Village Voice Critic's Poll - 100 Greatest Films of the 20th Century

[begin_within]

This was published in the January 4, 2000 edition of the Village Voice. Approximately 50 movie critics were polled.

1. Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
2. The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir)
3. Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
4. The Searchers (1956, John Ford)
5. The Man With a Movie Camera (1929, Dziga Vertov)
6. Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
7. L'Atalante (1934, Jean Vigo)
8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
9. Au Hasard, Balthazar (1966, Robert Bresson)
10. Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
11. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
12. The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)
13. Pather Panchali (1955, Satyajit Ray)
14. The Birth of a Nation (1915, D.W. Griffith)
15. The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming)
16. It's a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra)
17. Ordet (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
18. Intolerance (1916, D.W. Griffith)
19. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman)
20. Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock)
21. Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanski)
22. M (1931, Fritz Lang)
23. The Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
24. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953, Max Ophuls)
25. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles)
26. A Man Escaped (1956, Robert Bresson)
27. Broken Blossoms (1919, D.W. Griffith)
28. Greed (1924, Erich von Stroheim)
29. Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)
30. The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
31. The Godfather Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)
32. The General (1927, Buster Keaton)
33. The Seventh Seal (1956, Ingmar Bergman)
34. Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese)
35. The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton)
36. Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
37. The Bicycle Thief (1949, Vittorio DeSica)
38. City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin)
39. King Kong (1933, Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack)
40. Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang)
41. My Life to Live (Vivre sa vie) (1962, Jean-Luc Godard)
42. Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton)
43. Aguirre: the Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog)
44. Duck Soup (1933, Leo McCarey)
45. Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder)
46. Barry Lyndon (1975, Stanley Kubrick)
47. The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut)
48. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928, Buster Keaton)
49. Contempt (1963, Jean-Luc Godard)
50. The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin)
51. North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)
52. Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966, George Kuchar)
53. The Rise of Louis XIV (1966, Roberto Rossellini)
54. The Apu Trilogy (1955-59, Satyajit Ray)
55. Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)
56. A Woman Under the Influence (1974, John Cassavetes)
57. The Lady Eve (1941, Preston Sturges)
58. The Conformist (1970, Bernardo Bertolucci)
59. The Palm Beach Story (1942, Preston Sturges)
60. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962, John Ford)
61. Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson)
62. An Actor's Revenge (1963, Kon Ichikawa)
63. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
64. Close-Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)
65. The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1965, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
66. La Jetee (1961, Chris Marker)
67. Modern Times (1936, Charles Chaplin)
68. October (1927, Sergei Eisenstein)
69. Los Olvidados (1950, Luis Bunuel)
70. Paisan (1946, Roberto Rossellini)
71. Performance (1970, Nicolas Roeg & Donald Cammell)
72. Shoah (1985, Claude Lanzmann)
73. Singin' in the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
74. Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1966, Jean-Luc Godard)
75. Umberto D (1952, Vittorio De Sica)
76. Les Vampires (1915-16, Louis Feuillade)
77. All About Eve (1950, Joseph H. Lewis)
78. All That Heaven Allows (1956, Douglas Sirk)
79. Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein)
80. Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock)
81. Pierrot le Fou (1965, Jean-Luc Godard)
82. Fox and His Friends (1975, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
83. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper)
84. A Trip to the Moon (1902, Georges Melies)
85. Wavelength (1967, Michael Snow)
86. Ashes and Diamonds (1958, Andrzej Wajda)
87. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970, Russ Meyer)
88. The Golden Coach (1952, Jean Renoir)
89. Salo (1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
90. Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974, Jacques Rivette)
91. Masculine-Feminine (1966, Jean-Luc Godard)
92. Nosferatu (1922, F.W. Murnau)
93. Star Wars (1977, George Lucas)
94. Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)
95. Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale)
96. Jules and Jim (1961, Francois Truffaut)
97. Landscape in the Mist (1988, Theo Angelopoulos)
98. Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese)
99. Shadow of a Doubt (1943, Alfred Hitchcock)
100. Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento)

[Robeson]

1. Some great movies, no doubt, but Rear Window doesn't make...

...the top 100?...:thumbsdown:

[begin_within]

6. I would have put Rear Window on the list, but not above

Psycho, which IMO is superior filmmaking. I also would have moved Citizen Kane down to maybe #50 or so. Bicycle Thief should be moved up a lot. Palm Beach story should be moved down a lot, but not knocked off the list. They failed to include Shawshank, Salt of the Earth, El Norte, Harold and Maude, Faster Pussycat, Lion in Winter, Five Easy Pieces, Lawrence of Arabia and many others. I don't understand why Texas Chainsaw and Salo are on the list, when those slots could have been taken up with much better films. The list seems a little biased in favor of foreign films, and I’m glad they recognized Bresson’s work, but why nothing by Fellini??

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

40. Texas Chainsaw was one of the most important and best films ever made

It should be much, much higher on this list. It introduce an entirely different psychology to horror films that was entirely unseen before TCM, and most importantly, it STILL holds up as a fantastic movie.

[swag]

2. Lots of good stuff there.

I don't see why Citizen Kane, Godfather, Star Wars, and other stuff even merited consideration (on second thought, it's not so hard to figure: most of the voters were probably either fresh-faced college boys or their aging, nostaligic counterparts), but that's a Village Voice poll for you; the annual Pazz & Jop poll is always a debacle, so why not this?

Where is Goodfellas, by the way?

[zonkers]

4. You are dead on. Everything. Right down to Goodfellas.

[Shredr]

9. Hear, hear!

Especially about GOODFELLAS!

[swag]

16. I will admit that my diss of Citizen Kane was petulant philistinism.

[begin_within]

18. On my list, Citizen Kane would be down around #50 or so.

Still on the list, but not #1.

[WCGreen]

30. Citizens Kane is a mess....

If "technique is the measure of greatness then are there not any David Lynch Movies....

Great movies need to strike a cord, capture a moment....

At least that is how I feel...

No Grapes of Wrath...

No Casablanca...

No Oliver....

Oh well....

I guess I'm just a hick from the Midwest who looks for greatness in story, acting and a director who can let the story tell itself...

Hell I would put American Graffiti on that list...

It was defiantly a ground breaking movie, reviving the ensemble movie cast...

[regnaD kciN]

46. Agreed about American Graffiti...

...as a matter of fact, I'd just as soon it replace the incredibly-overrated Star Wars as the Official Lucas Selection. But Oliver??? :crazy: One of the creakiest and most overblown of the waning days of big-budget movie musicals, if you ask me. Or did you mean something by Olivier?

[zonkers]

3. A great list of films. Definitely very critic-eee. Suspiria even making

it is sort of weird. A lot of the old silent stuff sounds terrific. There's a lot of foriegn stuff I never heard of either. Thanks for posting.

[jpgray]

5. Even though the Passion of Joan of Arc is somewhat gimmicky

Being recovered from some lost print or some shit, the film is actually really, really good.

[begin_within]

7. Balthazar is a must-see, if you're into European art films. But I wonder

why nothing by Fellini is on the list, not even 8 1/2

[Tyrone Slothrop]

12. I was glad to see Sunrise at #6

One of my faves from the silent era, but it's largely forgotten about these days. (I'd never heard of it until my silent film class.)

I'd highly recommend it.

[zonkers]

14. I will check it out.

[ceile]

8. Lots of Hitch....

Good list, but I would move Shadow of a Doubt up into the 20s. I think it's one of his best. And Aguirre needs to be moved up as well. That is an AMAZING film!

[YankeyMCC]

10. A pretty good list

But no "Weekend at Bernie's 2"??

:)

Seriously it is a pretty good list but still I think there are some ommissions. But no list is going to satify everyone, this one is better than one that was posted in the lounge a few days ago.

[speedoo]

32. I enjoy these lists. Could anyone post a link to the other one?

The other one posted here recently, thanks.

[YankeyMCC]

37. sorry

a quick search and I can't find it.

[YankeyMCC]

38. Found it

Here's the DU thread, the link to the list source is in the OP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5419074&mesg_id=5419074

[speedoo]

44. thanks. nm

[querelle]

11. #89 - Salo

Salo - The 120 Days of Sodom based on the book by the Marquis de Sade. I rented that last year and it was horrific. Extemely graphic and unbelievable violence. I couldn't finish watching it. I don't really see how it made it on this list, but these types of lists are rather subjective. To each his own I guess.

Q

[begin_within]

19. Some critics have given it their lowest possible rating, while others

think it's some sort of masterpiece of some kind. After reading all about it on imDb, I decided to not watch it ever.

[Wilhelm Klink Reich]

33. I see two major flaws with the IMDB reviews

1. they severely understate the homo-erotic and homosexual themes in the movie (for instance you might not even realize the director was homosexual just reading a few selected "feature" reviews)

2. they make it seem as though this movie is extremely hard to get and/or quite pricey (in the 100s of $$$). That may have been true until recently but I think it can be had on DVD for around $30 now

[Tyrone Slothrop]

13. Why is Vertigo always so highly rated?

For the life of me, I will always wonder that.

As far as Hitch's "major" canon goes, it's always been among my least favorite. While I realize that there were a fair amount of cool arty and technical things about it, the story is barely compelling. Give me Rear Window, NxNW, Psycho, The Birds, Frenzy, Rebecca, etc., etc. any day over Vertigo.

[begin_within]

25. I don't get it either. Psycho stands up to repeat viewings far better than

Vertigo or even Rear Window in my opinion. Every time "Psycho" is on, I feel drawn into it all over again - the sleazy atmosphere, the mournful music, quietly brilliant acting, near-perfect script - the whole thing coalesces into its own little creepy, sleazy, prurient mini-universe that is irresistible every time it is shown again. Hitchcock's other films seem to take place in the "normal" world we live in, but "Psycho" seems to take place in a self-contained, eerie, alternative world (that we won't admit does exist all around us).

[Tyrone Slothrop]

15. I wonder how much this list will change as more films are released on DVD

I mention this as my favorite French film (Masculin-Feminin) came in at #91 on the poll and several other "lesser" (IMHO, anyway) Godard films charted higher on the list.

I saw Masculin-Feminin in a film class some years ago and absolutely fell in love with it. I searched quite extensively for it on DVD but to no avail. It was finally released (by Criterion, I think) last year.

Seeing as this poll pre-dates that film's DVD release by 5 years or so, I have to wonder whether or not it would have been rated higher had it been more readily available at the time of the poll. (And likewise with any number of other classics that hadn't/haven't received a proper release on DVD yet.)

[calico1]

17. I am surprised Vertigo was that high on the list.

I like Alfred Hitchcock but I liked Rear Window much better than Vertigo. I never thought Kim Novack was that great an actress and the chemistry was better between Stewart and Kelly. And where is Casablanca? Interesting list. I haven't heard of a lot of those movies.

[Neshanic]

34. Don't get that rank either. Barry Lyndon much better.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

20. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls?

Are they just trying to cheer up Ebert?

[pscot]

21. Russ Meyer makes the list

and John Huston doesn't? No Fellini? Humbug. And what about Bogie? Bah, humbug.

[begin_within]

24. Russ Meyer should be there for "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!", not for

"Beyond the Valley of the Dolls." "Faster, Pussycat!" is a genuine action classic and also a cult classic.

[jane_pippin]

48. But..It's HIS happening--and it's freaking him out!

:D

[MrScorpio]

22. There are a bunch in there that no one will ever see again

Or who haven't seen before

[begin_within]

26. All the silent ones are pretty much in the "dustbin of history" except for

extreme film buffs who go to screenings in major cities or send away for DVDs by mail. There must be a lot of art house theatres in New York City that still show the silent ones and the foreign films.

[tinfoil tiaras]

23. WTF. No "To Kill a Mockingbird"

That movie had to have been the best movie in the history of forever...:wtf:

[calico1]

43. You're right!

That is an excellent movie. And Gregory Peck was so good! When he died I remember seeing on the news that some magazine had done a poll with regard to who people thought was the greatest motion picture hero of all time was. "Atticus Finch" as portrayed by Gregory Peck was # 1.

[regnaD kciN]

47. In a way, it's fitting...

...because Lawrence of Arabia didn't make it, either. Lawrence was the Academy's Best Picture winner for 1962, with Mockingbird its closest competitor, and I've always considered them, not just the two best films of 1962, but the two best films, period. So, it seems appropriate that both of them got dissed by the VV.

[WI_DEM]

27. I love these lists because there is so much to debate

for instance "All that Heaven Allows" makes the list of 100 best films but "The Magnificent Ambersons" doesn't. And while I love "North by Northwest" and "Shadow of a Doubt" I think that Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" is a better film than both.

[WI_DEM]

28. If this was France the top ten would look this way:

The Nutty Professor (D: Jerry Lewis)
The Lady's Man (D: Jerry Lewis)
The Bellboy (D: Jerry Lewis)
The Patsy (D: Jerry Lewis)
The Errand Boy (D: Jerry Lewis)
The Family Jewels (D: Jerry Lewis)
Artists and Models (D: Frank Tashlin)
Who's Minding the Store? (D: Frank Tashlin)
The King of Comedy (D: Martin Scorsese)
The Disorderly Orderly (D: Frank Tashlin)

Of course I jest, but there probably would be 3 or 4 Lewis films on a list of 100 Greatest Films of All-time.

[begin_within]

29. My God, you're right

[bridgit]

31. i'm surprised Nosferatu wasn't a little higher on the list...

:shrug:

[Neshanic]

35. Apparently critics do not like comedies. Annie Hall not there?

[deucemagnet]

36. I'll admit I haven't seen a lot that made the list, but...

#1 Citizen Kane - Way overrated, imho, and should be nowhere near the top.

#15 The Wizard of Oz - Quite an accomplishment in it's time, but Pixar and Disney have done better. Speaking of Disney, Snow White should have made the list.

#11 2001: A Space Odyssey - Again, groundbreaking for it's time, but quite a snooze-fest at other times.

#16 It's a Wonderful Life - This is probably just personal preference, but I hate almost all of the treacly crap that Capra made, with the exception of It Happened One Night, which probably should have made the list.

#33 The Seventh Seal - OK, I have a lot of patience for movies that move at a slow pace, and I really liked this movie, but I don't think it can really be considered "great" outside of art house circles.

#Metropolis - Should have been much higher on the list. The plot was a bit thin at times, but it continues to fascinate and intrigue people to this day.

#92 Nosferatu - Should have been much higher on the list, as it set the standard for gothic horror, and Count Orlock remains an icon to this day.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

39. That's one of the worst lists I've ever seen.

Only 5 movies from 1980-on make the list, and one of them is "Close Up"? Are you fucking kidding me? I AM a film and literature snob, and quite frankly, that film lacked a purpose for anyone who wasn't an art major. Furthermore, these people seem to think the only thing that makes a movie good is if you did something first, which is utterly ridiculous.

The only thing I will give this list is that it has two Kurosawa films on it. That's about it though.

[NewJeffCT]

42. the dates stood out to me as well

No worthy movies since 1990? Only 5 since 1980?

[Rabrrrrrr]

41. Damn. I bet Porky's just missed the list, at 101.

:grr:

[regnaD kciN]

45. Only two by Kurosawa and ONE by Bergman...?????

:wtf:

(ON EDIT: One good thing about that list...no Gone With The Wind!)