ILX All-Time Film and Morbsies Poll: RESULTS Thread for ILX's Favorite Movies, Films, Cinema, Flicks & Moving Pictures

Daphne and Josephine Go Boating?

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83. THE KING OF COMEDY (Martin Scorsese, 1983, USA) [659.82 points; 11 votes; Morbs gold]
S&S: 324 | TSPDT: 394 | BOXD: DNP

MORBS SEZ: "the Genius inseparable from the Asshole … I find tKoC Kubrickian in that I don't think it matters if you can't identify w/ DeNiro or Lewis beyond the "have-not" and "have" level. It's primarily a cultural critique / anthropological study … my fave Jerry moment might be 'You've got a blank card' … Jerry wanted Sandra to do a pratfall into the glass table full of candles. he rrrreally hated her. … I think the last quarter-century of American culture is proof that Pupkin really became a star. Scorsese's best film."

gets scarier the more times you see it.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, May 2, 2013 3:53 PM

very underrated, but damn fine angry and mean
― goeff, Saturday, February 2, 2002 7:00 PM

Bernhard is absolute perfection
― lamey g. curtis (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, January 12, 2011 4:37 PM

the way there's absolutely nothing in the deniro-bernhard "relationship" except their mutual obsession, mutual fantasy, just enough to make them partners, and then when they have captured their obsession's object their fantasies diverge and even that connection is immediately gone, was p harsh
― i want to say one word to you, just one word:buzzfeed (difficult listening hour), Friday, January 31, 2014 2:48 PM

Man, there’s not a single false step in this movie, so good
― Οὖτις, Monday, December 31, 2018 2:26 PM

Scorsese and DeNiro's best
― flappy bird, Monday, December 31, 2018 5:22 PM

I think The King of Comedy is Scorsese's, um, masterpiece and is waaaay better than many of the films on this poll, e.g., Cinderfella, Boeing Boeing, etc. But the Scorsese dorks needed to stay off this thread.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Friday, July 1, 2011 5:20 PM

I got nuttin. But when the donor restrictions on The Day the Clown Cried expire, do you want to carpool down to LOC-Culpeper to see it?

I'm not commodity!

ah man i forgot to vote for this one

My one thing I think people should know about this movie is that in the scene where Bernhard is on the street calling bystanders "street trash" you can see Joe Strummer crouching down saying "Oi!" on the VHS but not in current versions.

It might not mean a lot to you but it means a lot to me

And I agree with everyone who says it's Scorsese's best, maybe De Niro's too

I like Johnny Guitar, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and this movie, but I still don't like Jerry Lewis in general that much, so I guess that makes me...

…not like Hippie Johnny Guitar!

For one night I'd like to see myself out of my head! Wouldn't you like to see me out of my head?! Wouldn't that be great?! Wouldn't that be fabulous?!?!

I didn't often admit that Morbs was right to recommend a movie to me when I didn't think it would be in my wheelhouse, but damn, Morbs was right about The King of Comedy.

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82. WILD STRAWBERRIES (Ingmar Bergman, 1957, Sweden) [661.5 points; 6 votes]
S&S: 86 | TSPDT: 61 | BOXD: 123

MORBS SEZ: "I like Sawdust and Tinsel, Through a Glass Darkly, and Wild Strawberries (Giro, what's not to like in WS?) a whole lot."

Dud: Sawdust and Tinsel, The Silence, Through a Glass Darkly, Wild Strawberries
― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, March 12, 2005 4:11 PM

Wild Strawberries is still my favorite of all of Bergman’s films. It is expansive and kind-hearted. It worries about the regrets we all have over the instances of rejection and distance that take place in the course of our lives but in the end it understands that compassion overrides everything. It is amazing that he made this when he was 39 years old
― Dan S, Monday, November 18, 2019 8:28 PM (one year ago)

I love when he uses his morbidity or broodingness as a set up for a punch line--in Wild Strawberries (the kids having a fist fight over whether God is dead)
― Martin Van Burne, Monday, July 30, 2007 10:35 AM

I've just finished watching Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries, and the same thing still bugs me as the first time I saw it. The scene where Professor Borg returns to his childhood home and begins to reminisce bothers me. Maybe I'm missing something, but none of those events (the strawberry patch, the dinner table) could really be his memories- he was never present when any of those things happened. They even mention how he was fishing with his father? So how does one recall certain events at which one was not present? I've looked over the scenes carefully to make sure I just wasn't looking at it wrong, but if I remember correctly, he specifically uses the term "memories"- not "dreams."
― Anthony (Anthony F), Sunday, August 10, 2003 10:09 PM

Not only is it still great, but its numerous moments of humour and uplift remind me once again that anyone who calls Bergman's films depressing probably only knows them to the extent that they've read their plot synopses.
― some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Sunday, April 30, 2017 9:27 PM

I once tried to watch Wild Strawberries when I was on the comedown off Ecstasy. It's a great movie, but dear god, what was I thinking? I will never understand why I thought it would be suitable for that frame of mind. Had to turn it off.
― mirostones, Sunday, April 13, 2014 9:41 AM

I like Bergman better after Winter Light, something became more natural and relaxed in his style after his 50s films, even as the tone got darker and darker.

Saw it again during lockdown. Rather uptight -- he got looser after 1960

lol xpost

Is that image from the Rick Linklater remake?

saw 4 or 5 Bergman films on TV when I was 16/17 and cannot remember names or which bits are from which film, have been planning a rewatch for ages, must actually do it.

Now somehow imaging a lost Get Smart episode, "The Day the Claw Cried."

Is that image from the Rick Linklater remake?

― Through with “What’s the Buzz” (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, October 26, 2021 3:50 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol yes, the rosemary's baby image gave me the same thought

Catching up in between house move, so no brain energy to comment yet but two of mine have placed already: La Jetée (#8) and Meshes of the Afternoon (#13). Two honorable mention placements too for Rosemary’s Baby and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. Makes me feel quite consensus at this point.

Most need to see Spirit of the Beehive of those that have placed so far. Most dubious about ever seeing Showgirls.

How many Morbs golds are there vs. Morbs silvers?

It might not mean a lot to you but it means a lot to me

Who, me? I voted for King of Comedy.

I was just throwing a Rupert Pupkin quote in there

Great that the Yang has placed. That was no.9 in my ballot. Probably the most powerful screening I went to before the cinemas shut, so it has that sad association for me.

re: Rivette. Celine and Julie is probably third best after Out 1 (even in its four hour cut) and L'Amou Fou (which has yet to come out on DVD?) Paris on the verge of breakdown...

And yeah saw King of Comedy recently and it's really great and up there with Raging Bull as the Scorcese-De Niro collab. I guess it's the film that led De Niro to make all those comedies but it's great enough to weather that one...

never been into Scorcese and only saw King of Comedy for first time this year, knew I loved this film when he turned out to have a pretty good stand up routine after everything, would have been so easy/predictable to have him fail

Haven't seen it in a while, but wasn't he kind of terrible at stand-up? I think of those weirdly robotic arm gestures.

No, he has a genuine rapport with the audience, and reasonably good jokes.

You're thinking of DeNiro on SNL.

Found Stanley Kauffmann's review online--I'd agree with this:

He also gets the unrhythmical quality of Rupert’s movement and gesture, epitomized in that one TV appearance. De Niro knows that Rupert has studied Langford and other comics, that he thinks he has learned how to do the stuff. But all Rupert has acquired is some of the mannerisms--the Bob Hope run-on, for instance. He doesn’t have central ease, his delivery is a collection of remembered inflections, he hasn’t a clue about what to do with his arms. Because that scene is the best in the script, De Niro, one of our best film actors, is able to blend Rupert’s imitation of professionals and his residual amateurishness into a spot of horror.

I realize you're not claiming he's great.

I took his rapport with the audience to be an indictment of the audience.

(I did rewatch some of his monologue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajb8wd7jDFU.)

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81. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Frank Capra, 1946, USA) [661.63 points; 8 votes]
S&S: 200 | TSPDT: 83 | BOXD: 89

MORBS SEZ: "I like it in spite of myself. 'Why'd we hafta have ALL THESE KIDS!?' … very very dark til that sappy finale. this did come out in 1946 after all, the sacrifice theme is just as relevant as were those of The Best Years of Our Lives."

That very first glimpse of Clarence is perfect; one of the all-time great character intro shots
― piscesx, Tuesday, December 24, 2019 10:26 AM

those who complain about the schmaltz kinda miss the point. It's a fairy tale, of course it has schmaltz, but I don't see how that would make it any worse. Would it a better film if George never woke up from his nightmare, or if he'd manage to kill himself? I don't think so.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, December 25, 2007 5:08 AM

Uncle Billy and Harry Bailey are both kinda douchebags in this movie.
― ^likes tilt-a-whirls (Pancakes Hackman), Tuesday, December 23, 2008 5:07 PM

How come if George Bailey was never born, his wife would have to wear glasses? Is he a Lasik surgeon? … I mean, ok, if George Bailey wasn't born, so his town turns into like some kind of weird suburban version of the Bronx, and everyone else in his family would die, and the town pharmacy would be murdering people on the sly, that's all fair cop. But why would Donna Reed go nearsighted? Crazy jittery spinster librarian, sure, what the hell, but her eyes?
― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, December 8, 2002 8:59 PM

what can i say, ally, masturbation makes you go blind thus the glasses.
― doom-e, Monday, December 9, 2002 9:06 AM

I never noticed the glasses thing before. I think I was too busy trying to knock myself senseless by bashing my head against the wall in a futile, desperate attempt to escape the schmaltz.
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, December 9, 2002 9:36 AM (eighteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

desperate attempt to escape the schmaltz of anti masturbation. What??????
― doom-e, Monday, December 9, 2002 9:41 AM (eighteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Masturbation is so maudlin.
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, December 9, 2002 9:47 AM

How come if George Bailey was never born, his wife would have to wear glasses? Is he a Lasik surgeon?
1) Because George was not there to save brother he died.
2) Because brother died, every man on his platoon died.
3) One man on the platoon hurled rock upwards in dying action.
4) Rock hits exotic bird, disrupting its flight movement.
5) Bird lands dead on platform of Navy warship; crew men marvel.
6) One of the crew members decides to take dead bird to "Pottersville", where famed taxodermist (not existing in George's regular world) lives.
7) One step away from being flattened by a truck driven by callous, heart-hardened Pottersville resident, Mary (walking home from lunch break from the library) pushes the sailor out of the way just in time.
8) Mary gets struck by truck in his place; suffers neurological disorder requiring glasses for the rest of her life.
Isn't it strange how one man's life affects others...
― Joe, Tuesday, December 25, 2007 7:36 AM (thirteen years ago)

i think what really won me over to theory was my professor's reading of the broken bannister and how it so obviously signifies Freudian castration - and how George kisses it in the end in his acceptance of his fate. It's just such a perfect Hollywood story hero challenges the norm, then embraces it at the end re establishing order (Frederic Jameson theory IIRC).
― Spencer Chow, Thursday, December 25, 2014 2:51 AM

The broken bannister is an omen of Ed Asner's character in JFK, Guy Banister; George is a secret agent of history, hurling the country into the Cold War and a turbulent future.
― clemenza, Thursday, December 25, 2014 7:50 PM (six years ago)

Here we are so far:

100. ROSEMARY'S BABY (Roman Polanski, Roman 1968, USA) [620 points; 10 votes]
99. LA JETÉE (Chris Marker, Chris 1962, France) [623.33 points; 9 votes; 1 first-place vote; Morbs silver]
98. MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO (Miyazaki Hayao, 1988, Japan) [623.9 points; 10 votes]
97. SEVEN SAMURAI (Kurosawa Akira, 1954, Japan) [624.67 points; 9 votes]
96. MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid, 1943, USA) [625.71 points; 7 votes]
95. SHOWGIRLS (Paul Verhoeven, 1995, USA) [628 points; 4 votes]
94. ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011, Turkey) [636 points; 6 votes]
93. ERASERHEAD (David Lynch, 1977, USA) [636.9 points; 10 votes]
92. THE GODFATHER (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972, USA) [643.4 points; 10 votes]
91. LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (Alain Resnais, 1961, France) [645.82 points; 11 votes]

90. MANDY (Panos Cosmatos, 2018, USA) [646.5 points; 8 votes]
89. THIS IS SPINAL TAP (Rob Reiner, 1984, USA) [650.91 points; 11 votes]
88. JOHNNY GUITAR (Nicholas Ray, 1954, USA) [651 points; 6 votes]
87. THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE (Victor Erice, 1973, Spain) [652 points; 8 votes]
86. A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY (Edward Yang, 1991, Taiwan) [655.5 points; 6 votes; 1 first-place vote]
85. THE LADY EVE (Preson Sturges, 1941, USA) [656.4 points; 10 votes; Morbs silver]
84. CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (Jacques Rivette, 1974, France) [658.57 points; 7 votes]
83. THE KING OF COMEDY (Martin Scorsese, 1983, USA) [659.82 points; 11 votes; Morbs gold]
82. WILD STRAWBERRIES (Ingmar Bergman, 1957, Sweden) [661.5 points; 6 votes]
81. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Frank Capra, 1946, USA) [661.63 points; 8 votes]

good list so far

Christ, I thought that was Sin City for a second

it's a waking life

How come if George Bailey was never born, his wife would have to wear glasses? Is he a Lasik surgeon? … I mean, ok, if George Bailey wasn't born, so his town turns into like some kind of weird suburban version of the Bronx, and everyone else in his family would die, and the town pharmacy would be murdering people on the sly, that's all fair cop. But why would Donna Reed go nearsighted? Crazy jittery spinster librarian, sure, what the hell, but her eyes?
― Ally (mlescaut), Sunday, December 8, 2002 8:59 PM

True womanly love means never having to say "I see what you did there."

I really hope I remembered to vote for It's a Wonderful Life.

Haven't seen it in a while, but wasn't he kind of terrible at stand-up? I think of those weirdly robotic arm gestures.

The dog that ate your birthday cake.

the ilx quotes have been a real highlight of this

this list rules, only seen like 20% of these but KING OF COMEDY is in my personal top 10, the kind of film that only makes more and more sense as the years go on

Lots of enticing movies added to my Letterb*xd watchlist today.

Speaking of LB, has anybody started putting together a list of our results over there? I'd be glad to make one if not.

I wouldn't have expected Wonderful Life in the top 100, interesting. The scenes in Potterville are the highlight, right? I feel like that's kind of the crux of the movie.

I just found two ILX instances of maybe my favorite quote from Preston Sturges’s The Lady Eve, neither from me, one on tcm alert thread and ten other on Barbara Stanwyck: An ILX Film Snobs Thread:
I need him like the axe needs the turkey

Ten = the

i don't think i voted for IAWL but i'll always defend it.

Oh, I meant to say I had a conversation today IRL that went from a mention of yet another TLE quote, “Who do you think you are, Houdini?” to a discussion of the Tony Curtis movie Houdini and then to Some Like It Hot, so I guess this thread is working its magic somehow.

https://boxd.it/dPPzw

here's a letterboxd list, i'll update it with the rollout