A regular reader was stimulated by my recent list
of favorite movies to reflect on her own picks:
I think you’re absolutely right about top 5 vs. top 50 film lists. It’s
a funny thing. Over the years I’ve compiled many a top 10 film list, and
over the years the list has changed many times over. “Rules of the Game” is
certainly one of the greatest movies ever made, and has been on my top 10
list a lot. There are many films that I need to see again to decide whether
they still warrant a spot on the list or even a spot on the top 50. There is
only one film; however, that has been on every top 10 list I have ever made.
It has never, ever been number 1, but it has always been somewhere on the
list. I have seen the film countless times over the years, and I saw it
again a couple of summers ago at the Film Forum, and it stays on the list.
The film is “The Seven Samurai.” I love that movie. It is not the greatest
movie ever made, but it is always, always, always on my top 10 list. I love
that movie every time I see it.
“Chinatown” often makes the list. “The Searchers” has been on the list.
“Vertigo” – as much as I love it – nah! “North by Northwest” – yes. “The
General” is one of the greatest films ever made. I only remember to include
it after I’ve seen it, but every time I see it, I rewrite my list! “His Girl
Friday” is nearly perfect. It used to make the list a lot. I’m not so sure
any more about “Citizen Kane.” It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen
it. It was on the list for years, but I’m not so sure any more. Like I said,
there are a lot of films that I haven’t seen in 20 years. I don’t know what
I’d think of them now.
I watched “Singing in the Rain” at my parents
recently and decided it belonged on the list. I don’t think I ever thought
to put it there before. In college “Dr. Strangelove” or “A Clockwork Orange”
always made the list, as did “The Seventh Seal” and “Persona.” What would I
think of “Persona” now? I suspect it wouldn’t get anywhere near the list,
but “Fanny and Alexander” might. During acting school, at least one of the
following always made the list: “The Awful Truth,” “My Favorite Wife,” “The
Philadelphia Story,” and the aforementioned “His Girl Friday.” I remember
puting Coppola’s “The Conversation” on the list, but I haven’t seen that
film in almost 30 years. Is it as great as I remember it? I loved “8-1/2”
and “La Dolce Vita,” but would I put any film by Fellini on my list now? I
wonder. Same goes for Antonioni.
I probably can’t put “The Shawshank
Redemption” on a list of top 10 greatest films ever made, but it’s one of my
favorites. I love Martin Scorcese as a filmmaker, but which of his movies
would make my top 10 now – “Taxi Driver”? “Goodfellows”? At one time, I put
“New York, New York” on the list. I wonder if I’d still put it there. And
then there’s David Lean. “Lawrence of Arabia” is an awesome movie. It’s been
on my list from time to time. But the sentimental favorite is “Bridge on the
River Kwai.” “Les Enfants du Paradis” is a great film, but it’s never made
my top 10. “Jules and Jim” used to make the list a lot. I love French film,
in general, but how many French movies actually warrant top 10 placement?
I think Robert Altman is a great, great filmmaker. “Nashville” was almost
always on the list, but does it hold up? “Three Women” certainly doesn’t. I
saw that one again recently – boy did it suck! But I saw “M.A.S.H.”
recently, too, and thought it was hysterical. What about “Ugetsu” by
Mitzoguchi? I love that movie. Do you know it? And something by Satyajit Ray
should go on the list, but what? Does “Some Like it Hot” or “The Apartment”
warrant mention? What about a little known Barbara Stanwyk/Fred MacMurray
feature called “Remember the Night”? “Point Blank” is a great movie. John
Boorman is a terrific filmmaker. Someone could convince me that
“Deliverance” belongs on a top 50 list. And these are just the movies that
popped into my head this evening. I’ve probably forgotten at least 50 of my
favorites. Aren’t movies amazing?!
They sure are, and the nice thing about this e-mail is the way in which it points out the dynamic quality of taste. Clement Greenberg once observed that all canons of excellence are provisional. That goes double–maybe triple–for lists of personal favorites of art, be they movies or paintings or symphonies or jazz albums.
Which reminds me that I also got an e-mail from somebody else who didn’t much care for the first sentence of my original post, “My recent Wall Street Journal piece about Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game, which I declared to be the greatest movie ever made, has drawn quite a bit of reader mail.” This person said it was “one of the most arrogant” statements he’d ever read. I replied, briefly and perhaps the least little bit testily, “Goodness! Maybe you should get out more.” If I may unpack that retort a bit further, I don’t see that there’s anything remotely arrogant about what I wrote–save to those egalitarians who think it immoral to make value judgments about art. To them I say: this blog is soooo not for you.