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Home > Blogs > Sir Critic on Cinema > Archives > 2009 > April > 14 > Entry
Are these the 15 most infuential films of all time?
Turner Classic Movies, the best TV channel in the entire world, in celebration of its 15th anniversary, has put together a list (referenced here at that other list-maker, Entertainment Weekly) of what they consider the 15 most influential movies.
Their picks, and my commentary:
The Birth of a Nation (1915): Absolutely. This was the original blockbuster, and it defined or solidified filmmaking language.
Battleship Potemkin (1925): Its justly famous staircase sequence has been ripped off or referenced in everything from The Untouchables to Beauty and the Beast.
Metropolis (1927): Prime mind-blowing example of German expressionism, and quite possibly the first truly important sci-fi movie.
42nd Street (1933): If you have to pick a musical (and you do), this is the one, because it was the film that proved movie musicals could be much more than filmed plays.
It Happened One Night (1934): You know those cliches you find in so many romantic comedies? They all started in this Frank Capra classic with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937): It’s not Disney’s best movie, but the first full-length animated film has to be the most influential.
Gone with the Wind (1939): I’ve always felt this movie was overrated, but its impossible to deny its place in film history. Adjusted for inflation, its still the biggest hit of all time.
Stagecoach (1939): If I had to pick a movie and call it the quintessential Western, this would be it.
Citizen Kane (1941): What else is there to say, really?
Bicycle Thieves (1947): Heartbreaking tale that showed just how emotionally raw and elegantly simple filmmaking could be.
Rashomon (1950): One of Kurosawa’s masterpieces famously shows how the same event can look completely different depending on your vantage point.
The Searchers (1956): This is an undeniably great movie and one of my favorite Westerns, but I’m not sure I would include it with Stagecoach already representing the genre. If it’s one or the other, it has to be Stagecoach.
Breathless (1959): The French new wave reinvents film language by bending time with devices like jump cuts.
Psycho (1960): The shrieking score alone is massively influential.
Star Wars (1977): Many people have “blamed” this film for killing the Great American Movie and ushering in the age of the Great American Hit. But I don’t blame George Lucas. He made a great movie. I blame the Hollywood executives that started chasing its money.
And that’s where the list ends. I think it’s quite solid, although I might throw out The Searchers for something that reflects the modern digital age. But even there, what do you pick? Terminator 2? Jurassic Park? Titanic?
What do you think? What got left out?
Permalink | Comments (35) | Post your comment | Categories: Lists
Comments
By asnow
April 15, 2009 7:47 PM | Link to this
Influential? And “2001 A Space Odyssey” isn’t on the list? Use of music. Visuals, editing and sequencing. Messing with your narrative expectations….? Please.By william
April 15, 2009 2:16 PM | Link to this
Don’t forget The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which introduced or mainstreamed the horror slasher film genre. A dubious distinction, but noteworthy.By ME
April 15, 2009 1:49 PM | Link to this
Wow I would this this has to be one of the hardest lists to compose in the first place. There are so many movies that changed movie making forever. I too am amazed Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times isn’t on this list. I would agree with some on this list, but everyone makes good points about other films that they thought were more influential. I think if a movie is timeless - that it teaches us something today and even can apply in today’s world it can still be very influential. It’s up to us and TCM to keep the flame for old films going!By Mike M
April 15, 2009 1:42 PM | Link to this
What about “Deep Throat” or “Behind the Green Door”. Their genre and subject matter aside, these movies actually crossed in to the mainstream and are some the biggest grossing movies ever. They were a catalyst in the evolution of cinematography.By Michael J.
April 15, 2009 1:07 PM | Link to this
Simply put, “To Kill a Mockingbird” is easily one of the top 15 influential movies ever made.By cooter
April 15, 2009 12:54 PM | Link to this
What about Super Troopers? You chicken #*@&ers!By Filmically Perfect
April 15, 2009 12:51 PM | Link to this
Notice that these influential films are ranked in a numerical value? Are we, be it greatest, boomer, x, y, or z generation, to believe TCM’s claim that #1 BIRTH OF NATION is more influential than say #15 STAR WARS? Or is it predicated on the occasion of their 15th anniversary? We challenge these blood money exploiters of “movies” for ratings points -to a cage match with “Filmically Perfect”! Friday! Friday! Friday! 12:30 PM at WYSO studios! Bring that list TCM, and bring no foreign objects into the studio!By Allie D.
April 15, 2009 11:54 AM | Link to this
I absolutely agree with the person who mentioned Easy Rider. That film captivated and helped usher in the “New Hollywood” era which took place between the mid-60s and late 70s/early 80s, where conformity and the traditional aspect of filmmaking went out the window. If they didn’t want to use that one, then why not another one from the New Hollywood era, like Taxi Driver, Dog Day Afternoon, The Graduate, or Midnight Cowboy? We’re talking nearly twenty years of time here, with films that spoke to our nation’s very turbulent socio-cultural mindset, where rebellion against the status-quo was never higher. The New Hollywood Era essentially came to an end with Star Wars, and while I am glad to see it included on this list, I am chagrined at how a very pivotal part of film history (not to mention American history), and one that continues to influence how films are made to this day, is omitted from this list. Easy Rider also helped to solidify the “road movie” as a genre.By cincyboy
April 15, 2009 11:11 AM | Link to this
Absolutely Easy Rider or, better, Bonnie and Cylde. Impossible not to drop at least one in there. And where is 8 1/2? Or Wild Strawberries?By Doug
April 15, 2009 11:00 AM | Link to this
Forrest Gump!! Run, Forrest run!By Not Rosati
April 15, 2009 10:29 AM | Link to this
Roots was terrific and very important but a TV miniseries is NOT a movie. Is this going to turn into another mom and pop restaurant thread where fans of one place try to take over for something that doesn’t belong?By Roger
April 15, 2009 10:14 AM | Link to this
“something that reflects the modern digital age. But even there, what do you pick? Terminator 2? Jurassic Park? Titanic?” Jurassic Park. This movies effects were groundbreaking and so well executed you can still watch it without noticing it’s 16 years old. There are recent blockbuster hits that don’t have as realistic effects as JP. As for other modern movies. I’d gun for Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs.By Elew
April 15, 2009 9:15 AM | Link to this
ROOTS is one of the most influential movies of all time. Why is this not listed??? It gave me the first “real” understanding of what African Americans had to endure during slavery….from being being taken from their homeland(life) to being taken from and separated form their wives and children.By Sir Critic
April 15, 2009 8:46 AM | Link to this
Reading through a lot of the comments here, the question that pops up in my mind, is, what exactly does influential mean? Which film is more influential? Was it the smaller film that introduced a new idea, or was it the more widely seen film that changed thinking? Yes, “Tron” was the movie that made Pixar’s John Lasseter say “Cool! Maybe you could make a whole movie this way!” So “Tron” was the innovator, while “Toy Story” was the real scene-changer, in that its unintended effect was the demise of hand-drawn animation. As for “Halloween,” it was no doubt influential, but I would argue that without “Psycho” there would be no “Halloween.” So which really belongs on the list? And on what planet is “Halloween” a crappy movie? Cheaply made, yes, but very skillfully made. Otherwise we wouldn’t be talking about it here.By Sir Critic
April 15, 2009 8:36 AM | Link to this
Movie buff: I don’t doubt “Roots” was influential, but since it was a TV miniseries, I don’t think it qualifies here.By major dundee
April 15, 2009 8:30 AM | Link to this
Lets not forget “The Wild Bunch”. Peckinpah created the action sequence and influenced the modern action movie.By Walt
April 15, 2009 8:05 AM | Link to this
TCMs list qualifies films that were the “first” to do certain things or techniques as being the “most influential” of all times. With that mindset, you need to include the “first talkie”, the “first colorized”, the “first w/ intermission”, etc. Isn’t that like saying,”Cave drawings are the “most influential paintings” of all time?By ron rollins
April 15, 2009 8:02 AM | Link to this
i think the list is fine, but the problem is it’s the same old samey list… yeah, yeah, fritz lang and frank capra… love ‘em, and i get it, i get it… but i think the commenters are onto something… there are lots of movies that are very influential that are more off in back corners of the culture and yet affected things far beyond themselves. “Tron” is definitely on that list. like it or not, so is “deep throat,” or more likely, “the devil in miss jones,” (r.i.p. marilyn chambers), which mainstreamed porn practically overnight. i’d put “sands of iwo jima” on there as the war movie that took war films from b-grade propaganda quickies during wwii and turned them into serious narrative films. the effect “pulp fiction” has had on narrative filmmaking styles is boundless… you could argue that nearly every movie made since then owes a storytelling debt to it in some way or other. um, “halloween”? it’s a crappy movie, but it invented an entire genre we’re still stuck with that shows no signs of abating, and which has effected the whole culture. “the godfather” brought what was then considered graphic violence into mainstream, artistic, serious filmmaking, and pictures … or TV, for that matter, were never the same…By Doc Michaels
April 14, 2009 10:11 PM | Link to this
As non-mainstream as they were, Sony pictures’ “Final Fantasy” and the newere Square-Enix’s “Final Fantasy: Advent Children” took what Toy Story brought to the table and humanized it. They brought the ‘uncanny valley’ to the forefront of film-making. For good or bad, both films have revolutionized the digital medium.By LA
April 14, 2009 8:54 PM | Link to this
I would have to include Double Indemnity and if the list were longer, Out Of The Past, Casablanca, The Wizard Of Oz, Lawrence Of Arabia and Shane.By TJ
April 14, 2009 8:54 PM | Link to this
I agree with Harley, The Wizard of Oz should have been on this list, as should have been The Ten Commandments. Both movies were excellent and very well done.By Dave
April 14, 2009 6:33 PM | Link to this
Sir Critic, based on the “Toy Story” argument Kim raises, I think that “Tron” is the more influential movie. It really started the computer animation revolution. Yes, I realize more folks liked “Toy Story”, but we are talking influence.By Movie Buff
April 14, 2009 6:24 PM | Link to this
I am surprised Roots isn’t listed here. That is one movie that changed my life.By Sir Critic
April 14, 2009 5:02 PM | Link to this
Kim raises an interesting question, wondering if the influence stopped. I would submit that sometimes it takes awhile for influence to be truly felt, which might be partly why newer films are scarce on the list. Of all the titles suggested by commenters so far, I’d say Toy Story is most deserving, for good and ill. Good in that it introduced the world to Pixar and a new animation medium - and bad in that studios became so enamored of CG, hand-drawn animation fell by the wayside.By Kim
April 14, 2009 4:24 PM | Link to this
You know what jumps out to me? All of those films except for Star Wars were made 1960 or before - most prior to 1950. What does that say about modern movie-making? Did the influence stop after that? Has no one done anything new and exciting since then? Interesting - those of course I realize they are a “classic” movie station. I do think that “Gone With the Wind” put the “E” in “epic” type films. And I would probably also add “Toy Story” as the film that really solidified the new age of computer generated animation.By Daniel
April 14, 2009 4:21 PM | Link to this
I agree with Kim, 15 is not enough to present any list of films. I once attempted to create the 50 greatest movies (from my POV), complete with reasoning. But then I had to quit since it was a mindless task that I wouldn’t even get paid for. But to see a list like this, not displaying a single movie I enjoyed, could get through, or even desired seeing… I remembered why I don’t watch TCM. Sorry Eric.By JP
April 14, 2009 4:13 PM | Link to this
“Philadelphia” must be on this list for the awareness it brought to the AIDS epidemic of our times. The role that Tom Hanks played was incredible and it brought a personal touch to the disease that was much needed in our society at that time.By Movie Lover
April 14, 2009 4:06 PM | Link to this
What about Casablanca? It definitely should be included in the “usual suspects.”By Dave
April 14, 2009 4:05 PM | Link to this
I’d have to throw in a vote for “Shichinin no samurai”, which was adapted as The Magnificent Seven. And where are the great WW2 movies? They certainly were influential!By Bud Norton
April 14, 2009 3:20 PM | Link to this
“Easy Rider.” Afterwards Hollywood embraced art-sy, experimental directors (for awhile) and the youth counter-culture.By Matt
April 14, 2009 2:58 PM | Link to this
I’d go with Pulp Fiction. Tarantino’s style has been copied over and over…By Harley Earl
April 14, 2009 2:47 PM | Link to this
Wizard of Oz is the most glaring omission, to me. I’m surprised there are two westerns on the list, as great as they both are. I’d actually take The Searchers over Stagecoach, with it’s complex characters, themes and gorgeous scenery.By Larry Flynt
April 14, 2009 11:24 AM | Link to this
How could you leave out “Deep Throat.” Like it or not, it changed the social fabric of the country and laws regarding filmmaking.By Rob
April 14, 2009 11:06 AM | Link to this
I’d think Toy Story should probably be added to the list. I also think that The Searchers definitely needs to be on there. It really took the Western to a different level, beyond the run-and-gun white hat versus black hat and adding in moral ambiguity.By Kim S.
April 14, 2009 10:41 AM | Link to this
I understand “It Happened One Night”. I don’t understand how there’s no Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin/Marx Brothers films listed. Not to mention “Halloween”, which started modern horror. I’d also have included “Some Like it Hot” or “Bringing Up Baby”. But being limited to 15 isn’t really enough now, is it?