80. I Am a Fugitive From a
Chain-Gang (1932) - Mervyn LeRoy
When it came to movies in the
Great Depression the general consensus from Hollywood was to run screaming from
it, pretend it didn't exist and let people forget their troubles. Warner Bros. studio has always been given a
special place in many people's hearts for their insistence on tackling social
issues of the day. They were the leaders
in the gangster film cycle, and even their musicals like 42nd Street and Gold
Diggers of 1933 were about people facing hard times. Robert Elliot Burns' autobiography I am a
Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang was the source for this and it remains one
of the most brutal films from Hollywood's fabled pre-code era. A film that makes you damn glad you were
never arrested for anything in the 1920s, it is enough to scare anyone
straight. What is so harrowing is the
fact that like many of the best Hitchcock films this deals with a wrong man in
the wrong place at the wrong time, making everything all the more tragic. Absolutely astonishing start to finish and
featuring easily the best performance from future Oscar winner Paul Muni.
79. Husbands (1970) - John
Cassavetes
There are some filmmakers
that even if you love you can understand people who don't. John Cassavetes films are notoriously polarizing and even fans of his often find one film brilliant and another
indulgent. So I'll say it isn't always
easy to recommend one of his movies to someone, so I just say see them all and
you'll be rewarded more often than not.
For me though Husbands was a revelatory experience. The type of emotional connection you don't
expect to find in a film but desperately hope to. Maybe it's a male bonding thing, or maybe I
just saw something I could relate to.
The first major act of the film is a near non-stop bender of friends
mourning the death of one of their own as they drink, stay out all night, play
basketball, drunkenly make it to work, and eventually decide to up and leave to
London. What amazed me the most the
second time I saw the film was that I had no idea Cassavetes, Peter Faulk, and
Ben Gazzara really didn't know each other before making this movie. Their chemistry together really does come off
as lifelong friends and the fact that each actor worked with Cassavetes again
made me just assume they were old chums.
A messy film at times, but brutally honest and emotionally engaging.
This film is like great jazz, it's hard to pinpoint what makes it so good but
you know it when you see (hear) it.
78. Major League (1989) -
David S. Ward
After film and along with
music is my third major obsession, baseball. I'm not entirely sure when it started but I
could easily say the seeds of this love were planted back in 1989, the year I
went to my first baseball game, started playing little league, and the year
Major League came out. Like The Shining
around Halloween and A Christmas Story around that other holiday, Major League
is an absolute must see before baseball season begins. Usually I wait until Spring Training is in
gear and even this past year I no joke watched it two days in a row because
well I ALWAYS want to watch Major League.
An R-Rated comedy about professional baseball. It is really the only film of it's kind, to
tackle a real major league team, and like every awesome movie in the 80s there
is plenty of profanity. Wesley Snipes
and Charlie Sheen deliver stellar performances as rookies, Corbin Bernsen and
Tom Berrenger are hilarious as the veterans.
I can't even fathom how many times I've quoted this movie, or how giddy
like a school girl I was when I saw Corbin Bernsen throw out the first pitch at
a game in Cleveland. To hell with Bull
Durham, The Sandlot, or Pride of the Yankees, this is the best damn baseball
movie ever.
77. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
- Stanley Kubrick
Alright I'm already in that
stage of my list where everything is way lower than I wanted it to be, but
remember that crap about "everyone's a winner" well ok so welcome to
the list Mr. Kubrick. My favorite
director makes his first appearance on this list, but they'll be more don't you
worry. A Clockwork Orange was one of
those movies I loved before I knew shit about movies. I read about it in the always influential
Danny Peary's Cult Movies 2 and before I knew anything about Mr. Kubrick I saw
the film and loved it. My first year at
DePaul I got around to reading Anthony Burgess' brilliant book and it only
confirmed my love. In fact I think I
might prefer Kubrick's ending, but I'll avoid spoilers more for the people who
haven't read the book yet, if you haven't seen this movie you're fired. Although both this and 2001 were science
fiction films set in the future I can't imagine two completely contrasting
genre films. Dystopia was never quite so
brilliantly rendered however. It's also
worth noting how futuristic the film might seem without ever actually having
any specific sets built for the film. I
can go on and on, but damn it, if I could I'd have some of the old in-out
in-out with this film.
76. Bride of Frankenstein
(1935) - James Whale
Along with the film I just
wrote about, I have a hard time picturing myself ever making a movie list
without this. Bride of Frankenstein is
far and away my favorite monster movie and the best of the brilliant cycle of
films from Universal. I could throw the
original Frankenstein in the mix as well but from as far back as I can remember
I've always loved the sequel, the rare time when a horror movie's sequel is
considerably better. I don't even
remember the first time I saw this film, I just always remember considering it
my favorite. Maybe it's because it's
campier and wittier, maybe because of the bizarre little prologue, the cool
miniature people of Dr. Pretorious, but my guess is it's all about Boris
Karloff. His monster is the star here
and this does a tremendous amount to humanize the character. Judging by the placement of this on my top
100 horror list you can take an educated guess on how many more are
forthcoming.
75. Last Tango in Paris
(1972) - Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is one of
the most frustrating of directors. When
he's good no one seems better, but it seems for every masterpiece he churns out
a catastrophic and over the top pile of shit (sometimes literally). However for a brief period of time he
delivered probably the second best one-two punch of any Italian director, even
if both films were made in France.
Marlon Brando was hot off his comeback in The Godfather and here he
delivers what I would call the greatest screen acting performance of all
time. The fact that there was next to no
script for the film and Brando simply made up nearly all of his dialogue is
astonishing and helps to illustrate just why everyone considers him the
greatest film actor of all time, or at least in the top three. Not to be outdone though is Vittorio
Storaro's cinematography which is a little toned down after The Conformist but
still exquisite. Jean-Pierre Leaud is
the most comically pretentious arthouse filmmaker imaginable and I wonder if
Bertolucci wasn't taking a jab at some of his French new wave friends by making
his on screen director a bit of a cuckold.
This is the type of film that happens when you catch lightning in a
bottle.
74. Seven Samurai (1954) -
Akira Kurosawa
You can make the argument
that the truly great directors do not have one universal masterpiece above all
others. You can ask ten different
critics what their favorite film is and you'll get ten different answers. Akira Kurosawa is one of those directors. Whether you answer Rashomon, Ikiru, Throne of
Blood, Yojimbo, Kagemusha, Ran, or any other except for The Most Beautiful you
won't get a lot of argument. My own
personal favorite has bounced around a bit but it always comes back to Seven
Samurai. There's something I love about
an epic when it's done right. You become
far more emotionally involved in what's happening, the characters are more
richly developed, etc. Seven Samurai is
built so much on character, so much of the film is the preparation, but
Kurosawa doesn't let down once the battle starts. He made cinema's most incredible rain soaked
battle ever (sorry Peter Jackson) and this film will always remain on the short
list of the greatest of all Japanese films.
73. Ace in the Hole (1951) -
Billy Wilder
The only Billy Wilder film I
ever saw in a movie theater became an instant favorite. Rarely does a film that sits near the top of
my cinematic wish list deliver quite like this.
As satirical and cynical as Wilder ever got and featuring one of Kirk
Douglas' best performance in a long career filled with great work. Sadly enough the film is just as topical when
you look at how the media continuously manipulates stories into. I'll always think of The Simpsons when Bart
pretends to be trapped down a well and eventually is, which was an admitted
reference to this film. It also features
one of Wilder's great lines when Kirk Douglas tells his boss he would never
cross a man who wore a belt and suspenders.
Don't think any director in Hollywood was as good in the 50s as Wilder
which is incredible when you consider this is arguably his best film and
probably his least seen from the 50s thanks to years of being out of
print. It was a disaster upon release
and subsequently re-released under the title The Big Carnival to possibly draw
more people in. Goes to show sometimes
people just aren't ready for a great film.
72. 71 Fragments of a
Chronology of Chance (1994) - Michael Haneke
Ok I'll admit I put this at
#71 originally to be humorous but then I forgot a film much higher up and bam
it got bumped down and well I'm not putting it above the next film I'll tell
you that. Michael Haneke is like an old
school European auteur for today's generation.
His newest film Amour got a surprising best picture nomination from the
Academy but I would recommend going back a bit.
71 Fragments is a really extraordinary film that seems a bit like a
puzzle, with a nod and a wink to all those structuralist films Peter Greenaway
was so obsessed with making. It takes a
violent shooting in a bank and goes back to explain all the seemingly random
and unrelated things that made it happen.
Little incidents and coincidences that led the people involved to that
place at that time and how any insignificant detail could have literally been a
matter of life and death. When
everything starts to come together you realize that this might be one of the
most brilliantly laid out films ever made and a work of unquestioned
genius. Haneke really doesn't have a bad
film to his credit, but for my money this is the best.
71. Tango and Cash (1989) -
Andrei Konchalovsky
Words cannot express how
awesome this movie is. I used to
consider it something of a guilty pleasure.
One of those movies that I knowingly realize is bad or stupid but I just
have a nostalgic yearning for. However
the more I watch it the more I say nay, this is a masterpiece. If only this had been franchised instead of
Lethal Weapon or Rush Hour two clearly inferior variants on the buddy cop/odd
couple formula. The fact that it
features two of my three favorite people to appear in movies in the 80s
(Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell) is a strong selling point. The script is absolutely brilliant and I find
myself laughing every single time I watch it.
When Ray (Stallone) finds his sister (Teri Hatcher) on top of Gabriel (Russell)
I lose it every time. Kurt Russell even
earned himself a Golden Raspberry nomination for worst supporting actress for
his brief scene in drag. The fact that
the film still today has only a 39% rating makes me think I might be in the
minority until I realize to hell with you all, this movie fucking rules.
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