Fairly self explanatory. Post what you think is the greatest movie of all time and see if you can convince others of your choice. Mine is most certainly the Matrix(the first one) and V for Vendetta(although I do not like it when people try to make this out to be an attack on our president. No I don't support him but the movie script was written years before he was in office and therefor could not possibly hold any symbolic meaning against George W.)

The Matrix certainly makes my top 5. The original Aliens is probably my number one pick.

Shawshank Redemption in my number one pick. There are lots of movies I really enjoy, but nothing can hold a candle to that IMO.

Other faves: American Beauty, Pulp Fiction, Secondhand Lions...I could go on and on.

Chinatown
Sunset Boulevard
Gone With The Wind
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
Cinderella Man (The most underrated movie of the past 20 years)
Double Indemnity
Citizen Kane
Shawshank Redemption
Psycho

---------

I will cite the other two and say Shawshank. A great prison tale about life -- making something of it despite the conditions. Great acting and directing, never boring, funny moments, memorable lines ("I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really - get busy livin' or get busy dyin'."). The ending is one of my favorites, very satisfying. One of my top five. I don't know what's my absolute favorite :sofa:

Whew! Glad others are in agreement about Shawshank. I didn't want to be known as the "creepy girl who loves prison movies". HA HA!

I'm a pretty well informed film buff (especially on the technical side of things), so I think I can make a good educated case on what qualifies as the "greatest" on a given list. However, what I feel are the greatest movies of all time are different from my list of favorite movies.

I assume we're talking about mainstream American films, or films that were at least very popular in the United States. With that, I'll offer these lists.

My opionion of Greatest films:
1. Citizen Kane
It is easily the most innovative movie ever made. Modern films owe most of their "language" from being defined by this film. Sure, lots of folks may not be very entertained by it. But if you have ever studied film history and will not lie to yourself, you cannot deny this film's level of genius.

2. Casablanca
Simply a great, classic movie. The filmmakers didn't take it all that seriously when they made it, but I think they caught lightning in a bottle.

3. Lawrence of Arabia
If only more movies of this caliber had been made in large format we would still be watching lots of movies shot in 70mm today. Now theaters are lapsing backwards toward HDTV quality video all because of that stupid "digital" buzzword.

4. The Godfather
Some critics call it the great American drama. It's amazing Coppola could have made such a great film when Paramount was wanting to fire him at every point in the production. He was running and gunning as fast as he could just to get the picture made, and he wound up with a masterpiece.

5. The Wizard of Oz
Yeah, sure, maybe Gone With the Wind should at least be in the top five. But I think Oz is a better, more innovative movie.


As to my favorites, I think most people choose favorites based on the cool movies that came out when they were kids, teenagers or just getting into adulthood. There's just something about that period where good movies seem to impact you the most.

Here a handful that gave me great, exhilarating "movie highs":
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars
The Road Warrior
The Usual Suspects
Die Hard

I'm sure this will come as a surprise no one, but I'm a chick flick kind-of-girl. I love romantic comedies, althoug I do enjoy a good action film like the Raiders of the Lost Ark series.

I dont' go to rated R movies, so I haven't seen some of the previous ones listed unless it's been on TV.

Some of my favorites.

The Outsiders
You've Got Mail
Just Like Heaven
Return to Me
The Day After Tomorrow
National Treasure
The Princess Diaries

That's just a few. I love going to the movies. If it's a chick flick I'm usually going by myself. My husband did go see Hitch with me though.

This list could probably change by the hour but, here are a few of my personal favorites (in no particular order):
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Star Wars (original trilogy)
Blazing Saddles
Enemy at the Gates
Memento
The Indiana Jones trilogy
The Matrix (first movie only)
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Princess Bride

I would have a tough time whittling it down to a single all-time favorite, (maybe top 20) ;)

BTW, I'm not huge chick-flick fan, but I thought Hitch was great.

Annie Hall, Baby Boom, The Big Chill and Steel Magnolias - could watch them all again and again.

Hitch was a chick-flick? lol

My favorites/greats:
LOTR Trilogy (duh)
Brokeback Mountain (awesome...great telling of the short story)
Star Wars IV, V, VI (because they are way better than I, II, and III)
Pretty Woman (ultimate rags to riches chick flick)
Steel Magnolias (ultimate tear-jerker)

And I can't pick a favorite/great comedy. This is my most favorite type of movie and it's pretty hard to disappoint me. Except for Waiting. What an awful movie.

Bandnerd,

I'm so glad to see a guy (you are a guy right?!)who likes a chick flick. I really liked Pretty Woman too although, I wouldn't actually say it was one of my favorites.


(We need to tell Todd to include a spell check in the options!)

*Checks self*

Boobs. Nope, I'm pretty sure I'm female ;) Though not overtly girly.

There is NO WAY that I could pick just one movie ... I'm a movie lover. Any of the following will do for me ... for starters ... but, if I could keep only one and have to throw away the rest, I'd pick 3, The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
A River Runs Through it (1992, Robert Redford)
Alien (1979, Sigourney Weaver)
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982, Richard Gere, Debra Winger)
Animal House (1978, John Belushi, Tim Matheson)
Apocalypse Now (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)
Big Fish (2003, Albert Finney)
Blade Runner (1982, Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer)
Braveheart (1995, Mel Gibson)
Casablanca (1942, Humphrey Bogart)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, Richard Dreyfuss)
Dances with Wolves (1990, Kevin Kostner)
Dead Poets Society (1989, Robin Williams)
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002, Ellen Burstyn, Ashley Judd, Sandra Bullock)
Dune (1984, Kyle MacLachlan)
Field of Dreams (1989, Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones)
Giant (1956, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean)
Gladiator (2000, Russell Crowe)
Hoosiers (1987, Gene Hackman)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946, James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore)
Last of the Mohicans (1992, Daniel Day-Lewis)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962, Peter O'Toole)
Little Big Man (1971, Dustin Hoffman)
Long Gray Line (1955, Tyrone Power, Maureen O’Hara)
Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-03, Peter Jackson)
M*A*S*H (1970, Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould)
Midnight Cowboy (1969, Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight)
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975, Jack Nicholson)
Patton (1970, George C. Scott)
Philadelphia (1993, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, Johnny Depp)
Pride and Prejudice (2005, Keira Knightley)
Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)
Red River (1948 - John Wayne & Montgomery Clift)
Remember the Titans (2000, Denzel Washington)
Rocky (1976, Sylvester Stalone)
Scarface (1983, Al Pacino)
Scent of a Woman (1992, Al Pacino)
Shawshank Redemption (1994, Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman)
Silence of the Lambs (1991, Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins)
Some Like It Hot (1959, Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon)
Somewhere In Time (1980, Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour)
Stalag 17 (1953, William Holden)
Steel Magnolias (1989, Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Julia Roberts)
The African Queen (1951, Humphrey Bogart, Kathryn Hepburn)
The Big Country (1958, Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Burl Ives, Carlton Heston)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal)
The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966, Clint Eastwood)
The Graduate (1967, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962, Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury)
The Matrix (1999, Keanu Reeves)
The Natural (1984, Robert Redford, Glenn Close)
The Quiet Man (1952, John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara)
The Sting (1973, Paul Newman, Robert Redford)
The Terminator (1984, Arnold Arnold Schwarzenegger)
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962, Gregory Peck)
Trading Places (1983, Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd)

The most innovative movie I know of is a Russian propaganda piece called Alexander Nevsky. Everything about the film (from the 30's) is not only prophetic (it's about how a rag-tag bunch of Russians led by the 'man of the people,' Lord Alexander Nevsky turned back the tide of an invasion of Teutonic Knights. It culminates with a "Battle on the Ice" which has essentially shaped every large-scale movie battle scene since.

The score by Prokofiew is 2nd to none.

Awesome list, Doug.

Thanks, sweetdaisy. The Internet surely comes in handy for things like this ... google "all time great movies" or something similar and you have several available lists to pick from, and then add your own as you think of them -- that's the harder part, there are so many. Aided by other posts here and a few light bulbs going off, after putting the original list together, I've thought of a some (but I'm certain there would be) others to add to my personal favorites list:

A Fistfull of Dollars (1964, Clint Eastwood)
As Good As It Gets (1997, Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt)
Bad Day At Black Rock (1955, Spencer Tracy)
Chariots of Fire (1981, Ian Charleson, Ben Cross )
Gone With the Wind (1939, Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh)
Good Will Hunting (1997, Robin Williams, Matt Damon)
Julius Caesar (1953, Marlon Brando, James Mason)
King Solomon’s Mines (1950, Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, Russell Crowe)
Mr. Roberts (1955, Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon)
Rebel Without A Cause (1955, James Dean)
Shane (1953, Alan Ladd, Jack Palance)
Shogun (1980, Richard Chamberlain)
The Bad Seed (1956, Patricia McCormack)
The Caine Mutiny (1954, Humphrey Bogart, Van Johnson,
The Color Purple (1985, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey)
The Firm (1993, Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman)
The Godfather (1972, Al Pacino, Marlon Brando, James Cann)
The Godfather, Part II (1974, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton)
The Poseidon Adventure (1972, Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine)
The Princess Bride (1987, Cary Elwes, Robin Wright Penn)
The Thorn Birds (1983, Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward)
Titanic (1997, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet)

^ Wow. What a list. I'm glad I'm not the only guy who likes Titanic. I think it's not only a fan favorite, but indeed one of the greatest movies of all time.

Since we've been talking favorites, here are some of mine:

Shawshank
Truman Show
The Firm
The Pelican Brief
Quiz Show
You've Got Mail
Sleepless in Seattle
King Kong (Peter Jackson version)
A Few Good Men
All the President's Men
In the Line of Fire
Raiders of the Lost Ark
IJ and the Temple of Doom
Clear and Present Danger
Witness
The first Star Wars trilogy
Speed
The Italian Job
Ocean's Eleven
Good Will Hunting
Aladdin
Toy Story series
Sideways

YAY! Doug included Thorn Birds & Shogun! Those are both amazing miniseries.

I forget about all the great "older" movies that my mom "made" us watch when I was younger. My current movie collection doesn't have them, so they become an oversight on my part. Glad you had The Quiet Man on there, too.

Did anyone get The Dirty Dozen? Another old fave of mine. :) Oh, and the original Miracle on 34th Street with Natalie Wood.

Ohhhh...makes me want to have a "classics movie day" at home in the near future.

YAY! Doug included Thorn Birds & Shogun! Those are both amazing miniseries.

I forget about all the great "older" movies that my mom "made" us watch when I was younger. My current movie collection doesn't have them, so they become an oversight on my part. Glad you had The Quiet Man on there, too.

Did anyone get The Dirty Dozen? Another old fave of mine. :) Oh, and the original Miracle on 34th Street with Natalie Wood.

Ohhhh...makes me want to have a "classics movie day" at home in the near future.
Yeah, I though those 2 mini-series were worthy and ought to be included. There was another but I can't recall the name ... Black actors in Harlem, I think ... a somewhat large Ophra was a main star; very well done.

If you're not acquainted with some of those '50s & '60s movies, you're missing a bet not to watch when you can ... The Thin Gray Line is a bio of an Irish immigrant who got a job at West Point and eventually joined up, and worked at West Point all his life. Maybe it's a little (a lot) shmaltzy, but so what!

I passed on listing many that I enjoy watching but didn't think were up to being "all time greats", including The Dirty Dozen and Miracle on 34th Street. Thinking of New York, though, one that I SHOULD have listed in my "all time great movies" list I didn't ... so I'll add it now:


An Affair to Remember (1957,Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr)

Your mention of Cary Grant reminded my of one of my favorite Hitchcock films, North by Northwest. See, there's so many great ones its hard to think of them all.

off the top of my head my favs would be:

crouching tiger, hidden dragon.
gladiator
the last samuri
matrix (1)
lord of the rings (trilory)
ghost in the shell
akira
anything done by hayao miyazaki ( the genius of animated film)

Greatest movies of all time, like some of you, these may not be my absolute favorite, but I consider myself a critic and know good stuff when I see it:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
E.T.
The Matrix (first one)
CRASH ....man this movie blew me away...excellent workmanship!
Boogie Nights...lots of shock value, but very "real life"
A Walk in the Clouds....beautiful movie.
The Ten Commandments
Star Wars
The Godfather
Forest Gump
When Harry Met Sally

I just noticed this topic and had to give my .03 (Inflation) :p Anyway, here are my favorites...

The Ten Commandments
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
ET
Star Wars Trilogy IV V VI
McClintock
Forrest Gump
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
It's a Wonderful Life
A Christmas Story
Ed Wood
True Grit
Quiet Man
Chronicles of Narnia

No list would be complete IMO without my least favorites...

Dune
Bolero
Tarzan the Ape Man
Little Nicky

My Top 100 Movies of All Time

http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/touchstone_pictures/unbreakable/bruce_willis/unbreakable3.jpghttp://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/miramax_films/the_others/nicole_kidman/others.jpg
http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/new_line_cinema/the_lord_of_the_rings__the_fellowship_of_the_ring/_group_photos/cate_blanchett2.jpghttp://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/touchstone_pictures/pearl_harbor/_group_photos/ben_affleck5.jpg

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2002)
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2001)
4. Back to the Future (1985)
5. Spellbound (1945)
6. Pleasantville (1998)
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
8. The Sting (1973)
9. Moulin Rouge! (2001)
10. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
11. Pearl Harbor (2001)
12. Vertigo (1958)
13. Back to the Future Part II (1989)
14. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
15. The Shining (1980)
16. American Beauty (1999)
17. Blade Runner (1982)
18. Deep Impact (1998)
19. Crash (2005)
20. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
21. The Princess Bride (1987)
22. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
23. Charade (1963)
24. Band of Brothers (2001)
25. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
26. Misery (1990)
27. Citizen Kane (1941)
28. Alien (1979)
29. Rebecca (1940)
30. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
31. North by Northwest (1959)
32. The Exorcist (1973)
33. Far and Away (1992)
34. Back to the Future Part III (1990)
35. Double Indemnity (1944)
36. Chinatown (1974)
37. Newsies (1992)
38. Unbreakable (2000)
39. The Godfather (1972)
40. The Machinist (2004)
41. Fight Club (1999)
42. The Neverending Story (1984)
43. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
44. Apocalypse Now (1979)
45. Forrest Gump (1994)
46. Batman Begins (2005)
47. Braveheart (1995)
48. Clue (1985)
49. Fargo (1996)
50. Rent (2005)
51. Cold Mountain (2003)
52. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
53. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
54. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)
55. Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
56. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
57. The Usual Suspects (1995)
58. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
59. Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
60. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
61. Aliens (1986)
62. Dial M for Murder (1954)
63. Gattaca (1997)
64. Identity (2003)
65. Life as a House (2001)
66. Moonlight Mile (2002)
67. Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
68. The Outsiders (1983)
69. Tuck Everlasting (2002)
70. The Pink Panther (1963)
71. Psycho (1960)
72. The Village (2004)
73. 12 Angry Men (1957)
74. Rear Window (1954)
75. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
76. The Claim (2000)
77. The Sound of Music (1965)
78. Strangers on a Train (1951)
79. Twelve Monkeys (1995)
80. The Goonies (1985)
81. Rope (1948)
82. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
83. Final Destination (2000)
84. The Sixth Sense (1999)
85. Star Wars (1977)
86. The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
87. The Object of My Affection (1998)
88. The Missing (2003)
89. Star Trek: Generations (1994)
90. Signs (2002)
91. Return to Oz (1985)
92. The Island (2005)
93. The Others (2001)
94. Memento (2000)
95. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
96. The Lion King (1994)
97. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
98. Notorious (1946)
99. O (2001)
100. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)


Runners up: Minority Report (2002), Saw (2004), The Ring (2002), Se7en (1995), Vacation (1983), Halloween (1978)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

I've seen Citizen Kane a few times and think it's a good movie. But can someone tell me why it's considered the greatest movie by many critics. I understand that it pioneered alot of the cinema language that many modern movies now use, but what thing specifically did it innovate that we now take for granted. I'm just wondering because I often hear that it's the greatest movie with no explanation why.

BTW, I have different faves for different moods. A few of my faves are Untouchables, Once Upon A Time In The West, Shawshank, Star Wars (original trilogy), Matrix (original), etc., etc. :fighting4

I've seen Citizen Kane a few times and think it's a good movie. But can someone tell me why it's considered the greatest movie by many critics. I understand that it pioneered alot of the cinema language that many modern movies now use, but what things specifically did it innovate that we now take for granted. I'm just wondering because I often hear that it's the greatest movie with no explanation why.

BTW, I have different faves for different moods. A few of my faves are Untouchables, Once Upon A Time In The West, Shawshank, Star Wars (original trilogy), Matrix (original), etc., etc. :fighting4

Sorry for the double post. Had a glitch with my browser.

It is difficult to put a finger on just any one specific innovation that makes Citizen Kane so different and pioneering of a movie.

If you watch a lot of movies made throughout the 1930s you'll see a lot of very straightforward linear conventions in storytelling. Kane threw out much of that with its very non-linear method. The main character dies in the film's first scene.

Citizen Kane was groundbreaking in its use of lighting and "deep focus" cinematography. The show had a more visually dramatic style to it and seems a lot more modern looking from other films made in the same period. Many people think of Hitchcock when it comes to wild camera angles, but Kane laid the foundation for thinking outside of those boundaries.

Perhaps the greatest thing about Citizen Kane was the balls it took to make the film. There was a LOT of political controversy surrounding this film -made by a guy merely in his early 20s (Orson Welles). William Randolph Hurst (the living inspiration of Kane's character) was doing all he could to keep the film from being shown. He almost succeeded too.

The 2-disc DVD of Citizen Kane has a fascinating 2 hour documentary about how the film was made, the controversy surrounding it, how it became regarded by critics as the best movie ever made and what "Rosebud" really means. Hehe.

Yeah I've heard the thing about Rosebud and once you know the dirty little secret you're like "That makes sense."

I may have to pick up that DVD. I love watching all the extras and commentaries, however my wife hates all that stuff so I have to watch by myself.