The 50 Greatest Movies of All Time, pt. 11 (#1-5)

This is it! Almost two weeks after we started this countdown, we're finally at the top of the charts. The top five greatest movies of all time. It was great fun making this list, even though the positioning got harder and harder as I got towards the top. There's no question that there's a much bigger difference between positions at the bottom. That is, I think that (for instance) The Fifth Element (#41) is way greater than Fletch (#42), but The Shawshank Redemption (#8) is only a tiny, tiny bit ahead of The Manchurian Candidate (#9). Today's list - the top five - was almost impossible to rank-order since every one of the five is flawless in its own way; you could order these in a completely different way and I probably wouldn't be able to put up much of a counter-argument.

But enough talk! Let's get to it.

50. Total Recall
49. The Wrestler
48. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
47. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
46. The Game
45. Saw
44. Shrek
43. The Hills Have Eyes
42. Fletch
41. The Fifth Element
40. True Romance
39. The Usual Suspects
38. The Dark Knight
37. Evil Dead II
36. Sin City
35. The Silence of the Lambs
34. Office Space
33. Minority Report
32. American Beauty
31. National Lampoon's Animal House
30. Saturday Night Fever
29. Pulp Fiction
28. Iron Man
27. Return of the Jedi
26. V for Vendetta
25. Caddyshack
24. Seven
23. Die Hard
22. Goldfinger
21. Dawn of the Dead
20. 28 Days Later
19. Boogie Nights
18. From Russia With Love
17. 12 Monkeys
16. The Godfather Part II
15. Shaun of the Dead
14. Reservoir Dogs
13. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
12. Star Wars
11. The Muppet Movie
10. The Matrix
09. The Manchurian Candidate
08. The Shawshank Redemption
07. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
06. Rocky

... and the top five greatest movies of all-time are ...

05. Goodfellas - I like mob movies as a genre, but it's hardly one that I would consider innovative - generally enjoyable, yes, (see also Casino, Donnie Brasco, The Departed) but there's not a whole lot new that can be said about family, honor, Las Vegas/Atlantic City, revenge, crime, informants, federal investigations, etc. Goodfellas triumphs not by redefining the genre, but by perfectly illustrating it. Simply put, there is not a frame, shot, edit, cut, sound, or word out of place in this movie. From the opening scene (Billy Batts in the trunk) to the final titles (describing what happened to everyone), Goodfellas never lets up for a moment, stacking awesome scene on top of awesome scene. To name just a few that come immediately mind: "... funny how? Funny like a clown, like I amuse you?"; Tommy and Spider at the card game; the Lufthansa heist at JFK (and Jimmy's ultimate revenge, set to "Layla"); "Now go home and get your fuckin' shinebox."; Karen confronting Henry in bed with the pistol. The violence is explicit but never becomes gratuitous; the profanity adds to the realism without becoming a distraction; the characters are amoral socially but full of personal integrity, multidimensional and never stereotypical. Like I said, Goodfellas isn't breaking any new ground, but in this case, it's just as excellent to achieve formulaic perfection.
The Moral of the Story: Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.

04. Fight Club - David Fincher has only directed seven films; three of them made this list (see also The Game (#46) and Seven (#24)), but it's Fight Club that should be right at the top of his resume. It's gritty and dark, but also quite hilarious, and even at its most superficial moments it's working on a number of different levels. Sure, there's the surface story about Tyler Durden and the fight clubs, but there's also the sub-stories about escapism, modern-day notions of masculinity, consumer culture, power vs. submission, health, and love. I don't know of any other movie that works as hard or as successfully at involving the audience both indirectly (with a smart script, fast pacing, and great acting) and directly (Fight Club might be the most self-aware, meta-referential movie out there). The plot twist is about as good as they get, and I love how the voiceover narrative works as a third character within the plot and as the inner monologue for Edward Norton's onscreen character and as the embodiment of the fictional Jack ("I am Jack's smirking revenge," "I am Jack's complete lack of surprise," etc.). I guess the only criticism I have about Fight Club is that it's so brilliant that it makes almost every other movie look mediocre in comparison. But that's hardly a bad thing, is it?
The Moral of the Story: Don't let your possessions become your possessors.

03. The Empire Strikes Back - Without a doubt, this is my favorite movie of all-time. It's the one that I would pick if I could only watch one movie for the rest of my life, and the one I would pick if I were dying and knew that it would be the last one I'd ever see. I have seen and enjoyed The Empire Strikes Back more than any other movie; it blew me away when my parents took me to see it in the theater (summer 1980), it blew me away when Lucas redid the effects and re-released the trilogy in the "special edition" formats, and it's blown me away on every single VHS or DVD home viewing since its release. All of my Star Wars favorites are here: character (Yoda), minor character (Lobot!), planet (Hoth), dialogue (the Han-Leia "I love you - I know" exchange before the carbon freezing), chase scene (the Millenium Falcon in the asteroid field), ship (the AT-AT Walker), plot point ("Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father," duh), and "special edition" insert (the extended Wampa scene). Seriously, all I have to do is think about The Empire Strikes Back to get stoked on it. So why is it only number three? Well ... it's a sequel. One that is superior to the original in every way and one that stands on its own as a movie, to be sure - but would it blow your mind in the same way if you hadn't already seen Star Wars first? I don't know. Maybe not. So for that reason alone, I have to give a (very, very, very) slight advantage to the top two, which need no pre-story exposition whatsoever. But let me say for the record that The Empire Strikes Back will always, always be number one in my heart.
The Moral of the Story: You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family.

02. The Godfather - It may be impossible to say anything bad about Goodfellas (#5), but The Godfather is every bit as perfect and it came first. Every moment in this movie is legendary and, perhaps more than any other movie, has become fodder for both imitative flattery and parody. On the former, see every other Mafia movie ever made; on the latter, see, for instance, multiple Simpsons episodes (the best of which involves Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel getting revenge on the man who stole his fiance in a shot-by-shot reenactment of the tollbooth scene). In terms of cultural impact, very few movies have even one line that become part of the mainstream lexicon. The Godfather, on the other hand, has two that come to mind immediately: "I'm gonna make him an offer he won't refuse" and "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." And in terms of casting, this one's at the top of the game - Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton - and is only equalled by its sequel, which replaces Marlon Brando with Robert DeNiro (albeit playing the same character as Brando but in an earlier era). On top of all that, The Godfather stands out because its story is decidedly cerebral - not that it lacks in action or violence, but those elements are secondary to the plot rather than being primary plot points themselves. Cut those scenes and you've still got yourself a pretty fine movie, I think. That said, The Godfather - the second-greatest movie of all time- is perfect as it is and is definitely an offer you can't, and shouldn't refuse.
The Moral of the Story: No matter how hard we fight it, eventually we all become our parents.

01. Raiders of the Lost Ark - Some people probably expected something from the Star Wars trilogy to be number one, but no one should be surprised to find Harrison Ford in the starring role. Between 1977 and 1984, he built a legacy of greatness that no other actor can ever hope to match - Star Wars, Force 10 From Navarone, Apocalypse Now, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Blade Runner, Return of the Jedi, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - and his post-1984 career hasn't been so bad either (the other two Indiana Jones films, The Fugitive, his two roles as Jack Ryan in the Tom Clancy series). Good gravy. No wonder I middle-named my son after him! Boyhood hero worship aside, though, there is absolutely nothing bad that can be said about Raiders of the Lost Ark. Let's recap the plot's most awesome high points: "Throw me the idol, I throw you the whip"; the escape from the giant boulder in the temple; the jungle chase back to the seaplane; rescuing Marion (who, truth be told, probably didn't need a hell of a lot of extra help - talk about a kick-ass heroine!) in Nepal; ending up trapped in the Well of Souls ("Asps. Very dangerous. You go first."); the Nazi mechanic and the airplane propellor; the U-boat stowaway; the rocket launcher ("You want to talk to God? Let's go see him together. I've got nothing better to do."); the ceremonial opening of the Ark ... and I didn't even mention the fight with the swordsman in Cairo or the romance scene on the England-bound ship or the part where Indiana Jones is getting dragged behind the truck ("I don't know, I'm making this up as I go."). And let's not forget that this is the third-greatest theme music of all time (after only the Star Wars and James Bond series' main themes). But the true test of greatness is, I think, timelessness and Raiders of the Lost Ark has that in excess. After The Empire Strikes Back (#3), this is my second-most watched movie and it never gets any less thrilling. In fact, knowing what's coming next - and how totally freaking awesome it's going to be - actually seems to increase the anticipation and excitement after multiple viewings. Raiders of the Lost Ark is the first movie I ever showed Jett (during a late-night bottle feeding when he was about a month old), partly because I wanted to watch it and partly because I wanted to start him off right. And what better way to do that than with a "screening" of the number one greatest movie of all time?
The Moral of the Story: Never bring a sword to a gunfight.

There it is. The 50 Greatest Movies of All Time. Enjoy! [[justin]]