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THE TOP 5 TRACKING SHOTS:
see how points are awarded
| Rank |
Film |
Points |
L |
#1 |
| #1 |
Touch of Evil (1958, Welles, USA) -- Opening scene |
15 |
3 |
3 |
| #2 |
Goodfellas (1990, Scorsese, USA) -- Club Intro scene and/or Copa Entrance |
14 |
5 |
2 |
| #3 |
Notorious (1945, Hitchcock, USA) -- Tracking down to her ring |
9 |
3 |
- |
| tie |
Boogie Nights (1997, Anderson, USA) -- Pool Party scene |
9 |
2 |
1 |
| #5 |
The Player (1992, Altman, USA) -- Opening scene |
8 |
2 |
- |
L=How many lists each film appears on
#1=How many number one votes each film recieves
Orson Welles stupendously impossible opening few minutes from Touch of Evil took home the honours this week - for best tracking shot, just edging out Scorsese's Goodfellas by a mere point.
This was a difficult week for some of our regular panelists (at least that is what I was told), but for me, the only difficult part was narrowing things down to just five (just look at my honourable mentions for Christ's sake!!). There was some mix-up between tracking shots and steadi-cam shots - including from myself - but what the Hell, eh.
Anyway, enjoy yourselves and make sure to play next week, when we pick the Top 5 Musicals...
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Individual lists:
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Albert H. Muth
Auteurophile
Here are the movies, if you have a clue, you know the shot
Touch of Evil (Welles)
The Player (Altman)
The Shining (Kubrick)
Notorious (Hitchcock)
Goodfellas / The Passenger / Psycho
Special Jury Award: Russian Ark
Special Nouvelle Vague Award: L'annee derniere a Marienbad
And remember the rule of the preponderant genre for future lists.
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Todd J. Shill
Attorney-at-Law Cinephile
Boogie Nights - entering the club at beginning of film, and entering the pool party at Burt's house.
Taxi Driver - the shot right after Travis' bloodbath.
Goodfellas - through the restaurant with the wise guys.
Magnolia - through the game show studio.
The Shining - touring through the creepy hotel/mansion.
Honorable mention ... Raising Arizona, through the supermarket.
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J.E. Snavely
Home Theatrical Cinephile
TOUCH OF EVIL (Orson Welles) With the opening credits removed, we can fully appreciate this masterful opening tracking shot in all its glory: from the close up of the battery-powered bomb to its climax, 4+ minutes later!
THE PLAYER (Robert Altman) This opening tracking shot is almost 8 minutes long! The camera moves fluidly and unobtrusively about the characters and gives us that voyeristic insight only Altman can deliver.
NOTORIOUS (Alfred Hitchcock) The master of suspense creates nail-biting drama with only a key: the shot begins above the ballroom and slowly descends until we see the stolen Nazi key clenched tightly in our heroine's delicate hand.
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (Stanley Kubrick) Opening shot tracks backward from a close-up of Alexander de Large. "There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim and we sat in the Korova milkbar trying to make up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening."
LES QUATRE-CENTS COUPS (Francios Truffaut) The great tracking shot that ends the film: young Antoine Doinel runs along the beach until he reaches the water's edge. He can go no further, he looks back directly at the camera which ends in a freeze-frame.
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Carter Liotta
Eye Doctoring Cinephile
Goodfellas The nightclub entrance. "I'm gonna
get the papers. Get the papers."
Boogie Nights A tracking-shot homage to
Goodfellas.
Rope A fantastic experiment on the part of
Hitchcock - a movie designed to look like one uninterrupted shot, but instead proves that cutting and editing are essential.
The Shining I hate Kubrick, but let's face it:
This movie is filled with tracking shots!
Snake Eyes In an otherwise awful movie, the
first, uninterrupted 20-some minute tracking shot virtuoso filmmaking, setting up a carefully woven plot that unravels into shit at the first cut.
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William Kiesling
Muck-Raking Cinephile
editor's note: yes, there are only three...
1. Goodfellas
2. Rocky
3. Dr. Strangelove
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Kevyn Knox
Self-Absorbed Cinephile
Touch of Evil (1958, Welles, USA) - The opening through the borderlands to the big explosion.
Notorious (1946, Hitchcock, USA) - From down on high to a woman's finger.
I Am Cuba (1964, Kalatozishvili, USSR/Cuba) - A camera passed from stagehand to stagehand, down a tower, past partygoers, into the pool and back out.
Goodfellas (1990, Scorsese, USA) - Through the kitchen of the Copacabana.
The Passenger (1975, Antonioni, Italy) - That super super super slow shot that ends the film.
Special Jury Award: Sokurov's Russian Ark
Special Lifetime Achievement Award: Jean Luc Godard for Week-end, Les Mepris and A Bande Apart (because I can't narrow it down to just one shot)
other shots/films:
Elephent, Gerry, Nashville, Rope, Vertigo, Psycho, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Gangs of New York, Stalker, Les Quartre-cents Coups, Werckmeister Harmonies, The Player
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*points are given as follows: for numbered lists, first place recieves 5 points, second place recieves 4, third place 3, fourth place 2 and fifth place gets 1 point; for unumbered lists, each film will recieve 3 points; total points are then tallied up and a comprehensive Top 5 list is created
The Next Topic is:
Name The Top 5 MUSICALS
e-mail me at
kevynknox@thecinematheque.com
with your picks for week #6,
no later than 6pm on Sunday, August 7th.
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