# Two best films of the 20th century **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 8, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710 "2010-05-08T01:22:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/1 "2010-05-08T01:22:44Z")
1. Metropolis 2. Pulp Fiction ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/2 "2010-05-08T01:29:30Z")
Casablanca The Godfather ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/3 "2010-05-08T01:38:41Z")
Saving Private Ryan, Casablanca ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/4 "2010-05-08T01:40:15Z")
2001: A Space Odyssey Solyaris ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/5 "2010-05-08T01:42:20Z")
Okay. Any justification for these? Given that the undefined criteria for “best” are going to vary widely from one poster to the next, I’m going to use my definition of best as those which had the most lasting influence on cinematography and technique of storytelling (and limit the scope of effect to Western cinema). On that basis, I would pick Akira Kurosawa’s _Rashomon_ (which introduced the concept of the unreliable narrator and/or multiple viewpoints of the same story) and Terry Gilliam’s _Brazil_, which had an enormous influence on the manic style of satire; kind of a _1984_ as retooled by Joseph Heller. Also rans are Welles’ _Citizen Kane_, Spielberg’s _Raiders of the Lost Ark_, Peckinpah’s _The Wild Bunch_, Rosenberg’s _Cool Hand Luke_, Frankenheimer’s _Grand Prix_, Kurosawa’s _The Seven Samurai_, John Sturges’ _The Great Escape_, Scorsese’s _Goodfellas_, and Carol Reed’s _The Third Man_. I don’t claim any of these are the most entertaining of all films (some definitely require a substantial context in order to fully appreciate) but they all contributed or popularized some aspect of film technique or story that has found its way into a wide variety of movies. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/6 "2010-05-08T02:05:15Z")
**Citizen Kane** - It really is amazing. **The Empire Strikes Back** - Not just a good sequel. A great film. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/7 "2010-05-08T02:11:23Z")
Singin’ in the Rain Citizen Kane ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/8 "2010-05-08T02:27:14Z")
What’s your love for _Cool Hand Luke_, **Stranger**? I just saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and have very mixed feelings about it. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/9 "2010-05-08T02:32:18Z")
Pulp Fiction After that my rankings get kind of complicated… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/10 "2010-05-08T02:43:01Z")
**Casablanca** **Citizen Kane** ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/11 "2010-05-08T03:22:21Z")
The Godfather Dr. Zhivago ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/12 "2010-05-08T03:46:28Z")
I vote for Birth of a Nation and Citizen Kane, because they’re both so influential. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/13 "2010-05-08T04:44:22Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > What’s your love for _Cool Hand Luke_, **Stranger**? I just saw it for the first time a few weeks ago and have very mixed feelings about it. It’s Paul Newman’s finest role as a genuine “rebel without a cause.” (Some would say _Hud_ or _The Hustler_, but the former is slightly histeronic and the latter, while a great film, has Newman playing a kind of reactionary victim of fate.) Not only have many scenes and quotes from the film become cultural touchstones (who can see a pointless ego contest without saying, “If my bo-ah sah-as he can aeet fiftah eeggs, he can aeet fifff-tah eeggs,” or hear someone talk about “failure to communicate” without hearing Strother Martin whine out in his wheezy Capote-esque voice, “Whah we-ah got hee-ah is _failure to communicate_,”) but the movie both builds the myth of the indomitable iconoclast and shows how impossible it is for such a figure to survive. The vindictively evil “Boss Paul” with his mirrored sunglasses, has been aped in every Dixieploitation film made since; and the Coen Brothers _O’ Brother Where Art Though_ pays direct homage to that character. Luke himself doesn’t do anything more objectively noteworthy than refuse to be beat, and yet every man in the camp including Dragline (George Kennedy, the “It Man” of the 'Sixties and early 'Seventies) has open admiration for him. Give it a second viewing and look at it for more than pure entertainment value, but instead what it represents about individuality, hero worship, and redemption, as well as how these qualities won’t save you from “The System”. I missed a few others I should have listed, like _Double Indemnity_ and _The Big Sleep_, but it is hard to pick and choose. There ought to be something with Alec Guinness in there somewhere (and not the _Star Wars_ films that he sleep-walked through); maybe _The Ladykillers_ or _The Lavender Hill Mob_. I hate to question the selections of others since it is a very personal choice not necessarily based on any logical rationale, but several people have selected _Casablanca_, which I personally find to be entertaining largely for its sometimes crackling dialogue and vibrant secondary characters (especially Captain Renault, played by the incomparable Claude Raines), but is ultimately irrational, vacuous, and distinctly anti-romantic, at least, unless your interpretation is that Rick and Louis are destined to be together in a barely-veiled homosexual union. I realize, like _It’s A Wonderful Life_ that the film is a perennial favorite and the source of some of the famous misquotes in modern culture (Bogart never says, “Play it again, Sam,”) but by any objective standard it is an inconsistent and mediocre story plagued by plot holes you could drive a German artillery division through. The less said about Ingrid Bergman’s tapioca performance the better; she may be the least interesting leading lady Bogart played opposite of in his career. The film has always seemed like an overmarketed, overhyped picture to me, especially in comparison to its post-war counterpart, _The Third Man_. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/14 "2010-05-08T04:58:48Z")
Tricky question, lots of scope. 1. The Wizard of Oz - the transition from B&W to colour is amazing even nowadays, can’t imagine what that was like in a cinema at the time. It’s such an ace film that 70 years later loads of people know the songs and story. Second one is troublesome, there’s always the canon of Tarkovsky, Bergman, Hitchcock, Wilder, Eastwood, Kubrick, Kieslowski, Welles, Lean, Kurosawa and Pixar to consider. 1. Aliens. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/15 "2010-05-08T05:11:13Z")
Casablanca Bridge on the River Kwai ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/16 "2010-05-08T05:40:59Z")
\*Inherit the Wind Now, Voyager \* ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/17 "2010-05-08T06:14:56Z")
There aren’t any. No one (or two) films have encapsulated all that is good filmmaking. Best for individual aspect: 1 - Serenity, The Princess Bride - best well rounded film 2 - The Color Purple, Fried Green Tomatoes - multi period 3 - Pleasantville, Contact - not sure what to call this category 4 - Memento, Shortbus, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Drawing Restraint 9 - high concept I would mention Avatar as groundbreaking but it’s 21st century. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/18 "2010-05-08T07:40:49Z")
Star Wars influenced modern cinema more than any other movie. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs invented a very successful genre. Third is probably The Wizard of Oz. It was almost as powerful and groundbreaking in its time as Star Wars would be. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/19 "2010-05-08T09:45:34Z")
_The Wizard of Oz_ and _Citizen Kane_. All subsequent great films reference them, consciously or not. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2010, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710/20 "2010-05-08T10:01:58Z")
_Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines_ and _The Ann Jillian Story_ Why not? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-best-films-of-the-20th-century/538710.md?page=2)