The American Society of Cinematographers Chooses the Top 100 Films of the 20th Century*

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Vidiot, Jan 8, 2019.

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  1. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    As Hardy Melville pointed out to me earlier, the list cuts off at 2000, so a movie like Birdman could not be included.
     
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  2. Dave Garrett

    Dave Garrett Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    There are some classic Japanese films in B&W 'Scope that also come to mind immediately - Kurosawa's THE BAD SLEEP WELL and HIGH AND LOW, as well as Kon Ichikawa's lesser-known TEN DARK WOMEN.
     
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  3. Dave Garrett

    Dave Garrett Senior Member

    Location:
    Houston, TX
    Ha! I've always been a bit surprised to not see more KTRU alumni here, given the large membership. I didn't start at Rice until 1982, and I never worked at KTRU, but certainly knew quite a few folks who did. I'd already been a regular listener for a few years before attending Rice. As you might suspect from my avatar, I'll never get used to "ktru 96.1" - it will always be 91.7 to me. :)
     
  4. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    thanks for posting this!
     
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  5. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Revised thread title slightly to clarify that the list is the top 100 films of the 20th century, not of all time.
     
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  6. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Good point!
     
  7. cartoonist

    cartoonist Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    This is a pretty solid list, but I might have also included the shadowy film noir classic "Out of the Past" with beautiful black & white cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca.

     
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  8. charlie W

    charlie W EMA Level 10

    Location:
    Area Code 254
    I'm surprised Barry Lyndon is not in the top 10 and Jaws didn't make the list at all.
     
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  9. Jaws...one of the greatest movies ever shot in Panavision. Cinematographed by the incomparable Bill Butler ASC...

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  10. the pope ondine

    the pope ondine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia

    it ranks higher on a lot of earlier lists....maybe the greatness of the movie is effecting this list slightly and Barry hasn't aged well for some?
     
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  11. htom

    htom Senior Member

    Location:
    Montreal, Canada
    The poll results only told you how the top 10 films out of the most popular choices ranked (the other top 90 only being listed alphabetically). It didn't tell you how many DoPs voted nor how many votes each film got. I think this matters because the last big poll anyone got wound up over was the Sight and Sound Magazine international critics' and directors' poll in 2012. Many arguments started about the results of that one, and they actually provided enough information to tell you one key fact this one doesn't: in that poll, the top film showed up in only 23% of the returned ballots, with 2045 films named in total. The directors' poll was even more diverse and the top film featured in only 14% of the returned ballots.

    One difference here is that the AC poll used initial ballots to create a shortlist of the 100 films in the final ballot for members to vote on one last time. It's likely this creates higher numbers for each film but I suspect the initial results were well spread like in the S&S poll.

    About all you can say about these results, then, is that more DoPs voted for Lawrence of Arabia than any other film in the shortlist once it was decided. But the exact percentages not being known it can't be said any of the films in the list got the absolute consensus that we seem to want to stifle argument. The apparent key criterion that the films submitted mattered most to the voters just might factor as more significant since we're not all cinematographers ourselves...
     
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  12. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Barry Lyndon was a nicely photographed movie, more notable for it's low level available light cinematography, more than anything else.

    I would not put it anywhere close to being on par to Lawrence of Arabia, which I would agree is a, if not the cinematic masterpiece. That is just how David Lean was. I would put Dr. Zhivago (which is on the list in 1965), in the top ten, before I would put the French Connection in at number ten.

    While I don't think that the French Connection was a bad movie, compared to Dr. Zhivago, I would view it as a cop movie, with a car chase.

    Likewise, I would view Jaws to a well thought out and storyboarded movie, that was carried out shot for shot, I would not see it making cinematic history for innovative or artistic photography.

    There are movies on the list that I have never seen and therefore make a comment on.

    There are other's, that I would perhaps consider good movies, but not necessarily for the photography. But as much as I admire Bill Butler's work, Jaws just doesn't impress me cinematography wise.
     
  13. And let's not forget that a great many of the 'top 100' are there because they aren't just pretty pictures, they advance or evolve the art of cinematography as well.
     
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  14. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Barry Lyndon and The Matrix both come to mind.
     
  15. GullGutt

    GullGutt Hei hopp

    Location:
    Norway
    One movie I think deserved a spot on the list is Michael Mann's Manhunter. Almost any frame could be framed :cop: But Dante Spinotti got the 97 spot at least
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  16. Oh yes. Great film.
     
  17. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    I just watched Ryan's Daughter's which certainly belongs on the list, better filmed than about 90% of those film imo. Not just because of how evocatively it captures the oceanic forces of nature (it is to water what Lawrence of Arabia is to sand), but through the film's series of interiors, with their carefully modulated production design. Perhap's its still recovering from its initial bad reviews - I thought the first half was a bit meandering, though absorbing; the 2nd half is flat out great. Haven't seen much of Lean's early work, but in his canon I'd rank it 3rd after Lawrence and Kwai as a movie, 2nd after Lawrence in terms of cinematography.
     
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  18. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Watched Gaslight last night. Excellent deep focus photography. I thought it might be in the top 100, but I did not see it there.
     
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  19. Jaap74

    Jaap74 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    I am not a big movie watcher, I go to the cinema at most once a year and watch about 2 movies a month at home. I watched Lawrence of Arabia last weekend and thought it was terrific, it didn't feel like a 3 & 3/4 hour movie.

    Watching it on a 75 inch screen I can just imagine what it would look like in a cinema !
     
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  20. Why do they number these? They are all brilliantly shot films. Robert Burke is too low on the list. I would expect Vertigo to be in the top ten myself or even North by Northwest. Glad to see Blade Runner in the top.
     
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  21. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    So these are the 100 best films from the point of view of cinematography?
     
  22. Khaki F

    Khaki F Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kenosha, WI. USA
    Just a little aside I'd like to add to this thread, if I may...

    Seems as though Coppola and Haskell Wexler didn't get along too well during shooting of The Conversation, and Wexler was let go. Coppola, however, kept Wexler's iconic opening sequence (the surveillance scene in the park) for inclusion in the film, because it couldn't be replicated. I thought that was nice.
     
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  23. budwhite

    budwhite Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.

    Location:
    Götaland, Sverige
    I read that Cuaron did his own cinematography for Roma. That's impressive. Tarantino did it for Death Proof and I think that Steven Soderbergh has done it on many on his movies
     
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  24. R. Cat Conrad

    R. Cat Conrad Almost Famous

    Location:
    D/FW Metroplex
    I can't complain too much about the choices overall, but I do feel that silent films weren't given enough attention. The three films selected were all from 1927 (Napoleon, Sunrise & Metropolis) and excellent choices, but there are a few other's that were equally valued for their amazing cinematography. One example worth mentioning, I'd have included the brilliantly filmed Douglas Fairbanks film Thief of Bagdad (1924) with gorgeous cinematography by Arthur Edeson, art direction by William Cameron Menzies and direction by Raoul Walsh. There are also a couple of well regarded Russian silent films notable for cinematography and a couple of early films directed by Carl Theodore Dreyer.

    Anyway, it's great to see a well thought out list of great films that isn't geared toward stirring up controversy. :righton:

    :cheers:
    Cat
     
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  25. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I know little about silent films, but I’m always surprised how well they are filmed when I do watch one - most recently, The General with Buster Keaton (also from 1927).
     
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