Household Names
Auteurs fared well, as they are wont to do. Almost all of Hitchcock's films received votes, including "North by Northwest," "The Birds," "Rope," "Notorious," and "Rear Window." Next to "Vertigo" there was "Psycho," missing the Directors' List by only three votes and scoring six votes on the Critics' List. Plenty of Bergman films appeared, with "Fanny and Alexander" and "The Seventh Seal" scoring well, while Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" took six votes in both categories.
My favorite Kurosawa film, "Ikiru," in which nary a katana can be found, got a respectable four votes by the critics, and his Shakespeare adaptation "Ran" took five for the directors. Along with "2001" and "Dr. Strangelove," every single Kubrick film from "Paths of Glory" and "Spartacus" to "Full Metal Jacket" and "Eyes Wide Shut" pulled in at least one vote. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the gorgeous "Barry Lyndon" was the third most-beloved Kubrick film, winning the votes of seven critics, while "A Clockwork Orange" was voted for by four directors.
Better Luck Next Decade
Other top contenders to earn six or more votes included "Children of Paradise," "Grand Illusion," "Le Mepris," "Chinatown," "Metropolis," "M," "Modern Times," "The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums," and, yes, that movie from French class about the boy stealing the typewriters, "The 400 Blows." "Apocalypse Now" received twelve votes, while the enormously popular "Casablanca" was given that honor by eleven critics and directors. Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" missed the Directors' List by a mere two votes, while Welles' decadent noir "Touch of Evil" made noises kind of like a dog and totaled seventeen votes from the two polls. "Gone With the Wind?" Apparently the burning of Atlanta is only worth five votes, while the accidental deaths of two Wicked Witches garnered nine.
And so on...
Many films received only a vote or two, some deservedly, some inexplicably. Among them are "Wings of Desire," "Badlands," "Days of Heaven," "Deliverance," "Star Wars," "The Graduate," "If..." "The Maltese Falcon," "High Noon," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and "Hidden Fortress." Slightly more perplexing votes, appearing courtesy of troublemakers like Quentin Tarantino and John Waters, include "Coffy," "The Matrix," and "The Terminator." A French critic voted for David Lynch's "Lost Highway," which apparently has some really phenomenal subtitles, while critic Slavoj Zizeko put in a vote for "Dune." That's right. Slavoj Zizeko.
"The Matrix?" Since when was Comic Book Store Guy from "The Simpsons" given a vote?
Where did they go?
Of the numerous films that have appeared and disappeared from the "Sight & Sound" polls, only three films seemed to have disappeared without a trace, that is, vanished from the lists and are no longer receiving any votes at all: "La Terra Trema," "Louisiana Story," and "Le Million" all appeared on the original 1952 list but are now nowhere to be seen. For some reason that's really depressing.
What about "Citizen Kane," the blue-ribbon film on both lists? Forty-six critics and forty-two directors. And, no, "Die Hard With a Vengeance" didn't get any votes. Oh how I weep.
And what if I had been asked to vote in such a prestigous event? After fumbling out "Citizen Kane," "2001," "The Godfather," "The Godfather Part II," "The Third Man," "Apocalypse Now," "Dr. Strangelove," the "Star Wars" trilogy, "Raging Bull," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "Lawrence of Arabia," "The Wild Bunch," "Vertigo," and maybe "Deliverance," or "The Thin Red Line," or "A Clockwork Orange" or "The Graduate" or "The Wizard of Oz" or "Pulp Fiction" or "Ikiru" or "Barry Lyndon," or maybe "Alien" and "Aliens," maybe I could try to justify a "Star Trek" movie or two, and could I make a good argument for "Heat" or "Fargo?"--I think after that I would give up and, in the words of my father, just criticize the lists made by others.
For more information read “2002 Sight & Sound Top Ten Lists”
Or visit the official website at
www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/index.html
I think there's a law requiring this picture to be on every site involving the movies.