51 52 53
M
FRITZ LANG (53)

1931 | 99m | BW | Germany | Thriller, Psychological Thriller
"His portrait of a character in turmoil - "Who knows what it's like to be me?" he demands climactically, insisting that "Nobody can be punished for something he can't help" - is a pathological study that has not been equaled." - Judith Christ
Selected by Michael Moore, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Ian Christie, Jean-Michel Frodon, Tom Gunning.
Amazon Bright Lights Film Journal Chicago Reader
Modern Times
CHARLES CHAPLIN (56)

1936 | 89m | BW | USA | Urban Comedy, Satire
"It is not a social document, it is not a revolutionary tract, it is one of the funniest of all Chaplin's films, but it is certainly no comfort to the enemy...Not so much a fine motion picture as an historical event" - Robert Forsythe, The New Masses
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Ivan Passer, Jonathan Kaplan, Peter Wollen, Jean-Jacques Beineix.
Amazon The Village Voice Roger Ebert
Wild Strawberries
INGMAR BERGMAN (54)

1957 | 90m | BW | Sweden | Drama, Psychological Drama
"A mature masterwork...An early road movie, this benefits from extraordinarily moving performances and an intricate challenging script. Among Bergman's most deeply affecting works, balancing Swedish chill with a deep humanity." - Empire, 1994
Selected by Philip Strick, Alexander Walker, Donald Richie, Ginette Vincendeau, Ken Loach.
Amazon Derek Malcolm’s Century of Films The Criterion Collection

54 55 56
La Strada
FEDERICO FELLINI (59)

1954 | 115m | BW | Italy | Melodrama, Romantic Drama
"Led the way out of the neo-realist dead end and into baroque romanticism. Richly symbolic and compassionate, this tale of interdependence and half-articulate feelings still has terrific force." - NFT Bulletin, 1984
Selected by Ken Russell, Robin Buss, Jan Nemec, Albert Maysles, Vincent Ward.
Amazon Strictly Film School Roger Ebert
Blade Runner
RIDLEY SCOTT (66)

1982 | 118m | Col | USA | Science Fiction, Tech Noir
"Grand enough in scale to carry its many Biblical and mythological references, Blade Runner never feels heavy or pretentious -- only more and more engrossing with each viewing." - Rita Kempley, Washington Post
Selected by Tony Scott, Michel Chion, Philip Strick, Wim Wenders, Irene Bignardi.
Amazon Washington Post Roger Ebert
The Wild Bunch
SAM PECKINPAH (55)

1969 | 144m | Col | USA | Western, Revisionist Western
"A magnificent western. Not a romantic western in the John Ford manner; ferocious rather in the manner of Elizabethan drama; it is a tale of men who destroy themselves...." - Dilys Powell
Selected by Martin Campbell, Jonathan Kaplan, Michael Mann, Stuart Gordon, Michael Sragow.
Amazon Images Journal Chicago Reader

57 58 59
Pather Panchali
SATYAJIT RAY (42)

1955 | 112m | BW | India | Rural Drama, Family Drama
"No subsequent film could capture the lyricism of Pather Panchali which burst upon the cynical world of the 50s with such a sense of freshness and magic that Apu became part of our consciousness and we entered his world." - Brian Baxter, NFT Bulletin, 1974
Selected by Philip Kaufman, David Robinson, Donald Richie, Philip French, Peter Keough.

Amazon kamera Roger Ebert’s Great Movies
Rio Bravo
HOWARD HAWKS (67)

1959 | 141m | Col | USA | Western, Traditional Western
"Arguably Hawks' greatest film, a deceptively rambling chamber Western made in response to the liberal homilies of High Noon...Beautifully acted, wonderfully observed, and scripted with enormous wit and generosity." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Selected by Robin Wood, Derek Malcolm, Barbet Schroeder, Quentin Tarantino, John Powers.
Amazon Derek Malcolm’s Century of Films Images Journal
North by Northwest
ALFRED HITCHCOCK (63)

1959 | 136m | Col | USA | Thriller, Spy Film
"Certifiable classic territory, Hitchcock’s glossiest entertainment is the closest the trickster ever came to an action movie...the film fizzes with energy and intrigue." - Empire
Selected by George A. Romero, Pedro Almodóvar, Nathan Lee, Ed Buscombe, Alex Proyas.
Amazon Time Out Chicago Reader

60 61 62
Au hasard Balthazar
ROBERT BRESSON (50)

1966 | 95m | BW | France | Rural Drama, Animal Picture
"One of writer-director Robert Bresson's most enchanting and accessible works...a wonderful parable about the beauty of love and devotion and the willingness to please. It's a simple film that stirs the soul." - Scheuer
Selected by Fred Camper, Michael Haneke, Gavin Lambert, Amy Taubin, Aki Kaurismäki.

Amazon Masters of Cinema Roger Ebert’s Great Movies
The Wizard of Oz
VICTOR FLEMING (57)

1939 | 101m | Col-BW | USA | Children's/Family, Musical Fantasy
"Its underlying story penetrates straight to the deepest insecurities of childhood, stirs them and then reassures them." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by John Waters, Norman Jewison, Alex Proyas, Michael Sragow, Owen Gleiberman.
Amazon Boston Phoenix Roger Ebert’s Great Movies
Gone with the Wind
VICTOR FLEMING (88)

1939 | 222m | Col | USA | Epic, Romance
"As an example of filmmaking craft, it is still astonishing...The real auteur was the producer, David O. Selznick, the Steven Spielberg of his day, who understood that the key to mass appeal was the linking of melodrama with state-of-the-art production values." - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Selected by Ken Russell, Paul Morrissey, Lewis Gilbert, Ronald Neame, Whit Stillman.
Amazon Images Journal Roger Ebert’s Great Movies

63 64 65
The Mirror
ANDREI TARKOVSKY (60)

1976 | 106m | Col | Russia | Avant-garde/Experimental, Essay Film
"Tarkovsky's autobiographical essay in the interaction of private and collective memories, via a multi-layered structure of flashbacks, dream sequences and newsreel footage, is chillingly impressive even at its most hermetic." - Sight & Sound
Selected by Olivier Assayas, Michael Haneke, Andrey Plakhov, Ann Hui, Donald Richie.
Amazon The Guardian Time Out
Greed
ERICH VON STROHEIM (64)

1924 | 140m | BW | USA | Drama, Psychological Drama
"Originally planned to run around ten hours but hacked to just over two by Thalberg's MGM, von Stroheim's greatest film still survives as a true masterpiece of cinema." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Selected by Aki Kaurismäki, David Stratton, Gavin Lambert, Fred Zinnemann, Guillermo Del Toro.
Amazon Derek Malcolm’s Century of Films Chicago Reader
The Conformist
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI (58)

1969 | 115m | Col | Italy-France-Germany | Psychological Drama, Political Drama
"If the ideas don't touch the imagination, the film's sensuous texture does. It's a triumph of feeling and of style - lyrical, flowing, velvety style, so operatic that you come away with sequences in your head like arias." - Pauline Kael
Selected by Nick James, Jonathan Demme, Joel Schumacher, Scott McGehee, Sydney Pollack.
Amazon Washington Post The Village Voice

66 67 68
Fanny and Alexander
INGMAR BERGMAN (62)

1982 | 189m | Col | Sweden | Childhood Drama, Period Film
"Let us enjoy on a big screen this wonderful family history. The key word here is enjoy for Bergman's image as a purveyor of gaunt and intensive films is thoroughly demolished by the delicacy and beauty of this masterpiece" - William Goldman, NFT Bulletin
Selected by Terry Jones, Sidney Lumet, Gilles Jacob, Bruce Beresford, Richard Linklater.
Amazon Deep Focus kamera
The Apartment
BILLY WILDER (76)

1960 | 125m | BW | USA | Comedy Drama, Workplace Comedy
"It is a masterpiece of fun and irony about the small men who make American business... Mr. Wilder has made a moral film that never moralises" - Alexander Walker, Evening Standard
Selected by Neil LaBute, Vincent Ward, Cameron Crowe, Mike Newell, Ronald Neame.
Amazon Roger Ebert’s Great Movies CultureDose
Nashville
ROBERT ALTMAN (61)

1975 | 159m | Col | USA | Media Satire, Musical Drama
"A wonderful mosaic which yields up greater riches with successive viewings, not least in the underrated songs, the superlative performances, and the open-mindedness of Altman's approach to direction. Immensely, exhilaratingly enjoyable." - Tom Milne, Time Out
Selected by Molly Haskell, Armond White, Karel Reisz, David Stratton, Irene Bignardi.
Amazon The Observer James Berardinelli

69 70 71
Metropolis
FRITZ LANG (65)

1926 | 120m | BW | Germany | Science Fiction
"One of the great achievements in the silent era, a work so audacious in its vision and so angry in its message that it is, if anything, more powerful today than when it was made." - Roger Ebert
Selected by Ken Russell, Paul Schrader, Vincent Ward, Paul Verhoeven, Peter Biskind.
Amazon The Village Voice metacritic
Pickpocket
ROBERT BRESSON (70)

1959 | 75m | BW | France | Crime Drama, Psychological Drama
"Robert Bresson made this short electrifying study in 1959; it's one of his greatest and purest films, full of hushed transgression and sudden grace." - Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Selected by Jean-Louis Leutrat, Richard Linklater, Theo Angelopoulos, Quim Casas, Lodge Kerrigan.
Amazon Strictly Film School Senses of Cinema
The Leopard
LUCHINO VISCONTI (85)

1963 | 205m | Col | Italy | Family Drama, Historical Epic
"This extraordinary movie is, along with Lawrence of Arabia, the most successful cinematic attempt to interpret spectacular historical events through one person's consciousness." - Michael Sragow
Selected by Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, Alexander Walker, Mike Newell, Ginette Vincendeau.
Amazon Derek Malcolm’s Century of Films Senses of Cinema

72 73 74
Playtime
JACQUES TATI (71)

1967 | 108m | Col | France | Satire, Urban Comedy
"The most visually inventive film of the 60s is also one of the funniest. For this remarkable 1967 comedy about man and his modern world, Jacques Tati attempted nothing less than a complete reworking of the conventional notions of montage and, amazingly, he succeeded." - Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Selected by David Ehrenstein, Gilbert Adair, Olivier Assayas, David Bordwell, Jonathan Rosenbaum.
Amazon The Guardian The Onion A.V. Club
Madame de...
MAX OPHÜLS (68)

1953 | 105m | BW | France-Italy | Period Film, Romantic Drama
"Certainly one of the crowning achievements in film. Ophüls' gliding camera follows Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer, and Vittorio De Sica through a circle of flirtation, passion, and disappointment, a tour that embraces both sophisticated comedy and high tragedy." - Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Carrie Rickey, Molly Haskell, Michel Ciment, Gavin Lambert.
Amazon Roger Ebert’s Great Movies Senses of Cinema
Letter from an Unknown Woman
MAX OPHÜLS (95)

1948 | 90m | BW | Period Film, Romantic Drama
"Letter from an Unknown Woman is an inexhaustibly rich film, one that has drawn myriad film-lovers to try to unravel its themes, patterns, suggestions, and ironies. But no amount of close analysis can ever extinguish the rich, tearing emotion that this masterpiece elicits." - Adrian Martin, "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"
Selected by Philip Kemp, Thomas Elsaesser, Adrian Martin, Bill Rothman, David Stratton.
Amazon Senses of Cinema Long Pauses

75 Notes on 51-75• The risers include LA STRADA (up 5 spots), BLADE RUNNER (up 11), RIO BRAVO (up 9) , GONE WITH THE WIND (up 26; the largest jump within this year's Top 100), THE APARTMENT (up 9), THE LEOPARD (up 14) and LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (up 21).
• The tumblers were PATHER PANCHALI (down 15 spots), AU HASARD BALTHAZAR (down 10), THE CONFORMIST (down 7), NASHVILLE (down 7) and MADAME DE... (down 5).

• To 76-100

Notorious
ALFRED HITCHCOCK (76)

1946 | 101m | BW | USA | Thriller, Romantic Mystery
"One of Hitchcock's finest films of the '40s. Suspense there is, but what really distinguishes the film is the way its smooth, polished surface illuminates a sickening tangle of self-sacrifice, exploitation, suspicion, and emotional dependence." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out