TIME's Richard Corliss updates our All-TIME 100 list of the greatest films made since 1923 — the beginning of TIME — with 20 new entries
A leading man (Jeff Daniels) steps down off the movie screen to bring a touch of romance to the life of Mia Farrow’s downtrodden waitress. Set in Depression-era America, this astonishing exercise in Magic Realism is both an arresting spin on romantic comedy conventions and a light, lovely meditation on the cost of surrendering our lives to commercialized fantasy. “Rare currents of wit and nostalgia,” TIME’s reviewer wrote. But in retrospect, it is much more than that.
Agree or disagree with the films on this list, what's here is still an excellent representation of cinema. A couple friends of mine are working our way through the extended list (the original, the twenty additions, the millennial ten, and a couple we've added). We're also recording a podcast, called We Just Watched a Movie ( http://thewayofthegame.net/?cat=1924 ), where we discuss each film and rank it in relation to the other films on the list.
That's been a difficult project so far, especially when our randomized order had us follow up Sherlock Jr. with City of God as the first two movies we reviewed. The project has been incredibly enlightening so far, and a great excuse to actually watch some of these cinematic giants. Thanks for the fodder, and we'll look forward to more down the road.
My only real complaint about the list is that there's no definitive version. The twenty additions update seems to imply that movies were removed from the list, but there's no indication of which were cut, if at all. Also, some of the links no longer work, like the lists of which movies you each left on the cutting-room floor. I guess that's to be expected, though, of an article first published almost ten years ago.
How about the BTTF Trilogy, I'd love to see this movie in the list. One of Zemeckis' milestones, and a milestone in comedy or I am Sam, Sean Penn could be listed among "Great Performances". To be honest, I miss a lot of movies in this list.
Where is Steven Spielberg's Jaws? Close Encounters is also a must addition.Please dont say Star Wars is representative of Jaws on account of blockbuster.Jaws is much more than that.Close Encounters should also b there.
How about 'Looking For Richard' with Pacino, 'Stevie' with Glenda Jackson, 'Raise The Red Lantern' with Gong Li? Don't get me started: 'Ironweed, 'Volver', 'To Kill A Mockingbird', 'The Verdict'?
Good to see 'Berlin Alexanderplatz' and 'It's A Gift', but no 'Wild Strawberries'?
and no black films, like seriously they couldn't add Malcolm X or the Color purple??
No Gone with the Wind, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the Graduate, the Sting, Little Big Man, Saving Private Ryan, Fargo, the Pink Panther, Bullitt, the Great Escape, Giant, East of Eden, Cool Hand Luke, the Man Who Would Be King... you have got some major holes there amigo.
I was prepared to criticize and rake the list over a lack of silent or foreign language films but you had me at The Apu Trilogy. I would include Gone With The Wind, Citizen Kane, Wuthering Heights, Annie Hall, Manhattan in my 100 list, but most of your choices are great. My biggest eye roll was The Fly. The remake wasn't that great and the original doesn't deserve a best list though it is good. I am also tired of people crowing Schilndler's List as Steven Spielberg's great film. That would go to Empire of the Sun, Close Encounters of the Third Kind or The Sugarland Express in my mind. Like Woody Allen, Spielberg shined in the 70s and flourished with creativity there. I would also choose American Graffiti over Star Wars. Still an excellent list and loved your choices of foreign language films. But where is The Passion of Joan of Arc? Birth of a Nation? Intolerance or Cabiria, both the 1914 film or the Fellini film? Well 100 films is way too short! Good list though, you surprised me!
I bought something called 'The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection' ( 26 films all wonderfully 're-mastered' on 7 discs ) after seeing a bunch of them on TCM about 10 years ago. My favorite is 'Girl Shy' ( 1924 ) starring Harold Lloyd & the LOVELY Jobyna Ralston.
Many great movies are missing and presence of some movies is really a joke. Where are Sunset Boulevard , The Grapes of Wrath , Gone with the wind, Wizard of OZ, The Graduate? They don't have these classic movies but they have Finding Nemo!!!!! Really. I mean it is a good movie but one of the best movies of all time. It is not even a one of the 20 best movies of 2000s LOL . It is nothing more than a children movie. It would have been much better if they were ranked Wall- E instead of it.
Nayagan!!! I love some Indian movies including this one. But when it comes to the greatest movies of world cinema "Nayagan" is mediocre at best and stands nowhere near top 100. Replace it with "Awara" or "Do Bigga Zamine "
When we talk about "Woddy Allen" movies "Annie Hall" or "Manhattan" are considered as his best work. Replace "Purple rose of Cairo" with them
Kandahar and Finding Nemo from decade 2000s doesn't make any sense . I was watched Drunken 2 master and i found nothing in this movie which makes it worthy of being a one of the best movies of all time. It is just a time pass commercial action movie. Moreover they forgot to include some great foreign language movies like Seven Samurai , Rashomon, Bicycle thieves, Battleship Potemkin etc. Finally i will have to say that just like sometimes in Oscar awards "Time magazine" has made a safe choice.
It's an O.K. list. But seriously, where is The Wizard of Oz? Any Top 100 list without that movie is invalid. What shocked me in particular was the inclusion of Camille and Ninotchka, which both star Greta Garbo. I love Greta Garbo! I think she was one of the most learned, opinionated, and fascinating people of the 20th century. However, her movies are not that great. To have included them in this list is crazy. I saw a lot of dismay about Gone with the Wind. If you ever attempt to compile another Top 100 list, please don't include Gone with the Wind. It has not aged well.
Hey feel free to add The Dark Knight, it's ok. We forgive you. While you're at it, replace Awara and Raja with Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge for their respective categories. Then go ahead and add Shawshank Redemption, The Silence of the Lambs, and Scarface, among others that I didn't list.
It's ok, humans make mistakes :)
Raj Kapoor has always been an underrated actor. Some time back, I read an interesting piece on him where it was written WHY he is beyond the chaplinsque image so associated with him.... http://www.leisuremartini.com/raj-kapoor-tramp/
Glad to see his name in the list :)
I can not believe that The Shawshank Redemption, and The Silence of the Lambs is not on here. Best 2 movies of all-time.
I have to agree here; see this movie if you have not taken the time to see it. Actually, this movie is in my top 5. One of the best movies ever made, in my opinion, and highly underrated.
Why the hell is "Gone with the wind " not there if a movie like Drunken Master2 can make in top 100
What a dopey waste of time. Out of what I believe to be at least a hundred movie titles, there was only ONE I would care to see. An old W.C. Fields movie, "It's a gift."
From the so-called list: "“Ya gotta have an Iranian film!”, I said, even as Richard insisted on a representative of the 60s Czech New Wave."
Is this unbelievable, or what?
Rats, they include foreign language films too. So, not only is there not a "list," you have to glean movie titles from text of a ginormously long article (no telling how many titles I actually missed) but space is wasted on foreign films too! I'm only going to peruse this article for about 10 minutes, then go to another site that may actually have a list. I don't see the point of wasting my time here.
Looking for a good movie from this so-called list is not unlike dumpster-diving for a diamond that someone told you was in the dumpsters behind Wal-Mart!!! Maybe it's there, maybe it's not. Either way you're going to get dirty.
There isn't really a list. You have to read this big, long, article and pull the movie titles out of the text. I was looking for a "list."
Nobody is starting to agree, Time. I would bet that ten people on the street wouldn't even have heard of Barry Lyndon. This is, by far, Kubric's worst film, even worse than Eyes Wide Shut. You can't criticize him for trying his hand at a new genre, but this film fell flat in every way. Repeating that this is a masterpiece will not make it eventually come true.
@cern078 Not a single one of these movies (except maybe Finding Nemo) deserves to be knocked off the list in favor of Back to the Future or the James Bond Films (except maybe Casino Royale). Those films seem more suitable for a favorite movies list, not a best of all time list.
@jamesb.butler597no it is s.d burman, father of r.d. burman one of the pioneers of indian music industry
@ShobhitBhatnagar i hope u r from mumbai. thats y couldnt tolerate a tamil movie being listed in TIME.they were perfectly right in including this movie.
@johnp668 It is the best movie of its own time but not a one of the best movies of all time. Especially when we also include foreign language movies
@naviesharma5150 Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayege is really an awesome movie when it comes to represent the Indian culture and simplicity . But as far as best movies form world cinema is concerned it is nowhere near the best movies of world cinema and Awara, Pyassa, Do Bigha Zamine are much better than this one. I know Indian origin people especially youngster would consider DDLJ over these movies. But it is not a one of the best movies of all time in world cinema . Even i can name more than 5 Bollywood movies which are better than this in terms of story and screenplay
@L.P.HarlessYou are the only dopey thing around here, the actual list is here - http://entertainment.time.com/2005/02/12/all-time-100-movies/slide/all/
you know, if you actually read the page the link is at the top - in two places!
You know, non-English films are often excellent, most are better than any of the childish drivel that comes from the USA - but I guess having to read the subtitles might be a bit taxing for someone of your obviously limited intelligence...what with not being able to even read a simple web page.
Maybe stick to which ever comic book Hollywood have made in to a film this week...probably more your thing...
@GafKerg That is because greatness has nothing at all to do with popularity - just because ten random people on the street haven't heard of something doesn't mean at all that it isn't great - ask 10 random people to name an opera, or a work by Plato, etc... Barry Lyndon is a great film, visually stunning and beautifully set - not Kubric's best I agree - but a masterpiece all the same. Much better than the populist drivel 'The Shining' for example....
@fraser.chapman @GafKerg I'm not convinced. Barry Lyndon put me to sleep, and I'm a fan of Bergman. The fact that you mention opera and Plato gives me a sense of where you're coming from. Plato's absurd fantasies are only significant to historians and operas are the trashy novels of classical music. It doesn't surprise me that you'd find Barry Lyndon--an archaic homage to feudalism--a great work of art. The aristocracy died a long time ago, and fantasies about usurping aristocratic positions are for slaves of the old order. Sure, popularity isn't always the best gauge (Titanic was trash) but everybody knows Shakespeare, and for such a celebrated film-maker as Kubric, the fact that no one has ever heard of it does tell us something, perhaps that it's "drivel."
@fraser.chapman @GafKerg The idea of a state run by philosophers is the fantasy, and outlawing poetry and art is absurd, but as you said, it's a matter of opinion. I was mostly thinking of his magical world in which a pure version of everything exists as the absurd fantasy, but I'll place that label on his other philosophical work. It's brilliantly argued, but I don't think he made it much further than sophistry. His crowning achievement came in the form of Aristotle, but he can only take credit for teaching him.
@GafKerg I wouldn't call either the Republic or the Gorgias 'absurd fantasies' but perhaps that is a matter of taste. My point was simply that most people haven't heard of many great works of history, things that have stood the test of centuries. Interestingly I would say with most modern films the inverse is true - the more people 'on the street' have heard about it, the more likely it is to be drivel (The Hobbit, Hunger Games, Any super-hero-comic-book-harry-potter-trash). For whatever reason modern popularity seems to go hand in hand with insipid banality.
