And the winner is...
Brando’s mob boss, who takes top spot in my favourite films of all time
This week, i conclude the ten-week countdown of my 100 favourite Englishlanguage films. so i’m taking a little more space than usual, both to champion my Top 10 and to remind you of the full list.
I’m aware that i’ve left out lots of alltime classics. There’s no Citizen Kane or it’s A Wonderful Life or Apocalypse Now. heck, not even The shawshank Redemption. That doesn’t mean i don’t acknowledge them all as great pictures. i also confess that i regret not finding room for a Carry On film. i’m especially fond of Carry On Jack (1964).
Feel free to register angry dissent, or cheerful agreement, at classicfilms@dailymail.co.uk and thank you for your many contributions so far. i’ll list my favourite foreign-language films and documentaries in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, remember all these movies are available to watch at home, via streaming platforms or on DVD.
10 The Jungle Book (1967)
THE last film that Walt Disney produced; he died before it was released. But what a swansong, to say nothing of the vultures’ song, That’s What Friends Are For.
Disney wanted The Beatles to voice the fab four vultures. Alas, John Lennon refused. But in every other way The Jungle Book is unimprovably exuberant, funny and charming. For my money, though i hear the unique roar of The Lion King, it’s still the most entertaining of all animated musicals.
9 One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
KIRK DOUGLAS tried for years to finance an adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel, set in a psychiatric hospital. Eventually he gave up and sold the rights to his son Michael, who wound up producing the first movie in more than 40 years to win all five major Academy Awards.
It’s an extraordinarily powerful film about mental health, in which Jack Nicholson excels at the head of a remarkable cast.
8 Modern Times (1936)
I FIRST saw Charlie Chaplin’s glorious industrialisation satire on a snowy afternoon in Athens, in the winter of 1972, when i was 11.
I fell in love with it instantly, realising, among lots of greeks laughing fit to burst, that great slapstick comedy is the most joyful of universal languages.
The famous assembly-line scene on its own is a triumph of creativity no less, in my view, than the best bits of hamlet, or The Marriage Of Figaro, or the ceiling of the sistine Chapel. There, i’ve said it.
7 Pulp Fiction (1994)
I LOVED last year’s Once upon A Time in hollywood, which Quentin Tarantino tells us is his penultimate film.
But if he does call it a day after ten movies, this will surely remain the pick of them. The graphic violence isn’t for everyone but there is so much to cherish, from the ingenious narrative structure to a brilliant script, superb performances and the confluence, for a few unforgettable minutes, of John Travolta, uma Thurman and Chuck Berry.
6 Psycho (1960)
THERE was cinema before the taboo-busting Psycho, and cinema after. But people took showers before Psycho, and baths after. hitchcock knew the likely impact of the grisly bathroom murder in his peerless psychological thriller — that’s why it took him 78 camera set-ups and almost a quarter of his shooting schedule.
5 The Godfather Part II (1974)
SEE The godfather (below).
4 Jaws (1975)
STEVEN spielberg’s masterpiece had the same chilling effect on my generation that Psycho (above) had on the one before.
Yes, the shark looks a bit mechanical these days. But even with all the bells and whistles filmmakers have at their disposal now, none could tell this story like spielberg, not even 30 at the time and already a true master of his medium.
3 The Graduate (1967)
WHEN the direction, writing, casting, acting and music are all as good as they can be, you have cinematic perfection. That’s how i look on this treasure of a comingof-age comedy, the crowning glory of lots of illustrious careers — including those of director Mike Nichols and star Dustin hoffman.
It is also the all-time favourite film of two of my children, both in their 20s. They have great taste.
2 Some Like It Hot (1959)
BILLY Wilder’s credits as both writer and director are astonishing. And this stands at the summit of them, a radiant comedy in which Wilder, aided by Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe, spins a sublimely silly yarn, about two musicians posing as women to escape Chicago gangsters, into pure gold.
1 The Godfather (1972)
HOW often have you heard someone say of a film, ‘the book’s better’? Mario Puzo went to his grave knowing Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of his novel about a Mafia family had turned that notion upside down.
I don’t agree that The godfather ii overturns another cinematic truism — the original always beats the sequel — but together they are so great they make The godfather: Part iii (1990) look feebler than it really is.
In truth, i could place my top three films on this list in any order. if there are any you haven’t seen, now is the time. happy viewing.
■ For reviews of this week’s VOD-film releases, visit Mail Online