Free Republic's Top Movies (Vanity)

- ^ | 2/23/03 | Me

[pupdog]

In a recent thread, Freepers were asked to discuss their favorite movies, and we did, 470+ posts worth.

Well, far be it from me to miss an opportunity for statistical analysis and scientific inquiry, so I compliled all of the results, and present them to you here. I bring to you, Free Republic's Top 124 movies:

#77-124 (3 votes each):

The Andromeda Strain, Armageddon, Arsenic and Old Lace, Back to the Future Part 3, The Birds, Cinema Paradiso, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Dawn Of The Dead, Deliverance, Dirty Harry, The Empire Strikes Back, Flight Of The Phoenix, Forbidden Planet, Full Metal Jacket, Glory, Gone With The Wind, Groundhog Day, Heat, Henry V, The Hunt For Red October, Immortal Beloved, Kelly's Heroes, Last Of The Mohicans, Lawrence of Arabia, Life Is Beautiful, Little Big Man, Machurian Candidate, McClintock, The Mummy, My Fair Lady, The Pink Panther series, Popeye, Predator, Raisin' Arizona, Sand Pebbles, Sense And Sensibility, Signs, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Spiderman, Star Wars, The Thing, The Third Man, Tremors, True Lies, Unforgiven, The Usual Suspects, The Women, Yentl

#53-76 (4 votes each):

Aliens, Back To The Future, The Best Years Of Our Lives, The Big Lebowski, Black Hawk Down, Blade Runner, Caddyshack, A Clockwork Orange, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Exorcist, Fiddler On The Roof, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Life Of Brian, The Man Who Would Be King, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, The Shawshank Redemption, Stalag 17, Thin Man series, Top Gun, Treasure of the Sierra Madres, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Wizard Of Oz

#32 - 52 (5 votes each):

Amadeus, Apocalypse Now, Ben Hur, Brazil, Chariots Of Fire, Dumb & Dumber, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, A Man For All Seasons, Midway, North By Northwest, Office Space, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Rear Window, Shane, The Ten Commandments, This Is Spinal Tap, The Sound Of Music, We Were Soldiers, Young Frankenstein, Zulu

#23 - 31 (6 votes each):

African Queen, Animal House, Apollo 13, Dr. Strangelove, Gettysburg, Gone With The Wind, Goodfellas, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, My Big Fat Greek Wedding

#19 - 22 (7 votes each):

Alien, Doctor Zhivago, Gladiator, The Godfather Part III

#15 - 18 (8 votes each):

Blazing Saddles, Das Boot, Red Dawn, Saving Private Ryan

#10 - 14 (9 votes each):

Citizen Kane, It's a Wonderful Life, Outlaw Josey Wales, Patton, Pulp Fiction

#9 (10 votes):

Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers

#8 (12 votes):

The Matrix

#5 - 7 (13 votes each):

Casablanca, The Godfather Part II, The Patriot

#4 (14 votes):

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

#3 (15 votes):

Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Ring

#1 - 2 (23 votes each):

Braveheart, The Godfather

Yes, a tie. I'll let you all now fight it out over which one is better.

There were 777 movies mentioned altogether. There was some ambiguity in how people made their selections, but I won't bother getting into methodology, since this was just a fun diversion and not meant to be scientific.

What that, discuss.

[cardinal4]

A Bridge Too Far. The cast in that classic makes it my favorite movie.

[kstewskis]

put my vote in for BRAVEHEART!

[kstewskis]

I disliked The Patriot also. Too violent. I turned it off when they started burning down Mel Gibson's house.

Aw, should've hung on to the end. They rebuilt him a new one :)

[chnsmok]

I couldn't spell Buchanan :-)

[chiller]

Glad to see Cinema Paradiso on the list. This is the first to come to mind when someone asks 'what's the best movie."

[Burr5]

I cannot BELIEVE you went to the trouble to provide this list! (Post#7). Did you type that up by hand?

But in case you think I'm being too solicitous, "John Wayne Movies" is NOT a movie. You should probably have thrown that and "The Pink Panther movies" out.

You know, given how scientific this is and stuff.

Because where would "The Lord of the Rings Movies" be on the list if you added FOTR and TTT together? Where it belongs?

[pupdog]

Ayup: things like this are a labor of love. It's a mathematics thing. :-) I'm actually think of starting a few similar polls to this and making them a bit more structured.

The compilations probably shouldn't be counted, but since it was just for fun, I decided it wouldn't hurt anything. People can throw them out if they want. As a side note, all of the votes for The Godfather Part III came from people saying "The Godfather trilogy".

It's always strange for movies that are essentially multiple parts of a longer story. The Wachowski brothers have already said that the two upcoming Matrix sequels are really two parts of one movie. And if I really wanted to push, I'd throw the 100-hour movie called Babylon 5 on there. :-)

With that, I think I might start on a few more polls soon. This one was fun and educational.

[Burr5]

Well, thanks for it. It is a lot of fun, and I hope you do it again.

[fight_truth_decay]

Am adding a new favorite to my personal list: The Pianist

Szpilman, a brilliant Jewish pianist who escapes the Warsaw ghetto and aids in smuggling guns to those in the ghetto who in time build up a small ghetto resistance "while waiting" for the rest of the world to understand the atrocities they were suffering under the Nazi takeover of Warsaw.

What will strike you is "history still repeats itself", unfortunately.When does the world start to comprehend while many leaders play their petty political games, innocent men, women and children are being murdered each day "while they wait"...wait for their Jewish (Iraqi) friends throughout the world to get the message out (a question from a Jewish man to Szpilman).

You will feel anger of the utmost while viewing "The Pianist..just like most of us feel anger and frustration at our present day situation in Iraq. If you want more info on the Pianist, this site is pretty good Review Or don't spoil it and go see if for yourself. f_t_d

[chnsmok]

[MigrantOkie]

"I disliked The Patriot also. Too violent."

Yeah I know what you mean, I prefer my war movies all sanitized with spit polish shine as well.

[mommybain]

Hubby and I watched "We Were Soldiers" last night with our 13-year-old son. It was quite an experience.

As far as movies w/ subtitles go, what about "Babette's Feast"?

[The Duke]

Nope, none at all. I saw it myself only once when I was really young (grammar school), so I think I need to pop that in again.

I've always been amazed at the 'Pied Piper' effect that To Kill a Mockingbird has had on my kids. In the first few seconds it captures their attention and doesn't let go until the end. Truly a movie of the ages and for all ages, and guarantted to have a profound affect on anyone who views it!

[Nateman]

Thanks for the tip on "The wizard of speed and time" Not well known, it only had a few comments on the Internet movie database. Fortunately there is an independent video rental place in town that had it. Definitely worth seeing. A celebration of  the creative spirit and a satire of those who would suppress it. True movie making magic.