100 Greatest American Films

[alfred russel]

28 that I remember seeing, but while counting up the numbers I noticed "Eyes Wide Shut" made the list. Really?

I think it's a surprising addition, but a justified one.

I mean, damn, if Lyndon can make it...

Barry Lyndon is one of my favorite movies. 

Better Kubrick films were omitted (such as Clockwork Orange).

I know it hasn't held up well for a variety of reasons, but my grandparents would be incredulous that Gone with the Wind is so far down the list.

[Ideologue]

Don't get me wrong.  I kind of love Barry Lyndon, but it's pretty easily his weakest non-disavowed film, other than Lolita, of course.  (And substantially weaker than one of the films he did disavowed, Spartacus.)  But despite the gorgeous photography and a story that isn't nearly as boring as people say, I still think placement on a Top 100 list is pretty completely unjustified.  I mean, seriously, Barry Lyndon but not a single De Palma film?  (I just rewatched Mission: Impossible. )

[katmai]

DePalma

[Ideologue]

DePalma

Oh, katmai.

[katmai]

DePalma

Oh, katmai.

3 for 39 is not a good average.

[Eddie Teach]

Scarface, Carlito, Untouchables?

[Ideologue]

Fucker probably doesn't even like Carrie!

Of 29 features, I've seen 18, 11 are great or close enough, and a couple of others are still pretty good.  Passion is really bad, and Sisters isn't recommendable, but then you've got M:I, Blow Out, Body Double, Phantom of the Paradise, and others, in addition to the aforementioned films.

[dps]

Better Kubrick films were omitted (such as Clockwork Orange).

Wasn't A Clockwork Orange a British production?

[katmai]

Fucker probably doesn't even like Carrie!

Of 29 features, I've seen 18, 11 are great or close enough, and a couple of others are still pretty good.  Passion is really bad, and Sisters isn't recommendable, but then you've got M:I, Blow Out, Body Double, Phantom of the Paradise, and others, in addition to the aforementioned films.

You have shite taste.

[Ideologue]

You and my girlfriend are both actively bad people.

[katmai]

You and my girlfriend are both actively bad people.

I agree, we both consort with you.

[celedhring]

Better Kubrick films were omitted (such as Clockwork Orange).

Wasn't A Clockwork Orange a British production?

By the same metric, so was Barry Lyndon. Both films were paid by Warner Bros at the end of the day.

[katmai]

Better Kubrick films were omitted (such as Clockwork Orange).

Wasn't A Clockwork Orange a British production?

By the same metric, so was Barry Lyndon. Both films were paid by Warner Bros at the end of the day.

Oscar Shamed As BBC List Of 100 Greatest American Films Largely Ignores Academy's Best Picture Winners And Nominees
Hey Oscar voters, the BBC Culture poll has just dissed you – BIG TIME. Do you care?

In a comprehensive new poll of the 100 Greatest American Films of all time, released this week by BBC Culture, only a measly 12 Academy Award
winning Best Pictures turn up at all, and only 8 of them in the top 75.   Worse than that statistic for the lasting influence of the Academy's Best Picture choices, according to this poll,  a whopping 60, count 'em, 60 other movies mentioned were not even nominated for Best Picture. Gone With The Wind, considered the benchmark of all Oscar winning Best Pictures, barely made the list at number 97,
just one notch above Heaven's Gate, the 1980 western that was a notorious disaster at the time but is clearly getting a second look. Ouch. Interestingly Michael Cimino's one and only Best Picture winner, The Deer Hunter was AWOL, so take this all with a grain of salt, Academy. Perhaps it is choices like that one that have made this list the subject of much controversy and venom in the last few days. I thought it might be interesting to compare the BBC list to the record of the Academy in awarding Best Picture throughout their history.

The poll, taken among 62 international film critics, was commissioned also "to get a global perspective on American film" from critics around the
world.  Since Oscar has been seen as a symbol of ultimate quality in foreign markets for decades, the results here show Academy voters over the course of the organization's near 90 years have not chosen films for their top prize that measure up with the passage of time compared to others they bypassed or completely overlooked. That is of course according to this talked-about poll which has gotten lots of traction and internet buzz, setting off debates on the merits of the American movies that made the cut, and those that didn't. "American movie" is defined by BBC Culture  as any film that received funding from a US source and not necessarily those by an American director. Such Oscar-winning Best Pictures as Lawrence Of Arabia, The Bridge On The River Kwai, Gandhi, or Tom Jones funded primarily outside the U.S. were apparently not eligible. And although no David Lean film is represented, 32 movies on the list were from directors not even born in the US.

[Eddie Teach]

Not surprising, really. Oscar tends to pick safe over interesting & new.

[celedhring]

"American movie" is defined by BBC Culture  as any film that received funding from a US source and not necessarily those by an American director. Such Oscar-winning Best Pictures as Lawrence Of Arabia, The Bridge On The River Kwai, Gandhi, or Tom Jones funded primarily outside the U.S. were apparently not eligible. And although no David Lean film is represented, 32 movies on the list were from directors not even born in the US.

Given the way a lot of films are funded, particularly since the 70s, seems to me they would have needed to do a lot of research to establish that.

Fun fact, the Spanish government considers Fast and Furious 6 a Spanish movie, since they set up a temporary company in Spain to carry out the production in order to benefit from tax breaks. Faux-British productions used to be commonplace too.

Not surprising, really. Oscar tends to pick safe over interesting & new.

Yup, definitely.