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The Greatest Movies of All Time In the Opinion of Karl Matsumoto This is my personal list of the greatest American movies of all time. It is a fairly conventional list which spans the history of film, and reflects my personal preferences for the great directors--David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock (strange that for an "American movie" list most of these guys are British). Also, I tend to like "operatic" movies with great music scores, as my list indicates. I have not put recent films on the list simply because it's too early to tell which ones will stand the test of time. The following, I believe, do, and I give my reasons herewith. Notably absent from this list are "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now!" but this is a personal predjudice, as I am not a fan of Francis Ford Coppola's approach to film ("Apocalypse Now" might have made this list were it not for the last 30 minutes). Most these films, with the exception of David Lynch's "Blue Velvet," have educational value, too, either in their attempts to illustrate a period in history, or in their expression of literature. "Citizen Kane" usually gets the number one spot on most lists, but I have to give it to David Lean's masterpiece. It is one of those transcendental films which defined the film epic, and certainly influenced George Lucas' "Star Wars," which I wanted to put on my top 20 list, but couldn't for the reasons I give below (10. "American Graffiti"). "Lawrence of Arabia" is not only the greatest movie epic ever made, it is also one of the most intimate character studies in film, thanks to Peter O'Toole's brilliant performance. In terms of acting, cinematography, music, and all around film craftsmanship, "Lawrence of Arabia" is as perfect as a movie will ever get, I feel. If you have not seen the highly-praised restored version on the big screen, I would highly recommend seeing it the next time it comes to a theater near you. 2. Casablanca This is undoubtedly the "best loved" American movie of all time, and for sheer wit, no other movie comes close. Each generation rediscovers "Casblanca" and hears those classic lines which everyone remembers. The anti-hero Rick is one of the most appealing in film history--and embodies an American myth of adult masculinity and pathos, one which no longer exists in the country. But this is how we would like to think of ourselves. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman light up the silver screen. As with "Lawrence of Arabia," "Casablanca" also has a great score by the legendary composed Max Steiner. The late Stanley Kubrick is my favorite director. I think he was the finest craftsman in the history of film, followed by perhaps Akira Kurosawa, and each of his films reflects his passion for excellence. If we are talking about "cinema" with a capital "C," 2001 has to be on everyone's top ten list. It is the greatest science fiction movie ever made, and despite advances in computer special effects after "Star Wars", it remains a monumental achievement. Classical music has never been used to greater effect in movies. 4. Citizen Kane Personally, I find it hard to "enjoy" this movie in the same way I can enjoy "Casablanca," but I will not deny that "Citizen Kane" is the Great American Art Movie of All Time. It's an art school movie which pushes the boundaries of black and white film in perhaps the same way Beethoven pushed the boundaries of Classical music. It also is a great history of American journalism, if you're interested in that. OK, this is one I must admit is "lighter" than 1-4, but "Roman Holiday" is a generous movie which offers two screen legends, Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, and you can practically feel the warm breezes of Rome in this film (not that I've ever been there). When I first saw it, I felt it must have been made in the 60s by the way people were speaking. This is a great romance, with a ending scene which rivals that of "Casablanca's." This film is also enormously popular with Japanese high school students these days!? The best fantasy movie every made, and the one film which has become part of the national consciousness due to its yearly TV broadcasts (is this brainwashing?). With great lines, a great witch, red ruby slippers, flying monkeys. Do dreams get any better than this? Haven't seen this film in a long time, but when I saw it, I thought, "Hey, this is a great film for the 1930s!" So it must be a classic. Clark Gable single-handedly ruined the T-shirt industry, it is said, when he took off his shirt and--he wasn't wearing a T-shirt. This was a pretty erotic film by the standards of the day. 8. Vertigo I'm curious about Hitchcock's reputation in the history of film. Is Hitchcock just a great suspense film director or is he just a great director, period? "Rear Window" is sometimes mentioned as Hitchcock's masterpiece, but as a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, I'd have to say no director has made San Francisco look more fabulous on film than Hitchcock does in this movie. I definitely want to see this one again, soon. 9. Moby Dick John Huston's adaptation of Herman Melville's classic possesses that 1950's adventure film feel which I am a sucker for. No movie can do justice to the book, but Huston managed to bring the world of the Yankee 1850's whaling culture to life. Orson Welles and Gregory Peck in the same movie. "It's a white whale, I say!" Why this George Lucas film, and not "Star Wars"? Well, simply because it's a better, more unconventional movie, it's more relevant to the human experience, and strangely enough, it's a more timeless story. The bold film student-like cinematic gestures, the multiple simultaneously occuring stories, and the brat pack celebrity cast help to make it the most compelling coming of age film ever made. The end credit sequence sent chills up my spine when I first saw this movie. Al Pacino's incredible performance as Sonny is probably reason enough to put this 1970's film on my top 20 list, but the way this film drew me into the fouled-up bankrobbery still rings in my memory. I knew when I saw it that this was one of best films I had ever seen. It's hard to say that about many films. 12. Dr. Strangelove Stanley Kubrick is the only director on my list with more than one entry, and I have to put Dr. Strangelove for Peter Sellers' duo performance and the way it captures the feeling of the 1960's Cold War mentality. 13. The Graduate To be honest, I'm not too familiar with this movie, but it gets mentioned a lot, and it got parodied in Wayne's World, so it must be a classic. Of course there are the well-known continuity problems (Dustin Hoffman drives his Alfa Romeo across the Golden Gate Bridge to get to Berkeley from Los Angeles--this is really taking the long way around--and when he gets there it's not even UC Berkeley, but the UCLA campus!), but this is another great coming of age film. 14. The Year of Living Dangerously One of the outstanding films of the 1980's, Peter Weir's atmospheric political drama/romance is a truly "cool" movie which has a lean Mel Gibson chasing after Sigourney Weaver, as a British embassy socialite. There is a very adult quality about this film which is hard to describe, but it is in my opinion Peter Weir's best film. 15. Johnny Got His Gun This is a film which echos in my mind as one of the saddest movies ever made. The screenplay was by Dalton Trumbo, who wrote the script for "Spartacus." All I remember is the last scene:"S.O.S. Help me." I need some time to research this, but I am sure that this anti-war film is one of the great American movies of all time. 16. Bonnie and Clyde This is a strange film, one which I'm not sure I like, but I saw it again recently on TV and was astounded by the cinematography. I need some more time to comment on this, but for the time being I feel it should be in the top 20. 17. Blue Velvet I'm reluctant to put this movie on the list, but I recall that David Lynch's films could not be ignored in the United States during the 1980's, and this is clearly his best work (I saw "Eraserhead" again and hated it). Dennis Hopper's character must rank with Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lector as one of the truly evil personas in the history of movies. "Blue Velvet" is a suburban epic. 18. West Side Story I have to put an American musical on my Top 20 list, and Herbert Wise's big screen adaptation of the Bernstein/Robbins Broadway musical would have to be the pinnacle of this genre on film, in my opinion. The use of extremely low camera angles to capture Twyla Tharp's lengendary dance numbers echos "Citizen Kane" and works to great effect in this film. Leonard Bernstein's music by itself is one of America's most enduring and beloved cultural gifts to world (and New York itself, of course). Although it has some artistic flaws and weak performances, "West Side Story" appeals to my romantic nature, so I have put it at Number 18. 19. Spartacus Although he did not have full control over this film, Kubrick appears again at Number 19 with the Roman Era spectacle. Right after I saw this movie for the first time, I went to an encyclopedia to find out as much as I could about the historical Spartacus. Although the massive scale of the battle scenes stands out, it is the stellar performances by Kirk Douglas, Lawrence Olivier and most notably Peter Ustinov that sets this movie apart from other spectacles such as "Ben-Hur." The rousing score by Alex North is also one of the most dramatic in film history. 20. Blade Runner Well, I'm reluctant to put this movie on the list, too, but Ridley Scott's science fiction epic is no longer a just cult classic, and most web lists will undoubtedly have it, simply because this movie has influenced the cyberpunk generation and their way of thinking more than any other movie in the past 20 years. Also, the world of "Blade Runner" looks a lot like the place where I'm now living--Tokyo, Japan!
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