Yes my dear readers, I know I have limited my Moviedrome Monday blog entries to that of every two weeks, but that is because I am busy with other stuff. I also want to say to Steve (a fellow visitor of this blog) that I sincerely apologize that I have not caught up yet with the longer version of the 1986 crime-drama Blood Ties. Nevertheless, I will eventually catch up 🙂 Also, please do check out Steve’s youtube channel (his user name is giulio sacchi) by clicking here.
Now with all of that out of the way, who here is familiar with Sight & Sound magazine? According to Wikipedia, it is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI) – read here. Anyway, every 10 years since 1952, the magazine has asked film critics to vote for their 10 greatest films of all time (read here). By 1992, film directors were allowed to participate as well (read here). Since Sight & Sound devotees are already aware of the past lists by critics and filmmakers (read here and here), let me cut to the chase. By all means, I will not be asked to participate in this poll. Second, I am not esteemed enough for the magazine to ask for my participation 🙂 Nevertheless, sometime in August, I will put together a list on this site, of what I consider to be the 10 greatest films ever made. Why August? Because that was when the results for the last poll were reported (August 1st 2012 in this case – read here for example). From there on out, Sight & Sound’s 2012 edition of the greatest films ever made would be published in there September issue (read here). I was 27 during then and today I am 37. Man, time sure does fly by 🙂
My question to all of my dear readers is this – what are your top 10 greatest films of all time? If you all are having a difficult time choosing, may I direct you to this insightful article from (coincidentally) Sight & Sound by the always reliable Christina Newland (read here).
Interesting tidbit according to Film Reference’s entry on Academic Journals, the publication entitled Film Comment is said to be Sight & Sound’s American equivalent (read here). Film Comment is published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center (now titled Film at Lincoln Center) in New York City. Though it says that it’s inception began in 1961, according to Wikipedia’s entry, it was 1962 (read here).
Either way, the 2022 edition of Sight & Sound’s greatest films of ever made should be an interesting one 🙂
cinematiccoffee 
My top 10 favourite films are:
1. Scarface (DePalma)
2. The Godfather Part II
3. JFK
4. Je t’aime moi non plus
5. Salvador
6. Thief (Mann)
7. To Live and Die In L.A.
8. The Terminator
9. Scum (1979)
10. The Godfather
In all honesty I think The Godfather Part II is perhaps the greatest film ever made. This is a list of my favourites.
It may interest you to know that Alex Cox’s top 10 favourite films are:
1. Citizen Kane (Welles)
2. The Devils (Russell)
3. The Exterminating Angel (Bunuel)
4. King Kong (Cooper, Schoedsack)
5. Mattei Affair (Rosi)
6. O Lucky Man (Anderson)
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
8. Throne of Blood (Kurosawa)
9. The Wages of Fear (Clouzot)
10. The War Game (Watkins)
I believe this was from a Sight & Sound poll where famous directors listed their top 10 favourite films.
Just to divert, sad to report that Jean-Louis Trintignant died this week at the age of 81.
He was great as Silence in The Great Silence of course. He gave a great performance without ever saying s word and of course the film was shown on Alex Cox’s Moviedrome. He was also in The Conformist and Costa-Gavras’ Z but I haven’t seen those two films yet.
Ray Liotta also suddenly and shockingly died a few weeks back at the too young age of 67.
That was such a shock as it was so unexpected. Truly very sad.
Bo Hopkins also passed away at the age of 84. He was a Sam Peckinpah regular (The Wild Bunch, The Getaway, The Killer Elite) and was in many other films including Midnight Express.
I got Trintignant’s age wrong. He was 91.
This is my current top ten, from 2017. It is subject to change, if and when I ever see anything better.
When I was a member of the NFT/BFI in the late 1960s and through the 1970s, I received Sight and Sound magazine. It always interested me to learn more about directorial techniques, and introduced me to dozens of foreign film-makers I might never have discovered otherwise.
Best wishes, Pete.
Regarding Steve’s tribute above, ‘The Conformist’ is one of the films on my list.
Hi John, I don’t feel qualified to select my 10 greatest films of all time, instead I’ll share my 10 favourite films.
Two-Lane Blacktop
The Godfather
The Godfather Part 2
Jaws
Badlands
Hatari!
Junior Bonner
Days of Heaven
Vanishing Point
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
Intriguing Steve 🙂 With the exception of Je t’aime moi non plus, all of your other choices are English-Language films 🙂 Nothing wrong with that though because let’s face it, lists are so tough to put together because there is so much great stuff out within the realm of cinema 🙂 As for The Godfather Part II, it ranks as one of Francis Ford Coppola’s many great films 🙂
I believe it was from the 2002 Sight & Sound poll and his choices are excellent too 🙂 He and Mark Kermode could probably have a buddy buddy conversation about the fact that both of them chose Ken Russell’s The Devils as one of their favorite films 🙂 Speaking of which, I heard that when Alex Cox was working on a documentary about Akira Kurosawa, he tried to get Ken Russell’s input, but he implied that while he loved Kurosawa’s work, he was waiting for one on Jean Cocteau 🙂
I heard too about the sad deaths of Jean-Louis Trintignant, Ray Liotta and Bo Hopkins 😦
Trintignant was fantastic in The Great Silence, The Conformist, Z and many others 🙂 He will be sadly missed 😦
Ray Liotta first burst on the scene as Melanie Griffith’s violent ex-boyfriend in Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild and went on to star in one of Martin Scorsese’s many greatest films in Goodfellas, as the real-life mob informer Henry Hill 🙂 He was also fantastic in Joe Carnahan’s 2002 police thriller Narc as a hair trigger cop. 67 is truly young indeed – he will be missed 😦
I am aware of Bo Hopkins as well and as you know, I love every single film that Sam Peckinpah directed 🙂 And yes, he was in Midnight Express as well 🙂 He will be sadly missed as well 😦
Whatever makes you feel comfortable Paul S 🙂 I had a feeling you were going to include Two-Lane Blacktop, Badlands, Junior Bonner, Days of Heaven, Vanishing Point and Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior 🙂 Then again, you revealed all of that to me when I first brought up the topic of Moviedrome to you 🙂 As for what my favorite Howard Hawks film is – he did so many great ones that it is hard to pick what should be number one 🙂 So all I can say is that Hatari! is one of his many masterpieces 🙂
Oh yeah I did see that on your list when I commented on it back in 2018, even though you first posted it in 2017 🙂 As to what my favorite Bernardo Bertolucci film is, The Conformist would probably rank very high – it is one of his many great films 🙂
I read that one Pete and it was nice to have Come and See within the top 5 and Blade Runner at number 1 – WOW 🙂 I think there are now quite a few cuts of the film – 1982 theatrical cut (this has Harrison Ford’s voice-over narration), the 1992 Director’s Cut and the 2007 Final Cut (these last two omit the voice-over) 🙂
Sight & Sound magazine is filled with all sorts of insightful stuff and yes, we get introduced to other kinds of films (foreign or otherwise) that we would not have known about prior to reading it. Whereas the USA has Film Comment and France has Cahiers du Cinema, the UK has Sight & Sound magazine 🙂
No problem at all Steve 🙂
I can’t answer until I know: what’s the difference between a person’s top 10 and a person’s 10 favorites?
Just choose your 10 favorites 🙂
Haha. Okay. Probably way different from everybody else’s list, lol
Blade Runner
The Revenant
Rear Window
Dredd
District 9
True Grit (the remake)
1917
Something About Mary
Lawrence of Arabia
Kill Bill
Intriguing list you got there Stacey – you got Blade Runner, Rear Window, the True Grit remake and also Dredd, which I actually love too 🙂
Yay! 🙂
It feels wrong to love Dredd, doesn’t it? Because it’s SO violent. But I think it’s layered, it’s more than just the guns, and it’s got some great beauty to it….