As decided by the magazine's own "panel".


1. Get Carter
2. Quadrophenia
3. The Italian Job
4. Withnail & I
5. The Long Good Friday
6. Casino Royale (2006)
7. Trainspotting
8. Blow-Up
9. The Third Man
10. A Clockwork Orange
11. Dracula (1958)
12. if...
13. Lawrence Of Arabia
14. The Wicker Man
15. Don't Look Now
16. Monty Python & The Holy Grail
17. Shaun Of The Dead
"Comedy is hard; comedy-horror is almost impossible. But Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright somehow squeezed both laughs and screams from their riotous zom-com with loose-headed nods to their horror hero George A Romero (who was so impressed he invited the two to play guest-zombies on 2005's Land Of The Dead). In the US, comic slants on genre are now limited to sneery dross like Scary Movie. The Brits do it like this - with art and heart."

18. The Crying Game
19. Scum
20. This Is England

No Ealing films then?

I've not seen 8 of those. That's not bad, is it?

Me neither... and 2 of them I'd not heard of.

Which two?

Does this mean The Italian Job is ten times better than Lawrence of Arabia?

Blow-up & if....

No. It means The Italian Job is ten films better than Lawrence of Arabia.

With a few exceptions, it's more a list of top British Cult movies.

How the hell is Grail listed and Brian isn't?

Grail rules, but I find that other people tend to like Brian better, so I am surprised.

I've only seen three of those!

Tunes of Glory! (Alec Guinness/John Mills)

Good to see Scum in there, although I've never really understood the appeal of The Italian Job.

How on earth is the Wicker Man so low on the list?

Probably the least accessible films on the list.


Thank fuck Performance isn't in there.

No Hitchcock! No Pressburger & Powell! No Stath! No Ealing comedies!

Casino Royale?

Crying Game?

I should really get around to watching all of that. I've only seen the first "act" up until Forest Whitaker's character gets run over by the soldiers trying to save him.

It seemed very good though.

I can't remember anything about it except the obvious.

I saw Blow-up as part of an overnight movie marathon years ago.
I think the movies were True Lies, Forrest Gump, The Flinstones Movie and Blow Up

Weird mix of films really.

I seem to recall the Blow-up was quite good, but by the time it came on I was falling asleep in the cinema so I missed a bit of it.

I haven't seen most of the films on the list. Some I haven't even heard of. Does that make me a bad movie-fan?

Feel the love.
dolfyn.

Yes - now go to your room and think about what you've done.

Course it doesn't, it just means you have stuff to watch if you want.

Well I don't wanna see your stupid movies.
*flounces off to room & slams door*


Feel the love.
dolfyn.

Oh, just leave me alone!

*revving engine & squealing tyres*

Feel the love.
dolfyn.

Hitchcock's most successful films were American. ... 39 Steps could've been there though.

I've seen 15 of those and intend to get around to the rest at some point. I really should sit down and try to watch If... again. I love Malcolm McDowell but that one really didn't do for me.

Also, Blow-Up's great.



I'm quite shocked that no P & P films are in there; The Red Shoes, Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Matter Of Life And Death are all strong contenders for the best films this country has every produced. Less so about Hitchcock since a lot of his best work was done once he left Britain.

No doub. But 39 Steps, Lady Vanishes and The Man Who Knew Too Much are all pretty much good enough to be in that Top 20.

Don't get mw wrong, it is a great list, but it's almost like a list created by Loaded (the absence of Zulu denies it that homour).

It is all down to opinion of course, but it seems not that much thought went into compiling it - Brighton Rock, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach - all other notable absentees.

The original 39 Steps is very good indeed.

And what's wrong with Zulu? (if that's what you are implying!) - I love that film!

It's a bit "films you can get ironic t-shirts of in cheap shops" heavy isn't it? Quadrophenia? If...? Get Carter as the greatest british film? I aplaud the high rating of The Long Good Friday though.

Is it? That's passed me by completely!

Oh me too. A definite Top 20 for me. I was trying to say the list was just really one film away from actually being a Loaded Top 20




Over the years it seems to be getting the credit it deserves. It did get #1 in the Greatest British Films some years back, in Total Film I think.

It wasn't Empire I know that. They would have given it to Star Wars.

It's the type of top 20 I'd expect to find from any modern film magazine.

Get Carter has become a heavily tshirted and greetings carded intellectual property, same with Quadraphenia, Clockwork Orange....Some of the others. Not that this is an entirely bad thing but I wonder if the films have developed a sense of cool beyond themselves.

I'd love a Scum tshirt mind you.

With 'I'm the daddy now' on it?

Would that be with Ray Winstone or Sostie?

Ah, that explains my confussion, I though you were talking about Zulu! I was trying to remember seeing fuzzy wuzzy t-shirts . . .

Out of curiosity, what would people here cite as their 20 best British films? Or is that something for a future Spaced-Out Movie Poll?

That's a damn good idea.

The Carry On films.

I'm really beginning to hate "Best *insert here*" lists.

Which ten do you hate the most?

^ 10 best places to insert "Best *insert here* Lists".

Feel the love.
dolfyn.

"Death at a Funeral" (2007). Absolutely appalling and unfunny in every way. The kind of flick that dim North Americans describe as "crazy British humour". Though oddly, some critics actually enjoyed it. Presumably the dim ones.

Or going further back, I have a terrible childhood memory of watching "Not Now Darling" (1973) on the recommendation of a dim relative. Maybe I should see it again to see if the intervening 35 years have been good to it, in an ironic postmodern way.

-

Forgot to suggest "The Crying Game" as another Britflick for the ages.

Well, I said North Americans so I couldn't be accused of reflexive anti-Americanism. Nobody on this list is dim, anyroad

Film4 are showing 'films to see before you die' at the moment and showed IF.... last night. I'd not seen it before (or heard about it before this thread started). Really enjoyed it! Malcolm McDowell is very impressive. Definitely recommend it if you've not seen it.

so... what if you saw all of these movies?... does that mean you're going to die?

I'm still here.

We're all going to die...

^ I'm not. I can't be bothered.

Feel the love.
dolfyn.