Roger Ebert's 5 Most Surprising Best-Movie Picks

The documentary Life Itself about the late Roger Ebert premieres in limited release on July 4. To celebrate America’s most beloved movie critic, this week we’re looking back on his inimitable life and career and his passionate love for film. 

Nabbing a place on Roger Ebert’s annual year-end Top 10 list was always kind of a big deal for a movie — particularly if it happened to wind up in the number-one spot.  And while many of his “Best of the Year” picks were perhaps obvious critical favorites (such as The Godfather and Argo), there were several instances in which his outside-of-the-box selections caught his readers — and Hollywood —off guard.  Here are the five most surprising movies to top Ebert’s year-end lists, as well as one unexpected best-of-decade pick.

The Black Stallion (1980)

Why It Surprised: Carol Ballard’s lyrical adaptation of the Walter Farley’s beloved 1941 children’s book is an undeniably lovely film, particularly the first half, which depicts the friendship that develops between the titular steed and young Alec when they’re both marooned on a desert island following a shipwreck. Still, that Ebert picked The Black Stallion over Martin Scorsese’s seminal black-and-white boxing drama Raging Bull (which took second place) was legitimately shocking, especially as the critic admitted in his own review that Ballard’s film lost some of its steam in the homestretch.  Ebert made it up to Scorsese roughly ten years later, naming Raging Bull the best film of the ’80s while The Black Stallion didn’t even crack his decade Top Ten.
Ebert’s Take: “The Black Stallion is a wonderful experience at the movies. The possibility remains, though, that in these cynical times it may be avoided by some viewers because it has a G rating—and G movies are sometimes dismissed as being too innocuous.  That’s sure not the case with this film, which is rated G simply because it has no nudity, profanity, or violence—but it does have terrific energy, beauty, and excitement.  It’s not a children’s movie; it’s for adults and for kids.”
Also on His Top Ten of 1980: Kagemusha (#3); The Empire Strikes Back (#7); American Gigolo (#9)

House of Games (1987)

Why It Surprised: Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that longtime Chicagoan Ebert demonstrated Windy City pride by embracing homegrown playwright David Mamet’s feature-filmmaking debut.  Nevertheless, the con-artist caperwas far from a box-office dynamo (it earned about $2.5 million) and went almost completely overlooked by most awards groups—save for a Best Screenplay nod at the Golden Globes—most of which went gaga for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor instead. Mamet went on to make more successful (and arguably better) films over the next three decades, but none of those ever matched House of Games in Ebert’s rankings.      
Ebert’s Take: “This movie is awake. I have seen so many films that were sleepwalking through the debris of old plots and second-hand ideas that it was a constant pleasure to watch House of Games, a movie about con men that succeeds not only in conning the audience, but also in creating a series of characters who seem imprisoned by the need to con, or be conned.”
Also on His Top Ten of 1987: The Big Easy (#2); Moonstruck (#5); Lethal Weapon (#9)

Eve’s Bayou (1997)

Why It Surprised: Though well-received by most critics, it was Ebert’s rave review and subsequent number-one year-end ranking that provided Kasi Lemmons’ independently-financed directorial debut with the extra oomph it needed to reach a larger audience. It was just another example of Ebert’s willingness to go to the mat for the small movies he cared passionately about, as well as his investment in raising the profile of African-American films and filmmakers. A personal anecdote: I worked in a Blockbuster Video (remember those?) when Eve’s Bayou arrived on VHS in 1998 and — thanks largely to Ebert’s support of the film — those tapes were always checked out, while multiple copies of Air Force One sat languishing on the shelves.  
Ebert’s Take: “Eve’s Bayou resonates in the memory. It called me back for a second and third viewing. If it is not nominated for Academy Awards, then the academy is not paying attention.  For the viewer, it is a reminder that sometimes films can venture into the realms of poetry and dreams.”
Also on His Top Ten of 1997: Boogie Nights (#3); Jackie Brown (#5); Wag the Dog (#10)

Dark City (1998)

Why It Surprised: Released in the late-February dumping ground, this Matrix predecessor was politely, but not ecstatically received by critics and audiences.  Ebert fell hard for it, though, and continued to sing its praises even in a very strong year for movies. When December rolled around, he stuck to his guns, vaulting Dark City ahead of such high-profile hits as Saving Private Ryan and Shakespeare in Love. (He also recorded a much-praised audio commentary track for the DVD edition.) Ebert’s loyalty was hardly a surprise to anyone who knew him, though.
Ebert’s Take: “Dark City by Alex Proyas is a great visionary achievement, a film so original and exciting, it stirred my imagination like Metropolis and 2001: A Space Odyssey. If it is true, as the German director Werner Herzog believes, that we live in an age starved of new images, then Dark City is a film to nourish us. Not a story so much as an experience, it is a triumph of art direction, set design, cinematography, special effects — and imagination.”
Also on His Top Ten of 1998: A Simple Plan (#4); Babe: Pig in the City (#7); Primary Colors (#10)

Minority Report (2002)

Why It Surprised: Star-powered summer blockbusters don’t often come out on top of most critics’ year-end lists, a slot that’s typically reserved for more prestigious and/or artier fare. But Ebert found Minority Report's ideas as thrilling as its action sequences and argued passionately for its superiority over that year's bigger- and smaller-budget efforts. It was also the third and final Steven Spielberg picture to secure that ranking, after The Color Purple and Schindler’s List.            
Ebert’s Take: “Spielberg, who is a master of technology, trusts only story and character, and then uses everything else as a workman uses his tools. He makes Minority Report with the new technology; other directors seem to be trying to make their movies from it. This film is such a virtuoso high-wire act, daring so much, achieving it with such grace and skill. Minority Report reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place.”
Also on His Top Ten of 2002: City of God (#2); 13 Conversations About One Thing (#5); All or Nothing (#9)

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Why It Surprised: Ebert listed his 2008 Top Ten list in alphabetical order, but when it came time to pick the best film from the first decade of the 21st century, Charlie Kaufman’s mind-bending, reality-twisted film was his clear number one. A critically divisive film upon its release, it also proved to be a divisive choice amongst his readership, but Ebert never wavered in his conviction that Kaufman had created something that defied easy description…and that was a good thing.
Ebert’s Take: “Those who felt the film was disorganized or incoherent might benefit from seeing it again. It isn’t about a narrative, although it pretends to be. It’s about a method, the method by which we organize our lives and define our realities.”
Also on His Top Ten of 2008: Monster (#3); The 25th Hour (#8); My Winnipeg (#10)

Photos: Minority Report, Everett Collection; The Black Stallion, MGM; Eve’s Bayou, Trimark Pictures/Kobal; Synecdoche, New York, Abbot Gensler/Sony Pictures Classics