All lists of the “greatest” movies are propaganda. They have no deeper significance. It is useless to debate them. Even more useless to quarrel with their ordering of titles: Why is this film #11 and that one only #31? The most interesting lists are those by one person: What are Scorsese’s favorites, or Herzog’s? The least interesting are those by large-scale voting, for example by IMDb or movie magazines.
Ebert continues about lists and discusses the 50 essential films ranking just published by The Spectator. “[Y]ou won’t find Casablanca (1942), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) or Lawrence of Arabia (1962) anywhere among these pages.” The Spectator’s 50 Essential Films: Part One and The Spectator’s 50 Essential Films: Part Two.
Their top film is The Night of the Hunter.
Rio Bravo, the 1959 film with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson and Walter Brennan, is number 10.