The List.

I consider myself to be a Movie Guy. Even though it’s precisely the type of melodramatic identity politicking I usually hate, it’s true. I love movies, and have made an effort over the years to watch a lot of them. I’ve seen old movies, new movies, funny ones and sad ones, movies that aspired to be artistic and ones that went out of their way to avoid it, movies with subtitles, short films, animated films, documentaries, and everything in between. Not only have I watched a lot of movies, but I’ve studied them. I’ve learned the methods and techniques that go into writing and producing a film. I’ve written essays comparing and contrasting the storytelling similarities of Erin Brockovich and Twelve Monkeys. I’ve worked on production teams in roles ranging from Production Designer to Lighting Engineer. I even have a bonafide degree in Television and Film Production, and make a living developing and creating video content.

But recently I was reminded of just how many great films I still haven’t seen. Not only that, but I realized that most of my movie-watching experiences have occurred in a vacuum; I watch a movie and enjoy it for what it is, and then the next one I watch is chosen at random, based on my mood, or determined by availability. Sure, I’ve partaken in the occasional marathoning of a series like Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, or watched my way through Wes Anderson’s full catalog of work over the course of a few weeks. But beyond that, I’ve never committed myself to an extended and purposeful movie-watching endeavor, one intended to teach me something about myself while also providing me with a better understanding of the art form as a whole. I decided to remedy both of these problems at the same time, by watching my way through 100 of the greatest movies of all time, in chronological order, over the next year. 

We are accustomed to thinking of movies as, well, movies. A movie is something you go see after dinner with a date, or watch before bed to unwind from a long day at work, or put on for the kids when you need to get some work done around the house. Movies are a very specific form of entertainment that can be tailored to fit your mood or desired level of mental and emotional investment. Movie-making is also an industry, a business. The line between artistic expression and commercial enterprise is often blurry or intentionally nonexistent. It’s easy–sometimes appropriate even–to be cynical about movies. This is especially true in the Information Age, where the curtain has been drawn back on the industry, exposing moviegoers to all of the behind the scenes budget drama, contract negotiation squabbles, project infighting, egos, and sometimes underhanded motivations.

But beneath it all, at the core of every film is a story. Some of the greatest stories ever conceived have been written for the Big Screen. Unlike a book, which is written by an author and a couple of editors and then delivered directly to the reader, film is a highly collaborative art form. In addition to writers you also need directors, producers, actors, film editors, sound engineers, and an entire crew of other people all working together to make a shared vision a reality. Unlike stage productions, which share many of the same collaborative challenges in translating a story to an audience, there is an added technological element. You have to take not only cameras, microphones, and recording mediums into consideration, but also projectors, speakers, home theater equipment–even smartphone screens and headphones. With so many potential failure points, it’s a wonder any great films have successfully been made. Ever.  

The List.

When I sat down to work out which films would make up my list, I quickly realized just how many truly great films there are. My list grew and grew to nearly 200 before I decided I would need some criteria to help me narrow the options. What I came up with is as follows:

1. Films must be American.
2. Films must have been created after the advent of the Talkies.
3. The list must contain at least three films from every decade, beginning in the 1930s.
4. Films must feature live action and artistic editing throughout (no animations, no event recordings).
5. Films must have a screenplay and feature actors (no documentaries).
6. Both American Film Institute lists of 100 Greatest American Movies (1998, 2007) would be used as guides, but films that didn’t make either list could still make mine if technically, culturally, or historically significant (or if I ruddy bloody want them to).
7. Musicals and newer (2000s) films would be first to be cut unless especially important to film history.

There are a couple of glaring issues with these rules in terms of both film history and my own personal preferences that I would like to briefly address. The main problem is that the Silent Era was probably the most important period in all of film history. It was when directors and producers were figuring out how to take stories and performances from stage to projector screen for the first time. Unique challenges arose that led to the creation of entirely new skill sets and jobs like Director of Photography, Script Supervisor, and Key Grip. The new medium forced writers to invent entirely new ways of structuring, formatting, and telling stories. Even the ways in which cameras were designed and refined during the era still affect how we digitally record moving images to this day. The Silent Era is the foundation upon which the rest of film history is built, and its importance is not to be downplayed.

Unfortunately the big issue here is that many of these films simply no longer exist. The United States Library of Congress announced in 2013 that an estimated 70% of silent feature films are believed to have been lost to time or destroyed altogether. And while I happen to enjoy silent films, they are, in many ways, an entire

Personal favorites marked with a *

The Exorcist (1973)

Enter the Dragon (1973)

American Graffiti (1973)

Blazing Saddles (1974) *

The Godfather Part II (1974) *

Chinatown (1974)

Jaws (1975)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Network (1976)

Rocky (1976)

All the President’s Men (1976)

Annie Hall (1977) *

Star Wars (1977)

The Deer Hunter (1978)

Apocalypse Now (1979) *

Raging Bull (1980) *

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

E.T. (1982)

Tootsie (1982)

Blade Runner (1982)

Platoon (1986)

Wall Street (1987)

Die Hard (1988)

Batman (1989)

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Goodfellas (1990)

Silence of the Lambs (1991) *

Unforgiven (1992)

Schindler’s List (1993)

Forrest Gump (1994) *

Pulp Fiction (1994) *

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) *

Titanic (1997)

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Matrix (1999)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) *

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Children of Men (2006)

There Will Be Blood (2007) *

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) *

No Country for Old Men (2008)

The Dark Knight (2008) *

Inglourious Basterds (2009) *

Her (2013)

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) *

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Moonlight (2016)