See this poll on: https://poll.fm/9703808/embed
Give others the chance to vote.
Share this poll, because the more votes the better.
Create your own.
Opinions! We all have them. Find out what people really think with polls and surveys from Crowdsignal.
closed
It's anything but boring to look at a list comprised of the most commonly considered greatest movies ever made and find that the list includes the usual suspects. That's what this list is. That these are an obvious four was built into the premise of this thing. The avoiding of the obvious happens *every* *single* *week*, when these movies are not included on lists they should usually top. If, every week for over ten years, we get a little fun injected, then let's allow ourselves to recognize that right now, for this short time, we're having due fun with the always set aside common choices. It shouldn't be disappointing that they're obvious - that's why they're here.
I like Return of the Jedi least of the original trilogy, and look-- Vertigo is great-- but this bracket has become boring. Oh, good, another endeavor showing Vertigo, The Godfather, Citizen Kane or Casablanca as the greatest of all time. BAH-- Let's inject a little fun.
Empire is the greatest sequel of all time. It's not the Godfather Part II bc there is still debate whether it is not as good as/better than/equal to its predecessor while Empire is the sequel that rises farther above its amazing predecessor than any other film. To make an instant iconic classic...and then to follow it with a film that makes the first look pedestrian? That alone gets my vote for Empire.
A vote for Vertigo is just a hate vote bc of some earlier victory it had. It's good but not even among Hitchcock's top 3 for me.
Sequels can be messy and problematic, but when a sequel elevates the material of the first film and does it even better I hold that in high esteem. Do it to the level that Empire does and I give the proper due credit. Empire all the way to the title.
I love Hitchcock, I love Jimmy Stewart, but I have always found Vertigo his most boring work. I fall asleep every time. Maybe it's the obsession theme, the pacing or that I'd rather watch Carrie Fisher shoot some stormtroopers and banter with Chewie and Han than I would watch Kim Novak dye her hair. Sorry, if it was the last film on earth and it was Hitchcock, I'd have to go with Rear Window. Maybe Foreign Correspondent.
ESB isn't even a complete film. If it was the only film left in existence, no one would ever know how it ends.
Let's go to the data. Second best Star Wars movie vs. Third best Hitchcock. Winner is Empire. See, it's that easy.
The battle of plot twists. I always found Vertigos scheme to be a bit far-fetched. You must be insane to even try to pull that off. On the other end Empire is just a perfect movie, so this is not really hard for me. Kneel down before your maker, Luke!
I cannot and will not forgive Empire for beating Apocalypse Now so this verse Vertigo is one of revenge.
So much of Filmspotting is a balance of the Culture v culture and one of the things I admire most about the show is that films like Die Hard, Out of Sight, Midnight Run, and Empire Strikes Back are treated as equals with the Citizen Kanes and the Vertigos of the cinematic universe. This pantheon madness tournament is utterly shot through with these Big C v Little C matchups with all of the topsy turvydom that brings. In a really perfect world that's even reflected in the final with an Empire vs Citizen Kane style ending. That's part of my vote for Empire here against easily one of the most sophisticated of Hitchcock's twisty thrillers featuring one of Jimmy Stewart's most fascinating performances. But the other part is based on the question of what cinema is for and my word that is the epic sweep of Empire. And I'm sorry for Hitchcock, but if I'm not choosing a film that I would drop whatever I was doing to watch, what is the point? I appreciate Vertigo, but I'm not interrupting a lazy Sunday to finish it. I'm tempted to watch Empire even as I am typing this, even the revisionist one (and ESB is by far the least egregious of the revisions). I'm riding Empire as far as the Falcon will take me.
I'm on #TeamJosh when it comes to the best Hitchcock film. If this pick were Rear Window or Empire Strikes Back, we'd have a contest. But as it stands, if the last thing we were to have to explain what cinema is or was, I'd feel at peace knowing it was a light saber battle between Luke Skywalker & Darth Vader.
A Star Wars movie took out Apocalypse Now. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
It's not about Vertigo being a masterpiece. It's not about Empire being the best Star Wars movie.
This vote is pure, unadulterated vengeance.
I voted against Empire, because if I have live in a world without Singin' In The Rain, then no one gets to be happy.
Critics love Hitchcock and Vertigo is quintessential Hitch. Audiences love Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back is the best of the bunch. But neither film works as well or resonates as deep outside their respective cinematic universes. So don't get dizzy over this vote - both are doomed in the next round.
Hey, I get the anti-Star Wars backlash, I really do. In the end they are silly space fantasy movies, with magic and lasers and bad guys in fabulous capes. I will also admit us die hard fans can be incredibly obnoxious in our love, especially for Empire, in an attempt to legitimize our lifelong love for a franchise really made for children. Vertigo is a film for adults, working in complex and subtle themes, exploring the limits of film form and function. If you need to vote for that sort of film, I won't argue.
But The Empire Strikes Back is why I see movies. It bursts at the seems from the wealth of imagination, it washes over you with a sense of adventure, it's tense and funny and exciting and sad. Action, suspense, comedy, serialized storytelling, characters you love and wish you could be, a world that can only exist in the movies.
When one film is left standing, I want it to be one that spawned decades of fandom and love. Does that make me a bit of a popcorn-munching populist? Probably. But I'll embrace the title.
P.S. - if the world already lost the greatest film score of all time in Star Wars, there's no way in hell I'm letting the Empire score go too.
For anyone still having doubts about Vertigo: Don't believe me, believe the Nerdwriter's words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgnNakO6JZw Case closed.
This has to stop. Star Wars takes out Cuckoo's nest, while ESB takes out Singin' in the Rain AND Apocalypse Now. If I'm honest I'd take any of those three over Vertigo, but to quote the everlasting Don Logan...
"Not this time, Gal. Not this time. Not this f***ing time. No. No no no no no no no no no! No! No no no no no no no no no no no no no! No! Not this f***ing time! No f***ing way! No f***ing way, no f***ing way, no f***ing way! You've made me look a right c***!
Vertigo, please.
As much as I wholeheartedly believe in the masterpiecedom of Empire, a fairer matchup for me would have been: "The Empire Strikes Back vs. the opening title sequence of Vertigo." Even then, I dunno man. Saul Bass makes some preeetty sweet swirlies.
Which VERSION of Empire is being voted for? So far the only Empire commercially available for preservation is a tampered work of revisionism.
But there is only 1 Vertigo. Winner or loser, I'm voting for the film that I KNOW I'm voting for. Vertigo.
This is the only easy(ish) one this round. Vertigo is weird. Empire, wonderful.
I really can't believe I just voted for Lucas over Hitchcock.... but I did.
Why are either of these here?
Really upset that ESB took down Apocalypse Now my favorite movie of all time. However I will vote for ESB over Vertigo. I'm surprised Vertigo made it this far.
I'm a Star Wars nerd loud and proud and Empire will forever be the greatest film from a galaxy far far away but this isn't really a contest. To vote for Empire isn't a vote for a better film, in my opinion, it's a vote for childhood. Disconnect nostalgia and Vertigo beats Empire to a pulp. I kissed my childhood goodbye and looked to the future, a future in which Hitchcock remains and we are that much closer to wiping the memory of Jar Jar Binks off the face of the Earth.
Perhaps the biggest mystery that this tournament has exposed is the question of how Vertigo is in the pantheon and Rear Window isn't. I enjoy vertigo and love Hitchcock but if that film was released today critics would tear it apart for its inconsistencies none of which is more blatant than the main character suffering from the title condition only when it serves the plot. But wait a second why am I even wasting time with this discussion I can't live in a world without the force!
I believe I speak for a significant minority that feels that Vertigo is waaaay overrated. Rear Window is, far and away, Hitchcock's greatest film and there are several others of his that I would rate higher - Notorious, Strangers on a Train, maybe even The 39 Steps, Spellbound and Frenzy. And several more that may be lesser films thematically but are simply way more fun. The psychosexual mumbo jumbo in Vertigo is perilously overwrought and Stewart's character is a numbskull. Worst of all, it's BORING. I have fallen asleep three times timing to get through this turgid blob. When my daughter reached around 10 or so I started introducing her to Hitchcock, my favorite director (Lynch is a strong second), and she loved the films. When we finally got to Vertigo in her late teens I gave her no prep or prejudices from me except to say that it's widely regarded as Hitch's best or certainly top three. She was psyched. Halfway through she turned to me and said, "This is boring and he is an idiot." Case closed.
Finally, Star Wars is an unending delight and Empire is the top of that heap. Easy.
Might this be the ultimate choice in personal experience vs. critical appeal?
On one hand, no media has affected me more than Star Wars, and Empire is the apotheosis of the franchise (or, that is, the Citizen Kane of Star Wars movies).
On the other hand, Vertigo is undoubedtly deserving of the oft mentioned Sight and Sound list's top spot, and, when it comes down to it, has to be the greater work of art.
However, I think I have to go with the personal , here, so Empire had my vote.
Vertigo isn't my favorite Hitchcock, but I'm still happy to vote for it over The Empire Strikes Back. Empire's a very good movie, probably the best of the original Star Wars trilogy, but I just don't think it can stand on its own, or is supposed to. Empire is, by design, the middle part of a three-act story, the confrontation without the setup or resolution, and it would be both disorienting and disheartening to watch it without the exposition of A New Hope and without the denouement that Return of the Jedi, for all its flaws, provides. As well made as Empire is, it can't hold a candle to an actual well-rounded story, with a beginning, middle, and end, which Vertigo certainly is.
Get this Star War crap out of here.