Vote for the best film from before you were born.

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The Village Voice top 100 list is more concise than the one that had every film on the National Film Registry. But there could be a few more films from the last three decades (well, up to 1999, when the poll was done).

Poll Results

OptionVotes
The Rules of the Game (1939, Jean Renoir) 5
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick) 5
Singin' in the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly) 5
Star Wars (1977, George Lucas) 4
Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock) 4
The Birth of a Nation (1915, D.W. Griffith) 4
M (1931, Fritz Lang) 3
Duck Soup (1933, Leo McCarey) 3
The Lady Eve (1941, Preston Sturges) 3
City Lights (1931, Charles Chaplin) 2
The Wizard of Oz (1939, Victor Fleming) 2
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970, Russ Meyer) 2
La Jetee (1962, Chris Marker) 2
The Godfather (1972, Francis Ford Coppola) 2
Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton) 2
Aguirre: the Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog) 2
North by Northwest (1959, Alfred Hitchcock) 2
Pickpocket (1959, Robert Bresson) 2
Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau) 2
The Bicycle Thief (1949, Vittorio DeSica) 1
All About Eve (1950, Joseph H. Lewis) 1
The Third Man (1949, Carol Reed) 1
Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974, Jacques Rivette) 1
Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa) 1
The Earrings of Madame de... (1953, Max Ophuls) 1
The Conformist (1970, Bernardo Bertolucci) 1
Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles) 1
The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton) 1
A Man Escaped (1956, Robert Bresson) 1
Pierrot le Fou (1965, Jean-Luc Godard) 1
Contempt (1963, Jean-Luc Godard) 1
Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock) 1
It's a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra) 1
Shoah (1985, Claude Lanzmann) 1
Nosferatu (1922, F.W. Murnau) 1
Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein) 1
Metropolis (1926, Fritz Lang) 1
Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento) 1
Ordet (1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer) 1
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Carl Theodor Dreyer) 1
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, Tobe Hooper) 1
Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles) 1
Shadow of a Doubt (1943, Alfred Hitchcock) 1
A Woman Under the Influence (1974, John Cassavetes) 0
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966, Robert Bresson) 0
Wavelength (1967, Michael Snow) 0
The Godfather Part II (1974, Francis Ford Coppola) 0
Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott) 0
Chinatown (1974, Roman Polanski) 0
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1965, Pier Paolo Pasolini) 0
Landscape in the Mist (1988, Theo Angelopoulos) 0
Close-Up (1990, Abbas Kiarostami)0
Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966, George Kuchar) 0
Masculine-Feminine (1966, Jean-Luc Godard) 0
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980, Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 0
Fox and His Friends (1975, Rainer Werner Fassbinder) 0
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman) 0
Salo (1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini) 0
Performance (1970, Nicolas Roeg & Donald Cammell) 0
Taxi Driver (1976, Martin Scorsese) 0
Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese) 0
Barry Lyndon (1975, Stanley Kubrick) 0
Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1966, Jean-Luc Godard) 0
The Rise of Louis XIV (1966, Roberto Rossellini) 0
An Actor's Revenge (1963, Kon Ichikawa) 0
Vivre sa vie (1962, Jean-Luc Godard) 0
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962, John Ford) 0
Paisan (1946, Roberto Rossellini) 0
The Palm Beach Story (1942, Preston Sturges) 0
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles) 0
A Trip to the Moon (1902, Georges Melies) 0
Modern Times (1936, Charles Chaplin) 0
Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale) 0
L'Atalante (1934, Jean Vigo) 0
King Kong (1933, Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack) 0
The Man With a Movie Camera (1929, Dziga Vertov) 0
Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928, Buster Keaton) 0
The General (1927, Buster Keaton) 0
The Gold Rush (1925, Charles Chaplin) 0
Greed (1924, Erich von Stroheim) 0
Broken Blossoms (1919, D.W. Griffith) 0
Intolerance (1916, D.W. Griffith) 0
Los Olvidados (1950, Luis Bunuel) 0
Sunset Boulevard (1950, Billy Wilder) 0
Jules and Jim (1961, Francois Truffaut) 0
Psycho (1960, Alfred Hitchcock) 0
The 400 Blows (1959, Francois Truffaut) 0
Ashes and Diamonds (1958, Andrzej Wajda) 0
The Seventh Seal (1956, Ingmar Bergman) 0
The Searchers (1956, John Ford) 0
Pather Panchali (1955, Satyajit Ray) 0
October (1927, Sergei Eisenstein) 0
The Apu Trilogy (1955-59, Satyajit Ray) 0
All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk) 0
Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa) 0
Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi) 0
Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu) 0
Umberto D (1952, Vittorio De Sica) 0
The Golden Coach (1952, Jean Renoir) 0
Les Vampires (1915-16, Louis Feuillade) 0


Eric H., Sunday, 27 May 2007 02:45 (nineteen years ago)

I vote for La Jetee.

Eric H., Sunday, 27 May 2007 02:46 (nineteen years ago)

It was from before I was born, but then again, maybe I'll realize I saw a vision of myself from a previous time.

Eric H., Sunday, 27 May 2007 02:47 (nineteen years ago)

OH GOD ERIC YOU WANT ME TO VOTE FOR CASSAVETES DON'T YOU

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 27 May 2007 02:58 (nineteen years ago)

My actual pick is Blue Velvet. From those, I'm leaning towards 2001, though Citizen Kane, Sunset Blvd. and Chinatown are strong contenders.

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 03:11 (nineteen years ago)

I voted for Jurassic Park.

Pleasant Plains, Sunday, 27 May 2007 03:57 (nineteen years ago)

Actually I voted for the forst Pirates of the Carribbean.

Eric H., Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:00 (nineteen years ago)

It was a tough choice but I finally went with Behind The Green Door over City Lights.

milo z, Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:01 (nineteen years ago)

;_;

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:01 (nineteen years ago)

It was a touch choise, but I finally went with this.

Eric H., Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:16 (nineteen years ago)

Was that your forst choise?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/tapestore/snap.jpg

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:36 (nineteen years ago)

Celine and Julie

marmotwolof, Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:39 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't seen that! Now I'm excited!

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:42 (nineteen years ago)

the R2 DVD is nice.

marmotwolof, Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:43 (nineteen years ago)

I'll check it out...sounds like a great film. Thx!

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:43 (nineteen years ago)

i voted la jetée, too, but i didn't really look at the rest of the list. can't wait for upcoming chris marker double feature on criterion!!

poortheatre, Sunday, 27 May 2007 04:49 (nineteen years ago)

well good morning

Eric H., Sunday, 27 May 2007 05:00 (nineteen years ago)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/tapestore/oscar.jpg

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 05:17 (nineteen years ago)

well good morning.

Eric H., Sunday, 27 May 2007 05:57 (nineteen years ago)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/tapestore/oscar.jpg.

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 05:59 (nineteen years ago)

I CAN DO THIS FOR HOURS

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 06:00 (nineteen years ago)

well good night

Eric H., Sunday, 27 May 2007 06:01 (nineteen years ago)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/tapestore/oscar.jpg..

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 06:01 (nineteen years ago)

No

JTS, Sunday, 27 May 2007 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/tapestore/uhhhhh.jpg

Tape Store, Sunday, 27 May 2007 20:03 (nineteen years ago)

I would have put up some different scorsese options, but as I'm not in charge, I went with Star Wars

TOMBOT, Sunday, 27 May 2007 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

I almost went for Duck Soup. I like everything on there that I've seen, and own about 20 of them on DVD.

marmotwolof, Sunday, 27 May 2007 21:39 (nineteen years ago)

i voted fot "The Night of the Hunter" - not that i think it's the best, there are a lot i haven't seen. close contenders were La Jetée, Celine et Julie... and Barry Lyndon.

jed_, Sunday, 27 May 2007 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

Will I be the only guy repping "Touch of Evil"?

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 27 May 2007 21:55 (nineteen years ago)

rough but... 'the gold rush' over 'los olvidados' in a squeeze. better dream sequence!

strgn, Sunday, 27 May 2007 22:27 (nineteen years ago)

I think Jed's taste comes closest to matching my own ... except for JTS.

Eric H., Monday, 28 May 2007 00:44 (nineteen years ago)

I went for Suspiria in the absence of Annie Hall (!!!), The Last Picture Show or even Rear Window. Sorry Citizen Kane, Duck Soup, and Vertigo.

Sundar, Monday, 28 May 2007 01:04 (nineteen years ago)

Since both my favorite film ever and my favorite silent are missing, i voted for... 'Ordet.' Chinatown, Tokyo Story and Rules of the Game were seriously considered.

t0dd swiss, Monday, 28 May 2007 02:35 (nineteen years ago)

crap, I'm too old to vote for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls :(

Morley Timmons, Monday, 28 May 2007 05:50 (nineteen years ago)

This poll is stupid - picking only one of these films is absurd.

Hurting 2, Monday, 28 May 2007 05:57 (nineteen years ago)

How many birthdays do you have?!

Eric H., Monday, 28 May 2007 09:19 (nineteen years ago)

waht no maltese falcon? then wizard of oz, just edgin singin in the rain.

darraghmac, Monday, 28 May 2007 11:31 (nineteen years ago)

OK THIS POLL IS RIDICULOUS FIL SNOB THAT I AM ASI WANT TO FOTE FOR EVERYTHING

strgn, Monday, 28 May 2007 11:52 (nineteen years ago)

CLOSE-UP > 0

SOMEONE

IT DOES NOT MATTER WHEN U WERE BORN

strgn, Monday, 28 May 2007 11:53 (nineteen years ago)

all the good ones came after I was born :-(

m coleman, Monday, 28 May 2007 12:20 (nineteen years ago)

oh not really. it was hard but I choose NOTORIOUS 'your guests are downstairs...now go to them...'

but gee whiz where is FROM HERE TO ETERNITY?????

m coleman, Monday, 28 May 2007 12:24 (nineteen years ago)

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975, Chantal Akerman)

I haven't seen this. :-(((

nathalie, Monday, 28 May 2007 12:27 (nineteen years ago)

lol mai post got eated but i voted 'vertigo'.

That one guy that quit, Monday, 28 May 2007 12:40 (nineteen years ago)

its a wonderful life...

stevie, Monday, 28 May 2007 12:45 (nineteen years ago)

jeanne dielmann is on french dvd, nathalie.

That one guy that quit, Monday, 28 May 2007 12:48 (nineteen years ago)

no tarkovsky no credibility

Edward III, Monday, 28 May 2007 12:59 (nineteen years ago)

I love godard and I'm this close to voting for pierrot, but was this really necessary?

Vivre sa vie (1962, Jean-Luc Godard)
Contempt (1963, Jean-Luc Godard)
Pierrot le Fou (1965, Jean-Luc Godard)
Masculine-Feminine (1966, Jean-Luc Godard)
Two or Three Things I Know About Her (1966, Jean-Luc Godard)

Edward III, Monday, 28 May 2007 13:01 (nineteen years ago)

i would not have included 'vivre sa vie' but i think it's fair to have that concentration, peak jlg being a huge moment in euro cinema.

That one guy that quit, Monday, 28 May 2007 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

jeanne dielmann is on french dvd, nathalie.

mais elle est belge, quoi!

or at least someone told me she is.

nathalie, Monday, 28 May 2007 14:08 (nineteen years ago)

well she lives in brussels, yep. but i think the dvd is french.

That one guy that quit, Monday, 28 May 2007 14:19 (nineteen years ago)

vertigo or duck soup

and what, Monday, 28 May 2007 14:22 (nineteen years ago)

not being able to vote for anything during the 70s makes this a little easier for me. torn between 2001 and pierrot.

1 bergman? the seventh seal? really?

Edward III, Monday, 28 May 2007 15:30 (nineteen years ago)

it's kind of conservative for village voice, not many quirks. and i don't just mean LOL WAER IS ZOOLANDER FILM, honest.

That one guy that quit, Monday, 28 May 2007 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

I voted for the Third Man. Weird that there's no Casablanca.

chap, Monday, 28 May 2007 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

What's this? No Blow-Up?

Alex in NYC, Monday, 28 May 2007 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

i wouldd have expected at least 1x antonioni.

That one guy that quit, Monday, 28 May 2007 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

8 1/2

billstevejim, Monday, 28 May 2007 17:52 (nineteen years ago)

if persona or l'avventura were on the list, i would have voted for those in an instant

t0dd swiss, Monday, 28 May 2007 19:31 (nineteen years ago)

I misread the title, I thought it was "best film from the year you were born" and since there was no option for the year I was born, I picked the only option for the year after. I don't even like Shoah.

Will M., Monday, 28 May 2007 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

Err, by "I don't even like" I meant to write "I haven't even seen," no idea how my wires got crossed on that one.

Will M., Monday, 28 May 2007 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

it's okay, lots of people are repressed anti-semites.

That one guy that quit, Monday, 28 May 2007 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

No Fellini, so fast-talking <i>The Lady Eve</i> instead for me. Wow I am old-fashioned!

2for25, Monday, 28 May 2007 21:20 (nineteen years ago)

Ohhh, is Shoah the death camp film? I think "Shiloh" is more my style

Will M., Monday, 28 May 2007 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

Which they apparently never even made a film of... "Old Yeller," then

Will M., Monday, 28 May 2007 21:22 (nineteen years ago)

Just read today that Heston called Touch of Evil "Not a masterpiece, but the greatest B-movie ever made."

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 28 May 2007 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, hello, altho I have no idea how that thing got on there.

Abbott, Monday, 28 May 2007 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

Ohhh, is Shoah the death camp film? I think "Shiloh" is more my style

-- Will M., Monday, May 28, 2007 5:21 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Which they apparently never even made a film of...

au contraire

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120118/

Edward III, Tuesday, 29 May 2007 00:25 (nineteen years ago)

That was the movie that got put in the VCR every time we had a substitute teacher. That and fucking HOOSIERS.

Abbott, Tuesday, 29 May 2007 00:36 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, it's weird how there's sooo much '60s Godard but then they stop short of including the flaming masterpiece Week End.

Just read today that Heston called Touch of Evil "Not a masterpiece, but the greatest B-movie ever made."

True, he said that in an "AFI 100 Years (Only) 100 Movies (Ever Made Apparently)" special. I'm sure he reserves the term "masterpiece" for something like Ben-Hur.

Eric H., Tuesday, 29 May 2007 01:28 (nineteen years ago)

Well good morning.

Eric H., Monday, 4 June 2007 02:45 (nineteen years ago)

no Red River, no cred

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 09:30 (nineteen years ago)

No Altman, no credibility.

C. Grisso/McCain, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 15:26 (nineteen years ago)

The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Netflix is really pissing me off. No La Jetee. They have Satyajit Ray, but nothing from the Apu Trilogy. And on and on.

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

No Philadelphia Story, no Casablanca, no vote.

Madchen, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 15:34 (nineteen years ago)

this is a really weird list of movies. i mean, it isn't but it is. it's missing quite a few things that i assumed would be on there and i would've voted for. and it includes some things that i'd assume wouldn't have made the cut? ehhh.

the schef (adam schefter ha ha), Tuesday, 5 June 2007 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

Netflix is really pissing me off. No La Jetee. They have Satyajit Ray, but nothing from the Apu Trilogy. And on and on.

Netflix in the states should have La Jetee when the Criterion disc comes out in a few weeks.

C. Grisso/McCain, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

The Apu Trilogy is coming to Netflix, but I have "saved" it with no pending release date. Same with Sunrise.

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

Netflix is really pissing me off. No La Jetee. They have Satyajit Ray, but nothing from the Apu Trilogy.

la jetee is on short#2: dreams, but that's out of print. same with apu trilogy, those dvds are out of print and go for mad bucks now. which is crazy, 'cause I heard the transfers were pretty crappy on them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-World-of-Apu-Aparajito-Pather-Panchali-Trilogy-DVD_W0QQitemZ330125541227QQihZ014QQcategoryZ617QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Edward III, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 15:52 (nineteen years ago)

And the neighborhood movie rental places that would almost assuredly have carried these titles are now closed. The chains crippled them and Netflix put one in the brain-pan.

Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

Netflix won't have Sunrise until Fox puts it out independent of the box it got shoehorned into.Backstory

BTW, did the Apu trilogy ever get boxed in the US? Amazon only lists individual US discs and then Box Sets for overseas. I swear I saw a US box at Fry's a couple of years ago.

C. Grisso/McCain, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

I remember when they came out, I don't think there was a box set available.

Edward III, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe they just had all the three films racked together. Stupid memory.

C. Grisso/McCain, Tuesday, 5 June 2007 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ILX System, Friday, 8 June 2007 23:01 (nineteen years ago)

i rented the apu trilogy from netflix not more than two years ago, and I don't remember any image quality issues.

tremendoid, Friday, 8 June 2007 23:39 (nineteen years ago)

granted, I haven't seen them, but the dvdbeaver review was pretty damning:
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/dvdcompare/patherpanchali.htm

Edward III, Saturday, 9 June 2007 02:00 (nineteen years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ILX System, Saturday, 9 June 2007 23:01 (nineteen years ago)

lol

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 9 June 2007 23:03 (nineteen years ago)

omg Birth of a Nation

Curt1s Stephens, Saturday, 9 June 2007 23:05 (nineteen years ago)

...the land of batshit rightwing lurkers

tremendoid, Saturday, 9 June 2007 23:11 (nineteen years ago)

This was a weird poll.

chap, Sunday, 10 June 2007 00:03 (nineteen years ago)

less disturbed by BoN than Star Wars.

milo z, Sunday, 10 June 2007 00:16 (nineteen years ago)

tombot ballot stuffing

my vote for pierrot robbed 2001 of the win ah well

Edward III, Sunday, 10 June 2007 01:32 (nineteen years ago)

edward i <3 u. pierrot le fou is the one i would have picked had i looked at this thread before now.

jergïns, Sunday, 10 June 2007 01:35 (nineteen years ago)

I voted for Star Wars dammit

but that is because I am not a movie buff

Curt1s Stephens, Sunday, 10 June 2007 03:32 (nineteen years ago)

i didn't vote but probably would've picked rules of the game or vertigo

impudent harlot, Monday, 11 June 2007 03:41 (nineteen years ago)

the list of options was so weird, seriously

TOMBOT, Monday, 11 June 2007 16:15 (nineteen years ago)

esp. as the poll concept was so logically sound.

blueski, Monday, 11 June 2007 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

new pierrot print, bodes well for much needed dvd reissue

http://www.janusfilms.com/pierrot/

Edward III, Wednesday, 20 June 2007 05:27 (nineteen years ago)


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