Cinema’s 101 Greatest

My fellow citizens in Cambridge, UK are trying to save the only cinema we have left for our ‘indie’ and international films. Petition here: Change.org

In light of this petition, as with my previous post, I have decided to compile a list of what I would consider the greatest films of all-time. Once again, although these are numbered, I consider them all to be on an equal footing.

In the quiet I wrote of something, something that broke the higher I spoke and my voice choked on letters unwritten.

As before, all non-English films were watched in the langue originale, with subtitles in the case of those I could not understand. The only rule I had when making this list was that I could not choose a film that I had not watched. The film highlighted in bold is what I consider to be the greatest work of cinema ever recorded; whilst that in italics is my favourite film:-

1. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days by Cristian Mungiu, Romania
2. 8½ by Federico Fellini, Italy
3. Alphaville by Jean-Luc Godard, France
4. Amélie by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France
5. Annie Hall by Woody Allen, United States
6. Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola, United States
7. Bande à Part by Jean-Luc Godard, France
8. The Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein, Russia
9. Berlin Alexanderplatz by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany
10. The Bicycle Thief by Vittorio de Sica, Italy
11. Black God, White Devil by Glauber Rocha, Brazil
12. Blade Runner by Ridley Scott, United States
13. Bonnie & Clyde by Arthur Penn, United States
14. Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore, United States
15. Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard, France
16. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Blake Edwards, United States
17. Brief Encounter by David Lean, England
18. Brother Sun, Sister Moon by Franco Zeffirelli, Italy
19. Casablanca by Michael Curtiz, United States
20. The Children of Paradise by Marcel Carné, France
21. Citizen Cane by Orson Welles, United States
22. City of God by Fernando Meirelles, Brazil
23. The Count of Monte Cristo by Rowland Lee, United States
24. Chungking Express by Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong
25. Cyrano de Bergerac by Jean-Paul Rappeneau, France
26. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie by Luis Buñuel, France
27. La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini, Italy
28. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb by Stanley Kubrick, United States
29. Drunken Master II by Lau Kar-Leung, Hong Kong
30. Eternity and A Day by Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greece
31. Gandhi by Richard Attenborough, India / England
32. Gilda by Charles Vidor, United States
33. The Godfather, Parts 1 & 2 by Francis Ford Coppola, United States
34. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Sergio Leone, Italy
35. Gone with the Wind by Victor Fleming, United States
36. Grand Illusion by Jean Renoir, France
37. Hamlet by Grigori Kozintsev, Russia
38. A Hard Day’s Night by Richard Lester, England
39. Henry V by Laurence Olivier, England
40. Hiroshima, mon Amour by Alain Resnais, France
41. Hotel Chevalier & The Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson, United States
42. The Iron Giant by Brad Bird, United States
43. It’s A Wonderful Life by Frank Capra, United States
44. Kind Hearts and Coronets by Robert Hamer, England
45. The Last Emperor by Bernardo Bertolucci, Italy
46. Last Year at Marienbad by Alain Resnais, France
    
47. Lawrence of Arabia by David Lean, England
48. The Leopard by Luchino Visconti, Italy
    
49. Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni, Italy
50. The Long Absence by Henri Colpi, United States
51. The Lord of the Rings by Peter Jackson, New Zealand
52. The Maltese Falcon by John Huston, United States
53. Melancholia by Lars von Trier, Denmark
54. Metropolis by Fritz Lang, Germany
55. Midaq Alley by Jorge Fons, Mexico
56. Mon oncle d’Amérique by Alain Resnais, France
57. Monty Python’s Life of Brian by Terry Jones, England
58. Notorious by Alfred Hitchcock, United States
59. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso by Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy
60. Obaltan by Yu Hyun-mok, Korea
61. Olympia, Parts 1 & 2 by Leni Riefenstah, Germany
62. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Milos Forman, United States
63. Out of Africa by Sydney Pollack, United States
64. Out of the Past by Jacques Tourneur, United States
65. The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer, France
66. Pather Panchali by Satyajit Ray, Bengal
67. Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon, Japan
68. Persona by Ingmar Bergman, Sweden
69. The Philadelphia Story by George Cukor, United States
70. The Pianist by Roman Polanski, Poland
71. The Piano by Jane Campion, New Zealand
72. Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino, United States
73. Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, United States
74. Rebecca by Alfred Hitchcock, United States
75. The Red Shoes by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, England
76. Rocky by John Avildsen, United States
77. Romeo & Juliet by Franco Zeffirelli, Italy
78. A Room with A View by James Ivory, England
79. The Rules of the Game by Jean Renoir, France
80. Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg, United States
81. Scream by Wes Craven, United States
82. The Shooting Party by Alan Bridges, England
83. Spartacus by Stanley Kubrick, United States
84. Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki, Japan
85. Star Wars, Episodes IV & V by George Lucas, United States
86. A Street Car Named Desire by Elia Kazan, United States
87. Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder, United States
88. Szerelem by Károly Makk, Hungary
89. Talk to Her by Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
90. Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese, United States
91. The Third Man by Carol Reed, England
92. To Kill a Mockingbird by Robert Mulligan, United States
93. Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu, Japan
94. Ugetsu by Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan
95. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy, France
96. Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock, United States
97. La Vie en Rose by Olivier Dahan, France
98. Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders, Germany
99. Withnail & I by Bruce Robinson, England
100. Wuthering Heights by William Wyler, United States
101. Yojimbo by Akira Kurosawa, Japan

Once again, what’s on your list?

L’Année dernière à Marienbad