100 Favorite Films

Every so often, I sit down and make a list of my favorite films. Here's the most recent edition - 100 Films in alphabetical order.

À bout de souffle [Breathless] (1960)
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes [Aguirre, The Wrath of God] (1972)
El ángel exterminador [Exterminating Angel] (1962)
Animal Crackers (1930) ***
Ansiktet [The Magician] (1958) ***
Apocalypse Now (1979) ***
L'armée des ombres [Army of Shadows] (1969)
L'atalante (1934)
The Awful Truth (1937)
Ball of Fire (1941)
The Band Wagon (1953)
Bande à part (1964)
La belle et la bête [Beauty and the Beast] (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
La bête humaine [The Human Beast] (1938)
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Bob le flambeur (1956)
Born Yesterday (1950)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938) ***
Capitaine Conan (1996)
Casablanca (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Crna macka, beli macor [Black Cat, White Cat] (1998)
"Dekalog" (1989)
Les demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)
Desire (1936)
La dolce vita (1960)
Double Indemnity (1944) ***
La double vie de Véronique [The Double Life of Veronique] (1991) ***
Down by Law (1986) ***
Du rififi chez les hommes [Rififi] (1955)
8½ (1963) ***
Les enfants du paradis [Children of Paradise] (1945)
El espíritu de la colmena [Spirit of the Beehive] (1973)
Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain [Amélie] (2001)
French Kiss (1995)
Galaxy Quest (1999)
The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999)
The Godfather (1972)
La grande illusion (1937)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Help! (1965)
Der Himmel über Berlin [Wings of Desire] (1987) ***
His Girl Friday (1940)
Holiday (1938)
Intervista (1987)
It Happened One Night (1934)
Jean de Florette (1986) ***
Kagemusha (1980) ***
Key Largo (1948)
The Lady Eve (1941)
The Lady from Shanghai (1947) ***
Life of Brian (1979)
The Maltese Falcon (1941) ***
Manhattan (1979) ***
The Matrix (1999)
Le mépris [Contempt] (1963)
Midnight (1939)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Mønti Pythøn ik den Høli Gräilen] (1975) ***
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
North by Northwest (1959) ***
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) ***
Orphée (1950) ***
Out of the Past (1947) ***
Pépé le Moko (1937)
Paris, Texas (1984) ***
The Philadelphia Story (1940) ***
Pierrot le fou (1965)
Le quai des brumes [Port of Shadows] (1938)
Quai des Orfèvres (1947)
Quick Change (1990)
Ran (1985) ***
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) ***
Roman Holiday (1953) ***
Sabrina (1954)
Le salaire de la peur [Wages of Fear] (1953)
Le samouraï (1967)
Shichinin no samurai [The Seven Samurai] (1954)
Silk Stockings (1957)
Simple Men (1992) ***
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Det sjunde inseglet [The Seventh Seal] (1957) ***
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Swing Time (1936)
Tengoku to jigoku [High and Low] (1963)
The Thin Man (1934) ***
Three Days of the Condor (1975) ***
Tierra (1996)
To Have and Have Not (1944) ***
Top Hat (1935) ***
Touchez pas au grisbi [Grisbi] (1954)
Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994)
The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
Vincent, François, Paul... et les autres (1974)
White Christmas (1954) ***
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Yojimbo (1961)

***Films that also appeared on my list of Favorite 50 Films done in 1995 and Favorite 100 Films done in 2004 (1-50 and 51-100).

By Director

Akira Kurosawa (5) - Kagemusha (1980) ***, Ran (1985) ***, Shichinin no samurai [The Seven Samurai] (1954), Tengoku to jigoku [High and Low] (1963) , Yojimbo (1961)

Jean-Luc Godard (4) - À bout de souffle [Breathless] (1960), Bande à part (1964), Le mépris [Contempt] (1963), Pierrot le fou (1965)

Howard Hawks (4) - Ball of Fire (1941), Bringing Up Baby (1938) ***, His Girl Friday (1940), To Have and Have Not (1944) ***

George Cuckor (3) - Born Yesterday (1950), Holiday (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940) ***

Federico Fellini (3) - La dolce vita (1960), 8½ (1963) ***, Intervista (1987)

Krzysztof Kieslowski (3) - "Dekalog" (1989), La double vie de Véronique [The Double Life of Veronique] (1991) ***, Trois couleurs: Rouge (1994)

Jean-Pierre Melville (3) - L'armée des ombres [Army of Shadows] (1969), Bob le flambeur (1956), Le samouraï (1967)

Billy Wilder (3)- Double Indemnity (1944) ***, Sabrina (1954), Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Two Films: Bergman, Carné, Clouzot, Cocteau, Coppola, Curtiz, Hartley, Houston, Jarmusch, Terry Jones, Renoir, Mark Sandrich, Welles, Wyler

By Actors

Cary Grant (7) - The Awful Truth (1937), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Bringing Up Baby (1938) ***, His Girl Friday (1940), Holiday (1938), North by Northwest (1959) ***, The Philadelphia Story (1940) ***

Fred Astaire (5) - The Band Wagon (1953), The Gay Divorcee (1934), Silk Stockings (1957), Swing Time (1936), Top Hat (1935) ***

Humphrey Bogart (5) - Casablanca (1942) Key Largo (1948), The Maltese Falcon (1941) ***, Sabrina (1954), To Have and Have Not (1944) ***

Jean Gabin (5) - La bête humaine [The Human Beast] (1938), La grande illusion (1937), Pépé le Moko (1937), Le quai des brumes [Port of Shadows] (1938), Touchez pas au grisbi [Grisbi] (1954)

William Holden (5) - Born Yesterday (1950), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Sabrina (1954), Sunset Blvd. (1950), The Wild Bunch (1969)

Three Films: Cyd Charise, Kathrine Hepburn, Marcello Mastroianni, Toshiro Mifune, Yves Montand, Ginger Rogers, Barbara Stanwyck

By Language

Fifty-seven films were in English. Of the 43 films in other languages, 26 were in French.

By Date
1930s: 17
1940s: 17
1950s: 18
1960s: 14
1970s: 11
1980s: 9
1990s: 13
2000s: 2

Fifty-five films were from before I was born.

Other Films

It's interesting for me to see how my lists have changed over the years. I've discovered or explored more fully different directors (Jean-Pierre Melville, Jacques Becker), actors (Gabin, Holden, Stanwyck) and genres (musicals, French film noir and film gris). Films that meant a lot to me at one time just don't resonate as much now. Or, maybe I just haven't seen them in a long time. Here are some films that appeared on my two previous lists.

1995 & 2004
Alice in den Städten [Alice in the Cities] (1974)
Beat the Devil (1953)
The Big Steal (1949)
Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo. [The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly] (1966)
Dom za vesanje [Time of the Gypsies] (1988)
Manon des sources (1986)
Raising Arizona (1987)
'Round Midnight (1986)
Vertigo (1958)
You Can't Take It with You (1938)

1995
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Delicatessen (1991)
Un dimanche à la campagne [A Sunday in the Country] (1984)
Duck Soup (1933)
Europa (1991)
The Fisher King (1991)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Jules et Jim (1962)
The Grifters (1990)
Truly Madly Deeply (1990)

2004
Adam's Rib (1949)
After the Thin Man (1936)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Fanny och Alexander (1982)
Fargo (1996)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Un flic (1972)
Gilda (1946)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Lone Star (1996)
Nikita (1990)
No Such Thing (2001)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Sting (1973)
The Third Man (1949)
Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993)
The Usual Suspects (1994)

You can also check out the series of posts I did on The Greatest Films of All Time. Twenty-one of my 100 Favorite Films were in the Top 100.

Recent Screenings - A Year in Cinema

I don't think you should feel about a film.
You should feel about a woman, not a movie.
You can't kiss a movie.

Jean-Luc Godard

Interesting how our perceptions of films can change over time. Sometimes a film I didn't like on first viewing seems much stronger the second time around. On other occasions, the second viewing makes me wonder why I liked the thing so much in the first place. The jokes don't seem as funny, or the plot drags, or the brilliant observations now seem pretentious.

And then there are the films I don't seen again that somehow resonate strongly in my memory. These works leave an almost physical warmth in the stomach or chest. I see a reference to them somewhere and think, "Oh, what a great film," even though I haven't seen the damn thing in 20 years.

And, of course, there are many movies that vanish completely from my mind. Most of the time, these are mediocre efforts, and it's just as well. But there are also good films that somehow just get forgotten. I recently watched Foreign Correspondent, by Hitchcock, because I didn't think I'd ever seen it. Lo and behold, five minutes into the story, I realized I had seen it before, and not even that long ago. (One advantage of getting older and more forgetful, I suppose, is that you get to enjoy films you've already watched.) It was a fine film. But for me, I guess, it wasn't one of Hitchcock's most "memorable" works.

After realizing I had completed my first year of blogging, I decided to look back through the films I had reviewed over the last 12 months. What had my year of cinema been like? Were there any trends I could discern? Had there been pleasant new discoveries of directors or actors? Which films stood out over time? I can't think of a better recommendation for a film than the fact that I want to see it again.

The first thing that surprised me was how many films I wrote about: 76 in total. I did 56 of these reviews for Recent Screenings, and 20 for other posts. I was also surprised at some of the films I really enjoyed in the last year that I didn't write about. Why do I spend time and energy discussing movies I dislike (40-Year Old Virgin) while ignoring ones I thoroughly enjoyed (Death Takes a Holiday)? In part, I think it's easier to write about films that one hates. Maybe that's why so many reviews in the media are negative. At times, I feel a bit overwhelmed trying to take on a truly great film. I don't know where to start. Sunset Blvd. took an incredible effort on my part, even though I love the film and love talking about it. But give me a real dog of a movie, and I can't wait to spew my invectives against the offenders. Not sure that's a great personality trait.

In any case, here's a review of a year of reviews. . . .

I looked over the 56 films I wrote about in Recent Screenings, and, after the passage of time, here are the ten that most resonate with me for one reason or another. With links to my original posts:

Bas-fonds, Les [The Lower Depths] (1936) - Everyone needs to see a film starring Jean Gabin. This isn't Grande Illusion or Pepe Le Moko, but it was directed by Jean Renoir and has a great atmosphere.

Through a Glass Darkly (1961) - Bergman and Sven Nykvist, the cinematographer, create a beautiful and haunting film.

I Married a Witch (1942) – Fredric March and Veronica Lake. Funny how films that you know aren't the greatest ever made linger so pleasantly in your memory.

Le Mépris [Contempt] (1963) - Godard directs Bardot in his one big Hollywood-ish production. With Michel Piccoli and Jack Palance.

De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté [The Beat That My Heart Skipped] (2005) - One of my discoveries during the year was French director Jacques Audiard.

Quai des Orfèvres (1947) – Henri-George Clouzot. I see this DVD at the local public library all the time, and every time I want to check it out again. Damn it, I'm going to. This week!

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - William Wyler directs Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright. Just one of the best films ever made.

The Croupier (1998) – Clive Owen. A failed writer, gambling, a big heist. Not sure why this one lingers more than others I saw last year, but it does.

Children of Men (2006) - More Clive Owen (scary.) I still think this was the best film of 2006.

Sunset Blvd. (1950) - Just posted on this. One of the other best films ever made.

I saw two films again, because La Reina was watching them to use in her English as a Second Language-American Culture Through Film class. I liked Little Miss Sunshine more the second time, but there's still something about it that I find annoying. The ensemble acting is great, however. Inside Man held up surprisingly well. In fact, I think I liked it even more the second time, because I could see Spike Lee's craftsmanship more clearly.

I've seen a lot of films that I never reviewed. For some reason, I never wrote about Galaxy Quest, even though I wound up watching it three times during the last year, because I liked it so much. That will change soon, as I saw it again on my trip to Texas and will include it my next Recent Screenings.

I've been watching a lot of French films and older American films. I guess that's not really a surprise. I haven't been watching many Asian films. No Kurosawa in the last year? That's hard to believe.

Fredric March and Clive Owen showed up a lot. La Reina may have something to do with the latter.

I'm not sure at this point I would list The Illusionist as HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. That may have been the excitement of a first viewing. I need to see it again.

In fact, it's somewhat ridiculous for me to offer up "reviews" of films, when I've only seen some of them once. What can you really tell about a film after one viewing, beyond an overall like or dislike? What if I was in a bad mood when I saw something? What if I had a headache and the neighbors were blasting music, and I had wanted to see a comedy instead of a drama? What about films that I see after they've been hyped so much? I would like to see more films a second time before writing about them. But that probably won't happen.

I am, however, going to try and re-watch a few of the films from last year. Mostly ones that I enjoyed, to see how well they hold up. But I'd also like to view Pan's Labyrinth a second time. I was pretty hard on it, but others I respect have said it was great. My curiosity is piqued.

Here's the full list of Recent Screenings films from the past year:

September 1, 2006
Bas-fonds, Les [The Lower Depths] (1936) – RECOMMENDED
Through a glass darkly (1961) - RECOMMENDED
Jane Eyre (1944)
Stalker (1979)
Enigma (2001)
The 40 year old virgin (2005)

September 20, 2006
Winter Light (1962) – RECOMMENDED (But Not for Everyone)
I Married a Witch (1942) – RECOMMENDED
Syriana (2005) – RECOMMENDED
The Farmer's Daughter (1947) – RECOMMENDED
Portrait of Jennie (1948)
Gaslight (1944) – RECOMMENDED
The White Countess (2005)

October 19, 2006
The Illusionist (2006) - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Le Mépris (Contempt) (1963) - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
'I Know Where I'm Going!' (1945) - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Before Sunset (2004) – RECOMMENDED
Pal Joey (1957) – RECOMMENDED
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) – RECOMMENDED

February 4, 2007
Laberinto del Fauno, El [Pan's Labyrinth] (2006)
De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté [The Beat That My Heart Skipped] (2005) - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Quai des Orfèvres (1947) – RECOMMENDED
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Thank You for Smoking (2005)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Hoagy Carmichael watches as Harold Russell plays the piano with hooks in place of the hands he lost during World War II. Fredric March, playing another veteran just home, looks on. The film won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and two acting awards for Harold Russell.

February 25, 2007
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Sur mes lèvres [Read My Lips] (2001) – RECOMMENDED
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) – RECOMMENDED
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) - RECOMMENDED - but only if you've seen Laura first!
Angel (1937)
V for Vendetta (2005)

March 11, 2007
Le Cercle Rouge (1970) - DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED
The Croupier (1998) – RECOMMENDED
The Conversation (1974) – RECOMMENDED

April 14, 2007
The Prestige (2006)
Intrus, L' [The Intruder] (2004)
The Reckoning (2003)
Blow Dry (2001)
Calendar Girls (2003)
The Contender (2001)

June 16, 2007
Children of Men (2006) - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Babel (2006) – RECOMMENDED
The Departed (2006) - RECOMMENDED, unless you're un-American and don't like seeing people get SHOT IN THE FACE.
The Queen (2006) – RECOMMENDED
The Good Shepherd (2006) – RECOMMENDED
The Good German (2006) – FAILED EXPERIMENT
Casino Royale (2006) – RECOMMENDED
Inside Man (2006) – RECOMMENDED
Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) - END OF CIVILIZATION

August 18, 2007
Sunset Blvd. (1950) - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

September 18, 2007
The Science of Sleep (2006) – RECOMMENDED
Blood Diamond (2006) – RECOMMENDED
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Alvarez Kelly (1966)
One Touch of Venus (1948)
Lemming (2005)

And here are the other 20 films:

Barbara Stanwyck as Sugarpuss O'Shea, with Gary Cooper as Professor Bertram Potts, and the other scholars putting together an encyclopedia, in the Billy Wilder-scripted, Howard Hawks-directed Ball of Fire (1941).

Barbara Stanwyck Films
The Lady Eve (1941) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Double Indemnity (1944) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Ball of Fire (1941) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Meet John Doe (1941) – RECOMMENDED
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) – RECOMMENDED
To Please a Lady (1950) – RECOMMENDED
Executive Suite (1954) – RECOMMENDED

5 + 5 Movie Meme
Ran [Chaos] (1985) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
To Have and Have Not (1944) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Holiday (1938) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
La dolce vita (1960) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Swing Time (1936) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Et Dieu... créa la femme [And God. . . Created Woman] (1956) – RECOMMENDED
French Kiss (1995) – RECOMMENDED
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban (2004) – RECOMMENDED
Quick Change (1990) – RECOMMENDED

Christmas Meme (Movies)
The Bishop's Wife – RECOMMENDED
Christmas in Connecticut – RECOMMENDED
White Christmas – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Recent Screenings

Bas-fonds, Les [The Lower Depths] (1936) - Directed by Jean Renoir, screenplay by Renoir and Charles Spaak (based on the play by Maxim Gorky), starring Jean Gabin, Louis Jouvet, et al. Renoir, Gabin and Spaak teamed up the following year for Grande illusion, one of the great films of all-time. Les Bas-fonds never reaches that level, but it's very strong and definitely worth watching. Despite its title and its setting among destitute characters living in a flophouse, the film has a good sense of humor and a strong dose of Renoir's humanity, which prevent it from ever getting dreary. A good pace, great dialogue, excellent camera work and Jean Gabin. I often refer to him as a mix of Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart. He's more like Tracy here. Louis Jouvet as the Baron is a delight. RECOMMENDED. 8/10

Through a glass darkly (1961) - Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman, cinematography by Sven Nykvist, starring Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Harriet Andersson and Lars Passgård. The first part of a trilogy that includes Winter Light and The Silence, Through a Glass Darkly won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Björnstrand plays a writer who has had trouble matching his earlier success and who has become somewhat estranged from his children in the pursuit of his art. He joins his 17 year-old son, his daughter, and her husband for a vacation on an island. The daughter, Karin, struggles with her sanity, and the emotional and spiritual tension increases until the film reaches a haunting climax that transforms all parties involved. Part coming-of-age story, part theological exploration, part psychological thriller. Excellent writing and acting. Andersson's portrayal of the daughter is especially powerful. Nykvist's beautiful camera work adds a lot to the interesting, somewhat melancholy atmosphere. I hadn't seen a Bergman film in a while, and this was a great reminder of how good he really was. I'm looking forward to the other two parts of the trilogy. RECOMMENDED. 8/10

Jane Eyre (1944) - Directed by Robert Stevenson, screenplay by Stevenson, Aldous Huxley and John Houseman, starrring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine. La Reina loves Charlotte Bronte's book (yes, so do I), and this is the third film version we've seen. Given the people involved in the project, I was hoping for a little more. Like many other literary figures who wound up in the brave new world of Hollywood, Huxley struggled as a screenwriter, and I can't say that he and Houseman really do justice to the original work. They actually show you pages of a book at times, and Fontaine reads little bits in a voice over, but the passages aren't really from Bronte's book and don't stand up to her own writing. (I can't decide if that's an interesting post-modern touch or just a misleading Hollywood trick.) Luckily, Welles and Fontaine did a good job as Rochester and Jane, and they make the film worth watching. In a few cases, I thought Welles was overacting, but he has so much presence and such a great voice that you can't help but enjoy him on the screen. Stevenson's direction is a little heavy-handed at times, and I don't really like his desperate attempt to create a Gothic atmosphere. The dry-ice budget for this film must have been extraordinary, what with all the fake mist and fog covering everything. Look for a very young Elizabeth Taylor in a small role in the first part of the film. 7/10

Stalker (1979) - Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Tarkovsky's a brilliant director at times. He has a stunning visual sensibility and a masterful way of letting the camera linger on a scene for a long period of time, creating a unique and powerful atmosphere in his films. In many quarters, Stalker gets rave reviews - on IMDB, for example, a hefty 51.6% of the people rating it give it a 10, which is unusal. But I found the film pretentious rather than profound, and painfully slow, even for Tarkovsky. I say this as someone who enjoys slow films and settled in on a rainy Sunday afternoon to linger in that world for a while (163 minutes, to be exact). Unfortunately, I came away frustrated, with my estimation of Tarkovsky diminished. Perhaps the translation (from Russian) was weak, but lines that were supposed to be spiritually penetrating seemed like they belonged on a Yogi tea bag. Maybe if I'd never seen a Bergman film or Kieslowski's Dekalog, or if I hadn't done a lot of reading, then Stalker would have struck me as being more profound. As it is, people lying in the mud moaning about their existential dilemmas seems like something out of a Monty Python skit. While I can't recommend the film, I realize others might find it powerful. And Tarkovsky is worth investigating. 6/10

Enigma (2001) - Directed by Michael Apted, screenplay by Tom Stoppard, starring Kate Winslet, Dougray Scott, Jeremy Northam, et al. This romance/thriller takes place among British codebreakers during WWII and invloves Nazi spies, a missing woman, and a mathematical genius trying to recover from a nervous breakdown. I loved Apted's Thunderheart, and Stoppard certainly has a great rep, which makes this run-of-the-mill production all the more disappointing. Not bad, but given the crew invovled, it should have been much better. Don't be fooled by the back of the DVD, which promotes it as a highly "intelligent" film. It's about intelligence agents, but it's not particularly intelligent. 6/10

40 year old virgin, The - Directed by . . . Does it matter? Starring Steve Carell. When I saw the trailers for this film, I thought, "Wow, that really looks bad." Then it did well last summer and I heard some good things. ("Carell was on the Daily Show for a while," yadda, yadda, yadda.) One of my trusted friends (you know who you are) even recommended it. So, looking for a comedy last week, I thought I would give it a chance. No. Should have listened to my gut instincts. This is a weird mixture of raunchy sex talk, bathroom humor and cliched sentimentality. I still can't figure out who the target audience was - the humor seems aimed at 13 year-olds, but it's rated R. Adults really find this funny? There are also some disturbing sexist and racist undercurrents throughout the film, which no one ever mentioned. Yes, it has some humorous scenes here and there, but I can only laugh so much at a drunk woman puking on a guy's face. I'm missing something here. Wouldn't be the first time. 4/10