It's a good list but where's the truly iconoc western? The Searchers is there but it's a revenge story set in the west, not a true western like Shane or High Noon. A spaghetti western (GBU)and a half-a-homo man love story (Butch) don't cut it.
Only one noir?
No Astair/Rogers? No Busby Berkley? These depression era films were vastly popular as the first examples of Escape movies.
No pre-code movie?btw
One silent (and it's German). Where's Griffith? Where are the incredible Russians from the silent era?
btw...Hard Days Night does belong for both cultural and technigue reasons. Spinelli invented the music video with this movie.
I think its partly because westerns are out of fashion atm, but curiously also I can’t think of many really great westerns. There ares some good ones, and enormous numbers of very bad ones but I can’t think of too many that transcend the type and become universally acknowledged as a “great film”. The two that most spring to mind are “High Noon” and “The good, the bad and the ugly”, which is excellently acted even if it does have an awful title.
On second thoughts, I agree with your assessment of HDN, but purely because of the cultural invention of music videos. “Help” was a better film.
I thought I saw a few noir films—Double Indemnity, Maltese Falcon, Chinatown (ok, neo-noir.) Casablanca.
Exactly.
I've never seen 'Birth of a Nation'. Not in its entirity. But I understand any film expert will tell you...
It's a must see.