Part I: Birth of film - 1969
Part II: 1970 - 1999
Part III: 2000 - Present day
Why did we decide on these cutoff dates? Quite simply, it's because neither of us will be putting too much focus on classic movies. At this point, Fritz Lang's Metropolis is pushing 90 years old, and has had probably close to 39 billion people write articles on it since its release. I don't feel either of us are going to change the way people look at it, nor will we say anything even remotely new about it at this point in time. With our focus being on more contemporary films, we will be able to go into greater depth without feeling as much like it's something that's been done to death for the past 75 years, that we won't have anything new or fresh to say about them. I don't have any interest in that, do you?
So, now that you're all ready to have your minds blown, here are our lists. Smashed Cut's best films from the birth of cinema through 1969.
#20 - Seconds [Adam's pick]
Uses a devilishly brilliant science fiction concept (a special surgery that can change your identity) as a way to subvert and the falseness and entitlement of the middle-class. Not to mention an extremely creepy play on Vietnam era conspiracy paranoia.
#20 - The Third Man [Jeff's pick]
One of the greatest noirs in cinema history, this visually-breathtaking thriller has all the right components to make it the classic it is considered to this day. This is what a noir looks, sounds, and smells like (and believe me, it smells awesome).
#19 - La Jetee [Adam's pick]
One of the greatest and most innovative short films of all time. Comprised entirely of still photographs, and told in voice-over narration, it creates a bleak and strange post-apocalyptic (non-linear) narrative that masterfully experiments with time.
#19 - The World Of Apu [Jeff's pick]
The third and final installment in Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy, this emotional journey ends with a bang and leaves a lasting impression. The finest film to ever emerge from India, as well as the best film in one of my favorite trilogies of all-time.
#18 - Tokyo Drifter [Adam's pick]
A candy-colored yakuza thriller that takes the most basic of plots and designs it in an expressionist style that only a madman like Seijun Suzuki could pull off. Overflowing with energy and style. The best kind of craziness.
#18 - The Adventures Of Robin Hood [Jeff's pick]
The ultimate Robin Hood movie. Released one year before Gone With The Wind and The Wizard Of Oz, this technicolor adventure is brimming with energy and life. Absolutely stunning, and features my favorite Robin Hood performance ever, courtesy of Errol Flynn.
#17 - His Girl Friday [Adam's pick]
The definitive screwball comedy, with rapid-fire dialogue that's so witty and clever that you'll discover and new joke each time you watch it. Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant run circles around the rest of the cast, waging a war of one-liners.
#17 - A Trip To The Moon [Jeff's pick]
Yes, this is a short film, and yes, it's as corny as hell, but that doesn't make it any less amazing. Fun, imaginative, and totally brilliant, this film is nearly 100 years old and the editing techniques used in it still impress me.
#16 - 12 Angry Men [Adam's pick]
A masterclass of characterization (12 characters that each have an arc), narrative structure, and pacing. Sidney Lumet, a director known to be rather systematic, meticulously designed the set and camera angles, making a film confined to a single setting never lose its steam.
#16 - Batman: The Movie [Jeff's pick]
That's right. Adam West. The most silly, off-the-wall, insane, and hilarious superhero movie I think I've ever seen, this movie encapsulates everything there is to love about the series and compacts it into one incredible movie.
#15 - Easy Rider [Adam's pick]
A drug-induced road movie that works as a snapshot of Vietnam-era America and a subversion of the American dream. Features a stunning and terrifying drug trip sequences as well as an ending that will leave your jaw on the floor. A culture brimming and ready to explode.
#15 - Les Vampires [Jeff's pick]
Probably the most intense silent film (serial) I've ever seen, this film (serial) is broken into 10 parts (because it's a film serial), with every chapter bringing new twists and turns, killing off main characters, and just being thoroughly engrossing from start to finish.
#14 - The Innocents [Adam's pick]
A haunted house film that is as much about ghosts as corrupted innocence and loneliness. Freddie Francis' photography is like a fever dream gradually becoming a nightmare.
#14 - Cairo Station [Jeff's pick]
The first ever film by Egyptian director/actor Youssef Chahine, and boy is it fantastic. Funny, thrilling, terrifying, and an excellent social commentary. Even Chahine's performance is great. This is one of the best directorial debuts of all-time.
#13 - To Be Or Not To Be [Adam's pick]
Ernst Lubitsch's World War II satire is as funny as it is perfectly timed. Made in 1942, every Nazi joke and gag feels dangerous. But the danger can't hold back how painfully hilarious it is to see actor Bronski (Tom Dugan) walk out into a Polish street dressed as Hitler, cocky and assure, then to be approached by a little girl who asks, “May I have an autograph, Mr. Bronski?”
#13 - The Cameraman [Jeff's pick]
My personal favorite of all silent comedies, a category stacked with fantastic films. Buster Keaton's ability to convey emotion so sharply is unmatched among his peers, and despite this film lacking the impressive stuntwork of The General or Steamboat Bill, Jr, still stands as his funniest and most emotional film.
#12 - Sunset Boulevard [Adam's pick]
Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond remains the most complex and layered portrayal of the obsessive, self-fossilized actress stereotype. Billy Wilder plays off the myths of Hollywood and the fleeting glory of its icons, and John F. Seitz's shadowy noir photography creates a world where the myth is collapsing upon itself.
#12 - Sweet Smell Of Success [Jeff's pick]
Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis absolutely tear it up in this movie, delivering fast-paced dialogue with bite and humor from start to finish. Every scene featuring either of these two actors is absolute gold. I love it.
#11 - 2001: A Space Odyssey [Adam's pick]
One of the ultimate cinematic experiences. It is a beautiful, scary, hypnotic experimentation of the medium. Seeing it in the theater is a testament to the religion of cinema.
#11 - Orpheus [Jeff's pick]
One of the best fantasy films of all-time, this surreal Cocteau classic features some of the coolest visual effects of its era, and stands as one of my favorite french movies ever. A visual treat, and a fantastic retelling of a classic story.
#10 - Persona [Adam's pick]
Ingmar Bergman plays cinematic mind games with this terrifying exploration of mental illness. Is Alma (Bibi Andersson) real? Is Elisabet (Liv Ullmann) real? Are they two parts of the same person? The film doesn't want an easy explanation, if one at all. Instead it's a fragmented, extremely experimental descent into the fragility of the mind.
#10 - The Night Of The Hunter [Jeff's pick]
The greatest Hitchcock film of all-time that wasn't even directed by Hitchcock. Probably the most well-lit movie ever made, featuring a chilling performance by Robert Mitchum as one of cinemas greatest villains. Charles Laughton, this was the only movie you ever made. How on earth did you do it?
#9 - Point Blank [Adam's pick]
A simplistic story of betrayal made complex through its execution which is driven by heavy doses of revisionism. The narrative is told in perpetual montage, uses its style to accentuate the energy and brutality of the drama.
#9 - The Lost Weekend [Jeff's pick]
Among a sea of bonafide classic, this is still my favorite Billy Wilder film. And my favorite film of the 1940s. This is also my favorite film about alcoholism. This is an incredible movie that just refuses to let its hooks out of me, even years after I first saw it. Amazing.
#8 - Eyes Without A Face [Adam's pick]
A brilliant doctor hunts down beautiful women in order to steal their faces for his disfigured daughter. If made today, this would be gory torture-porn of the highest order. That's not to say it isn't disturbing, but primary it is a slow-burning, gradually distressing exploration of obsession, and the loss of identity.
#8 - Last Year At Marienbad [Jeff's pick]
A trippy, pseudo-meta film that left my brain in a state of turmoil for days after watching it. I don't know if I have ever used my wracked my mind as much after and during a movie as I did with this one. This is by no means an easy film, but it is really incredible if you watch it close enough.
#7 - The Wild Bunch [Adam's pick]
Features the most amazingly designed and violently beautiful gunfighting scenes, bar none. Sam Peckinpah's entire career is a subversion of the myth of the west. With this film he spoils us by fusing a thrilling action/adventure narrative into his brooding ensemble character drama.
#7 - Dr. Strangelove [Jeff's pick]
Stanley Kubrick is a wizard. Here, he uses his dark sorcery to make a film featuring three distinctly different performances from Peter Sellers, George C. Scott falling over himself to keep the commies from looking at a big board, Slim Pickens riding a bomb like a mechanical bull as it comes crashing to Earth, and he does so flawlessly. Originally, this was supposed to be a serious movie. Yep, he's a wizard.
#6 - The Wages of Fear [Adam's pick]
For nearly the first hour of the film it takes its time developing the characters. It could be argued this section is a little bloated, but once the drama starts (men transporting tankers full of nitroglycerine), the tension and anxiety is non-stop. The constant sense of danger is astounding. And the literal and figurative explosions that happen at the end are equally built within the circumstances and the inner turmoil of the characters.
#6 - It Happened One Night [Jeff's pick]
My all-time favorite classic romantic comedy, this is one of those rare movies that stands the test of time and still manages to be genuinely funny 80 years after its release. With incredible chemistry between its two leads, this timeless rom-com just never gets old.
#5 - The Trial [Adam's pick]
Orson Welles stays faithful to Franz Kafka's novel almost completely, until he crafts an ending that is amazing in its own right. But the greatness of this adaptation lies in the visualization of Kafka's bizarre and absurd world – full of jarring angles and hypnotically designed interiors.
#5 - Seven Samurai [Jeff's pick]
I always have a hard time deciding which of Kurosawa's films are his best (because virtually everything he ever made is fantastic), but it always seems to boils down to two: this one and [BLEEP] (because spoilers). The action sequences are intense, the characters are fully fleshed-out, and the pacing is just incredible. The film may run 200 minutes, but never feels like more than 2 hours. What can I say? This is a legitimate masterpiece by the greatest director who has ever lived.
#4 - Kiss Me Deadly [Adam's pick]
A perfect combination of post-war cynicism and Cold War paranoia. Uses classic film noir tropes to create a world of endless corruption and violence.
#4 - Cool Hand Luke [Jeff's list]
It seems I'm at the point where every entry on my list earns the title "best BLAH of all-time", so I will try to spare you on this one. Paul Newman, George Kennedy, and Strother Martin are at their best here, in this comedic drama that consistently entertains and moves you. '60s cinema doesn't get much better than this, and even after having seen it close to a dozen times, I still find myself coming back to it again and again, and it hasn't gotten any less great.
#3 - Vertigo [Adam's pick]
The perfect culmination of Alfred Hitchcock's themes – doubling, obsession, murder. Tosses away the mystery like one of his MacGuffins, and focuses completely on the madness of Jimmy Stewart's Scottie Ferguson the consequences his obsession has on Kim Novak's Judy Barton.
#3 - Rashomon [Jeff's pick]
Hey, remember when I bleeped out that Kurosawa film title? Yeah, it was this one. If I were to single out one of his movies as being totally flawless, it would have to be this one. With layered writing and compelling characterization, this movie is not only is this an incredibly influential film, but it also features Mifune acting crazy, which automatically makes any movie at least 50% better. Probably the first truly great Kurosawa film, and still my favorite of them all.
#2 - Rosemary's Baby [Adam's pick]
Roman Polanski arrived in America and terrified the entire country with one of the original “satanic children” films. Evil hidden in the shadows is terrifying, but what if it was lurking inside your body? Polanski uses Mia Farrow's femininity and fragility to subvert this idea to terrifying extremes.
#2 - Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? [Jeff's pick]
This movie has the absolute best dialogue of anything I've ever seen before. The lighting, cinematography, acting, set design, dialogue, character development, pacing, editing, and anything else you could possibly praise this movie for is as good as it possibly could have been. This is one of the most adept examples of filmmaking ever put on display, and with its minimal (but fantastic) cast, doesn't ever misstep.
#1 - Sweet Smell of Success [Adam's pick]
One of the greatest screenplays of all time. A purebred American film: cynical and morally corrupt to the core. It's a treasure to watch Tony Curtis sell his soul one manipulation at a time, and Burt Lancaster deliver an onslaught of amazingly cruel one-liners.
#1 - The Seventh Seal [Jeff's pick]
The most twisted, nihilistic film I've ever seen, and totally captures the haunting mood and atmosphere of a landscape ravaged by the black death. Doom is the word, as a knight washes up on the beach and challenges a very literal Death to a game of chess; a game he will undoubtedly lose. The weight of his demise crushes him as he wanders from one town to the next hoping to escape death, or find comfort in an afterlife he is never guaranteed. Filled to the brim with despair and hopelessness, this movie is not only fully absorbing, beautifully-crafted, and incredibly-shot, but also quite horrifying in a unconventional way.
Join us next time for Part II: 1970 - 1999.
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