My Top 30 Films From 1975-1999

Manhattan (1979) Allen

Astute readers of this blog (I'm looking at you Forsyth Tanglefoot of Helena, Montana) doubtless recall that at the beginning of last month I published a list of my top thirty films from the first quarter of this century. I have since struck upon the idea of listing my top thirty films from preceding twenty-five year periods. So for  this month I offer my top thirty from the last 25 years of the preceding century. In April I'll publish my top thirty from 1950-1974 and will conclude the series in May with thirty from 1925-1959. You're welcome. Not surprisingly it was much more difficult to narrow down the many films I love for this list than the previous ones, principally because the time period includes the last five years of the Seventies, my favorite decade of films. You will note that nine of thirty films come from the that half decade. There are three films from Woody Allen on the list, four from Martin Scorsese, two from Aki Kaurismäki and -- amazingly -- the other twenty-one are all from different directors. There were some terrific films that didn't make the list, indeed too many to mention. Here are the ones that did.

1. Manhattan (1979) Allen

2. Goodfellas (1990) Scorsese

3. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) Malle

4. Stalker (1979) Tarkovsky

5. Taxi Driver (1976) Scorsese

6. Europa (1991) von Trier

7. Fanny and Alexander (1982) Bergman

8. Heaven’s Gate (1980) Cimino

9. Tess (1979) Polanski

10. The Ice Storm (1997) A. Lee

11. Apocalypse Now (1979) F. Coppola

12. Annie Hall (1977) Allen

13. Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Lumet

14. Dead Man (1995) Jarmusch

15. Radio Days (1987) Allen

16. Raging Bull (1980) Scorsese

17. The Big Lebowski (1998) Coens

18. Rushmore (1998) W. Anderson

19. Ariel (1998) Kaurismaki

20. My Own Private Idaho (1991) van Sant

21. Barry Lyndon (1975) Kubrick

22. La Haine (1995) Kassovitz

23. Local Hero (1983) Forsyth

24. Pulp Fiction (1994) Tarantino

25. Come and See (1985) Klimov

26. The Age of Innocence (1993) Scorsese

27. Beau Travail (1999) Denis

28. The Match Factory Girl (1990) Kaurismaki

29. Das Boot (1981) Peterson

30. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Weir