Stanley Kubrick best film

[Smokey]

Although short, Stanley Kubrick have very impressive list of movies he directed. Most of them are somewhat controversial, but fascinating neverthless. I have a hard time choosing between The Shining and A Clockwork Orange as both are excellent movies. So will go with A Clockwork Orange as his best as that movie is very well known internationally.

Ranked by release date:

Paths of Glory (1957) : When soldiers in WW1 refuse to continue with an impossible attack, their superiors decide to make an example of them.


Spartacus (1960): The slave Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman empire.


Lolita (1962) : A middle-aged college professor becomes infatuated with a 14-year-old nymphet.


Dr. Strangelove (1964) : An insane general starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.


2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) : Mankind finds a mysterious, obviously artificial, artifact buried on the moon and, with the intelligent computer HAL, sets off on a quest.


A Clockwork Orange (1971) : ForeverAutumn describe this movie as; "A Clockwork Orange is like a train wreck. It's disturbing yet I can't look away." Very well said.



Barry Lyndon (1975) : An Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's position in 18th Century aristocracy.


The Shining (1980) : A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past.


Full Metal Jacket (1987) : A U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow Marine recruits from their brutal basic training to the bloody street fighting set in Vietnam.


Eyes Wide Shut (1999 ): New York City doctor who is married pushes himself on a harrowing and dangerous night-long odyssey of sexual and moral discovery.

[Woochifer]

Kubrick's a real mixed bag for me. Personally, I find Clockwork Orange way overrated, yet 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my all-time favorite movies, regardless of genre. Dr. Strangelove and The Shining are two of the best movies in their respective genres, yet Spartacus was mediocre among the big budget historical epics of that time (particularly when compared with Ben Hur [1959] and Lawrence of Arabia [1962]).

[Feanor]

Kubrick's a real mixed bag for me. Personally, I find Clockwork Orange way overrated, yet 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my all-time favorite movies, regardless of genre. Dr. Strangelove and The Shining are two of the best movies in their respective genres, yet Spartacus was mediocre among the big budget historical epics of that time (particularly when compared with Ben Hur [1959] and Lawrence of Arabia [1962]).

The sheer variety of genres of Kubrick is unusual. He was obviously a great talent, but I agree that the results were a mixed bag. I agree with your rankings above.

I haven't seen all his films but what I've seen that listed, I voted 2001: A Space Odyssey as best. Spartacus the least good, a 'B' epic especially against the competion.

[kexodusc]

2001: A Space odyssey for me, followed by Full Metal Jacket. These two stand above the rest IMO. The rest are very hit and miss, there's a few turds there.

[bobsticks]

Kubrick's a real mixed bag for me. Personally, I find Clockwork Orange way overrated, yet 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my all-time favorite movies, regardless of genre. Dr. Strangelove and The Shining are two of the best movies in their respective genres, yet Spartacus was mediocre among the big budget historical epics of that time (particularly when compared with Ben Hur [1959] and Lawrence of Arabia [1962]).

Yes. I tried to give you Greenies for this but my gun be jammed...

[kexodusc]

Kubrick's a real mixed bag for me. Personally, I find Clockwork Orange way overrated,

Same here. Sometimes I think Kubrick fans forced themselves to defend his films to justify their devotion. Don't get me wrong. You make a few great films and a bunch of mediocre ones and you're in super elite status. I can't think of any other director that evokes a weird sort of love affair with some movie buffs.

[RGA]

Kubrick films are certainly conversation pieces even if you don't particularly love them.

I voted for A Clockwork Orange which for me ranks as the second best movie I have ever seen. This is a movie I shut off after the first 20-30 minutes I hated it so much. But a few more times and the film clicked. So too did 2001 which I didn't like in my teens at all, watched it again in my 20s and still thought it was caca, tried it again a decade later and it clicked.

3 of them rank in my 20 all-time. Clockwork, 2001, and Dr. Strangelove.

I also quite liked the Shining. I disagree with Stephen King - I much preferred Kubrick's cut to the meat of the thing over the TV bore that King made for TV. Certain things are left out but at the same time things need to be streamlined. The Shining isn't as deep as the book but visually it's terrific and the sense of isolation, and growing suspense makes it arguably one of the great horror films. Lolita is also good. Full Metal Jacket - loved the first half - the second half ho-hum. I think Platoon was a lot better and for better or worse the two films are usually compared.

Spartacus was pretty dreadful but no one is perfect. I've seen Eyes Wide Shut and before I say I hate it I am giving that one another go in a few years. Could happen again that I wind up liking it. Didn't hate it but...

[Smokey]

Kubrick's a real mixed bag for me. Personally, I find Clockwork Orange way overrated, yet 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my all-time favorite movies, regardless of genre.

Different be a better title for Clockwork Orange than over rated. Visually, it is a different movies than what he or other directors has done. Like RGA said, one has to view it multiple times to appreciate it.

But on the other hand, 2001 might be the one that is slightly over rated. I have not seen it lately but from memory I found that movie to be too "dull" with too much un-action as that movie can be catagroize as silent movie

Sometimes I think Kubrick fans forced themselves to defend his films to justify their devotion. Don't get me wrong. You make a few great films and a bunch of mediocre ones and you're in super elite status.

I don't know what you mean by bunch of mediocre ones, but probably two of his movies (Eyes Wide Shut and Barry Lyndon) can be catagorize as such. The rest of his movies are pretty solid as very few diretors have such a resume.

Full Metal Jacket - loved the first half - the second half ho-hum. I think Platoon was a lot better and for better or worse the two films are usually compared.

Definitely agree with you there. FMJ had so much going on in its first half with alot of intensity and motions, but lost the momenton in its second half. The second half seem like a different movie.

[RGA]

The thing I liked about A Clockwork Orange - well there are many - but that visually it holds up so well today. It is a strange thing for a 70s film to be futuristic and retro at the same time. It to me is a visual masterpiece.

I loved the entire idea of this movie. An Amoral bastard at the heart of the film wants an early exit and upon release society has caught up to him. I don't want to go into it too much but the revenge theme, the society that is wronged from violence is quite happy to inflict its own, the British malaise, the youth in need of role models, parenting, and politicians and the prison system covering their ass on both ends. The final shot of that movie is mesmerizing.

2001 has a certain pace - and I think you have to prepare yourself to let the movie just wash over you. A kind of Fantasia in a weird way where the music, life, man's obsession with technology, and where it leads us. I love what it asks without asking it. And I think you tale from it what you put into it.

I found it dull the first few times too. So I definitely get where you're coming from.

[Woochifer]

Different be a better title for Clockwork Orange than over rated. Visually, it is a different movies than what he or other directors has done. Like RGA said, one has to view it multiple times to appreciate it.

But on the other hand, 2001 might be the one that is slightly over rated. I have not seen it lately but from memory I found that movie to be too "dull" with too much un-action as that movie can be catagroize as silent movie

I'm not saying that Clockwork Orange is a bad movie. Yes, it has some interesting themes, but I found much of the movie tedious. Generally, neither here nor there, but IMO hardly worth much of the often fawning acclaim that it receives.

2001: A Space Odyssey for me is a movie where its artsy and abstract approach actually works. That movie was so far ahead of its time in so many ways, and it really set up the visual template that Kubrick used in his subsequent films. To me, it's much more of a true science fiction movie than a lot of others that are more like action films that happened to take place in space.

Equating "silent movies" with "un-action" is a bit curious given that movies from the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton pack far more action than most talkies. And those silent scenes in 2001 are actually more accurate, given that sound cannot travel in the vacuum of space.

[3LB]

Nichole Kidman, full monty... nuff said

[poppachubby]

Eggy weggs and steaky wake...

[ericc22]

For Kubrick fans - there is now a normally priced release of the Taschen Napoleon book. It gives great insight into this proposed film and Kubrick. It is on amazon, though I can't post the link.

[Poultrygeist]

I loved the cold war satire of Strangelove which was perfect for the times.

[TheBattalion]

My favorite was most definitely 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[WalterS]

Def fail for an otherwise master.

[lomarica]

I just got the 40th special edition Bluray along with the book. The book actually had more pages of reviews, comments, essays, discussions that have been printed over the years than the actual length of the book itself.

So I think this makes SK's best movie in part due to the subject matter, ie mind control, free will, State control over its subjects and of course the Nadsat language which we are "brainwashed" into learning just by watching the movie.

So while 2001 SO and a couple other SK movies were thought provoking nothing compares to CO.