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"Vertigo": The best movie ever
Published: 8/2/2012 10:05 AM
Last Modified: 8/2/2012 10:05 AM

There's a new "best movie of all time," and it's Alfred Hitchcock's psychological thriller "Vertigo," according to Sight & Sound, a film magazine that publishes its prestigious poll once every 10 years.

The same film -- Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" -- had headed this list in each poll since 1962, with "Vertigo" coming in second in the last poll in 2002.

"Vertigo" has continued to climb in reputation since it was released in 1958 to mixed reviews.

By comparison, when the American Film Institute's 100-best films list was released in 1998, "Vertigo" came in at No. 61; when a new AFI list arrived 10 years later, in 2008, "Vertigo" placed at No. 9.

Sight & Sound has polled film critics and filmmakers for their choices for decades, conducting the poll for the British Film Institute.

While "Vertigo" topped the critics' poll, the directors' No. 1 motion picture was "Tokyo Story," Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 mortality tale. "Vertigo" was No. 8 on the directors' list.

While the most recent film on the critics' list was Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science-fiction film "2001: A Space Odyssey," the directors included four pictures from the 1970s, including two by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola: 1979's "Apocalypse Now" at No. 6 and 1972's "The Godfather" at No. 7.

The Sight & Sound poll included 846 critics, programmers, academics and distributors.

The critics' vote: The 10 greatest films of all time

1. Vertigo (1958)
2. Citizen Kane (1941)
3. Tokyo Story (1953)
4. La Regle du jeu (1939)
5. Sunrise (1927)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
7. The Searchers (1956)
8. Man With a Movie Camera (1929)
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927)
10. 8 1/2 (1963)

The directors' vote: the 10 greatest films of all time

1. Tokyo Story (1953)
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. 8 1/2 (1963)
5. Taxi Driver (1976)
6. Apocalypse Now (1979)
7. The Godfather (1972)
8. Vertigo (1958)
9. Mirror (1974)
10. Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Reader Comments

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Dr. Strangelove (7 months ago)

The restored version of Vertigo on DVD is amazing- agreed it's a great movie.

Thunder196 (7 months ago)

I liked Godfather II the best.

Vertigo and Citizen Kane are both two greats in my opinion. Have them all on DVD.

nonplused (7 months ago)

The most recent movie on the critics' list is from 1968, which was 44 years ago. Do you mean to tell me there hasn't been a movie made in the last 44 years that could crack the top ten? Get serious.

Dr. Strangelove (7 months ago)

No- there is not- get serious.

;-)

Night Owler (6 months ago)

To Kill a Mockingbird should be on the list of all time greats. It is as far as I'm concerned.

Vertigo is one awesome movie.

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“I was born a poor, black child” … not me, actually, but Steve Martin’s character in the “The Jerk.” That absurd opening line is just one of the absurd number of film facts, quotes and minutiae contained in movie critic Michael Smith’s brain, at his disposal to toss out on a moment’s notice. It’s a key requirement as Tulsa World film critic to know these things. Michael learned a few other life facts along the way (seven years as a Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti manager) before attempting journalism and joining the Tulsa World in 1996, where he’s covered everything from a school shooting in Fort Gibson to a tornado in Stroud to witnessing an execution. A little community theater coverage was sprinkled in there, too. Movies engender many of his happiest memories, from standing in line for “Star Wars” and “Grease” at the Southroads Cinema to the James Bond and Pink Panther movies that always premiered at the enormous Continental Theater.

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