The 10 Greatest Films of All Time

Bride of Frankenstein

James Whale's immortal Bride of Frankenstein is one of those rare sequels that are actually better than the original. This film has it all, incredible production design, good performances, especially by Karloff, Ernest Thesiger and Elsa Lancaster, superb mood and atmosphere, and a macarbrely witty script that still manages to shock and offend after all these years. It's a classic that has stood the test of time and will still be scaring the pants off people 100 years from now. For my second through tenth-best horror films, I've selected, The Omen (the original, not the remake), Robert Wise's restrained, intelligent and genuinely frightening The Haunting, Clive Barker's Hellraiser, the original Frankenstein, Karl Freund's Mad Love with Peter Lorre (You just can't get away from this guy, it seems). These are all horror films worthy of note, as is the first Exorcist, Hitchcock's Psycho, and George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, (Not only one of the best horror films, but also a savage satire of America's consumerist culture.).

Best Musical of All Time

Singin' in the Rain

Jumping from films designed to give you the shivers, let's look at the best musicals of all time. My pick should be an obvious choice to anyone: Gene Kelly's classic, Singin' In the Rain. What's not to like? It's got great songs, Gene's Kelly's signature dance number (in the rain, "natch), a terrific story, gorgeous color cinematography, Donald O"Conner's hilarious “Make "Em Laugh” dance number, plus Jean Hagen"s Lena Lamont is one of the funniest, and least talented villains in screen history. This is a film that just gets better every time you see it, and is worthy of the top slot in the musical category.

Rounding out the top ten, I chose: Cabaret, The Commitments (hilarious, moving, with a great ensemble cast of unknowns), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Possibly the best dance sequences of all time, plus great cinematography), Oklahoma, On the Town (The first musical filmed outdoors on location), The Wizard of Oz, Chicago, West Side Story (Another triumph by Robert Wise), Meet Me in St. Louis (old-fashioned yes, but moving, and with terrific songs), and The Gay Divorcee (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing. "Nuff said).

Best Western of All Time

The Great Train Robbery

The western has been one of the most important genres since the beginning of films, when Edwin S. Porter made The Great Train Robbery in 1903 (Shot in the wilds of New Jersey, no less!). And although the genre has fallen out of favor with producers and audiences in recent decades, the classic westerns are among the best films of all time. But towering over them, in my opinion, is one classic film: The Wild Bunch. This film is Peckinpah"s masterpiece, a moody, violent film with surprising moments of poetry and eloquence amid the shocking carnage. It's an example of world-class film-making, where the script, direction, acting, music, cinematography and editing all combine to produce a staggering impact that, despite many, many imitations and ripoffs, still leaves viewers breathless at the cathartic ending.

My runner up is John Ford's classic, The Searchers, a sprawling epic about loyalty, family, and the corrosive effects of vengeance. It features superb location photography, an excellent script, and the great John Wayne at the top of his game, backed up by a wonderful cast, including Jeffery Hunter, a very young Natalie Wood, Ward Bond, Ken Curtis, and the rest of John Ford's ever-reliable stock company. My third choice is another film from Peckinpah, Ride the High Country, which not only deserves to be ranked among the best Westerns of all time, but among the best films of all time. It's Peckinpah's other masterpiece in the genre, less violent than The Wild Bunch, but imbued with a quiet poetry all its own as it tells the story of two over-the-hill gunmen, Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea and their attempts to hang on to their dignity in a quickly-changing western landscape.

This is Class-A filmmaking all the way, with superb Lucien Ballard cinematography, a script that bristles with trenchant dialog, and an unbeatable cast of Western regulars, including Warren Oates, R.G. Armstrong, L.Q. Jones, James Drury, and Edgar Buchanan, superb as a drunken judge. My other choices for the top ten Westerns of all time include: John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven, Clint Eastwood's best film as a director, Unforgiven, Sergio Leone's epic and unforgettable Once Upon a Time in the West, John Ford's Stagecoach, High Noon, Blood on the Moon (Another classic from Robert Wise), and the TV miniseries, Lonesome Dove.