# Least Deserving Top Movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695 "2002-05-24T19:21:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/1 "2002-05-24T19:21:23Z")
From the 5/24 IMDb daily poll: [“Of the following top ten films in the IMDb’s Top 250 movies, which one least deserves to be there?”](http://poll.imdb.com/Poll/) _Amelie_’s way in front, but I bet not many people have seen it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/2 "2002-05-24T20:06:26Z")
“Amelie’s way in front, but I bet not many people have seen it.” I saw it. It’s not Great Cinema, and it drags a little (too many false endings) but it was entertaining and IMHO worth what I paid to see it. And before anyone else names it, I thought Titanic was a decent movie. 🙂 Nothing to write home about, but IMHO not even close to being a stinker either. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/3 "2002-05-24T20:40:29Z")
I’d say Amelie or LOTR. Not because either of them are _bad_ films, just that I don’t think either of them quite holds up to the rest of that pretty impressive list. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/4 "2002-05-24T20:56:58Z")
Before I even looked, somehow I KNEW “Lord of the Rings” would be in the top ten, and NOT because it was a great movie- just because the kind of person who worships J.R.R. Tolkien is the same kind of person who casts millions of votes for his favorite movie on Internet sites. I haven’t seen “Amelie,” but from what I’ve heard of it, it’s far too lightweight to deserve such a high ranking. Frankly, I think “Citizen Kane” is highly overrated, too. But “LOTR” is definitely the one that needs to be taken down a few pegs. I enjoyed it, but it’s not a masterpiece by any means. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/5 "2002-05-24T22:00:29Z")
_The Professional_ (#63) _The Green Mile_ (#93) _Attack of the Clones_ (#129) _Arsenic and Old Lace_ (#147) _Forrest Gump_ (#160) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/6 "2002-05-24T22:01:24Z")
Okay, let’s look at movies 11 through 30, i.e. those that have been bumped downward by _Amelie_ (which I thoroughly agree is the least deserving of the top ten films listed). 11 - Memento 12 - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 13 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest 14 - Rear Window 15 - Usual Suspects, The 16 - Raiders of the Lost Ark 17 - Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back 18 - Pulp Fiction 19 - Psycho (1960) 20 - American Beauty 21 - North by Northwest 22 - Silence of the Lambs, The 23 - 12 Angry Men (1957) 24 - It’s a Wonderful Life 25 - Goodfellas 26 - Lawrence of Arabia 27 - Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) (i.e., Good, Bad, & Ugly) 28 - Sunset Blvd. 29 - Vertigo 30 - Paths of Glory Which of these should go in _Amelie_’s slot? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/7 "2002-05-24T22:05:30Z")
Whoops, misread the OP. As for Top 10 ejects, I gotta go with either _Star Wars_ or _Amelie_, and as for Cervaise’s question, without a doubt: **Vertigo** (though I wouldn’t have too strong an objection to any of the pre-1970 ones listed there) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/8 "2002-05-24T22:10:43Z")
I haven’t seen most of the movies in the list, but I have seen The Shawshank Redemption. I would say it’s a good movie, but ranking it as the second best of all time is a little crazy. I haven’t seen all the movies in Cervaise’s list either, but of those I have seen, the ones that could take Amelie’s slot (assuming Amelie doesn’t deserve it - I haven’t seen that either :)) are nos 12, 13, 14, 19, 21, 25, 26, 28, 29 and 30. If you held a gun to my head I guess I would narrow it to Dr. Strangelove or Sunset Boulevard. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/9 "2002-05-24T23:11:35Z")
I’ll vote for _Gone with the Wind._ Borrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-ing! ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/10 "2002-05-25T03:57:41Z")
How would such a recent movie get to the top of the heap anyway? IMDb’s Top 250 seems to be subject to a lot of newer or younger users voting for the last movie they’ve seen and enjoyed (not to take anything away from a well-liked movie). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/11 "2002-05-25T04:16:09Z")
I’d say a lot of the moives in the top 250 list are insane selections; I would know where to start. “The Shawshank Redemption” is not the second best movie of all time, and in fact is not the 302nd best movie of all time. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/12 "2002-05-25T05:09:08Z")
Ever since I saw that **The Shawshank Redemption** was number 2 at the IMDB’s top 250 list, I lost interest. It was a good, entertaining movie alright. But in the top ten? Of all time? Puhleeze. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2002, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-deserving-top-movie/110695/13 "2002-05-25T13:35:13Z")
_The Shawshank Redemption_ stands out, being at number 2. I enjoyed _Lord of the Rings_ but not as the third best film ever ( and anyway it’s far too soon to tell). _Schindler’s List_ and _Casablanca_ are both good, but not that good and _Star Wars_ and _Amelie_ are both far too lightweight for such high rankings. The 11-30 list contains some worthy replacements: the Hitchcock films, the Kubrick pair and _Sunset Boulevard_ ( Wilder’s best film, I think). But what is missing from this, and most, popular polls are foreign-language films ( the sublime _Seven Samurai_ is there, of course, along with _Amelie_ but what about _La Grande Illusion_ or _La Regle du Jeu_, _Wild Strawberries, Tokyo Story, Sansho the Bailiff_ or _L’Atalante_) and silent films ( _Battleship Potemkin, October, Intolerance, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Nosferatu, Napoleon_ or _The Passion of Joan of Arc_).