Me and my friends have been in heated debate about this. It all started after we watched "The Shawshank Redemption" for about the 100th time in our lives today when it came out on one of the HBO channels.
Anyways we began a debate about what exactly is the greatest movie of all time and this argument lasted a few good hours.
We ended up devising a list of six worthy movies and each of us (8 of us) had very good arguments both negative and positive for each movie.
Here is the final standings that resulted:
1. Raging Bull
2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. The Godfather
4. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
5. Saving Private Ryan
6. The Usual Suspects
The ORIGINAL list compiled like this.
1. The Godfather
2. Citizen Kane
3. Casablanca
4. The Graduate
5. The Shawshank Redemption
6. Schindler's List
But after many hours of debate (yes we have no lives, at least for today) the list moved around quite a bit as many of us (who are MAJOR movie buffs) put in our arguments for and against movies. Here is a BRIEF explanation followed by our unofficial rating as to why we ranked the movies as so. Ratings were a result of averaging out what everybody else's ratings were all together.
There was a tie between #1 and #2 also.
1. Raging Bull - 5/5 (Tie Breaker-5.08)
The Last Word: This movie is highly underrated as Scorcese's best directing. "The Departed" does not even hold a candle to this film. The acting is superb especially how the character progresses on a downward spiral is nearly unparalleled to date in any films following it. DiNero's scene where he breaks down (to put it lightly to say the least) in the jail cell is remarkable.
2. The Shawshank Redemption - 5/5 (Tie Breaker-5.06)
The Last Word: One of the greatest stories ever. Adapted from Stephen King's novel is incredibly done. The acting, directing and narration implementation is to perfection. The final message that hope is something that can never be imprisoned is inspiring to the highest level. It's just Raging Bull's acting and directing was more perfect.
3. The Godfather - 4.86/5
The Last Word: Was originally slated as the top dog, but after the argument that the fight scene that occurs between Michael's brother and the brother-in-law is just horribly done and poorly choreographed, it's inexcusable for a movie that is slated as "The Greatest of All Time" to have such a major flaw.
4. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - 4.83/5
The Last Word: One of three movies to sweep the Oscars with Best Director, Screenplay, Actor, Actress and Film it had been argued that this should be number one. The main argument against it was it was too loosely adapted from the novel and that though a fantastic movie there's not quite as much "depth" as the higher ranked films.
5. Saving Private Ryan - 4.80/5
The Last Word: Argued to be Spielberg's best to date. The opening scene is without doubt one of the most brutal, real opening sequences in film. Script, Acting, Directing all on par. Amazing story about human sacrifice regardless of relation to the person what so ever. The only argument against it was that some felt the ending was some what a bit weak when compared to the rest of the film.
6. The Usual Suspects - 4.78/5
The Last Word: Originally nowhere near the list but somebody brought it up and we discussed more and more on it it went higher and higher. As we broke it down we realized how underrated (though critically acclaimed) this movie is. The acting is great but the characters themselves are very unique. The story is cliche UNTIL you reach the end. The ending is what we all agreed on was by far one of the best endings in film history and for a fact The Usual Suspects has been dubbed numerous times to have "The Greatest Plot Twister" in film history (beating out the Sixth Sense). Kevin Spacey is remarkable in this movie as he always is in his films. The story is very well done, and perfectly crafted. This is an all-time classic and is constantly being parodied (i.e. Scary Movie, Yes Dear). We felt a sign of a great movie is the impact it leaves in present and future generations.
ANYWAYS what I would like to know is what YOU guys feel is the greatest movie of all time, compile your own list and give us some reason as to why you feel these are the greatest movies of all time.
Now FOR THE RECORD, this is NOT my personal list. My list looked like this:
1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Casablanca
3. Raging Bull
4. The Godfather
5. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
6. Vertigo