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The 50 Greatest Debut Movies

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | September 24, 2009 |

By Dustin Rowles | Lists | September 24, 2009 |


TimeOut Magazine, which knows — like we do — that nothing attracts more page views than a decent list, has put together one more comprehensive than what we’re usually capable of, what with our soft hipster brains and cynical view toward filler summaries. The list in question is The 50 Greatest Debut Movies and it’s remarkably well thought out, eschewing a lot of modern popular choices for movies that people under the age of 25 haven’t heard of (don’t they know anything about lists, damnit! It’s all about highlighting movies and celebrities people have heard of!)

Anyway, it’s an excellent list, and you can see the entire thing over on the website, where it’s spread out over six web pages to maximize page views (savvy!). But I’ll go ahead and give you the top ten, because I’m an asshole, and I’ll even add some of the more notable entries. For instance, Danny Devito’s Throw Momma from the Train comes in at 49; Larry Clark’s Kids at 48; Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything (Huzzah!) at 46; Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap at 36; Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket at 32; Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead at 27; and Quentin Tarantino’s Resovoir Dogs at 21.

Here’s the top ten:

10. Performance (Nicolas Roeg & Donald Cammel)
9. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)
8. Night of the Living Dead (George Romero)
7. The 400 Blows (François Truffaut)
6. They Live By Night (Nicholas Ray)
5. Blood Simple (The Coen Brothers)
4. . L’Atalante (Jean Vigo)
3. Badlands (Terrence Malick)
2. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
1. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton)


See what I mean? Where’s Tyler Perry? George Clooney? Edgar Wright? I’m assuming the only reason that Drew Barrymore didn’t make the list was because her debut doesn’t come out until next week. Pedantic motherfuckers.

(Is that sarcasm font catching on yet?)