A PERSONAL LIST OF MY 100 GREATEST FILMS

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I created this list for a group I use to meet with to discuss movies. Since I went to all the trouble to create it, I thought I would share it.

First, some explanations and qualifications.

It is a personal record. It’s not an objective list of the movies that are generally considered to be the greatest, but the films that I feel are the greatest.

I have, at times, cheated (yes, it’s true) and combined some movies together, such as Godfather I and II.

I begin with listing my favorite film followed by my next two favorites (I did this because it was part of the requirements of the group).

After the top three films, I listed my next seven in alphabetical order.

And then the final 90, listed also in alphabetical order.

At the very end, I decided to include a number of titles that were released theatrically, or have been shown theatrically, but were really made for television, and therefore didn’t exactly qualify for this list.

TOP THREE FILMS

2001: A Space Odyssey

Vertigo

Maltese Falcon, The

THE NEXT SEVEN

Magnificent Ambersons, The

Rules of the Game, The

Seven Samurai, The

Seventh Seal, The

Shadow of a Doubt

Singing in the Rain

Strangers on a Train

THE FINAL NINETY

400 Blows, The

Airplane

All About Eve

Amarcord

Annie Hall

Ashes and Diamonds

Awful Truth, The

Big Sleep, The

Bitter Tears of Petra Van Kant, The

Breathless

Bringing Up Baby

Cabaret

Cache

Casablanca

Cat People

Children of Paradise

Chinatown

Citizen Kane

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Code Unknown

Contempt

Crowd, The

Day for Night

Diary of a Country Priest, The

Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The

Double Life of Veronique, The

Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Duck Soup

Fargo

Fox and His Friends

General, The

Godfather, Parts I and II, The

Gold Rush, The

GoodFellas

Gospel According to St. Matthew, The

Great Dictator, The

Hail, The Conquering Hero

Hara Kiri

Hard Day’s Night, A

High and Low

High Noon

Human Condition, Parts I, II and III, The

I Walked With a Zombie

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978)

It Happened One Night

John Ford’s Calvary Trilogy (She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache, Rio Grande)

L’avventura

La ceremonie

La dolce vita

La jetee

La ronde

Lady Eve, The

Last Year at Marienbad

Leopard, The

Les diaboleques

Lolita

Lord of the Rings, The

Love and Death

M

Metropolis

Murmur of the Heart

Once Upon a Time in the West

Palm Beach Story, The

Passion of Joan of Arc, The

Persona

Pickpocket

Potemkin

Psycho

Pulp Fiction

Raging Bull

Rashomon

Rebel Without a Cause

Rome: Open City

Smiles of a Summer Night

Solaris

Stagecoach

Talk to Her

The Lady Vanishes, The

Third Man, The

Three Colors: Blue, White, Red

To Be or Not to Be

To Have and to Have Not

Tokyo Story

Top Hat

Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The

Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The

Wages of Fear, The

Wild Bunch, The

Wizard of Oz, The

The following is a list of made for TV series and movies made by major filmmakers

Fanny and Alexander

World on a Wire

Scenes from a Marriage

The Decalogue

Berlin Alexanderplatz

The Best of Youth

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