Results

My favourite film of all time - in all it's various guises!

The Devil Is a Woman [Josef von Sternberg, 1935]

This is Hollywood at its most sophisticated — a relentlessly amusing but not remotely silly Dietrich vehicle by Josef von Sternberg (the “Leonardo of the Lenses”) which captures that elusive, unobtainable object of desire. Luxuriant stylisation and sublimely ridiculous costumes in awe-inspiringly beautiful images.

The film that got me into film

made me fall in love with Ozu

Ican't decide which of the following two is No. 1 and No.2. For me they are both No1 - Rashomon by Kurasawa and 8and 1/2 by Fellini. One other I would gladly add is Samurai Rebellion by Masaki Kobiyashi. These three treat different issues of our existance and each does it best in its kind.

'The Quiet Man' is full of Charm mixed with comedy and human relationships, together with prejudice and quaint traditions so skillfully bought to life by John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara and supported with great comedy by Barry Fitzgerald and Victor McClagen. A mixture of Pathos and Comedy with supurb landscapes and wonderful costumes and scenery a film to be enjoyed by everyone without swearing and violence.
A wonderful trip into the past when life was really enjoyable and people were more human than they are today.

Ivor Darvell.

I remember so clearly the first time I saw this film as a four year old in 1983, watching with wide-eyed amazement at something so different to what I'd seen before.
As a result of this movie, I've driven everyone I know crazy since that day saying "I want to do THAT for a living!" and is the reason I left a career path and life at 25 to go and study film instead.
That tingling feeling I had as a kid watching that spacecraft emerge from the top of the screen in the opening scenes is one that everyone should experience.....at least once in their lives.

As a less personal reason, not only did this film and ensuing franchise showcase some awe-inspiring breakthroughs in film technology at the end of the 70s/early 80s, the sort that is now taken for granted by modern cinema-goers, it gave birth to some impressive technological developments as well. The creation of Dolby stereo sound being one of the most prominent. This film represents a turning point in film history that paved the way for the olympic-scale, effects-filled action fiestas that we now expect every summer. No longer are filmmakers bound by the confines of reality, the heavens are literally the limit to what we can now portray. As such it should be presented to future generations as the turn in the road that's led film down the path it's travelled for the last 30 years. Who knows what we'll be doing in another 30?

Subject says it all. How Withnail & I was overlooked on this list I'll never comprehend.

Well, sooo many grat movies to choose from, but I'd go for this one as I can't see it in the list....beautiful cinematography, touching story, superb acting and haunting score.....do I need to say anything else??? Well....and the location is just amazing....A.

Should definitely be on the list

The Dark Knight!

A great movie ans should be included in best 75

I'm going to vote for Chris Marker's La Jetee.
It is a truly seminal film and communicates so many ideas and feelings within a short running time and relying on still images to do so. It challenges our expectations of film and film-making. It made a huge impact on me when i first saw it and now, many years later, it still moves and amazes me.

The French New Wave was so influential so certainly the films of Godard or Truffaut stand out, but for me new American cinema in the early 70's will stay in my consciousness forever. 'Badlands' is probably the most important film for me as I remember watching this as a child and really engaging with the landscape. Without going into detail it's just a beautiful film. I've seen this so many times and each time there is something new and unique to discover in the films text. There are countless films that have lifted various ideas from 'Badlands', but none can match it.

A one-off that in some quarters is derided for precisely the things that make it so special: stylised dialogue and unconventional realism. And then there are the masterful use of musical rhythms, the seductive close-ups and Ona Munson as one of cinema's extraordinary, sympathetic monsters. Sternberg made this melodrama six years after THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN – the last [and finest] of his six stunning Hollywood Dietrich films. I nominate THE SHANGHAI GESTURE because it is modern and rich and sui generis.

star wars

Maurice Elvey's magnificent evocation of our industrial past would make an excellent addition to the list and would be a great ambassador for the many great films made in Britain in the silent days.

A film so bizarre and so relevant it needs to be seen by people of all generations.

Both me and my friend Jeannine think "Withnail and I is the best "

La Règle du jeu, Renoir's tragicomic portrait of a society about to end.

One of the greatest rarely seen films and one of the most surprising to come out of Hollywood. Known to have been seen by Ozu's cowriter on Tokyo Story, and the parallels are obvious.

Brazil
Shawshank Redemption

Both of these are already up on the voting list - so that's ok.

I would definitely add the following though:

Dead Man's Shoes - Shane Meadows
Man with a Movie Camera - Dziga Vertov
Battleship Potempkin - Sergei Eisenstein
Leon - Lúc Besson

Jamie bell is godly!
So therefore its Billy Elliot hands down :)
xo

I would choose 2001 as a film for future generations. I feel that sci-fi as a genre is hard to beat as a cinematic experience, and the film had me thinking about it for a long time afterwards, which i think a good film should do. Kubrick is my favourite director, and i almost chose Shining. Bladerunner would be up there too.

This is my choice but it is a very difficult choice to make as there are so many important films.

OK, just to be really clear (and because I didn't read the instructions before), this is the one I want to nominate.

Godard's Weekend is my top choice.

Other than that, by him One Plus One, Le Mepris, Bande Aparte, Vivre Sa Vie and Breathless all deserve mentions.

Cassavetes: Opening Night, Husbands and Faces.

Alan Clarke: Scum, Made in Britain and Elephant.

Absolutely, without question, a masterpiece.

8 1/2 improves with every watch, a radical breakthrough for it's dreamlike quality and study of filmmaking. A personal triumph in every way. Not to be missed!

James Stewart's marvellous performance as the tragic father-figure portrays the futility and misery of war more than any other performance I have ever seen, and that graveside soliloquy for his wife is a master-lesson in controlled emotion - a lesson yet to be learned by many modern actors.

They are both so gorgeous, so moving. My first thought was Sunrise, but when I saw that people had voted for L'Atalante, I said "Yes!" I love good dialogue, but somehow I'd like to show this future audience some great examples of non-verbal poetic expression. Though Michel Simon's prattling in L'Atalante is damned funny!

Wong Kar Wai is one of the best directors of the last decade.
He uses colours and images and music in such a poetic way you can't avoid to be fascinated by this film.

A classic of Hindi cinema, and I think of cinema in general. The title "curry western" is often applied to this film, but that flippant, exoticizing term doesn't do justice to the way director Ramesh Sippy managed to bring Kurosawa and Leone into the aesthetic of mainstream Hindi cinema. And as die-hard fans like to note, Sholay is one of the highest-grossing films in Indian film history and it ran continuously in a movie theater in Bombay for over 5 years. And BBC recognized it as "Film of the millenium." I doubt the Sholay will win this competition, but in any case, go watch it!

Hear me out. You may just see it as a chick-flick, teenage film. But it is so much more than that if you look closer at it. It's about growing up, social outcasts, how there are so many problems in teenage life now. Look between the lines and see the message

Of all the "big" films, "exiting" films and "Clever" films listed I think a black and white film made with no "big star" names in the 1950s
best reflects the quiet longing of the "little man" for love and companionship in an seeming uncaring world, it's a well told story
of a basic human need bought to fulfilment. a classic fully deserving
the best picture/actor oscar, I can never understand why it is so seldom shown.

This sly comedy must stand as representative of Luis Bunuel's entire career. I could have chosen any one of his masterpieces from L'Age D'Or in 1928 to That Obscure Object of Desire in 1977.Bunuel never ceased to attack the forces of repression in society and here he accomplished his task with wit and a light touch born of a lifetime in cinema.

great film

I would like to nominate 'Juillette of the Spirits' by Fredrico Fellini as my all time favourite film and therefore would love to see it on the bfi 75 list.

I was indelibly marked by this film, both in its subject matter and its perfect combination of sound, music and imagery. Brilliant.

Dear All,
My choice for my film is La Dolce Vita by Fellini. It is a classic film based on a subject which is very relevant to today's society and that is the hounding of celebrities by the paparazzi. It's where the word paparazzi came from. It will be very relevant to people in the future. If Fellini were alive today I'd give him a medal.

The Train with Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield is perfect. Also perfect;
Casablanca
To Have and Have not
The African Queen
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, Claude Raines and Basil Rathbone).

Withnail and I

Tom Hank's at his brilliant best. Great support from Robin Wright-Penn & Gary Sinise. A wonderful journey through the ups & downs of the 60's.

If we are going to pass a film onto future generations, I think this one should be on the list. Who doesn't know all the songs !

For a true Hollywood epic ...and "frankly my dear, I don't give a damn".

Star, director, writer, composer, cinematographer, editor all at their peak and raising each other's game - what more could you ask for?

Great acting, lovely black and white photography, superb production design. Who can forget the scene in the churchyard with Pip and Magwitch. It's pure cinema.

How on Earth did Trainspotting not make it on to this list... brilliant story/writing, great cinematogrpahy, humorous, shocking, fast paced, creative, amazing soundtrack... and a slice of British life... a great British film. Please add Trainspotting!

I got hold of a VHS copy of Brakhage's hand painted films from the early nineties and fell in love with his work. It prompted me to buy the Criterion retrospective from America. At the same time I was reading the work of Deleuze and had become obsessed by Francis Bacon's paintings. For me The Act Of Seeing With One's Own Eyes was a culmination of all of the ideas that I found intrinsic to art. It is a film that will forever remain controversial for its content and be just as powerful and evocative in the future as it was when it was made and is today.

I was tempted to add my own to the list, for that I would hover between Satantango by Bela Tarr and Ordet by Dreyer. Two films that mesmerise and haunt me. I would select them for the future as they are both about belief and its limits. Both mistakenly written up as a religious or a political allegory. Both, alas for the future, assume you have not unlearned how to look.
Instead I go with L'Atalante, because I know it will delight more people, yet underneath is a very similar meditation, and an equally rigourous eye. I first saw this in 1966 and watching the latest restoration on DVD I still smell the strange chips that were cooking in the nearby canteen, and I still hear the clatter of that projector over my left shoulder.

What about "Leon", it has to be in the top ten.

Jean De Florette and Manon Des Source?

La Homme Du Train

The Blues Brothers

Zatoichi

Life Of Brian

Martin Chuzzlewitt (BBC)

All outstanding and not mentioned?