The Fifteen Films that Just Missed My Top 100

Hail the Conquering Hero number 101

The premise here is simple. What are my favorite all-time films that did not quite make my list of top 100 motion pictures of all time? I suppose another way of looking at is: what are my 101st through 115th favorite movies? (I was going to pick a top ten but the best I could do was narrow it down to fifteen.)

I thought it worth singling out some films considering how many I have in the “I also love these movies” category that follows my top 100. Astute readers (I’m looking at you Conroy G. Buttlecluck of Winston-Salem, North Carolina) will note that several of these pictures used to be among my top 100 but were pushed out by newcomers. My top 100 is a fluid list with films moving in, out, up and down as I watch them again and re-evaluate or find new ones.

I end this short post with a disclaimer: My top 100 merely reflects my personal favorites and I don’t pretend that any movie is better than any other.

So here’s my next fifteen and yes, they are in order.

1. Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) Sturges

2. Mirror (1975) Tarkovsky

3. The Wild Bunch (1969) Peckinpah

4. Closely Watched Trains (1966) Menzel

5. The Long Voyage Home (1940) Ford

6. Viridana (1961) Buñuel

7. The Match Factory Girl (1990) Kaurismäki

8. Groundhog Day (1993) Ramis

9. Bonnie & Clyde (1967) Penn

10. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) Petri

11. The Virgin Suicides (1999) S. Coppola

12. The Cranes Are Flying (1957) Kalatozov

13. All the President’s Men (1976) Pakula

14. Hud (1963) Ritt

15. Rashoman (1950) Kurosawa