The Best Movies Ever Made

The Sunday New York Times riffed on the 100 Best Movies list recently released by the British film journal Sight & Sound. Predictably, the 2022 S&S movie list has changed with the times. ("Citizen Kane" has been replaced at the top by "Jeanne Delmian," the 1975 film by Belgian director Chantal Akerman. Okaaay... I haven't seen the film.) And predictably, the current list is also more culturally -- that is, more racially and sexually -- aware. This has its plus side, as well as its obscure one.

But the sometimes baffling S&S list did prompt me to write down my own Favorite Movie List, which I herewith share with you. Feel free to add your own choices.

Number One is:

"The Godfather"

Btw, I had an interesting conversation about this choice with my 32-year-old son Joe Talbot, director of "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" (which I rank -- objectively -- as one of the best debut films of all time). Joe picks "The Big Lebowski" instead as Number One (also high on my favorite list) -- he insists it's a generational thing. He ranks the Coen brothers even higher than Coppola and Kubrick.

Here is the rest of my movie list. It's in no special order. And note that I include comedies as well as "genre" movies like film noir and Western classics. These lists tend to give short shrift to both categories. Note also that this is my "favorite" list. I don't pretend I'm scientific about it - but it is vaguely chronological.

-- Three on a Match" (Yes, this early example of film noir costarred my father, Lyle Talbot, but so what? It's hard-bitten and great. It also features a young Bogie and Bette Davis.)

-- "His Girl Friday"

-- "The Maltese Falcon"

-- "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

-- "The Grapes of Wrath"

— “Modern Times”

-- "Duck Soup"

-- "Night at the Opera"

-- "Casablanca"

-- "Snow White"

-- "Pinocchio"

-- "Wizard of Oz"

-- "It's a Wonderful Life"

-- "Out of the Past"

-- "The Third Man"

-- "Odd Man Out"

-- "In a Lonely Place"

-- "North by Northwest"

-- "The Fugitive Kind"

-- "A Face in the Crowd"

-- "Ace in the Hole"

-- "On the Waterfront"

-- "All About Eve"

-- "Lawrence of Arabia"

-- "Dr. Strangelove"

-- "The Shining"

-- "Eyes Wide Shut" (Certain directors -- like Stanley Kubrick -- deserve to have more than one film on this list.)

-- "Burn!"

-- "Midnight Cowboy"

-- "Women in Love"

-- "Day for Night"

-- "Z"

-- "Missing"

-- "Apocalypse Now"

-- "The Wanderers"

-- "We All Loved Each Other So Much"

-- "One Sings, the Other Doesn't"

-- "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down"

-- "My Brilliant Career"

-- "Do the Right Thing"

-- "Malcolm X"

-- "25th Hour"

-- "After Hours" (I like this obscure Scorsese comedy better than his dramatic films)

-- "Annie Hall"

-- "Hannah and Her Sisters"

-- "Crimes and Misdemeanors"

-- "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

-- "Midnight in Paris" (I know you're not supposed to enjoy films by Woody Allen anymore, but he got a raw deal and he's one of our greatest filmmakers)

-- "Born on the Fourth of July"

-- "JFK"

-- "Fearless"

-- "The Verdict"

-- "Last of the Mohicans"

-- "Collateral"

-- "Chinatown"

-- "The Ghost Writer" (Yes, the last two films were directed by Roman Polanski. Should he be allowed on the list? Can filmmakers who are sex offenders make great art? Discuss.)

-- "Unforgiven"

-- "Pulp Fiction"

-- "3:10 to Yuma" (the remake)

-- "The Crying Game"

-- "The Boxer"

— “The Paper” (One of the best movies — THE best ? — ever made about the newspaper racket.)

-- "The Big Lebowski"

-- "Miller's Crossing"

-- Jerry Maguire"

-- "The Wonder Boys"

-- "The Nightmare Before Christmas"

-- "Family Man"

-- "Vampire's Kiss"

-- "Brokeback Mountain"

-- "Pan's Labyrinth"

Like I said, show me yours!

Marlon Brando in The Godfather