Bill's List of Movie Lists
BILL'S LIST OF MOVIE LISTS
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STANLEY KUBRICK
1928-1999
Rest in peace. You will be missed.
Here are two of my all-time Top Ten:
Vertigo poster designed by the late, great Saul Bass.
My name is Bill Huelbig and I live in Weehawken, New Jersey, USA. I'm 49 years old, but I've been a movie fan for about 45 years. Yeah, I started early!
Over the years I've made a lot of lists in my head about what I think makes a movie great. I'm sure the director is the person most responsible for a film's quality, but there are so many other people working on a film, and so many different skills involved to create a seamless whole, that I guess that's why they have all those different Oscar categories. And if it all comes together in a certain way, you might get a classic, or even a work of art.
I've always wanted to put these lists down on paper, but never got around to it. There also didn't seem to be much point in it. Now it seems I've skipped right past the Age of Paper into cyberspace. Now there's a chance the people who read these lists might seek out some film they haven't seen or haven't even heard of, and hopefully have a great movie experience.
If you want to agree or disagree, to tell me your own favorites or just tell me I have lousy taste, you can E-mail me at bhuelbig@prodigy.net
For lots more information on any of the following titles, check out the Internet Movie Database.
The lists are divided up into the following categories:The following lists are located at a different URL. Click on the titles to visit them.
All-Time Ten Favorite Films
In chronological order:
King Kong (1933)
It's to fantasy adventure films what the Empire State Building is to skyscrapers.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
I remember watching it every year on its annual TV showing, just staring at it in amazement. Just like every other kid in the country, I'll bet.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Ambitious, controversial, beautiful to see and hear, fun to watch. Any other words of praise you can think of will apply to it.
Marty (1955)
Sometimes the simplest of stories, about the most ordinary people, can just about say it all.
Vertigo (1958)
Alfred Hitchcock's most beautiful and moving film. There can be no higher recommendation than that.
West Side Story (1961)
The ultimate movie musical. Or maybe I just think so after having played the soundtrack album a couple of hundred times before I actually saw the movie at age 8.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Has any other movie taken so many chances (it couldn't have been easy to put this one together) and then succeeded so spectacularly?
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
I've always been first and foremost a science fiction fan. This is the best science fiction movie ever made, or that probably ever will be made. I guess that also makes it my favorite movie of all time.
The Godfather Part II (1974)
When a sequel to a great movie surpasses it in almost every way, the word "sequel" isn't good enough for it somehow.
Star Wars (1977)
See it once, and you want to see it again. Right away. 
I realize I could easily add another 10, but this is a very good group to be stranded on a desert island with.
Great Performances (sorry, PBS, for stealing your show title)
Orson Welles in Citizen Kane (1941)
James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
James Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Olivia deHavilland in The Heiress (1949)
Bette Davis in All About Eve (1950)
Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954)
Katharine Hepburn in Summertime (1955)
Yul Brynner in The King and I (1956)
Susan Hayward in I Want to Live! (1958)
Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in The Apartment (1960)
Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee in A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker (1962)
Elizabeth Hartman in A Patch of Blue (1965)
Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons (1966)
Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
George C. Scott in Patton (1970)
Jane Fonda in Klute (1971)
Sissy Spacek in Carrie (1976)
Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull (1980)
Sigourney Weaver in Aliens (1986)
Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Brenda Blethyn in Secrets and Lies (1996)
Jodie Foster in Contact (1997)
Great Directors (and some examples of why they're great)
Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo, Psycho, Shadow of a Doubt, The Birds)
Stanley Kubrick (2001, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, Spartacus)
Federico Fellini (La Dolce Vita, La Strada, 8 1/2)
David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, Great Expectations)
Billy Wilder (Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, One, Two, Three)
Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still, West Side Story, The Andromeda Strain)
Fred Zinnemann (The Search, The Nun's Story, A Man for All Seasons)
George Stevens (Shane, Giant, The Diary of Anne Frank)
Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons)
John Ford (Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, The Quiet Man)
Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Apocalypse Now)
Steven Spielberg (Jaws, E.T., Schindler's List)
William Wyler (The Best Years of Our Lives, The Heiress, Ben-Hur)
Frank Capra (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It's a Wonderful Life)
Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas)
George Lucas (Star Wars, American Graffiti)
Roman Polanski (Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion, Chinatown, The Tenant)
Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows, Fahrenheit 451)
Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters)
William Castle (House on Haunted Hill, 13 Ghosts, Homicidal) (I couldn't resist - I guess this is what is meant by subjective) 
Best Films by First-Time Directors
Some might say beginner's luck, but even if these films didn't lead to a long and brilliant career (and in most cases they did), the proof is up on the screen that these guys knew what they were doing.
Orson Welles, Citizen Kane (1941) (that's an easy one)
Elia Kazan, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
Mike Nichols, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Robert Wise, The Curse of the Cat People (1944) (before you laugh, see it with an open mind)
Terrence Malick, Badlands (1973) (the greatest 2-time director ever - 2 out of 3 anyway. The Thin Red Line was a big disappointment.)
Herk Harvey, Carnival of Souls (1962) (sadly, this was his first and last feature film)
Leonard Kastle, The Honeymoon Killers (1969) (another fine filmmaker who never made a second film)
John Huston, The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Sidney Lumet, 12 Angry Men (1957)
Clint Eastwood, Play Misty for Me (1971) (still one of his best)
Sam Mendes, American Beauty (1999) (it's about time I put a new entry here - more than 25 years, to be exact)
Charles Laughton, The Night of the Hunter (1955) (probably the finest film ever made by someone who never made another film)
Opening Shots and Scenes to Remember
As a character in a David Lynch film once said, "A beginning is a very delicate time." In fact it was the first line in the movie Dune, spoken by Virginia Madsen (makes sense to me). Here are some other beginnings that effectively set the stage for a terrific movie experience. The NO TRESPASSING sign and the tour of Xanadu in Citizen Kane
The entire first 15 minutes of West Side Story (check it out and see)
The motorcycle ride in Lawrence of Arabia
Vito's last day in Sicily/first day in America in The Godfather Part II
The speech to the troops in Patton
Martin Sheen going nuts in Saigon in Apocalypse Now
A lunar eclipse as seen from behind the moon, and those first 5 notes to what is now called the theme from 2001
The flight over the Alps in The Sound of Music
Chrissie going swimming in Jaws
The traffic jam in 8 1/2
The rooftop chase in Vertigo
The auditions in All That Jazz
The birth of The Elephant Man
Our first view of 21st century Los Angeles in Blade Runner
Big events in 15th century Transylvania in Bram Stoker's Dracula
An Imperial Star Destroyer flying over our heads in Star Wars
The longest pullback in cinema history, with the sounds of humanity gradually fading into infinite silence, in Contact
Almost any James Bond movie.
Final Shots and Scenes
Now for the other side of the coin. These films tried to leave something behind for us to ponder before we raced to the parking lot or the bus stop.James Stewart on the edge, literally, in Vertigo
Peter O'Toole behind a dirty windshield in Lawrence of Arabia
The bus going down the road in The Graduate
The kids playing the guitar and dancing in Black Orpheus
Burning some junk in a furnace in Citizen Kane
Anthony Quinn alone on the beach in La Strada
A most unhappy Giulietta Masina surrounded by a bunch of happy teenagers in Nights of Cabiria
The Star Child coming home to Earth in 2001
Dorothy surrounded by her family and friends in The Wizard of Oz
Alan Ladd riding through the graveyard in Shane
Alex telling us he is cured in A Clockwork Orange
Audrey Hepburn walking down a path and turning a corner in The Nun's Story (has to be seen in context)
The Brenner family abandoning their home in The Birds
The little boy left alone in the circus ring as the lights go out in 8 1/2
The ballet company proving the show must go on in The Red Shoes
Walter Huston checking his little black book in The Devil and Daniel Webster
We see planes flying in formation through a BIG hole in the roof in Mrs. Miniver
Beautiful Florida hotels reflected in a bus window in Midnight Cowboy
James Cagney as George M. Cohan singing one of his own songs in Yankee Doodle Dandy
Katharine Hepburn waving goodbye from the train in Summertime
The little homesick girl turns to stare at us in La Dolce Vita
Merrick's mother speaks in The Elephant Man
An extreme high overhead shot of the oil rig in Breaking the Waves
The ultimate visual expression of the concept of forgiveness - the last shot of Places in the Heart
Amy Irving lays flowers at the foot of a For Sale sign in Carrie
Charlton Heston visits a national monument in Planet of the Apes
Closing Lines
It's probably easier to send audiences out with a bang using a startling image than just a line of dialogue. I guess that's why I only came up with 9 memorable lines. If anyone reading this can come up with some more, please let me know.Scarlett in Gone With the Wind, contemplating her future: "After all, tomorrow is another day."
Rick in Casablanca, at the airport: "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Denham in King Kong: "Oh no. It wasn't the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the beast."
Otto in The Diary of Anne Frank, considering his daughter's belief that people are really good at heart: "She puts me to shame."
Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, now grown up and reminiscing: "He would be in Jem's room all night. And he would be there when Jem waked up in the morning."
Jim in I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, when asked how he will survive: "I steal!"
Osgood in Some Like It Hot, on finding out that his bride-to-be is a man: "Well, nobody's perfect."
Fran in The Apartment: "Shut up and deal."
Norma in Sunset Boulevard: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." (Billy Wilder was really good at these. He wrote or co-wrote the last 3 lines.)
Just thought of another one: "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."
Memorable Movie Music
The following scores would make even a terrible movie sound good. In reality these composers provided the final touch in making sure these movies will always be remembered.Max Steiner, King Kong
Miklos Rozsa, The Thief of Bagdad, Ben-Hur
Alfred Newman, The Song of Bernadette, How the West Was Won
Franz Waxman, Bride of Frankenstein, The Nun's Story
Victor Young, Shane, The Quiet Man, Around the World in 80 Days
Dimitri Tiomkin, The Thing, Giant
Elmer Bernstein, The Ten Commandments, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Escape, Hawaii
Alex North, Spartacus, Cleopatra
Jerome Moross, The Big Country, The Cardinal
Maurice Jarre, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago
Jerry Goldsmith, A Patch of Blue, Planet of the Apes, Patton, Alien, Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Nino Rota, La Strada, La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2, The Godfather
John Williams, Jaws, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, E.T.
Ennio Morricone, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Days of Heaven
John Barry, Goldfinger, Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Somewhere in Time, Dances With Wolves
Philip Glass, Koyaanisqatsi
I first got to know Bernard Herrmann's music when I saw Journey to the Center of the Earth at age 10. I would have gotten a good head start if my parents had allowed me to see Psycho when I was 5 like I'd wanted to. For me he is simply the greatest. Maybe it's because he scored so many science fiction and fantasy movies, which are the kind I'd always liked best anyway. But then his Westerns and love stories are equally exciting and beautiful. It got to the point where I would try to see a movie just because he wrote the score. His main title themes were knockouts, but what must have been much harder to do effectively was the way he underscored dialogue scenes. I'm thinking of two in particular: the scene in The Devil and Daniel Webster where Mary asks Daniel to help her husband, and the conversation in front of the fireplace in Vertigo. Every time I finish watching those videos I go back to those scenes on the rewind, just to hear them one more time.
Out of Herrmann's 50 feature film scores, I've picked 10 of my special favorites. They demonstrate the full range of his talent and versatility.
Citizen Kane (1941) His first movie assignment - talk about starting out at the top.
The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) His Academy Award winner - a musical poem of early America.
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) His most romantic and beautiful work.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) His first science fiction score, and endlessly copied. Probably the first Hollywood score to feature an electric guitar.
The Kentuckian (1955) Without the music, it would be just another good Burt Lancaster Western. Herrmann's lovely score makes it a memorable one.
Vertigo (1958) Everyone who worked on this film was at their very best, especially Herrmann and Hitchcock. Nothing else to say.
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) Herrmann's deepest score (bad pun intended). The music fits the title perfectly.
Psycho (1960) By far the most frightening, and imitated, film score in history. Just remember Herrmann did it first.
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960) A literary classic gets the classic treatment from Herrmann, too.
Fahrenheit 451 (1966) Herrmann, at a terrible time in his personal life, gives us his most emotionally moving score.If you'd like to know more about Bernard Herrmann, there's an excellent biography of him called A Heart at Fire's Center by Steven C. Smith. His story would make a fine movie all by itself.
Movies That Made Me Cry
They say crying is good for the soul. I think it's better to cry at a movie than at some terrible thing in real life (who's gonna argue with that?) Here are some of the ones that always work for me.The Miracle Worker (1962) The last 10 minutes do it every time.
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Yearling (1946)
A Patch of Blue (1965)
Terms of Endearment (1983) Especially when Debra Winger's kids visit her in the hospital.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
The Straight Story (1999)
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
Shane (1953)
The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
A Christmas Carol (1951) Of all the versions of this story, this one, starring Alastair Sim, is the best. At least 4 different cry-scenes.
The Search (1948)
Dumbo (1941) The "Baby Mine" sequence.
Carousel (1956) The high school graduation at the end.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Babe (1995) When the sheepdog watches her puppies being sold.
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) When Cathy O'Donnell kisses Harold Russell good night.
A Man for All Seasons (1966) When Thomas' family visits him in the prison cell.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
Contact (1997) "Dad, this is Ellie, come back."
E.T. (1982) That whole saying-goodbye scene at the end.
Schindler's List (1993) That whole saying-goodbye scene at the end.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) "Help me, Clarence. Get me back!"
Field of Dreams (1989) "Hey, Dad? ... wanna have a catch?"
Great Special Effects Sequences
Special effects have been around since movies began. It's only in the last 20 years that they've gotten the recognition they've always deserved. Ever notice how long the special effects credits are in almost every movie you see today? But I remember, as a sci-fi crazy kid, always seeking out the one or two names listed under special effects. I was really impressed by the credits for 1953's The War of the Worlds - they had six names listed! Wow - I knew that was going to be good.Starting in the 1930's (pre-Computer Generated Imagery):
King Kong (1933): The entire last hour!
The locust attack in The Good Earth (1937).
The Hurricane (1937): The hurricane scene, still one of the best ever filmed.
The twister in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
The orphanage fire in Mighty Joe Young (1949).
The first battle with the Martians and the destruction of Los Angeles in The War of the Worlds (1953).
The parting of the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments (1956).
The approach to, and landing on, Planet Altair-4 in Forbidden Planet (1956).
The destruction of Atlantis and the ride up the volcano in Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959).
All the attack scenes in The Birds (1963).
The battle with the skeletons at the end of Jason and the Argonauts (1963) (All of Ray Harryhausen's work could be mentioned here, but this was his greatest achievement).
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): Practically the whole movie. The space scenes look like they were shot on location.
The climactic flood in The Towering Inferno (1974).
The Rebel assault on the Death Star in Star Wars (1977).
The arrival of the Mother Ship in
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
The battle in the snow in The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
The even bigger Rebel assault on the Death Star in Return of the Jedi (1983).
Any scene in Jurassic Park (1993) that had dinosaurs in it (special mention to the first T-Rex scene).
The destruction of NY, LA and DC in Independence Day (1996).
Tom Cruise's wild ride on the Chunnel train in Mission: Impossible (1996).
Jodie Foster's 18-hour trip through the Transit System (wish I could go to work in that thing) in Contact (1997).
The sinking of the Titanic (1997).
A Homage to Montage
There's a special kind of excitement that comes from watching a well-edited sequence in a film, from seeing the way images can be cut together to tell a story or communicate an idea. Here are some of my favorite examples:
The climactic cross-cutting between four separate stories in Griffith's Intolerance (1916).
The massacre on the Odessa Steps in Eisenstein's Potemkin (1925). Still being imitated.
The earthquake in San Francisco (1936).
Two scenes from Shane (1953): the barroom fight and the climactic shootout.
Two from Ben-Hur (1959): the speed test of the galley slaves and the chariot race.
Janet Leigh in the shower in Psycho (1960).
The attack on Tippi Hedren in the attic in The Birds (1963).
The elevated train chase in The French Connection (1971).
The baptism of Connie and Carlo's baby in The Godfather (1972). Recommended by Eileen Hudak-Huelbig, my sister-in-law, and she's so right.
The assault on the Death Star in Star Wars (1977).
My Choice for Best Picture of the Year
1996: Secrets and Lies
1997: Contact
1998: Bulworth
1999: Eyes Wide Shut
2000: Traffic
2001: Mulholland Drive
2002: Chicago
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004: ?
To anyone who's gotten this far down, thanks for reading! Once again, my E-mail address is bhuelbig@prodigy.net
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