No doubt some of these selections, or at least their rankings, will make no sense to some people. And that’s OK. It’s a big world.
10. Superman II, director: Richard Lester
9. The Blues Brothers, director: John Landis
8. The Elephant Man, director: David Lynch
7. Used Cars, director: Robert Zemeckis
6. The Changeling, director: Peter Medak
5. Ordinary People, director: Robert Redford
4. The Empire Strikes Back, director: Irvin Kershner
3. Dressed to Kill, director: Brian De Palma
2. Raging Bull, director: Martin Scorsese
1. The Shining, director: Stanley Kubrick
Stephen King understandably despised Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining, considering it bore only passing resemblance to the author’s very fine haunted-hotel novel. And, yes, Jack Nicholson is over the top as Jack Torrance, the alcoholic and abusive father who inexplicably thinks a snowbound winter in an empty hotel will help fix him. But as Roger Ebert observed, “The movie is not about ghosts but about madness and the energies it sets loose in an isolated situation primed to magnify them.” Kubrick’s sole foray into horror is a masterpiece of style, from its ominous opening aerials of Jack’s drive through the Rockies to the Overlook Hotel, to those mesmerizing Steadycam shots of young Danny Torrance Big-Wheeling through the Overlook’s maze of hallways. The picture’s unwavering creepiness will not easily fade from memory. “Play with us, Danny.” Indeed.
1981:
10. S.O.B., director: Blake Edwards
9. The Evil Dead, director: Sam Raimi
8. Atlantic City, director: Louis Malle
7. Thief, director: Michael Mann
6. The Howling, director: Joe Dante
5. Prince of the City, director: Sidney Lumet
4. The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2), director: George Miller
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark, director: Steven Spielberg
2. My Dinner with Andre, director: Louis Malle
1. Blow Out, director: Brian De Palma
Probably my favorite from Brian De Palma, and I love De Palma. Blow Out is a riveting thriller inspired by Blow-Up, The Conversation, 1970s political paranoia flicks, and the Chappaquiddick scandal. John Travolta is affecting as a movie sound effects specialist caught up in a shadowy conspiracy, with John Lithgow memorable as the bad guy. Although it failed to connect with audiences at the time, Pauline Kael got it, contending this was the picture in which De Palma showed his complete mastery of technique: “You don’t see set pieces in Blow Out — it flows, and everything that happens seems to go right to your head,” she wrote in The New Yorker. “It’s hallucinatory, and it has a dreamlike clarity and inevitability, but you’ll never make the mistake of thinking that it’s only a dream.” This being De Palma, Blow Out also works as a winking treatise on filmmaking itself.
1982:
10. Pink Floyd: The Wall, director: Alan Parker
9. Sophie’s Choice, director: Alan J. Pakula
8. Tootsie, director: Sydney Pollack
7. The Thing, director: John Carpenter
6. Franny and Alexander, director: Ingmar Bergman
5. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, director: Steven Spielberg
4. The Verdict, director: Sidney Lumet
3. Diner, director: Barry Levinson
2. Blade Runner, director: Ridley Scott
1. Fast Times at Ridgemont High, director: Amy Heckerling
Screenwriter Cameron Crowe went back to high school to research his book on teen life and, to be sure, Fast Times at Ridgemont High nails a specific generation at a specific point in time. Sean Penn gave a breakout performance as affable stoner Jeff Spicoli — his scenes with Ray Walston as no-nonsense teacher Mr. Hand are a hoot — but the movie’s considerable heart comes via Jennifer Jason Leigh as a 16-year-old girl intent on losing her virginity. Amy Heckerling deftly handles the tonal shifts between comedy and drama; she makes it look easy. Any fans of early ‘80s New Wave will appreciate the needle drops, too. At any rate, The Cars’ “Moving in Stereo” will always hold a special place in my, umm, heart.
1983:
10. Silkwood, director: Mike Nichols
9. Local Hero, director: Bill Forsyth
8. El Norte, director: Gregory Nava
7. The Meaning of Life, director: Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones
6. Trading Places, director: John Landis
5. The Big Chill, director: Lawrence Kasdan
4. Terms of Endearment, director: James L. Brooks
3. Scarface, director: Brian De Palma
2. The King of Comedy, director: Martin Scorsese
1. The Right Stuff, director: Philip Kaufman
Philip Kaufman’s adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s 1979 “new journalism” classic about the Project Mercury space program is ambitious, sprawling ( it clocks in at more than 190 minutes), and tremendously entertaining. A box-office flop upon its theatrical release, The Right Stuff has only grown in stature over the years; its shaggy blend of adventure, heroism, nostalgia, and satire sparked a quasi-genre that Quentin Tarantino would dub the “hip epic.” The ensemble cast is first-rate. While Sam Shepard is particularly terrific as taciturn ace pilot Chuck Yeager, who broke the sound barrier, Kaufman also scores great performances from the likes of Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, and Ed Harris as a beguilingly gee-whiz John Glenn.
1984:
10. Blood Simple, director: Joel Coen
9. Ghostbusters, director: Ivan Reitman
8. A Passage to India, director: David Lean
7. The Times of Harvey Milk, director: Rob Epstein
6. Places in the Heart, director: Robert Benton
5. Body Double, director: Brian De Palma
4. This Is Spinal Tap, director: Rob Reiner
3. The Terminator, director: James Cameron
2. Amadeus, director: Miloš Forman
1. Repo Man, director: Alex Cox
“Life of a repo man’s always intense!” roars Harry Dean Stanton’s in this wonderfully weird punk-centric sci-fi comedy — and writer-director Alex Cox proves that intensity. Repo Man is a warped blast, a low-budget revelation starring Emilio Estevez as a punker-turned-repossessor of cars. Somehow, the overstuffed plot includes space aliens, a Scientology knockoff, and a Chevy Malibu smuggling what might be plutonium. The picture is endlessly quotable (“Look at those assholes over there: Ordinary fucking people — I hate ’em”), particularly when you have character-actor champs like Stanton, Tracey Walter and Sy Richardson handling the dialogue. Repo Man also boasts one of the all-time great soundtracks (provided L.A. punk is your jam).
1985:
10. My Life as a Dog, Lasse Hallström
9. Lost in America, director: Albert Brooks
8. After Hours, director: Martin Scorsese
7. Re-Animator, director: Stuart Gordon
6. To Live and Die in L.A., director: William Friedkin
5. Brazil, director: Terry Gilliam
4. The Purple Rose of Cairo, director: Woody Allen
3. Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, director: Tim Burton
2. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, director: Paul Schrader
1. Back to the Future, director: Robert Zemeckis
Thanks to an ingenious script courtesy Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, Back to the Future demonstrated that big-budget entertainment can be slyly subversive, too (Oedipal complex, anyone?). The concept began with Gale musing upon whether he would have been friends with his dad in high school. From that kernel of an idea came a witty, tightly focused screenplay. Michael J. Fox, who came on board after a portion of the film had already been shot with Eric Stoltz in the lead, is charming as time-traveling Marty McFly. A gifted ensemble cast does plenty of heavy lifting, from Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown to Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson as Marty’s parents-to-be. Zemeckis went back to the well for two lesser (but not bad) sequels.
1986:
10. At Close Range, director: James Foley
9. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, director: James McNaughton
8. Stand by Me, director: Rob Reiner
7. Sid & Nancy, director: Alex Cox
6. Something Wild, director: Jonathan Demme
5. The Fly, director: David Cronenberg
4. Aliens, director: James Cameron
3. Platoon, director: Oliver Stone
2. Blue Velvet, director: David Lynch
1. Hannah and Her Sisters, director: Woody Allen
Woody Allen’s last great comedy is imbued in a warmth, wistfulness and love for humanity so appealing that it almost makes one forget the skin-crawling offscreen drama that later ensnared the filmmaker. Hannah and Her Sisters, gushed The New York Times‘ Vincent Candy, “is virtually nonstop exhilaration — a dramatic comedy not quite like any other, and one that sets new standards for Mr. Allen as well as for all American moviemakers.” The cast is uniformly fine, but Michael Caine, Dianne Wiest and Maureen O’Sullivan (mother of Mia Farrow, who plays the titular Hannah) are particular standouts. Does Hannah and Her Sisters qualify as a rom-com? If so, then it’s my favorite of the genre.
1987:
10. Empire of the Sun, director: Steven Spielberg
9. Hope and Glory, director: John Boorman
8. The Princess Bride, director: Rob Reiner
7. Evil Dead II, director: Sam Raimi
6. RoboCop, director: Paul Verhoeven
5. Full Metal Jacket, director: Stanley Kubrick
4. Broadcast News, director: James L. Brooks
3. Wings of Desire, director: Wim Wenders
2. Au Revoir les Enfants, director: Louis Malle
1. Raising Arizona, director: Joel Coen
Arguably one of the all-time best American comedies, Raising Arizona packed enough mad-hatter verve to rightly secure the status of Joel and Ethan Coen after their impressive debut with Blood Simple. The movie is essentially a live-action cartoon, albeit one with heart, stuffed with broad comic performances and intricately choreographed comic set pieces. Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter have terrific chemistry as the childless couple out to steal a baby (“I need a baby, Hi! They got more ‘n they can handle!”), but the Coens are just as meticulous casting even the most minor parts. In The Coen Brothers, Adam Nayman writes that the movie is also among the filmmakers’ most likable. “Raising Arizona’s world is more forgiving and spacious, with a greater freedom of movement for its characters and (cinematographer) Barry Sonnenfeld’s camera.”
1988:
10. Another Woman, director: Woody Allen
9. Heathers, director: Michael Lehman
8. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, director: Robert Zemeckis
7. Dead Ringers, director: David Cronenberg
6. The Thin Blue Line, director: Errol Morris
5. Midnight Run, director: Martin Brest
4. Grave of the Fireflies, director: Isao Takahata
3. Eight Men Out, director: John Sayles
2. Beetlejuice, director: Tim Burton
1. My Neighbor Totoro, director: Hayao Miyazaki
A gentle fable about two young sisters and their magical adventures at a new rural home, My Neighbor Totoro is pure enchantment. How could it be otherwise? After all, Hayao Miyazaki’s world is populated by cat buses and benign, furry creatures. As Roger Ebert put it, “Here is a children’s film made for the world we should live in, rather than the one we occupy.” Japanese audiences certainly thought so; the animated movie was a box-office smash and made Studio Ghibli an international powerhouse. If a motion picture can be a tonic for the soul, it is My Neighbor Totoro. It’s my comfort film.
1989:
10. Field of Dreams, director: Phil Alden Robinson
9. Glory, director: Edward Zwick
8. Casualties of War, director: Brian De Palma
7. Batman, director: Tim Burton
6. Mystery Train, director: Jim Jarmusch
5. The Killer, director: John Woo
4. When Harry Met Sally, director: Rob Reiner
3. Drugstore Cowboy, director: Gus Van Sant
2. Crimes and Misdemeanors, director: Woody Allen
1. Do the Right Thing, director: Spike Lee
From its opening credits, in which Rosie Perez dances frenetically to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” Do the Right Thing is electrifying, and it signals a tectonic shift in how mainstream film would address Black culture, race relations, and social injustice. Spike Lee is unabashedly political, but his third film is not a polemic. Lee’s visual style is bombastic; the large cast is fantastic, especially Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn and John Turturro. Do the Right Thing is complicated, challenging and — tragically — has yet to feel the slightest bit dated, even after more than 30 year. As Richard Brody wrote in The New Yorker, the picture “is, regrettably, not a work of history but a film set, in many ways, in the present tense.”
Cutting to the Chase with Phil Bacharach 