I'm waiting for the list that ranks The Two Jakes ahead of Chinatown.
As ridiculous as Woman In The Window is making No. 1, Scarlet Street doesn't make the top 100 at all, despite the fact it has the same director, much of the same cast and a similar story ... plus the fact that if you held a poll on the favorite of the two, Scarlet Street might win. A good number of folks consider it the better film, and I'd rate them a tossup. So if you really want to piss people off and be cutting edge, you rate Window No. 1 and Scarlet No. 2, or Scarlet No. 1 with Woman In The Window No. 2.
The 100 is just too all-inclusive. Classic noir and neo-noir alone is problematic enough for just 100 choices, but then you throw in French titles and open a whole new large can of worms. There are bound to be silly omissions in all categories. A bone is thrown to Japanese noir with one selection. Britnoir is not well represented. One gothic/period noir all that I saw. No westerns. You'd think it was anti-Hitchcock but then The Wrong Man gets in there. Too much Coen brothers, for sure.
I'm with Bob and Dan. The more of these lists I read, the goofier they seem to get. I see that in music lists as well. There are some good choices and it's a rather fascinating mix but the list itself is simply too slipshod to take seriously.
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