All-time top 100 movies named
2005-05-23 11:00
New York - A list of the greatest films of all time without North by Northwest? No Annie Hall, Bicycle Thief or Apocalypse Now?
Take a deep breath and relax. This is supposed to be fun.
The movie critics for Time magazine, Richard Schickel and Richard Corliss, have compiled an unranked list of the 100 greatest films. It was posted on Sunday on www.time.com.
Included are traditionally acclaimed flicks like Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca and Citizen Kane, as well as more atypical choices like Finding Nemo, Star Wars and the 2002 Brazilian gang story, City of God.
Disagree? Schickel says that's the idea.
"100 lists are fun to discuss, fun to argue over," Schickel said.
"I don't think anybody should say, 'That's it, that's the final 100! No disputing this for the rest of eternity!' You know, stuff changes. Life changes. You change."
That perspective is even more difficult for contemporary movies, says the critic who has also produced many documentaries and led the acclaimed reconstruction of Samuel Fuller's 1980 war picture, The Big Red One. Recent films on the list include Pedro Almodovar's Talk to Her, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and, of course, Pulp Fiction.
Some regret acknowledged
Schickel acknowledges some regret for a few older reviews of his - like not trumpeting Bonnie and Clyde more or failing to immediately recognise Chinatown as "close to a perfect movie".
All the original reviews from Time will be linked on the subscription website - but perusing old write-ups can be a cringing experience for a critic.
Though it was before Schickel's time, the original 1942 review of Casablanca, for example, read, "Nothing short of an invasion could add much to Casablanca.
"If you're involved with movies, they are a living organism in your memory," Schickel says. "It's like some creature in a sci-fi movie that keeps shape-shifting".
The most popular director turned out to be Martin Scorsese, who has three films on the list. Scorsese's frequent actor of choice, Robert De Niro, leads actors with five.
Since Schickel and Corliss also have divergent tastes, much of the finalised list is one of compromise.
"Most 100 lists are the product of a single sensibility and this is a compromised list because his sensibility and mine, I think, agreed between 40 percent and 50 percent of the time ... and then it gets to a wrangle."
On the net: www.time.com
- AP