Is this a respectable Top 10 Greatest Films List?

I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately and felt compelled to just get it out there. Now I know I haven't watched every film ever but I think these ten films are definitely up there with any film ever made. Let me know what you think!

10. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)


"Madness... Madness!"

Just a perfectly made movie. I may personally prefer Lawrence of Arabia but there's something about River Kwai that makes me feel the need to put it on here.

9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)



Some people find this movie boring, but I think it's influential and innovative beyond words.

8. Stagecoach (1939)



Even though it's well known, I still think this is a very underrated movie. This is the film that made Westerns into a great genre and propelled both John Wayne and John Ford into legendary careers.

7. 12 Angry Men (1957)



The greatest screenplay ever written, or at the very least the top 3. The dialogue is the movie and this has some of the best in any film.

6. Seven Samurai (1954)



An epic masterpiece in every sense of the word.

5. Intolerance (1916)



This movie did so many things before any other, and if there was something that was done before, it was bigger and better.

4. Bicycle Thieves (1948)



A very emotional post-WW2 masterpiece. This film is simple yet so powerful in its meaning. Definitely one of the best of all time.

3. Casablanca (1942



A romance film that has resonated throughout the ages. 74 years later, it's still amazing to watch, with some of the most memorable lines in film history.

2. The Godfather (1972)



Being such a huge fan of crime films I really had no qualms about putting this one so high. This was the ultimate New Hollywood film, and now it's really the king of all mafia and crime films, as well as one of the best to ever be made.

1. Citizen Kane (1941)



It was really hard to choose either this or The Godfather to take the top spot. But Citizen Kane's legacy, influence, innovation, and sheer greatness makes me agree with so many that it is the greatest film ever made.


The one movie I'd like to add as an honorable mention is Psycho.

If it's a list of films that critics generally consider to be among the greatest of all-time, it's very respectable but also rather predictable and without a lot of "personality".

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It's a good list and I have three of them in my 100, but agree with mark that it lacks personality. Are these your favourite films? Not your favourites of the best films ever made, but your 'if I could only have 10 films for the rest of my life' kind of list?

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How come your profile top ten is very different?

I agree with mark, it is respectable, but doesn't have any personality or uniqueness.

10.Dying to see

09.Hated the first time, liked a bit the second time, loved the third time. I don't know what makes a "greatest film" but this would probably be my pick from what i've seen even though it isn't my favourite.

08.Love

07.Love

06.Love

05.Haven't seen

04.Haven't seen

03.Like a lot

02.3rd in my profile

01.Love

These are just how i like them not speaking to their quality or whether they deserve to be on a greatest films list or not.

I can understand that, especially with the top 3. Those are the 3 that are usually talked about, though I can't help but agree. The Godfather is amazing and I could talk all day about it being deserving of its praise. I feel the same about Casablanca as well. Citizen Kane is strange because I heard and read SO much about it before actually watching it. I'd probably be lying if I said all of didn't make me think more highly of it. But I'm only human!

On the other hand I don't think it's quite that bad personality-wise with picks like River Kwai, Stage Coach, and Intolerance.

What are a few films that you think are the greatest?

No these are not my personal favorite films, but films that I think are the best-made/most influential/most legendary.

For me, I can separate a film that is very well made between one that I personally like. Silent Hill is one of my favorite movies, but in no way will I say it's one of the greatest ever made, because I'm aware that it's one that appeals to me personally and is not quote on quote "one of the greatest movies ever."

With the exception of maybe the LOTR trilogy, none of my personal favorite films really "impacted" the world of film like the 10 I mentioned.

I hope I explained it well.

Honeykid, my profile favorites are my island ones.

Too many Hollywood movies.

This would be a world class top 10 best live actions list:

Bicycle Thieves
Ikiru
Tokyo Story
2001
Citizen Kane
Apu Trilogy
Al Hasard Balthazar
The Mirror
Persona
Apocalypse Now

In manga I notice manga critics don't tend to be so obsessed with top lists as live action film fans and critics are. Same applies to music fans and critics.

I agree with FW that the 10 best films ever made and my 10 favorite films differ. I defiantly don't think Fight Club is the best film ever made, but I enjoy it the most, and could watch it a million times.

Well you have 3 from my list in there, so that ain't bad. Apocalypse Now is a great choice but fell just short for mine.

...and of course no matter what's being discussed you have to somehow bring up manga/anime.

You got the right idea completely Nope, even with Fight Club!

Somebody let this guy know Hollywood isn't a genre.

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Letterboxd

Kind of boring.

Just because those films on the top 10 are well known, doesn't make them boring.

I dont know False Writer, Intolerance & Bicycle Thieves seem out of place among those, maybe inserted to make the list look more "smart" I dont know. I mean, Intolerance was made in 1916....now is that really in your top ten?

Like others said, kind of cliched, but if those are really 10 films you love for various reasons, then it's a great list FW.

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Agree with mark and Daniel. By saying that there's a difference between the greatest movies and your favorite movies, you're kind of implying that there's some governing objectivity to evaluate movies on. Favorites are subjective and greatest are objective or something like that. The problem with this assumption is that it limits the way that you think about movies. I think that understanding why you respond so intensely to a movie is far more important than understanding (and far more difficult) than understanding why a select few movies are held in such esteem. Though I could be reading too much into the purpose of the list.

Side note:What you said about Stagecoach isn't exactly true. It certainly propelled Wayne (who's also great in the earlier Raoul Walsh western, The Big Trail), but Ford was already very well established in Hollywood. He'd been making films since the early teens and had over 100 films under his belt by the time he made Stagecoach. He had even already won an Oscar by then for directing The Informer.

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Mubi

Then how can it not be respectable? You basically made being respectable the main criterion to create this list.

I'm honestly more annoyed about using a single entry for a trilogy. That's cheating, and way too common in official lists

You're not saying that music fans and critics aren't about top lists, are you?

Quoted for truth.

Citizen Kane was just about the dullest experience of my life.

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