Top 100: 10-1

     Well, it's come down to the best of the best. My Top Ten greatest movies of all-time (and if you have missed any of the previous weeks leading up to this conclusion, check out what you missed by using the following weeks: 100-91, 90-81, 80-71, 70-61, 60-51, 50-41, 40-31, 30-21, 20-11). I am kind of sad to be finishing my countdown, as I have really enjoyed writing about my favorite films, and I hope you have enjoyed reading about them (and hopefully seeing some of them you hadn't seen) just as much (although that might depend on whether your favorite film ending up making my list). At some point, when I feel I have seen enough new movies that would make my list, or if my opinion has changed enough, I will probably update the list. In fact, while writing this list, I have already seen one film that would have definitely made my Top 100, Robert Altman's 1970 classic, "M*A*S*H", but it will likely be some time before I have seen enough great new films to merit updating my list.

     This week's films are mostly straight-up dramas, although there are three-ish comedies. I use the suffix "ish" because with the exception of one full fledged comedy starring my favorite comedian, there are two other films that are probably comedies, but both have dramatic undertones to them. For auteurs, there is a third appearance from one of the original greats, and the fifth appearance from my all-time favorite director. One director also makes two appearances on this week's list (his only two overall), but I won't say his name to keep things interesting a little bit longer. Finally, in terms of decades, my Top 10 is big on films from the 1960's and 1970's, with four out of the ten films from the 60's and three out of the ten films from the 70's.

     Before I begin talking about the movies, I want to make to quick a few quick notes. First, I realize that unless you have an account with google, it is very difficult to leave a message in the comments section. It is something I want to fix when I get a little more free time, but in the meantime, here is how you can leave a message if you don't have a google account.

     If you have an email address at say Yahoo for example, what you can do is type whatever you want in the comments section, and then where it says select profile, use the bottom option of OpenID. A pop up window will come up, and in the example where your email address is with Yahoo, you would simple type www.yahoo.com in the window. Then hit post comment, and it will ask you to do one of those stupid security things where you have to match some weird looking word. After that, your comment will be posted. I really want to hear some of your favorite films that didn't make my list, so if you have enjoyed these articles, I would really appreciate hearing from you.

     Finally, for anyone wanting to take a look of the complete list in its entirety, at the bottom of the article will be the complete list, one to one-hundred. Also, starting next week I will be replacing this weekly article with the "If I Picked the Winners" weekly article I was writing before. The idea behind this article is a pick one of the "big 8" Oscar categories from some year and rank the nominees from my least favorite to my favorite. I am going to restart this article by ranking all of this years "big 8" categories, although there is still a film or two I need to see for some categories. Enough with the preliminaries, is time to finish this. On with the countdown!

10. "The Great Dictator" (1940)

     As you can probably tell by now, I love Charles Chaplin. It's amazing to me, after all these years (boarding on 100) that Thomas Edison's motion picture camera has yet to capture another human being as consistently funny as Charlie Chaplin. He was a true comedic genius, but out of all the great things he has done over the years, none is funnier, or braver, than his 1940 film "The Great Dictator". The highest ranked "pure comedy" on my list, "The Great Dictator" is a parody of Hitler and Nazi Germany. By the time the film was released in 1940 it was used as anti-Nazi propaganda by the British and other Allied nations, but when Chaplin started producing the film with his own money in 1937, the British government was furious with Chaplin and threatened to ban the film, as at the time they were in appeasement mode doing anything they could to avoid war.

     In the film Chaplin plays two characters, Adenoid Hynkle (the Adolf Hitler parody), Dictator of Tomania, and an unnamed Jewish barber, who, after an accident during World War I, gets amnesia and is finally released from the hospital to return to his Jewish barbershop in a country that unbeknownst to him, has declared his people to be an enemies of the state. The film follows the exploits of these two look-a-likes. In the case of the Jewish barber, he is slowly reintroduced to the reality of the new world he finds himself in with the help of a young Jewish lady named Hannah (Paulette Goddard ) and an old Jewish man named Mr. Jaeckel (Maurice Moscovitch). Together, the group do their best to fight back against the Nazis while avoiding being sent to concentration camps. Meanwhile, Dictator Hynkle and his crew such as Garbitsch (read Goebbels, played by Henry Daniell) and Herring (read Goering, played by Billy Gilbert), plot to take over the world. Their first step is to take over Osterlich (read Austria), but the Fascist dictator of Bacteria, Napaloni (a parody of Mussolini and Fascist Italy and played by Jack Oakie) also has his eyes on Osterlich and has put his troops on the countries borders. In order to settle the dispute and intimidate Napaloni into submission, Hynkle invites Napaloni to Tomania in order to display their military might in a game of humorous "one-upmenship". The end of the film deals with the Jewish barber's escape, with the help of an old World War I buddy and a defected Nazi, from Nazi patrols where because of their visual similarity, the soldiers of Tomania eventually believe the Jewish barber to be the Great Dictator himself, giving the Jewish barber the chance to let his voice be heard in the film's famous ending speech.

     Chaplin's first "all-talkie" film, and his biggest box office success, "The Great Dictator" is hilarious. Some of the film's great scenes are classic Chaplin scenes that have nothing to do with its setting. For instance, in one scene the Jewish barber shaves a customer exactly to the rhythm of the classic song playing on the radio, and Chaplin's sense of musicality is impeccable. Another humorous scene involves a group of Jews decided that one of them must go on a suicide mission to stop the Nazis, and the one who must go will have a coin in their cake during dessert. The women finding the whole idea ludicrous, put coins in every man's cake. This leads to all the men to secretly trying to take the coins out of their mouth and put it in the cake of another man. The best scenes though are the ones dealing with the Nazis. From the whole speech Hynkle gives in jibberish meant to sound like German, to the all the scenes with Napaloni, played excellently by Jack Oakie who received an Oscar nomination for the role, especially the scene where the two talk and to gain psychological dominance, Hynkle goes to extreme measures to always remain higher than Napaloni so he could look down on him, no one (and there have been many attempts) has parodied Nazis as well as Chaplin in this film. The film's best scene though (and one of the best scenes of any film ever) is one with no words at all, it is simply Dictator Hynkle doing a comical dance with a globe as he turns down right gitty over the thought of ruling the world (click here if you want to see the famous scene). Humor is a very powerful weapon, and this scene does more to illustrate the absurdity of Nazism and the idea of world domination than all the "Schindler's List"'s (a good movie though) in the world. It's beautiful in its simplicity, and compelling in its argument against Totalitarianism without the use of a single word. Interestingly, even though he banned it from Germany, the curiosity got the better of Hitler and he ended up watching a private screening of the film not once, but twice. There is no official record of Hitler's response to the film, but when Chaplin was told the story, he said, "I'd give anything to know what he thought of it." We may never know what Hitler thought of the movie, but regardless of the Nazi dictators opinion, this a comedic and historical masterpiece.

9. "Reservoir Dogs" (1992)

     The fifth and highest ranking film from my all-time favorite director, Quentin Tarantino, "Reservoir Dogs" manages to be the all-time greatest heist film without ever showing the heist. The film, which got it's unusual name from a reaction a man gave to Tarantino's recommendation of a French film titled "Au Revoir Les Enfants" (the man's response was, "I don't want to see no reservoir dogs!"), follows six robbers known by their code-names: Mr. White (real name Larry Dimmick, played by Harvey Keitel), Mr. Orange (real name Freddy Newandyke, played by Tim Roth), Mr. Blonde (real name Vic Vega and brother of "Pulp Fiction"'s Vincent Vega in Tarantino's universe, played by Michael Madsen), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker), and Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino), who are hired by mobster Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney)  and his son, Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn), to rob a jewelry store. The catch though is that Mr. Orange is an undercover cop, and when they attempt the robbery (which as I mentioned early, is never shown to the audience, but only described through dialogue between the characters) the police are ready to take them all in. Things don't as planned for the fuzz either when the psychotic Mr. Blonde starts shooting civilians and cops and the whole thing turns into an "every man for himself" ordeal. Mr. Blue and Mr. Brown are killed, and ironically, Mr. Orange (the undercover cop) is shot while highjacking a car with Mr. White. Mr. Pink manages to escape as well and meets up with Mr. White and Mr. Orange at the warehouse (the spot that most of the film takes place besides some flashback sequences) where they were suppose to go after the robbery. Mr. Pink quickly realizes that there must be a rat in their ranks and as they try to figure out who could be the cop. As they try to deduce the answer, Mr. Blonde arrives with a kidnapped cop in his trunk. In one of the most gritty scenes of any film ever, Mr. Blonde proceeds to torture the captured cop to the smooth sounds of Stealer's Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You", eventually cutting off one of his ears and almost setting him on fire before some last minute heroics from Mr. Orange. From there on though, things only continue to go down hill, as everyone "gets theirs" in the end.

     The fact that this was someone's first film, never mind the fact that he was a sales clerk at a video store and had never gone to film school, is truly dumb founding and awe-inspiring. Tarantino's amazing sense of style and unmatched dialogue is as present here as in all his later efforts. From Tarantino's Mr. Brown spiel on the real meaning of Madonna's "Like a Virgin", to Mr. Pink's very reasoned speech on why he doesn't tip waitresses, to amazing one-liners like Mr. Blonde's "Are going to bark all day doggie? Or are you going to bite?", you're not going to hear any better dialogue in any film ever (and that might include all films in the future too).

     The cast in the film is terrific, and even though the film was off of everyone's radar until "Pulp Fiction" made its huge splash two years later, it doesn't excuse the Academy for not nominating any of the great performances in the movie. All the main actors, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Joe Tierney give award-worthy performances. The two performances that stick out most in my mind though are Steve Buscemi's and Chris Penn's performances. Buscemi is basically the only reasonable character in the bunch, and his analysis of the situation and how he should play the game is always intriguing, and he keeps the film grounded and moving forward. Chris Penn, the tragically underutilized brother of Sean Penn who unfortunately passed much to early, meanwhile envelops his character to unnatural proportions, making it impossible to tell where Chris Penn begins and where Nice Guy Eddie ends.

    The film also contains my favorite single scene of all-time. After the opening conversation at the diner, the film's opening titles role to the sound of George Baker's "Little Green Bag", while it shows the criminals in the suits walking in the parking lot in slow motion. This scene is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. It makes Miles Davis' "Birth of Cool" look like a three year-old's backyard birthday party, complete with clowns and pony rides. In other words, really f@#%ing cool. The perfect marriage of music and imagery that Tarantino has an instinctual feel for. The film was almost shot just with Tarantino and his friends, but luckily, as fate would have it, Harvey Keitel had read the script from a friend of a friend of a friend, and not only wanted to be in it, but he put up $1.5 million to make sure the film was made properly. Putting aside his great acting career, Harvey Keitel deserves a lifetime achievement award for this alone. 

8. "The Graduate" (1967)

     Despite it's fame, I only got around to seeing "The Graduate" relatively recently. Something about a kid having an affair with an older woman didn't strike me as all that interesting, but when I finally saw the film I was shocked to find out not only was it quite funny, it was about much more than I had been led to believe. "The Graduate", based on the novel by Charles Webb, tells the story of recent college graduate Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), who now must decide to do with his life. The film starts out with an excellent shot of Benjamin as one lost soul in a sea of people and then follows his traveling through some of the airport from a sideways perspective (a shot Tarantino would later pay homage to in "Jackie Brown", number 41 on my list). The directionless young man comes home to a hero's welcome from his parents, who throw a party in his honor with all their older friends and colleagues. Benjamin gets advice left and right from elders about what he should do with his life ("Plastics!"), but the aloof Benjamin is clearly uncomfortable with the situation until the wife of his father's colleague, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), asks him to take her home, where she proceeds to seduce him. The two eventually end up having a continual affair at a hotel, and Benjamin finds himself very satisfied with the situation until his parents arrange for him to take out Mrs. Robinson's daughter, Elaine (Katherine Ross), out on a date, much to the displeasure of both Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin. In order to get rid of her as quick as possible, Benjamin puts on a jack-ass routine and brings Elaine to strip bar, causing her to run out of the bar in tears. Felling guilty, Benjamin goes after Elaine to apologize and explain that this is not who he really is. The two then spend the rest of the night on a "real date" and quickly fall in love. Mrs. Robinson though, determined to breakup the relationship, forces Benjamin's hand to reveal to Elaine about the affair he has been having with her mother. Needless to say, this ends the relationship between Benjamin and Elaine, but Benjamin does not give up, going to extreme measures in order to win her back.

     Pacing is probably the most important part of film in my opinion, because it works on such a subconscious level but nevertheless is felt of every second of every film. Maybe because of its necessarily intangible nature though, is not discussed extremely often in film criticism. When it is though, Mike Nichol's work on "The Graduate" should be example number one of a greatly paced film. There is no other film I have seen that makes the decisions with pacing that "The Graduate" does, a truly unique accomplishment. For instance, when Mrs. Robinson threatens to tell Elaine about their affair, what would be the traditional narrative on how to resolve this conflict? Well if you are like me, you would think that Benjamin would agree with Mrs. Robinson's conditions and leave Elaine alone for awhile, stringing alone the tension of the conflict, until he could not help it and finally (maybe after Mrs. Robinson accidentally caught the two together) reveals the truth to Elaine. This is not how "The Graduate" deals with the situation. Instead of milking the dramatic situation for awhile, the film sets to immediately resolving the conflict it just raised when Benjamin marches into Elaine's room to tell her the truth. When you expect the film to turn left, it turns right, and it is these surprises that help make it the all-time classic that it is. The film also has some terrific performances by the three leads, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, and Katherine Ross. Each actor captures the essence of their character, but still with enough room to maneuver to allow for comedic moments. Originally, Nichols wanted a French actress to  play Mrs. Robinson, and he also was determined to have Simon and Garfunkel do the soundtrack to the film. The movie's producers were against both ideas and only allowed him to have one, so he picked Simon and Garfunkel, which was the right choice as the music helped make it the classic that it is. Simon and Garfunkel's songs (such as the retitled "Mrs. Robinson", which is really about Eleanor Rossevelt) perfectly match the introspective, thoughtful nature of Benjamin, a man without a purpose. It helps create the atmosphere and also plays an important part in the film's great pacing, and is just another reason why "The Graduate" made my Top Ten.

7. "American Graffiti" (1973)

     That's right, my favorite George Lucas film has nothing to do with "Star Wars". Instead, it is his earlier 1950's/early 60's nostalgia hit "American Graffiti", which made the filming of "Star Wars" possible, that ranks as his greatest work in my opinion, coming in at number seven on my list. The film, which received its funding through a Universal program (started after the success of "Easy Rider") to let young directors make films unhampered by the studio, catalogues the adventures of four high-school graduate boys during one long night. Two of them, Steve Bolander (Ron Howard) and Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss), are flying off to college in the morning and are trying to fit in one last great night of care-free fun. Steve, who seems to be looking forward to the change in scenery, tells his girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams) that he thinks they should she other people while he is away. At first she tries to act like this suggestion doesn't bother her, but soon her anger surfaces, and Steve spends the rest of the night trying to get on good terms with Laurie before he leaves for college in the morning. Curt meanwhile has cold feet about the whole college thing, and considers the idea of not getting on the airplane when morning comes around. While cruising around town with Steve and Laurie, Curt catches glimpse of a woman in a white T-Bird, and his mission for the night to somehow find her causes him to do things he wouldn't have considered before with people who would have avoided, as he comes to peace with moving on. Steve's nerdy friend Terry (Charles Martin Smith) becomes ecstatic when Steve tells him that he can use his 1958 Chevy Impala while he is gone at college. Terry uses the fancy car to his advantage by picking up the blonde-haired Debbie (Candy Clark), but his cool-guy act forces him into uncomfortable situations as he tries his best to impress Debbie and have a chance at "getting" with her. Finally, the cool drag racer John (Paul Le Mat) is looking to race hot-shot rival Bob Falfa (Harrison Ford), but instead is forced to chauffeur a pre-teen girl named Carol (Mackenzie Phillips). At first, John finds Carol incredibly annoying, but after some time the two end up developing a friendship and have a fun night about town, and as early morning arrives and after dropping Carol off at her house, John gets his chance to take on Bob Falfa.

     When push comes to shove, if I was forced to pick just one, as much as I love movies, I would probably have to take music over film. Something about the irrationality of sounds across rhythmic time is just incredibly appealing to me, but there is probably nothing better than when music is matched well with images on the silver screen (one of the many reasons why Tarantino is my favorite director), and "American Graffiti" is probably the most ambitious mix of film and music (with the possible exception of "Fantasia") ever made. With the radio commentary of real life DJ Wolfman Jack intermixed (somewhat like Steven Wright in "Reservoir Dogs"), the whole film is set to music. Originally requesting an enormous eighty-song soundtrack, the cost of which the studio balked at, Lucas still managed to compile one of the largest soundtracks of cinema history, creating a great feel of the time with hits from The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and many others from the era. It's the only film I have seen with a continual plot that is set to constant music in the background, and works to absolute perfection. It's frankly stunning to me that no film before, or since, has taken this technique of using music constantly playing in the background, but I hope some one does at some point, but it's one of the most memorable parts of "American Graffiti". The film's structure of four intermingling stories of four friends on one night is also fun and inspiring, giving the film a sense of playful fatalism. This type of sprawling story, with multiple plot lines and many characters, is in dire need of a strong ensemble cast, and the young group of actors pull it off without a hitch. Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Charles Martin Smith, Paul Le Mat, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark (who was the only cast member to receive an Oscar nomination), Mackenzie Phillips, and even Harrison Ford in his small role, all do a tremendous job of developing their characters and recreating the early 1960's. It doesn't matter though if you lived in Northern California in the early 1960's or not, this is an instant classic and an absolute must-see.

6. "A Man For All Seasons" (1966)

     A common thread through most of the film's on my list is that they are uniquely cinematic. Whether it's the heavy use of music, enchanting imagery, or unique editing and style technique's, most of the films could not be recreated in any other medium of art other than cinema. For my number six film on my list though, this is not the case. "A Man for All Seasons", based on the Tony award winning play, comes off as a film that is based on a Tony award winning play. There is nothing in the film that is strikingly cinematic, it's just one damn fine piece of drama. The film, as the play, details the last years of the life of the 16th Century English chancellor, Thomas Moore (Paul Scofield). Now if your not up on your 16th Century English history, the king at the time was King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw). Henry wished to divorce his current wife, Catherine of Aragon, so that he could marry Anne Boleyn (Vanessa Redgrave). The only problem was that it was against the rules of the Roman Catholic church to divorce. Ever the pragmatist, Henry got around this annoyance by simply dumping the Roman Catholic church and starting his own, Church of England, which he was the head of. In order to pull this off though, it was very important in Henry's eyes that all the important higher-ups in English society give their blessings to his decision, and if they didn't, charges of heresy and treason awaited, and this is where Thomas Moore steps in. A devout Roman Catholic, Thomas Moore can not in good moral consciousness give his blessing to the divorce and remarriage. Henry VIII respects Moore and considers him a friend, and he even goes to visit Moore personally to try and convince him to give his blessing, but Moore will not budge, so the English law goes after him with all their might. Moore, not willing to compromise on principle but wanting to avoid conflict, tries everything he can to extend the life he loves. He resigns as chancellor, hoping that Henry will let him live the rest of his life out as a private citizen, but this is a no-go. He parses out all the wording of the laws in hopes that he can somehow comply with the English laws and escape death. In the end though, he can not betray his beliefs, and he is put to death for his principles.

     Some have criticized the play and the movie for portraying Moore as a better person than he was, ignoring some of the darker parts of his life. While this is undoubtedly true, it doesn't really matter. If I want 100% historical accuracy, I will read a history book. What films should be about is compelling stories, even when they're based (key word "based") on real historical figures, and "A Man for All Seasons" tells one very compelling story. The most intriguing part of "A Man for All Seasons" is the nature of the moral character of Thomas Moore (of the film). He is a very principled person, but not so much so that he must self-righteously make everyone "see the truth". Instead, he looks for every loophole he can to get out of the situation. He is oxymoronically firm, yet flexible. A man who does not value high-mindedness over common-sense, but who still wants to live for something. It's a fascinating stance on life and one that I have much admiration for.  Of course, all of this moral nuance would be a moot point without out a capable actor to fill the role, but luckily for director Fred Zinneman and the film's producers, Paul Scofield is fatefully perfect for the role of Thomas Moore. In one of the finest performances ever put on screen, without even saying a word, Scofield's posture and presence display a man in love with knowledge, truth, and life. A man who clearly feels the presence of a Higher Calling, and the sincerity of this belief (thanks to spell-bounding performance), brings the audiences' sympathies to Mr. Moore regardless of whether they believe in any "Higher Calling" or not. Part of the reason why Scofield's performance is so inspired, may be the fact that he had time to perfect through many performances on Broadway. He must have been extremely impressive in the theater as well though, as he received the Tony award for Best Actor, a feat he also accomplished with the Academy awards, making him one of the few actors who one both a Tony award and an Oscar for playing the same role. Scofield himself is also surrounded by an impressive cast, such as Oscar nominated Wendy Hiller and Robert Shaw, as Moore's wife Alice and Henry VIII respectively, Susannah York as Moore's daughter Margaret, Leo McKern as the pompous Cromwell, John Hurt as the sniveling, Brutes-like Rich, and of course Orson Welles in the small part of Cardinal Wolsey. Together, under the guidance of Fred Zinneman, they made one of the finest dramas ever shown on the silver screen.

5. "Cool Hand Luke" (1967)

     "My son was lost but now he's found, 'Cause that's the way for us to get along". These are the last lines of Reverend Robert Wilkins' song "Prodigal Son" (more famously covered by The Rolling Stones in their 1968 classic album, Beggars Banquet), which is a blues adaption of a parable from Jesus that fittingly only only appears in the Gospel of Luke, and serves for a good backdrop for discussion on my fifth favorite film of all-time, "Cool Hand Luke". The film, based on the novel by Donn Pearce and produced in part by actor Jack Lemmon, starts with a drunk Luke snapping off the heads of parking meters in some Southern town. This leads to Luke's arrest and imprisonment in a rural prison camp. At first, the other prisons find Luke to be suspect, and after the prisoners' self appointed leader, Dragline (George Kennedy) takes offense to a comment from Luke, they proceed to have a boxing match. Dragline absolutely pummels Luke, to the point where even he doesn't want to continue the fight, but Luke somehow manages to keep getting up for one more punch. From this moment on, the prisoners have a new hero and the prison guards have a new enemy. Luke, rebelling almost for the sake of rebelling, comes in constant conflict with the fascist-like guards much to the prisoners pleasure, such as the guard constantly wearing sunglasses and the prison's captain, who utters the film's terrific, most famous line, "What we have here, is a failure to communicate". When Luke's mother dies, worried he might try to escape and attend the funeral, the guards lock Luke "in the box", but this doesn't stop him from escaping, only to be caught and brought back to prison. This isn't enough to stop Luke, a man who clearly has nothing to lose, from attempting to escape again, and when he takes a truck while out on the chain gain, Dragline comes with him. Luke and Dragline end up in a church surrounded by the police where Luke, not expecting much from someone he respects about as much as anyone else, asks God in vain whether there is anyway he can see to letting Luke escape.

     As you can guess from the opening of this write-up, I see a lot of parallels between Luke and the Prodigal Son (he basically is the Prodigal Son without the traditional redemption). In fact, there seem to be a lot of weird Christian allusions throughout the film. Luke seems to be rebelling against life, God, and maybe his existence itself, somewhat like Jesus the night before his crucifixion. He is also a reluctant savior for his fellow prisoners, as his sacrifices through his trials and tribulations bring happiness and hope to the inmates. This is most obvious in one of the film's best scenes where the prisoners take bets on how many eggs Luke can eat. They try to get Luke to eat more and more eggs, until he can eat no more. Having used them for their fun they needed, they leave him on the table, leg crossed and arms spread out, as in a replication of the crucifix (see picture above). Most people see the film as representative of the rebellious undercurrent of the late 1960's, where many younger people of the age were railing against what they saw as the unjust and cruel norms of society at the time. This theme is definitely present in the film, and I may be reading way too much into the film with the whole Christ angle, but that's what is so brilliant about the film's script and direction under Stuart Rosenberg. Luke's character is so strong, so individualistic, so independent, that you can see multiple themes running through the film. Whether it be religious, political, existential, or humanistic, Luke can be your rebel, while in reality, from his prospective, he is none of these. He's just doing the best he can to live life on his terms and get along. The performance by Paul Newman is the best in his career, one well tailored to his natural inclinations, and George Kennedy's Oscar winning performance is perhaps the best "side kick" role in cinema history. Add in a great score by Lalo Schifrin, and you have one of the greatest films of all-time.

4. "The Third Man" (1950)

     If you look at any film critics "Top 100" list, or organizations such as the American Film Institute's (AFI) "Top 100" list, you're going to find numerous "film noir" films. While I like and respect many film's in the genre, generally I don't quite understand what all the hubbub is about. Film's like "Double Indemnity", "The Maltese Falcon", and "Citizen Kane" (commonly sited as the greatest film of all-time), while all good, just aren't the cinematic masterpieces in my mind that they seem to be to many film critics. There is though one film in genre that is the big exception to me, the one film that does deserve all the praise it receives (and the one that should be cited as the greatest film of all-time instead of "Citizen Kane"), and that film is "The Third Man". The film, based on the novel by Graham Greene, takes place in post-World War II Vienna, a city that has been split into four sectors controlled by the various Allied powers, and a town that has become a hot spot for profiteers as it is a black market paradise thanks to a shortage of supplies. The film's protagonist is an out of work pulp fiction novelist by the name of Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton), who has come to Vienna by way of an invitation from his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles) who had a job offer for him. Unfortunately for Martins, he arrives in Vienna only to find that he has come just in time to attend Lime's funeral, as his friend died in a mysterious traffic accident. Martins, determined to find out what happened to Lime, starts interrogating people who saw the accident and friends of Lime, including a woman named Alida Valli (Anna Schmidt), who he becomes romantically involved with. Slowly, Martins begins to unravel the mystery, but the answers lead to dark places of the criminal underworld and a situation that can having no satisfying conclusion for Martins.

     The film is terrificly paced, with a wonderful story and fantastic direction from Carol Reed, who spent twenty hours a day making the film and became addicted to speed in the process. The film has an amazing sense of gritty grandeur, with the greatest chase scene in cinema history in the sewers of Austria, a fantastic scene with some of the best dialogue ever written that takes place in a ferris wheel, and a long-shot downer of an ending that ranks up their with the best of them. The film has a terrific cast, with Joseph Cotton making the perfect film noir hero, Orson Welles in his best performance as the cynical profiteer Harry Lime, Anna Schmidt as the film noir seductress, and as well as perfectly cast character actors filling in the smaller roles. My favorite part of the film though is it's terrific nonchalant gypsy sounding score by Anton Karas (click here to take a listen to the famous music), which ranks as one of my all-time favorite scores (if not my favorite). Apparently, Reed heard the Austrian zither players music while at a production party and loved what he heard so much, he insisted that Karas come to his hotel room to record a song or two for the film. While in post-production, Reed realized that Karas should score the whole film, and brought him up to London to complete the film's amazing score. It's a great stroke of luck that the two artists found one another, as the film's brilliant direction, combined with the superb music, make for the greatest mystery movie ever made.

3. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962)

     In general, I am not a very big fan of much acclaimed director David Lean. Despite many awards and praise, many of his films are overrated in my opinion. "Doctor Zhivago" is basically just another sappy love story that only receives the reverence towards it because of the epic setting of Russia at it's time of greatest turmoil. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" is a slow, somewhat boring trek through the lives of characters who are hard to connect with. "Great Expectations", Lean's adaptation of the famous Dicken's novel, fails to capture the most interesting aspects of the book. For making  "Lawrence of Arabia" alone though, Lean deserves the praise he receives.

     The film, chronicling the life of the controversial British military figure T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) and his exploits in the Middle East during World War I, is the greatest of all the "epic" films.  The film starts off with Lawrence's death (motorcycle accident) and funeral, where we hear the drastically different accounts of who the enigmatic Lawrence really was. The film then flashbacks to Lawrence early days in the military as a young intelligence officer in Cairo. The British are interested in toppling their Turkish enemies and their Ottoman Empire, so they send Lawrence to Arabia to investigate the likelihood of success of an Arabian uprising. Lawrence slowly gets more involved with the Arab tribes and tries to help them work together in order topple their Turkish overlords. Soon he becomes their leader, a role Lawrence readily accepts. For Lawrence though, the revolt starts to become about him, not about his mission as a British soldier, or freeing and uniting the Arab, and his vanity and belief that he is totally unstoppable eventually lead him to become captured by the Turks, where he is tortured and raped (or at least the film seems to imply). Despite this though, Lawrence eventually helps topple the once great Ottoman Empire.

     The thing that makes the film so memorable, is that the Lawrence of the film is one of the most fascinating characters in cinema history. There is no other character like him in any film I have ever seen. One of my favorite quotes, from the God of quotes himself, Friedrich Nietzsche, sums up Lawrence's view of life, "There can not be a God, because if there was one, I could not believe that I was not He". Lawrence believes in nothing other them himself, and he sees absolutely no boundaries. This leads to some of my favorite lines in cinema history, such as the mantra he repeats throughout the film that, "Nothing is written". Or when explaining to a soldier the "trick" he uses to put out a burning match with his fingers Lawrence states, "The trick is not minding". And then there is the part right before intermission when Lawrence explains to the General that there was something he didn't like about having to kill two people, only to explain that the part he didn't like was that he enjoyed the killings. These are all very surprising statements (especially from a film in 1962) from an unorthodox character that makes it the classic that it is. Of course, even with the great writing from Robert Bolt (the man who wrote both the play and movie version of my number six film, "A Man For All Seasons"), Lawrence is brought to life by an actor, and thank God that actor was Peter O'Toole. O'Toole's performance is so good its literal somewhat scary, a man who actually comes to the belief he is invincible. O'Toole essentially is the movie, and his performance would easily rank in the top 5 of my favorite performances (and ranked number 1 in Premiere magazines ranking of best performances in 2007). It is truly breathtaking. There are also many good supporting performances from a great cast, with likes of Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, and Jose Ferrer all pitching in to make the Best Picture classic. As with most of the films in this week's list (and even the overall list), the film also sports a terrific score that is instantly recognizable and helps add to the overall atmosphere. With excellent cinematography Freddie Young (such as the shot where a huge ship appears to be floating in the middle of the desert), "Lawrence of Arabia" truly has it all, and something that should be seen by all movie fans.

2. "The Godfather" (1972)

     Commonly cited as the greatest film of all-time for good reason, "The Godfather" is the poster film for the power of cinema. The film is shockingly good. If you don't know (and shame on you if you don't), "The Godfather", based on the novel by Mario Puzo (although the film rights had already been acquired when it was a 25-page outline), tells the story of a Sicilian-American mafia family, the Corleone's, around the late 1940's and early 1950's. The leader of the family is Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), a man who runs many illegal operations and has built a criminal empire, but still has a sense of honor and wisdom. An extremely family oriented man, Vito has four sons (one adopted) and one daughter. His eldest son os the hot-headed Santino "Sonny" Corleone (James Caan), who Vito plans to have take over the family business someday. His second eldest son is the awkward Fredo Corleone (John Cazale), a weak minded individual who isn't trusted with much by Vito or anyone else in the family or organization. Then there is the Irish-German Tom Hagan (Robert Duvall), who Vito had adopted as a child and grew up to become a lawyer and legal advisor to the family. Then there is Vito's youngest son Michael (Al Pacino), who we learn at the start of the film is a returning war hero (World War II), and is the one that Vito has the highest hopes for. Finally, the youngest of all the children is his daughter Connie (Talia Shire, director Francis Ford Coppola's sister), whose marriage to Carlo Rizzi marks the films beginning scene. At the time of the film, the family is being pressed by rival mafia families to get into the drug business who need his support, but the old-fashioned Vito refuses to go along. This leads to an assassination attempt on Vito's life (while Fredo is his unsuccessful bodyguard). Vito survives the attempt on his life, is bedridden for an extended time, leaving an emotional Sonny as the families de facto leader. Being the quick tempered person that he is, Sonny starts a war with the rival families, that requires Michael to kill a cop and a mafioso in a restaurant end and flee to Sicily for a few years, and eventually ends with Sonny's death (a machine-gun riddled ending at a toll booth). After the death of his eldest son, Vito calls for a truce, which allows Michael to come home. Although married for a short time to a Sicilian girl before she is murdered (a car explosion), he comes home, marries his ex-girlfriend Kay Adams (Diane Keaton), and takes leadership of the criminal organization. At first, he abides the truce agreement, but not one to forget, after Vito's death Michael gets his revenge, taking care of everyone who wronged his family in one fell swoop.

     The film is so good on so many levels, its hard to know where to begin. The script is excellent, with an endlessly amount of quotable lines ("I'll make him an offer he can't refuse" probably being the most famous) that have been forever sketched in the minds of many cinephiles. There are an amazing amount of classic scenes that have to rank as some of the all-time greatest moments in cinema history thanks to the brilliant direction of Francis Ford Coppola. From the films opening shot of Vito petting a cat while listening to the mortician's story about his daughter being beaten by two men, to the scene where the studio exec finds a disturbing "surprise" in his bed, to Sonny's death sequence, to the film's montage of murders and Michael's daughter's baptism, the list goes on and on. If I had to pick just one scene as my favorite though, it would probably be the one written by "Chinatown" scribe Robert Towne, where Vito confesses his disappointment to Michael that he had to get involved with the illegal side of the business, as he had hoped Michael would one day become a "the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone, something...". It's a beautifully tragic scene of a man who could never quite accomplish what he wanted for his family, but as he tells Michael, "There just wasn't enough time".

      The cast does a magnificent job of creating fully developed characters each with the fleshed out personalities. Whether it's Brando's firm, but caring patriarch, Caan's womanizing loose-canon eldest son, Cazale's insecure and bumbling middle son, Duvall's confident business-like consigliere, or Pacino obsessive, ice cold youngest son, there isn't a weak spot in the bunch. Brando, who won his second Oscar for the performance, and Pacino, who gives one of the most intense performances in the history of film simply when he stares, particularly stand out as performances in the upper echelon of the acting profession. The rest of the cast is pitch-perfect as well, from the smallest cameos to more important secondary characters such as Richard S. Castellano as Clemenza. Another superb part of the film is the dark cinematography of Gordon Willis. Few films at the time had the courage to shoot in as darkly let spaces as some the the scenes of "The Godfather", but the effect works extremely well, as the shadows blocking out half of the characters faces at time symbolically signify the contradictory nature of sin and honor that runs through the mafia and the people who inhabit its world. Long-time Fellini collaborator Nino Rota continues the theme of beautifully scored films, as music "The Godfather", particularly the haunting waltz, is some of the best music bar none, film scores or not. Interestingly, the real-life mafia was none to pleased that the film was being made and shining a light on there criminal activities, and even threatened the film's producers, going so far as to pump a multitude of bullets in producer Albert S. Ruddy's car. Luckily they didn't have there way though, as the result is as close to the abstract idea of perfection as you can get in any artistic medium. The question is then, what could be better than "The Godfather"? ....

1. "The Godfather Part II" (1974)

     ... More of "The Godfather" (unless it is "The Godfather Part III"). Surprisingly enough, given their low rate of artistic success, my favorite film of all-time, the one film which represents the highest pinnacle of achievement in the medium of cinema in my opinion, is actually a sequel, Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather Part II". The film, which was actually being planned by the studio before the first filmed wrapped, actually tells two stories, going in and out of both narratives. The first narrative chronologically tells the life of the young Vito Corlene (Robert De Niro, except for the beginning scenes in which he is a child). It starts out in Sicily, where his father and brother are murdered by the Sicilian mob. Vito's mother goes to the local mafia boss Don Francesco (Guiseppe Sillato), in order to plea for the boys life, but Francesco, worried that the young boy will seek vengeance one day when he is older, denies her plea. In a last ditch protective effort, Vito's mother is able to sacrifice herself in order for Vito to escape, which he does, eventually coming to America through Ellis Island. The boy grows to be a man in the Italian section of New York City, where he works at a local grocery store. Even in America though, he can not escape the mafia, as he is replaced by the nephew of the local mob boss Don Fanucci (Gastone Moschin), who is fleecing all the areas small business owners in order to "protect them". Feeling that someone needs to stand up to Fanucci's injustice, Vito (in the film's best scene, and after the "Reservoir Dogs" opening scene, my favorite scene in cinema history) slowly stalks and kills Fanucci during some big religious festival. Vito then finds himself to be the new default leader of the area, and begins to build his criminal empire and his family. After making it big though, he returns to Sicily, and just as Don Francesco had feared, takes vengeance on behalf of his family by killing the extremely elderly Francesco.

     The other narrative takes up right where the first film left off. Michael (Al Pacino) is now the head of the Corleone empire, an empire that is ever growing. As with the first film, the sequel starts off with a party, this time his son's, Anthony, First Communion, at their fancy home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Despite the families increasing profitability, there are clearly some disgruntled people who don't like the way Michael does business, be it his man who runs things in New York, Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo), or the corrupt Nevada Senator Frank Geary (G.D. Spradlin), or even his own brother Fredo (John Cazale) and sister Connie (Talia Shire). This all leads up to the night after the party, where in his own bedroom there is an assassination attempt of his life, as well as his wife Kay (Diane Keaton). Michael begins searching his mind to who could of made the attempt, all the while planning to expand in a big way in Cuba with the Jewish gangster Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg). Things get worse for Michael when, thinking he had been betrayed by Michael in an attempt on his life, Frank Pentangeli turns states evidence over to the Feds, where there are congressional hearings on the power of the mafia or "La Cosa Nostra". Michael then goes to Cuba around New Years Day 1959 to complete the deal with Roth, but the country is on the brink of Castro's revolution. Michael ends up having to flee the country, but not before learning who his true friends and enemies are. All this occurs as his family life goes down the tubes, as he separates from Kay after learning she intentionally aborted their third child. Like the first film though, Michael gets his revenge against everyone who wronged him, even against the highly protected Roth (as Michael says, "If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone."), who was behind the assassination attempt on his life. In the end, as we see in the film's final scene, Michael has lost everyone, isolating himself from anyone who once loved him.

     As with the first film, everything is perfect. Amazing acting (Pacino's performance in the film only ranks behind De Niro's performance in "Taxi Driver" in my mind), great dialogue with memorable quotes and scenes, another beautiful score, mood-setting cinematography, and amazing sets all round a perfectly crafted film. For my last thoughts of this lengthy countdown though, I want spend time discussing the one aspect of the film that I enjoy the most, and the thing that puts it above all the other films I have seen in my life. I have mentioned in a few of these write-ups that I really enjoy films that have a distinct setting of time and place, and no film literal captures a certain time and place more than "The Godfather Part II" captures the first half of 20th Century America. Now obviously not everyone was involved with the mafia in the first half of the last century, but I don't think there was a single period in the history of the world (not even the Renaissance) that experienced such rapid change in culture and the dynamics of existence itself, as the first half of the 20th Century, and "The Godfather Part II" perfectly captures the disillusionment of any one left behind. The reverse parallelism of the film is Early 20th Century. At the chronological beginning, Vito lives in a backward time, and his whole family is killed by murderous thugs. Slowly though, after coming to America, with hope and optimism, Vito builds his family and by the end of his story in the film, in appears that his dreams have been accomplished. For Michael the exact opposite is true. He starts out with a family, riches, and ever expanding business and power, but the demands of the age and changes in culture bring an end to the old ways, and in the process of trying to maintain power, Michael loses everything. Michael even asks his mother whether his father ever worried about "losing" his family by trying to protect them, a question that is so foreign to her that she doesn't even really comprehend it. And it is this split, this total change in the basic understanding of life, that is the result of the first half of the 20th Century, and the fact that a film can capture something this profound and real, puts "The Godfather Part II" at the number one spot as my all-time favorite film.

     Well that's it. I thank you for reading about the films that have meant the most to me and I hope you have enjoyed it, and for the films on my list that you haven't seen before, I hope you check them out some time and that they mean as much to you as they mean to me.

     If you skipped the intro, I explained how you can leave a commit even if you don't have a Google account. I only mention this again because I really would like to hear from you on what you think of the films on my list, and I'm especially curious to hear from people about their favorite films that did not make my list. So if you enjoyed this list, please let me know which of your favorite films didn't make my cut. Now, as I promised, the complete list in it's entirety:

Top 100 Favorite Films

1. The Godfather Part II (1974)
2. The Godfather (1972)
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
4. The Third Man (1950)
5. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
6. A Man For All Seasons (1966) 
7. American Graffiti (1973)
8. The Graduate (1967)
9. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
10. The Great Dictator (1940)
11. Pulp Fiction (1994)
12. The 400 Blows (1959)
13. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
14. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
15. 8 1/2 (1963)
16. The Departed (2006)
17. Seven Samurai (1954)
18. Modern Times (1936)
19. You Can't Take It With You (1938)
20. Taxi Driver (1976)
21. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
22. The Truman Show (1997)
23. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974)
24. The Gold Rush (1925)
25. The Dark Knight (2008)
26. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
27. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
28. Black Hawk Down (2001)
29. This is Spinal Tap (1984)
30. The Shining (1980)
31. Stray Dog (1949)
32. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
33. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
34. Going My Way (1944)
35. The Thing (1982)
36. High and Low (1963)
37. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
38. No Country for Old Men (2007)
39. Wild Strwberries (1957)
40. The Terminator (1984)
41. Jackie Brown (1997)
42. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
43. Roman Holiday (1953)
44. All About Eve (1950)
45. Paper Moon (1973)
46. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
47. Breaking Away (1979)
48. Jaws (1975)
49. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
50. Jules and Jim (1962)
51. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
52. Barton Fink (1991)
53. Jurassic Park (1993)
54. Gone With the Wind (1939)
55. Zelig (1983)
56. Bottle Rocket (1996)
57. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
58. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
59. Drunken Angel (1948)
60. Hot Fuzz (2007)
61. Death Proof (2007)
62. All the King's Men (1949)
63. Return of the Jedi (1983)
64. The Apartment (1960)
65. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
66. There Will Be Blood (2007)
67. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
68. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
69. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
70. The Last Emperor (1987)
71. Annie Hall (1977)
72. The Rules of the Game (1939)
73. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
74. The Thin Man (1934)
75. Everything is Illuminated (2005)
76. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
77. Downfall (2004)
78. Life Is Beautiful (1998)
79. Zodiac (2007)
80. Star Wars (1977)
81. Ed Wood (1994)
82. Mystic River (2003)
83. I'm Not There (2007)
84. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
85. A Serious Man (2009)
86. The Social Network (2010)
87. Tropic Thunder (2008)
88. Ninotchka (1939)
89. Man on the Moon (1999)
90. The White Ribbon (2009)
91. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
92. Sergeant York (1941)
93. Being There (1979)
94. Dersu Uzala (1975)
95. Brazil (1985)
96. Tootsie (1982)
97. Bananas (1971)
98. The Sting (1973)
99. Blazing Saddles (1974)
100. Manhattan (1979)