The single best film ever made:

[begin_within]

If your choice is not on this poll, please reply with your choice.

[jobycom]

1. Without Amadeus on the list, I refuse to answer. nt

[saltpoint]

16. Anybody who likes AMADEUS as a top-choice film is

A-OK with me.

Terrific script from Shaffer's play.

That film was a world-changer.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. Not too crazy about any of them...

I thought about half of them were boring. :shrug:
Duckie

[Hissyspit]

3. The Seven Samurai is on there twice?

[RetroLounge]

5. That makes 14 of them?

Hmmm

RL

[begin_within]

8. Sorry, my bad - copy and paste error

[NJ Democrats]

Can't answer

Because I haven't seen any of them

[Hissyspit]

4. There is no such thing as the single best film ever made.

Not meaning to be wet blanket!

[jobycom]

17. Logically, there has to be. Whether humans can grasp what it is

is another subject.

[Hissyspit]

21. Why, logically, does there have to be?

Define "best."

There are so many facets and factors to what it is that artworks are produced for, what their "purpose" is, that one movie would never fulfill any criteria for best in any of them. There are many objective factors, but there are many subjective ones as well. What criteria are you basing "best" on? Why is your criteria more important than mine, or Orson Welles, for instance? What values expressed by the movie are "better" than other values?

[jobycom]

22. Best means best.

The very fact that there is more than one film means there has to be a best, whether a human can choose it properly or not. Don't make me pull out Anselm's Proof here! I ain't afraid to use it! It works for God, it can work for movies! :rofl:

[Hissyspit]

23. Sometimes things are just DIFFERENT

Which is the best animated film based on a Dr. Seuss work? "Horton Hears A Who" or "How The Grinch Stole Christmas?"

And there is no God, so it doesn't work for her either. :P

[jobycom]

24. But, Anselm prooves it!

He proves there is a God, but he forgets to prove what God is.

Same with best. There has to be a best, by definition, even if you can't prove what is best.

[Hissyspit]

26. Don't make me bring out Gaunilo's Island.

And Hume. Or Douglas Gasking's handicap argument.

[jobycom]

28. Gaunilo misunderstood the proof.

Gasking was just bizarre. Hume--I'm still working on his. I feel like he misunderstood the argument, too, but then again, he's Hume, so I can't swear it. Hume and Anselm both had an almost supernatural essence to their works, almost requiring a moment of enlightenment to fully grasp them. I haven't figured out Hume's moment of enlightenment on Anselm, yet, so I can't be sure he's wrong.

Weird. I'm an atheist defending proof of a God. Still, there's definition of what god is proven.

[Orrex]

54. You're making a fatal error

The "absolute best" that you're proposing absolutely requires an objective measure by which best-ness is determined. Lacking that absolute measure, no definitive statement can be made about the absolute best-ness of anything.

Even the "humans can't grasp it" mantra doesn't help you, because then you're just begging the question (ie., "you can't comprehend it, so that prove that it doesn't exist").

Sorry, but until you prove that the objective measure does exist, we can't allow it into the argument. And if you claim that we just can't comprehend it, then all subsequent claims based upon it are statements of faith of no logical value.

[Hissyspit]

6. The Shawshank Redemption is winning with two votes??

Please! Expand your cultural awareness, people.

[wildhorses]

7. all the pretty horses

what else can I say? I love horses:P

[Dinger]

9. Walk The Line

[citizen snips]

10. The Godfather

n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. My PERSONAL favorite......

The Shawshank Redemption......

Just IMHO.......

[begin_within]

12. sensesofcinema.com compiled 513 "top ten lists" and came up with:

By film:

1. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) 100 lists
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) 57 lists
3. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) 56 lists
4. La Règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939) 42 lists
5. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) 41 lists
6. 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963) 40 lists
7. Sunrise (F. W. Murnau, 1927) 38 lists
8. Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967) 35 lists
9. Au Hasard, Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966) 34 lists
tied with Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) 34 lists

[saltpoint]

13. Rafaelson outdid himself with FIVE EASY PIECES. I still see Karen Black a

Rayette at the filling station, looking around in the cold wind for Jack Nicholson's Bobby, and all the the film Tammy Wynette and Chopin duking it out for soundtrack dominance.

Just a hell of a great film.

[ghostsofgiants]

14. Mulholland Drive gets my vote, but I"m a total Lynch fanboy, so you know..

[saltpoint]

15. Another top-drawer favorite is Franco Zefferelli's ROMEO AND JULIET.

The cast was absolutley alluring, Mancini's score was lovely, the set was perfect, and whoever that script writer was seemed to have a lot on the ball...

[wildhorses]

19. ohhh yes that was a good one and the musical score was good

too as I recall:thumbsup:

[Mutley]

18. 2001: A Space Odyssey

:bounce:

[valerief]

20. Last Year at Marienbad.

No, only joking.

[DanCa]

25. No Blues Brother or did the sequel automatically kill it from the list.

In all honesty I want to say cassablanca and give a shout to Superman One as well.

[Common Sense Party]

27. Am I the only one that HATED Citizen Kane?

I couldn't make it past the first half hour.

[CanuckAmok]

33. No, I pretty much hate it, too.

I mean, it's an okay film, but it's hardly worth the laudes it continues to receive.

One thing about CK that's hard to refute, however, is that it completely revolutionised practical cinematography; if you notice, many of the interior scenes include rooms with real ceilings, which allowed those scenes to be shot on-location. Previous cinematographers tended to use so much light that interior sets had to be purpose-built for filming, with no ceilings (to allow additional lighting). In that respect, Kane is revolutionary, and there hasn't been a technological advance in lighting since then, except maybe Lars von Trier's/Dogma 95's minimalism.

But the movie itself? Meh.

[CanuckAmok]

34. No, I pretty much hate it, too.

I mean, it's an okay film, but it's hardly worth the laudes it continues to receive.

One thing about CK that's hard to refute, however, is that it completely revolutionised practical cinematography; if you notice, many of the interior scenes include rooms with real ceilings, which allowed those scenes to be shot on-location. Previous cinematographers tended to use so much light that interior sets had to be purpose-built for filming, with no ceilings (to allow additional lighting). In that respect, Kane is revolutionary, and there hasn't been a technological advance in lighting since then, except maybe Lars von Trier's/Dogma 95's minimalism.

But the movie itself? Meh.

[begin_within]

36. I didn't like it either, I only included it in the poll list because...

...if I didn't I'm sure I would have caught hell for it. Of the 10 films in the poll list, it would be my last choice.

[Broken_Hero]

29. None of these...nt

[fishwax]

30. The Godfather, Part II

[cobalt1999]

43. my vote too.

The weaving of the two stories together successfully was amazing and I haven't seen something like that done before or since.

[fishwax]

49. It really is amazing, and moreso considering how well established the

characters were from the first movie. It is both sequel and prequel, and either of those alone would be difficult to do well. And as you say they are woven together so well. I just love that movie.

Another thing that has always amazed me about that movie is DeNiro's Vito Corleone--he had to not only play the young Vito, but since Brando had defined the old Vito so well, DeNiro had to play the young Brando as well. I really thought his interpretation of Vito was amazing, and he certainly deserved his oscar for that role.

[CanuckAmok]

31. What?! No "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!"?!

Philistines.

[begin_within]

41. I was going to include that one, but I thought I might be ridiculed for it

"Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" is my favorite action film of all time, and I think it deserves a place on the top 10 or 15 films of all time, but I was afraid of being lambasted for including it - people on this web site can be merciless and intolerant. I'm glad you added it as a reply, because it is the best action-adventure movie of all time, in my opinion. My friend Forrest has an autographed VHS copy of it that he bought directly from the hands of Russ Meyer about 10 years ago (for about $80).

[JackDragna]

32. Although I like "The Godfather"..

..I find these kind of discussions to be specious. There's so many good movies it's hard to justify one being the king of the hill. I can identify what makes a movie great or better than another, but it's a little much to go beyond that.

[CanuckAmok]

35. I think there are some contemporary films which will prove to be...

...just as worthy of being called "Best" as any of these classics.

I'm referring to Reservoir Dogs, Hard-Boiled, Star Wars (the first one from 1977), Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, Casino, Ran, Taxi Driver, and on and on and on.

I also have a soft-spot for "African Queen", which never makes it on to these lists, but should.

[ForrestGump]

37. Bill and Ted are conspicuously absent from the field. This survey is

fatally flawed. I cannot work under these conditions.

[Benfea]

38. Perhaps we could include a few Pauly Shore movies to boot? :P -NT

[ForrestGump]

39. Sure. To boot

through the window. :P

[begin_within]

42. That's why I encouraged people to reply with their own choice if it is not

listed... what makes it fatally flawed is that you only get 10 slots when you create the poll - I could easily have filled in 50 slots if they would have let me.

[ForrestGump]

46. Yes, curse that 10 spot maximum!

In that case, Apocalypse Now, though there're others I could also name and I agree that what is 'best' is both subjective and varying even within the range of one person's criteria.

[grannylib]

40. None of the above...for me it's a three-way tie between

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
The Lion in Winter
Rebecca


I could watch those over and over and over and over

[Mz Pip]

44. Animal House

Best movie ever.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Hand]

45. ISHTAR!!!

:rofl:

[rucky]

47. I feel sorry for Ishtar

it really wasn't that bad of a movie.

:shrug:

[Neshanic]

48. "Singing In The Rain"

[querelle]

50. Blade Runner

But it has to be Ridley Scott's director's cut. Way better than the theatrical release.

Q

[Orrex]

56. Love the director's cut!

Still, it has a few shortcomings that keep it out of the top spot on all-time-best list, but it's way up there regardless.

[dback]

51. You can always tell when white guy geeks make these lists

Over at the IMDB, the top films are things like "Shawshank" "The Godfather" "Star Wars" "Lord of the Rings" and Kubrick and Tarantino. It's like an echo chamber, same stuff over and over.

[Broken_Hero]

52. Hard question, to answer...

best movie of all time, what a task...so, I will cheat, and name three, IMO that are the best...

1. Gladiator

2. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

3. Grapes of Wrath

[ceile]

53. Rebecca n/t

[LSK]

55. i dont see Showgirls on here

:popcorn:

[martymar64]

57. My choices

Best Story: Godfather, Ikiru, Seven Samurai,

Best Cinematography: Cranes are Flying (Mikhail Kalatozov 1957) I am Cuba (Kalatozov again, 1964)

Dr. Zhivago,

Best Editing: Goodfellas, For a Few Dollars More

Honorable Mention for just Fun to Watch: Any Zatoichi film, Zoolander, Rock & Roll High School