Are movie execs rating this movie a 1?

"Honestly, it being in the top 250 or not doesn't mean a thing to me"
But it does and it really shouldn't. Forget about imdb rating, it's meaningless.

I've often wondered the same thing. Why, for instance, did Live Free or Die Hard make it into the Top 250 while it was in theaters? Or Rambo? These are not 10s to most people that rate on here. But then again, 38% of moviegoers are within the ages ranging from 12 to 24. That's the age group that would definitely rate certain movies at 10 that would never have a place on an official praise list in a million years. As with High and Low, it is definitely a mystery. And I wouldn't rule out your seemingly paranoid theory.

anyone who votes this film a 1 should be banned from IMDB anyhow...because it just might be the greatest film ever made.

You are very perceptive.
I think you are correct.
No reasonable person would ever give this movie a "1"

There is absolutely no doubt that a certain demographic of IMDb voters are deliberately casting "1" votes for certain movies in an attempt to get them off the top 250 list, or at least further down in the ratings.

I've observed concrete proof of this phenomena within the past few days. As I write, the entire IMDb community is swooning about the new Batman movie (The Dark Knight) displacing The Godfather and taking over the top spot on the list.

Interestingly, I was looking at the vote patterns for The Godfather on Monday, July 21/08, and noted that just over 14,000 "1" votes had been cast against The Godfather.

Just two days later, I checked again, and the number of "1" votes for The Godfather had increased to 17,900! Can you believe it? Approx. 2500 people voting down The Godfather over the course of 2 days. The intention here of course was to bring Godfather's average rating down, making it easier for The Dark Knight to stay in the # 1 spot.

I would speculate that most of the people involved in this kind of activity are young people, teenagers/fanboys of popular new movies. As the O/P suggests, there might even be promoters, marketers, and industry insiders getting involved in this kind of activity.

One can sort of understand wanting to push and promote you new favorite movie, especially for the teenage crowd. But to go around trying to bring older established movies down - that really is a despicable practice that IMDb should try to do something about.

There are lots of great replies in here. Maybe imdb can be like an auction?
With a "starting bid?" A movie this good should have a minimum vote of 5 or more
or you can just ignore it. Some such thing.

Of course, that won't count the "true" 1's that come from people who aren't
thrilled by great films such as this.

I was surprised to see its rating and not see it in the Top 250. But many
of the films I think are great are probably not in YOUR top 1500!

At any rate, this is one of the best flicks I have seen in many years.
I'm amazed at the 1963 date on it. It's a great slice of Japan from 1962
and many things in it are years ahead. Not to mention the quality and that
great RED SMOKE! That's classic. Many filmmakers since have used that
technique.

This film so brought to mind Quentin Tarantino. Just could not get that out of
my mind. I am convinced that this is one of his favorite films.

The IMDb Top 250 is a great reference list for movies to watch. But just like any list, it's not the end all judge of what the greatest movies are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aArdTKeEntI

There may be some truth to this. It seems highly unlikely that a significant number of people would rate this a 1 over the course of a few months. There could well be some people trying to manipulate the ratings. Some atrocious movies are in the top 25. Many won't last. For instance, INCEPTION was a decent movie, but when it moves to DVD and people watch it again or for the first time at home, its rating will drop dramatically.