Poll: Run-Off: The Best Film Title Ever
Excellent prose sometimes seems to be a dying art. The film industry, at times, does its part to revive it with great screen plays and, every so often, with exquisite titles from various sources, including novels, poems, and songs. The titles below serve as oases in a desert of the vague and recycled stamp-ons like Deceived and Shattered. Below are the top vote-getters from the first two parts of this poll: "Titles of Films before 1975" and "Titles of Films after 1975." This poll will determine the final winner. Instead of voting for your favorite movie, please vote for the title you think has the most pleasing language. Part I of Poll is here. Part II of Poll is here. Discuss the Run-Off Poll here.
Vote:
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Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Breakfast at Tiffany's: From the novel, by Truman Capote, of the same name. -
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
A Clockwork Orange: From the novella, by Anthony Burgess, of the same name. Some sources state Burgess has given three explanations of the title, but according to The New Yorker, "The writer first heard the expression 'as queer as a clockwork orange' in a London pub before the Second World War. It’s an old Cockney slang phrase, implying a queerness or madness so extreme as to subvert nature." -
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb: Supposedly, Stanley Kubrick considered several other titles, including Dr. Doomsday or: How to Start World War III Without Even Trying, Dr. Strangelove's Secret Uses of Uranus, and Wonderful Bomb. -
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: The title was taken from the following passage of the Alexander Pope poem, "Eloisa to Abelard:" How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! / The world forgetting, by the world forgot. / Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! / Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd." -
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Inglourious Basterds: Even though this film is not a remake of the 1978 movie, the title is one way Quentin Tarantino payed homage to Enzo G. Castellari's The Inglorious Bastards. Tarantino has said he'll never explain the misspelling beyond that it was an artistic flourish. -
No Country for Old Men (2007)
No Country for Old Men: The film is based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name. -
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs: From the Thomas Harris novel, which is the second book in his series that revolve around the character of Hannibal Lecter. -
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
To Kill a Mockingbird: From the novel, by Harper Lee, on which the film is based.