The Greatest Movies Of All Time
Greetings all, I’m back.
Don’t recall if I mentioned it in my first blog, but I’m a student of film and finishing off my last semester at a technical college which shall remain nameless. Don’t really like them and I’m not about to give them a good review.
Anyway to the point. One of our teachers spent a good 5 months wasting our time by making us watch a whole lot of films. Most of them I have forgotten, others I have not. Citizen Kanewas shown due to its importance, but I will admit I’m not a fan. It really wasn’t that interesting to watch in my opinion. I do like the story behind the movie far more and if I ever remember, I shall have a look at that Liev Schreiber movie one of these days.
I did like Casablanca, but my teacher’s claims that it was the most perfectly written screenplay/story fell on deaf ears. It has a few plot holes that should not be explained away due to the time in which it was made. The same argument for Mickey Rooney’s role in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, which still seems hollow. Oh, people were racist in the 60’s, so that makes it okay?
Myself, I have a healthy respect for what those who have come before have accomplished. But I don’t have to always like their films.
Liking films is such a subjective personal view. A fellow student hates my personal fave and just the other day another teacher helped start a brief conversation about #3 and how it was PC white man guilt junk. Most of the class agreed and I was ready to call them a bunch of a-holes since its not PC to show a culture in its true light, especially if it shows the ugliness of the predominant Caucasian race and her crimes.
So where is all this rambling leading to, you may ask. Well I’m going to give my top ten list of the greatest movies of all time. This is my list. Does it validate any of the films on it? Yes and no. For me this list is true and all knowing. For others, they will disagree.
#10 - OCTOPUSSY (1983)
My personal favorite of the Moore Bond’s as well as my favorite of the series. I love to watch this movie at any time. It has a simple plot, down to earth and believable, not over the top. Roger was at his peak, Louis Jordan played a good materialistic weasel of a villain. Strong opening, good sidekicks and an island of Bond beauties. Can never go wrong with Octopussy.
#9 - SUPERMAN (1978)
The original, one and only box office superhero extravaganza which spawned one of the saddest examples of producer abuse in Hollywood history and a made a Superman for generations. The late Christopher Reeve truly epitomized the Man of Steel. Margot Kidder was an awesome Lois Lane. Gene Hackman an even more awesome Lex Luthor with such a fiendish plot — Destroy California and cash in on real estate. It was such a great scheme that Bryan Singer couldn’t come up with something original for Superman Returns. A round of applause to Richard Donner for pulling it off and a boooo for the Salkinds for being so greedy that they fired a man who deserved to be praised. And I don’t care what some people may think of the effects, as 6 year old boy I did believe that a man could fly.
#8 - DAWN OF THE DEAD (1979)
The Zombie masterpiece! Do I even have to bother try and justify this choice? George Romero at his finest and critics have not let him really triumph since due to their narrow perspectives. ‘Nuff said.
#7 - THE GODFATHER 1 & 2 (1972 & 1974)
Technically it’s two movies, but I always saw them as one seriously long epic gangster saga. Wonderful case and a great director in Francis Ford Coppola. Mario Puzo wrote a masterpiece and together they truly put on the screen a film I’m happy to see, despite a length of 7 hours long combined. Al Pacino is THE star of this saga, but with such a great cast (like Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton) it was impossible for it to fail. A big kudos for Fredo Corleone, the late John Cazale who was, I think, the most understated character in the film. The aforementioned teacher did show the class these films and I was more than happy to see them again. The others seem less impressed or at least a few of the students hated it only.
#6 - ALIENS (1986)
James Cameron’s best work in my opinion. Take a well loved movie, a well loved concept and make it your own and I think make it better than the original. One of the best sequels ever created, even more better by the fact that a different writer and director came on and respected the material enough and didn’t try to change it. Not so much a horror movie as it is the ultimate scfi-fi action flick with a gun shy Sigourney Weaver faking it so well, an excellent supporting cast (Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein) and impressive debut for one time dynamo Carrie Henn and lastly Stan Winston’s take on the Alien which still amazes me to this day, since there was no CGI at the time. Others like Ridley Scott’s Alien more, myself Aliens is the better of the two!
#5 - HALLOWEEN (1978)
Black Christmas is believed to be the first North American slasher film, but we know that it was John Carpenter’s Halloween which put the genre on the map. Such a simple story really; Boy kills sister - Boy sent to Mental Hospital - Boy escapes Mental Hospital - Boy tries to kill second sister (though we didn’t find that out until the sequel). John made an amazing debut with “Precinct 13,” but he took this idea of a killer stalking babysitters and created a true classic that has not been successfully copied since. Though many have tried. Jamie Lee Curtis became a star because of this film and that musical score is just so damn good. Gotta love Halloween!
Hang in there folks, over half way there now!
#4 SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
I’m not a big fan of war movies as they always seem to be so pro-America and one sided. But here comes Steven Spielberg and a great script from Robert Rodat that shows the shades of grey from war. To the confusing idea that 8 men risk their lives to save one, treatment of the enemy and the stress of command displayed by Tom Hanks’ tremors. A powerful film, one I truly loved and the most intense opening ever put on film I think. I recall a critic stating the big weakness of this film was the all-American Hanks who simply did not look like a captain in the army. But that was the point, normal Americans in an un-normal situation. Tom Hanks was the perfect choice for this role and I think the center of the whole story.
#3 DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
My third favorite film is another epic which no one can deny is a truly great film. A film which held a western to a higher ideal than the John Ford-John Wayne drivel which glamorized a time where an indigenous people were slaughtered and the greedy expansion of the Europeans could not be stopped. All the actors were awesome, especially Graham Greene, Rodney Grant and Tantoo Cardinal. The visuals were beautiful and John Barry’s Oscar winning score is in my collection and enjoy just listening to it. I suppose being shown a movie which essentially depicts the true nature of your ancestors as less than benign might produce some guilt, but to my class — This is a wonderful movie and you want to hate this movie by all means, but hate it not because of your own shame.
#2 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
In my opinion the best adventure film of all time. Simple storytelling at its finest. You put together two great minds and you get Indiana Jones. I’ve always said Harrison Ford is my favorite actor and here is in an iconic role. Not unlike how Star Wars re-energized the science-fiction movie, or Jaws saw the potential for the summer blockbuster, so did Raiders return action movies to the forefront with an escapist fare that didn’t need to be overly dramatic. The gritty realism of the 70’s were making way for the fun of the 80’s and I got to be there. Another example of amazing pre-CGI FX. The opening of the Ark sequence is still a classic. The stunts even better and the fight sequences were good ol’ fashioned fisticuffs. I like an impressive display of martial arts as much as the next guy, but there’s something to be said about two guys going at it with only their fists and their bravado. And finally — a note to John Williams your best work ever.
And finally here it is, the greatest movie of all time in my opinion.
#1 STAR WARS (1977)
Yes! I am claiming that Star Wars is the greatest movie of all time. That is my humble opinion. I love Star Wars and always will. I am not judging the prequel trilogy or even talking about ESB or ROTJ. I am talking the original 1977 science fantasy film which became a pop cultural phenomenon and a worldwide success for its creator George Lucas. He had a vision and stuck to his guns despite all the Hollywood bulls**t and the rest is history. I barely remember this film as a child, but I do know it had an impact on me that I’m currently on a path because of it. The visual effects were beyond description, the story was a simple black vs. white plot and we all loved the characters. We all have our favorites, my cousin’s is Chewbacca and personally I’m a Han Solo man. The toys and merchandise made a fortune for a man who hates corporations and yeah it helped to usher in an era of capitalist greed which has grown into a monster I hate, but then again I’m a hypocrite.
We can talk about the Star Wars Special Editions which came out on the 20th anniversary, but for the most part I liked them. I liked the changes. I liked the continuity changes (Replacing Jason Wingreen with Temeura Morrison, Clive Revill with Ian McDiarmid and heaven forbid Hayden with Mr. Shaw at the end of ROTJ) for the most part. I’m not a George Lucas basher, these are his films and he has the right to present them as he sees fit.
In regard to Star Wars, I felt the CGI Jabba looked fake but was happy to have the scene reinserted. The “Han runs into Stormtroopers” and “Dogfight” add-ons were good. The Greedo stuff I felt weakened the Han character, but I won’t complain. My only real complaint — Biggs. Bringing in Biggs at the end of the story had no context since the Anchorhead sequences were cut from the start. So I feel that from a storyteller perspective both should be included or neither. But again I state that Star Wars is not my work and so I leave it up to George to decide.
That’s another important fact when thinking about the validity of this movie. How many other movies in history has such a fervored fan base? Has so many people claiming it as their own? Can Casablanca or Citizen Kane claim this honour? I don’t think so. Those films bring about conversations in film theory or history maybe, but nobody speaks of their passion for Casablanca or claims it as their own…
I think not!
So there it is, my argument is irrefutable. Star Wars is the greatest movie of all time. Not because I say so, but because the world says so.
I bid adieu,
your Origami reporter,
L.Manly
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