REVEALED-THE ILX TOP 75 FILMS OF THE 1950s

so, no On the Beach

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27. 12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet, 1957
POINTS: 115
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“haha i can still remember watching 12 angry men in 8th grade social studies and hearing a bunch of girls yell "it's piglet!!" at the screen.”

― J.D.

“And, as far as the latest Armond kerfuffle goes, I have to say that Lumet's 12 Angry Men feels a lot more like great television than great film. But I don't really want to examine that empirically, either.”

― Eric H.

BONUS FEATURE

Gotta go fish for comments. Be back soon.

Rex Reed is hacking way too much of this poll

lol, I guess I stand by my 12AM comment.

?

He means he's telling Armond to shove his criticism of 12 AM.

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26. Pickpocket
Robert Bresson, 1959
POINTS: 117
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I just rescreened Pickpocket and came close to weeping.”

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

xpost True ... though at the same time, I didn't exactly mean it as the most glowing of endorsements.

oh, you didn't have to do that.

(xpost)

I stopped using "rescreened" when I got bored of seeing my name in the "Posts Very Much In Character" thread.

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25. Strangers On A Train
Alfred Hitchcock, 1951
POINTS: 117
VOTES: 6
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“"Strangers on a Train" is fantastic. So many great images: Bruno at the Jefferson Memorial, in the audience at the tennis match, the glasses' reflection scene...”

― Joe

“i like strangers on a train but the way hitch films that murder scene creeps me the fuck out.”

― J.D.

“Robert Walker is the best evil homosexual EVER. One of my favorite movie villains.”

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan)

BONUS FEATURE

made too soon to do Highsmith's plot. That hurt it.

(ie, it's groovy til Guy DOESN'T do his murder)

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24. Ugetsu/ Ugetsu monogatari
Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953
POINTS: 118
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

It seems that Mizoguchi has for some reason been forgotten from the list of great directors, which is a real pity, so I gotta go for the 62 or 72 list for still including Ugetsu.

― Tuomas

“I'm as upset as anyone that Ugetsu has been phased out of the top 10 out of the past few decades since it is, to my tastes, far greater than anything Kurosawa has done; perhaps my favorite film as of now”

― Vichitravirya_XI

BONUS FEATURE

This is definitely the "we now return to our regularly scheduled program" kicking in now. About time.

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23. Bonjour Tristesse
Otto Preminger, 1958
POINTS: 126
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Jean Seberg's perfect summer starts to slip away from her as Preminger's ever-gliding camera picks up every shard culminating in the devastating final shot.”

― Kevin John Bozelka

“Preminger's (and Seberg's... and Kerr's?) peak.”

--Dr. Morbius

“/Jean Seberg. //OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG.Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. OMG. Jean Seberg. //OMG./

“Jean Seberg, does one need anymore reasons to love this movie to death? She turns a crap novel and a mediocre movie into a diamond sight for sore eyes.

“Jean Seberg, my sweet Angel of Death. “

--Le Bateau Ivre

BONUS FEATURE

yes, good streak. I bet almost time for another stinker!

Seberg wd've been 70 yesterday, I think.

God, what a movie! Not Preminger's best but damn close.

Here's a comment I missed on Sweet Smell from Pete:

Sweet Smell of Success
The Wire begins here: This is the first non-noir I can think of to
relish in its street knowledge of a hidden urban world. It's wiseass,
streetwise, but maybe too wised up--I don't quite get the racial
cracks about the cop, for starters. But Sweet Smell obviously loves
its real New York locations and musical nightlife, and I love the
idea, whether true or made-up, that a right-wing tabloid entertainment
columnist could be powerful enough to hold court in his own section of
a restaurant, and that he could tar a jazz musician with the shocking,
shocking slander of Communist association and reefer smoking. But
mostly I love Tony Curtis, who would have given a little heart and
jolt to La Dolce Vita.

time for a cartoon break methinks.

I'm still sort of stuck on Advise and Consent as the best of the Premingers I've seen, but the man made as many movies as Hitchcock nearly, so that will probably never be a definitive statement.

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22. The Searchers
John Ford, 1956
POINTS: 127
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I have, in fact, used the first 20-25 minutes of The Searchers (up to the funeral) to teach the art and science of visual storytelling to would-be critics. I'm not a Fordophile in the sense that I've seen all of his work, but I watch The Searchers over and over again--corny, un p.c. bits and all--and get something new out of it every time. “

― Lee G

BONUS FEATURE

I'm guessing the two Fords I voted for aint finishing above this.

holy crap, that's low!

xp

some folx have no use at all for Wayne/Ford.

That IS low!

for a film w/ all the slapstick with Jeffrey Hunter? (tho God, he's beautiful)

jeez, i assumed it would make top ten no sweat.

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21. All About Eve
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950
POINTS: 129
VOTES: 6
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Patricia White in Uninvited: “It is one thing to love and emulate Bette Davis; it is another thing entirely to succumb to the charms of Barbara Bates” (213).”

--klb

“All About Eve is a strange one, because by rights it should be too literary, too stagey, too much of its period, too in-jokey and not cinematic enough for me. But I've sat through it twice in the last few months and been totally engrossed each time, even though I've seen it often enough to hear the dialogue before the actors say it.”

― frankiemachine

“I give Eve the edge for its gallery of performances (no one's praised Celeste Holm much; she plays the tricky part of the goody-goody backstabbing best friend with vinegary wit)”

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

BONUS FEATURE

I didn't vote for AAE (although I do like it). I would just like to say that I prefer Ms. Davis' milkshake line to Daniel Day Lewis'.

I prefer Ms. Davis' every line to every line of dialogue ever read by any other actor in any other movie.

(There, that's my blurb for that one.)

so gay, u is! give me George Sanders' tongue.

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20. Hiroshima mon Amour
Alain Resnais, 1959
POINTS: 129
VOTES: 5
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

To paraphrase Barthes “what's terrible about narrative is that it makes the monstrous viable.”

― Kevin John Bozelka

hiroshima mon amour: c/d?

I was going to say, the exception to my assertation above would be Faye Dunaway's every line in Mommie Dearest and Edith Massey's every line in Desperate Living.

All About Eve is like oxygen to me. Take it away and I die. Huff too much of it and it makes me high. I've seen it about 50, 60 times and I could watch it right now and then again immediately afterward.

Btw, that's my comment quoting from Uninvited which, repeating myself for the billionth time, features THE best analysis of the film I've ever read (particularly because it addresses how the film compels so many of us to keep watching the thing).

give me George Sanders' tongue.

Morbs, don't get randy.

If anyone was wondering, hiroshima's #1 broke the points tie w/Eve.

I was going to say, the exception to my assertation above would be Faye Dunaway's every line in Mommie Dearest and Edith Massey's every line in Desperate Living.

I think I found husband #2.

KJB & EH: butterfies in heat

Top 20 locks?

Touch of Evil
Kiss Me Deadly
NxNW
Rear Window

flies, not fries

xp

The last time I saw AAE, I didn't even mind Hugh Marlowe so much.

Morbs: Crustmeister in seclusion

if there is a Vertigo backlash, you will all pay.

The last time I saw All About Eve I didn't even mind the hair that fluttered in the gate for two seconds.

I love it when your hair flutters in the gate, Miss Caswell.

A dull cliche!

mudflinger

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19. Rio Bravo
Howard Hawks, 1959
POINTS: 134
VOTES: 7
#1s: 1

COMMENTS:

“Wayne and Dickinson's scenes are a great sex comedy by themselves.”

--Dr. Morbius

“Thank you, Fred Zinnemann!”

― Kevin John Bozelka

"Wayne, Dino, Hawks, Angie, WALTER FUCKING BRENNAN! What's not to love?"

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain)

"When I'm getting serious about a girl, I show her Rio Bravo and she better fucking like it." - Quentin Tarantino
― Justyn Dillingham

BONUS FEATURE