Image by Sound Opinions, via Flickr Commons
Roger Ebert seems to have resented star ratings, which he had to dish out atop each and every one of his hundreds upon hundreds of regular newspaper movie reviews. He also emphasized, every once in a while, his disdain for the “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” system that became his and Gene Siskel’s television trademark. And he could hardly ever abide that run-of-the-mill critic’s standby, the top-ten list. Filmgoers who never paid attention to Ebert’s career will likely, at this point, insist that the man never really liked anything, but those of us who read him for years, even decades, know the true depth and scope of his love for movies, a passion he even expressed, regularly, in list form. He did so for, as he put it, “the one single list of interest to me. Every 10 years, the ancient and venerable British film magazine, Sight & Sound, polls the world’s directors, movie critics, and assorted producers, cinematheque operators and festival directors, etc., to determine the Greatest Films of All Time.”
“Why do I value this poll more than others?” Ebert asks. “It has sentimental value. The first time I saw it in the magazine, I was much impressed by the names of the voters, and felt a thrill to think that I might someday be invited to join their numbers. I was teaching a film course in the University of Chicago’s Fine Arts Program, and taught classes of the top ten films in 1972, 1982 and 1992.” His dream came true, and when he wrote this reflection on sending in his list every decade, he did so a year nearly to the day before his death in 2013, making his entry in the 2012 Sight & Sound poll a kind of last top-ten testament:
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
- Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972)
- Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
- Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
- La dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
- The General (Buster Keaton, 1926) — free online
- Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
- Tokyo Story (Yasujirô Ozu, 1953)
- The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2010)
- Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
Deciding that he must vote for “one new film” he hadn’t included on his 2002 list, Ebert narrowed it down to two candidates: The Tree of Life and Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York. “Like the Herzog, the Kubrick and the Coppola, they are films of almost foolhardy ambition. Like many of the films on my list, they were directed by the artist who wrote them. Like several of them, they attempt no less than to tell the story of an entire life. [ … ] I could have chosen either film — I chose The Tree of Life because it’s more affirmative and hopeful. I realise that isn’t a defensible reason for choosing one film over the other, but it is my reason, and making this list is essentially impossible, anyway.” That didn’t stop his cinephilia from prevailing — not that much ever could.
Related Content:
Roger Ebert Talks Movingly About Losing and Re-Finding His Voice (TED 2011)
The Two Roger Eberts: Emphatic Critic on TV; Incisive Reviewer in Print
Roger Ebert Lists the 10 Essential Characteristics of Noir Films
1,150 Free Movies Online: Great Classics, Indies, Noir, Westerns, etc.Colin Marshall hosts and produces Notebook on Cities and Culture and writes essays on cities, language, Asia, and men’s style. He’s at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.
I can’t even imagine the amount of films Ebert must have watched in his lifetime…
Are these films in any order?
They’re in alphabetical order
I’m 44 and I’ve only seen one of the movies on this list of his (Raging Bull, which I thought was pretty boring.)
2001 and Citizen Kane are boring, too.
And yet he has included an über corny and decidedly clumsy movie like Tree of Life in his top ten.
Seriously makes me doubt everything that man has ever said about the art of film.
And yet he has included an über corny and decidedly clumsy movie like Tree of Life in his top ten.
Seriously makes me doubt everything that man has ever said about the art of film.
2001, Citizen Kane boring?
Is that supposed to be a joke?
“Raging Bull”….boring?! ….Boring??!! … Wow!! ….To each his own I guess. Then just a few lines down “Citizen Kane” also described as boring?! … Strange how 2 people that have such a blatant disregard for what are widely considered 2 of the best films of all time!!!…Just strange how these 2 people even found there way to comment on this thread linked to one of the most famous film critics of all time … some one who absolutely adored film and even for a film that Roger Ebert loathed he at least had enough respect for films he hated to bestow upon them a liteny of adjectives to which they would be laid to shame in that they could at least be proud that they died a good death. But to just merely call a film “boring”……is the biggest injustice you can give a film. Even a film you dislike has to call rise to something inside you … that you would at least be man enough to look it in its eyes as you gut it from spleen to spine!!!….A lone pithy word … “boring” …. expounding no further…is to stab it in the back while it exposes all its vulnerabilities to the world. A film you dislike deserves all the same passion you bestow on the films you love otherwise just get up and leave the theater after the trailers have concluded because you have nothing deeper to offer medium.
In my opinion these are the top 10 movies of all time:
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Pan’s Labyrinth
3. Letters from Iwo Jima
4. The 33
5. 12 Angry Men
6. The Ten Commandments
7. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
8. A Hard Day’s Night
9. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
10. Ratatouille
In this 37 year old’s opinion there are the greatest films of all time:
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Pan’s Labyrinth
3. Letters from Iwo Jima
4. The 33
5. The Ten Commandments
6. A Hard Day’s Night
7. 12 Angry Men
8. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
9. Ratatouille
10. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
The movie stands on its own, leaving one question?
I once listened to movie critics discuss the Academy Awards. They had all kinds of ideas as to why this movie was voted best, over another. The conversation got heated, then one person chimed in…”…Hey,…the reason this or that got the award,…it was VOTED in !”….Which is the truth. Movies are released, at given dates so they can be viewed and people can vote for the movie, in time for the Awards, that year. Full page ads are taken out in newspapers, like Variety and papers in certain demographic regions to bring the movies to the attention of viewers…and voters. Members of the Academy ( the only ones who can vote for a movie, by the way) get calls, and now I guess emails, and other prods to vote for this one or that.
Who ever wins an academy award, be they actor or director has just moved in to the Million dollar a picture class…
So, don’t get bent out of shape, if YOUR favorite movie is not rated highly. The entire award process is SUBJECTIVE and highly motivated by MONEY. It is interesting that many movies debut and are not highly regarded…but over time, critics study them and come to the conclusion that there is something great there.
Movies have been around for 100+ years. Go back and discover movies you have not seen before…..re-see movies you saw in your youth. The definition of a classic is a movie you can watch over and over again and it never gets stale. I have my favorites…” 2001 Space Odyssey”. “Clock Work Orange” ” The Yearling” ” magnificent 7″ ( original with Yul Brynner, etc.) ” The Thing (from another world)” (original with Kenneth Tobey, etc)..” the best years of their lives”…” 30 seconds over tokyo”….” A guy named Joe”…”sunrise”..” the General”..” The Great Dictator” ( charlie Chaplin)…” things to come”..” the day the earth stood still” ( original with michael rennie, not the trash re make) ..” Carosel”…” the sound of music”…” the pawn broker”…” 12 angry men” ( original with Henry Fonda)…” failsafe”…” dr stranglove”…” lolita” ( original with Shelly Winters, etc)..” night of the hunter” (the only movie directed by Charles Laughton)..” the hunchback of notre dame” ( 1939 version starring charles laughton)..” moby Dick” ( gregory Peck)…” red dragon” ( ralph fiennes)..” silence of the lambs”..”them”…..etc…..ENJOY…
“Strange how 2 people that have such a blatant disregard for what are widely considered 2 of the best films of all time!!!…Just strange how these 2 people even found there way to comment on this thread linked to one of the most famous film critics of all time”
“widely considered 2 of the best films of all time!!!”
“widely considered 2 of the best films of all time!!!”
“widely considered 2 of the best films of all time!!!”
“one of the most famous film critics of all time”
“one of the most famous film critics of all time”
“one of the most famous film critics of all time”
Strange how a single word like “boring” can be so triggering, can be viewed as “blatant disregard”. Just strange how people teach you which film is great by keeping mentioning that other people think which film is great.
“A film you dislike deserves all the same passion you bestow on the films you love otherwise just get up and leave the theater after the trailers have concluded because you have nothing deeper to offer medium. ”
Really? Do you show all the same passion to whatever you watch?
Do you have something deep to offer other than some angry mumbo-jumbo?
Unlike a number of comments, Roger Ebert would elaborate his opinion to more than a few words. If people find these films boring then that’s unfortunate for them really. I understand why people might think Citizen Kane is boring as the pace is often slow but it may be worth watching it acknowledging that it was made almost 80 years ago and that a lot of films released and enjoyed since were inspired by it and imitated it.
I’m obviously here looking for a list as well but I like Ebert’s comment about top 10s. What defines a top film anyway? Is it possible that the no.1 on Monday is the same as on Tuesday? I don’t really see any enjoyment at all in finding your no.1 film. It seems a childlike behaviour, looping the same film again and again.
i know. in english.
i am omniscient after all. in no order. some might really be a slow as 100 best.
2001
apocalypse now
gates of heaven (documentary)
brideshead revisited (1981)
dr strangelove
the right stuff (docudrama)
the hustler
american gigolo (only half joking)
little children
the world at war (documentary)
hmmm…
How about Fargo,High Sierra and The African Queen.
Really, what’s boring about them no car chase?
It is quite strange to see this list from Roger Ebert, because he was notorious for consistently refusing to answer questions about his “10 favorite” anything.
Michael, I hope you’ll watch more movies. *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* is the only thing you’ve listed made before 1956! Five of your films were made in 2005 or after.
I hope you’ll reconsider *Letters from Iwo Jima*. It’s marred by sentimentality and self-serving historical distortion. I lived in Japan for four years, and the Ministry of Education squelches any attempt to put evidence of Japanese war crimes—or even of Japanese aggression against Manchuria, Korea, etc.—from the curriculum. The film amounted to a bow-wrapped gift, and the manipulation through sentimentality made it even more nauseating. Nevertheless, this is the kind of manipulation that Japanese often don’t see because so much of Japanese pop culture is sentimental. The screenplay was a Japanese product. Clint Eastwood’s performances and movies aren’t known for depth or subtlety of emotion or even thought. If you haven’t seen *Unforgiven* yet, you should.
Artistic evaluation is always subjective. I thought everyone knew that. However, what’s rare is being able to explain and/or defend why one likes one movie and hates another. Sometimes the answers seem pretty obvious, but other times a movie goes through strange critical metamorphoses, usually from the bottom up (the audience) than the top down (the critics). Filmmakers can be temperamentally from either camp or both. In the case of the *Cahiers du cinema* crowd, they were critics who became filmmakers, so I guess that’s why Truffaut’s championing of Hitchcock as an auteur had such a profound impact.
There is no such thing as a list of “the best movies of all time.” And Roger Ebert pointed this out continually throughout his writing career. He always said this was a list of HIS favorite movies. And he was quick to say that these were the movies that affected him the most on an EMOTIONAL LEVEL. You think Citizen Kane is boring? Good for you! That’s totally fine because it’s your reaction and that’s perfectly valid. I found “Armageddon” starring Bruce Willis outrageously boring, but again, it’s just one man’s opinion.
So here’s my personal take on the ten best films:
Rear Window
Citizen Kane
Wild Strawberries
The Wages of Fear
2001: A Space Odyssey
Chinatown
Blade Runner
Blue Velvet
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Silence of the Lambs
But again that’s just one man’s opinion. These are the movies that I personally love to watch the most. There’s no such thing as a Ten Best Films of All Time!
Just like imagine, I don’t know, maybe something in the region of literally loads and load and loads of films stretching on and on and on or stacked upon each other so they go high up to the sky and you can barely see the top and I reckon that’s how many he’s seen and a good way to imagine it
Here is my list for movies I want with me when deserted on an island:
2001, A Space Odyssey
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Next
Slingblade
The Wizard of Oz
Pulp Fiction
The Imitation Game
Mrs. Palfrey at the Clairmont
Monty Python’s Meaning of Life
Woodstock
Easy Rider
Alien
The Caine Mutiny
Million Dollar Baby
Goodfellas
Annie Hall
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Psycho
Shawshank Redemption
Being There
All were Ebert 4-star movies. I picked them from that list, because – and I cannot emphasize this enough – Ebert was NEVER WRONG (except for “Prometheus” but he wrote that review after his illness, and all his reviews were slanted positive in his last year, God Bless him.)
Let’s hope this island has a TV, a DVD player and an electricity supply
Roger once said that Shawshank Redemption was the people’s favorite film after Citizen Kane. My favorites are Jesus Of Nazareth and Endless Summer.
To be fair I haven’t seen too many older films before 1956, since most old films tend to bore me to tears, but here’s a list of old films which I do tend to love:
just about anything animated by Disney
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Sergeant York
All Quiet on the Western Front
12 Angry Men
Planet of the Apes
A Hard Day’s Night
The Ten Commandments
I tend to love newer films more often than not so sue me, lol.
And when it comes to Clint Eastwood I haven’t seen a single one of his films made before True Crime in 1999, but out of the films I have seen by Clint here is my personal favorite list:
1. Letter’s from Iwo Jima
2. Gran Torino
3. Hereafter
4. Sully
5. J. Edgar
6. Million Dollar Baby
7. Flags of Our Fathers
8. The 15-17 to Paris
9. True Crime
10. Invictus
11. Trouble with the Curve
12. Jersey Boys
13. American Sniper
And here’s my list of the best films released since 1990:
1990: Stephen King’s IT
1991: Beauty and the Beast
1992: A Few Good Men
1993: Schindler’s List
1994: The Shawshank Redemption
1995: Pocahontas
1996: Sling Blade
1997: Stephen King’s Thinner
1998: Saving Private Ryan
1999: The Green Mile
2000: Almost Famous
2001: Monster’s Ball
2002: Punch-Drunk Love
2003: Kill Bill
2004: Kill Bill 2
2005: Sin City
2006: Pan’s Labyrinth
2007: There Will Be Blood
2008: Gran Torino
2009: Avatar
2010: Miley Cyrus’s The Last Song
2011: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
2012: Brave
2013: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2014: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2015: The 33
2016: Silence
2017: The Dark Tower
2018: Bohemian Rhapsody
2019 so far: The Lion King
Two weeks ago I finally say Clint Eastwood’s The Mule so here is my updated list of how I would now rank the wonderful but admittedly somewhat few Eastwood movies I have seen, though to be fair Jersey Boys and American Sniper will always be last for me since those two movies simply stink. But really everything else I’ve seen by him has been absolutely fantastic.
1. Letter’s from Iwo Jima
2. Gran Torino
3. Hereafter
4. Sully
5. J. Edgar
6. Million Dollar Baby
7. Flags of Our Fathers
8. The 15-17 to Paris
9. True Crime
10. The Mule
11. Invictus
12. Trouble with the Curve
13. Jersey Boys
14. American Sniper
Here are my favorite movies of the 80s:
1980: Friday the 13th
1981: Friday the 13th Part 2
1982: E.T.
1983: Cujo
1984: Friday the 13th Part 4
1985: Silver Bullet
1986: Friday the 13th Part 6
1987: The Running Man
1988: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
1989: Dead Poets Society
One film I haven’t seen mentioned is The Third Man. Easily in the top ten (imho) and the greatest music ever. Not an opinion, a fact (imho)
The Swimmer
Chinatown
Secret of my Success
Breaking the Waves
Vertigo
The Best Years of Our Lives
Shawshank Redemption
Bladerunner
Secret in Their Eyes (Original)
The Apartment
*Sweet Smell of Success