MovieChat Forums > The Great Dictator (1941) Discussion > Top 250... are you serious?

Top 250... are you serious?


it's an insult to have it ranked higher than:

Slumdog Millionaire
Die Hard
The Wizard of Oz
The Wrestler
The Lion King
Stand by Me
Groundhog Day
The Princess Bride

I could go on and on because the truth is The Great Dictator may have been clever and cutting edge back in it's day... However 70 years later this movie shows it's true colours as a dated bad comedy skit.

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Yes. Yes, I am serious.

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I have to disagree with you entirely. This film was made in 1940 one year after WWII started. For Chaplin to have had that insight into the war at that time is amazing. He was calling for peace before the world even knew about the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Not only is this film comedic but it is also socially relevant even today. This is arguably one of the most important films ever made.

It is an insult that this is ranked higher than Die Hard?! Are you kidding me?

Look beyond the comedy and look at its social relevance, I think you will find that this film is far superior to any on your list.

Die Hard?!

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[deleted]

Regardless of what year it was actually made in, Chaplin was revolutionary in what he was doing in this film. Date doesn't change that. It was made/released before anyone knew what was going on. The US didn't even enter the war until 1941. Chaplin was calling for peace before anyone knew of the real atrocities of the Holocaust or of WWII.

Chaplin shed light on this issue long before anyone even dared to talk about it.

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before anyone dare talk about? that's all people talked about during this period. Maybe it wasn't big news in the US until they joined the war but in the rest of the world it was the only news story.

This movie quite simply is a lame duck. It shows that chaplin is only capable of poor mans slipping on a banana peel humour. When you compair it with real comedies like Monty Python it just shows that Chaplin was an overhyped one trick pony hack!

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1. No one in the US cared about the war when Chaplin made this film. More importantly, no one cared or really knew about what the Nazis were doing in terms of the extermination of millions of people. Chaplin drew attention to the Nazi atrocities and called for an end to their horrific behavior long before anyone even cared about it. That is my point.

Monty Python? I love it as much as the next person but you can't compare them. This is nowhere near "bannanna peel" humor. The entire film is political satire and goes way beyond cheap physical comedy. Are you blind to the political statements that Chaplin made in this film?

Chaplin is way more intelligent and poignant than any Monty Python sketch ever was.

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that's all people talked about during this period. Maybe it wasn't big news in the US until they joined the war but in the rest of the world it was the only news story.
In most of Europe, nobody dared openly disparaged Hitler and his Mob of sickos.

I doubt that were it 1940 you'd say this film stinks... or, would you?


I ain't superstitious, but ~ Jimi the


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I'm sure people will remember "The Wrestler" in 70 years. People hardly remember it now!

I saw The Great Dictator at least seven years ago, and the ending still sticks with me. It's much more than a comedy.

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well the Wrestler won a Golden Globe and Bafta award for best actor. Great Dictator which was released in a time where 96% less movies were made didn't win any major awards. So despite much more intense competition The Wrestler proves to be a stronger film. Good for the Wrestler I say.

I also noticed you defended it being "Better" than The Wrestler but didn't comment on the following:

Slumdog Millionaire
The Wizard of Oz
The Lion King
Stand by Me
Groundhog Day
The Princess Bride

I guess that's because you can't justify this ordinary movie being ranked higher than these clearly superior films. I will give credit to the final speech in this movie, it's moving inspiring and great, however when it's paired with terrible slapstick humour like loading a giant cannon and it blowing up in your face (cue the wah wah wah sound effect)...

Lets be honest Charlie Chaplin is a hack and the only trophy he got was his 16 year old trophy wife.

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[deleted]

I go to the cinemas at least once a week. I have seen litterally thousands of movies in my life, the Great Dictator was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Penn & Teller said it best when they said "Charlie Chaplin is just an overrated Hack"

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[deleted]

are you serious? Surely you are just trying to be funny but like Chaplin are terrible at comedy.

This reminds me of the old saying "Never argue with an idiot, they'll bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience."

clearly watching terrible movies like "The Great Dick-tator" has destroyed what few brain cells you have.

Good day sir.

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I have seen litterally thousands of movies in my life, the Great Dictator was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
I find it hard to believe that someone who has seen thousands of films would consider The Great Dictator to be among the worst.

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Op-Obvious Troll is Obvious.

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Groundhog Day is a great movie? It's a good comedy but it is not a classic film. Just because "The Great Dictator" didn't win an award, does not mean that it wasn't a great film. There are some movies that won the Academy Award for Best Picture that aren't that good. "The Broadway Melody" (1929) is a decent musical, but not that great. "Grand Hotel" (1932) is an all-star movie with some a mix of great acting and some poor acting - it's supposed to take place in Berlin and some "German" characters don't have an accent (Joan Crawford, John Barrymore) and some do (Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery). "The Greatest Show on Earth" (1952) was given the Best Picture award largely because Cecil B. DeMille hadn't won one and had only been nominated once. "Forrest Gump" (1994), "Chicago" (2002) weren't that great in retrospect.

"Stand by Me" gets some of its high ratings because, for the most part, people enjoy nostalgic looks at an imagined past.

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Ok bub, I was going to agree that one might say that they enjoyed The Wrestler more than The Great Dictator, alright, but you lost any last ounce of credibility when you call Chaplin a hack. Chaplin was, is, and will continue to be one of the greatest actor of all time.

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Wait, you mention die hard and then tell us this movie was bad. your not very bright are you?

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"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire

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yes because liking Die Hard makes you an idiot right?

You better adjust yourself your ignorance is showing!

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Your original post was in May and five months later, you are still coming back to this board to argue your point. I don't know what you have against Chaplin, but he was a genuius, not a hack as you have stated sevral times. You shouldn't be surpised that someone called you an idiot. What kind of response did you expect to your negative comments? In fact, what was the point of your post? Did you expect someone to agree with you?

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I am a fan of movies and seeing as this movie was in the "Greatest 100 movies of all time" list I wanted to see it, My point was to express my disappointment that this movie was not good it was in fact terrible. I did expect people to agree with me because most of the other movies in the top 100 I find to just be amazing, this however is a piece of *beep*

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I wondered how much you were just trying to instigate, but maybe you do really feel this way. OK. Of course if you said "I really hated this" that would be different than saying it is pile of bleep, which suggests the rest of us are wrong. Anyway, moving on.

I really like Die Hard. Saw it several times. Still say Dictator a little better.
Princess Bride? Are you kidding? Well, I really did like it, but not as much as Dictator. Have to say that Wizard deserves a higher place because it really was one of a kind classic. Don't know about some of the others.

I probably wouldn't put Dictator in the top 100. I think Modern Times, City Lights, The Kid, and The Circus were better. I like it though. Well, opinions vary.

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AAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

That is all.

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Since I have nothing better to do I will commence by comparing THE GREAT DICTATOR to the other films you've mentioned.

THE GREAT DICTATOR VS SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, in my opinion, is highly over rated already, so for me to compare the two wouldn't be fair. Even if I did really like it (I have nothing against it, I just personally have different taste) I couldn't compare the two. It's like comparing chocolate cake to lasagna. They're both good in their own rights.

For me personally, THE GREAT DICTATOR wins this round due to personal taste.


THE GREAT DICTATOR VS THE WIZARD OF OZ

Okay...I realize that THE WIZARD OF OZ was a great little film, but can we really call it a GREAT film? It's entertaining, the effects are decent, but the overall film seen as a whole is just mediocre. Again, this could boil down to personal taste, but THE WIZARD OF OZ is decent family entertainment that belongs on the shelf with your other family movies like BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and TOY STORY, not CITIZEN KANE and THE SOUND OF MUSIC.


THE GREAT DICTATOR VS THE LION KING

See my notes for THE WIZARD OF OZ.



THE GREAT DICTATOR VS STAND BY ME

Haven't seen it. Moving on...



THE GREAT DICTATOR VS GROUNDHOG DAY

Okay, here we can actually compare them a little, since both fall into the same medium: comedy. Bill Murray is great in this as always, and GROUNDHOG DAY is certainly a classic comedy. However, I would argue that THE GREAT DICTATOR also falls into the realm of classic comedy, perhaps even more classic considering that it has survived for so long.

They are also different breeds of comedy. GROUNDHOG DAY is more witty and dry while THE GREAT DICTATOR is more physical and satyrical. True, it does rely on a lot of slapstick, but that was expected considering this IS Chalie Chaplin. And let's face it, the slapstick in here is pretty damn funny. Not only is it funny, but quite frequently it's symbolic and subtle as well (The Dictator attempting to rip apart the spaghetti).

One thing GROUNDHOG DAY lacks, though, is being more than just a great comedy. Like all comedies, it has a point and a message, and in this case it pulls all the right strings and resonates with us much deeper than most comedies, much like THE TRUMAN SHOW did. THE GREAT DICTATOR soars because it is much more than just a comedy. The film has historica, moral, and yes, even sentimental value like any good comedy does. You could call it a comedy about the Holocaust, like LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL; but also like LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, you can't quite call it just a comedy. It's a historical satire, like DR STRANGELOVE OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB. In fact, perhaps that is the best comparison I can make; THE GREAT DICTATOR falls right in line with DR. STRANGELOVE OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB.


THE GREAT DICTATOR VS THE PRINCESS BRIDE

I feel like I've already beaten this to death, so I'll just summarize this comparison by saying it's much like the above post on GROUNDHOG DAY. I laughed out loud at both THE PRINCESS BRIDE and THE GREAT DICTATOR, but THE PRINCESS BRIDE just isn't much more than a great comedy. Even GROUNDHOG DAY was a tearjerker, but THE PRINCESS BRIDE is just laugh out loud funny. Great comedy, but let's be honest, it's not much more than a great comedy. Perhaps one of the greatest comedies ever made, but still doesn't fall into the greats in any other genre, like THE GREAT DICTATOR did.


Also, a side note on the comparisons to Monty Python. I'm a huge British humour fan and I love the Monty Python films. Here I agree you really can't compare the two as they are such radically different types of humor. Or are they? Both rely on quite a bit slapstick and physical humor, but Monty Python relies on more non-sequitor style humor and Chaplin relies more on clever words and double meaning sight gags. I guess that I can only say that Monty Python is awesome, but comparing specifically THE HOLY GRAIL to THE GREAT DICTATOR, Chaplin just has so much more to his film than Monty Python does.


catholiccamo: Takin' IMDb one heathen at a time

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Wizard of Oz is pure cinematic landmark. It's infinitely more influential, and accomplished, than this piece of overrated mediocre comedy.

Also, you called comedy a 'medium', lol.

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I think you're completely missing the point in regards to how Important of a movie this really was, and how important it is historically.

Fact: Chaplin almost didn't finish the movie because of the atrocities of Nazi Germany, and the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, contacted him and said "this movie must be made"

This isn't controversial in the ways of "ooo there was a flash of nipple" or "there were too many profane words" or "too much blood and gore", it was controversial because of the way it depicted real world events, and real world horrors, and set them to a movie that really makes you humanize with the characters and realize what is actually going on. He was the only one willing to do that.

the same day that Hitler captured france, Charlie Chaplin stood in front of a camera mocking him, and making the end speach, pleading for peace and pleading for humanity.

At a time when Hollywood was flat out ignoring what was happening (they were still making money from Germany) Chaplin stood up and made a strong powerful statement on the atrocities and the horrors.

this movie was smuggled into theaters entertaining the German troops and played to unwittingly show them "this is how the world sees you and your leader. F you".

That's just the importance at the time. it's not a bad movie on it's own either.

Play the speech at the end again, and picture it in today's current events. It still applies. I know "yippie kai yay, motherf-cker" is entertaining, but it doesn't hold a candle to that speech. Neither does "i am the Dread Pirate Roberts" or "Hankuna Matata". 70 years after it was released, it still applies, and it's still important to hear.

Some of the jokes may have fallen flat for you, but it's still a very entertaining movie. I'm able to show anybody the clip of him diving into a trunk at the knock of a door, and people laugh right out loud and make me play it again. the clip of him weighing the plates and coughing up coins is hilarious too. So is making an intimidating speech announcing your power by screaming "Sour *beep* and "Scnitzel."

I know you grew up on the Lion King, but watching Hamlet retold with animals and set to Elton john music isn't what makes a great movie. I know it's quotable and entertaining, but i doubt people will be talking about Die Hard in the year 2060. Groundhog day may have had a couple of laughs mixed in with a feel good message at the end, but is not nearly as culturally important as this movie was.

And if you ARE going to talk against it, don't use such a bad listing of movies as you did.
Insert Signature Here

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It doesn't matter how "important" it was, it's about how good -- enjoyable, if you will -- it is, and in that regard I'd side myself with the original poster in no time.

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slumdog millionaire? g. t . f. o please

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[deleted]

Agreed.

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Groundhog Day? LOL!

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