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When Dafoe did this I'll bet he didn't even think they were taping anything.
The MoFo Top 100 of the 1970s: Countdown
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OK, BlueLion...I have been meaning to tell you...
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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
"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
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My prediction for the top 7:
1. Jaws
2. The Godfather
3. Taxi Driver
4. Star Wars
5. Alien
6. Chinatown
7. A Clockwork Orange
1. Jaws
2. The Godfather
3. Taxi Driver
4. Star Wars
5. Alien
6. Chinatown
7. A Clockwork Orange
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I have had this post saved for a little while now, and I really hope that when I am posting it will be because The Godfather has made it to the number one spot on the Seventies list. It is a film I recently rewatched and was reminded just how brilliant it is. It may be conventional, mainstream, Hollywood, or whatever you want to call it, but it is artistic and brilliant in its own ways, a masterpiece of its kind, and one of the most perfect films ever made.
Everything about it just oozes class; there are not enough superlatives to describe it. From the opening scene that takes place in a barely lit room, with a suited Marlon Brando quietly discussing the values of friendship and family on the day of his wedding, you know you are in for a quality film. Because of its criminal setting, a lot of people who dislike it will use that as their reason, “the characters are unsympathic and unlikeable”, “it glorifies crime, “it is cold and unwelcoming”, and I must ask: are these people watching the same film as me?
The Godfather to me is one of the most inviting films I have seen. Despite its crime setting, you really feel like you become part of the family. The opening wedding scene sees many relationships established, there is a remarkable amount of depth here as we explore the different members of the family. Each character has something different to offer. There is Al Pacino as Michael, a returning soldier who intends to have nothing to do with the family business, James Caan as Sonny, the hot headed underboss to his father, Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, the family consigliere and adopted son to Vito Corleone, and John Cazale as Fredo, the more dim-witted member of the family. Each has their own unique persona that is quickly established, but they all evolve and step up to play important parts in different sections. The beauty of the plot is that it allows for each of the characters qualities, good and bad, to truelly show and also evolve, we sympathise with all of them for different reasons, we cheer when Michael rescues his father at the hospital and we cry when Sonny meets his demise.
There are many more iconic moments to mention, the iconic horse head scene is without a doubt the most famous, the restaurant scene and there is the fantastic ending montage that wraps everything up perfectly. The film is beautifully written, it is quite complex with lots of sub plots to keep up with, and it is only now after a few viewings that I think I have come to fully appreciate just how good it is, I always knew it was great, but now I think it might just be the greatest. All the sub plots evolve around Marlon Brando’s central performance as Vito Corleone, he holds the whole thing together, giving a towering performance fully deserving of Oscar glory. The other great performance is Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, he undergoes one of the greatest transformations in cinema history. At the start of the film it may seem far fetched but it’s the sense of family and pride that allows it to work perfectly, leading to unforgettable ending images that fully show us what he has become.
Is there anything I would change about the film? I do not think so. Apart from being beautifully written to tell a compelling and complex story, the screenplay also has some of the great dialogue ever written.
“A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”
“I don't like violence, Tom. I'm a businessman; blood is a big expense.”
“I'll make him an offer he can't refuse”
The cinematography by the late Gordon Willis adds a great sense of polish and formalism to the whole thing. He said he deliberately took the decision to shoot most scenes with little light to represent the shadiness of the world the characters inhabited, and that most shots were from a point of view to make it feel more personal, with the overhead shot at the orange stall being that of God watching down on Vito.
I have seen the film three times now, and each time I have thought even more greatly of it. It really should have been number one on my list, and would have been hard my third viewing come sooner. One of the greatest filmmaking accomplishments, fully deserving of all the praise it get, and its spot at number one on this list.
Last edited by Daniel M; 12-07-14 at 06:26 PM.
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I'm an idiot. Of course it was going to be The Godfather. You guys made me change my prediction with all your Jaws-winning talk.
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Absolutely awesome job with this Holden, from the organisation and push to get as many polls as you did, to the execution of the countdown 
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Steven Spielberg’s Jaws paced Taxi Driver by a substantial 106 points….but everybody got whacked by The Godfather, which finished 73 points higher than Jaws, and a mere 1,149 ahead of Logan’s Run.
One thousand two-hundred and thirteen points! Goodness. Jaws was actually on more ballots, an astounding seventy-four out of ninety-nine, and Taxi Driver had the most first place votes at twelve (Jaws had ten), but in the end The Godfather was just too much to be reckoned with. It placed on a staggering fifty top tens, out of sixty-six total ballots it appeared on. You can see in the chart below, Jaws had ten first place votes, four second, four third, six fourth, four fifth, four sixth, a seventh, three eighth, two ninth, and two tenth placers, making forty of its seventy-four total ballots. Which is a boat-sinking ton! But The Godfather had nine first placers, eight second, a third, two fourth, nine fifth place, four sixth, two seventh, three eighth, eight ninth, and four tenth place votes. It was math that couldn’t be refused.
Spielberg finishes second for the second list in a row (Close Encounters was #14). His placements on the ‘80s List were Raiders of the Lost Ark (2), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (25), E.T. – the Extra-Terrestrial (37), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (38). On the MoFo ‘90s List he had Schindler’s List (10), Saving Private Ryan (18), and Jurassic Park (34). Jaws was the first, true summer blockbuster, the industry game-changer, and still holds up amazingly well. Including in the estimation of our collective taste and voting.
According to our list, anyway, clearly the director of the decade was Francis Ford Coppola. He had four films on the list, all in the top twenty, three of them in the top ten, and of course the number one overall choice: The Godfather (1), Apocalypse Now (9), The Godfather Part II (10), and The Conversation (18). All the more impressive considering those were the only four films he directed in the entire decade. That also means that, yes, as we already knew, the only Best Picture Oscar winner from the decade not to make the list was Patton (which Coppola scripted), narrowly missing the cut at #103. As much as Francis Ford Coppola rules the 1970s, the rest of his career has not been as stellar, including by the collective judgment of our MoFo Lists. The only other film he had show up was The Outsiders, which was #91 on the ‘80s List. Though his daughter Sofia’s Lost in Translation was number six on the Millennial List. But the 1970s….damn. Francis Ford Coppola was the king of cinema. Our list definitely reflects that.
Also with an impressive four films on the list, though not all bunched at the top, was Robert Altman who had The Long Goodbye (19), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (22), Nashville (43), and MASH (78). Two directors had three films make the cut: Andrei Tarkovsky and Sidney Lumet. Tarkovsky's were all top in the top fifty, with Stalker (20), Solaris (39), and The Mirror (45), while Lumet's trio were spread out just a tad more with Dog Day Afternoon (28), Network (32), and Serpico (55).
So that was fourteen of the top hundred titles, from just those four filmmakers. Of the remaining eighty-six, there were eighteen directors who had a pair of films on the countdown. They are, alphabetically...
Woody Allen: Annie Hall (30) and Manhattan (52)
Hal Ashby: Harold & Maude (27) and Being There (98)
Ingmar Bergman: Cries & Whispers (50) and Autumn Sonata (86)
Peter Bogdanovich: The Last Picture Show (64) and Paper Moon (74)
Mel Brooks: Young Frankenstein (15) and Blazing Saddles (33)
John Carpenter: Halloween (17) and Assault on Precinct 13 (80)
Richard Donner: Superman: The Movie (23) and The Omen (99)
Bob Fosse: Cabaret (40) and All That Jazz (96)
William Friedkin: The Exorcist (12) and The French Connection (31)
Terry Jones: Monty Python and the Holy Grail* (13) and Monty Python's Life of Brian (41)
Stanley Kubrick: A Clockwork Orange (7) and Barry Lyndon (16)
George Lucas: Star Wars (4) and American Graffiti (42)
Terrence Malick: Days of Heaven (29) and Badlands (58)
Sam Peckinpah: Straw Dogs (83) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (94)
Roman Polanski: Chinatown (6) and The Tenant (88)
Nicolas Roeg: Walkabout (67) and Don't Look Now (72)
Martin Scorsese: Taxi Driver (3) and Mean Streets (77)
Steven Spielberg: Jaws (2) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (14)
*co-directed
Exactly half of our top hundred titles were directed by those twenty-two men.
Yesterday afternoon, Yoda and I did a quick podcast talking about the list and the process. It’s not super long, but here it is…
Direct Download Link
A few weeks ago we had a plan to do something a little more ambitious, have six or eight MoFos hear the Top Three revealed “live” (on tape), to get some honest first reactions, have a bunch of voices in there saying what they liked or didn’t like about the list. That didn’t quite work out, but Yoda and I shot the MoFo ‘70s List *****, a bit. Enjoy?
Thanks a lot, everybody!
.
One thousand two-hundred and thirteen points! Goodness. Jaws was actually on more ballots, an astounding seventy-four out of ninety-nine, and Taxi Driver had the most first place votes at twelve (Jaws had ten), but in the end The Godfather was just too much to be reckoned with. It placed on a staggering fifty top tens, out of sixty-six total ballots it appeared on. You can see in the chart below, Jaws had ten first place votes, four second, four third, six fourth, four fifth, four sixth, a seventh, three eighth, two ninth, and two tenth placers, making forty of its seventy-four total ballots. Which is a boat-sinking ton! But The Godfather had nine first placers, eight second, a third, two fourth, nine fifth place, four sixth, two seventh, three eighth, eight ninth, and four tenth place votes. It was math that couldn’t be refused.
Spielberg finishes second for the second list in a row (Close Encounters was #14). His placements on the ‘80s List were Raiders of the Lost Ark (2), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (25), E.T. – the Extra-Terrestrial (37), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (38). On the MoFo ‘90s List he had Schindler’s List (10), Saving Private Ryan (18), and Jurassic Park (34). Jaws was the first, true summer blockbuster, the industry game-changer, and still holds up amazingly well. Including in the estimation of our collective taste and voting.
According to our list, anyway, clearly the director of the decade was Francis Ford Coppola. He had four films on the list, all in the top twenty, three of them in the top ten, and of course the number one overall choice: The Godfather (1), Apocalypse Now (9), The Godfather Part II (10), and The Conversation (18). All the more impressive considering those were the only four films he directed in the entire decade. That also means that, yes, as we already knew, the only Best Picture Oscar winner from the decade not to make the list was Patton (which Coppola scripted), narrowly missing the cut at #103. As much as Francis Ford Coppola rules the 1970s, the rest of his career has not been as stellar, including by the collective judgment of our MoFo Lists. The only other film he had show up was The Outsiders, which was #91 on the ‘80s List. Though his daughter Sofia’s Lost in Translation was number six on the Millennial List. But the 1970s….damn. Francis Ford Coppola was the king of cinema. Our list definitely reflects that.
Also with an impressive four films on the list, though not all bunched at the top, was Robert Altman who had The Long Goodbye (19), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (22), Nashville (43), and MASH (78). Two directors had three films make the cut: Andrei Tarkovsky and Sidney Lumet. Tarkovsky's were all top in the top fifty, with Stalker (20), Solaris (39), and The Mirror (45), while Lumet's trio were spread out just a tad more with Dog Day Afternoon (28), Network (32), and Serpico (55).
So that was fourteen of the top hundred titles, from just those four filmmakers. Of the remaining eighty-six, there were eighteen directors who had a pair of films on the countdown. They are, alphabetically...
Woody Allen: Annie Hall (30) and Manhattan (52)
Hal Ashby: Harold & Maude (27) and Being There (98)
Ingmar Bergman: Cries & Whispers (50) and Autumn Sonata (86)
Peter Bogdanovich: The Last Picture Show (64) and Paper Moon (74)
Mel Brooks: Young Frankenstein (15) and Blazing Saddles (33)
John Carpenter: Halloween (17) and Assault on Precinct 13 (80)
Richard Donner: Superman: The Movie (23) and The Omen (99)
Bob Fosse: Cabaret (40) and All That Jazz (96)
William Friedkin: The Exorcist (12) and The French Connection (31)
Terry Jones: Monty Python and the Holy Grail* (13) and Monty Python's Life of Brian (41)
Stanley Kubrick: A Clockwork Orange (7) and Barry Lyndon (16)
George Lucas: Star Wars (4) and American Graffiti (42)
Terrence Malick: Days of Heaven (29) and Badlands (58)
Sam Peckinpah: Straw Dogs (83) and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (94)
Roman Polanski: Chinatown (6) and The Tenant (88)
Nicolas Roeg: Walkabout (67) and Don't Look Now (72)
Martin Scorsese: Taxi Driver (3) and Mean Streets (77)
Steven Spielberg: Jaws (2) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (14)
*co-directed
Exactly half of our top hundred titles were directed by those twenty-two men.
Yesterday afternoon, Yoda and I did a quick podcast talking about the list and the process. It’s not super long, but here it is…
Direct Download Link
A few weeks ago we had a plan to do something a little more ambitious, have six or eight MoFos hear the Top Three revealed “live” (on tape), to get some honest first reactions, have a bunch of voices in there saying what they liked or didn’t like about the list. That didn’t quite work out, but Yoda and I shot the MoFo ‘70s List *****, a bit. Enjoy?
Thanks a lot, everybody!
.
Last edited by Holden Pike; 09-07-14 at 07:49 PM.
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Damn it, I hate being right sometimes.
Despite it being such a famous movie, I’d actually never seen Jaws until I watched it for this countdown. I must say that I had a fun time with it, but I didn’t enjoy it on the same level that I expect many other MoFos do. I didn’t find it creepy or frightening at all, but rather really, really funny. Some of that humor was intentional, but I’m pretty sure a lot of it was not. The mechanical shark itself was so monstrously out of proportion that it was just comical. Things were made that much worse (and more funny) when scenes of the mechanical shark at the surface were interspersed with underwater scenes of a real (and much smaller) great white shark and the audience was expected to believe that both were the same animal. It was my #13
My Full List
1. Charlotte's Web (#127, not on the countdown)
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (#8)
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)
13. Jaws (#2)
14. Frenzy (#121, not on the countdown)
15. Smokey and the Bandit (#124, not on the countdown)
16. Chinatown (#6)
17. The Duelists
18. Get Carter (#111, not on the countdown)
19. Caligula
20. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (#46)
21. Network (#32)
22. Hausu (#76)
23. Mad Max (#70)
24. Tale of Tales (#120, not on the countdown)
25. Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1 point, not on the countdown)
Despite it being such a famous movie, I’d actually never seen Jaws until I watched it for this countdown. I must say that I had a fun time with it, but I didn’t enjoy it on the same level that I expect many other MoFos do. I didn’t find it creepy or frightening at all, but rather really, really funny. Some of that humor was intentional, but I’m pretty sure a lot of it was not. The mechanical shark itself was so monstrously out of proportion that it was just comical. Things were made that much worse (and more funny) when scenes of the mechanical shark at the surface were interspersed with underwater scenes of a real (and much smaller) great white shark and the audience was expected to believe that both were the same animal. It was my #13
My Full List
1. Charlotte's Web (#127, not on the countdown)
2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (#8)
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)
13. Jaws (#2)
14. Frenzy (#121, not on the countdown)
15. Smokey and the Bandit (#124, not on the countdown)
16. Chinatown (#6)
17. The Duelists
18. Get Carter (#111, not on the countdown)
19. Caligula
20. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (#46)
21. Network (#32)
22. Hausu (#76)
23. Mad Max (#70)
24. Tale of Tales (#120, not on the countdown)
25. Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1 point, not on the countdown)
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Well this was a well deserved win for The Godfather. And Jaws made the top 2. Great two movies to end it on. I voted for both. Holden, this was an EXCELLENT list! My favorite of those I have participated in so far!
Seen 83/100
My list: 21 (Blackjack!)
1. Taxi Driver (3)
2. Apocalypse Now (9)
3. Stalker (20)
4. Blazing Saddles (33)
5. Eraserhead (26)
6. Pink Flamingos -
7. Dirty Harry (34)
8. Dawn of the Dead (35)
9. Coffy -
10. Jaws (2)
11. Mean Streets (77)
12. Superman (23)
13. Rocky Horror Picture Show (46)
14. Star Wars (4)
15. Mad Max (70)
16. Foxy Brown -
17. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (13)
18. Death Wish -
19. The Exorcist (12)
20. The Godfather (1)
21. Young Frankenstein (15)
22. A Clockwork Orange (7)
23. Alien (5)
24. All the President’s Men (75)
25. Network (32)
Seen 83/100
My list: 21 (Blackjack!)
1. Taxi Driver (3)
2. Apocalypse Now (9)
3. Stalker (20)
4. Blazing Saddles (33)
5. Eraserhead (26)
6. Pink Flamingos -
7. Dirty Harry (34)
8. Dawn of the Dead (35)
9. Coffy -
10. Jaws (2)
11. Mean Streets (77)
12. Superman (23)
13. Rocky Horror Picture Show (46)
14. Star Wars (4)
15. Mad Max (70)
16. Foxy Brown -
17. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (13)
18. Death Wish -
19. The Exorcist (12)
20. The Godfather (1)
21. Young Frankenstein (15)
22. A Clockwork Orange (7)
23. Alien (5)
24. All the President’s Men (75)
25. Network (32)
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Absolutely awesome job with this Holden, from the organisation and push to get as many polls as you did, to the execution of the countdown
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Happy that The Godfather won, i obviously would've preferred Taxi Driver but i don't think it's going to be too often that two of my favourite movies finish in the top. Thanks alot Holden for taking the time to put this together, you did an amazing job
Here's my list again:
1.Taxi Driver (3)
2.The Exorcist (12)
3.A Clockwork Orange (7)
4.Eraserhead (26)
5.The Godfather (1)
6.The Godfather Part 2 (10)
7.Apocalypse Now (9)
8.One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest (8)
9.Star Wars (4)
10.The Jerk (54)
11.Chinatown (6)
12.Paper Moon (74)
13.Dog Day Afternoon (28)
14.Aguirre, the Wrath of God (21)
15.Five Easy Pieces (53)
16.Enter The Dragon (24)
17.Get Carter (101-130)
18.Manhattan (52)
19.The Outlaw Josey Wales (49)
20.Little Big Man (61)
21.Mean Streets (77)
22.The Bad News Bears (didn't make it)
23.Jaws (2)
24.Close Encounters of the Third Kind (14)
25.Watership Down (didn't make it)
Here's my list again:
1.Taxi Driver (3)
2.The Exorcist (12)
3.A Clockwork Orange (7)
4.Eraserhead (26)
5.The Godfather (1)
6.The Godfather Part 2 (10)
7.Apocalypse Now (9)
8.One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest (8)
9.Star Wars (4)
10.The Jerk (54)
11.Chinatown (6)
12.Paper Moon (74)
13.Dog Day Afternoon (28)
14.Aguirre, the Wrath of God (21)
15.Five Easy Pieces (53)
16.Enter The Dragon (24)
17.Get Carter (101-130)
18.Manhattan (52)
19.The Outlaw Josey Wales (49)
20.Little Big Man (61)
21.Mean Streets (77)
22.The Bad News Bears (didn't make it)
23.Jaws (2)
24.Close Encounters of the Third Kind (14)
25.Watership Down (didn't make it)
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Huge, huge thanks to Holden for doing such a great job running the list. These lists have gotten better and better as the process has been honed and passed from one member to another, and as more people participate, and it all converged really well here.
Definitely check out the bonus podcast on this one--Holden talks about a lot of the behind the scenes stuff, and there's lots of cool statistics and observations about how it all shook out.
Definitely check out the bonus podcast on this one--Holden talks about a lot of the behind the scenes stuff, and there's lots of cool statistics and observations about how it all shook out.
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Wow... now I have something to aim for in life, a collection like this 
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