The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), representing "an elite professional organization comprising cinematographers at the top of their field," celebrates its 100th anniversary today, and with the birthday celebration comes an added bonus: a list of the 100 best shot films of all time.
Just what makes up the best shot films of all time is highly debatable and is one of the reasons why only the films chosen one-through-ten are ranked while picks 11 through 100 are listed alphabetically.
We've previously featured a number of cinematography lists here at No Film School, but this one, as being the first of its kind voted on by peers, feels more substantial. Cited as being "100 milestone films in the art and craft of cinematography of the 20th century," the list represents a wide range of narrative cinema both foreign and domestic.
Below are the top 10 (ranked) and picks 11-100 listed alphabetically below that. How many have you seen?
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962), shot by Freddie Young, BSC (Dir. David Lean)
2. Blade Runner (1982), shot by Jordan Cronenweth, ASC (Dir. Ridley Scott)
3. Apocalypse Now (1979), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
4. Citizen Kane (1941), shot by Gregg Toland, ASC (Dir. Orson Welles)
5. The Godfather (1972), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
6. Raging Bull (1980), shot by Michael Chapman, ASC (Dir. Martin Scorsese
7. The Conformist (1970), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
8. Days of Heaven (1978), shot by Néstor Almendros, ASC (Dir. Terrence Malick)
9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), shot by Geoffrey Unsworth, BSC with additional photography by John Alcott, BSC (Dir. Stanley Kubrick)
10. The French Connection (1971), shot by Owen Roizman, ASC (Dir. William Friedkin)
Titles 11–100 (in order of release)
Metropolis (1927), shot by Karl Freund, ASC; Günther Rittau
Napoleon (1927), shot by Leonce-Henri Burel, Jules Kruger, Joseph-Louis Mundwiller,
Sunrise (1927), shot by Charles Rosher Sr., ASC; Karl Struss, ASC
Gone with the Wind (1939), shot by Ernest Haller, ASC
The Wizard of Oz (1939), shot by Harold Rosson, ASC
The Grapes of Wrath (1940), shot by Gregg Toland, ASC
How Green Was My Valley (1941), shot by Arthur C. Miller, ASC
Casablanca (1942), shot by Arthur Edeson, ASC
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), shot by Stanley Cortez, ASC
Black Narcissus (1947), shot by Jack Cardiff, BSC
The Bicycle Thief (1948), shot by Carlo Montuori,
The Red Shoes (1948), shot by Jack Cardiff, BSC
The Third Man (1949), shot by Robert Krasker, BSC
Rashomon (1950) shot by Kazou MIyagawa
Sunset Boulevard (1950), shot by John Seitz, ASC
On the Waterfront (1954), shot by Boris Kaufman, ASC
Seven Samurai (1954), shot by Asakazu Nakai
The Night of the Hunter (1955), shot by Stanley Cortez, ASC
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), shot by Jack HIlyard, BSC
Touch of Evil (1958), shot by Russell Metty, ASC
Vertigo (1958), shot by Robert Burks, ASC
Breathless (1960), shot by Raoul Coutard
Last Year at Marienbad (1961), shot by Sacha Vierny
8 ½ (1963), shot by Gianni Di Venanzo
Hud (1963), shot by James Wong Howe, ASC
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), shot by Gilbert Taylor, BSC
I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba; 1964), shot by Sergei Urusevsky
Doctor Zhivago (1965), shot by Freddie Young, BSC
The Battle of Algiers (1966), shot by Marcello Gatti
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), shot by Haskell Wexler, ASC
Cool Hand Luke (1967), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC
The Graduate (1967), shot by Robert Surtees, ASC
In Cold Blood (1967), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), shot by Tonino Delli Colli, AIC
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC
The Wild Bunch (1969), shot by Lucien Ballard, ASC
A Clockwork Orange (1971), shot by John Alcott, BSC
Klute (1971), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC
The Last Picture Show (1971), shot by Robert Surtees, ASC
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC
Cabaret (1972), shot by Geoffery Unsworth, BSC
Last Tango in Paris (1972), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC
The Exorcist (1973), shot by Owen Roizman, ASC
Chinatown (1974), shot by John Alonzo, ASC
The Godfather: Part II (1974), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC
Barry Lyndon (1975), shot by John Alcott, BSC
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), shot by Haskell Wexler, ASC
All the President's Men (1976), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC
Taxi Driver (1976), shot by Michael Chapman, ASC
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC
The Duellists (1977), shot by Frank Tidy, BSC
The Deer Hunter (1978), shot by Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC, HSC
Alien (1979), shot by Derek Vanlint, CSC
All that Jazz (1979), shot by Giuseppe Rotunno, ASC, AIC
Being There (1979), shot by Caleb Deschanel, ASC
The Black Stallion (1979), shot by Caleb Deschanel, ASC
Manhattan (1979), shot by Gordon Willis, ASC
The Shining (1980), shot by John Alcott, BSC
Chariots of Fire (1981), shot by David Watkin, BSC
Das Boot (1981), shot by Jost Vacano, ASC
Reds (1981), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC
Fanny and Alexander (1982), shot by Sven Nykvist, ASC
The Right Stuff (1983), shot by Caleb Deschanel, ASC
Amadeus (1984), shot by Miroslav Ondricek, ASC, ACK
The Natural (1984), shot by Caleb Deschanel, ASC
Paris, Texas (1984), shot by Robby Müller, NSC, BVK
Brazil (1985), shot by Roger Pratt, BSC
The Mission (1986), shot by Chris Menges, ASC, BSC
Empire of the Sun (1987), shot by Allen Daviau, ASC
The Last Emperor (1987), shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC
Wings of Desire (1987), shot by Henri Alekan
Mississippi Burning (1988), shot by Peter Biziou, BSC
JFK (1991), shot by Robert Richardson, ASC
Raise the Red Lantern (1991), shot by Lun Yang
Unforgiven (1992), shot by Jack Green, ASC
Baraka (1992), shot by Ron Fricke
Schindler's List (1993), shot by Janusz Kaminski
Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC
Trois Coulieurs: Bleu (Three Colours: Blue; 1993), shot by Slawomir Idziak, PSC
The Shawshank Redemption (1994), shot by Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC
Seven (1995), shot by Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC
The English Patient (1996), shot by John Seale, ASC, BSC
L. A. Confidential (1997), shot by Dante Spinotti, ASC, AIC
Saving Private Ryan (1998), shot by Janusz Kaminski
The Thin Red Line (1998), shot by John Toll, ASC
American Beauty (1999), shot by Conrad Hall, ASC
The Matrix (1999), shot by Bill Pope, ASC
In the Mood for Love (2000), shot by Christopher Doyle, HKSC
