The Canon Reworked
1. Citizen Kane
| Orson WELLES | 1941
2. Vertigo | Alfred
HITCHCOCK | 1958
7. M | Fritz LANG | 1931
11. Psycho | Alfred
HITCHCOCK | 1960
13. Persona | Ingmar
BERGMAN | 1966
16. The General
| Clyde BRUCKMAN & Buster KEATON | 1927
24. 8½ | Federico
FELLINI | 1963
57. L'Eclisse | Michelangelo
ANTONIONI | 1962
62. Stalker | Andrei
TARKOVSKY | 1979
68. Ordet | Carl
Th. DREYER | 1955
73. Greed | Erich
VON STROHEIM | 1924
81. Gertrud | Carl
Th. DREYER | 1964
82. Mirror | Andrei
TARKOVSKY | 1975
99. Shoah | Claude
LANZMANN | 1985
Once again, a chance has been missed and missed badly. There are literally sixty films on this list that are not as good as William Freidkin's unappreciated masterpiece, Sorcerer. At least sixty and possibly closer to seventy. The Magnificent Ambersons...are you kidding? By his own admission the studio ruined that picture beyond repair. Are you giving credit for the movie it should have been? Rio Bravo? Really? You know I was thinking that if you simply took out all the foreign films and silent films that you might, might get it right someday. But I don't think you would. Mulholland Drive is better than Ben Hur? Really? And you throw in documentaries like the Battle of Algiers and Shoah, not even on anyone's top five list of greatest documentaries. Vertigo at number two was almost the only thing you did right. And Barry Lyndon and 2001: a Space Odyssey are better than The Paths of Glory? Really? It's not apples and oranges...it's not. You missed badly here and I truly don't believe it would have been better if your choices were restricted. Do yourself a favor and watch Sorcerer again or for the first time. Then tell me picks forty through one-hundred are as good.
ReplyDeleteJack, none of the titles you mentioned were eligible for this, as the introduction sets out. They were, however, eligible for The Alternative 100. Links to both the introduction and Alternative 100 can be found on the right-hand side.
ReplyDelete