# Get Carter was teh Greatest British Film

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-carter-was-teh-greatest-british-film/268469>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 10, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-carter-was-teh-greatest-british-film/268469 "2004-10-10T14:25:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-carter-was-teh-greatest-british-film/268469/1 "2004-10-10T14:25:47Z")

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25 Film Critics asked by Total Film to rate Brisih Cinema and came up with Get Carter as number 1

1. A Matter of Life and Death” (1946), starring David Niven as a British wartime aviator who cheats death, came in second.

2. Trainspotting,” (1996) tale of drug abuse in Scotland that starred Ewan McGregor, was third, and

4.The Third Man (1949) Orson Welles

1. Life of Brian (Monty Python)

2. Highest Bond movie was “From Russia With Love,” which was ranked ninth.

Notable absences from the list included Oscar winners “The English Patient,” “Chariots of Fire,” “Oliver!” and “Gandhi.”

[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6174830/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6174830/)

Any thoughts?

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**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-carter-was-teh-greatest-british-film/268469/2 "2004-10-10T15:57:46Z")

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Clearly a critics’ rather than an audiences’ list, as it is heavily weighted to films with challenging subject matter rather than pure popularity.

Here’s the top 25 (of 50), with the ones I’ve seen marked by a (\*):

1. Get Carter (1971)\*
2. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)\*
3. Trainspotting (1996)\*
4. The Third Man (1949)\*
5. Life Of Brian (1979)\*
6. The Wicker Man (1973)\*
7. Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949)\*
8. Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)\*
9. From Russia With Love (1963)\*
10. Naked (1993)\*
11. Billy Liar (1963)
12. A Clockwork Orange (1971)\*
13. Withnail & I (1987)
14. Great Expectations (1946)
15. If… (1968)
16. Kes (1969)
17. Brighton Rock (1947)
18. Don’t Look Now (1973)
19. Sexy Beast (2000)\*
20. Brazil (1985)\*
21. Blowup (1966)
22. The 39 Steps (1935)
23. The Servant (1963)
24. Peeping Tom (1960)\*
25. Made In Britain (1982)

First of all I hate rankings of this type; if someone must do this I’d rather just see an unranked 50 or so films. _Get Carter_ is certainly MY favorite British film of all time, but while _Sexy Beast_ is an interesting film, is it better than _Peeping Tom_ in any substantive way? Who the hell knows?

I don’t have too much of a problem with the list otherwise, except to say some of MY personal favorties are inexplicably left off (maybe they’re in the 25-50 group). These would be, in no particular order:

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp  
The Man in the White Suit  
The Long Good Friday  
The Crying Game  
The Remains of the Day (a great and highly underrated adaptation, IMO)  
Bridge on the River Kwai (a much better David Lean film than _Lawrence_, IMO)  
Zulu

and hell, I’d even put _Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels_ on the list.

Unlike the author of the article in question, apparently, I’m not at all surprised that movies such as _Gandhi_ and _Chariots of Fire_ were left off the list; they are basically reverential biopics with nothing particularly innovative or unexpected about them.

Likewise with the Bond films, few of which are particularly good or interesting as films, per se; really the only two I’d consider for such a list would be _Russia_ or _Goldfinger_, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t rank _Russia_ in the top 25.

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**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-carter-was-teh-greatest-british-film/268469/3 "2004-10-10T16:17:19Z")

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The whole lack of _Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail_ make this poll invalid in my eyes. 😛