The Schleicher Spin

Earlier in the lifespan of this blog I attempted to create a list of the greatest films of all time.  In hindsight, I realize the foolishness of trying to make such a list as there is no way it could ever be comprehensive.  It would be constantly changing as older classics are uncovered, new classics are made, personal tastes change and evolve and past favorites are reexamined.  Later, inspired by on the ongoing polling at Wonders in the Dark where readers are encouraged to vote for their top 25 films from each decade, I decided to compile my own personal lists here.  My favorite films prior to the 1970’s are listed in chronological order (with what I consider to be the best film from each decade in bold), while anything from 1970 onward is ranked by decade in groups of 25 with honorable mentions listed where applicable. 

*Note to Readers:  This list is meant to exist as ever-changing and expanding.  I use the term “favorite” to indicate not only films that I love based on personal taste or sentiment, but also important films throughout history that I think are must-sees for any film buff.

Pre-1970

• Nosferatu (1922, F.W. Murnau)
• Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang)
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
• Frankenstein (1931, James Whale)
• M (1931, Fritz Lang)
• Vampyr (1932, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
• Freaks (1932, Tod Browning)
• King Kong (1933, Meriam C. Cooper)
• The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933, Fritz Lang)
• Fury (1936, Fritz Lang)
• Sabotage (1936, Alfred Hitchcock)
• The Lady Vanishes (1938, Alfred Hitchcock)
• Gone With the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming et al.)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford)
• Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles)
• Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)
• Shadow of a Doubt (1943, Alfred Hitchcock)
• Day of Wrath (1943, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
• Le Corbeau (1943, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
• Double Indemnity (1944, Billy Wilder)
• Ministry of Fear (1944, Fritz Lang)
• Quai des Orfevres (1947, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
• Bicycle Thieves (1948, Vittorio Di Sica)
• Oliver Twist (1948, David Lean)
• The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed)
• Sunset Blvd (1950, Billy Wilder)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951, Elia Kazan)
• The River (1951, Jean Renoir)
• Forbidden Games (1952, Rene Clement)
• Wages of Fear (1953, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
• The Big Heat (1953, Fritz Lang)
• Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)
• Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton)
• Les Diaboliques (1955, Henri-Georges Clouzot)
• Night and Fog (1955, Alain Resnais)
• Ordet (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer)
• Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
• Twelve Angry Men (1957, Sidney Lumet)
• The Seventh Seal (1957, Ingmar Bergman)
• Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)
• Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles)
• The 400 Blows (1958, Francois Truffaut)
• North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959, Otto Preminger)
• The Innocents (1961, Jack Clayton)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Robert Mulligan)
• The Pawnbroker (1964, Sidney Lumet)
• Dr. Strangelove (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
• Persona (1966, Ingmar Bergman)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick)
• The Hour of the Wolf (1968, Ingmar Bergman)

1970’s

1. Network (1976, Sidney Lumet)
2. Barry Lyndon (1975, Stanley Kubrick)
3. Manhattan (1979, Woody Allen)
4. Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese)
5. Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanski)
6. Five Easy Pieces (1970, Bob Rafelson)
7. Days of Heaven (1978, Terrence Malick)
8. Nosferatu (1979, Werner Herzog)
9. Three Women (1977, Robert Altman)
10. The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978, Ermanno Olmni)
11. One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975, Milos Foreman)
12. Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet)
13. Badlands (1973, Terrence Malick)
14. Annie Hall (1977, Woody Allen)
15. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, Steven Spielberg)
16. Paper Moon (1973, Peter Bogdanovich)
17. Eraserhead (1976, David Lynch)
18. Macbeth (1971, Roman Polanski)
19. A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick)
20. Edvard Munch (1974, Peter Watkins)
21. Alien (1979, Ridley Scott)
22. The Conformist (1970, Bernardo Bertolucci)
23. Cries and Whispers (1972, Ingmar Bergman)
24. The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Copolla)
25. The Godfather Part Two (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)

Honorable Mentions from the 1970’s:

• Harold and Maude (1971, Hal Ashby)
• The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin)
• American Graffiti (1973, George Lucas)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1974, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper)
• Young Frankenstein (1974, Mel Brooks)
• Halloween (1978, John Carpenter)
• Interiors (1978, Woody Allen)
• Kramer vs. Kramer (1979, Robert Benton)
• Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979, Terry Jones)
• Being There (1979, Hal Ashby)

1980’s 

1. Paris, Texas (1984, Wim Wenders)
2. The Elephant Man (1980, David Lynch)
3. Blood Simple (1984, The Coen Brothers)
4. Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese)
5. The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick)
6. Hope and Glory (1987, John Boorman)
7. Atlantic City (1981, Louise Malle)
8. Fanny & Alexander (1982, Ingmar Bergman)
9. Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch)
10. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, Woody Allen)
11. Salaam Bombay! (1988, Mira Nair)
12. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987, Louise Malle)
13. Gandhi (1982, Richard Attenborough)
14. Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick)
15. The Verdict (1982, Sidney Lumet)
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)
17. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989, Terry Gilliam)
18. Glory (1989, Edward Zwick)
19. Field of Dreams (1989, Phil Alden Robinson)
20. Ordinary People (1980, Robert Redford)
21. Raising Arizona (1987, The Coen Brothers)
22. My Left Foot (1989, Jim Sheridan)
23. Heathers (1989, Michael Lehmann)
24. The Killing Fields (1984, Roland Joffe)
25. River’s Edge (1986, Tim Hunter)

Honorable Mentions from the 1980’s:

• Airplane! (1980, Jim Abrams and David Zucker)
• Poltergeist (1982, Tobe Hooper)
• Testament (1983, Lynne Littman)
• Without a Trace (1983, Stanley R. Jaffe)
• Zelig (1983, Woody Allen)
• The Natural (1984, Barry Levinson)
• Places in the Heart (1984, Robert Benton)
• Come and See (1985, Elem Klimov)
• Fright Night (1985, Tom Holland)
• My Life as a Dog (1985, Lasse Hallstrom)
• Out of Africa (1985, Sydney Pollack)
• The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985, Woody Allen)
• The Accidental Tourist (1988, Lawrence Kasdan)
• Lair of the White Worm (1988, Ken Russell)
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989, Woody Allen)
• Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee)

1990’s 

1. The Sweet Hereafter (1997, Atom Egoyan)
2. Europa/Zentropa (1990, Lars Von Trier)
3. Goodfellas (1990, Martin Scorsese)
4. Fargo (1996, The Coen Brothers)
5. Secrets and Lies (1996, Mike Leigh)
6. Breaking the Waves (1996, Lars Von Trier)
7. The English Patient (1996, Anthony Minghella)
8. Short Cuts (1993, Robert Altman)
9. Kundun (1997, Martin Scorsese)
10. Schindler’s List (1993, Steven Spielberg)
11. Braveheart (1995, Mel Gibson)
12. Boogie Nights (1997, Paul Thomas Anderson)
13. The Thief (1997, Pavel Chukhraj)
14. King of the Hill (1993, Steven Soderbergh)
15. Toto the Hero (1991, Jaco Van Dormael)
16. American Beauty (1999, Sam Mendes)
17. Miller’s Crossing (1990, The Coen Brothers)
18. The Truman Show (1998, Peter Weir)
19. Twelve Monkeys (1995, Terry Gilliam)
20. Being John Malkovich (1999, Spike Jonze)
21. Ravenous (1999, Antonia Bird)
22. Eve’s Bayou (1997, Kasi Lemmons)
23. Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)
24. The End of the Affair (1999, Neil Jordan)
25. Exotica (1994, Atom Egoyan)

Honorable Mentions from the 1990’s:

• Wild at Heart (1990, David Lynch)
• Barton Fink (1991, The Coen Brothers)
• The Last of the Mohicans (1992, Michael Mann)
• Twin Peaks:  Fire Walk With Me (1992, David Lynch)
• Groundhog Day (1993, Harold Ramis)
• The Piano (1993, Jane Campion)
• Heavenly Creatures (1994, Peter Jackson)
• Casino (1995, Martin Scorsese)
• The City of Lost Children (1995, Caro & Jeunet)
• Heat (1995, Michael Mann)
• LA Confidential (1997, Curtis Hanson)
• Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998, Steven Spielberg)
• Fight Club (1999, David Fincher)
• The Limey (1999, Steven Soderbergh)
• Office Space (1999, Mike Judge)
• The Straight Story (1999, David Lynch)

2000’s  TO BE ANNOUNCED

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