Stanley Kubrick: How Do You Rank His Films

Unlike many of America's most known directors (Hitchcock, Scorsese, Altman, Welles), Stanley Kubrick has a filmography that, in general, cannot be categorised into his "best" and "worst," by which I mean everyone has a different opinion about where they'd rank his films.

Take Scorsese for example. I'm pretty sure that around 90% of the people who have seen a fair amount of his films would say Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas are among his best, which is then followed by titles like Mean Streets, The Departed and The King of Comedy.

With Kubrick, however, people have really different opinions about his films, probably because each one varied so much.

Which is why I ask: in what order do you rank his films?

For me it goes like this:

1. Eyes Wide Shut
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. The Shining
4. Barry Lyndon
5. Dr. Strangelove
6. Paths of Glory
7. The Killing
8. Lolita
9. Full Metal Jacket
10. A Clockwork Orange
11. Spartacus

Now, there are certainly a good number of people who would say Eyes Wide Shut is far from his best film, and there is a larger group of people who would say Full Metal Jacket and A Clockwork Orange deserve to be higher than where I placed them, which I think sums up my point.

So, get listing.

1 - Dr. Strangelove
2 - 2001: A Space Odyseey
3 - The Shining
4 - Full Metal Jacket
5 - The Killing
6 - A Clockwork Orange
7 - Paths of Glory
8 - Eyes Wide Shut
9 - Lolita
10 - Barry Lyndon
11 - Killer's Kiss
12 - Spartacus

Kubrick is that film maker who has the ability to not make a bad movie. Even his weakest movies are still good. And even some of his movies some call his weakest film, are seen by others as masterpieces.

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Dr. Strangelove

2001: A Space Odyssey

The Shining

Paths of Glory

A Clockwork Orange

+
Full Metal Jacket

The Killing

Killer's Kiss

+

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Kubrick is my all time favorite director.

1. The Shining:
2. Eyes Wide Shut:
3. A Clockwork Orange:
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey:
5. Full Metal Jacket:
6. Paths of Glory:
7. Barry Lyndon:
8. The Killing:
9. Dr Strangelove:
10. Lolita:

I would put Spartacus at #11 but it really deserves a re-watch from me.

Stanley Kubrick? More like Stanley Poo-brick! Just kidding.

2001: A Space Odyssey

The Shining

Eyes Wide Shut

A Clockwork Orange

Full Metal Jacket

Lolita

Dr. Strangelove

Barry Lyndon

Need to see some of his earlier stuff, but he's definitely one of my favorite directors.

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"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock

No, you're right.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Barry Lyndon -
2001: A Space Odyssey -
Paths of Glory -
Eyes Wide Shut -
The Killing -
A Clockwork Orange -
Full Metal Jacket -
Spartacus -
The Shining -
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb -

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Kubrick was a genius. I rank his films like this:

1. A Clockwork Orange:
2. Dr. Strangelove:
3. The Shining:
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey:
5. Eyes Wide Shut:
6. Full Metal Jacket: (-)
7. Lolita:
8. The Killing:

Haven't seen the rest yet.

^ Wow, seeing how much you love him you must watch Barry Lyndon as fast as possible.

Indeed. Barry Lyndon is one of the very few movies that I have watched and just when I finished watching, I rated as a movie all the way (not even Nausicaa and Totoro felt like full rating movies when I watched them).

Paths of Glory is also a must.

Kubrick was without a doubt one of the best directors who ever lived. He also made movies in my favorite genres: science fiction (2001, clockwork orange, dr. strangelove), historical (barry lyndon) and war settings (full metal jacket, paths of glory).

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey - ++
2. Barry Lyndon - +
3. Dr. Strangelove - +
4. Paths of Glory -
5. A Clockwork Orange -
6. The Shining -
7. Full Metal Jacket - +
8. Eyes Wide Shut -
9. The Killing -
10. Lolita - -
11. Spartacus -
12. Killer's Kiss -

Pretty much a flawless director. All his movies after 1956 are a must watch.

Given that he was a perfectionist, all his films were near perfectly made, hence, he made few movies per year but maximized the quality of each, which means that nearly all his movies are good enough to be favorites. A similar situation occurs with Miyazaki and Tarkovsky.

You put Dr. Strangelove in the wrong bracket

But you raise a good point about different genres. Unlike some directors he has tackled different genres with great effectiveness:

Comedy - Dr. Strangelove
War - Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket and Dr. Strangelove
Sci-Fi: 2001 and A Clockwork Orange
Horror - The Shining
Drama - Eyes Wide Shut and Barry Lyndon (not seen either so don't attack if wrong)

and even though it's not really a 'genre' there's

Noir - Killer's Kiss and The Killing

Dr. Strangelove has a doomsday device. That's science fiction.

Indeed. He was a master of every genre. Unlike Ozu, for instance, whose movies were all the same slice of life films, varying only in tone, from comedy to drama.

And as a result of tackling multiple genres, different styles, and with his perfectionist attitude, everyone can choose a different Kubrick movie and say it is their favorite and or his best movie, and it is kind of hard to put a lot of arguments against it. I say Dr Strangelove is his best picture, but if someone claims A Clockwork Orange, 2001, or Eyes Wide Shut is his best, kind of hard for me to argue against it. Kubrick is just that good.

Exactly why I made this thread!

And I thank you for it!

I see Kubrick as cinema's great prophet of doom. Just about all of his films deal with a particular flaw of mankind from a godlike point-of-view.

2001: A Space Odyssey
The Shining
Dr. Strangelove
Paths of Glory
Full Metal Jacket
A Clockwork Orange
Spartacus

He amazes me as a director and his films are just glorious yet sometimes I start to think is it really something meaningful about them or it's all just a hoax.

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"Anything less than immortality is a complete waste of time."

A Clockwork Orange: there's your prime example of 'style over substance' in a film. Is there anything really meaningful about the movie? Is there really a message? Because let's face it, the movie glorifies the filthiness of its 'hero', that is Alex. That is what it does, in a nutshell. That being said, I quite liked it, but not because of its depiction of the violence. I liked it because of how it was made. Some films do not need to be overanalyzed, and I feel that A Clockwork Orange is one of them. It's a movie and it doesn't even seem real, and for me it's one of those 'movie universe' films.


I would say 2001: A Space Odyssey is my favourite Kubrick movie, not only because of how it is made, but also because it doesn't really quite explain what happens, and it remains open to interpretation. And this is exactly where it succeeds, for me. Because, how can one even begin to explain the universe? I am not even a fan of sci-fi but I used to be an astronomy aficionado when I was younger and the movie was just beautiful to watch.

My least favorite Kubrick, from those that I have watched, would be Dr. Strangelove. It certainly is not a bad movie, but I just feel that it is highly overrated. I'll check it out again someday though. From his filmography I think I am going to see Eyes Wide Shut next, since it looks like something I would quite enjoy.