250 Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head (1966 / Gerald Thomas)
My favourite Carry On, set at the time of the French revolution and a take on the scarlet pimpernel story. Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey are all on top form, and the gags come thick and fast!
249 Badlands (1973 / Terrence Malick
Malick’s films tend to leave me cold, but this, his debut, is the exception. A very young Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek play on the run killers in a film that has some of Malick’s traits (such as beautiful exterior shots) but none of his later pretentiousness.
248 Cinema Paradiso (1988 / Guiseppe Tornatore)
Seemed to attain classic status almost straight away after its release. Tornatore’s tale of a film maker recalling his childhood is extremely moving and a treat for those of us who love films about film making.
247 The Gay Divorcee (1934 / Mark Sandrich)
A typically madcap early Fred Astaire and Gingers Rogers vehicle, as notable for its comedy as its dance routines. My favourite of their pictures features the classic songs Night and Day and The Continental.
246 The Bourne Ultimatum (2007 / Paul Greengrass)
The third and final of Matt Damon Bourne films is the fastest paced and best of the bunch. Some of the loose ends from the previous 2 films are neatly tied up during 2 hours of typical unrelenting action from the master of that genre, Greengrass.
245 Il Divo (2008 / Paolo Sorrentino)
A complicated but absorbing Italian political thriller from a great director that can be ranked alongside some of the better known American examples of the genre.
244 Constant Gardener (2005 / Fernando Meirelles)
Not in the league of the adaptation of John Le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy maybe, but still an intelligent take of this moving story. Ralph Fiennes excels as a man trying to uncover the mysterious circumstances surrounding his wife’s death.
243 Double Life of Veronique (1991 / Krzysztof Kieslowski)
This was made just before Kieslowski achieved international recognition with his 3 colours trilogy, which sadly turned out to be his swansong. Irene Jacob provides an extraordinary dual performance as the French Veronique and the Polish Weronika in this beguiling drama.
242 Casino (1995 / Martin Scorsese)
At the time of writing this, which is before I have seen Wolf of Wall Street, Casino was Scorsese’s last great film. Set in Vegas in the 1970s and 80s, it is a visually stunning story of mob conflict and violence featuring outstanding performances by Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone.
241 Dog Day Afternoon (1975 / Sidney Lumet)
Lumet had a consistently great 50 year career as a director, and Dog Day Afternoon is many people’s pick as his best effort. Al Pacino gives a typically barnstorming performance as a bank robber who becomes involved in a hostage situation, when his heist to raise money for his lover’s sex change operation goes badly wrong.
240 In Which We Serve (1942 / Noel Coward & David Lean)
Stiff upper lip abounds in this stirring wartime tale of the naval ship HMS Torrin. Told in flashback after it is sunk, the lives of the various crew members are examined to great effect. May seem dated now but an important film when released at the height of the second world war, and it still has the capacity to move you.
239 Heat (1995 / Michael Mann)
The long awaited pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino on film did not disappoint. Michael Mann’s crime thriller is typically stylish and the screen crackles when De Niro’s villain meets Pacino’s cop.
238 The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961 / Val Guest)
Terrific low budget British sci fi movie about an accident when testing nuclear bombs that causes the earth to spiral towards the sun. Guest had a long and varied career (I highly recommend his autobiography) and this was his best work. The acting honours go to Leo McKern and Arthur Christiansen in supporting roles.
237 Secrets and Lies (1996 / Mike Leigh)
One of Leigh’s most popular works centring on Hortense, an adopted black woman, locating Cynthia, her white birth mother. It also covers the trials and tribulations of Cynthia’s extended family. Brenda Blethyn as Cynthia grabbed the critics’ attention but amongst more famous names, Claire Rushbrook, as Cynthia’s niece, shines.
236 The Barbarian Invasions (2003 / Denys Arcand)
I found this deeply involving, despite being a sequel to a film I haven’t seen (‘The Decline of the American Empire’). A man dying of cancer decides to make up with friends and family that he has wronged over the years. Pleasingly, it picked up the best foreign film award at the Oscars, although Arcand’s screenplay should also have got a nomination.
235 Scarface (1932 / Howard Hawks & Richard Rosson)
Better than the overrated remake and very shocking for its day. In fact the release was delayed for a year and Hawks had to recut the film to remove some of the violence before it could be released. Part of a great cycle of gangster films made in the 1930s and early 40s, and featuring an impressive lead performance by Paul Muni. The story that Al Capone liked the film so much that he had his own copy of it may be apocryphal!
234 Twilight (1998 / Robert Benton)
Four years after the pairing worked so well for Nobody’s Fool, director Benton and star Paul Newman teamed up again with even better results in this classic private eye movie. It is strange that a film with a cast also including Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Reese Witherpsoon, Stockard Channing and James Garner had such a limited release at the time and is virtually forgotten now. I guess that the age of the cast did not attract the teenage audience required at multiplexes, unlike its namesake, the dreaded lifeless vampire saga.
233 Out of Sight (1998 / Steven Soderburgh)
The film that elevated Soderburgh to the mainstream and helped establish George Clooney as a movie star. The story of an habitual criminal trying to pull off one last job is nothing new, but the Elmore Leonard source material, Soderburgh’s innovative and stylish direction and the chemistry between Clooney and Jennifer Lopez (her best ever performance by a distance) elevate this one.
232 Walking and Talking (1996 / Nicole Holofcener)
This was Holofcener’s feature film debut as both a writer and director, paving the way for an impressive career so far. Walking and Talking shares the same qualities as each of the 4 films she has made since: note perfect performances by actors delivering believable and perceptive dialogue. This comedy romance benefits from the presence of Christina Keener in the lead role and Billy Bragg on the soundtrack.
231 The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976 / Clint Eastwood)
The fact that this is only my 5th favourite film of 1976 shows what a great year for movies it was. It was certainly the film that confirmed that Eastwood was a major directing talent. He also stars as the title character, a farmer who becomes involved in post civil war guerrilla activity when some pro union soldiers kill his family.
230 Dressed to Kill (1980 / Brian De Palma)
It may be trashy and exploitative, but this early-ish De Palma effort is a lot of fun. Michael Caine plays a psychiatrist who’s patient is brutally murdered and the wonderful Dennis Franz plays the detective trying to find the tall blonde woman who committed the crime. Full of De Palma’s trademark stylistic flourishes, you will probably guess who the killer is but should enjoy the ride anyway.
229 Three Days of the Condor (1975 / Sydney Pollack)
A researcher for the CIA returns from lunch to find all of his co-workers murdered and has to go on the run whilst he figures out who was responsible. Typical 1970s paranoia is evident and a great cast from that era – Robert Redford, Cliff Robertson, Faye Dunaway, Max Von Sydow and John Houseman – gives this thriller a touch of class.
228 Young Frankenstein (1974 / Mel Brooks)
Young Frankenstein was released hot on the heels of Brooks’ Blazing Saddles and the pair represent the writer/director’s best work. A pitch perfect Frankenstein spoof with lots of quotable dialogue and the best performance of Gene Wilder’s career as the doctor. Gene Hackman as a blind man is hysterically funny.
227 L’affaire Farewell (2009 / Christian Carion)
Amongst an eclectic cast (yes, that really was David Soul), Emir Kustrica, who is better known as a director, gives an outstanding performance as a Russian spy leaking secrets to a French contact during the cold war. Deliberately paced, this overlooked gem would make an excellent companion piece to Tinker, Tailor Soldier, Spy.
226 The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970 / Billy Wilder)
Holmes stories seem to be all the rage, what with the superb BBC series, the patchy Robert Downey Jr franchise and the popular US TV series, Elementary. The time may be right, therefore, to revisit one of Wilder’s lesser known films. Robert Stephens is very good as the detective investigating the disappearance of a client’s husband. The mystery may not be hard to solve but throw in some midgets and the loch ness monster and this is great entertainment.
