The MoFo Top 100 of the 1970s: Countdown

Going with Barry Lyndon and Close Encounters again.

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

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

This is a good bet. I'll go with this.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Yes, I am in a bar again. No. I don't have a problem.

A day after Altman joined Lumet as the only filmmakers with as many as three films on the list, Andrei Tarkovsky is right behind them in the club. The Mirror (45), Solaris (39) and now Stalker (20), which at number twenty was also on twenty ballots, half of them top ten votes: one first, two second, two third, a fourth, a fifth, two sixth, and a seventh. And then just as quickly as Altman was joined, he surpasses everybody by being the first director with four films on the countdown: MASH (78), Nashville (43), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (22) and The Long Goodbye (19). Altman's updating of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe to 1970s Los Angeles was voted for by twenty-three MoFos, a dozen of whom had it as a top ten pick: one first place, two third place, two fourths, four sixths, an eighth, a ninth, and a tenth.

Attachments

 

Another great pair of films. Had Stalker at #2.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I had The Long Goodbye just out of my top ten as my number twelve, the third Altman flick in my top twenty-five. I don't think it is Bob Altman's "best" film - you can see where I have placed the two others above it on my list, but it may very well be my favorite. Certainly it is the one I have re-watched most frequently, and I am very happy it finishes in the top twenty. It seems like when I first got on the Movie Forums thirteen years ago, its reputation was still a bit middling. If my championing it here all these years turned any of you onto it or made you reevaluate it, then, hey... it's OK with me.

That makes fifteen of mine.

3. Nashville (#43)
7. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (#22)
8. Little Big Man (#61)
10. The Man Who Would Be King (#81)
12. The Long Goodbye (#19)
13. Breaking Away (#95)
15. Days of Heaven (#29)
16. Solaris (#39)
17. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (#94)
18. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (#21)
19. MASH (#78)
20. Don't Look Now (#72)
21. Monty Python's Life of Brian (#41)
22. Le Cercle Rouge (#60)
24. The Spirit of the Beehive (#62)

I've said plenty about these particular films in the past and been ganged up against, so this is no surprise, and neither is my reaction. I like Goodbye better, but I'm not a huge fan. Congratulations to all you who voted for them. I'm still at six, expecting nine more.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

I wonder which films you would have at 1st.

Add 2 more to my list, 2 to go, very happy that I haven't seen my #1 show yet:

#6 The Long Goodbye
#8 Badlands
#9 F for Fake
#11 A Woman Under the Influence
#12 Five Easy Pieces
#13 Suspiria
#14 Stalker
#16 Walkabout
#17 Spirit of the Beehive
#18 Carrie
#19 McCabe & Mrs. Miller
#20 Days of Heaven
#22 Jeanne Dielman
#23 Aguirre: Wrath of God

The Long Goodbye was the biggest surprise for me. I went into it knowing absolutely nothing about it (except for Mark F's warning that Altman was "an acquired taste") and had a really fun time with it. I absolutely loved Gould's performance as Marlowe. It was my #3.



I haven't seen Stalker.

My List
1. Didn't Make The Cut
3. The Long Goodbye (#19)
4. Harold and Maude (#27)
5. Kramer vs. Kramer (#44)
6. Paper Moon (#74)
7. Deliverance (#51)
8. Cries and Whispers (#50)
9. Serpico (#55)
10. Dog Day Afternoon (#28)
11. Dirty Harry (#34)
12. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (#68)
20. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (#46)
21. Network (#32)
22. Hausu (#76)
23. Mad Max (#70)
25. Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1 point, not on the countdown)

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I wasn't expecting The Long Goodbye at this point. So it ends up as Altman's highest placing movie? Weird. But I do love it. There's something rather endearing about it and I've watched it several times. I considered it for my list, but in the end left it off, partly because I didn't figure it had a chance.

I've seen Solaris and The Mirror, but not Stalker.

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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

The same one that's going to win the countdown!

Both were on my list! Wish I had put Stalker a bit higher though. I like it more than Harold and Maude, for example, but I guess I was feeling nostalgic when I made my list (which would also explain my #3).

My list:

2. Fantastic Planet
5. Harold and Maude
6. Stalker
7. The Holy Mountain
8. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
10. Cries & Whispers
12. Autumn Sonata
14. Eraserhead
15. The Tenant
16. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
17. The Long Goodbye
21. F for Fake
22. The Mirror
24. Suspiria
25. The Wicker Man

I have a love / hate relationship with Tarkovsky. Stalker I absolutely love! One of my top 12 favorite movies EVER and I once declared it the peak of cinema as an art form (personal opinion). I had it at number 3. Altman however, I just do not like.

Seen 65/82

My list: 11

3. Stalker (20)
4. Blazing Saddles (33)
5. Eraserhead (26)
7. Dirty Harry (34)
8. Dawn of the Dead (35)
11. Mean Streets (77)
12. Superman (23)
13. Rocky Horror Picture Show (46)
15. Mad Max (70)
24. All the President’s Men (75)
25. Network (32)

If I could have turned in a list of 50 then The Long Goodbye would certainly be on it, but it couldn't quite find a place in my top 25. Stalker, on the other hand, found a way to the #18 spot on my list, and if I was resubmitting a list right now it would probably be even higher.

The Long Goodbye is my #3. It's probably my favourite Altman film, certainly is from is 70s work and is something I'd recommend to anyone no matter how ham-fisted their taste is.

It's #1 on one of my lists, though - Best Neighbours in Cinema!

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Admit it, heretic! What Tarkovsky film do you hate?

I had Stalker at #3. Now I can complain about all the films coming after it and how inferior they are to Tarkovsky's masterwork. But I won't.

I didn't vote for the Altman flick, but I've seen it and give it It's good and surprisingly high.on this list.

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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.

I didn't hate any but Andrei Rublev and The Mirror I did not care for.

No, because we're pretty sure which films are going to show, whereas those just outside the 100 will probably be more random. They'll probably be better than a number of the top 20, too. Better than those last two, anyway.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.