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From Times Online
April 26, 2008

Top 100 Films: 100 - 91

From dinosaurs to life in a Florida work camp, ten films from the Top 100 to get the debate started

96 - Lost in Translation

100 - JURASSIC PARK (Stephen Spielberg, 1993)

Michael Crichton’s novel theory that DNA specialists could clone a tyrannosaurus rex from a mosquito trapped in amber inspired the greatest theme-park movie ever made. Crichton’s premise, coupled with Spielberg’s obsession with dinosaurs, resulted in a box-office sensation. The plot could have been written on a parking ticket. Doctors Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum test-drive a dinosaur park on a tropical island before Richard Attenborough’s bumbling billionaire opens it to the public. The awe at the first sight of grazing brachiosaurs and a galloping herd of gallimimus was not confined to the cast. No one had seen computer-generated miracles on this scale before. Spielberg’s touch of genius was to make his meat-eating predators far more intelligent, indeed “human”, than the sloppy scientists who cloned them. James Christopher

99 - LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE (Jean Cocteau, 1946)

Few directors are as skilled at enchantment as Jean Cocteau, as this dreamlike version of the fairytale Beauty and the Beast demonstrates. La Belle et la bête must be among the most achingly beautiful films yet made. The black and white photography adds a sensual mystery to the story. Surreal visual enigmas captivate the viewer and the design of the beast’s magical domain, by Christian Bérard, is exquisite. Jean Marais spent five hours every day in make up for the role of the Beast. His interpretation is skilfully nuanced, despite the layers of fur: this beast is fearsome, dignified and tragic. Wendy Ide

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98 - MY FAIR LADY (George Cukor, 1964)

Audrey Hepburn as a grubby urchin was always going to be a bit of a stretch, even for the most credulous audiences. But her repartee with co-star Rex Harrison (on magnificently irascible form) and the delicious design of the film by Cecil Beaton ensure that any minor quibbles about her Cockney authenticity are soon forgotten. This screen adaptation of Lerner and Loewe’s musical take on Pygmalion embraces its theatrical roots: it is archly stagey and the stylised design heightens the artificiality of the story and some of the performances. But it’s a glorious confection blessed with some of the catchiest songs and most memorable dance routines in Hollywood musical history. And Hepburn’s poise is positively regal. The film won an impressive eight Oscars in 1965. Wendy Ide

97 - POINT BREAK (Kathryn Bigelow, 1992)

The surprise in Point Break is not that it redefined the macho action flick, but that it was done by a woman. From within a derivative tale about a rookie undercover FBI agent, Keanu Reeves, who infiltrates a gang of, yes, bank-robbing surfers led by Patrick Swayze, director Bigelow magnified the homoerotic tension between agent Reeves and surfer Swayze (parodied recently in Hot Fuzz). She made an action star out of the epicene Reeves and turned the movie’s “100% Pure Adrenaline” mantra into a shooting style — the effects of which are still felt today (the Bourne movies are an elaboration of the Reeves-Swayze chase in Point Break). The surfing scenes aren’t too shabby either. Wendy Ide

96 - LOST IN TRANSLATION (Sofia Coppola, 2003)

This brief encounter between Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in a five-star hotel in Tokyo is a remarkable follow-up to The Virgin Suicides. Murray plays a washed-up Hollywood star who fronts adverts for cheap whiskey. He hasn’t been so mordantly funny since Groundhog Day. Johansson is the frustrated wife of a photographer forever on shoot. The magic of their hotel romance is how little needs to be said. The melancholic humour is deliciously taboo. The platonic loners visit karaoke bars, watch La Dolce Vita at 3am, and sizzle politely in hotel lifts. The ending is one of life’s great mysteries. James Christopher

95 - GRAND HOTEL (Edmund Goulding, 1932)

One of Hollywood’s first ultra-glamorous A-list ensembles, Grand Hotel and its legendary producer Irving Thalberg boasted the genius idea of sticking a slew of head-lining stars such as Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and John Barrymore in a Berlin hotel for 48 hours, and simply watching the drama unfold. The resulting movie is famous for a typically steely turn from Crawford, a clever criss-crossing narrative, and a scene-stealing performance from Garbo as a suicidal Russian dancer who rebuffs Barrymore with the iconic line: “But I want to be alone!” Kevin Maher

94 - THE TOWERING INFERNO (John Guillermin, Irwin Allen, 1974)

Proudly riding high in our charts, because trash this good cannot be ignored, this is the granddaddy of disaster flicks. There’s a brand-new hotel, all the guests have some extra layer of drama attached to them, and there’s a raging fire. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman play the heroes. There are brilliant scenes set in a rooftop ballroom, kiddies in peril, baddies you want to burn and an overused dangling rope ladder. O. J. Simpson plays a security guard. Elements have become so parodied in films like Airplane you may find yourself laughing at inappropriate moments. Tim Teeman

93 - COOL HAND LUKE (Stuart Rosenberg, 1967)

Eight years before Jack Nicholson took on the system in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Paul Newman’s prisoner strained against the chains of a Florida work camp in Rosenberg’s sweat-soaked allegory. Blue-eyed Newman was set up as a Christ figure, earning hero status via prodigious egg-eating and frequent escape attempts before being disowned by his fellow inmates, broken by the guards and gloriously resurrected. Luke’s prison number, 37, is a biblical reference to Luke 1:37: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Ed Potton

92 - A BOUT DE SOUFFLE (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

The movie that launched the French New Wave, Godard’s A bout de souffle is often mistakenly perceived as a formal experiment in film-making and an intellectual event. Whereas in fact, this story of a chain-smoking petty criminal (Jean-Paul Belmondo) and his impressionable American girlfriend (Jean Seberg) is a testament to the power of propulsive film-making (the title in English, Breathless, is a hint). Everyone here is running, fleeing or marching around Paris (Belmondo, in particular is evading les flics after an opening-reel murder). The camera too, wielded by the legendary Raoul Coutard, rarely stops moving. Even a quiet bedroom scene between the two star-crossed leads is spliced to giddy shreds by Godard’s then infamous jump-cuts. The results are anything but dull. Ed Potton

91 - SHORT CUTS (Robert Altman, 1993)

The ensemble promise of Altman’s Nashville and The Player are fully realised in this breathtakingly confident homage to Los Angeles and to the poetry of alienation it engenders in its residents. Actors as disparate as Robert Downey Jr, Jack Lemmon and Julianne Moore, working from a Raymond Carver adaptation, play struggling Los Angelinos with emotional wounds and fractured relationships. Best is Jennifer Jason Leigh’s phone-sexpert, whose explicit hotline conversations eventually drive frustrated husband Chris Penn to a random act of violence. The film, ultimately, is beautiful but without hope. Which, of course, is very LA. Kevin Maher

I had to go through this list 3 times to check I hadn't missed them. Green Mile and Shawshank Redemption nowhere to be seen. Well maybe Green Mile can be left out but Shawshank Redemption is an absolute masterpiece which cannot be mised in any top list of films. This is just my opinon I thnks valid?

Matt Bell, Leeds, England

Hardly heavyweight stuff here, of those that I've seen neither Jurassic Park, Towering Inferno, Cool Hand Luke or My Fair Lady strike me as being of the highest order.
Far too much condescension to Speilberg and Kubrick in this listing. Get some older and better critics in!

Jim Coats, Renfrew, Scotland

As for subtle social satire comedies where is "The Apartment" ? the best wilder film and the best Lemmon performance? also features Fred MacMurray - which leads me to ask how come no Double Indemnity?

Paul Dickson, ossining, USA

Where is Scarface? Just see...De Palma, Oliver Stone, Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, even Spielberg was there to be inspired. All the great characters in cinema bow to Scarface, it is pulbic!

Francisco, Coimbra, Portugal

Pulp Fiction at 69! No Star Wars? Oh woman...

Harsh Varma, Darien, CT, USA

Hmmm, how "Being There" gets left off is beyond my comprehension. Sellers at his subtle best. Shirly MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden shimmered. Dysart played the role of his lifetime. Jerzy Kosinski is no slouch. You've omitted a gem. Unfortunate. Not better than "TheTowering Inferno"?

steve duncan, indianapolis, USA

I'm surprised that "If" isn't on the list. when it first came out I went to see it two days running! Also "Get Carter" is a fantastic film which I would always seek out.

Angie Russ, Trowbridge,

Where's C. T. Dreyer?

jose maria ibanez, zafra, spain

All I can say... a list that puts any film with Keanu Reeves (whom I do like, but...) ahead of any film with Audrey Hepburn is suspect to me.

Liz, New Castle, USA

Point Break??????????? Are you serious? Unbelievable.

Stef, Pomona, USA

Why wasn't "Word of Honor" by Nelson DeMillepicked to be a film?
Would have been number1.

Wallace Edward Brand, Alexandria, VA, US

hands down this is the worst top 100 list i have ever seen.

george, Hollywood, USA

Im pretty surprised there is not a single bollywood film on here...i know they often dont have the sophistication of a hollywood film, but surely 'Sholay' which was running in the cinema for six years should have a place on this list?

Nikki, London,

This 100 is just another100 picked by another group of movie (critics?) who are all the same as everybody who has there say as to selections and when the next 100 (best?) are chosen we can all start to moan about the films that aren't on the list and this will continue for ever and ever...amen

John, Mardi, Australia

What about Ben Hur, I would have thought this would have been in the top 100 and quite a few more could or should have been in this list!

S. Evans, CT, SA

I don`t understand how the listing was made,it contains awful,boring cheap films.

Nehir, durham, UK

Point Beak! - good choice. I'd say ditch Lost in Translation and put Big Lebowski in there. There Will Be Bloods a bold choice for 2nd too - well done!

Dalton, Dubai, UAE

Any list of 100 best films that does not contain a single 'Carry on' has no credibility.
Carry On Screaming, Up the Khyber and Cleo are works of genius.
No - I'm not kidding either.


To be honest - I wouldn't give around 85 films on your list house-room.

W. Duff, Aberdeen,

I gotta agree with John. I've never understood the hoopla with Lost in Translation. After watching it, I felt sure it must have been an Emporer's New Clothes situation.

Erin, NC, USA

Have to agree that Lost in Translation deserves to be on another top 100 list - and not on any list that has the word "best" in it. If she wasn't a Coppala, no one would have ever heard about it.

John, freehold, NJ, USA

breathless lower than short cuts? have you seen short cuts?

richard johnson, greenville, sc, usa

Where is the finest classic of them all...."GIANT"? So many other great films left out, yet other banal ones included. Don't agree with most of this list.

Jane, Central, IL ,

I guess 95 per cent of the films made in the world are from English speaking countries. Or 95 per cent of the good ones, if you follow the logic of this list. This of course is not true. While I agree with the merit of most on the list, to be truly representative a greater world view must be taken.

J. A. Guar, Ottawa, Canada

Does anyone remember an amazing Swedish/Dutch? art film from the 80's that employed the threat of nuclear armaggedon as the devise that drives its characters to quickly examine their lives in a bleak post modern world? Sounds like some bad Woody Allen, I know, but it was stunning.

Otto , Mpls, US

Stanley Kubrick's Pats of Glory most definitely should have been on this list, near the top.
Jack Mangus
Ocala, Florida, U.S.A.

Jack Mangus, Ocala, Florida, U.S.A.

Juliet Binoche turned down Spielberg's offer to play Dr. Ellie Sattler in Jurassic Park “I would rather play a dinosaur than one of the humans in that film,” she said, chosing instead to do Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colours Blue. Good for her; shame on you.

Don Rocin, Bungendore, Australia

why didnt you jsut call it, ' the hundred best fims made in English, or the hundred best americam filsm...' THere is a shocking lack of foreign films here that leaves many of your choices in their wakes...

tom, London, UK

Where is "JFK"? Hard to think of another film's style that influenced all films to come...not to mention being a great film about various theories about the crime of the century

Jeff, Toronto, Canada

I was expecting to see Tombstone on this list. Oh well, it's still in my top 100

CSam, C-dub, Canada

Are movies today just worse or are the reviewers/raters just old? Seems like most of the movies in this list were created before I was born (and I'm not that young at 32).

Gabe, Austin,

Just had to say that 'Lost in Translation' is one of my very favorite films and when I saw it on your list, I thought, here's a list worth working through. I love the pacing and it captured perfectly a subtle melancholy that the 'Pulp Fiction' crowd undoubtedly can't relate to.

William, Taos, USA

I've reached the end of the list and have not found "The Princess Bride" - probably one of the biggest cult films of all time. It had such a wonderful mix of fairy-tale, romance, fantasy, spoof and humour that make it my favourite movie of all time. A travesty that it's not included.

Jim MacBrayne, Glasgow, Scotland

"Night of the Hunter" ? "Heaven can wait" ? "Laura" ? "Usual Suspects" ? "Shop around the corner"? "It's a Wonderful Life" ? "The Ghost and Mrs Muir" ? "Sleuth" ? "Paths of Glory"? "Les choses de la vie" ? .... Really ...

Jérôme, Brussels, Belgium

lost in translation was sooo awful i didn't even finish it. i could've written a better movie!

franchess, US, USA

Point Break? I'm not even going to read the rest of this list.

Jolson McGandon, Oxfordshire, England

Forest Gump the best movie in the world?

Quite clearly spoken by someone who has only ever seen one movie. Gump was horrible on so many levels.

Steve Parsons, Edmonton,

i can't believe the worst movie in the world 'lost in translation' made the cut and the best movie in the world didn't 'FOREST GUMP...............

mary, richmond, usa

Thank goodness "Bride of Frankenstein" wasn't in the list - that would have invalidated it ;-)

Zorba Eisenhower, London, UK

The Goonies defined the adventure flick for a generation.
How can It be left off?

Josh, New York,, USA

Das Boot.An all time classic.Surely not Point Break!

Graham McEwan, Stockton-on-Tees,

Sorry, but I immediately invalidate any list that doesn't feature "Bride of Frankenstein".

Petey, Washington, DC

schindlers list, the shawshank redemption, jaws, stars wars(1), babel, the constant gardiner, a brigde to far, the usual suspects, as good as it gets! maybe better just looking at films in the last twenty years or so.

keith lowry, belfast, northen ireland

Point Break? Give me a break! Lame story & mediocre surfing sequences that any lacked continuity.The only credible movie that captures the essence of surfing is Big Wednesday (1978) which would have been a much worthier addition to this list.

Tom, toronto, canada

Zorba the Greek, Captain Blood, Jules and Jim, Morgan!, and The Innocents were left off!!

Robert MacNaughton, Letchworth Garden City,

go to www.pollthepeople.com and you can vote for your top 5. Pulp Fiction has the number 1 slot at the moemnt....you'll be disheartened to know that Lost In Translation comes in at number 36 - but I guess your votes could help change that!!

Katie, London,

Funny isn't it, you put "Lost in Translation' in the top 100 and I think it's one of the worst films I've ever seen!

Eddie, Strattford,

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