Ken Thompson

Lechuguilla (at IMDb)

The Best of the Bunch
  1. 2001: A Space Odyssey | Stanley KUBRICK | 1968
  2. The Night of the Hunter | Charles LAUGHTON | 1955
  3. Aguirre, Wrath of God | Werner HERZOG | 1972
  4. Sunset Blvd. | Billy WILDER | 1950
  5. Casablanca | Michael CURTIZ | 1942
  6. Psycho | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1960
  7. The Third Man | Carol REED | 1949
  8. Citizen Kane | Orson WELLES | 1941
  9. Le Mépris | Jean-Luc GODARD | 1963
  10. M | Fritz LANG | 1931
  11. La Grande Illusion | Jean RENOIR | 1937
  12. Nashville | Robert ALTMAN | 1975
  13. City Lights | Charles CHAPLIN | 1931
  14. Rio Bravo | Howard HAWKS | 1959
  15. Intolerance | D.W. GRIFFITH | 1916
  16. Play Time | Jacques TATI | 1967
  17. The Battle of Algiers | Gillo PONTECORVO | 1966
  18. Close-Up | Abbas KIAROSTAMI | 1990
  19. Blade Runner | Ridley SCOTT | 1982
  20. Apocalypse Now | Francis Ford COPPOLA | 1979
  21. Modern Times | Charles CHAPLIN | 1936
  22. Once upon a Time in the West | Sergio LEONE | 1968
  23. Chinatown | Roman POLANSKI | 1974
  24. Lawrence of Arabia | David LEAN | 1962

Neutral / Indifferent / Ambivalent

Film I do not care for

49. Some Like It Hot | Billy WILDER | 1959
50. Breathless | Jean-Luc GODARD | 1960
51. L'Avventura | Michelangelo ANTONIONI | 1960
52. Wild Strawberries | Ingmar BERGMAN | 1957
53. Vertigo | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1958
54. Jeanne Dielman | Chantal AKERMAN | 1975
55. La Règle du Jeu | Jean RENOIR | 1939
56. Beau Travail | Claire DENIS | 1999
57. North by Northwest | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1959
58. Raging Bull | Martin SCORSESE | 1980
59. Rear Window | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1954
60. Blue Velvet | David LYNCH | 1986
61. Andrei Rublev | Andrei TARKOVSKY | 1966
62. Persona | Ingmar BERGMAN | 1966
63. Mulholland Dr. | David LYNCH | 2001
64. The Seventh Seal | Ingmar BERGMAN | 1957
65. The Godfather: Part II | Francis Ford COPPOLA | 1974

Films Not Seen

Alternative Films

My critique of the current S & S poll is that it overplays A-list directors. Would prefer to see a list of best films, regardless of director. I would propose that the following 50 films be considered among the greatest.

All About Eve | Joseph L. MANKIEWICZ | 1950
from films I’ve seen, one of the best scripts ever written

All the President's Men | Alan J. PAKULA | 1976
an unlikely, and history making, story

American Psycho | Mary HARRON | 2000
gleefully subversive statement on Wall Street

Beau Geste | William A. WELLMAN | 1939
possibly the best of the grand adventure films

The Birds | Alfred HITCHCOCK | 1963
more coherent and mysterious than other Hitch films

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari | Robert WIENE | 1920
a horror mindscape unfolds in brilliant expressionistic visuals; did it presage Nazism?

The Conformist | Bernardo BERTOLUCCI | 1970
deeply thematic, and wow those colors

Le Corbeau | Henri-Georges CLOUZOT | 1943
dark and deeply subversive

The Day of the Jackal | Fred ZINNEMANN | 1973
the devil and the excellence are in the details

Death in Venice | Luchino VISCONTI | 1971
oh those lush visuals!

Deliverance | John BOORMAN | 1972
once the tension begins, it never lets up

Double Indemnity | Billy WILDER | 1944
possibly the best film noir ever made

Easy Rider | Dennis HOPPER | 1969
it defined a generation

Eye of God | Tim Blake NELSON | 1997
potent story of misguided faith

Fantasia | Ben SHARPSTEEN | 1940
imaginative animated imagery in sync with great music

Fata Morgana | Werner HERZOG | 1971
it’s in the eye of the beholder

Forbidden Planet | Fred M. WILCOX | 1956
a sci-fi script for the thinking person

Full Metal Jacket | Stanley KUBRICK | 1987
possibly the best of the Vietnam War films

Genesis | Nacho CERDÀ | 1998
imaginative short script; gorgeous imagery

Gerry | Gus VAN SANT | 2002
defining a path less traveled

High Noon | Fred ZINNEMANN | 1952
that terrific B&W cinematography

In Cold Blood | Richard BROOKS | 1967
realism in prod values and terrific B&W photography

Jazz on a Summer's Day | Bert STERN | 1960
musically eclectic and fun!

JFK | Oliver STONE | 1991
courageous counterpoint to conventional thinking

Judgment at Nuremberg | Stanley KRAMER | 1961
let’s never forget its message

The Last Picture Show | Peter BOGDANOVICH | 1971
starkly realistic, and that photography!

Let No Man Write My Epitaph | Philip LEACOCK | 1960
terrific character-driven script 

The Maltese Falcon | John HUSTON | 1941
casting is superlative

Marjoe | Sarah KERNOCHAN & Howard SMITH | 1972
shining a light into a dark corner of American culture

Midnight Cowboy | John SCHLESINGER | 1969
the 1960s culture clash

Midnight Express | Alan PARKER | 1978
riveting true-life story

The Motorcycle Diaries | Walter SALLES | 2004
a young man en route to destiny

Murder on the Orient Express | Sidney LUMET | 1974
at least as visually elegant as “Barry Lyndon”

My Darling Clementine | John FORD | 1946
the poetic Western

Network | Sidney LUMET | 1976
deeply thematic; ahead of its time

Night and Fog | Alain RESNAIS | 1955
has there ever been a more difficult film to watch?

Picnic at Hanging Rock | Peter WEIR | 1975
an unfathomable mystery

Point of Order | Emile DE ANTONIO | 1964
more potent and every bit as riveting as Kiarostami’s “Close-Up”

Profondo Rosso | Dario ARGENTO | 1975
possibly the most satisfying of all Italian Giallos and more terrifying than most Hitchcock films

Silkwood | Mike Nichols  | 1983
Meryl Streep’s brilliant performance

A Star Is Born | George CUKOR | 1954
terrific vehicle for an iconic actress

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas | F.W. MURNAU | 1931
early classic adventure story

Touching the Void | Kevin MACDONALD | 2003
oh that visual perspective!

The Tracker | Rolf DE HEER | 2002
unusual and deeply thematic outdoor story

Van Gogh | Maurice PIALAT | 1991
stunning bio

Victim | Basil DEARDEN | 1961
courageous theme; script way ahead of its time

Victor/Victoria | Blake EDWARDS | 1982
a fun musical with great performances

Wall Street | Oliver STONE | 1987
Gordon Gekko as the iconic modern villain

Witness for the Prosecution | Billy WILDER | 1957
Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester; what more could you want?

The Wizard of Oz | Victor FLEMING | 1939
a thousand years from now its deeply humanistic themes will still be relevant

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