OTF 100 Greatest Films of All Time Poll

[delicatemoth]

The Seventh Seal
Wages Of Fear
Blue
The Omen
Meet Me In St Louis
Stalker
Let The Right One In
Tangerine
Pierrot Le Fou
Long Weekend

Tangerine is the recent addition here, only saw it a few weeks ago. At no point did I wonder how long was left, possibly the greatest compliment it is possible to give a film.

[Sits]

The Big Lebowski
Fargo
In Bruges
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Midnight Cowboy
Catch-22
Intouchables
As It Is In Heaven
The Godfather
Dog Day Afternoon

[diggedy derek]

Tokyo Story
Lawrence Of Arabia
Sansho The Bailiff
The Thing
The Seventh Seal
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
This Is Spinal Tap
Sátántangó
Mullholland Dr.
The Headless Woman

It'd change another day, but that's in the right ballpark.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Is it ten films? Okay.

Alien
Jaws
ET
War Horse
The Great Escape
Toy Story 3
Ice Cold in Alex
The Sting
Leon the Professional
The Muppets' Christmas Carol

I'm really trying to muscle The Shawshank Redemption in there but I genuinely can't, can I make it 9 1/2 along with The Muppets' Christmas Carol, which is genuinely one of the greatest things ever made?

[Benjm]

Casablanca
Double Indemnity
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
North by Northwest
For a Few Dollars More
The Godfather Part II
Taxi Driver
An Officer and a Gentleman
This Is Spinal Tap
The Belly of an Architect

[HeavyDracula]

Slacker
Leolo
Dude, Where's My Car?
Uncut Gems
Your Name
Harold and Maude
Super
Pee Wee's Big Adventure
The Greasy Strangler
GRUNT! The Wrestling Movie

[jason voorhees]

1) Mulholland Drive
2) Ugetsu
3) Seven Samurai
4) Rashomon
5) Godfather
6) The Return
7) Dolemite
8) Road Warrior
9) 2001
10) Rams

[Balderdasha]

I have absolutely no idea how I'd even begin to write a top 10 of films. There are films that I adore because I watched them repeatedly as a young teenager when I only had access to home videos: Grease, Dirty Dancing, Big Business, The Sound of Music, Ruthless People, Sister Act 1&2, but none of them are particularly good. There are films I loved from when I actually watched fairly good quality cinema in my twenties, Hotel Rwanda, Dirty Pretty Things, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Amelie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Little Miss Sunshine, but it's not like I watch them repeatedly. Old school films that I like, Some Like It Hot, Breakfast at Tiffany's, My Fair Lady, A Big Hand for the Little Lady (pretty much the only Western that I like). There are comedies I love, The Big Lebowski, Guardians of the Galaxy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Trading Places (though some of the comedy in the last two has aged badly), The Addams Family and The Addams Family Values. There are cartoons that I love, Up, My Neighbour Totoro, Monsters inc.

Amelie is probably one of my favourite ever films. And I doubt that there will ever be a greater love story than the first ten minutes of Up.

I could watch the Addams Family films on loop. Wednesday is my idol.

But a top ten list? Of films that I actually think are "good"? No idea how to compile that.

[Balderdasha]

A whole load of other favourite films that I've forgotten.

A Fish Called Wanda, The Fifth Element, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.

Again, very few of my favourite films are objectively "good". I'm not really cut out for "good" cinema. Too serious, too boring.

I don't think I've really got the hang of this thread.

[elguapo4]

There's nothing wrong with putting Adams Family Values in your all time top ten. It's as valid a choice as any other.

[Nocturnal Submission]

A whole load of other favourite films that I've forgotten.

A Fish Called Wanda, The Fifth Element, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.

Again, very few of my favourite films are objectively "good". I'm not really cut out for "good" cinema. Too serious, too boring.

I don't think I've really got the hang of this thread.

TBH, if you really enjoy a film, even if it's not one that's been praised by critics for the cinematography, dialogue, acting, plot or whatever, then it's probably a good film, especially if lots of other people like it too. It could just be the humour, or the warmth of the performance or because it's just a rollickingly good adventure film with lots of action. Those are all valid criteria, AFAIC.

I just chose my 10 favourite films or a rough approximation thereof. I could have probably selected another 10 that I love that score more highly with the critics but considered that was slightly playing their game.

[San Bernardhinault]

It's an interesting question - Nefertiti called the thread "greatest films". I was torn between Lebowski and Fargo. In my mind Fargo is the better film. But Lebowski is the film I love more, and the one I've watched more often. I've decided that's the split I'm going to use in my choices, my guess is that everyone else has different definitions and ways of coming up with their list.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I can't really do top ten lists either. Obviously Rebel Without a Cause is the best film. But other than that, I'd have a list of none or a hundred, in no order.

[DCI Harry Batt]

That goes for most things, really. I don't really get lists.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Having said that, I'm not really down with the idea that any and every choice has exactly equal validity.

[delicatemoth]

I went for '10 films you would want if you could only have 10 films' sort of thing. That's a lot of different criteria jumbled up, but what all bar one have in common is that they've demonstrated to me that I can watch them multiple times and find fascinating new aspects I hadn't focused on. There are a few others that could probably equally have got on. Some are critical favs, I'm pretty sure at least one definitely wasn't but I just adore its solemn hokeyness.

[Sean of the Shed]

In no particular order, and likely to be edited on numerous occasions:

Blazing Saddles
Gladiator
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Unforgiven
Muppets Christmas Carol
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Unbreakable
Goodfellas
In Bruges
Terminator 2

[elguapo4]

Ok, after much thought, 10 films that I personally enjoy, and that I also think are well made.

Pulp Fiction
Gregory's Girl
La Haine
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Murder by Decree
Back to the Future *
Lord of the Rings *
The Searchers
Witness
Fargo

* yes I know they're trilogies, but I'm not separating either of them.

[superstu64]

This is not easy. Looking forward to seeing the final list.

Mine:

The Wicker Man (1973)
There Will Be Blood
Four Lions
Apocalypse Now
Belleville Rendez-vous
Citizen Kane
Magnolia
Full Metal Jacket
24 Hour Party People
Alien

[3 Colours Red]

This Is Spinal Tap
The Empire Strikes Back
Airplane!
Die Hard
Monty Python And The Holy Grail
Akira
Rocky
The Princess Bride
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

[jameswba]

It's an interesting question - Nefertiti called the thread "greatest films". I was torn between Lebowski and Fargo. In my mind Fargo is the better film. But Lebowski is the film I love more, and the one I've watched more often. I've decided that's the split I'm going to use in my choices, my guess is that everyone else has different definitions and ways of coming up with their list.

One of my most important criteria was how often a film is with me, how often I find myself thinking about it, or am reminded of it, even by something apparently unrelated. There are a couple on my list that I've only seen once, but the experience of watching them was so powerful I almost feel I don't need to see them again. Two or three others I've seen multiple times and they always offer something different.

But you only need to read two or three other posters' lists, or comments on the Sights and Sounds thread to find examples of others that could easily have made your own list.

[superstu64]

One of my most important criteria was how often a film is with me, how often I find myself thinking about it, or am reminded of it, even by something apparently unrelated. There are a couple on my list that I've only seen once, but the experience of watching them was so powerful I almost feel I don't need to see them again. Two or three others I've seen multiple times and they always offer something different.

But you only need to read two or three other posters' lists, or comments on the Sights and Sounds thread to find examples of others that could easily have made your own list.

I totally agree with this. One of the greatest films, if it even is a film, I've seen was Shoah, an 8 hour documentary on the Holocaust, but to put it on a list of films I love and want to watch again and again just feels wrong. So my list is of films I would choose to watch to escape and enjoy, like a favourite Album or TV Series.

[Amor de Cosmos]

One of my most important criteria was how often a film is with me, how often I find myself thinking about it, or am reminded of it, even by something apparently unrelated. There are a couple on my list that I've only seen once, but the experience of watching them was so powerful I almost feel I don't need to see them again. Two or three others I've seen multiple times and they always offer something different.

All that for sure. Also one of the most powerful value for me is the first impression. For example I saw Bonnie and Clyde within the first few days it opened. I was with a couple of friends in Leicester Square. We'd a couple of hours to kill, I'd seen Arthur Penn's previous film and liked it so we took a chance. Afterwards we walked back to Kings Cross without saying a word. It was that powerful.

I've seen it several times since and it's never been as strong, though there are certain scenes and performances that will resonate forever. Age, circumstance, mood, company,what the Greeks collectively called Kairos are significant factors on personal judgement.

[diggedy derek]

Shoah falls into the venn diagram overlap of ‘films I consider great’, ‘films I will never forget’ and ‘films I never want to see again’

It’s a problematic film too, but an undeniable one

[superstu64]

Shoah falls into the venn diagram overlap of ‘films I consider great’, ‘films I will never forget’ and ‘films I never want to see again’

It’s a problematic film too, but an undeniable one

Absolutely agree.