Ch4’s 100 Greatest Films
On the 3rd weekend of
November, 2001, Channel4 broadcast the nation’s 100 favourite films.
As voted for by ‘you the viewer’, in a
time and place unspecified.
Presented, for no real reason of merit,
by Graham Norton.
I was happy to see that the list wasn’t
solely made up of recent releases,
and that there were some real classics
in there.
I was less impressed to see four clumps
of films edging their way into the listings as a two- or three-some – the Three
Colours Trilogy, and the flipside pairing of ‘Jean de Florette’ and ‘Manon des
Sources’ – and so gaining a higher place than if each component’s votes were
tallied individually.
The two top places are taken up by four
films from two trilogies.
How can you judge two-thirds of a
sequence as a whole and give it one listing?
How can you bare-facedly put two films
& their votes together for one place?
How can two films (pl.) be the best
film (sing.)?
Oh, and also, how can I have seen so
few of these films?
Only for the wildly violent ones do I
have any real excuse.
In the colour-code below, white is for
those I haven’t seen, pink
for those I have,
and blue for those I’ve taped and somehow seem
content to leave it at that…
I don’t really have much else to say on
this.
Can’t even kid myself that I’m putting
the list up for reasons of posterity.
Really, this page is just a wildly
self-indulgent exercise I’m instigating against myself in the hope that, come
November 2002, I can pink-in far more of these titles…
1.
1. Star Wars (1977) / The
Empire Strikes Back (1983)
2. The Godfather (1972) / The
Godfather Part II (1974)
3. The Shawshank Redemption
(1994)
4. Pulp Fiction (1994)
5. Some Like it Hot (1959)
6. Gladiator (well I didn’t watch it all…
yick…) (2000)
7. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
8. Blade Runner (1982)
9. Schindler’s List (1993)
10. Goodfellas (1990)
11. Psycho (1960)
12. Jaws (1975)
13. Apocalypse Now (1979)
14. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest (1975)
15. The Matrix (1999)
16. Casablanca (1942)
17. The Usual Suspects (1995)
18. Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon (2000)
19. Citizen Kane (1941)
20. Raging Bull (1980)
21. E.T. (1982)
22. Taxi Driver (1976)
23. The Life of Brian (1979)
24. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
25. LA Confidential (1997)
26. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
27. 2001: A Space Oddysey (1968)
28. Kes (1970)
29. Vertigo (1958)
30. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
31. Fargo (1996)
32. Gone with the Wind (1939)
33. Trainspotting (1996)
34. The Full Monty (1997)
35. The Graduate (saw the 1st bit,
got bored…) (1967)
36. Alien (1979)
37. The Silence of the Lambs
(1991)
38. Withnail and I (1987)
39. The Great Escape (1963)
40. Toy Story (1995)
41. The Third Man (1949)
42. Four Weddings and a Funeral
(1994)
43. The Sound of Music (1965)
44. Fitzcaraldo (1982)
45. Deliverance (1972)
46. The Good The Bad and The
Ugly (1966)
47. Kind Hearts and Coronets
(1949)
48. Chinatown (1974)
49. The Exorcist (1973)
50. Annie Hall (1977)
51. The Italian Job (1969)
52. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
53. The Jungle Book (1967)
54. Titanic (1997)
55. Jean de Florette (1986) / Manon
des Sources (1986)
56. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
57. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
58. Seven Samurai (1954)
59. A Matter of Life and Death
(1946)
60. Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid (1969)
61. Secrets and Lies (1996)
62. Blue Velvet (1986)
63. La Dolce Vita (1961)
64. Spartacus (1960)
65. Metropolis (1927?)
66. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
67. King Kong (1933)
68. Get Carter (1971)
69. The Searchers (1956)
70. The Seventh Seal (1957)
71. Don't Look Now (1973)
72. Brief Encounter (1945)
73. M*A*S*H (1970)
74. The French Connection
(1971)
75. Top Hat (1935)
76. The Producers (1968)
77. Three Colours Trilogy: Red
(1994), White (1994), Blue (1993)
78. Cabaret (1972)
79. Goldfinger (1964)
80. Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves (1937)
81. The Gold Rush (1925)
82. High Noon (1952)
83. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
84. The Adventures of Robin
Hood (1938)
85. Enter the Dragon (1973)
86. Breathless (1983)
87. Ice Cold in Alex (1958)
88. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
89. African Queen (1951)
90. The General (1927)
91. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
92. Way Out West (1927
93. Henry V (1944)
94. Easy Rider (1969)
95. My Beautiful Launderette
(1985)
96. Belle de Jour (1967)
97. The Bride of Frankenstein
(1935)
98. Terminator (1991)
99. Saturday Night Sunday
Morning (1992)
100. Do The Right Thing (1989)
I was prepared for a conspicuous lack of
‘Velvet Goldmine’, ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’,
‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’,
‘Heathers’, ‘Labyrinth’ or ‘Stand By Me’.
Even ‘Seven Brides For Seven Brothers’.
(That probably needs a Top 100 Ginger Beardy Musicals Featuring Songs About
Sleeping With Sheep in order to get a look in.)
But not ‘A Clockwork Orange’. Or ‘Dracula’.
And where’s Tim Burton’s place in all
this?
Or Kevin Smith’s medal of honour?
Or even ‘This Is Spinal Tap’?
Last revised: 27/11/01