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The 50 Greatest Trailers of All Time
By IFC
on 06/25/2009
They should be called leaders.
We know them as trailers, but they don't trail anything; they play before the movie, not after it. The name dates to their earliest incarnation, when they actually did follow the feature. The documentary "Coming Attractions" dates the very first trailer to a 1912 Edison serial entitled "What Happened to Mary?" After each installment, a black card with white text would appear to inform audiences "The next incident in the series of 'What Happened to Mary' will be shown a week from now." Not exactly "In a world..." but it did the trick back in 1912.
What happened to Mary wasn't nearly as important as what happened to trailers, which have grown into one of the most popular forms of advertising in the world. Some think they spoil the movies -- Gene Siskel famously hated them so much he wouldn't enter a theater while they were playing -- but for the rest of us, they're a treasured part of the moviegoing ritual, a delicious cinematic appetizer to prepare us for the main course.
There are many ways to measure a trailer's quality, from the persuasiveness of its salesmanship to the cleverness of its copywriting. Ultimately, we decided that the best trailers are those that most effectively combine art and commerce, and that sell and entertain with equal skill. Some of the previews on our list are for classic films, but many are for mediocrities. Some are for absolutely bombs. That speaks to the magic of the trailers. You could argue that these clips play to our basest instincts in order to convince us to see movies that aren't always good. But considered from another perspective, trailers provide a version of cinema that's essentially utopian, in which every film is perfect, if only for two and a half minutes.
Now, in an online world ruled by pop culture lists, comes one film website that would dare to do the impossible. Pursued by a ruthless cyborg programmed to destroy it, IFC.com is about to engage in a battle to decide the fate of the human race!
No, wait, I'm sorry. That's actually the copy from the "American Cyborg" trailer. This is IFC.com's list of the 50 Greatest Trailers of All Time. No ruthless cyborgs here, unless our choices so enrage you that you send one after us. Please don't.
The full list:
50. Night of the Iguana (1964)
49. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
48. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
47. Magnolia (1999)
46. Watchmen (2009)
45. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
40. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)
38. Face/Off (1997)
35. The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)
33. Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
27. A Night at the Opera (1935)
26. Speed (1994)
25. Real Life (1979)
23. Red Eye (2005)
22. Sin City (2005)
20. She's Gotta Have It (1986)
18. Sleeper (1973)
17. Charade (1963)
16. GoldenEye (1995)
11. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
8. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
1. Alien (1979)
I guess you guys haven't seen the trailer for The Hughes Bros.'s Dead Presidents, huh? What about Forest Gump? I think those are the 2 greatest of all time. Gump is better than the movie. And Dead Prez is the best ever.
Oh... what about the SW Ep 1 teaser? Maybe you should call this the best film trailers on YouTube! LOL. Dead Prez is probably too hard for you to locate.
I think The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and 300 should be included!
Clerks? No love for the Clerks trailer? Sigh.
Honorable mention for the Grindhouse fake trailers? "Don't" was brilliant.
Great list, by the way. Thanks for including 'Man Who Wasn't There'
Seriously? We have to click 50 times just to get the damn list? No thanks.
Like clicking 50 times is soooo hard, right? But you guys forgot about There Will Be Blood!!
50 PAGES?!!! Get back to work researching how to post an article. No Digg for you.
50 PAGES?!!! Get back to work researching how to post an article. No Digg for you.
GREAT article and flawless pick for #1. I actually did a lil piece on that trailer at our own movie blog, so I'm elated to see as your top pick. Yay trailers!