The 50 greatest debut movies: part two

In part two we're chopping meat with Gaspar Noe and getting misanthropic with Alex Cox, before stuffing foil-wrapped cucumbers down our trousers with the Spinal Tap boys and attempting to dance the hornpipe with Gene Kelly...

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40. Seul Contre Tous (1998)
Directed by Gaspar Noe
An ex-con horsemeat butcher slices to the dark heart of France
The impression one gets of Gaspar Noe is that he’s been a right troublemaker since the day he escaped the womb. Progenitor of a small but thoroughly debauched oeuvre, this 1998 debut – which rejoins characters and story from Noe's 1991 short film ‘Carne’ – remains his most disturbing, angry and politically eloquent film to date. Phillipe Nahon is the lumbering butcher who is released from jail to rejoin a society peopled by impoverished grotesques, only to pack everything in to go on a search for his only true love: his estranged, mentally handicapped daughter. With edits that are more often than not coupled with the sound of a shotgun blast, an interior monologue narration which drips with bile and even a sign popping up during the finale warning us that we’ve got 30 seconds to leave the cinema before witnessing what it claims to be the most violent scene in movie history, this is a feelbad slab of sensory bombast to rival the best of ‘em. DJ
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39. Repo Man (1984)
Directed by Alex Cox
Radical DIY science fiction for the Blank Generation
A sequel, clumsily entitled ‘Repo Chick’, may be on its way, but we’re not holding our breaths: Alex Cox’s star has been on the wane for a while now. But there’s no arguing with his phenomenal debut: very few films on this list can claim as many unique ideas, iconic moments and choice lines of dialogue (‘ordinary fuckin’ people… I hate ‘em’) as ‘Repo Man’, the best world-weary, anti-capitalist, anti-religious punk-sci-fi-road-action-gangster-comedy-thriller of them all. TH
Click here to learn the Repo Code

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38. Pepi, Luci, Bom... (1980)
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Back when Pedro was a punk…
Or to give it its wonderful full title, ‘Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap’, this gaudy, John Waters-esque debut harks back to a time when writer-director Pedro Almodóvar was more interested in sick than Sirk. Essentially a rambling and rude rape-revenge comedy starring Almodóvar muse Carmen Maura, coherent narrative plays second fiddle to a succession of scenes which shed light on the underground punk scene of post-Franco Madrid. Sure, there’s a certain juvenile tinge to proceedings (a lengthy backyard penis measuring competition anyone?), but its interest in liberated women, alternative lifestyles and louder-than-loud costumes and colour schemes set the template for future classics like ‘The Flower of My Secret’, ‘All About My Mother’ and ‘Volver’. DJ
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37. Man Bites Dog (1992)
Directed by Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde
Look ma! I’m being killed on TV!
Benoît Poelvoorde, – charming, literate, sadistic star of monochrome mock-doc ‘Man Bites Dog’ – remains one of Europe’s most underrated comedy actors. He plays Ben, a terrifyingly nonchalant serial killer whose various brutal acts are all caught on camera by an increasingly slavish and desensitised film crew. Its deadly serious and highly plausible thesis – that physical closeness to violence over a long period of time can provoke similar heinous actions – is shrouded within an ironic knockabout comedy concerning the crazed lengths the media will go to in order for an original subject. DJ
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36. This is Spinal Tap (1982)
Directed by Rob Reiner
Top mock rock doc and shock flop
‘Enduring appeal’ doesn’t even begin to cover the global legacy of Reiner’s first time up to bat: a dismal failure on first release, ‘Spinal Tap’ has since become a global industry churning out T-shirts, figurines, CDs and multiple special edition DVDs. None of which can dim the brilliance of this timeless, tireless if-you-will rockumentary. TH
Click here to watch the classic 'cheese rolling' trailer

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35. Diner (1982)
Directed by Barry Levinson
The late peak of the '50s nostalgia boom
It could have been an unholy mess; a rudderless soap about five guys sitting around an all-night caff kvetching about their lives and loves. Toss in the ‘lovingly rendered’ '50s setting and a clutch of doo-wop musical cues that are more predictable than both death and taxes and it’s hard to convince anyone who hasn’t seen ‘Diner’ that they should rectify the situation any time soon. This bald description, of course, does not factor in Levinson’s uncanny facility for creating memorable, fully-fleshed characters from a few lines or movements, or his ability to address the demands of an ensemble cast that would go on to serve him so well in ‘Tin Men’ (1987), ‘Avalon’ (1990) and ‘Sleepers’(1996). ‘Diner’, as with so many of these mob-handers, also served as a launching pad for a wild array of future stars such as Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon and – work with us here! – Steve Guttenberg. ALD
Click here for the infamous popcorn scene

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34. A Bout De Souffle (Breathless) (1959)
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Say goodbye. Wave hello
And with a hop, a skip and a jump cut, the French New Wave was born. Godard’s supercool distortion of Hollywood b-picture tropes was born out of a news story involving a armed killer on the run, but the director shuns obvious noir trappings in favour of documenting the criminal’s (Jean Paul Belmondo) swaggering, amorous advances towards an elfin newspaper saleswoman (Jean Seberg). In terms of style, rhythm, editing and storytelling emphasis, there’s no doubt at all that this is one seminal movie, even if, with the gift of hindsight, JLG would go on to make a number of much more intellectually nourishing films later in his illustrious career. DJ
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33. On The Town (1949)
Directed by Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly
And it's a hell of a town...
‘On the Town’? Isn’t that the one where Gene Kelly spends 15 minutes Lindy-hopping with a cartoon mouse? No, that’s the hugely inferior ‘Anchors Aweigh’ from 1945. You’d be forgiven for making that mistake, as their storylines (a group of bumptious, wolf-whistling US sailors look for love on furlough in the Big City), cast (Kelly & Sinatra) and production company (MGM) are all identical. The one not-so-subtle difference is that ‘On the Town’ not only boasts dazzling choreography and a tranche of swinging tunes penned by Leonard Bernstein, but also radiates a down-and-dirty energy due to the fact that Donen decided to take the stuffy studio musical out on to the mean streets of New York. DJ
Watch the first big number here

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32. Bottle Rocket (1996)
Directed by Wes Anderson
Forget the Fox – rock the Rocket
Indie-kook godhead Anderson’s career has shown signs of going off the boil of late, but from his snappy debut feature right up until ‘The Life Aquatic’ (2004), he was cooking on laughing gas. This debut feature not only showcased his charming taste in geek-retro mise-en-scène and affinity for life’s runners-up, but also introduced the world to the drawling, permanently perplexed and wholly agreeable fraternal pairing of Owen (who also co-scripted) and Luke Wilson. ALD
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31. Targets (1968)
Directed by Peter Bogdanovich
One of the first flowerings of the movie-brat generation
Ingenuity in action: handed several reels of an unfinished Boris Karloff old-dark-house chiller by his boss Roger Corman and told to go nuts, writer and critic Bogdanovich used the footage as the backdrop to an eerie, utterly idiosyncratic tale of an out-to-pasture horror movie star and a dangerously unhinged ex-military sniper on the rampage. TH
Click here to watch the original 1968 trailer

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