Z/Web

Author: Agenore Incrocci and Furio Scarpelli

Director: Sergio Leone

The ultimate Western, classic all the way. The memorable music is at least 50% of the movie. I watched part of The Mask of Zoro the other day and noted at least one instance of music stolen directly from GBU. There must be thousands of imitations, but none quite match up.

Author: Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stopard

Director: Terry Gilliam

Brazil is my pick for the best movie of all time. It gets that honor because it’s a fun movie, with action, humor, and drama, all packaged within an incredibly profound story. Brazil has many messages; you cannot watch it only once and expect to understand more a tenth of what it has to say. While there are more dramatic films, like Shindler’s List, who would want to watch Shindler’s List twice on the same day? Brazil is the kind of movie you can watch over and over, and each time you see more. Absolutely amazing. (I also watched a fascinating documentary included on the DVD on the battle over the release of Brazil. I’d heard of the controversy, where director Gilliam didn’t want to make the changes the studio wanted, but never realized the version of I’d previously seen was the one I was supposed to see because the studio lost the battle. The cut version with the different ending was apparently only used for American TV. Thank the Lord I never had to endure that one.)