Long Game: Seven Samurai, The Godfather, Barry Lyndon; Titanic and Lawrence of Arabia
The critical and commercial success of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is sometimes described as «despite its three-hour runtime.» This, as the true moviegoer knows, is nonsense. While most contemporary cinemas have been plagued by bloat for years, Nolan, like other true filmmakers, understands that in the right hands, a three-hour (or, in special cases, four-hour) picture can fly by in the blink of an eye. .
Not that it was all new. Since the beginning of cinema, there have been long films. Abel Gance's 1927 epic Napoleon, about the life of the emperor, ran for a staggering 330 minutes, though it was quickly cut to a more familiar length, with Gone with the Wind running nearly four hours, with various overtures and intermissions included.
Sometimes these pictures can go on forever, whether it's due to directorial over-indulgence (Meet Joe Black, or rather don't), production problems (Cleopatra, the infamous), or just a decent hour of blockbusters. between two dull ones (Pearl Harbor). But there are also immortal masterpieces worthy of each frame of its length. Here are the top 16 (in chronological order).
1. Les Enfants du Paradis (1945): 190 minutes
None other than the great director François Truffaut said of Marcel Carne's drama: «I would give up all my films to make Les Enfants du Paradis.» High praise indeed, and the picture is all the more impressive for the circumstances in which it was made: filmed between 1943 and 1945, production was constantly delayed for everything from rationing to the consequences of filming in occupied and Vichy France.
French actress Arletty in Les Enfants du Paradis. Photo: Pathé/Roger Forster/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty ImagesThat this incomparably touching story of a young courtesan and men who are almost obsessively in love with her should become not just a complete film, but one of the finest examples of cinematography ever made, is a remarkable testament to Carne's skill as a director; it's been compared to Gone with the Wind, but (whispers) it's better.
2. Seven Samurai (1954): 207 minutes
Akira Kurosawa's epic remains one of the most influential and exciting films ever made. Forget The Magnificent Seven, a second-rate (albeit very enjoyable) American remake; this incomparable picture, in which a group of samurai stand up to bandits who are constantly plundering their village, includes some of the most compelling scenes in cinema, combined with Kurosawa's almost anthropological commitment to learning the codes of honor, loyalty and honesty by which the samurai of the same name live. . Its DNA can be found in everything from Mad Max: Fury Road to Blade Runner, and countless filmmakers and critics have called it their favorite movie ever made. But it's one of those rare classics that's both intelligent and fun to watch. More films like this.
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962): 210 minutes
David Lean's masterpiece, one of the films to which Oppenheimer has rightfully been compared, boasts one of cinema's greatest performances in Peter O'Toole's tense, single-minded T.E. and at the same time, and increasingly unsure of himself. who or what he is as the desert slowly eats away at his soul. Nevertheless, in three and a half hours, Lin manages not only to make the setting almost an independent character, but also to assemble one of the greatest supporting actors in cinema (Alec Guinness, Claude Raines, Anthony Quayle and Quinn, Omar Sharif, etc.), and then complemented by Freddie Young's incomparable cinematography and Maurice Jarre's iconic soundtrack. He received seven Oscars; it should have taken twice as long.
Omar Sharif and Peter O'Toole in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia. Credit: FlixPix/Alamy.Why are we including the Godfather sequel and not the original? Simple answer: The first The Godfather is five minutes out of three hours, and the sequel is an even more powerful 202 minutes. The debate about who's the best never stops, and it's certain that Don Corleone Brando is sorely missed, but the second part of the trilogy is richer, darker, and more Shakespearean in scope as Michael Corleone takes Al Pacino to heart. — abdicating responsibility for taking over the family business and losing everyone he cares about in the process, interspersed with flashbacks showing Robert de Niro's young Vito becoming famous in early twentieth century New York. There are moments that are addictive, but all is forgiven when it comes to a magnificently dark denouement in which Michael gains absolute supremacy at the cost of killing his brother, the pitifully weak Fredo John Cazale, and ruining himself forever.
5. Barry Lyndon (1975): 185 minutes
Few of Stanley Kubrick's films are short, but none of them feel long: yes, even the many misunderstood Eyes Wide Shut. However, his genius for recreating historical periods is evident in his ever-underestimated Barry Lyndon, a film adaptation of Thackeray's novel that transforms a picaresque black comedy into a poignant tale of what it's like to find peace through chance and then lose it. the same methods too. From Ryan O'Neal's deliberately opaque and perfectly crafted performance in the title role to John Alcott's stunning, Oscar-winning cinematography that painstakingly recreates the texture and feel of eighteenth-century paintings, this film transports the audience into the past in the most faithful way possible. in time, as cinema can do, until a time machine is invented. Added bonus: it's amazingly funny too.
6. The Right Stuff (1983): 192 minutes
«Is that a man?» — You are damn right. Films about space exploration often suffer from being abstract or uncommercial (such as the failure of Ad Astra and First Man), and Philip Kaufman's gripping drama about launching the American space program didn't do well at the box office at first, perhaps because audiences wanted something. then more straightforward. his heroism and action scenes.
Four decades later, it became one of the greatest films of its decade, with a brilliant cast that would rise to prominence (including Ed Harris and Dennis Quaid), backed by actor-playwright Sam Shepard's titanic performance as Chuck. Yeager, the first person to exceed the speed of sound. Captivating, often hilarious and inspiring to the most mundane of audiences, it is now deservedly loved by audiences as a classic.
Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo 7. Once Upon a Time in America (1984): 229 minutes
Sergio Leone's latest film, the gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America, puzzled its distributors when they were shown Leone's original 229-minute cut, which was heavily edited into an almost incomprehensible 139-minute version, which was the only incarnation of the film available for years. Upon the release of the uncut version, critics who satirized the shorter version, which chronicled the fate of a group of Jewish gangsters in New York City over three different time periods, were almost unanimous that it was Leone's masterpiece. A bold experiment in the treatment of memories and objective and subjective reality, «Leone» subverts all notions of what a gangster film should be, and does it brilliantly. We will probably never know what happens to Senator Bailey at the end, and that is part of the mystique of this incomparable film.
8. Schindler's List (1993): 195 minutes
It's certainly not Steven Spielberg's most interesting film, but Schindler's List is still his masterpiece three decades after it was first released. His account of the horrors of the Holocaust is shocking not so much for its nearly unwatchable moments of grotesque and shocking violence as for their sheer banality, best represented by Ralph Fiennes's stellar performance as SS Commandant Amon Goth, an average high-ranking bureaucrat taking occasional pleasure from murder and torture. And Liam Neeson's Schindler, an opportunist who has found his own conscience, is a strong reminder that before he became an OAP resident in films on a mission of revenge, Neeson was indeed a very good and subtle actor. Perhaps the ending is a bit too sentimental for Spielberg's moment, but the rest of this deeply unsettling and humane picture lives up to that one touch of emotional release.
9. Braveheart (1995): 178 minutes
«They may take our lives, but they will never take… our FREEDOM!» Admittedly only three hours long, Braveheart is far more problematic today than it was when it was first released, partly because its star director Mel Gibson often gets into controversy and partly because of his account of the attempt, William Wallace, seeking to expel the English from his native Scotland, was used by the SNP as a sort of recruiting tool.
None of this detracts from its reputation as a gripping (albeit historically highly inaccurate) epic, paced and directed to perfection, and featuring one of the most gripping battle scenes in cinema at the Battle of Stirling Bridge when Wallace and his men reflect the attack of the English cavalry and seize the victory. The fact that it's all done without CGI makes it all the more impressive and exciting.
Mel Gibson in Braveheart Photo: FlixPix/Alamy Stock Photo 10. Titanic (1997): 195 minutes
Once the highest-grossing film of all time, surpassed only by James Cameron's Avatar, Titanic now suffers from a sense of incurable uncoolness caused by its once-ubiquitous Celine Dion theme song, and not helped by its terrible script. . Put aside the poor dialogue, however, and you realize that this is a remarkable piece of cinema, despite the fact that its infamously problematic production shows a truly touching love story (although Kate Winslet remains infinitely better than the Leonardo DiCaprio that Scorsese needed, to get him out of his hottie comfort zone) and a breathtaking, chilling spectacle that accurately captures what it was like to die in the icy Atlantic that night of April 14, 1912. The audience loved it and it still retains the ability to even find something in their eyes too.
11. Magnolia (1999): 188 minutes
In a landmark year for cinema, Paul Thomas Anderson's strange and unclassifiable epic drama is still one of the most distinctive films of its era. Depicting the intersecting lives and fates of a disparate group of San Fernando Valley residents, it features Tom Cruise's career-best performance as the inspiring «male guru» Frank T. J. McKee — a clear precursor to the likes of Andrew Tate — the climate plague . frogs and more oddities, events and dramatic speeches than you could get in a dozen seasons of prestige Netflix shows.
Anderson has made the best films («There Will Be Blood»), but he's probably never made films as heartfelt, personal, and weird as hell. And as much as we love Top Gun/Mission: Impossible Cruise, could he make another one like this where he actually plays one more time?
12. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003): 558 minutes together
It would be impossible to pick just one of Peter Jackson's excellent Lord of the Rings films from this list. Each of them has their own strengths and their own fans; even in The Two Towers, which is unfairly maligned compared to others, the ending of Helm's Deep features one of the most gripping and brilliantly choreographed battle scenes in cinema.
But what makes Jackson's Tolkien adaptations so surprisingly rich and endlessly revisited, even for people who would normally run screaming from an orc or goblin, is that they combine screen spectacle with beautifully crafted executions of operatic grandeur and special effects that bring the peace of Middle-earth to life. If only Jackson hadn't tarnished his legacy with indifferent Hobbit films, Lord of the Rings will never go away.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Credit: New Line Productions/2003 New Line Productions 13. Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut (2005) ): 194 minutes
The theatrical release of Ridley Scott's epic The Kingdom of Heaven Crusades was a uniquely disappointing experience; it had the makings of grandeur, save for a lackluster performance by Orlando Bloom in the title role, but it was rushed and made little narrative sense, and admittedly impressive battle scenes were central to the plot and character development. Scott, being Scott, was allowed to add another 45 minutes for the DVD release, which had a limited cinematic release, and the resulting three and a quarter hour picture added to the ranks of his best films. Bloom is admittedly still out of his depth, but his superb cast — from the masked Edward Norton to Eva Green — are getting their time in the sun, and Scott softens the bloodthirsty action scenes with sophisticated and detailed exploration. religious extremism and the ethics of colonialism. He deserves a re-evaluation and hopefully one day he will get it.
14. The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): 180 minutes
Perhaps surprising for a beloved director like Martin Scorsese, most of his films are under three hours long; only now, towards what, sadly, must be the end of his storied career, the likes of The Irishman and the upcoming Flower Moon Killers have reached downright epic length.
However, his most interesting feature of the last couple of decades (if not ever) has to be his epic black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the depraved financier Jordan Belfort. Scorsese puts on a blissful comic set of insane invention paired with a brilliant cast, including everyone from the then-unknown Margot Robbie to a cameo by Matthew McConaughey, and then delivers it as a powerful lesson about the devastating effects of greed; not that you will notice it the first time, because you will be too busy crying with laughter.
15. Avengers: Endgame (2019): 181 minutes
How much you love the final movie of the original Avengers series can be summed up in one simple question: do you care that Captain America can lift Thor's hammer Mjolnir? If yes, then Endgame will probably become one of your favorite movies; if not, spend your time, money and interest elsewhere. That said, even for Marvel agnostics there are still compensating factors in a picture that briefly became the highest-grossing movie of all time; it has an incredibly stellar cast, with Oscar-winning actors like William Hurt and Michael Douglas making cameo appearances, the excellent (albeit CGI-masked) Josh Brolin playing the big bad Thanos, and in the send-off Robert Downey Jr. line. is an iconic moment for the ages that will have even the most superhero-hate audience cheering and punching in the air.
16. Oppenheimer (2023): 180 minutes
Despite being in theaters less than two weeks ago, the Nolan biopic is already a blockbuster success; extremely impressive for a movie that doesn't have the usual action scenes and is mostly made up of middle-aged men sitting in rooms talking. However, what makes it as moving and exciting as a movie is, firstly, that the chatter is sparklingly smart and witty (Nolan, sometimes an underrated screenwriter, offers here his best screenplay since Remember, which similar in some respects to Oppenheimer), and secondly, this depiction of a man of genius, whose epoch-making discovery will change the world forever, is worthy of the greatest dramatic or artistic works.
Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer. Author: Universal Pictures. of the year, but it will be truly amazing if in 2023 another picture comes out that will be remembered longer than this great cinematic achievement.
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