Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Best movie ever?

some more jewels in my collection!

La Strada (Fellini)
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Huston)
Nosferatu (Murnau)
Seventh Seal/The Virgin Spring (Bergman)
The Train (Frankenheimer)
Inherit the Wind (Kramer)
Forbidden Games (Clément)
L'Armée des Ombres/Army of Shadows (Manchevski):
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Army-of-Shadows-Blu-ray/17068/
The Exorcist (Friedkin)
Mr. Hulot's vacation (Tati)

J.B. I, too, very much enjoyed 1955's The Ladykillers. In a similar vein, if you have not seen it, I think you would very much enjoy "The Lavender Hill Mob" (1951).

I saw it a couple of time, a long time ago; i should see it again as it's a bit foggy in my mind after all those years. thanks.

WOW! Now you guys are starting to hit some of my favs.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Huston) - Easy to see why Huston's father, Walter, won the best supporting Oscar for his performance.

The Train (Frankenheimer) - Amazing, one camera take of Lancaster running on a structure over the tracks, sliding down a ladder, then jumping on a train. All done by Lancaster himself.

Inherit the Wind (Kramer) - Spencer Tracy. Nuff said.

Mr. Hulot's Holiday (Tati) - A master of mime comedy.

To Kill A Mockingbird - A nearly perfect movie. One of the best features was the narration by Nelle Harper Lee, the book's author, herself. Brilliant touch that worked beautifully.

The Man Who Would Be King - Saw this a theater when it first came out (1975). Wasn't expecting much but ended up blown away by a great story and the usual excellent performances by Caine and Connery.

Cool! I was JUST going to ask what your favorite movies are, Jack! Anyhow, I'm glad it came down to NOT trying to figure out the greatest movie of all time, but our personal favorites.

quote: "Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Huston) - Easy to see why Huston's father, Walter, won the best supporting Oscar for his performance."

i remember reading that the director had to ask his father to water down his interpretation because he was stealing the show from the main actor. it's true that Walter's part in the movie is extraordinary.

Great story. All I can say is, if Walter watered down his performance, I can't imagine what it was like BEFORE he watered it down.

I thought Bogart's performance was great too. Even Tim Holt, who I don't think of as a great actor, did a wonderful job with his role. Just a great job by everybody.

Mary, I have too many favorites to try to list. I am a movie junkie.

There's where most people's confusion lies, as that is not the case. You're confusing the subjective opinion of liking or not liking any one film, with the objective ability to determine if that one film is "good" or not.

I might love Crank 2 (I do), but that doesn't make it a great movie. Objectively it's terrible.

I don't think Murph is confused.

I agree that "liking" something is not necessarily the same as determining its "quality". I'm going to disagree that determination of artistic goodness is an objective pursuit, though.

I suppose it would be an interesting exercise to attempt to determine not only the objective factors necessary for "quality", but also their thresholds. But I just don't have that kind of time.