REVEALED-THE ILX TOP 75 FILMS OF THE 1950s

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46. Night and The City
Jules Dassin, 1950
POINTS: 81
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

RIP Jules Dassin

RIP Richard Widmark

BONUS FEATURE

...and that's it for today. Stay tuned for 45-31 tomorrow.

Thank God there are still 45 slots left!

yeah, where will Bridge on the River Kwai turn up?

You'd be surprised...

oh I hope so.

#1. Seven Samurai

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"Madness!"

My takes:

I hated La Strada, but that was 18 years ago. I felt trapped in the movie, and couldn't figure out why anyone (the characters, the audience) wouldn't want to get out. Anyone want to rhapsodize?

Shane felt a little canned, its vision of the kid a little cute ("Shane! Shane!"), but I know Western fans love it, and it has some exciting fights and romantic tension. I'd probably watch it again.

Rebel Without a Cause is Beautiful, and I'll keep going back to it (Invasion didn't make my Top 20 either), but its overt sociology is silly. I don't know when the first realistic depiction of American parents and teens hit a screen (maybe the American Family doc on PBS in the '70s?), but this one is laughable enough to throw me out of the film, no matter how good Dead is.

Imitation of Life is great, but it's all sacrifice, tragedy, and pain, where All That Heaven Allows involves a rebellion, which is so much more poignant. I think that's why the combination in Far from Heaven.

I loved Night and the City, but didn't remember it well enough. The first wrestling noir?

I also loved Ed Wood, but couldn't sit through Plan 9.

Ha, I meant Dean, not Dead.

Shane ... I know Western fans love it

hmmm, not cineaste western fans. It's by GEORGE STEVENS, for God's sake. Big fans of it should get an enforced Boetticher/ Mann oater marathon.

(not only are those 2 not gonna show up on this list, we're gonna get High Noon too, right?)

Rebel Without a Cause is a melodrama; what's silly about it is just as silly in Imitation of Life.

Sal Mineo in Rebel is rather proto-Emo. Its kind of odd that Emo kids never picked up on the mismatched socks.

I think that's why the combination in Far from Heaven.

The rest of this unfinished sentence sure as hell better not be something along the lines of "works better than either."

(x-post)

On the same tip, was there ever a confirmation that Natalie Wood lost her virginity to Nick Ray?

if i had voted i likely would have gone with 'on dangerous ground' for #1, but i didn't

I saw that recently. I liked it, but felt it came off like two halves of better movies that got glued together.

I heard rumor that Ray had Dean, Wood, Mineo.

I watched Ray's Bitter Victory again last night. Like a lot, but Curt Jurgens' character is too transparently craven, and Burton baldly enunciates the theme several times.

without the divide it would never have worked

It's pretty packed for 80 minutes. No waste at all.

"I think that's why the combination in Far from Heaven." = I think that's why you find the combination in Far from Heaven.

I LOVE melodrama, but do you really think teens in the '50s were suffering from too LITTLE parental authority? The whole weak-father trope in Rebel Without a Cause is the thing I find laughable. Maybe that's just one part of the film, but the structure truly feels like a cautionary tale, where Imitation of Life isn't quite so neat. I didn't vote for either film, though...

Gawd what a depressing run of films!

Plan 9 < Glen or Glenda?

OTM. And Morbs waaaaaaaaaaay OTM about Shane. You just KNOW High Noon and Seven Samurai are coming up. But please spare us Kwai.

P.S. For the record, I placed Imitation of Life at number one.

P.P.S. James Dead. Ouch.

It's pretty packed for 80 minutes.

The UK version of Bitter Victory, which finally got put out on disc, is 103 minutes. So there is some waste, and like in Strangers on a Train much of it is named Ruth Roman.

Have to admit I found Imitation Of Life irritating, despite its many charms. Just couldn't feel for the main characters like I did in All That Heaven Allows

Shane eased me into Westerns, and not just because of that wonderfully ambiguous ending. There are themes in that film that are actually in a lot of westerns, but when I was younger, I had never noticed them before in other ones. I know it's about as cliché as "hey let us compare John Ford/John Wayne westerns through three decades", but it's still a good stepping stone into what is now one of my favourite genres. I seem to remember Ebert's Great Movies entry being pretty good: Shane

As hokey as Rebel is, there is something about James Dean that is so captivating that I can forgive it. I much prefer his performance in Giant, however, so that should be where the James Dean recognition should go.

Roman Holiday is still great, but I love Audrey and Gregory.

Wish Smiles of a Summer Night was higher. The moment where the statue lever is hit and the bed moves into the other room is simply perfection.

Also, Elevator the Gallows is overrated.

everything in Giant except Dean is pretty mediocre to terrible!

"I think that's why the combination in Far from Heaven." = I think that's why you find the combination in Far from Heaven.

OK, I can accept that (even though I'm pretty sure I actually hate Far From Heaven in retrospect).

ha - Liz is actually in character for once!

I never understood Lola Montes and Johnny Guitar's reputations. And wtf High Society?!

Which is why it is the real testament to Dean's abilities! Watching Rebel, you can understand why his early death meant the loss of an icon. Watching Giant, you can see that the real tragedy is the loss of a really good actor. Dude made a 3-hour slog really quite enjoyable to watch.

xpost, btw

I always felt Johnny Guitar's reputation had more to do with the crowing on of the Cahiers set than anything. Only saw the movie once, years ago, and don't really remember it though.

Raise your hands if you voted for Shane, fuckos.

Lots of Orpheus doesn't scan, but appropriating totalitarian chic for a conception of the afterlife as chilling as David Byrne's has a lot of resonance. Maria Casares and her black rubber gloves is my idea of an enforcer.

blaming Alfred for low Smiles position

???

I voted for Shane. And I'm not ashamed!

xp: cuz you didn't vote, right

(of a Summer Night)

xxpost We'll be ashamed for you, Gukbe.

j/k j/k much love!!! (although ask whoever buys you gifts for the Boetticher box for whatever holiday you celebrate...I know I'm doing that!)

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45. The Day The Earth Stood Still
Robert Wise, 1951
POINTS: 82
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“really enjoyed The Day the Earth Stood Still at the Paramount the other night. It was a double feature with Forbidden Planet, but I didn't stay for that. The actual Earth standing still part was pointless, but the main alien guy was captivating.”

― Kenan Hebert

BONUS FEATURE

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44. Shadows
John Cassavetes, 1959
POINTS: 83
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“And thus began a life of sin - Hollywood's not Cassavetes'.”

- Kevin John Bozelka

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42 A. Diary of A Country Priest
Robert Bresson, 1951
POINTS: 87
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“actually, I just found a reference where Pauline is quoted as saying "Diary of a Country Priest is one of the most profound emotional experiences in the history of the cinema."
if that's correct, I say she nailed it, and proves she was capable of real insight occasionally when she wasn't being lazy and switched on auto-schtick”

― timmy tannin

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42 B. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Howard Hawks, 1953
POINTS: 87
VOTES: 3
#1s: 0

“I do (predictably) think Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of the greatest films ever made.”

― Eric H.

“Rosenbaum called this a “capitalist Potemkin” and he's right! Where Eisenstein's editing offered a filmic correlation to dialectical materialism, the remarkable final track in to the Dorothy-Lorelei coalition exemplifies capitalism's repetition compulsion. And give it up for George Winslow who should have won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as lecherous piggy in the making Henry Spofford III.”

- Kevin John Bozelka

BONUS FEATURE

Now that's a tie if I've ever seen one!

Cassavetes did (a little) better later.
I went for different Hawks & Bresson. (those 2 films tying is amusing, haha xpost)

at least Day the Earth Stood Still finished ahead of Plan 9.

It was a double feature with Forbidden Planet, but I didn't stay for that.

KENAN = DEAD TO ME

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40 A. Madame de.../The Earrings of Madame de…
Max Ophüls, 1953
POINTS: 94
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“The peak of Max's dolly. As knowing and sad as it gets.”

-Dr. Morbius

“The dance sequence pretty much defines cinematic magic.”

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

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40 B. On The Beach
Stanley Kramer, 1959
POINTS: 94
VOTES: 4
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Kinda corny at times, but (sadly) still not out of date.”

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

BONUS FEATURE

we will have to screen the Bresson-Hawks double feature at the ILX Cinematheque.

OK, that last one is a really WTF tie.

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39. On The Waterfront
Elia Kazan, 1954
POINTS: 96
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“I don't care if it's too heavyhanded and politically suspect, it's the fulcrum of American film acting, and to diminish its importance is churlish. "You turned out very nice."”

--Dr. Morbius

“Nothing great about On the Waterfront excuses its director's naming names before HUAC, any more than his actions condemn the movie, which feeds on the experience without becoming an allegory for it. Those who would compare gangsters to the Communist Party USA imperil their own credibility rather than the movie's (and many argue Elia Kazan did both). For me, On the Waterfront is about what it's about: gangsters and dockworkers. Terry Malloy's painfully birthed realization that informing isn't betrayal if what you're informing on betrayed you a long time ago could use a re-airing in the "stop snitching" era, as corporations and governments behave like street-corner muscle and vice versa. His final walk is heroic no matter what haters say: It's about owning your place in a community even when power and peers have turned on you.”

― Pete Scholtes

BONUS FEATURE

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37 A. Bob le Flambeur
Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956
POINTS: 99
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Yay for Melville. A very nice print of Bob le flambeur played last year at a local rep--what a pleasure to see on the big screen.”

― slutsky

“Bob le flambeur - Nouvelle Vague before Nouvelle Vague (and a charming crime story, to boot!); still distinctly French (of course), but also has a tiny bit of Italian sensibility to it. Not perfect, but very close.”

― Girolamo Savonarola

“The first time I saw this, I stood up and cheered at the ending. I was at home at the time.”

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

BONUS FEATURE

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37 B. What’s Opera Doc?
Chuck Jones, 1957
POINTS: 99
VOTES: 5
#1s: 0

COMMENTS:

“Do people dare to diss "What's Opera Doc"? Especially here, where we spend way too much time trying to obliterate the line between high and low culture, a line which Chuck Jones erased in the Fifties? And that's not even considering the editing or the light effects.”

― B:Rad

“I actually had no idea What's Opera, Doc and Rabbit of Seville were different cartoons, they blur together as one classic.”

― Pete Scholtes

BONUS FEATURE

I can only assume everyone hedged their bets on "Duck Amuck."

After watching What's Opera, Doc? again:

There's obviously something profoundly American about a Bronx Brer
Rabbit in drag reclining on a galloping fat horse to seduce a hunter
with a speech impediment, but I'm laughing too hard to parse it.