BCB's Top 101 Films Poll (2017 edition) - FULL RESULTS ARE UP!!
Posted: 16 Mar 2017, 04:33
So, it's been a while since we last did this, I think, and it would be interesting to do a new poll. We'll keep the same rules as the previous polls, which are as follows:
You will need to send a PM including FIFTY (50) films, with up to 250 points distributed as you wish among them (5 per film being the neutral amount). The list will be determined by the number of votes first, and by the total amount of points second. If the film is not in the English language, then please write both the original title and its English translation. Include year and director for each film, that way I don't get the films mixed up.
Not obligatory, but please try to respect the following layout, avoiding the enumeration at the start, as it'll make things easier for me:
*Original film title* [*Translated film title, if applicable*] (*director*, *year*) - *score*
Example:
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) - 8
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) - 5
Ladri di biciclette [The Bicycle Thieves] (Vittorio de Sica, 1948) - 2
etc.
To take part, all you have to do is send me the lists via PM before May 1st. Hope to see plenty of lists by that date!
At long last, THE RESULTS (WARNING - for the most part I've tried the best I could to find the original trailers, or at least clips which were representative enough of the film in order to complement the list as samples, but it is necessary to point out that some of these, despite being the official trailers of the time, contain spoilers):
91=
Airplane! (1980)
Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker
Still craving for the love of his life, Ted Striker follows Elaine onto the flight that she is working on as a member of the cabin crew. Elaine doesn't want to be with Ted anymore, but when the crew and passengers fall ill from food poisoning, all eyes are on Ted. --FilmFanUk (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZhSiVXL_aA
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: never/ever (6), fange (5), The Write Profile (3)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
(Sponsored by RedLetterMedia)
Boyhood (2014)
Directed by Richard Linklater
There has never been another movie like Boyhood, from director Richard Linklater. An event film of the utmost modesty, it was shot over the course of twelve years in the director’s native Texas and charts the physical and emotional changes experienced by a child named Mason (Ellar Coltrane), his divorced parents (Patricia Arquette, who won an Oscar for her performance, and Ethan Hawke), and his older sister (Lorelei Linklater). Alighting not on milestones but on the small, in-between moments that make up lives, Linklater fashions a flawlessly acted, often funny portrait that flows effortlessly from one year to the next. Allowing us to watch people age on film with documentary realism while gripping us in a fictional narrative of exquisite everydayness, Boyhood has a power that only the art of cinema could harness. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiDztHS3Wos
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: John Coan (6), pcqgod (5), The Write Profile (3)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Get Carter (1971)
Directed by Mike Hodges
Jack Carter (Michael Caine) -- a vindictive and amoral London gangster -- returns to his home town of Newcastle after his brother dies in a car accident. Carter, however, is convinced that he was murdered, and begins an investigation into Newcastle's criminal underworld. When Carter is ordered to leave town by the minions of a shadowy mob boss, his suspicious become confirmed, and he begins his brutal vengeance. --Denny Gibbons (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV4XrUDBlfM
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: Ranking Ted (5), The modernist (6), The Write Profile (3)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Naked (1993)
Directed by Mike Leigh
The brilliant and controversial Naked, from director Mike Leigh, stars David Thewlis as Johnny, a charming and eloquent but relentlessly vicious drifter. Rejecting anyone who might care for him, the volcanic Johnny hurls himself around London on a nocturnal odyssey, colliding with a succession of other desperate and dispossessed people and scorching everyone in his path. With a virtuoso script and raw performances from Thewlis and costars Katrin Cartlidge and Lesley Sharp, Leigh’s depiction of England’s underbelly is an amalgam of black comedy and doomsday prophecy that took the best director and best actor prizes at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLtLUL1wy7g
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: driftin (1), martha (10), The modernist (3)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Heat (1995)
Directed by Michael Mann
Neil McCauley is a thief... an expert thief... one of the best. His philosophy in life - become attached to nothing in life that you can't walk away from in 30 seconds if you spot the "Heat" around the corner. His crew of criminals is a high-tech outfit pulling off professional jobs that impress even the likes of Detective Vincent Hanna. But Hanna, a man driven through life only by his work, becomes obsessed, at the expense of his private life, with bringing McCauley down. As McCauley's crew prepare for the score of a lifetime, and Hanna's team tries to bring him in, the two find that they are challenged by the greatest minds on the opposite side of the law that either one has ever encountered. --Michael Silva (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfKbIbiX458
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: John Coan (4), WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Chinatown (1974)
Directed by Roman Polanski
JJ 'Jake' Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes does what he does best and photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T37QkBc4IGY
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: Goat Boy (4), WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #20 (down 71)
91=
Lost in Translation (2003)
Directed by Sofia Coppola
A lonely, aging movie star named Bob Harris and a conflicted newlywed, Charlotte, meet in Tokyo. Bob is there to film a Japanese whiskey commercial; Charlotte is accompanying her celebrity-photographer husband. Strangers in a foreign land, the two find escape, distraction and understanding amidst the bright Tokyo lights after a chance meeting in the quiet lull of the hotel bar. They form a bond that is as unlikely as it is heartfelt and meaningful. --Jwelch7542 (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0oZsqeG_s
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: fange (5), Copehead (5), Darkness_Fish (4)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Directed by Sidney Lumet
At the end of the banking day on August 22, 1972, Sonny, Sal and Stevie enter a small branch of the First Brooklyn Savings Bank. After all the customers have left and the bank is about to close, they, armed, proceed to rob it. But the robbery does not go according to Sonny's plan, he who is the leader. One problem after another arises, which ultimately leads to a standoff, them locked inside with ten hostages - the male bank manager, the male security guard, and eight female tellers and clerks - and the police, the media and a hoard of on-lookers outside. Despite Sonny and Sal having a suicide pact if things go wrong, Sonny tries to negotiate a way out, he figuring that the hostages are their only saving grace. As Sonny deals with the authorities - primarily "good cop" Moretti who seems to give Sonny whatever he wants, and "bad cop" Sheldon, an FBI agent who plays hardball with Sonny - the public, watching the interactions, have mixed emotions about what Sonny is doing, some who are sympathetic to him as a person. As the situation turns into a circus both inside and outside the bank, the emotions are brought up a notch when Sonny's second wife is brought to the scene, "she" who is able to shed some light on why Sonny needs the money. As day turns to night, the standoff continues until... --Huggo (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne6KMHLTvik
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: John Coan (4), Davey the Fat Boy (5), WG Kaspar (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #18 (down 73)
91=
Platoon (1986)
Directed by Oliver Stone
Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon. --Jeremy Thompson (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGsyEkfjhQk
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: fange (5), PENK (4), WG Kaspar (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Directed by Mel Brooks
The Ultimate Western Spoof. A town where everyone seems to be named Johnson is in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, Hedley Lemar (Harvey Korman), a politically connected nasty person, sends in his henchmen to make the town unlivable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor (Mel Brooks). Hedley convinces him to send the town the first Black sheriff (Cleavon Little) in the west. Bart is a sophisticated urbanite who will have some difficulty winning over the townspeople. --John Vogel (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKayG1TrfuE
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: Goat Boy (4), pcqgod (5), kath (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Days of Heaven (1978)
Directed by Terrence Malick
One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually arresting films of the twentieth century, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. In 1910, a Chicago steelworker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor, and he, his girlfriend (Brooke Adams), and his little sister (Linda Manz) flee to the Texas panhandle, where they find work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating a timeless American idyll that is also a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVbg9xc7tGc
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: driftin (1), joels344 (8), Davey the Fat Boy (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
84=
The Hustler (1961)
Directed by Robert Rossen
"Fast" Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary "Minnesota Fats" to a high-stakes match, but he loses in a heartbreaking marathon. Now broke and without his long-time manager, Felson faces an uphill battle to regain his confidence and his game. It isn't until he hits rock bottom that he agrees to join up with ruthless and cutthroat manager Bert Gordon. Gordon agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul, and perhaps his girlfriend. Will he decide that this is too steep a price to pay in time to save himself? --jgp5300 (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7aFFqz2bXU
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: WG Kaspar (5), Darkness_Fish (7), The Write Profile (3)
Position in 2011 poll: #93 (up 9)
84=
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Directed by Richard Lester
Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. A Hard Day’s Night, in which the bandmates play cheeky comic versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything-goes verve by Richard Lester and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems, including the title track, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and “If I Fell,” A Hard Day’s Night, which reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video, is one of the most deliriously entertaining movies of all time. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWbiVqlSMgc
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: pcqgod (5), fange (5), Snarfyguy (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
84=
Dirty Harry (1971)
Directed by Don Siegel
In the year 1971, San Francisco faces the terror of a maniac known as Scorpio- who snipes at innocent victims and demands ransom through notes left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Harry Callahan (known as Dirty Harry by his peers through his reputation handling of homicidal cases) is assigned to the case along with his newest partner Inspector Chico Gonzalez to track down Scorpio and stop him. Using humiliation and cat and mouse type of games against Callahan, Scorpio is put to the test with the cop with a dirty attitude. --commanderblue (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjBNldYiUmg
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: Copehead (6), Jumper K (4), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
84=
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Directed by Nicholas Ray
When a gifted but washed-up screenwriter with a hair-trigger temper—Humphrey Bogart, in a revelatory, vulnerable performance—becomes the prime suspect in a brutal Tinseltown murder, the only person who can supply an alibi for him is a seductive neighbor (Gloria Grahame) with her own troubled past. The emotionally charged In a Lonely Place, freely adapted from a Dorothy B. Hughes thriller, is a brilliant, turbulent mix of suspenseful noir and devastating melodrama, fueled by powerhouse performances. An uncompromising tale of two people desperate to love yet struggling with their demons and each other, this is one of the greatest films of the 1950s, and a benchmark in the career of the classic Hollywood auteur Nicholas Ray. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7S8PcTtbOM
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: Davey the Fat Boy (5), WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #64 (down 20)
84=
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
It's 1913, and the traditional American West is dying. Among the inhabitants of this dying time era are a outlaw gang called "The Wild Bunch". After a failed bank robbery, the gang head to Mexico to do one last job. Seeing their times and lives drifting away in the newly formed world of the 20th century, the gang take the job and end up in a brutally, violent last stand against their enemies who deemed to be corrupt in a small Mexican town, ruled by a ruthless general. --blazesnakes9 (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdy0t_8mQBw
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: Davey the Fat Boy (5), WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #74 (down 10)
84=
The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by William Friedkin
Accompanied by her 12 year-old daughter Regan, actress Chris McNeil relocates to Washington D.C. where she is filming a movie. Mother and daughter have a good relationship but after a time Regan begins to act strangely. She undergoes various neurological tests but doctors can find nothing to explain her behavior. As Regan's situation reaches crisis proportions - she has to be tied to her bed, swears like a sailor and speaks in tongues - Chris turns to Father Karras, a Roman Catholic priest and psychiatrist to see if an exorcism might be the solution to their problem. Karras is incredulous but the church eventually agrees calling in Father Merrin, who has previously conducted an exorcism and come face to face with the devil. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyW5YXDcIGs
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: driftin (1), Goat Boy (5), Darkness_Fish (9)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
84=
Les quatre cents coups [The 400 Blows] (1959)
Directed by François Truffaut
François Truffaut’s first feature is also his most personal. Told from the point of view of Truffaut’s cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) sensitively re-creates the trials of Truffaut’s own childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers, and petty crime. The film marked Truffaut’s passage from leading critic to trailblazing auteur of the French New Wave. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdXTtX_cz3s
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: never/ever (6), martha (5), PENK (4)
Position in 2011 poll: #15 (down 69)
77=
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García (1974)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
When rich rancher El Jefe learns that his unmarried daughter is pregnant, he offers $1 million to anyone who brings him the head of the man responsible - Alfredo Garcia. Two of the bounty hunters, Quill and Sappensly, hire various people to go out and find Garcia for which they are offering a few thousand dollars. Piano player Bennie is one of those and as his prostitute girlfriend Elita knows Garcia, they set off to find him. When they learn Garcia is already dead, Bennie digs him up to get the head but only death and misery follows for everyone concerned. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPaUPU9xdgM
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: Davey the Fat Boy (5), Snarfyguy (5), The Write Profile (6)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
77=
Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others] (2006)
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Gerd Wiesler is an officer with the Stasi, the East German secret police. The film begins in 1984 when Wiesler attends a play written by Georg Dreyman, who is considered by many to be the ultimate example of the loyal citizen. Wiesler has a gut feeling that Dreyman can't be as ideal as he seems, and believes surveillance is called for. The Minister of Culture agrees but only later does Wiesler learn that the Minister sees Dreyman as a rival and lusts after his partner Christa-Maria. The more time he spends listening in on them, the more he comes to care about them. The once rigid Stasi officer begins to intervene in their lives, in a positive way, protecting them whenever possible. Eventually, Wiesler's activities catch up to him and while there is no proof of wrongdoing, he finds himself in menial jobs - until the unbelievable happens. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FppW5ml4vdw
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5), The Write Profile (6)
Position in 2011 poll: #19 (down 58)
77=
The Thing (1982)
Directed by John Carpenter
An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog. The helicopter pursuing the dog explodes, eventually leaving no explanation for the chase. During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realizes that an alien life-form with the ability to take over other bodies is on the loose and they don't know who may already have been taken over. --Goth (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p35JDJLa9ec
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: driftin (1), Goat Boy (5), Jumper K (10)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
77=
Psycho (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Phoenix officeworker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother. --Col Needham (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps8H3rg5GfM
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: Davey the Fat Boy (5), kath (5), Darkness_Fish (6)
Position in 2011 poll: #63 (down 14)
77=
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Directed by John Landis
After the release of Jake Blues from prison, he and brother Elwood go to visit "The Penguin", the last of the nuns who raised them in a boarding school. They learn the Archdiocese will stop supporting the school and will sell the place to the Education Authority. The only way to keep the place open is if the $5000 tax on the property is paid within 11 days. The Blues Brothers want to help, and decide to put their blues band back together and raise the the money by staging a big gig. As they set off on their "mission from God" they seem to make more enemies along the way. Will they manage to come up with the money in time? --Sami Al-Taher (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCR4c1zPyk
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: fange (5), Copehead (6), kath (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
77=
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Directed by Woody Allen
Judah Rosenthal is an ophthalmologist and a pillar of the community who has a big problem: his mistress Dolores Paley has told him that he is to leave his wife and marry her - as he had promised to do - or she will tell everyone of their affair. When he intercepts a letter Dolores has written to his wife Miriam, he is frantic. He confesses all to his shady brother Jack who assures him that he has friends who can take care of her. Meanwhile, filmmaker Cliff Stern is having his own problems. He's been working on a documentary film for some time but has yet to complete it. He and his wife Wendy have long ago stopped loving one another and are clearly on their way to divorce. He falls in love with Halley Reed who works with a producer, Lester. Cliff soon finds himself making a documentary about Lester and hates every minute of it. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBzlQ7bUtKk
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: John Coan (6), fange (5), Davey the Fat Boy (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
77=
Persona (1966)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
By the midsixties, Ingmar Bergman had already conjured many of the cinema’s most unforgettable images. But with the radical Persona, this supreme artist attained new levels of visual poetry. In the first of a series of legendary performances for Bergman, Liv Ullmann plays a stage actor who has inexplicably gone mute; an equally mesmerizing Bibi Andersson is the garrulous young nurse caring for her in a remote island cottage. While isolated together there, the women perform a mysterious spiritual and emotional transference that would prove to be one of cinema’s most influential creations. Acted with astonishing nuance and shot in stark contrast and soft light by the great Sven Nykvist, Persona is a penetrating, dreamlike work of profound psychological depth. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amxvetvKfho
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: driftin (1), joels344 (10), Goat Boy (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #81 (up 4)
You will need to send a PM including FIFTY (50) films, with up to 250 points distributed as you wish among them (5 per film being the neutral amount). The list will be determined by the number of votes first, and by the total amount of points second. If the film is not in the English language, then please write both the original title and its English translation. Include year and director for each film, that way I don't get the films mixed up.
Not obligatory, but please try to respect the following layout, avoiding the enumeration at the start, as it'll make things easier for me:
*Original film title* [*Translated film title, if applicable*] (*director*, *year*) - *score*
Example:
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) - 8
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) - 5
Ladri di biciclette [The Bicycle Thieves] (Vittorio de Sica, 1948) - 2
etc.
To take part, all you have to do is send me the lists via PM before May 1st. Hope to see plenty of lists by that date!
At long last, THE RESULTS (WARNING - for the most part I've tried the best I could to find the original trailers, or at least clips which were representative enough of the film in order to complement the list as samples, but it is necessary to point out that some of these, despite being the official trailers of the time, contain spoilers):
91=
Airplane! (1980)
Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker
Still craving for the love of his life, Ted Striker follows Elaine onto the flight that she is working on as a member of the cabin crew. Elaine doesn't want to be with Ted anymore, but when the crew and passengers fall ill from food poisoning, all eyes are on Ted. --FilmFanUk (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZhSiVXL_aA
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: never/ever (6), fange (5), The Write Profile (3)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
(Sponsored by RedLetterMedia)
Boyhood (2014)
Directed by Richard Linklater
There has never been another movie like Boyhood, from director Richard Linklater. An event film of the utmost modesty, it was shot over the course of twelve years in the director’s native Texas and charts the physical and emotional changes experienced by a child named Mason (Ellar Coltrane), his divorced parents (Patricia Arquette, who won an Oscar for her performance, and Ethan Hawke), and his older sister (Lorelei Linklater). Alighting not on milestones but on the small, in-between moments that make up lives, Linklater fashions a flawlessly acted, often funny portrait that flows effortlessly from one year to the next. Allowing us to watch people age on film with documentary realism while gripping us in a fictional narrative of exquisite everydayness, Boyhood has a power that only the art of cinema could harness. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiDztHS3Wos
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: John Coan (6), pcqgod (5), The Write Profile (3)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Get Carter (1971)
Directed by Mike Hodges
Jack Carter (Michael Caine) -- a vindictive and amoral London gangster -- returns to his home town of Newcastle after his brother dies in a car accident. Carter, however, is convinced that he was murdered, and begins an investigation into Newcastle's criminal underworld. When Carter is ordered to leave town by the minions of a shadowy mob boss, his suspicious become confirmed, and he begins his brutal vengeance. --Denny Gibbons (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV4XrUDBlfM
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: Ranking Ted (5), The modernist (6), The Write Profile (3)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Naked (1993)
Directed by Mike Leigh
The brilliant and controversial Naked, from director Mike Leigh, stars David Thewlis as Johnny, a charming and eloquent but relentlessly vicious drifter. Rejecting anyone who might care for him, the volcanic Johnny hurls himself around London on a nocturnal odyssey, colliding with a succession of other desperate and dispossessed people and scorching everyone in his path. With a virtuoso script and raw performances from Thewlis and costars Katrin Cartlidge and Lesley Sharp, Leigh’s depiction of England’s underbelly is an amalgam of black comedy and doomsday prophecy that took the best director and best actor prizes at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLtLUL1wy7g
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: driftin (1), martha (10), The modernist (3)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Heat (1995)
Directed by Michael Mann
Neil McCauley is a thief... an expert thief... one of the best. His philosophy in life - become attached to nothing in life that you can't walk away from in 30 seconds if you spot the "Heat" around the corner. His crew of criminals is a high-tech outfit pulling off professional jobs that impress even the likes of Detective Vincent Hanna. But Hanna, a man driven through life only by his work, becomes obsessed, at the expense of his private life, with bringing McCauley down. As McCauley's crew prepare for the score of a lifetime, and Hanna's team tries to bring him in, the two find that they are challenged by the greatest minds on the opposite side of the law that either one has ever encountered. --Michael Silva (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfKbIbiX458
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: John Coan (4), WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Chinatown (1974)
Directed by Roman Polanski
JJ 'Jake' Gittes is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. He is hired by Evelyn Mulwray when she suspects her husband Hollis, builder of the city's water supply system, of having an affair. Gittes does what he does best and photographs him with a young girl but in the ensuing scandal, it seems he was hired by an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray. When Mr. Mulwray is found dead, Jake is plunged into a complex web of deceit involving murder, incest and municipal corruption all related to the city's water supply. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T37QkBc4IGY
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: Goat Boy (4), WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #20 (down 71)
91=
Lost in Translation (2003)
Directed by Sofia Coppola
A lonely, aging movie star named Bob Harris and a conflicted newlywed, Charlotte, meet in Tokyo. Bob is there to film a Japanese whiskey commercial; Charlotte is accompanying her celebrity-photographer husband. Strangers in a foreign land, the two find escape, distraction and understanding amidst the bright Tokyo lights after a chance meeting in the quiet lull of the hotel bar. They form a bond that is as unlikely as it is heartfelt and meaningful. --Jwelch7542 (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0oZsqeG_s
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: fange (5), Copehead (5), Darkness_Fish (4)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Directed by Sidney Lumet
At the end of the banking day on August 22, 1972, Sonny, Sal and Stevie enter a small branch of the First Brooklyn Savings Bank. After all the customers have left and the bank is about to close, they, armed, proceed to rob it. But the robbery does not go according to Sonny's plan, he who is the leader. One problem after another arises, which ultimately leads to a standoff, them locked inside with ten hostages - the male bank manager, the male security guard, and eight female tellers and clerks - and the police, the media and a hoard of on-lookers outside. Despite Sonny and Sal having a suicide pact if things go wrong, Sonny tries to negotiate a way out, he figuring that the hostages are their only saving grace. As Sonny deals with the authorities - primarily "good cop" Moretti who seems to give Sonny whatever he wants, and "bad cop" Sheldon, an FBI agent who plays hardball with Sonny - the public, watching the interactions, have mixed emotions about what Sonny is doing, some who are sympathetic to him as a person. As the situation turns into a circus both inside and outside the bank, the emotions are brought up a notch when Sonny's second wife is brought to the scene, "she" who is able to shed some light on why Sonny needs the money. As day turns to night, the standoff continues until... --Huggo (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne6KMHLTvik
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: John Coan (4), Davey the Fat Boy (5), WG Kaspar (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #18 (down 73)
91=
Platoon (1986)
Directed by Oliver Stone
Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon. --Jeremy Thompson (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGsyEkfjhQk
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: fange (5), PENK (4), WG Kaspar (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Directed by Mel Brooks
The Ultimate Western Spoof. A town where everyone seems to be named Johnson is in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, Hedley Lemar (Harvey Korman), a politically connected nasty person, sends in his henchmen to make the town unlivable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor (Mel Brooks). Hedley convinces him to send the town the first Black sheriff (Cleavon Little) in the west. Bart is a sophisticated urbanite who will have some difficulty winning over the townspeople. --John Vogel (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKayG1TrfuE
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: Goat Boy (4), pcqgod (5), kath (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
91=
Days of Heaven (1978)
Directed by Terrence Malick
One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually arresting films of the twentieth century, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. In 1910, a Chicago steelworker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor, and he, his girlfriend (Brooke Adams), and his little sister (Linda Manz) flee to the Texas panhandle, where they find work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating a timeless American idyll that is also a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVbg9xc7tGc
Votes: 3
Points: 14
Voters: driftin (1), joels344 (8), Davey the Fat Boy (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
84=
The Hustler (1961)
Directed by Robert Rossen
"Fast" Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary "Minnesota Fats" to a high-stakes match, but he loses in a heartbreaking marathon. Now broke and without his long-time manager, Felson faces an uphill battle to regain his confidence and his game. It isn't until he hits rock bottom that he agrees to join up with ruthless and cutthroat manager Bert Gordon. Gordon agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul, and perhaps his girlfriend. Will he decide that this is too steep a price to pay in time to save himself? --jgp5300 (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7aFFqz2bXU
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: WG Kaspar (5), Darkness_Fish (7), The Write Profile (3)
Position in 2011 poll: #93 (up 9)
84=
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Directed by Richard Lester
Meet the Beatles! Just one month after they exploded onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. A Hard Day’s Night, in which the bandmates play cheeky comic versions of themselves, captured the astonishing moment when they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation and changed music forever. Directed with raucous, anything-goes verve by Richard Lester and featuring a slew of iconic pop anthems, including the title track, “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” and “If I Fell,” A Hard Day’s Night, which reconceived the movie musical and exerted an incalculable influence on the music video, is one of the most deliriously entertaining movies of all time. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWbiVqlSMgc
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: pcqgod (5), fange (5), Snarfyguy (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
84=
Dirty Harry (1971)
Directed by Don Siegel
In the year 1971, San Francisco faces the terror of a maniac known as Scorpio- who snipes at innocent victims and demands ransom through notes left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Harry Callahan (known as Dirty Harry by his peers through his reputation handling of homicidal cases) is assigned to the case along with his newest partner Inspector Chico Gonzalez to track down Scorpio and stop him. Using humiliation and cat and mouse type of games against Callahan, Scorpio is put to the test with the cop with a dirty attitude. --commanderblue (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjBNldYiUmg
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: Copehead (6), Jumper K (4), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
84=
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Directed by Nicholas Ray
When a gifted but washed-up screenwriter with a hair-trigger temper—Humphrey Bogart, in a revelatory, vulnerable performance—becomes the prime suspect in a brutal Tinseltown murder, the only person who can supply an alibi for him is a seductive neighbor (Gloria Grahame) with her own troubled past. The emotionally charged In a Lonely Place, freely adapted from a Dorothy B. Hughes thriller, is a brilliant, turbulent mix of suspenseful noir and devastating melodrama, fueled by powerhouse performances. An uncompromising tale of two people desperate to love yet struggling with their demons and each other, this is one of the greatest films of the 1950s, and a benchmark in the career of the classic Hollywood auteur Nicholas Ray. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7S8PcTtbOM
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: Davey the Fat Boy (5), WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #64 (down 20)
84=
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
It's 1913, and the traditional American West is dying. Among the inhabitants of this dying time era are a outlaw gang called "The Wild Bunch". After a failed bank robbery, the gang head to Mexico to do one last job. Seeing their times and lives drifting away in the newly formed world of the 20th century, the gang take the job and end up in a brutally, violent last stand against their enemies who deemed to be corrupt in a small Mexican town, ruled by a ruthless general. --blazesnakes9 (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdy0t_8mQBw
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: Davey the Fat Boy (5), WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #74 (down 10)
84=
The Exorcist (1973)
Directed by William Friedkin
Accompanied by her 12 year-old daughter Regan, actress Chris McNeil relocates to Washington D.C. where she is filming a movie. Mother and daughter have a good relationship but after a time Regan begins to act strangely. She undergoes various neurological tests but doctors can find nothing to explain her behavior. As Regan's situation reaches crisis proportions - she has to be tied to her bed, swears like a sailor and speaks in tongues - Chris turns to Father Karras, a Roman Catholic priest and psychiatrist to see if an exorcism might be the solution to their problem. Karras is incredulous but the church eventually agrees calling in Father Merrin, who has previously conducted an exorcism and come face to face with the devil. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyW5YXDcIGs
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: driftin (1), Goat Boy (5), Darkness_Fish (9)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
84=
Les quatre cents coups [The 400 Blows] (1959)
Directed by François Truffaut
François Truffaut’s first feature is also his most personal. Told from the point of view of Truffaut’s cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) sensitively re-creates the trials of Truffaut’s own childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers, and petty crime. The film marked Truffaut’s passage from leading critic to trailblazing auteur of the French New Wave. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdXTtX_cz3s
Votes: 3
Points: 15
Voters: never/ever (6), martha (5), PENK (4)
Position in 2011 poll: #15 (down 69)
77=
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo García (1974)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
When rich rancher El Jefe learns that his unmarried daughter is pregnant, he offers $1 million to anyone who brings him the head of the man responsible - Alfredo Garcia. Two of the bounty hunters, Quill and Sappensly, hire various people to go out and find Garcia for which they are offering a few thousand dollars. Piano player Bennie is one of those and as his prostitute girlfriend Elita knows Garcia, they set off to find him. When they learn Garcia is already dead, Bennie digs him up to get the head but only death and misery follows for everyone concerned. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPaUPU9xdgM
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: Davey the Fat Boy (5), Snarfyguy (5), The Write Profile (6)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
77=
Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others] (2006)
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Gerd Wiesler is an officer with the Stasi, the East German secret police. The film begins in 1984 when Wiesler attends a play written by Georg Dreyman, who is considered by many to be the ultimate example of the loyal citizen. Wiesler has a gut feeling that Dreyman can't be as ideal as he seems, and believes surveillance is called for. The Minister of Culture agrees but only later does Wiesler learn that the Minister sees Dreyman as a rival and lusts after his partner Christa-Maria. The more time he spends listening in on them, the more he comes to care about them. The once rigid Stasi officer begins to intervene in their lives, in a positive way, protecting them whenever possible. Eventually, Wiesler's activities catch up to him and while there is no proof of wrongdoing, he finds himself in menial jobs - until the unbelievable happens. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FppW5ml4vdw
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: WG Kaspar (5), Ranking Ted (5), The Write Profile (6)
Position in 2011 poll: #19 (down 58)
77=
The Thing (1982)
Directed by John Carpenter
An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog. The helicopter pursuing the dog explodes, eventually leaving no explanation for the chase. During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realizes that an alien life-form with the ability to take over other bodies is on the loose and they don't know who may already have been taken over. --Goth (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p35JDJLa9ec
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: driftin (1), Goat Boy (5), Jumper K (10)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
77=
Psycho (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Phoenix officeworker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday Marion is trusted to bank $40,000 by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother. --Col Needham (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps8H3rg5GfM
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: Davey the Fat Boy (5), kath (5), Darkness_Fish (6)
Position in 2011 poll: #63 (down 14)
77=
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Directed by John Landis
After the release of Jake Blues from prison, he and brother Elwood go to visit "The Penguin", the last of the nuns who raised them in a boarding school. They learn the Archdiocese will stop supporting the school and will sell the place to the Education Authority. The only way to keep the place open is if the $5000 tax on the property is paid within 11 days. The Blues Brothers want to help, and decide to put their blues band back together and raise the the money by staging a big gig. As they set off on their "mission from God" they seem to make more enemies along the way. Will they manage to come up with the money in time? --Sami Al-Taher (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HCR4c1zPyk
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: fange (5), Copehead (6), kath (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
77=
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Directed by Woody Allen
Judah Rosenthal is an ophthalmologist and a pillar of the community who has a big problem: his mistress Dolores Paley has told him that he is to leave his wife and marry her - as he had promised to do - or she will tell everyone of their affair. When he intercepts a letter Dolores has written to his wife Miriam, he is frantic. He confesses all to his shady brother Jack who assures him that he has friends who can take care of her. Meanwhile, filmmaker Cliff Stern is having his own problems. He's been working on a documentary film for some time but has yet to complete it. He and his wife Wendy have long ago stopped loving one another and are clearly on their way to divorce. He falls in love with Halley Reed who works with a producer, Lester. Cliff soon finds himself making a documentary about Lester and hates every minute of it. --garykmcd (IMDb.com)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBzlQ7bUtKk
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: John Coan (6), fange (5), Davey the Fat Boy (5)
Position in 2011 poll: New!
77=
Persona (1966)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
By the midsixties, Ingmar Bergman had already conjured many of the cinema’s most unforgettable images. But with the radical Persona, this supreme artist attained new levels of visual poetry. In the first of a series of legendary performances for Bergman, Liv Ullmann plays a stage actor who has inexplicably gone mute; an equally mesmerizing Bibi Andersson is the garrulous young nurse caring for her in a remote island cottage. While isolated together there, the women perform a mysterious spiritual and emotional transference that would prove to be one of cinema’s most influential creations. Acted with astonishing nuance and shot in stark contrast and soft light by the great Sven Nykvist, Persona is a penetrating, dreamlike work of profound psychological depth. --Criterion Collection
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amxvetvKfho
Votes: 3
Points: 16
Voters: driftin (1), joels344 (10), Goat Boy (5)
Position in 2011 poll: #81 (up 4)