IF Brad Bourland were a movie character he might be T. E. Lawrence in “Lawrence of Arabia,” embarking on a small project yet ending up on an epic quest; perhaps he’d be Jake Gittes in “Chinatown,” relentlessly digging, following what he finds even if it takes him someplace disagreeable; or maybe Jefferson Smith in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” an outsider and novice who shows the establishment a thing or two.
Mr. Bourland, of course, is none of these. He’s a produce clerk in an Austin, Tex., grocery. But Mr. Bourland, 58, has spent nearly a decade on a monumental task that he hopes will make his a name to remember in the world of movies.
He has ranked the greatest films of the 20th century. Sure, the American Film Institute and endless others have generated Top 10 or 100 Greatest lists. But Mr. Bourland goes them — well, one better isn’t even close. He has ranked the 20th century’s 9,200 greatest movies, watching more than 7,000 of them in the process. (He plans to reach 10,000 from readers suggesting titles he has overlooked. The list is at themovielistonline.com.)
“I’m a huge movie lover and began to wonder if people were going to forget all the great old movies,” said Mr. Bourland. “I was going to make a list of about 200 old classics, but within six months it evolved into the best of all time.”
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Hmm. I see the list is a doc file. Here's the top 10.
1. Casablanca (1943) d.- Michael Curtiz (7)
2. Citizen Kane (1941) d.- Orson Welles (7)
3. The Godfather (1972) d.- Francis Ford Coppola (7)
4. The Wizard of Oz (1939) d.- Victor Fleming (7)
5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) (BR) d.- David Lean (7)
6. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) d.- Frank Capra (7)
7. Schindler's List (1993) d.- Steven Spielberg (7)
8. Singin' in the Rain (1952) d.- Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly (7)
9. Gone With The Wind (1939) d.- Victor Fleming (7)
10. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) d.- Milos Forman (7)
I suppose these are all classics, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see any of them. Well maybe I might sit to down catch a rerun of It's a Wonderful Life one of these years. I don't know what that (7) means.
My favorite film, Oh God!, ranks 1694. My second favorite film, Heaven Can Wait (the Warren Beatty version), is not far behind at 1714. Other favorites. Sneakers is at 2031. Wrath of Khan is at 751 (pretty high). The Voyage Home is at 1780. Fist of Legend is nowhere to be seen (I guess it's only American movies? Perhaps so, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon isn't on there either. Enter the Dragon is on there at 2168.)
[5/30/14] Empire Magazine ranks the 301 Greatest Movies of All Time (as voted by their readers. Let's browse. 295 West Side Story, 294 Back to the Future II, 292 King Kong, 291 Conan The Barbarian, 288 Batman, 286 Man of Steel (gotta finish watching this on HBO Go), 284 Bridge on the River Kwai, 279 Fantasia, 272 The Little Mermaid, 260 Blazing Saddles, 255 Transformers, 253 The Hunger Games, 250 Home Alone, 245 Star Trek Into Darkness, 244 Dumb and Dumber, 242 Iron Man 3, 241 The Crow, 239 Iron Man, 228 Finding Nemo (I'd rank this higher), 224 Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith (still haven't watched the whole DVD), 223 Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, 221 Goldfinger, 220 The Maltese Falcon, 219 The Sting, 218 The Incredibles, 212 Cool Hand Luke, 207 Life is Beautiful, 206 Planet of the Apes, 200 Ben Hur, 194 The Sound of Music (thought this would be higher), 192 Grease, 191 Field of Dreams, 188 Star Trek (2009), 186 Top Gun, 185 The Fifth Element, 183 Captain America The Winter Soldier, 181 The Great Escape, 179 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, 176 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 175 Dr. Strangelove, 174 Braveheart, 167 Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 162 Shaun of the Dead, 160 Casino Royale (2006), 159 Frozen, 157 Beauty and the Beast, 155 Airplane!, 153 Watchmen, 152 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II (haven't watched it yet), 151 When Harry Met Sally, 148 The Social Network (hadn't watched it yet), 141 The Goonies, 139 Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 138 Batman Begins (I guess I should add this to my collection), 134 Wall-E, 132 To Kill a Mockingbird, 129 Life of Brian, 128 Dirty Dancing, 126 Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgandy (hmm), 125 Annie Hall, 124 Robocop, 123 Wizard of Oz (I would have expected higher - it's #4 above), 121 Superman the Movie, 120 Star Wars VI - Return of the Jedi, 117 Good Will Hunting, 115 The Princess Bride, 114 Groundhog Day, 113 The French Connection (another one I never finished watching), 112 Evil Dead II, 111 Up, 110 Avatar (never watched the whole thing), 109 The Green Mile, 108 Predator, 107 The Terminator, 100 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 99 The Blues Brothers, 96 Singin' in the Rain (no. 8 above), 95 Rocky, 94 Kill Bill vol. 1, 93 Fargo, 90 Serenity (never watched more than a couple of minutes), 89 Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan (one of my favorites), 83 North by Northwest, 82 Spirited Away, 76 Saving Private Ryan, 74 Stand by Me, 73 Lost in Translation (really?), 72 The Dark Knight Rises (working on it), 70 Psycho (I was scared), 69 Raging Bull, 68 Amelie (still have the half-watched DVD), 67 Silence of the Lambs, 66 The Lion King, 65 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 63 Ghostbusters, 62 Titanic, 58 Toy Story, 57 Seven Samurai, 52 Gone with the Wind (#9 above), 47 The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 46 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, 45 Skyfall, 40 It's a Wonderful Life (#6 above), 39 Die Hard, 36 Heat, 35 Gravity (I guess I'll have to see this one day), 34 Forrest Gump, 33 Citizen Kane (#2 above), 31 Lawrence of Arabia (#5 above, did I ever watch this?), 28 Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 27 Gladiator, 26 Casablanca (#1 above), 25 Schindler's List (#7 above), 23 The Matrix, 22 2001: A Space Odyssey, 21 Alien, 19 Aliens, 18 Jurassic Park, 17 Back to the Future, 16 Avengers Assemble, 15 The Godfather Part II, 12 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, 11 Blade Runner, 10 Inception (never saw this), 9 Raiders of the Lost Ark, 8 Jaws, 7 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 6 Star Wars IV - A New Hope, 4 The Shawshank Redemption, 3 The Dark Knight (really?), 2 The Godfather, 1 - The Empire Strikes Back (!)
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