Which Is The Greatest Film Ever?

It hasen't been made yet

Totally agree.There are loads of great films but none that are an absolute clincher.
That list seems very masculine, what about weepies?!

I don't think that there will ever be a "best". There is always room for improvement.

BTW, I thought that "Pulp Fiction" stunk, I hated all the Star Wars, and would not even go to see "Lord of the Rings". I had rented LOTR, basically 'cause my husband likes that sort of thing, but walked out of the room after about 15 minutes, my eyes glazing over. I thought that Marlon Brando was awful in "The Godfather", although "Godfather II", was an excellent film.

I agree that picking the "best movie" ever is a silly exercise, but if you choose to do so, picking from IMDB's most popular is not a very good way. If you were to read the comments of many of their users (the people who have determined the top films) you would know why. I use the site constantly but am aware of what I am seeing.

We just went through a top ten list thread but instead of IMDb, the Sight & Sound critic's poll is more my bag:

Critics' Top Ten Poll

1. Citizen Kane (Welles)
Dazzlingly inventive, technically breathtaking, Citizen Kane reinvented the way stories could be told in the cinema, and set a standard generations of film-makers have since aspired to. An absorbing account of a newspaper tycoon's rise to power, Orson Welles' debut film feels as fresh as tomorrow's headlines. And he was only 26 when he made it. Who voted for Citizen Kane?

2. Vertigo (Hitchcock)
A gripping detective story or a delirious investigation into desire, grief and jealousy? Hitchcock had a genius for transforming genre pieces into vehicles for his own dark obsessions, and this 1958 masterpiece shows the director at his mesmerising best. And for James Stewart fans, it also boasts the star's most compelling performance. Who voted for Vertigo?

3. La Règle du jeu (Renoir)
Tragedy and comedy effortlessly combine in Renoir's country house ensemble drama. A group of aristocrats gather for some rural relaxation, a shooting party is arranged, downstairs the servants bicker about a new employee, while all the time husbands, wives, mistresses and lovers sweetly deceive one another and swap declarations of love like name cards at a dinner party. Who voted for La Règle du jeu?

4. The Godfather and The Godfather part II (Coppola)
Few films have portrayed the US immigrant experience quite so vividly as Coppola's Godfather films, or exposed the contradictions of the American Dream quite so ruthlessly. And what a cast, formidable talent firing all cylinders: Brando, De Niro, Pacino, Keaton, Duvall, Caan. Now that's an offer you can't refuse. Who voted for The Godfather?

5. Tokyo Story (Ozu)
A poignant story of family relations and loss, Ozu's subtle mood piece portrays the trip an elderly couple make to Tokyo to visit their grown-up children. The shooting style is elegantly minimal and formally reticent, and the film's devastating emotional impact is drawn as much from what is unsaid and unshown as from what is revealed. Who voted for Tokyo Story?

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
One of the most ambitious Hollywood movies ever made, 2001 crams into its two-hour plus running time a story that spans the prehistoric age to the beginning of the third millennium, and features some of the most hypnotically beautiful special effects work ever committed to film. After seeing this, you can never listen to Strauss' Blue Danube without thinking space crafts waltzing against starry backdrops. Who voted for 2001: A Space Odyssey?

7. Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein)
Eisenstein's recreation of a mutiny by sailors of the battleship Potemkin in 1905 works as daring formal experiment - which pushed the expressive potential of film editing to its limit - and rousing propaganda for the masses. The Odessa Steps sequence remains one of the most memorable set-pieces in cinema. Who voted for Battleship Potemkin?

7. Sunrise (Murnau)
Having left his native Germany for the US, F.W. Murnau had all the resources of a major Hollywood studio at his disposal for this, his American debut. What he produced was a visually stunning film romance that ranks as one of the last hurrahs of the silent period. Who voted for Sunrise?

9. 8 1/2 (Fellini)
Wonderfully freefloating, gleefully confusing reality and fantasy, 8 1/2 provides a ringside seat into the ever active imaginative life of its director protagonist Guido, played by Fellini's on-screen alter-ego Marcello Mastroianni. The definitive film about film-making - as much about the agonies of the creative process as the ecstasies - it's no wonder the movie is so popular with directors. Who voted for 8 1/2?

Singin' In the Rain (Kelly, Donen)
Impossible to watch without a smile on your face, this affectionate tribute to the glory days of Hollywood in the 1920s is pleasure distilled into 102 minutes. With Gene Kelly dance sequences that take your breath away and a great score by Brown and Freed, this is the film musical at its best. Who voted for Singin' in the R

...and Sight & Sound (BFI, British Film Institute) top ten:

Directors' Top Ten Poll

1. Citizen Kane (Welles)
Dazzlingly inventive, technically breathtaking, Citizen Kane reinvented the way stories could be told in the cinema, and set a standard generations of film-makers have since aspired to. An absorbing account of a newspaper tycoon's rise to power, Orson Welles' debut film feels as fresh as tomorrow's headlines. And he was only 26 when he made it. Who voted for Citizen Kane?

2. The Godfather and The Godfather part II (Coppola)
Few films have portrayed the US immigrant experience quite so vividly as Coppola's Godfather films, or exposed the contradictions of the American Dream quite so ruthlessly. And what a cast, formidable talent firing all cylinders: Brando, De Niro, Pacino, Keaton, Duvall, Caan. Now that's an offer you can't refuse. Who voted for The Godfather?

3. 8 1/2 (Fellini)
Wonderfully freefloating, gleefully confusing reality and fantasy, 8 1/2 provides a ringside seat into the ever active imaginative life of its director protagonist Guido, played by Fellini's on-screen alter-ego Marcello Mastroianni. The definitive film about film-making - as much about the agonies of the creative process as the ecstasies - it's no wonder the movie is so popular with directors. Who voted for 8 1/2?

4. Lawrence of Arabia (Lean)
Filmed in the desert in lavish widescreen and rich colours, Lawrence of Arabia is David Lean at his most epic and expansive. You can almost feel the waves of heat glowing from the cinema screen Who voted for Lawrence of Arabia?

5. Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick)
A black comedy about impending nuclear annihilation that was made at the height of the cold war, Dr. Strangelove is perhaps Kubrick's most audacious movie and certainly his funniest. Peter Sellers has never been better, and provides good value playing three roles. Who voted for Dr Strangelove?

6. Bicycle Thieves (De Sica)
Mixing melodrama, documentary and social commentary, De Sica follows an impoverished father and son treading the streets of post-war Rome, desperately seeking their stolen bicycle. Deeply compassionate, this poignant film is one of the outstanding examples of Italian neorealism. Who voted for Bicycle Thieves?

6. Raging Bull (Scorsese)
An unblinkingly honest biopic of Jake La Motta - a great prizefighter but a deeply flawed human being - this catches Scorsese in fighting fit form. The boxing sequence are both brutal and beautiful, and De Niro, who famously put on weight to play the middle-aged La Motta, gives one of the performances of modern cinema. Who voted for Raging Bull?

6. Vertigo (Hitchcock)
A gripping detective story or a delirious investigation into desire, grief and jealousy? Hitchcock had a genius for transforming genre pieces into vehicles for his own dark obsessions, and this 1958 masterpiece shows the director at his mesmerising best. And for James Stewart fans, it also boasts the star's most compelling performance. Who voted for Vertigo

9. Rashomon (Kurosawa)
Offering four differing accounts of a rape and murder, all told in flashbacks, Kurosawa's 1951 film is a complex meditation on the distortive nature of memory and a gripping study of human behaviour at its most base. Mifune Toshiro is magnetic as the bandit Tajomaru. Who voted for Rashomon?

9. La Règle du jeu (Renoir)
Tragedy and comedy effortlessly combine in Renoir's country house ensemble drama. A group of aristocrats gather for some rural relaxation, a shooting party is arranged, downstairs the servants bicker about a new employee, while all the time husbands, wives, mistresses and lovers sweetly deceive one another and swap declarations of love like name cards at a dinner party. Who voted for La Règle du jeu?

9. Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
The blueprint for The Magnificent Seven was Kurosawa's magnificent swordplay epic of self-sacrifice about a band of hired samurai who come together to protect a helpless village from a rapacious gang of 40 thieves who descend every year to steal the harvest and kidnap women. The final sequence of the fight in the mud and rain has never been bettered. Who voted for Seven Samurai?

...and AFI's (American Film Institute) Top Ten:

Brief film descriptions are from AFI.


1. Citizen Kane (1941) - RKO
Director: Orson Welles
Stars: Orson Welles; Joseph Cotten; Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead

Welles' first feature - the tragic story of newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Welles), loosely modeled after the life of William Randolph Hearst, founder of the Hearst publishing empire, and the publisher's ultimately empty rise to power. Acclaimed for its innovative narrative structure, deep focus cinematography, soundtrack, literate screenplay, and nuanced portrayal of the central character.


2. Casablanca (1942) - Warner Bros.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Stars: Humphrey Bogart; Ingrid Bergman; Claude Rains; Paul Henreid; Dooley Wilson

Romantic drama of wartime sacrifice set in Nazi-occupied French Morocco. Bogart, as jaded and cynical American idealist saloonkeeper/nightclub owner Rick Blaine, sacrifices the love of a lifetime to join the world's fight against the Nazis. When the picture debuted, it marked the beginning of a beautiful friendship with generations of moviegoers. With a crackling script and the classic song, "As Time Goes By." Academy Award for Best Picture. "Here's looking at you, kid."

3. The Godfather (1972) - Paramount
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Marlon Brando; Al Pacino; James Caan; Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton

Tragic, romantic saga of Mob boss Don Corleone and the rise of his successor, son Michael (Pacino). Adapted from Mario Puzo's novel, the film reimagined the genre of the Mob drama. It was marked by taut suspense, rich period detail, and memorable dialogue ("I'll make him an offer he can't refuse"). Brando is Don Vito Corleone, the sympathetic Godfather of a New York crime family, whose business it is to make offers people can't refuse. Visually beautiful images of times and locales contrast with the film's graphic violence. It won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor, among others.

4. Gone With The Wind (1939) - MGM
Director: Victor Fleming
Stars: Clark Gable; Vivien Leigh; Olivia de Havilland; Leslie Howard; Hattie McDaniel

Based on Margaret Mitchell's best-selling "Immortal tale of the old South" - the inimitable epic of Civil War destruction and the ill-fated romance between Scarlett O'Hara (Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Gable). Endures as a compelling story and an example of studio era greatness. The burning of Atlanta was a high water mark for screen excitement. As poet Ogden Nash put it, "The Civil War was quite a fight and not a mere diversion; I never knew how tough it was before Dave Selznick's version." It won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actress, and Supporting Actress.

5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - Columbia
Director: David Lean
Stars: Peter O'Toole; Alec Guinness; Anthony Quinn; Omar Sharif; Jose Ferrer

Majestic adventure and character drama - the epic story of T. E. Lawrence, an enigmatic British officer/mapmaker who transformed himself into the leader of a WWI Arab revolt against Turkey during World War I. The film became renowned for Lean's direction and Freddie Young's cinematography. Based on T. E. Lawrence's memoir Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Winner of many Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

6. The Wizard of Oz (1939) - MGM
Director: Victor Fleming
Stars: Judy Garland; Ray Bolger; Margaret Hamilton; Bert Lahr; Jack Haley; Frank Morgan

Magical adaptation of L. Frank Baum's children's fantasy of an enchanted land made Garland a major star. Garland's Dorothy Gale is transported from her black-and-white Kansas home to the colorful land of Oz via tornado. From here she journeys down the Yellow Brick Road and is helped by a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion on their way to see the Wizard. The Harold Arlen/E. Yip Harburg score is highlighted by "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - a song that became a popular standard. Inventive use of color and special effects are still impressive today. A children's movie for all ages.

7. The Graduate (1967) - Embassy
Director: Mike Nichols
Stars: Dustin Hoffman; Anne Bancroft; Katharine Ross

Black comedy of aimless, recent college graduate Benjamin (Hoffman) that defined a generation and established Hoffman as a star. Hoffman spends his summer trying to find out what to do next in this biting comedy. Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson has some ideas, and they're not about plastics. Hoffman's reactions to her advances and his attempts to be suave are among the film's funniest moments, and her seduction of Benjamin is withering and hilarious. The evocative Simon and Garfunkel score, that includes "Mrs. Robinson," is as much a character in the movie as Bancroft's amorous Mrs. Robinson or Ross' lovely Elaine. Nichols won an Academy Award for Best Director.

8. On The Waterfront (1954) - Columbia
Director: Elia Kazan
Stars: Marlon Brando; Karl Malden; Lee J. Cobb; Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger

Gritty drama of union corruption memorable for Brando's sensitive performance as a misfit dockworker-longshoreman, epitomized in the backseat scene in which he cries, "I could've been a contender." He rebels against his brother and corruption on New York City's docks in this powerful story that mirrors the political climate of the early 1950s. Winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture, Actor, and Supporting Actress, among others.

9. Schindler's List (1993) - Amblin Entertainment/Universal
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Liam Neeson; Ralph Fiennes; Ben Kingsley

Somber, inspiring adaptation of Thomas Kenneally's fact-based book about an opportunistic Catholic industrialist (Neeson) able to save several hundred Polish Jews from death camps during World War II by hiring them to work in his factory. Memorable performances all around, particularly by Fiennes, who plays a brutal Nazi officer. "The list is life." Winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, among others.

10. Singin' In The Rain (1952) - MGM
Director: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Stars: Gene Kelly; Debbie Reynolds; Donald O'Connor, Jean Hagen

Kelly makes a splash as Don Lockwood, a Hollywood leading man who reflects on the production of The Dueling Cavalier - a film that becomes The Dancing Cavalier when the studio takes advantage of a new invention called sound. Reynolds and O'Connor are his energetic, supportive sidekicks, helping to devise a clever way to cover the grating voice of his co-star Lina Lamont, played by Hagen. Furious when she learns of their plan, Lina asserts herself by screaming, "Why, I make more money than, than Calvin Coolidge! Put together!" Delightful musical send-up of the transition-conversion from silent to sound films, with many memorable and delightful song and dance musical numbers, including "Make 'Em Laugh," "Broadway Rhythm," and the incomparable title song. This musical set in Hollywood has Kelly singing, dancing and splashing in puddles.

Most know my pick for #1: Hitchcock's "Vertigo"

Now those are worthy lists.

Newer lists could possibly include "The Return of the King" but I think the LOTR films have to age a bit more before they find their true place in film history. I can watch "Vertigo" once each year, especially with a friend or relative who has never seen it, and still be enthralled with Hitchock's finally tuned and dynamic directorial skill. The image of Kim Novak stepping out of the eerie green light of the neon sign is also indelible on my mind, not to mention more than a dozen other impossible to forget scenes.

I love Vertigo. They had redone it a few years back, and I was dying to see it in a theatre. When I went, I think that I was alone in the theatre. (It was a matinee) Needless to say, it did not last very long in that theatre. 'Tis a pity, because it is one of the greats.

The new DVD is the restored version with a documentary about what they went through to return it to pristine condition. It actually looks better than it originally looked. I can always remember when the revelation came across the screen (a scene Hitchcock agonized over including with Kim Novak revealing the plot, but I think it had to be thre) I was stunned even after suspecting that was the case (Hitchcock can sure throw doubt into his Red Herrings).

I agree.......I think it calls for a new thread.

Not another top ten, though. We just did that.

Welcome to A2K, danny_boy.