Ranked lists of pop cultural phenomena are an exercise fraught with peril — nobody knows that better than we here at EW do, as it is half of our job. But Rotten Tomatoes boldly, bravely compiled the "50 Best Reviewed Movies of All Time" anyway. And, well, come to think of it, it’s not all that brave, since they can’t really take the blame for the way things turned out — it’s simply a mathematical averaging of the critical responses to the ranked films. Maybe that’s exactly why it’s so oddly fascinating — you can’t really argue with it as much as you can conscientiously object.
For starters: No Casablanca? (That might fall under the caveat that also prevented Jaws from making the cut — no film with fewer than 20 reviews qualified.) Risky Business better than All the Presidents’ Men? (Maybe an apples and oranges situation, but still.) A Hard Day’s Night (pictured) better than The Wizard of Oz? Better, in fact, than any other movie ever? (Spoiler Alert!: Yes, the Beatles’ rock-and-roll romp is No. 1.)
The latter two bring up the inherent problem in such a ranking: Critics usually grade on a curve. And they should — you simply can’t judge, say, Hannah Montana The Movie the same way you’d judge The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Thus, reviews might be kinda positive for Hannah – as in: hey, this wasn’t nearly as painful as we’d expected! — while critics could spend time picking apart the nuances of pacing, writing, and acting in Button if it didn’t live up to inflated expectations. And voila! Suddenly A Hard Day’s Night far outranks the beloved Citizen Kane. Though that last one gave me a little jolt of pleasure — I’ve never totally gotten what all the fuss is about over Kane, though maybe that’s because I knew the whole sled thing before I saw it. Maybe critics did, too?
What do you think, PopWatchers? Which rankings surprise you? What movies have critics wildly misjudged — or overpraised — over the years? Is A Hard Day’s Night really the greatest movie ever?
The thing I love about Rotten Tomatoes is it’s not graded with numbers, just “how many of the critics who saw it liked it”. “A Hard Day’s Night” is sure to put a smile on anybody’s face.
This just shows how the rotten tomatoes rankings work, it takes what percentage of critics like a movie,t never weights for how MUCH they like it. That’s why Pixar movies always rank very high, no one is saying it’s the best movie of the year, but pretty much everybody likes the movie for one reason or another, so it’s percent positive is always very high.
Maybe Pixar movies rate high because they actually develop their characters and have a storyline.
But why can’t you judge Hannah Montana they way you judge Benjamin Button. I do. A film is a film is a film. I’m not saying that critics don’t judge on a curve–oh, Roger Ebert, what has happened to you–but am saying that they shouldn’t. Cinema is art, and there can be both good and atrocious art.
Jennifer – your critique was right on, and then you floundered at the end. Best reviewed film does not equal greatest film. How critics review films on what scale/merit does not translate to greatness. I am sure if you went back to all the critics who reviewed A Hard Days Night, how many would even consider it in the top 50 of all time great movies? The RT ranking is an interesting compilation, and nothing more.
If I want a site for film review compilations, the place to go is Metacritic, NOT Rotten Tomatoes.
I love A Hard Day’s Night. It makes me laugh. “He’s a clean old man.”
The whole list is a reminder how subjective art is.
My 2 1/2 year old daughter/Beatles fan LOVES A Hard Day’s Night. That’s all the review I need.
rotten tomatoes dosen’t do a good job on reviewing movies metacritic and ign.com and even ew are the real film critics those guys at rotten tomatoes review the movies like they are high.
Derek is right. The other problem is, RT assigns pos/neg ratings from reviewers that don’t give grades/scores and sometimes I think they assign it wrong. I’ve seen rotten scores on reviews I read that seemed positive overall, and vice versa. So I’m a bit dubious sometimes of how they assign fresh or rotten stuff.
While I love “A Hard Day’s Night”, I would never consider it the greastest film ever! But when you consider how Rotten Tomatoes grades movies, it deserves it’s spot. At least the number 1 movie is an enjoyable romp that is good for all ages!
In terms of pure entertainment, A Hard Day’s Night is one of the best films of all time. I watch it when I’m down. It always makes me laugh and it’s great to see the Beatles when they were so young and beautiful. Now is it the best movie of all time? No, but as you pointed out, it all comes down to the Tomatometer score.
Oh, and about Casablanca, it has more than 20 reviews and it’s Certified Fresh. However, it has one negative review, therefore not fitting into the list which only takes 100% scores.
My fave films of all time are “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “The Godfathers I and II”. One of the funniest movies ever is “A Flea In Her Ear”. The best movie musical is “The Sound of Music”. One of the worst movies ever is “The Exorcist II: The Heretic”. And don’t forget about Spielberg’s awful “1941″.
A Hard Day’s Night ranking at the top of a best reviewed movie scale makes total sense. Who could possible find anything negative to say about it? Great fun, witty, awesome music. And the most likeable cast ever.
Roger Ebert is fond of saying that a movie’s success isn’t dependent on what it’s about, but how it’s about that thing. In those terms, Hard Day’s Night is one of the most successful films ever made. It’s virtually perfect in capturing and conveying the spirit of its subject. Not surprised it’s #1.
Hard to argue “A Hard Day’s Night,” just as it’s hard to argue anything the Beatles touched (looking forward to Rock Band: The Beatles). Regardless, I prefer MRQE.com over Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic. The site is just cleaner, and all the reviews are there. A few months before RT did their list, MRQE unleashed their “100 Best Ranked Films”, and there’s is just as intriguing: Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” tops the list, and Number 3 is Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”. MRQE’s list also includes the staple “Casablanca” (#10), and my personal fav. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (#7). Check it out: http://www.mrqe.com/movies/special/100_best_films