False Prophets and Precious Bodily Fluids
In the first newsletter of the new year, we discuss films about fate, faith and matters of chance.
Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome to the third edition of The Martell 100 newsletter! Today is the first day of the month, so that means it is time for the latest ranking of my 100 favorite movies.
This list features seven new entries in the top 100, among them a third film from 2023 and an all-time Christmas classic that I foolishly omitted from this newsletter’s debut issue.
Of course, with seven newcomers, seven movies from last month’s 100 failed to make the cut this time. Two of them were films directed by Martin Scorsese. I found it hard to justify having more than 10 of his movies on a list of 100.
At the bottom of this newsletter, you’ll find an accounting of the list’s additions and subtractions, as well as its highest risers, farthest fallers and the toughest cut. I also named some honorable mentions that one day could crack the 100.
And away we go…
100. Witness (1985)
Director: Peter Weir
Cast: Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas
99. Past Lives (2023)
Director: Celine Song
Cast: Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro
The end of any year is a time of reflection. We think about our life, and some of the lives we could have lived had we gone down different paths. This is the major theme of Past Lives, Celine Song’s magnificent debut feature and one of the best movies of 2023.
The film is about Nora and Hae Song, who were childhood friends in South Korea that lost touch after Nora’s family immigrated to the United States. They reconnect 10 years later via Facebook but do not see each other in person again until Hae Song visits New York, where Nora lives with her American husband Arthur, two decades after Nora left.
I won’t say too much about the plot, because I don’t want to spoil it for those of you who have not yet seen it, but I encourage everyone to check it out. It is a wistful and beautiful tale of love and fate.
98. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Director: Charles Laughton
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish
A few weeks ago, I caught a screening of The Night of the Hunter at the Alamo Drafthouse in Manhattan. I didn’t know much about it beyond its reputation as a classic Robert Mitchum noir and the only film directed by the Academy Award-winning actor, Charles Laughton. I certainly had no idea that it is perhaps the best movie ever made about false prophets, or that its final act takes place at Christmastime. Mitchum plays a preacher named Harry Powell who uses faith to justify his murdering and stealing.
Powell marries a Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) — a widow whose first husband, Ben (Peter Graves), was executed for armed robbery — so that he can swindle the stolen money from the Harper family. The problem for Powell is that only the two young Harper children, John and Pearl, know where the money is hidden. Mitchum gives an excellent performance, charming his way into the family and their community while menacing the children as he tries to get them to reveal the location of the money.
Although it was made in the 50s and is set during the Great Depression, The Night of the Hunter is a timeless warning of how some people who are supposedly pious pose as prophets in the name of profits.
97. Yojimbo (1961)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Eijirô Tôno, Tatsuya Nakadai
96. Inside Man (2006)
Director: Spike Lee
Cast: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster
95. No Country for Old Men (2007)
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Cast: Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones
94. Little Women (2019)
Director: Greta Gerwig
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh
93. Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Director: Carl Franklin
Cast: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals
92. Django Unchained (2012)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio
91. Mikey and Nicky (1976)
Director: Elaine May
Cast: Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, Ned Beatty
The first film I watched in December, Mikey and Nicky is both a mafia movie and a buddy comedy about two lifelong friends who love and resent each other. It is Mean Streets meets The Banshees of Inisherin (No. 67), but it strikes a slightly different tone because it was written and directed by Elaine May. She brings a woman’s perspective to a story about the self-destructive consequences that men face when they are unwilling or unable to express their emotions. Along with the strong lead performances from Peter Falk (as Mikey) and John Cassavetes (as Nicky), May’s wit is what transforms this genre flick with a simple plot into a classic tragicomedy.
90. Spirited Away (2001)
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Cast (English Voices): Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Jason Marsden
89. The Age of Innocence (1993)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder
88. Michael Clayton (2007)
Director: Tony Gilroy
Cast: George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson
87. Frances Ha (2012)
Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver
86. Up (2009)
Director: Pete Doctor
Cast: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer
85. Out of the Past (1947)
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Freer, Kirk Douglas
84. Seven Samurai (1954)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Cast: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima
83. Silence (2016)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson
82. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Director: Sergio Leone
Cast: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern
81. The Right Stuff (1983)
Director: Philip Kaufman
Cast: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris
80. The Insider (1999)
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer
Better than any other film I’ve seen, The Insider captures the extreme stress and danger that whistleblowers face and the trust required to do good journalism. This was the movie that established Russell Crowe as a leading man, a performance for which many believe he deserved the Oscar for Best Actor. Yet, it is Al Pacino, as veteran journalist Lowell Bergman, who holds the second half of the movie together. His performance is reminiscent of his earlier, more understated performances of the 1970s, rather than his more explosive work in Scent of a Woman and Heat (No. 24) in the 90s.
I hadn’t seen The Insider in its entirety until two weeks ago, though I do remember seeing a few scenes, including the “60 Minutes” interview, in a college journalism class. I expected that interview, between Big Tobacco insider Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe) and Mike Wallace (Christopher Plummer) to be the climax of the film, but instead, it happens fairly early. That’s because the real meat of the story is not the interview but the challenges Bergman, Wigand and Wallace, among others, face to get it on the air. Mann shoots even the most monotonous moments of a journalist’s job — such as sending messages back and forth with a source, in this case via fax machine — with the verve and intensity that drives all of his best movies. It also helps that this screenplay, which he wrote with Eric Roth, is the deepest and most polished of his scripts. The film shows how power, influence and money can pervade even the most trusted of institutions.
79. Toy Story 3 (2010)
Director: Lee Unkrich
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack
78. City of God (2002)
Director: Fernando Meirelles
Cast: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Douglas Silva
77. To Live and Die in L.A (1985)
Director: William Friedkin
Cast: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro
76. Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi
Director: Richard Marquand
Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher
75. High Noon (1952)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell
74. A Few Good Men (1992)
Director: Rob Reiner
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore
73. Babylon (2022)
Director: Damien Chazelle
Cast: Margot Robbie, Diego Calva, Brad Pitt
72. North By Northwest (1959)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
71. Road to Perdition (2002)
Director: Sam Mendes
Cast: Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Tyler Hoechlin
70. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Director: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller, Matt Dillon
69. Boogie Nights (1997)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds
68. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
It’s a Wonderful Life is a perfect film, one that has been in my life in some capacity for about as long as I can remember. Maybe that’s why it is easy to take it for granted, to think of it as a great Christmas movie rather than simply a great movie. That is the only explanation I can give for why I did not include it on the first edition of the Martell 100 newsletter last month.
Back in November, when I saw Alexander Payne’s excellent new film, The Holdovers, I started thinking about the death of the Christmas movie as a work of cinema. Yes, I know there are more holiday movies than ever before, courtesy of the various streaming services and the Hallmark Channel, but those are formulaic and mostly forgettable. That’s not to say that they don’t serve a purpose. To quote my dad, who LOVES watching Hallmark Christmas movies, “What’s wrong with feeling good?” That said, not even the most ardent Hallmark defenders would say that the best piece of Christmas Churn is of the same quality as many of the theatrically released holiday films that deal with the same themes and follow similar formulas.
The reasons for this are budgetary. It costs more money and time to make It’s a Wonderful Life and The Holdovers than it does to make their Hallmark alternatives, but the things that money buy can greatly elevate the production. For example, Jimmy Stewart makes Frank Capra’s sentimental screenplay sing and infuses it with an emotional depth that lesser actors wouldn’t bring to George Bailey. And, writers and directors less adept than Capra would struggle to convincingly tell such a sincere story.
As more and more Christmas Churn is dumped into the netherworld of streaming and cable, each passing year further enhances the legacy of It’s a Wonderful Life as an all-time great film.
67. The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Director: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon
66. 12 Angry Men (1957)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Martin Balsam
65. JFK (1991)
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones
64. Moneyball (2011)
Director: Bennett Miller
Cast: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
63. Malcolm X (1992)
Director: Spike Lee
Cast: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo
62. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Christine Taylor, Ben Stiller
61. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Director: Peter Weir
Cast: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D’Arcy
60. Licorice Pizza (2021)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Bradley Cooper
59. Thief (1981)
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Robert Prosky
58. Bull Durham (1988)
Director: Ron Shelton
Cast: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins
57. Tár (2022)
Director: Todd Field
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss
56. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
55. The Irishman (2019)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci
54. The Social Network (2010)
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake
53. Back to the Future (1985)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson
52. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Chris Sarandon
51. Rear Window (1954)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey
50. Phantom Thread (2017)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, Lesley Manville
I spent the final Friday of 2023 at the Metrograph theater in Lower Manhattan for a triple feature.
Here was the lineup:
1. Phantom Thread at 1:30 p.m.
2. Magnolia (No. 17) at 4:15 p.m.
3. Eyes Wide Shut at 10:20 p.m.
I’m not going to say much more about this movie, because I will be covering the marathon in my next newsletter, but because Phantom Thread is the highest rising film on this list, I’ll briefly explain why I love it.
This is a delightful, exquisite and deranged film, a masterwork in which every stitch is crafted with the precision of a Woodcock dress. It is a romance and a comedy, but not a romantic comedy. Set in 1950s London, Phantom Thread at times feels like it is part of the Hitchcock universe, but because it was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, it is stranger and funnier than anything Hitchcock made. It is softer and much less angry than many of PTA’s other films, and because of this, it might be more accessible, despite some of the weird turns the story takes. It is about love and sacrifice and lost souls learning to make a relationship work.
49. Oppenheimer (2023)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr.
48. The Third Man (1949)
Director: Carol Reed
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles
47. Good Will Hunting (1997)
Director: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck
46. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Director: Sergio Leone
Cast: Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards
45. After Hours (1985)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Griffin Dunne, Rosanna Arquette, Verna Bloom
44. There Will Be Blood (2007)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Ciarán Hinds
43. Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Director: Irvin Kershner
Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher
42. Do the Right Thing (1989)
Director: Spike Lee
Cast: Spike Lee, Ossie Davis, Danny Aiello
41. Lincoln (2012)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones
40. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Director: George Roy Hill
Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross
39. Goodfellas (1990)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci
38. That Thing You Do! (1996)
Director: Tom Hanks
Cast: Tom Everett Scott, Liv Tyler, Tom Hanks
37. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Director: Rob Reiner
Cast: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher
36. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall
35. Get Out (2017)
Director: Jordan Peele
Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford
34. The Nice Guys (2016)
Director: Shane Black
Cast: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice
33. In a Lonely Place (1950)
Director: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy
32. Zodiac (2007)
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo
31. Almost Famous (2000)
Director: Cameron Crowe
Cast: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson
30. The Other Guys (2010)
Director: Adam McKay
Cast: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes
29. Parasite (2019)
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong
28. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Director: Jonathan Demme
Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine
27. The Big Short (2015)
Director: Adam McKay
Cast: Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling
26. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody
25. The Hateful Eight (2015)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh
24. Heat (1995)
Director: Michael Mann
Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer
23. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Robert De Niro
22. Spotlight (2015)
Director: Tom McCarthy
Cast: Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams
21. Taxi Driver (1976)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
20. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
For Christmas, my grandma got me four blu-rays from the Criterion Collection: Do the Right Thing (No. 42), Seven Samurai (No. 84), Paths of Glory, and Dr. Strangelove, which was the first of the bunch I fired up on my projector upon returning to Brooklyn. It is hard to have something original to say about Dr. Strangelove, because it remains, six decades after its release, the greatest work of satire in movie history.
(I like Network better than Strangelove, but despite its reputation as a dark satire of network news, its director Sidney Lumet maintained that he and screenwriter Paddy Chayevsky always said, “This isn’t satire, it’s sheer reportage.” So I will not consider it a satire either.)
On this rewatch, I was most struck by the conspiracy theory at the heart of this story: The Soviet Union is willing to go to nuclear war with the United States in order to steal the “precious bodily fluids” from every Americacitizen. It is just as utterly ridiculous and downright hilarious as ever, but now, at a time when QAnon theories influence government officials, it is also terrifying.
19. Reds (1981)
Director: Warren Beatty
Cast: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson
18. Network (1976)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Cast: William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch
17. Magnolia (1999)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore
The second leg of my Metrograph triple feature, Magnolia is not Paul Thomas Anderson’s best movie, but it is my favorite of his. It is so ambitious and funny and emotional. It is messy, but so are all of its characters. The messiness, as the narrator says, is not only a matter of chance.
16. Rio Bravo (1959)
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson
15. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
14. All the President’s Men (1976)
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Cast: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Robards
13. Casablanca (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
12. Chinatown (1974)
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
11. The Fugitive (1993)
Director: Andrew Davis
Stars: Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Sela Ward
10. A League of Their Own (1992)
Director: Penny Marshall
Cast: Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Lori Petty
9. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie
8. The Godfather Part II (1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall
7. Gangs of New York (2002)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz
6. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent
5. L.A. Confidential (1997)
Director: Curtis Hanson
Cast: Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim Basinger
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
3. The Godfather (1972)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
2. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Director: Frank Darabont
Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
1. The Departed (2006)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson
Additions:
Past Lives (No. 99), The Night of the Hunter (No. 98), Little Women (No. 94), Mikey and Nicky (No. 91), Out of the Past (No. 85), The Insider (No. 80), It’s a Wonderful Life (No. 68)
Subtractions:
Metropolis (No. 99), Reservoir Dogs (No. 96), Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (No. 95), Vertigo (No. 94), Bridge of Spies (No. 92), Wedding Crashers (No. 88), The Color of Money (No. 81)
Highest Risers:
Phantom Thread (+29), Dr. Strangelove (+12), Magnolia (+11), Lincoln (+9), Killers of the Flower Moon (+6), The Social Network (+5)
Farthest Fallers:
Moneyball (-19), The Big Short (-9), Silence (-8), Boogie Nights (-8), Licorice Pizza (-8), City of God (-7), Almost Famous (-7), Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (-6), Good Will Hunting (-6), Parasite (-6), Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (-5)
Toughest Cut:
The Color of Money
Honorable Mentions (Non-Cuts):
Casino, Citizen Kane, Jackie Brown, Lady Bird, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Nope, Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope, The Heiress, The Dark Knight