The Ultimate MovieForums Poll

Okay, this is how it works. Everybody votes for 5 films/actors/directors in their particular category. Best film is self-explanatory as are the technical awards. But for Best Director and the acting categories, it's important that only a part is picked. Al Pacino in The Godfather for instance, not just Al Pacino; Francis Ford Coppola for the Godfather. Got that? Oh yeah, and to prevent modern movies destroying this, the films have to have an Internet Movie Database Date of 1991 or earlier. That means they must be at least ten years old. I don't think a film or a performance can be recognised as a true classic until it's reached a decade.

Once a nomination gets three votes, it will be a fixed nomination for a giant poll to decide the ultimate winners. So let's say Weekend at Bernie's gets 3 votes, then it's registered for the Ultimate Vote; later Bill & Ted may get three votes; then Predator, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and finally, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. These five will contest a poll to see which is the best film. And so on.

Last point. For the acting categories, if somebody votes Marlon Brando in the Godfather as best actor but two vote for Marlon Brando as Best Supporting actor then he will be registered in the best supporting actor poll. Okay?

God, I'm so bored.

The categories are:

Best Foreign Language Film... ever

Best Musical Score... ever

Best Song in a Movie... ever

Best Makeup... ever

Best Visual Effects... ever

Best Animated Movie... ever

Best Costumes... ever

Best Sets... ever

Best Cinematography... ever

Best Script... ever

Best Actress in a supporting role... ever

Best Actor in a supporting role... ever

Best Actress... ever

Best Actor... ever

Best Director... ever

Best Film... ever



Try to nominate five, no more, no less, in each category. And don't nominate a film if you have never seen it.

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I couldn't believe that she knew my name. Some of my best friends didn't know my name.

that is an overwhelming task...I would have to whip out some movie handbooks...no way I could do that off the top of my head.

Are we talking "Best" as in the most impressive from a filmmaking standpoint, or just best as in favorite/most enjoyable to us?

Better go myself fast, as an example.

Best Foreign Language Film... ever

Day for Night
Cyrano De Bergerac
Cinema Paradiso
Seven Samurai
Ran

Best Musical Score... ever

ET
Star Wars
Jaws
The Godfather
Romeo and Juliet

Best Song in a Movie... ever

"We'll Meet Again" Dr Strangelove
"As Time Goes By" Casablanca
"Cheek to Cheek" Top Hat
"Make 'em Laugh" Singin' in the Rain
"Trail of the Lonesome Pine" Way Out West


Best Makeup... ever

Planet of the Apes
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Elephant Man
Citizen Kane
Nosferatu

Best Visual Effects... ever

King Kong
2001: A Space Odyssey
Star Wars
Jason and the Argonauts
Citizen Kane

Best Animated Movie... ever

Pinocchio
Beauty and the Beast
The Jungle Book
Fantasia
The Fox and the Hound

Best Costumes... ever

A Clockwork Orange
Ben-Hur
Romeo and Juliet
Adventures of Robin Hood
The Court Jester

Best Sets... ever

A Clockwork Orange
Dr Strangelove
2001: A Space Odyssey
Citizen Kane
Ben-Hur

Best Cinematography... ever

Citizen Kane
Gone With the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
Lawrence of Arabia
The Godfather

Best Script... ever

Casablanca
Citizen Kane
The Godfather
Back to the Future
On the Waterfront

Best Actress in a supporting role... ever

Sandra Bernhard in The King of Comedy
Cathy Moriarty in Raging Bull
Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show
Christina Ricci in The Addams Family
Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver


Best Actor in a supporting role... ever

Joe Pesci in Goodfellas
George C Scott in Dr Strangelove
Marlon Brando in the Godfather
Claude Rains in Casablanca
Lee J Cobb in 12 Angry Men

Best Actress... ever

Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot
Grace Kelly in Rear Window
Ellen Burstyn in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind
Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz

Best Actor... ever

Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon
Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront
Robert De Niro in Raging Bull
Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange
Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

Best Director... ever

Elia Kazan for On the Waterfront
Peter Bogdonavich for The Last Picture Show
Orson Welles for Citizen Kane
Martin Scorsese for Raging Bull
Martin Scorsese for Goodfellas

Best Film... ever

The Last Picture Show
Raging Bull
The King of Comedy
Way Out West
On the Waterfront

Holy Crap! I think I'll pass on this one.I've seen a lot of those movies,but some are too old for me.I wouldn't be able to come up with the 'Best'.Oh well,It's okay to admit you don't know everything once in awhile...someone always knows more...

Yeah I think I'm gonna pass on this one. Just too much to even consider posting it all.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

FOREIGN LANGUAGE:
1. The Seventh Seal (1957)
2. Rashomon (1950)
3. Aguirre: Wrath of God (1972)
4. The Conformist (1970)
5. Jules & Jim (1961)

SCORE:
1. Taxi Driver (1976)
2. BladeRunner (1982)
3. Chinatown (1974)
4. Once Upon A Time in the West (1969)
5. A Lift to the Scaffold (1958)

VISUAL EFFECTS:
1. BladeRunner (1982)
2. Metropolis (1927)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
4. Brazil (1985)
5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

ANIMATED:
1. Akira (1988)
2. Toy Story (1995)
3. Fantasia (1940)
4. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
5. Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
2. Citizen Kane (1941)
3. Barry Lyndon (1975)
4. Chinatown (1974)
5. The Seven Samurai (1954)

SCRIPT:
1. Chinatown (1974)
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
3. GoodFellas (1990)
4. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
5. Rashomon (1950)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS (role):
1. Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate
2. Jean Hagen, Singin' in the Rain
3. Ruth Gordon, Rosemary's Baby
4. Agnes Moorehead, The Magnificent Ambersons
5. Judith Anderson, Rebecca

SUPPORTING ACTOR (role):
1. George Sanders, All About Eve
2. Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider
3. Claude Rains, Notorious
4. Walter Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
5. Jack Lemmon, Glengarry Glen Ross

ACTRESS (career):
1. Ingrid Bergman
2. Jeanne Moreau
3. Katharine Hepburn
4. Joanne Woodward
5. Julie Christie

ACTRESS (role):
1. Ellen Burstyn, Requiem for a Dream
2. Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve
3. Jeanne Moreau, The Bride Wore Black
4. Julie Christie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller
5. Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence

ACTOR (career):
1. Robert DeNiro
2. Toshiro Mifune
3. Alec Guinness
4. Max von Sydow
5. James Mason

ACTOR (role):
1. Robert DeNiro, Raging Bull
2. Toshiro Mifune, Red Beard
3. Alec Guinness, The Horse's Mouth
4. Humphrey Bogart, In A Lonely Place
5. Peter Sellers, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

DIRECTOR (career):
1. Akira Kurosawa
2. Martin Scorsese
3. Alfred Hitchcock
4. Stanley Kubrick
5. John Huston

DIRECTOR (single film):
1. Akira Kurosawa, RAN
2. Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
3. Martin Scorsese, GoodFellas
4. Akira Kurosawa, The Seven Samurai
5. Alfred Hitchcock, North by Northwest

FILM:
1. Chinatown (1974)
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
4. BladeRunner (1982)
5. Casablanca (1942)


I'll fill in the other categories later.

[Edited by Holden Pike on 10-09-2001]

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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

I retract my earlier comment on only being able to vote for a film if you've seen it. If you've seen clips or in the case of song have heard it, in the case of set design, have seen pictures, then go ahead and vote.

I know it's hard. It took me a few days. But vote anyway. It should be interesting.

As a reply to TWTCommish, the best in terms of filmmaking, rather than enjoyability. Star Wars may have been fun for example but I don't think its one of the five best films ever made.

Best Musical Score... ever
pyscho
taxi driver
the godfather
nashville
vertigo


Best Animated Movie... ever
Snow White
The Hobbit
The Lion King
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Aladdin


Best Actor in a supporting role... ever
Joe Pesci -- Raging Bull
Ray Liotta -- Field of Dreams
Gary Oldman -- The Professional
Shawn Wallace -- The Princess Bride
Arnold Scwarzenegger -- The Terminator

Best Actress... ever
Lily Tomlin -- Nashville
Jodie Foster -- Silence of the Lambs
Wendy -- The Shining
Meryl Streep -- The Deer Hunter
Robin Wright -- The Princess Bride (Couldn't think of any more )


Best Actor... ever
Al Pacino in the godfather
De Niro in Raging Bull
De Niro in Taxi Driver
Jim Stewert from Rear Window
Ray Liotta in goodfellas

Best Director... ever
Scorsese - Taxi Driver, R. Bull, and G.Fellas
Kubrick - 2001: A Space Odyssey
Hitchcock - Rear Window

Best Film... ever
Taxi Driver
Raging Bull
The Godfather
2001: A Space Odyssey
Schindler's List


whew
[Edited by Guy on 10-09-2001]

Two nominations fixed in stone.

Robert De Niro in Raging Bull - Best Actor... ever

Martin Scorsese for Goodfellas - Best Director... ever


You can still vote for these but it won't make any difference to the voting procedure.

I can't do this, I'm sorry but to exclude movies from the past decade excludes most of my lifetime and what I think is one of the best decades in film. For me not to be able to include Jeunet's films in best foreign, or The Nightmare Before Christmas in animated, or Wes Anderson's scripts would be... heresy. Can't do it.

I have to side with Sultan on this one...I don't think a movie needs to be more than 10 seconds old before it can be considered a classic. The definition of classic roughly means "timeless, excellent, an example to be followed." Age isn't part of that. It's not a big deal or anything, but I always get a little miffed when someone puts me down for praising some modern film against some older film, saying that "You can't compare the two! {insert old famous movie here} is a classic!"

Every generation will have people who think movies before their generation are the real classics...but some of the movies of today WILL go on to become more widely hailed as classics. "It's a Wonderful Life" was a bit of a bomb...but it grew in fame thanks to the fact that it was played every Christmas. If you had called that movie a classic around the time it had come out, you'd probably catch some crap for it!

If a movie is still being talked about ten years from now, then it's a classic in my book.

Sure, there may be a lot of discussions about Scary Movie or American Pie nowadays but I guarantee nobody will mention these series in a decade.

If I allowed films from the last ten years to contest this poll, then The Shawshank Redemption or Schindler's List or Life is Beautiful would win. I love those three movies but it would be unfair to call them the greatest movies ever made when they've had very little influence on the rest of cinema.

Films like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, On the Waterfront, these films have influenced directors for generations and so are classics.

This is a tough thing to do.It'll take a lifetime for me to fill up the nominations.

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Sometimes you wake up. Sometimes the fall kills you. And sometimes when you fall, you fly.

But "It's a Wonderful Life" wasn't talked about within that time, necessarily...but it was later. Sorry, but I just see way too many holes in the qualifications you've made necessary here, man. I mean, for one: when did "it has to have had an effect on the world of film" become a requirement?

If we continue to objectify the poll it becomes a scinece and essentially no longer a poll or survey of opinions. I wont quantify any of the qualities that I enjoy from any of the movies that I enjoy.

everyone has a bunch of films that they consider classics, and that's what matters, regardless of when it was released.

does a film have to be regarded as a classic 10 years after it's release by the majority of people for it to qualify?

Movies after your time window are influencing movies right now.Look at Pulp Fiction...would Memento be the movie it is without Pulp using the 'story told in reverse'method? There's your classics...and then there's neo-classics.Both do the same job...influence,inspire.

Classics? Bah! I reject the idea that there has to be a time frame for a classic. Rushmore is already a classic (and the best movie of the 90s to boot), and American Beauty's shaping up to be one. Bringing out the Dead and Being John Malkovich are classics. The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Boogie Nights, GoodFellas, JFK, Malcolm X, The Piano, The Sweet Hereafter, The Fugitive, Crumb, Leaving Las Vegas, Fargo...These are all classics already.

I don't think movies have to influence other movies in order to be classics, although it certainly helps. Example: What did Ferris Bueller influence that wasn't already influenced by Fast Times at Ridgemont High? (I think Ferris Bueller is weak and overrated, but it's still a classic. which brings up another point. How do you define classic?)

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**** the Lakers!

You speak the truth Steve N.old movies aren't the the only classics.The word 'classics' is what ever meaning you want to attatch to it.