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MY INTERNATIONAL TOP 500 GREATEST FILMS

One of the main functions of cinema is revelation. The experience gives us new details and senses capable of transporting us to another time and place. Great cinema, like other great works of art—music, theater, books, dancing, painting, sculpture, even architecture—make us passionate about life itself. We may be angered, antagonized, saddened, manipulated, even jolted with side-splitting laughter, and in many of these cases, tears may flow. Or in other cases we may be stunned, overwhelmed, filled with admiration, or even indignation. Films, perhaps more than the other art form, reach beyond and transcend cultural boundaries.

Here are my credentials. First of all, these films have been viewed and reviewed for their aesthetic value. By absorbing the beauty, intelligence and substance of the art form in an objective and judicious way, we can open our mind to my simple formula. Primarily, film as art seems to satisfy what I call the THREE E’s.

1: ENTERTAINMENT 2: EXPERIENCE 3: EDUCATION.

1. How does its entertainment value hold up? Is it good enough to see again? Did its images wash over us passively, or did it move us, or even overwhelm us, emotionally or artistically? Did it change our perception of things? What effect, if any, did it have on pop culture? Could it be considered a landmark film, perhaps permanently imprinting memories we may never forget? Did it, or will it, pass the test of time?

2. Was the experience enriching? Did we identify with the characters? Did we even care about them? And if we are really “into” movies as an art form, how did the direction, the editing, the music score, and the cinematography affect you? Did the screenplay produce great moments of unforgettable dialogue? Did we experience something new, or were we disappointed?

3. On education, what did we learn from the viewing experience? Did we learn about another culture, or even another world? At any moment, did we feel enlightened? Or did we learn that we just got suckered in by another misleading movie trailer? Were we amazed at what we did or did not know? No matter what we think, movies influence our world view, our opinions, our tastes, and arguably, our behavior and personality. And feast on this statement—“Even when hope and science fail us, art survives.” – Janet Maslin

Last, but certainly not least, this list is based upon my JUDGMENT and my OPINION. As a film connoisseur, I am not blown away by the in-your-face pyrotechnics of self-serving, egotistical directors. Nor am I over-impressed by the talent, techniques, special effects, graphic realism, or assaults on the senses. I am more captivated by content or substance, artistic imagery, lyrical beauty, meaningful relationships and enlightening characters—even new emotional experiences. Most people I know feel the same way.

And what has become obvious to all is—STORY MATTERS!

So here is the list. Have fun. Discuss. Disagree. Agree. Drop your jaw in disbelief. Or rise above the differences and see them for the first time, or again, and again, and again.

- GARY PULLIAM

GREAT QUOTES ABOUT THE FILM INDUSTRY

(Read First)

Drama is life with all the dull parts cut out. – Alfred Hitchcock

You can speak well if you can deliver the message of your heart. – John Ford

The secret of humor is surprise. – Aristotle

I’ve been on a calendar, but I’ve never been on time. – Marilyn Monroe

A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. – Frank Capra

Hollywood is a sewer—with service from the Ritz-Carlton. – Wilson Mizner

Imagination is the highest kite one can fly. – Lauren Bacall

Drama is the study of someone who loses his life, and then gets it back again. – Steven Spielberg

A good director doesn’t get in the way of a script. That’s all a good director does. – William Goldman

Movies both reflect and create social conditions, but their special charm is to offer a world where people consume without the tedium of labor. Characters float in a world where the bill never comes due…and we wonder why we’re a debtor nation! – Molly Haskell – CONSUMING DESIRES

Failure has a thousand explanations. Success doesn’t need one. – Alec Guinness

“We artists love praise, but we love truth even better.” – Robert Shaw (Henry VIII) to Paul Schofield (Sir Thomas Moore) in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

I don’t make pictures just to make money. I make money to make more pictures. – Walt Disney

Pictures are the only business where you can sit out front and applaud yourself. – Will Rogers

Hollywood is a place where they shoot too many pictures and not enough actors. – Walter Winchell

Orson Welles is at heart a magician whose particular talent lies not so much in his creative imagination—which is considerable—but in his proven ability to stretch the familiar elements of theatrical effect far beyond the normal point of tension. – John Houseman

A director’s job is to make actors comfortable enough to perform to their best abilities. – Clint Eastwood

You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I’m sure I would have played his mother. That’s the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older. – Lillian Gish

Everyone told me to pass on SPEED because it was a bus movie. – Sandra Bullock

You really like me! – Sally Field on winning her second Oscar

Making a film is a cross between a circus, a military campaign, a nightmare and an orgy. – Norman Mailer

Always be the first rate version of yourself, instead of the second-rate version of somebody else. – Judy Garland

There is a disagreement between the way things are and the way I think things should be. – Francis Ford Coppola

There’s great respect for the dead in Hollywood, but none for the living. – Errol Flynn

“A boy’s best friend is his mother.” – Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates) to Janet Leigh (Marion Crane) – PSYCHO – Robert Bloch

Behind every successful man there is an astonished woman. – Frank Capra

Hollywood always wanted me to be pretty, but I fought for realism. – Bette Davis

You can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it in the naval of a fruit fly, and still have enough room for three caraway seeds and a producer’s heart. – Fred Allen

Didn’t you see those big ears when you talked to him, and those big feet and hands, not to mention that ugly face of his? – Jack Warner grieving over Clark Gable’s screen test.

Show business is the best possible therapy for remorse. – Anita Loos (Early Screenwriter)

I believe entertainment can aspire to be art, but if you set out to make art you’re an idiot. – Steve Martin

The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an acquarium, you do it. – Orson Welles

I think people in Hollywood are afraid of sentiment because they think the audience will reject it. – Leonard Maltin (Movie critic and historian)

Every country gets the circus it deserves. Spain gets bullfights. Italy gets the Catholic Church. America gets Hollywood. – Erica Jong

When you’re a young man, Macbeth is a characterpart. When you get older, it’s a straight part. – Laurence Olivier

Americans don’t spend billions on entertainment. They spend it in search for entertainment. – Unknown

Every great work of art has two faces—one in its own time and one in the future, toward eternity. – Daniel Borenboim – PARALLELS & PARADOXES : EXPLANATIONS OF MUSIC IN SOCIETY

Fear, not money, drives this industry. There is too much failure. 85% of all movies do not recoup their production costs. – Astounding quote from the 2007 Screenplay Expo in Los Angeles. – Gary Pulliam

Every great film should seem new every time you see it. – Roger Ebert

There is no thief like a bad movie – Sam Ewing (Baseball player & motivational speaker)