Ebert's List of Great Movies

[Marxist]

How many have you seen?

Do you agree or disagree on what he considers "great"?

Ebert's Analysis

• 8 1/2
• THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD
• AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD
• ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL
• ALL ABOUT EVE
• ALIEN
• AMADEUS
• AMARCORD
• ANNIE HALL
• THE APARTMENT
• APOCALYPSE NOW
• THE APU TRILOGY
• THE BANK DICK
• THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN
• BEAT THE DEVIL
• BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
• BEING THERE
• BELLE DE JOUR
• THE BICYCLE THIEF
• THE BIG SLEEP
• BIRTH OF A NATION (PART I)
• BIRTH OF A NATION (PART II)
• BLOWUP
• THE BLUE KITE
• BODY HEAT
• BOB LE FLAMBEUR
• BONNIE AND CLYDE
• BREATHLESS
• THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN
• THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
• BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA
• BROKEN BLOSSOMS
• CASABLANCA
• CHILDREN OF PARADISE
• CHINATOWN
• A CHRISTMAS STORY
• CITIZEN KANE
• CITY LIGHTS
• THE CONVERSATION
• CRIES AND WHISPERS
• DAY FOR NIGHT
• DAYS OF HEAVEN
• THE DECALOGUE
• DETOUR
• THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE
• DON'T LOOK NOW
• DO THE RIGHT THING
• DR. STRANGELOVE
• DOUBLE INDEMNITY
• DRACULA
• DUCK SOUP
• THE EARRINGS OF MADAME de ....
• E.T -- THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL
• THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL
• FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
• FARGO
• FILMS OF BUSTER KEATON
• THE FIREMEN'S BALL
• FIVE EASY PIECES
• FLOATING WEEDS
• THE 400 BLOWS
• GATES OF HEAVEN
• THE GENERAL
• THE GODFATHER
• GOLDFINGER
• GONE WITH THE WIND
• THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
• GOODFELLAS
• GRAND ILLUSION
• THE GRAPES OF WRATH
• GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES
• GREAT EXPECTATIONS
• GREED
• A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
• HOOP DREAMS
• HOUSE OF GAMES
• THE HUSTLER
• IKIRU
• IN COLD BLOOD
• IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
• JAWS
• JFK
• JULIET OF THE SPIRITS
• KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS
• KING KONG
• L'ATALANTE
• L'AVVENTURA
• LA DOLCE VITA
• THE LADY EVE
• THE LAST LAUGH
• LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD
• LAURA
• LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
• LE BOUCHER
• LE SAMOURAI
• THE LEOPARD
• THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP
• M
• THE MALTESE FALCON
• THE MAN WHO LAUGHS
• MANHATTAN
• THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
• McCABE & MRS. MILLER
• MEAN STREETS
• METROPOLIS
• MON ONCLE
• MOONSTRUCK
• MR. HULOT'S HOLIDAY
• THE MUSIC ROOM
• MY DARLING CLEMENTINE
• MY DINNER WITH ANDRE
• MY LIFE TO LIVE
• MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO
• NASHVILLE
• NETWORK
• NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
• NIGHTS OF CABIRIA
• NOSFERATU
• NOTORIOUS
• ON THE WATERFRONT
• ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
• ORPHEUS
• PANDORA'S BOX
• PARIS, TEXAS
• THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
• PATTON
• PEEPING TOM
• PERSONA
• PICKPOCKET
• PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK
• PINOCCHIO
• PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
• THE PRODUCERS
• PSYCHO
• PULP FICTION
• RAGING BULL
• RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
• RAISE THE RED LANTERN
• RAN
• RASHOMON
• REAR WINDOW
• RED RIVER
• RIFIFI
• THE RIGHT STUFF
• ROMEO AND JULIET
• SANTA SANGRE
• SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
• SAY ANYTHING
• SCARFACE
• SCHINDLER'S LIST
• THE SEARCHERS
• THE SEVEN SAMURAI
• THE SEVENTH SEAL
• SHANE
• THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
• THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
• SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
• SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
• SOLARIS
• SOME LIKE IT HOT
• STAR WARS
• STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
• STROSZEK
• SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY
• SUNSET BOULEVARD
• SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS
• SWING TIME
• A TALE OF WINTER
• TAXI DRIVER
• THE THIN MAN
• THE THIRD MAN
• THIS IS SPINAL TAP
• 'THREE COLORS' TRILOGY
• TOKYO STORY
• TOUCH OF EVIL
• THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
• TROUBLE IN PARADISE
• 12 ANGRY MEN
• 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
• UMBERTO D
• UN CHIEN ANDALOU
• UNFORGIVEN
• THE 'UP' DOCUMENTARIES
• VERTIGO
• WALKABOUT
• THE WILD BUNCH
• WINGS OF DESIRE
• THE WIZARD OF OZ
• WOMAN IN THE DUNES
• A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE
• WRITTEN ON THE WIND
• YANKEE DOODLE DANDY
• A YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN
• YELLOW SUBMARINE

 

[bknight2602]

Yellow Submarine? I don't understand that as being one of the greatest.

 

[*Eve*]

21 and having seen only 21 movies of that list of many, I can't determine if he's accurate or not. Out of the 21 movies I saw, I don't think a couple of them belong there.

 

[medjay]

• ALIEN*
• AMADEUS
• APOCALYPSE NOW *
• THE APU TRILOGY
• THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN
• BEING THERE
• THE BICYCLE THIEF
• BIRTH OF A NATION (PART I)
• BIRTH OF A NATION (PART II)
• BODY HEAT
• BONNIE AND CLYDE
• BREATHLESS
• CHINATOWN
• A CHRISTMAS STORY*
• CITIZEN KANE
• THE CONVERSATION *
• DO THE RIGHT THING
• DR. STRANGELOVE *
• E.T -- THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL *
• FARGO *
• THE 400 BLOWS
• THE GODFATHER
• GOLDFINGER
• GONE WITH THE WIND
• THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY *
• GOODFELLAS *
• GREAT EXPECTATIONS
• A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
• HOOP DREAMS
• HOUSE OF GAMES*
• THE HUSTLER
• JAWS
• JFK
• KING KONG
• LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
• LE SAMOURAI *
• THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE *
• MEAN STREETS
• NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
• ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
• PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
• PSYCHO
• PULP FICTION *
• RAGING BULL *
• RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK *
• RAN *
• RASHOMON *
• REAR WINDOW
• RIFIFI *
• SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
• SCARFACE *
• SCHINDLER'S LIST *
• THE SEVEN SAMURAI *
• THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION *
• THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS *
• SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
• SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
• SOLARIS
• STAR WARS *
• STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
• TAXI DRIVER *
• THE THIRD MAN
• TOUCH OF EVIL *
• 12 ANGRY MEN *
• 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
• UNFORGIVEN *
• VERTIGO
• THE WILD BUNCH
• THE WIZARD OF OZ

These are the ones that I've seen from the list. An asterisk follows the ones I think are "great".

There are a few I think don't deserve such praise, namely Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Do The Right Thing. I would have defended DTRT ten years ago but repeated viewings reveal that it doesn't stand the test of time and is actually dated, manipulative and shrill. Spike Lee has done way better.

 

[Marxist]

Yellow Submarine? I don't understand that as being one of the greatest.

This is what Ebert says about "Yellow Submarine." Basically he sees it as a landmark in soundtrack and animation.


``Yellow Submarine'' was released in 1968, after the Summer of Love but before Woodstock, when the Beatles stood astride the world of pop music, and ``psychedelic art'' had such an influence that people actually read underground newspapers printed in orange on yellow paper. That was the year ``2001: A Space Odyssey'' was released in reserved-ticket engagements with an intermission, and hippies would mingle with the ticket holders on the sidewalk outside the theater, and sneak back into the theater for the film's second half, to lay, or lie, flat on their backs on the floor in front of the screen, observing Kubrick's time-space journey from a skewed perspective--while, as the saying went, they were stoned out of their gourds.


``Yellow Submarine'' was also embraced as a ``head movie,'' leading to an observation attributed to Ken Kesey: ``They say it looks better when you're stoned. But that's true of all movies.'' All of that was many, many years ago, and now here is a restored version of ``Yellow Submarine,'' arriving like a time capsule from the flower power era, with a graphic look that fuses Peter Max, Rene Magritte and M.C. Escher. To borrow another useful cliche from the 1960s, it blossoms like eye candy on the screen, and with 11 songs by the Beatles it certainly has the best music track of any animated film.


The story begins at a moment of crisis in Pepperland, which is invaded by the music-hating Blue Meanies. They hate the power of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which has inspired a big YES to sprout near the bandstand, not to mention a towering LOVE and all sorts of bright and cheerful decorations. So the Meanies freeze everything with blue bombs that bleach out the colors and leave Pepperland in a state of blue-gray suspended animation. Old Fred, conductor of the band, escapes the Meanie treatment and flees in the Yellow Submarine to enlist the help of the Beatles.


This is a story that appeals even to young children, but it also has a knowing, funny style that adds an undertow of sophistication. The narration and dialogue are credited to four writers (including Love Story's Erich Segal), and yet the overall tone is the one struck by John Lennon in his books In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works. Puns, drolleries, whimsies and asides meander through the sentences:


There's a cyclops!
He's got two eyes.
Must be a bicyclops.
It's a whole bicloplopedia!


The animation, directed by Tom Halley from Heinz Edelmann's designs, isn't full motion and usually remains within one plane, but there's nothing stiff or limited about it; it has a freedom of color and invention that never tires, and it takes a delight in visual paradoxes. Consider for example the Beatles' visit to the Sea of Holes, a complex Escherian landscape of oval black holes that seem to open up, or down, or sideways, so that the Beatles can enter and emerge in various dimensions.


(Ringo keeps one of the holes, and later gets them out of a tricky situation by remembering, ``I've got a hole in my pocket!'')


Such dimensional illusions run all through the film. My favorite is a vacuum-nosed creature that snarfs up everything it can find to inhale. Finally it starts on the very frame itself, snuffling it all up into its nose, so that it stands forlorn on a black screen. A pause, and then the creature's attention focuses on its own tail. It attacks that with the vacuum nose and succeeds in inhaling itself, after which nothing at all is left.


The film's visuals borrow from the mind bank of the 20th century. Consider a visit to a sort of image repository where we find Buffalo Bill, Marilyn Monroe, the Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and Frankenstein (who, awakened, turns out to be John Lennon). Dozens of images cascade out of the doors in a long corridor, including Magritte's big green apple and his pipe. And real-life photography is built into other sequences, including the one for ``Eleanor Rigby.''


The songs of course are the backbone of the movie, and they include ``Yellow Submarine,'' ``Eleanor Rigby,'' ``All Together Now,'' ``Nowhere Man,'' ``Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,'' ``Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,'' ``All You Need Is Love'' and (in a live-action coda) the Beatles in person wisecracking and singing ``All Together Now.'' The movie's original soundtrack was monaural, and it sounds a little muddy on my rare laserdisc of the film. The restored version, in six-track digital stereo, remastered at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, blossoms with life and clarity. I was able to compare the two versions as a friendly projectionist switched back and forth between the original and restored tracks, and the digital stereo is like somebody turning the lights on.


The story of the restoration, like the story of the film itself, is a saga of triumph over Blue Meanies in the distribution business. It is widely known that the ``Yellow Submarine'' project was only approved by the Beatles in the first place because it offered a way for them to get out of a three-picture deal (after ``A Hard Day's Night'' and ``Help!'') without actually having to appear in a third picture. Their input was reportedly marginal (they didn't even dub their own voices), but when they saw the rough cut they liked it so much they agreed to appear in the live-action final scene.

The movie was a success in 1968, but has never had much of a life since then. Gary Meyer, a programming executive for the Sundance Channel, tells me the film was pulled off the theatrical revival circuit in 1982, and hasn't been available in any form of video for 12 years (the laserdisc is going for $50 on eBay). The movie has only had one TV showing, Meyer says, and has never been on cable.


Why such obscurity for a Beatles movie? It was so much a child of the 1960s, apparently, that the copyright holders considered it a dated period piece. Well, every movie is a period piece; that's what's wonderful about them. The movie was revived in 1997 at the San Francisco Film Festival, where the reception encouraged this restoration project. As Meyer told me: ``The head of post-production at MGM, Bruce Markoe, got involved and took `Yellow Submarine' to Abbey Road Studios, where they remixed the soundtrack. The picture quality has been cleaned up too, and as a bonus, the `Hey Bulldog' number, which only showed in England, has been reinserted with the narrative parts that makes it part of the story.''


The result, like ``Fantasia,'' is a music-based animated film for the ages. The songs sound dramatically better, and the story avoids the usual gee-whiz urgency of so much animation and reflects the same deadpan understatement that the Beatles used in ``A Hard Day's Night.'' Perhaps because the Beatles were considered such a draw, perhaps because the songs were counted on to sell the film, there was no agenda to dumb down the material or hard-sell the story. Instead of contrived urgency, there's unpressured whimsy, and the movie exists as pure charm, expressed in fantastical imagery. And then there are the songs.

 

[Imhotep]

Well I'm about twice that age, and I've seen 87 of the films listed. Of that 87, I'd say 3/4 ARE good to great films.

 

[bknight2602]

Soundtrack maybe, animation? Disney did much better, IMHO.

 

[Marxist]

Re: Re: Ebert's List of Great Movies

These are the ones that I've seen from the list. An asterisk follows the ones I think are "great".

There are a few I think don't deserve such praise, namely Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Do The Right Thing. I would have defended DTRT ten years ago but repeated viewings reveal that it doesn't stand the test of time and is actually dated, manipulative and shrill. Spike Lee has done way better.

I agree about DTRT.

I really don't get JFK being on the list. It gets history completely wrong and Stone has since been silent on how he gave credit for a bogus examination of a bogus event.

 

[seXieleXie]

solarus?
oh please. he just got off on seeing clooney's ass.

 

[College_geek]

I haven't seen most of the movies on that list, although a good handful are ones that are on my "to-see" list. I do agree with a few of the ones I've seen, namely THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. They were really good movies.

 

[medjay]

I was never able to understand the fascination with 2001: A Space Odyssey. I gave it several chances but fell asleep every time. Hell, I thought sitting through four hours of Solaris with the Russian subtitles was less boring.

Being There was kinda wack too, now that I think of it.

 

[medjay]

solarus?
oh please. he just got off on seeing clooney's ass.

I'm sure he was refering to the original Solaris.

http://www.zone-sf.com/images/solaris.jpg

 

[seXieleXie]

I'm sure he was refering to the original Solaris.

damnit, now i feel stupid, but you quoted me so i can't pretend i didn't say it.

 

[Illicit Kitty]

I've only seen probably six or seven of those. But I'm glad to see the Marx Brothers getting some recognition, I love all of their movies.

 

[seXieleXie]

my analysis, with medjay's notation

• 8 1/2 *
• ALL ABOUT EVE
• ALIEN
• AMADEUS
• APOCALYPSE NOW *
• BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
• BEING THERE
• THE BIG SLEEP
• BODY HEAT
• BONNIE AND CLYDE
• THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
• CASABLANCA *
• CHINATOWN
• A CHRISTMAS STORY
• CITIZEN KANE *
• DAYS OF HEAVEN
• DO THE RIGHT THING
• DR. STRANGELOVE *
• E.T -- THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL *
• FARGO *
• FIVE EASY PIECES
• THE GODFATHER *
• GONE WITH THE WIND
• THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
• GOODFELLAS *
• THE GRAPES OF WRATH
• GREAT EXPECTATIONS
• A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
• HOOP DREAMS
• IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE *
• JAWS *
• JFK
• LA DOLCE VITA *
• LAWRENCE OF ARABIA *
• MANHATTAN
• THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
• MOONSTRUCK
• ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
• PINOCCHIO
• THE PRODUCERS
• PSYCHO *
• PULP FICTION *
• RAGING BULL *
• RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
• REAR WINDOW *
• THE RIGHT STUFF
• ROMEO AND JULIET
• SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
• SAY ANYTHING
• SCARFACE
• SCHINDLER'S LIST *
• THE SEVEN SAMURAI *
• THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION *
• THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS *
• SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
• SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
• SOLARIS
• SOME LIKE IT HOT
• STAR WARS
• THIS IS SPINAL TAP
• 'THREE COLORS' TRILOGY * (def. blue, maybe not the others)
• TOUCH OF EVIL (maybe the remade version, but def. not the studio's version)
• 12 ANGRY MEN *
• 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
• UNFORGIVEN
• THE WIZARD OF OZ
• YELLOW SUBMARINE

 

[gman23]

He has most of my picks with a few exceptions (unless i mised)
no tim burton .... nitemare or even maybe beetlejuice ... something by burton and for Robert Altman ... Macabe and mrs Miller? but no Mash

 

[medjay]

My favorite movie of all time (and the greatest film ever made) isn't on the list. That would be Repo Man.

I'm sure it's just an oversight on Ebert's part.

 

[LillyO]

I had almost forgotten about MaCabe & Mrs. Miller.

I am assuming that the King Kong was the original which I have never seen and not the Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange version which was terrible!!
Oh and Body Heat...I love that movie.

 

[honeylick]

My favorite movie of all time (and the greatest film ever made) isn't on the list. That would be Repo Man.

I'm sure it's just an oversight on Ebert's part.

oh yeah... that was the pinnacle of my emilio estevez crush phase.

-sigh-

 

[gman23]

My favorite movie of all time (and the greatest film ever made) isn't on the list. That would be Repo Man.

I'm sure it's just an oversight on Ebert's part.

yeah...... Repo man!!! Did you ever see the japenese move Tampopo ? That should be on there also

 

[medjay]

I've probably seen Repo Man more times than any other film (more than Star Wars if you can believe that) and I still laugh hysterically every time. I think that movie has permanently shaped my sense of humor and personality.

The jury's still out as to whether that's a good thing.

 

[Illicit Kitty]

I had almost forgotten about MaCabe & Mrs. Miller.

I am assuming that the King Kong was the original which I have never seen and not the Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange version which was terrible!!
Oh and Body Heat...I love that movie.

Peter Jackson (LOTR director) is supposed to be coming out with another remake of King Kong fairly soon.

I sense another series of B movies with big budgets....

 

[Problem Child]

My favorite movie of all time (and the greatest film ever made) isn't on the list. That would be Repo Man.

I'm sure it's just an oversight on Ebert's part.

He also forgot Evil Dead II. That pretty much trashes his credibility in any sane person's eyes.

 

[medjay]

Y'know, I could barely stay awake during Citizen Kane either. Maybe I should have seen it in the forties.

I also don't praise The Godfather as much as other people do.

 

[phrodeau]

Soundtrack maybe, animation? Disney did much better, IMHO.

The animation in "Yellow Submarine" switched among different styles that were innovative and cutting-edge. Disney was a dinosaur at the time.

Where on the list are the Terry Gilliam films?