My Top 20 Films of All Time

Last year when I was at a screening of an old 35 millimeter film at the New Beverly Cinema with my fellow hipsters I overheard an elderly man who spoke with someone at length in the row in front of me before the film began. At one point he dropped the fact that when he was young he was one of Orson Welles' chauffeurs. I had no reason to doubt him.
He said, "Orson told me that the best films are in black and white and two hours long."
A few days ago I learned that Roger Ebert said, "A good film is never long enough, and a bad film is never short enough."
Well, I believe as Welles believed that even with legendary films the ideal time is two hours long. 2 1/2 hours is a bit of a strain, and 3 hours is only tolerable in a few cases. A few of the films at the bottom of this list are three hours long, and I will attempt to justify why a three hour film is my second-favorite of all time.

20: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)


Another thinly-veiled, anti-war film by Kubrick.
It's one of the two Stanley Kubrick films that are on this list. Yet I feel as if Kubrick handed the reins to the genius British comedian Peter Sellers then said, "GO!" Sellers played three different characters, and he was supposed to play Major King Kong (later played by Slim Pickens) until he realized that he couldn't master a Southern American accent. Unfortunately, this realization occurred while he was onset and Kubrick was well into filming. Sellers was a method actor throughout the film; when his relatives visited him offset he never broke from whatever character he was playing that day. Sterling Hayden, who was also immensely talented and my favorite part of many otherwise mediocre films, proved that he was a force as a comedic actor.
Aside from this film, "Lolita" and "Being There," Sellers' film career was never exactly successful on the whole, and although the "Pink Panther" franchise was commercially successful he considered it a cash cow that was beneath him.
It's also worth pointing out that in two of Kubrick's war films the most supposedly powerful guys in the room are either quickly disposed of like Sargent Hartmann (R. Lee Ermey) and Lieutenant Touchdown (Ed O'Ross) in Full Metal Jacket or the objects of ridicule like the "leaders" in this film.

19: Lenny (1974)


You might say that I am biased because I do stand up. But you should know Lenny Bruce's story. Americans love to say that someone is violating their freedom of speech when it doesn't even apply to the situation. Lenny was harassed by the police/government for saying things when he was in supposedly private settings that were definitely covered by The First Amendment. It drove him literally insane and probably led to the heroin overdose that killed him. Even when the police pigs discovered his body they poked fun at him.
My favorite performance by Hoffman.

18: Papillon (1973)


I think that most diehard Steve McQueen fans agree that this film is his best work. The scene that haunts me to this day some 15 years after I first watched it is the dream sequence in which Henri Charrière (McQueen) faces a judge in the middle of a desert who says, "I accuse you of a wasted life." Charrière/McQueen somberly replies, "Guilty... Guilty." I read in a McQueen biography that he had gorged on so much food in real life at around that time that they put especially baggy clothes on his for the prison scenes when his character was supposedly starving. Also, McQueen's famous "Hey, you bastards; I'm still here" was a popular catchphrase for awhile in the '70s.
It's based on Charrière's true story.

17: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)


"The American dream" gone horribly awry and debunked or actualized to its greatest potential? Scorsese lets you decide, but we definitely know what Jordan Belfort would say. I remember an interview with Scorsese from many years ago during which he addressed the concerns that people had about the violent criminal themes in his gangster movies. He said that there was a side of him that drew him to those stories, and he said that judging by the movies' successes, he wasn't the only person who was intrigued by them.
The people who defend its three-hour length claim that the prolonged debauchery just plays into the overall theme of the movie-- excessive to the point of being nauseating. Well, regardless it's slightly too long.
One of the great thrills of my life was getting Jonah Hill's autograph (a TOUGH signature to obtain in person) on my Wolf poster a few days ago-- it's obviously his best performance in anything.

16: Alien (1979)


It's the only horror film on my list, and it's the only film on my list in which a woman plays the lead role. There is a reason why my film teachers played this film several times in several different classes. It's one of the few horror movies that has withstood decades of aging. It's also so fucking fun.
There is a scene that I wished that they had not deleted in which "Ripley"/Sigourney Weaver is holding a flamethrower as she searches for the Alien. She discovers crewmate "Dallas"/Tom Skerritt in some sort of cocoon, and he appears as if he is mangled beyond saving. He just moans, "kill me" until she turns the flamethrower on him.
......I guess that the studio just thought that it was too morbid. But it was played extremely well by Skerritt and Weaver to the point that I get chills about it even now.

15: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)


I feel like there is nothing that I can say about this film that you don't already know-- especially the fact that Peter Jackson made megazillion dollars from the trilogy. Like many people, I thought that the first film was just alright, the second film was good, and the third finally hit all the right marks and was legendary. It was the only film in the trilogy in which I felt the thrill that I got from reading the books, and it tied all of the loose ends together well.
The only problem was its length. Many comedians have made parodies of its drawn-out final scenes, which defined the word "maudlin."

14: The Godfather (1972)


Yes, it's another film that I believe required more editing, BUT it's also probably Brando's best performance in anything-- and I've seen almost all of his films.
One of the best actors of all time + an outstanding supporting cast of all star actors + one of the best screenplays of all time= Classic. It's really that simple.
....Now, if only the third film in the trilogy wasn't an absolute disaster that looks like a made-for-TV movie...

13: Reservoir Dogs (1992)


Quentin Tarantino doesn't get enough credit for this screenplay's profundity. Its character development and the emphasis on their intransigent personalities is flawless. It also reminds us that even though he makes great films to this day, they were infinitely better when he wasn't placing irreverence front and center and just let it be subtle.
The fact that most people who have seen this film automatically think about it when certain songs pop onto the radio is a tribute to its great soundtrack.
I am somewhat surprised that most of the cast went on to work on underground performances after this film. They were outstanding.
R.I.P. to Chris Penn, who died much too soon.

12: Saving Private Ryan (1998)


"Schindler's List" was almost good enough for this list-- Spielberg's mild embellishment of Oscar Schindler's true nature made it difficult for me to include it on Michael's List. Groan. So I consider this movie one of the greatest director of all time's masterpiece. Even Tom Hanks, with his long and storied career, has stated that it's his best film. It's definitely a departure from his usual goofball characters, and he absolutely owned it.
As Spielberg put it, "it pays homage to veterans in a Memorial Day sense, not so much an Independence Day sense."

11: Network (1976)


I almost ranked this film much lower than position 11, then I remembered that it was a genius screenwriter's (Paddy Chayefsky) masterwork. It basically predicted the advent of news-porn.
Screenwriters are taught to not allow each character to have more than a sentence or two at a time. But this film has the best monologue in movie history:
"Yoooouuuu have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and yooouuuuuu willllll atone.....
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and ATT and Dupont, DOW, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today."
So it wasn't much for subtlety, and maybe today that statement seems hackneyed to some people, but at the time it was fresh and possibly taboo so I commend Chayefsky for being so bold.
But if you want subtlety, there is an ingenious and sinister line of dialogue that you might have noticed near the beginning of the film when Howard Beal (Finch) is talking about an experience that he had as a young man: he laughs loudly as he says the punch line, "you have so much to live for!"
It also has one of the most-quoted lines in movie history: "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore."
Peter Finch's best performance by light years.

10: There Will Be Blood (2007)


Even the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips, with whom I usually disagree about everything, says that it's the best film of the young century. It should have beat "No Country for Old Men" for "best picture" in 2007. The massively overrated Coen brothers pulled off a con job on the Academy.
Bare witness to Daniel Day-Lewis in all of his insane glory-- it's like watching Michael Jordan with his tongue protruding. To me, he is possibly the best actor of all time. It's also possible that only he could make this unconventional and daring screenplay work.
It's loosely based on the novel "Oil!" by Upton Sinclair (1927), and director Paul Thomas Anderson has mentioned the fact that even though it's a period piece it is very much an allegory about our modern oil barons' greed.
I was extremely blessed to watch an advanced screening of this film months before it was released to the general public.

9: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)


It's worth pointing out for the ten millionth time that the best Star Wars film was not directed by George Lucas. I really regret that I didn't meet its director, Irvine Kershner, a few months before he died at a planned event because he was undergoing chemotherapy treatments. Yoda, many people's (including mine) favorite Star Wars character, made his debut here.
As Carrie Fisher put it succinctly, "It's the most soulful Star Wars."

8: Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972)


Werner Herzog's best.
When Roger Ebert died, his short list of best films ever was re-released. This film was one of two that I hadn't seen. I agreed instantly with him as soon as the end credits rolled.
It's loosely based on a true story about a Spanish conquistador who took control of an expedition that was commissioned to explore a given area in South America. Much insanity ensued.
I don't want to spoil anything. I will tell you that it's the stuff of legend, though, and it's performed brilliantly by Klaus Kinski as the lead.
It's not a horror movie, but it will creep you out for days after you have watched it.

7: Goodfellas (1990)


The first R rated film that I watched in a theater 10,565 years ago has stood the test of time. When I was a kid the film's version of Henry Hill as a child was only a few years older than I, so I instantly related to him and his impulse to stir up the adult shitstorm.
The brilliant camerawork alone in this movie was taught to me in multiple film school classes.
The "what am I-- a clown?" scene between Joe Pesci as Tommy and Ray Liotta as Henry is my favorite movie scene of all time. When I watched it as a kid it was just funny and enjoyable. Obviously, now it has a deeper meaning to me: this motherfucker could snap on anyone at any time, and even his closest friends don't really know when it's going to happen.
I met the real Henry Hill a couple of years before he died. He was charging $25 for his signature, and he was surrounded by pieces of his original art that had one of the film's lines inscribed on them: "Fuck you. Pay me." Gangster to the end.

6: Stand By Me (1986)


It has aged like Jameson whiskey.
I believe that this film has the best soundtrack of all time, and it has the late, great River Phoenix's best performance (even though he received an Oscar nomination for something else entirely).
According to Corey Feldman's autobiography, (yes, I read it) they had massive problems with funding this movie, and the studio that originally signed on to do it folded so director Rob Reiner was forced to find different backers in midstream. Feldman also wrote that he started to develop into a demon child offset partly due to the unhinged nature of his character, which required him to tap into his tortured childhood. Eventually River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell's parents sheltered them away from his influence. Haha.
Although this film is set in the '50s it reminds me a lot of my own childhood in the sticks.

5: Casino (1995)


The best director of all time's best film.
Anytime anyone can inspire me to care about Las Vegas-- a city that might as well be a glittering ash tray in the middle of a sandlot to me-- you're talking about a work of sheer genius. Ditto for any movie that causes Sharon Stone to seem like a great actress. Scorsese has stated that its detractors tell him that it's too much like a documentary. But I love good documentaries, so I don't really care.
This film's soundtrack is also worth buying. Scorsese said that he wanted to use music that reflected the eclectic nature of the character's times and personalities. Those songs are all over the place in terms of genres and eras.
By the end of this thing you actually get the feeling that Vegas was probably much better off in the hands of the mafia rather than the government.

4: Apocalypse Now (1979)


It's the favorite film of people who I respect such as Henry Rollins and Noel Gallagher. During a speech last week Rollins said (paraphrasing), "Whenever I watch it I have a different feeling. Sometimes I feel like I'm Colonel Kurtz at the end of that long river who has it all figured out, and sometimes I feel like I'm Captain Willard, who is soul-searching his way down the river."
The scenes that included Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz originally weren't intended to be filmed in so much darkness. After a series of delays and bratty moves by Brando he arrived to the set massively overweight, so they put him in a shadowy area. It's just one of the many ways that Francis Ford Coppola was forced to improvise things as the setbacks started to pile up and his own personal funding for the film was drying up.
If you're unfamiliar with these details then I recommend the documentary "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" to you. It's probably the best documentary that I've ever seen.

3: Paths of Glory (1957)


Kubrick was decades ahead of his time. During an era when a band of propagandist morons were trying to depict war as a glorious undertaking he depicted its true horrors and idiocy.
Kirk Douglas.... what can I say? Last year I learned that he probably drunkenly raped Natalie Wood decades ago, which took a bit of luster off this film for me. But I can't deny the compelling nature of its story and outstanding cinematography.
The moments near the end when the soldiers are awaiting their demise shake me to my core. Superbly acted.

2: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)


epic: 2 a : extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope

The first time I watched this film my father took me to a 40th anniversary screening of it in an ancient New York theater. The old curtains were drawn open, and approximately halfway through it an old fashioned "INTERMISSION" scroll appeared on the screen as the film's score played, and I was left to think about the 1 1/2 hours of awesomeness that I had witnessed. When the film resumed I knew that despite its length I was watching one of the best films that I had ever seen. The length plays into the film itself-- the expansiveness of the desert, the Arabs' unending conflicts with each other (not to mention the Jews), and the epic nature of T.E. Lawrence's real life all demanded it.
We lost a hell of a talent when Peter O'Toole died last year. R.I.P.

1: Citizen Kane (1941)


The first time I watched this film when I was 19 I literally muttered, "what... the... fuck?" I could not believe that someone made this film during the '40s. It has remained my favorite film to this day.
It's loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hearst, who harassed Welles for years afterward.
It was widely imitated. I read that Welles believed that the style of "The Maltese Falcon" was a direct ripoff of Kane. I personally also see shades of it in "The Third Man," a film in which Welles acted but supposedly didn't serve as a cinematographer.
Film critics have started to rank "Vertigo" as the best film ever, not Kane. Bullshit. I agree with Welles about Hitchcock: he was probably the most overrated director of all time. He had no intuition about who could actually act in a film, and many of his scenes are unintentionally poorly lit. Don't even get me started on the moronic airplane scene in "North by Northwest."
Welles wasn't just an outstanding filmmaker-- he could act his ass off.
I just wish that he had completed more films before he died.