The Spectator's 50 Essential Films

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"...all kicks off tomorrow - only in the magazine." Which hits shelves on Saturday.

George Laird

Dear Peter

Stick the list up here and Iwill give you my assessment.

I am a bit of a film buff.

My collection runs to hundreds.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Tiberius

"Gran Torino" must be in any top 50.

THX1138

I hope THX1138 made the cut!

Walt

Well I just hope Mr Hoskin has a breadth of film history knowledge that stretches beyond, say, 1970, & somewhat further than movies from the west (any Kenji Mizoguchi titles in there perhaps?).

And please, NO Martin Scorsese movies especially Raging Bull. That flashy but unpleasant, unlikable, one note movie is so overrated it hurts.

martyn rowe

If The Usual Suspects isn't there I'm voting Plaid Cymru at the next election!-

Pete Hoskin

Walt: my favourite film decade is the 1930s. As for the final list - no Mizoguchi (although 'Sansho the Bailiff' and 'Ugetsu' almost made the cut).

I should stress that it's the Spectator's 50 Essential Films, not my own personal top 50 (which would have Mizoguchi in it!).

Pete Hoskin

Walt: incidentally, other favourites of mine which didn't make the cut include: 'Track of the Cat' (Wellman, 1954); 'The Old Dark House' (Whale, 1932); 'Canyon Passage' (Tourneur, 1946); 'The Leopard Man' (Tourneur, 1943); Midareru (Naruse, 1964); 'The Penalty' (Worseley, 1920); I Was Born, But...' (Ozu, 1932); 'Bigger Than Life' (Ray, 1956); and L'Argent (L'Herbier, 1928).

Hopefully, that should reassure you that my film knowledge stretches beyond 1970 and the West...

Thomas Cussans

Straight up, Pete, if your list doesn't include, for preference at no. 1, The Fallen Idol, there is every chance I may have to punch you on the nose. Very hard.

I mean it.

THX1138

Seriously what a great idea I love a good film list, can't wait to get stuck in tomorrow.

Walt-No Marty, Raging Bull "overated" are you nuts you need to see Goodfellas, Casino and Taxi Driver again and what about the King of Comedy. "NO" Marty "un f**king believable":)

For the record my favourite films have to be in somekind of order Dr Stangelove, Blade Runner (Directors cut), Godfather part 2 and Apocalypse Now- Oh gosh where do you make the cut!

Pete Hoskin

Thomas: in which case, I may have to go into hiding!

Have you seen 'Odd Man Out'? My favourite Carol Reed film...

Verity

Well, Pete, I note that you haven't listed anything with Esther Williams in it.

Pete Hoskin

Verity: As it happens, I waded (ho ho) through a pile of Esther Williams films a few weeks ago. There's a very good box set of her best stuff out in America. 'Dangerous When Wet' (the one with Tom and Jerry) is wonderful!

Matthew Blott

@ THX1138

THX1138 is an interesting film but you couldn't honestly say it's a great film - certainly not one of the 50 best ever.

2001 is my all time favourite - Kubrick at his masterful best.

Derek

John Ford's Seven Women (1966)

Paul

One of my favourites ever is "Whicker Man" (1970s). In terms of the theme of lost morality, and self-verification, it was prophetic.

Derek

John Ford's Seven Women (1966)

Jean Renoir's French Can-Can (1954)

Verity

Pete! - oh dear, irony dies on the vine ... but that was funny!

Well, I hope you have at least one of "Eyebrows" Joan Crawford. In her movies, you can see that she was bonkers, but compelling.

"Psycho" was a ground-breaker. This movie put the term into the language.

All the Busby Berkeley musicals should be considered as one ... they certainly changed the way Hollywood entertained the movie-goer.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Never was such perfection duplicated.

Doris Day and Rock Hudson? Everyone knew that Rock Hudson was gay ...

I hope a 'Carry On' film is included.

'The Third Man'? ... that big wheel scene is one of those movie moments....

'Casablanca' from which a few of our catch phrases, so many years later come? "It don't matter a hill of beans."

"We'll always have Paris".

I've never seen the movie, but apparently 'Shane' was iconic.

"Some Like It Hot" with that iconic last line?

It's not just the greatest box office, because so much of it has the life of a May fly, but what has wormed its way into our society and is part of our lives.

Surely a John Wayne movie?

I, like others here, await the results. I am sure they will be too precious for words. Any entry which contains the word 'edgy' will not be read by me.

Verity

Pete ... you do understand my question was a joke ... I would have been like, "Any Eddie Nelson movies?"

Kevyn Bodman

'Essential'?

It's interesting,entertaining and sometimes amusing to discuss films.

It's also important to use language properly.
Keep it in proportion.

Now, what are your criteria?
Story-line?
Script?
Photography?
Innovation?
Actors' performances?

Obscurity, foreignness and artistic self-awareness,perhaps?

Vulture

I hope - I am sure they have - that French, German and other non-English movies have squeezed in alongside the Anglosphere.

Personal faves include Chabrol's 'Le Boucher'; all of RW Fassbinder's Oeuvre and that
maverick genius Werner Herzog -
especially 'Aguirre-Wrath of God'. And for fun' Das Boot'.

Do hope too, that one or two Ealing comedies have made the cut: especially 'Kind Hearts & Coronets' (significantly Ted Heath's favourite film) and 'The Ladykillers'.

My candidage for greatest director of all time: Kubrick. UNlike most other greats he never made the same film twice:
Dr Strangelove the greatest.

Pete Hoskin

Kevyn Bodman: definitely the first set of criteria than the second.

Verity: Embarrassing! I was too tired to pick up on any irony, and now I've revealed my love for Esther Williams flicks (and Tom and Jerry)...

Johnathan Pearce

Animal House!

Matt

Since we're all writing lists:

Casablanca, Land and Freedom, Metropolis, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus (well, anything by Powell and Pressburger really), Carry on Up the Khyber for Verity, Lawrence of Arabia, if...., etc

And I'm only 28.

logdon

Perhaps this will resolve an argument I had with a friend as to which movie broke Jack Nicholson. Five Easy Pieces or Easy Rider?

Sir Graphus

I vote for Animal House, too.

I was the first of my family ever to go to university, and this was the only guidance I ever received on what to do and how to behave. Any student who tries to ape it completely is too stupid to pass a degree. I very nearly was.

Never been equalled in its genre.

Derek

A collection of Tom & Jerry films are hardly essential by most criteria, but I would say that it might make an apt gift from President Omaha to Our Dear Leader on the occasion of their next meeting. Kevyn Bodman: Beauty and truth are strong contenders.

Pete Hoskin

Derek: just to be clear, there are no Tom and Jerry films in the Spectator's essential 50! I was just referring to an Esther Williams film I watched recently...

Minnie Ovens

Peter Hoskin, you poor man!
Now every whacko, weirdo, sociopath and degenerate (in other words your usual readers, including myself) will have you on their hit list.
Are you going to include "Summer Holiday" and "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", "Peyton Place"?
Wait until the wrath hits after the publication. You ain't seen nothing yet.
Oh, "A Summer Place" as well???
Shucks.

wrinkled weasel

Dear Pete,

You have now gained deep respect for name-checking Jacques Tourneur. Of course, if "Night of the Demon" is not now included in the top fifty films, I will be very upset and will sulk for days.

Perhaps also, a war-effort film, such as "Mrs Miniver" or "In which we serve" ?

Pete Hoskin

wrinkled weasel: yes, Tourneur one of my very favourite directors. 'Night of the Demon' is genius, as too are 'Flame and the Arrow', 'Cat People', 'Out of the Past' and 'The Leopard Man'. One of these films is in the final 50...

Verity

Thanks, Pete. Irony has a tough time around here sometimes.

For a John Wayne film, I suggest Rio Bravo, which just about summed up the whole John Wayne/Western genre and is a fine, fine film.

I hope you've included the Marx Brothers' "A Night at The Opera", which set new boundaries for controlled derangement. (Margaret duMont deserves special mention for ... well, something. I don't think she ever understood that she was appearing in comedies.

THX1138

Matthew Blott I don't really think THX1138 is a top 50 film I was being facicous, it is underestimated though as is Solaris helps to be a bit stoned to sit through all 3hrs of Russian sub-titles and not much happening the Steven Soderbergh remake is for wimps Solaris lite.

Top film to watch when your stoned has to be Blade Runner with the majestic Vangelis score and the beautiful production design and nobody lights a film like Ridley Scot.

George Laird

Dear All

Seven Samurai, The Train, Maltese Falcon, The Searchers, Ong Bak, Casino Royale (Daniel Craig)

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rghts at Glasgow University

George Laird

Dear All

Hitman, Timothy Olyphant, 2007.

Xavier Gens is a fantastic shooter.

se1man

Oh dear, I'm probably far too simple and populist because I wouldn't pick anything in b&w or a foreign language.

I like to enjoy my popcorn with a bit of: Shawshank, Godfather II, Magnolia, The Departed, Alien, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, 28 Days Later, Goodfellas, Lord of the Rings (the third one), Donnie Darko, Fargo, Usual Suspects, Heat, Silence of Lambs, Sixth Sense, Jaws.

With apologies to the all the obscurists, purists & pseuds out there.

Ivan Groxnyi

I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned Sergei Eisenstein. An inspiration to many, including Alfred Hitchcock (the inventor of the jockstrap), he was a marvel in his time: Rapid montage effects using a trolly. A camera strapped to the waist of an acrobat. Russian history
and revolution brought to the screen with all the craft of a grand master, as acknowledged by film critics everywhere.

Wilhelm

Verity

Magaret DuMont was the straight man and she was brilliant at it.

Verity

Wilhelm, Groucho (or one of the other brothers - so probably not Harpo - or a director) said he was never sure that she realised she was acting in comedies. It wasn't my observation.

Obviously, I agree, that if she was aware, she was very good. And, with Groucho's crouched lope, how could she not know?

Wrinklybutnice

Don't forget that unforgettable Mickey Mouse where he plays Rachmaninov.

Wrinklybutnice

And we shouldn't ever forget "Local Hero", which contains that magic line : "I'd make a good Gordon, Gordon."

dancingbear

a bit harsh on those of us who live overseas...anyway I'd like to mention Gumshoe with Albert Finney, because it won't be there..
was Ms Ross consulted?

dancing bear

following from Wrinlyb. above, we really need a separate forum for terrible lines of dialogue, such as: "there are strange goings-on going on on this island" or "don't get too close 'til you see what you're up against"
forget the title but it had Sam Kidd in it..goodnight.

Rush-is-Right

The Killers (The earlier version with Burt Lancaster), The Shootist, Once Upon a time in the West, Two Way Stretch, Laughter in Paradise, Point Blank, The Producers (with Zero Mostel), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Vertigo, Hell Drivers, The Hill, Sleepers, The Manchurian Candidate, Ghostbusters, An American Carol....

Rush-is-Right

.... M. Hulot's Holiday, The Big Heat, It's a Wonderful Life, Aliens, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Cruel Sea, Public Enemy, Double Indemnity, The Best Years of Our Lives, Groundhog Day, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Naked Gun, Advise & Consent, The Music Box, The Railway Children, The Truman Show, The Spy that came in from the Cold, The Third Man, Where Eagles Dare, White Heat.....

Jez

Best film in the world and an outright essential;

Quadrophenia, 1979.

Leslie Ash. Yeah!

Verity

Rush Is Right, I don't think you quite grasped the point.

Pete - Dancing Bear had a great idea! Why don't you run a thread of posters' worst remembered lines of film dialogue? Just for something light ...

logdon

The tricks of memory.

Quite a while ago, as I was sitting in my then, new girlfriend's living room, surrounded her very conventional parents and culturally void siblings, the TV trail came on for the next programme.

I, in my idiotic and oh, so, eager desire to impress, commenced raving about what a great film it was, how Bunuel was a surreal genius and Deneuve the ultimate French actress. It had to be watched.

Having seen the film before, together with, shall we say more informed and open minded company and really enjoying it's tilting at acceptability and bourgeois morals I assumed that a bit of ‘culture’ would offer a few brownie points. I had quite honestly forgotten the, ahem, prurient bits.

The film was Belle de Jour and anyone who has watched the opening scenes will appreciate my writhing discomfort as a stunned silence descended. Eyes swivelled. Polite coughs, coughed. I sat in a trance of self inflicted torture.

Frantically considering the options of some kind of humorous get out, the nudging commenced.

Then dragged into the kitchen by a scowling and totally irate female, I was treated to a storm of invective which left me completely dumbstruck. I had no defence which did not demean her adulthood or taste in film and stood there in the kind of silent denial we have to adopt when the road of plausible explanation reaches it's end.

Needless to say the relationship also ended badly.

The moral of the tale? It takes all sorts and one person’s bestest film of all time is not necessarily the bestest film of all time. Whatever that is.

And as I found out the hard way!

Minnie Ovens

Local Hero
My Favourite Year
Magnolia
Stealing Beauty
Office Space

The first three are serious comtenders in the best 200 films.
The last two are just personal favourites of mine for unstated reasons.

Minnie Ovens

Ooh! The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
From Matt.
I'm suddenly having that odd feeling of remembering all that we have lost over the past years.
Colonel Blimp, that honourable and decent man who epitomized everything that was good about being Britiah when I was growing up (1950's).
In the current circumstances it becomes a very keen sense of loss.