The top ten is as follows:
1. Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
2. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
3. Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)
4. La Règle du jeu (Renoir, 1939)
5. Sunrise: a Song for Two Humans (Murnau, 1927)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
7. The Searchers (Ford, 1956)
8. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, 1927)
10. 8 ½ (Fellini, 1963)
The outrage among film fans is worthless, you may as well be angry at vapor, after 50 years of being the "greatest film of all time" it's safe to say the reputation of Orson Welles' masterpiece is secure; falling one place will not tarnish it's place in history.
It's also not worth being upset the lack of post-1960 releases in the top 10, a lot of the names being polled are likely older critics and as a rule we are always more impacted by the films we saw in our youth. They're all great films, maybe the film fans decrying the lack of respect for contemporary cinema should extend the olive branch the other way and consider the considerable merits of this list?
More interesting for me, however, is the director's choice list:
1. Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)
=2 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
=2 Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
4. 8 ½ (Fellini, 1963)
5. Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
6. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
=7 The Godfather (Coppola, 1972)
=7 Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
9. Mirror (Tarkovsky, 1974)
10. Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948)
Seeing the films that our favourite film-makers consider important and influential is always fascinating and, for my money, leads to the more rewarding experience. When you see critics discuss great film, it tends to be an echo chamber, but every director has a different set of influences and interests and that leads to a more eclectic mix. This is the way film fans and budding critics broaden their film knowledge.
Breaking it down, the Playlist has collected the individual selections by a handful of legendary directors and the choices are worth noting.
WOODY ALLEN
Bicycle Thieves (De Sica, 1948)
The Seventh Seal (Bergman, 1957)
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
Amarcord (Fellini, 1973)
8½ (Fellini, 1963)
The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
Rashomon (Kurosawa, 1950)
La Grande Illusion (Renoir, 1937)
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (Bunuel, 1972)
Paths Of Glory (Kubrick, 1957)
The Seventh Seal is a given, Allen has referenced this film many times in his films, but it's curious how few comedies are listed, with only The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie and Amarcord standing out as notably comedic films. I am especially pleased to see we are in agreement on Kubrick's best film
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA
Ashes And Diamonds (Wajda, 1958)
The Best Years Of Our Lives (Wyler, 1946)
I Vitteloni (Fellini, 1953)
The Bad Sleep Well (Kurosawa, 1960)
Yojimbo (Kurosawa, 1961)
Singin' In The Rain (Donen & Gene Kelly, 1952)
The King Of Comedy (Scorsese, 1983)
Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
The Apartment (Wilder, 1960s)
Sunrise (Murnau, 1927)
Coppola has more of a recurring theme, with Akira Kurosawa, Billy Wilder and Martin Scorsese all getting multiple entries. It's refreshing to see a legend like Coppola giving major props to one of his peers, with Scorsese's Raging Bull and The King of Comedy. I did expect to see The Red Shoes listed here, given how heavily Coppola referenced its stunning visuals in 2009's Tetro.
MICHAEL MANN
Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925)
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
Avatar (Cameron, 2009)
Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick, 1964)
Biutiful (Inarritu, 2010)
My Darling Clementine (Ford, 1946)
The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (Dreyer, 1928)
Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, 1969)
Mann's choices are a curiosity and people likely scoff at his inclusion of Avatar but bear in mind that Mann is a highly technical director, he was one of the early adopters of digital photography in 2004 when he made Collateral, and this needs to be considered when processing his selection. A lot of the films on his list are known for their technical proficiency or innovation; Avatar is undeniably excellent on a technical level, it's really the only positive thing I can say about the film, and it pushes the envelope on multiple technologies.
MARTIN SCORSESE
8½ (Fellini, 1963)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
Ashes And Diamonds (Wajda, 1958)
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
The Leopard (Visconti, 1963)
Paisan (Rossellini, 1946)
The Red Shoes (Powell & Pressburger, 1948)
The River (Renoir, 1951)
Salvatore Giuliano (Rosi, 1962)
The Searchers (Ford, 1956)
Ugetsu Monogatari (Mizoguchi, 1953)
Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
Scorsese can do no wrong, as far as I am concerned. He is not only a great artist but a formidable film historian, if he recommends a film then it should be required viewing for all cinephiles (for instance: I haven't seen Ugetsu Monogatari or Paisan, but I will now!). I'm surprised to see The Red Shoes listed so low, given its importance in inspiring him.
QUENTIN TARANTINO
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Leone, 1966)
Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
The Bad News Bears (Ritchie, 1976)
Carrie (DePalma, 1976)
Dazed And Confused (Linklater, 1993)
The Great Escape (Sturges, 1963)
His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940)
Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)
Pretty Maids All In A Row (Vadim, 1971)
Rolling Thunder (Flynn, 1977)
Sorcerer (Friedkin, 1977)
Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
Tarantino can always be guaranteed to provide an interesting list. Even if you don't agree with him, or you think he's absolutely insane, he provokes interesting discussion and challenges the consensus at every turn. You can see obvious influences to his style in the likes of Leone, DePalma and Hawks, and old favourites like Taxi Driver and Rolling Thunder are to be expected - but I am honestly surprised at some choices.
Sorcerer over The Exorcist or French Connection sounds very Tarantino (he will always zig where you zag - he likes Woody Allen's Anything Else, for example) and I know he adores Leone but I always thought that he shared my belief that Once Upon A Time In The West is Leone's masterpiece; he visually references it frequently in his own films. You can be sure Gore Verbinski agrees with me, though, as he even referenced West in Pirates 3 and Rango.
Another surprise is Carrie, DePalma is Tarantino's favourite director other than Leone but he has frequently asserted (and quite correctly, as far as I'm concerned) that Blow Out is DePalma's masterpiece.
But opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one and they all stink but yours.
Source: Sight and Sound, The Playlist
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