Greatness That Isn't So Great

It appears Citizen Kane has finally been knocked off its perch from Sight and Sound's "greatest movie of all time" poll it has been conducting once a decade since the 1950s. Vertigo is now at the top, with Citizen Kane second.

Here is the list:

From the critics:
1. "Vertigo"
2. "Citizen Kane"
3. "Tokyo Story"
4. "The Rules of the Game"
5. "Sunrise"
6. "2001: A Space Odyssey"
7. "The Searchers"
8. "Man With a Movie Camera"
9. "The Passion of Joan of Arc"
10. "8 1/2"

From the directors:
1. "Tokyo Story"
2. "2001: A Space Odyssey"
2. "Citizen Kane"
4. "8 1/2"
5. "Taxi Driver"
6. "Apocalypse Now"
7. "The Godfather"
7. "Vertigo"
9. "The Mirror"
10. "Bicycle Thieves"


In my opinion, numbers 4, 6, and 7 on the critics list do not belong. I have not yet seen Man with a Movie Camera or 8 1/2. I'd put that popular favorite Casablanca at the top of the list for sound pictures, and Greed for silent films. Bicycle Thieves belongs on both lists of critics and directors. It's a great, if grim, film.

I just don't get what makes 2001 so great. It's a pile of shit, as far as I am concerned. It doesn't belong on ANY list of great films.

Here is the link.

One good thing is none of Ingmar Bergman's films made either list. His films tend to be extremely overrated if well-made. Bergman was rather full of himself and saw himself as some kind of celluloid Bob Dylan, bogging his movies down with all kinds of symbolism. This pandered to the worst instincts of the critics and art house snobs while the rest of the world scratched its collective head trying to figure out when in the hell he was trying to say. Case in point was that goddamned Seventh Seal. It was very trying on my patience. I might take a look at it again in the future just to see if my initial reaction was valid.

I did like Wild Strawberries, however. It was good but doesn't belong on an all-time top ten.

As for the number one choice, I like Vertigo but believe North by Northwest was the best film Hitchcock ever made.