A00136: The Greatest Movie of All Time: Citizen Kane? Yes, Citizen Kane!

 


Two weekends ago, I watched Vertigo


Vertigo is certainly an interesting movie ... a psychological thriller ... and Alfred Hitchcock was certainly at the top of his game. Additionally, it was great to see San Francisco back in the day when the streets were clean and uninhabited by tents.  Nevertheless, in my assessment neither Vertigo nor Jeanne Dielman are better than the movie I watched last weekend ... Citizen Kane 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane

I have come to the conclusion that a century from now Citizen Kane will again be recognized as the greatest movie of all time.  First of all, from a personal perspective, I consider Citizen Kane to be the greatest of all time partly because the screenplay was written by Herman Mankiewicz while he was confined in a very familiar desert ranch abode in my hometown of Victorville, California. An Oscar nominated film about the time that Mankiewicz spent in Victorville writing Citizen Kane is the 2020 film entitled Mank.    


In a strange twist of fate Mank would win two Oscars while Citizen Kane only won one.  But the one that it did win went to Mank -- Herman Mankiewicz -- along with Orson Welles for the screenplay.  You can read about Herman Mankiewicz at


and you can read more about the extraordinary Mankiewicz clan at 


This too adds to the greatness of the legacy of Citizen Kane.  But it does not end there, two other notable films were made about the making of Citizen Kane.  One was a documentary titled The Battle Over Citizen Kane


The Battle Over Citizen Kane was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.  And the other was RKO 281


RKO 281 won the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries or Television Film

All of these factors, along with content of the movie and environment in which it was made, in my assessment make Citizen Kane the greatest film of all time.  Accordingly, based on my own amateur assessment, the top three movies I have seen this year, my ratings are 

1. Citizen Kane
2. Vertigo 
3. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Qual du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Next week is Tokyo Story, I shall see how the list changes and grows.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
March 22, 2023

-----Original Message-----
From: skipjen2865@aol.com
To:
Sent: Wed, Feb 8, 2023 4:37 am
Subject: The Greatest Movie of All Time: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Qual du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles


There is a magazine named Sight and Sound which publishes a list of the Greatest Films of All Time every ten years.  You can read about it at


Sight and Sound (also spelled Sight & Sound) is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade Sight and Sound Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing since 1952.

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The results of the poll for 2012 produced the following list:

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A new rule was imposed for this ballot: related films that are considered part of a larger whole (e.g. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors trilogy and Dekalog, or Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy) were to be treated as separate films for voting purposes.[12]
  1. Vertigo (191 mentions)
  2. Citizen Kane (157 mentions)
  3. Tokyo Story (107 mentions)
  4. The Rules of the Game (100 mentions)
  5. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (93 mentions)
  6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (90 mentions)
  7. The Searchers (78 mentions)
  8. Man with a Movie Camera (68 mentions)
  9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (65 mentions)
  10. 8½ (64 mentions)
Closest runner-up: Battleship Potemkin. (63 mentions)
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And the results which were released in 2022 produced the following:

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2022[edit]

Main article: The Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2022
The number of participants in this poll nearly doubled to 1,639. Chantal Akerman became the first woman director to win the poll with her 1975 film Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. The poll reflected greater diversity than previous years, with the number of films made by Black filmmakers increasing from one in 2012 to seven in 2022 and the number made by female filmmakers increasing from two in 2012 to eleven in 2022.[13]
Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey topped the directors' poll, in which 480 directors took part.[13]
  1. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
  2. Vertigo
  3. Citizen Kane
  4. Tokyo Story
  5. In the Mood for Love
  6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
  7. Beau Travail
  8. Mulholland Drive
  9. Man with a Movie Camera
  10. Singin' in the Rain
Closest runners-up: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
 
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The complete lists can be found at




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I am familiar with Vertigo and Citizen Kane and understand why they have been placed at the top of the list in previous editions of the poll.  However, Jeanne Dielman was a total mystery to me.  I watched the 3 hour and 21 minute film last night and, for the life of me, I could not see why it was voted No. 1.  And that bothered me.  I thought maybe I missed something so I am watching it again (on HBO Max) tonight.  I shall let you know if I discover anything more. 


Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins

P.S. You can read about the film at 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Dielman,_23_quai_du_Commerce,_1080_Bruxelles

but, in my opinion, the description does not adequately explain why so many critics think that it is so great.  If you know, please enlighten us all. 

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