Many critics put together their ‘Top 100
Films of the 20th Century’ lists in 2000, and thus I am a bit late
to the party. I was not quite ready then to gather my thoughts and really
commit to a list – mostly because I was uncomfortable with the amount of great,
classic, and iconic films I had not yet seen. There are still plenty of films I
have not seen, and there always will be. After countless hours and films over
the last few years, I have, however, reached a point in which I do feel very
good about my ability to put together a list that details the last century’s
truly great films.
My criteria for the list are as
follows: firstly, this is not just a list of my favorite films disregarding all
other factors. That list would be much different than this one. Secondly, with this
list I have picked films and ranked them based on their place in film history
(whether they are iconic, influential, and otherwise revered as an important
work that changed or progressed the future of the medium), their overall
aesthetic brilliance, and how well they work as a piece of entertainment – and of
course my own opinion has snuck its way in as well.
A few notes on the list: 1) Only four
directors have five or more films on the list: Alfred Hitchcock has six, while Stanley Kubrick and
the team of Michael
Powell & Emeric
Pressburger each have five. 2) The 1950s lead the list as the most prolific
decade with twenty-one films. 3) Due to my specific knowledge and experience,
the list is skewed towards American and British films (for which there are
fifty-nine and twelve of each respectively). And 4) while the Oscars are
somewhat still a highly regarded metric of quality, the list only contains
eighteen Best Picture Winners (of eighty-two possible).
I hope you enjoy the list. Get
started with numbers 100-96.
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