Every ten years, Sight & Sound, a magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI), releases its list of 100 of the best movies of all time. In order to collate the list, the BFI asks film critics to submit their top ten picks, which are then collected and weighed up in order to make the ranking.
Although this tradition has been going on since 1952, film critics aren’t the only ones who compile such a list for the BFI: the organisation also asks a number of acclaimed directors to contribute to a second list of top 100 movies which, like the other list, is based on a ballot of ten films submitted by the directors.
In the days since the lists have been released, directors and critics alike have been sharing their choices across social media. Legendary horror movie director John Carpenter’s ballot from the adjoining issue of Sight & Sound subsequently went viral because they heavily feature one director in particular.
His Sight & Sound ballot is as follows:
- Only Angels Have Wings
- Chimes at Midnight
- Rio Bravo
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
- Chinatown
- Bringing Up Baby
- The Searchers
- The Exterminating Angel
- Scarface
- Vertigo
Of the ten movies he picked, four of them were directed by 1930s filmmaker Howard Hawks: Only Angels Have Wings, Rio Bravo, Bringing Up Baby, and Scarface.
Although he passed away in 1977, the influential director’s work clearly still lives on and was a great inspiration for Carpenter. So, we probably have Howard Hawks to thank for legendary films like the slasher movie Halloween, monster movie The Thing, and thriller movie Assault on Precinct 13.