10. Unforgiven – 1992
It’s completely badass all on its own, but Unforgiven goes to a whole different level once you put it in the context of Clint Eastwood’s career as a whole. This is basically his old Man With No Name character trying to clean his shit up, start a family and go legit, but deep down he’ll always be a devil and you do not want to fuck with him. It revived the Western all by itself and reminded everyone that Clint Eastwood is, was, and always will be the baddest man on the planet.
9. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – 1975
This is probably Jack Nicholson’s finest moment, and really, that about says it all, doesn’t it? But it’s also got one of the best villains of all time in Louise Fletcher’s Nurse Ratched. It’s a movie about the indomitability of the human spirit, and the world’s tragic need to constantly try to snuff it out. And really, what theme is more important – or more relatable – than that?
8. The Silence of the Lambs – 1991
Hannibal Lecter. Just… Hannibal fucking Lector. And then there’s Jame Gumb creeping everyone out, and good god, anytime a dude who fucking eats people isn’t even the bad guy, you know things have been kicked up a notch. There are just too many moments that have become iconic to really get into here. And I haven’t even mentioned Jodie Foster yet. What a movie.
7. Schindler’s List – 1993
It’s a movie that had to be made, and thank god it didn’t suck. The potential was there for Steven Spielberg to make it hammy because, well, that’s sort of his thing, but this was so important to him that he overcame some of his cornier instincts and the result is a heavy, heavy movie that is impossible to love – it’s just too fucking raw – but that demands your respect and your attention. And that’s exactly what it needed to be. It was made to haunt you.
6. Annie Hall – 1977
Woody Allen’s finest moment, and while certain, uh, events in his life have kind of put a damper on things, you can’t deny how alive and how important this movie was. It’s the ultimate New York movie, and it’s also the ultimate modern relationship movie. And the ultimate in comedy, and… you get the point. Very few movies truly matter. This one does. It’s a cultural nuclear bomb.
5. The Sound of Music – 1965
It’s completely corny and hopelessly old-fashioned, but this is just straight old-school Hollywood movie magic. It’s epic and larger than life in a way movies don’t even try to be anymore. Drop your cynical veil and just embrace it. You know you want to. Plus, any movie where a bunch of nuns fuck up some Nazis is okay by me.
4. Rocky – 1976
It’s fucking Rocky. I really, really hope I don’t have to explain this to you any more than that.
3. The Deer Hunter – 1978
Calling it a war movie seems appallingly inadequate. Even calling it a movie about how war messes with people seems inadequate. That’s because it’s about that and so much more. It’s about family, and friendship and that rust belt, coal country part of America that is its heart, and yes, it’s also about Vietnam and what that did to the dudes who were there and the country that they came back to. I haven’t even mentioned those goddamn Russian Roulette scenes. It’s just a stunning movie about, well, about everything. Everything that really matters anyway.
2. The Godfather: Part II – 1974
Many believe that this is even better than the original, and there are days when I’m one of those people. It’s a spectacular movie about family and power and how those two things can so easily become intertwined in tragedy. It’s pretty much the perfect movie.
1. The Godfather – 1972
In the end, I had to go with the OG (Original Godfather?) if only because it’s the movie that started it all. The sequel works so well because of what was created here. Let’s not forget that the original had Brando going full Brando, it made a star out of an unknown dude named Al Pacino, and the “settling all family business” montage near the end is maybe the best sequence in movie history. It’s almost impossible to judge the first two Godfather movies independently from one another. In fact, I want to just go ahead and call them both number one since to me they are basically one amazing movie. But since I have to pick between them, I’ll go with the original, the best Oscar winning movie of the last 50 years.