Friday, December 31, 1999

British Film Institute “100 Favorite British Films of the 20th Century”

British Film Institute:

100 Favorite British Films of the 20th Century

In 1999, the British Film Institute sent a selection booklet to 1000 people in the film industry throughout the U.K. More than 25,700 votes were cast, covering 820 different films. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were “culturally British.” Here is the top 100.

1. The Third Man (1949)
2. Brief Encounter (1946)
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
4. The 39 Steps (1935)
5. Great Expectations (1946)
6. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
7. Kes (1969)
8. Don’t Look Now (1973)
9. The Red Shoes (1948)
10. Trainspotting (1996)

11. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
12. If… (1968)
13. The Lady Killers (1955)
14. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
15. Brighton Rock (1947)
16. Get Carter (1971)
17. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
18. Henry V (1944)
19. Chariots of Fire (1981)
20. A Matter of Life and Death (aka “Stairway to Heaven”) (1946)

21. The Long Good Friday (1980)
22. The Servant (1963)
23. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
24. Whisky Galore! (1949)
25. The Full Monty (1997)
26. The Crying Game (1992)
27. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
28. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
29. Withnail and I (1987)
30. Gregory’s Girl (1980)

31. Zulu (1964)
32. Room at the Top (1958)
33. Alfie (1966)
34. Gandhi (1982)
35. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
36. The Italian Job (1969)
37. Local Hero (1983)
38. The Commitments (1991)
39. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
40. Secrets & Lies (1995)

41. Dr. No (1962)
42. The Madness of King George (1994)
43. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
44. Black Narcissus (1947)
45. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
46. Oliver Twist (1948)
47. I’m All Right Jack (1959)
48. Performance (1970)
49. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
50. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

51. Tom Jones (1963)
52. This Sporting Life (1967)
53. My Left Foot (1989)
54. Brazil (1985)
55. The English Patient (1996)
56. A Taste of Honey (1961)
57. The Go-Between (1970)
58. The Man in the White Suit (1951)
59. The Ipcress File (1965)
60. Blow-Up (1966)

61. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1995)
62. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
63. Passport to Pimlico (1949)
64. The Remains of the Day (1993)
65. Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971)
66. The Railway Children (1970)
67. Mona Lisa (1986)
68. The Dam Busters (1955)
69. Hamlet (1948)
70. Goldfinger (1964)

71. Elizabeth (1998)
72. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
73. A Room with a View (1985)
74. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
75. The Cruel Sea (1952)
76. Billy Liar (1963)
77. Oliver! (1968)
78. Peeping Tom (1960)
79. Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
80. The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982)

81. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
82. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
83. Darling (1965)
84. Educating Rita (1983)
85. Brassed Off (1996)
86. Genevieve (1953)
87. Women in Love (1969)
88. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
89. Fires Were Started (1943)
90. Hope and Glory (1987)

91. My Name Is Joe (1998)
92. In Which We Serve (1942)
93. Caravaggio (1986)
94. The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954)
95. Life Is Sweet (1990)
96. The Wicker Man (1973)
97. Nil by Mouth (1997)
98. Small Faces (1995)
99. Carry on Up the Khymber (1968)
100. The Killing Fields (1984)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
FilmSite.org (1999). British Film Institute’s “100 Favorite British Films of the 20th Century”
Wikipedia.org (1999). British Film Institute’s “Top 100 Films”

Originally posted 8/6/2019; last updated 5/30/2023.

Thursday, December 30, 1999

Rolling Stone “100 Years, 100 Maverick Movies”

Rolling Stone:

100 Years, 100 Maverick Movies

As the website explained, the movies on this list “had to embody that rock spirit of artful defiance. Each director had to be limited to only one movie – otherwise you could just list the collected works of Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, John Ford, Billy Wilder and Martin Scorsese and end it…Don’t look for the biggest cash cow (Titanic), the winner of the most Oscars (Ben-Hur) or film-school staples like Battleship Potemkin.” Here’s the list.

1. The Godfather (1972) / The Godfather Part II (1974) / The Godfather Part III (1990)
2. Vertigo (1958)
3. The Searchers (1956)
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
5. Citizen Kane (1941)
6. Raging Bull (1980)
7. Chinatown (1974)
8. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
9. Blue Velvet (1986)
10. Pulp Fiction (1994)

11. King Kong (1933)
12. The Manchurian Candidate (1961)
13. Fargo (1996)
14. All About Eve (1950)
15. Do the Right Thing (1989)
16. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
17. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
18. Some Like It Hot (1959)
19. Nashville (1975)
20. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

21. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
22. Brazil (1985)
23. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
24. Badlands (1973)
25. Don’t Look Now (1973)
26. Gone with the Wind (1939)
27. Casablanca (1942)
28. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
29. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
30. On the Waterfront (1954)

31. Jaws (1975)
32. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
33. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
34. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
35. Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
36. Ed Wood (1994)
37. Faces (1968)
38. Annie Hall (1977)
39. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
40. Straw Dogs (1971)

41. The Third Man (1949)
42. All the President’s Men (1976)
43. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
44. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
45. Written on the Wind (1956)
46. Swing Time (1936)
47. The Red Shoes (1948)
48. Network (1976)
49. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
50. The Graduate (1967)

51. M – Eine Stadt Sucht Einen Mörder (1931)
52. Zero for Conduct (1933)
53. The Rules of the Game (La Règle du Jeu) (1939)
54. Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis) (1945)
55. The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di Biciclette) (1947)
56. The Earrings of Madame De… (1953)
57. Tokyo Story (Tôkyô Monogatari) (1953)
58. The Seven Samurai (Schichinin no Samurai) (1954)
59. The Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali (1955)
60. Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) (1959)

61. The 400 Hundred Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) (1959)
62. The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita) (1960)
63. Viridana (1961)
64. Persona (aka “Masks”) (1966)
65. The Conformist (Il Conformista) (1971)
66. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes) (1972)
67. Seven Beauties (1976)
68. Wings of Desire (Der Himmel uber Berlin) (1988)
69. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
70. The Killer (Dip Huet Seung Hung) (1989)

71. City Lights (1931)
72. Cabaret (1972)
73. Quiz Show (1994)
74. A Night at the Opera (1935)
75. The Producers (1967)
76. Lost in America (1985)
77. The Terminator (1984)
78. White Heat (1949)
79. His Girl Friday (1940)
80. Out of the Past (1947)

81. The Piano (1993)
82. Blow-Up (1966)
83. Blow Out (1981)
84. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
85. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
86. Ninotchka (1939)
87. Diner (1982)
88. To Sleep with Anger (1990)
89. Unforgiven (1992)
90. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

91. Lone Star (1996)
92. The Naked Kiss (1964)
93. The Crying Game (1992)
94. Broadcast News (1987)
95. Dead Ringers (1988)
96. My Little Chickadee (1940)
97. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
98. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
99. Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
100. Freaks (1932)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
Rolling Stone (12/30/1999). “100 Years, 100 Maverick Movies”

Last updated 5/31/2023.

Friday, October 1, 1999

Leonard Maltin: 100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century

Leonard Maltin:

100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century

In the 2000 edition of Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide, he included his list of 100 essential classics. The list, presented chronologically, included only two movies from the 1980s and four from the 1990s. While his list was presented unranked, the titles have been presented here in order of their overall status in Dave’s Movie Database.

1. The Godfather (1972)
2. Gone with the Wind (1939)
3. Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
4. Casablanca (1942)
5. Citizen Kane (1941)
6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
7. Schindler’s List (1993)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
9. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
10. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

11. Jaws (1975)
12. Psycho (1960)
13. Apocalypse Now (1979)
14. The Godfather Part II (1974)
15. Vertigo (1958)
16. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
17. Pulp Fiction (1994)
18. Raging Bull (1980)
19. Some Like It Hot (1959)
20. Goodfellas (1990)

21. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
22. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
23. Annie Hall (1977)
24. On the Waterfront (1954)
25. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
26. The Graduate (1967)
27. All About Eve (1950)
28. North by Northwest (1959)
29. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
30. The Searchers (1956)

31. Double Indemnity (1944)
32. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
33. The Seven Samurai (Schichinin no Samurai) (1954)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. City Lights (1931)
36. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
37. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
38. Modern Times (1936)
39. Metropolis (1927)
40. It Happened One Night (1934)

41. King Kong (1933)
42. The Deer Hunter (1978)
43. 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo) (1963)
44. Nashville (1975)
45. The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di Biciclette) (1947)
46. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
47. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
48. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
49. Mary Poppins (1964)
50. The Wild Bunch (1969)

51. The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita) (1969)
52. The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) (1959)
53. High Noon (1952)
54. The Gold Rush (1925)
55. The General (1927)
56. Duck Soup (1933)
57. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
58. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
59. Rashômon (1950)
60. Paths of Glory (1957)

61. Fantasia (1940)
62. Stagecoach (1939)
63. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
64. Battleship Potemkin (Bronenosets Potyomkin) (1925)
65. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
66. The Conversation (1974)
67. Blazing Saddles (1974)
68. The Seventh Seal (Det Sjunde Inseglet) (1957)
69. M – Eine Stadt Sucht Einen Mörder (1931)
70. His Girl Friday (1940)

71. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
72. Frankenstein (1931)
73. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
74. Grand Illusion (La Grande Illusion) (1937)
75. Mean Streets (1973)
76. Greed (1924)
77. The Lady Eve (1941)
78. Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
79. Blow-Up (1966)
80. Swing Time (1936)

81. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
82. My Darling Clementine (1946)
83. Strangers on a Train (1951)
84. A Night at the Opera (1935)
85. The Crowd (1928)
86. Great Expectations (1946)
87. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
88. The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
89. Dodsworth (1936)
90. Dracula (1931)

91. The 39 Steps (1935)
92. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
93. It’s a Gift (1934)
94. The Big Parade (1925)
95. Gun Crazy (1950)
96. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)
97. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
98. Our Hospitality (1923)
99. Sons of the Desert (1933)
100. The Freshman (1925)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Ratings/Reviews/Critics’ Picks
Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
Leonard Maltin (Oct. 1, 1999). “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century”

Originally posted 8/14/2019; last updated 6/9/2023.

Thursday, September 16, 1999

American Beauty, future Best Picture winner, released

American Beauty

Released: September 17, 1999

Studio: DreamWorks

Genre: drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 130.10 Worldwide: 356.30

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 216.70 Worldwide: 504.87

Directing: Sam Mendes

Screenwriting: Alan Ball

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley, Mena Suvari, Chris Cooper

Review:

American Beauty is the feature film debut of director Sam Mendes, a longtime English stage director, and playwright/screenwriter Alan Ball. It “is a biting black comedy on contemporary American life.” ^AFI07 “It’s about yearning after youth, respect, power and, of course, beauty.” ^RE

“The tragic, absurdist, dark domestic tale” ^FS focuses on “Lester Burnham (Spacey), who calmly narrates his own story posthumously a la Joe Gillis from Sunset Boulevard (1950).” ^FS He’s a “chronic loser…[an] American suburbanite family man who is unable to speak his mind or actually feel much of anything.” ^FS He’s endured “too many years of a demeaning job, and a dysfunctional marriage to his obsessive-compulsive, adulterous realtor wife Carolyn (Bening).” ^FS

Lester, however, turns “his midlife crisis into a midlife resolution.” ^EM’18 “He becomes infatuated with his self-loathing daughter Jane’s (Birch) under-aged cheerleader friend Angela Hayes (Suvari)” ^FS while his daughter “has fallen for the drug-peddling, video-voyeur neighbor next door Ricky Fitts (Bentley).” ^FS “Ricky’s dad (Cooper) is a former marine who tests him for drugs, taking a urine sample every six months.” ^RE

“Angela is not Lester’s highway to bliss, but she is at least a catalyst” ^RE for his release from his mundane life. Lester “does reckless and foolish things [but]…he knows he’s running wild – and chooses to, burning up the future years of an empty lifetime for a few flashes of freedom.” ^RE All the characters’ “emotional threads come together during one dark and stormy night, when there is a series of misunderstandings so bizarre they belong in a screwball comedy.” ^RE

Sources:

^AFI07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition”
^RE Roger Ebert
^EM’18 Empire (3/20/2018). “The 100 Greatest Movies”
^FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films”

Awards/Honors/Lists:

Dave’s Movie Database Lists:

Oscars:

Wins: 5 – including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Kevin Spacey), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography

Nominations: 8 – including Best Actress (Bening), Best Original Score, Best Editing

Other Awards:

Other Lists/Honors:

First posted 5/28/2023.

Wednesday, September 1, 1999

The Third Man released 50 years ago today

The Third Man

Released: September 1, 1949

Studio: British Lion Film Corporation (UK), Selznick (US)

Genre: mystery/film noir

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 1.07 Worldwide: 1.52

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: ? Worldwide: ?

Directing: Carol Reed

Screenwriting: Graham Greene

Starring: Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard

Review:

The Third Man is “a bona fide British classic: rich on atmosphere, strong on suspense and blessed with quite wonderful performances.” ^BFI In “a true collaboration between director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene,” ^BFI the latter created “this cool, perfect adaptation” ^T98 of his own novel.

“Mercury Theatre collaborators Welles and Cotten play a chilling game of cat and mouse” ^A07 “set in corrupt and desperate post-WWII Vienna during the Cold War” ^FS in this tale “of a supposed dead man and the old friend who wants to get to the bottom of the mystery.” ^A07 Cotton is Holly Martins, an American pulp fiction writer who travels to Vienna for a job promised him by his friend, Harry Lime, “a black-market drug dealer of the sleaziest nature.” ^VD played by “a never-better Orson Welles.” ^RS Martins finds out Lime was supposedly killed in an accident. In his sleuthing to find the truth, he becomes infatuated with Lime’s girlfriend Anna Schmidt (Valli) and is “drawn into the decadent and corrupt world in which Lime existed.” ^BFI

“The rotting streets of postwar Vienna are a metaphor for the paranoia in this bleak film noir.” ^A07 It is “beautifully shot by cinematographer Robert Krasker.” ^BFI It is “so brilliantly black, it’s like a one-film negation of Victory in Europe.” ^ML It is “full of sequences that linger in the mind,” ^BFI such as “the dramatic scene atop a ferris wheel” ^FS an d“the underground sewer scene at the end of the film [which] is considered by some to be a masterpiece.” ^VD There’s also “the acclaimed zither rendition of ‘The Harry Lime Theme’ by Anton Karas helps to create a rare, haunting movie atmosphere.” ^BFI