Play it again Sam
60. Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz, US)
Classic Hollywood produced fantastic romances and melodramas on screen, this being one of the most loved and the finest. Instantly watchable and always timeless, Casablanca still has it all, most importantly the power to really move its audience. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman are sublime together, Bogart’s laconic Sam being one of the most iconic protagonists in cinema history
59. 8 1/2 (1963, Federico Fellini, Ita)
Fellini loved filmmaking and actors and women, this is his tribute to all three in his finest work a lyrical poem to his own profession. The lead character played brilliantly by Marcelo Mastroianni is clearly a reflection of Fellini, the struggling filmmaker who is blind sided by sequences of films with no defining voice. It is a film about the process artistically and is one of the best examples of it.
Coming back to clean up this one horse town
58. The Wild Bunch (1969, Sam Peckinpah, US)
Peckinpah brings blood and gore to the western in post Leone, Man With No Name trilogy. A buddy movie with a pulse, Peckinpah knows how to shoot the West and make it look stylish and iconic while still keeping it fresh. Some may argue the 140 minute director’s cut is a tad too sprawling but the use of slow motion and violence is intelligent and unmatched. Makes Watchmen look like a joke.
57. The Lord of the Rings (2001 – 2003, Peter Jackson, NZ/US)
You can keep your Avatar, this was the game changing film of the last decade. The Lawrence of Arabia for our age, Jackson’s beautiful epic perfectly transforms Tolkien’s frankly impenetrable text, and puts it on screen in a comprehensible and entertaining way. Jackson put himself on the map as the pinnacle of fantasy filmmaking and raised the bar for filmmakers who have since tried and failed to recapture the magic of this trilogy for other franchises and failed.
Jimmy Stewart dreams large
56. Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock, US)
Many would argue Hitchcock’s masterpiece, others one of his lesser films. His most paranoid and twisty work grabs the audience from the beginning. The performances from Stewart and Novak are very impressive, also containing a very clever use of camera that gave us some stupendous images. The seeming collapsing staircase representing the characters fear of heights. It is accomplished and assured filmmaking.
55. Saving Private Ryan (1998, Steven Spielberg, US)
Spielberg knows cinema better than most and he knows how to get the audience immediately wrapped up in his film. As many will have seen, Saving Private Ryan has one of the most brilliant opening set pieces of all time, the 30 minutes recreation of the D-Day assault is mesmerising. After that there is stupendous drama featuring Tom Hanks best performance which should have won Best Picture in 1998.
Whodunnit? Three wise folks contemplate in the rain
54. Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa, Jap)
Kurosawa tones it down and goes for all out thrilling work which plays with narrative so brilliantly. The same story told from different perspectives allows for an intriguing mystery that has everything from a high octane remake to a Simpsons parody. Even if it doesn’t quite work on all levels the importance of it makes it essential viewing and the opening image of the derelict temple in the rain is one of the best Kurosawa images.
53. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, David Lean, UK/US)
British epic filmmaker David Lean’s WW2 masterpiece contains two very fine performances from Alec Guinness (who won an Oscar) as well as the ever underrated William Holden. Telling a side of the war rarely seen, the battle in the Pacific, Lean perfectly recreates this, as well as providing a fascinating portrait of a man gone mad, as his project to build the Bridge goes to his head.
A stairway to heaven
52. A Matter of Life and Death (1946, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, UK)
Undeniably Powell and Pressburger’s defining film, a darkly funny romance as David Niven plays a fighter pilot who crash lands and seemingly dies, but his fate is yet to be decided by the angels in heaven. An interesting mix match of style as the real world is shot in glorious Technicolor and Heaven in black and white as if the mundane quality of heaven is not something to look forward to. A masterpiece.
51. The Battle of Algiers (1966, Gillo Pontecorvo, Ita/Alg)
One of the most influential of all foreign imports on today’s filmmakers, Pontecorvo’s brutally realised depiction of the conflict in Algeria is still as fearsome and blood charged as it was 0ver 40 years ago. Look at the verite documentary camera style only a hop, skip and a jump away from Paul Greengrass and the quiet violent scenes to see Tarantino. An awesome, timeless war picture.
[...] #60 – 51 Greatest Films of All Time [...]