “Jaws”, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”,
“Poltergeist”, and “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial”. He even offered the film to Roman Polanski, a holocaust survivor
himself. But Polanski refused because it struck to close to his own experiences. But when the time would come for
Spielberg to finally make it, he was fearless in doing so. “Schindler’s List” captured 7 Oscars for 1993 including
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script Adaptation for Steven Zaillian, and Best Cinematography for Janusz
Kaminski. It was placed at #9 on the AFI Top 100 list, just behind “On The Waterfront”, and just in front of
“Singin’ In The Rain”. At the end of the film, it gives the message that there are less than 4,000 Jews left alive in Poland today, but there are more than 6,000 descendants of the Schindler Jews. It is an immortal story that must
be told.
“Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.”
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
?: A Space Odyssey” is truly Stanley Kubrick’s greatest work. The genre for this film is in fact
science-fiction. It was made in 1968 and based on short stories by Arthur C. Clarke about the year 2001. Well,
2001 has passed, and we see that the vision of Kubrick and Clarke was not fulfilled. But Clarke himself said that
the story of "2001: A Space Odyssey” will not arrive by 2001. But atleast it will give us something to think about
right? It is the same thing with “Minority Report” which came out this year, that takes place in 2050. It was also
based on several short stories, but the story will not arrive by 2050, because the thought of the story is impossible. But 2001’s story is possible. The movie was made a year before we blasted the first rocket to the moon, but in the movie, we see many many spacecraft on the moon, and many people inhabiting it. And today, it is possible that many people at one time can go to the moon. Another part of 2001 is that many people live on space stations.
And today, it is possible that people can live on space stations. And all this was imagined in a film made a year
before the first giant leap of mankind. For this film, Kubrick was a genius. A huge spectacle of 2001 is the
majestic and hypnotical use of light. But that is for you to see. The two and a half hour film revolves around a
mission to Jupiter, and a black monolith that seems to control the fate of humankind. I understand though that
when you see the film for the first time, you will not understand one frame. I admit, it is probably the hardest film to understand. I had to watch it over and over to get the full impact and the whole story. I’ll also admit I had to go to some sites to find out more about it. And the music that was chosen for the film, such as “The Blue Danube”, was the best choice for that film. There was already a score made for the film, but nothing better fit the film than the classic orchestrations that were in the movie, and Kubrick knew that. At the premiere in 1968, the place was packed full of stars who lined up to watch the film. At the beginning of the movie, you see monkeys, and then you see spacecraft afterwards. The biggest jump in time ever in a movie. From the dawn of man to the year 2001. But as the movie unfolded, the audience began to get bored. Roger Ebert remarked that even Rock Hudson got up to leave and saying “What is this movie about?” Nevertheless, every person who stayed and watched the entire movie knew they had seen one of the greatest movies ever made. "2001: A Space Odyssey” would win one Oscar for Stanley Kubrick, for best special effects. He would never win a Best Director Oscar. It was placed #6 on the Sight & Sound Critics top ten list. I suggest the film be shown in letterbox, because you can never see the entire film in full screen, and you can never get the full impact. When I figured out the movie, it became one of the best movie experiences of my life. Now you can never listen to “The Blue Danube” without imagining spacecraft floating around in space.
VERTIGO
In the last several years, “Vertigo” has become very famous. For the 2002 Sight & Sound Critics List, it placed #2, right behind “Citizen Kane”, and for the Directors List, it placed #9. This is Hitchcock at his best. It is his best film. Based on a previous novel, “Vertigo” is about a man who witnesses a horrible accident, a policeman falling off a building, and develops a disease called vertigo, which makes you afraid of heights. A private investigator, the man is hired to find out what another man’s wife does during the day. Every single day she does the same thing. Then he falls in love with this woman. And twists and turns develop in the story. Hitchcock made this film about 12 years after he made the other film in my list, “Notorious”. The story for this is very odd, because at the beginning, you think the movie is a science-fiction movie, but the surprise twist comes along and it changes your whole view of the story. Jimmy Stewart has found some success with Hitchcock. Besides this film, he has done
“Rear Window” with him. Cary Grant is another one of Hitchcock’s favorite actors to work with. They worked on
such films as “Notorious” and “North By Northwest”. And two favorite actresses of Hitchcock were Grace Kelly
and Ingrid Bergman. Grace Kelly made “Dial M For Murder” and “Rear Window” with Hitchcock, and Ingrid Bergman made “Spellbound” and “Notorious” with him. Although many people’s favorite Hitchcock film is “Psycho”, I do not think it is one of his 5 best. His five best are “Vertigo”, “Notorious”, “Rear Window”, “Dial M
For Murder”, and “North By Northwest”. Just following is “Marnie”, “Psycho”, and “Spellbound”. “Vertigo” is
probably one of Jimmy Stewart’s best jobs. He won a Best Actor Oscar in 1940 in George Cukor’s “The
Philadelphia Story” with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Alfred Hitchcock is certainly one of the critics’
favorite directors. Definitely mine. “Vertigo” is a thriller masterpiece. If you like Hitchcock, you’ll love
“Vertigo”.
That’s my top ten list for now. I usually switch around films every once and a while. So if I change any within the
next months, I’ll post again. Thanks for taking the time to read.
James Gowen
RUNNERS UP:
CASABLANCA-1942-Directed By Michael Curtiz-Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid
THE GRADUATE-1967-Directed by Mike Nichols-Starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, and Katharine Ross
KING KONG-1933-Directed by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest Schoesdack-Starring Robert Armstrong and Fay Wray
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA-1962-Directed by Sir David Lean-Starring Peter O’Toole, Jack Hawkins, and Omar Sharif
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE-1962-Directed by John Frankenheimer-Starring Frank Sinatra and Lawrence Harvey
ON THE WATERFRONT-1954-Directed by Elia Kazan-Starring Marlon Brando and Eva Marie Saint
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN-1952-Directed by Gene Kelly-Starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds
SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS-1957-Directed by Alexander Mackendrick-Starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis
WEST SIDE STORY-1961-Directed by Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins-Starring Natalie Wood and Russ Tamblin
THE WIZARD OF OZ-1939-Directed by Victor Fleming-Starring Judy Garland
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