67 + 2 films
| The Paper | Ron Howard |
| Delicatessen | Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro |
‘Ace in the Hole’ dialog that resonates in 2025
“When they bleached your hair, they must have bleached your brain too.”
‘Nashville’ dialog that resonates in 2025
“Does it makes sense that a multi-million dollar income should go untaxed year after year?”
‘All The President’s Men’ dialog resonating in 2025
“The Committee’s not an independent operation. Everything is cleared with the White House.”
‘The Great Dictator’ resonating in 2025
“Let us fight to free the world to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all people’s happiness.”
63 + 4 films
| All the President’s Men | Alan J. Pakula |
| Nashville | Robert Altman |
| Salaam Bombay! | Mira Nair |
| The Great Dictator | Charlie Chaplin |
Film list of 63 of the best for me
These films are not the best perhaps, or even the best 63 films I have seen, though they would be very close to that.
I simply laid them down without prior thought of ordering or listing them in any kind or categorisation of this or that.
The only change was to add Gosford Park by Robert Altman, and to do that I dropped Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! which should not be left out, but I kept Monsoon Wedding which I adored when I first saw it and still do.
So the filmmakers and films are all great and in no way am I listing them in order of best – first to worst. There are no second-best or best here. They are simply all magnificent for all their own reasons and appeared as I remembered them and wrote them down.
Tell me what you think – offer suggestions – i.e. if you wish to.
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest | Milos Forman |
| Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | George Roy Hill |
| The Last Picture Show | Peter Bogdanovich |
| Apocalypse Now | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Rear Window | Alfred Hitchcock |
| King of Comedy | Martin Scorsese |
| Raging Bull | Martin Scorsese |
| The Good the Bad and the Ugly | Sergio Leone |
| Little Miss Sunshine | Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton |
| Pulp Fiction | Quentin Tarantino |
| Reservoir Dogs | Quentin Tarantino |
| Casablanca | Michael Curtiz |
| Dog Day Afternoon | Sydney Lumet |
| The Godfather | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Unforgiven | Clint Eastwood |
| 2001 A Space Odyssey | Stanley Kubrick |
| Amadeus | Milos Forman |
| Blade Runner | Ridley Scott |
| The Thing | John Carpenter |
| Ace in the Hole | Billy Wilder |
| The Verdict | Sydney Lumet |
| Network | Sydney Lumet |
| Sideways | Alexander Payne |
| The French Connection | William Friedkin |
| The Godfather II | Francis Ford Coppola |
| A Clockwork Orange | Stanley Kubrick |
| Paths of Glory | Stanley Kubrick |
| Lawrence of Arabia | David Lean |
| Easy Rider | Dennis Hopper |
| Chinatown | Roman Polanski |
| 8 1/2 | Federico Fellini |
| La Dolce Vita | Federico Fellini |
| The Conversation | Francis Ford Coppola |
| Out of Africa | Sydney Pollack |
| Annie Hall | Woody Allen |
| Hannah and Her Sisters | Woody Allen |
| Deconstructing Harry | Woody Allen |
| Broadway Danny Rose | Woody Allen |
| Amarcord | Federico Fellini |
| Day for Night (La Nuit américaine) | Francois Truffaut |
| La règle du jeu | Jean Renoir |
| Crimes and Misdemeanours | Woody Allen |
| The French Connection II | William Friedkin |
| Thelma and Louise | Ridley Scott |
| Gandhi | Richard Attenborough |
| American Graffiti | George Lucas |
| Atlantic City | Louis Malle |
| Das Boot | Wolfgang Petersen |
| Monsoon Wedding | Mira Nair |
| Gosford Park | Robert Altman |
| Witness | Peter Weir |
| Persona | Ingmar Bergman |
| Wild Strawberries | Ingmar Bergman |
| Cries and Whispers | Ingmar Bergman |
| Autumn Sonata | Ingmar Bergman |
| The Truman Show | Peter Weir |
| Fanny and Alexander | Ingmar Bergman |
| War and Peace | Sergei Bondarchuk |
| Yojimbo | Akira Kurosawa |
| Rashomon | Akira Kurosawa |
| Paris Texas | Wim Wenders |
| Schindler’s List | Steven Spielberg |
| Jaws | Steven Spielberg |
A Rainy Day in New York
From the moment in Annie Hall when he led Marshall McLuhan out from behind a film hoarding in a New York cinema I have been a huge fan of Woody Allen. He is America’s best writer director of ensemble urban comedies – truly a unique filmmaker.
Joe Strummer and I ran the ’83 London Marathon together
The Selvedge Yard writes:
“Believe it or not – Joe Strummer actually ran the London marathon in 1983. “I didn’t fuckin’ train. Not once. Just turned up and did it,” Strummer said. His keep-fit regime for success– “Drink 10 pints of beer the night before the race. Ya got that? And don’t run a single step at least 4 weeks before the race.” Got it, Joe…”
Well Selvedge – Believe it or not I ran the London Marathon with him – only I needed a beer so ran on ahead getting to the finishing line and over to Earl’s Court an hour earlier – finishing at 3hrs and 3 minutes.
I didn’t train either … tho’ I did for another one six months earlier
… I heard the Clash were running out of steam and wanted to give some moral support …
… Well partly not true. I didn’t know we were in the same stream of humanity on that given day – tho’ always liked them & their music … London Calling and all that … but then who gives a fuck about me and that time … Though one day I might run the London Marathon again …Just so I can say Lou (Lew) Alba (Collins) died right here on this spot on the road which Joe Strummer ran over as well … R.I.P. Joe
Swimanög 