by Mike Gagnon

Created on: December 07, 2006   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

From the point of individual opinion there are a million answers to the question of "What is the best movie of all time?" and each answer would be as individual as the person who answers it.

Personally is I was going to base this article on opinion you'd have to suffer through a long rave about how much I like Gladiator starring Russell Crowe.

When it comes to official voting, polling, fan opinion, and professional Hollywood industry research, there is one movie that has been voted as the best movie of all time head and shoulders above all others.

The film is Citizen Kane.

Not only is this film still beloved by a wide range of people today, but it is also one of historical significance. The mystery film was released by RKO pictures in 1941 and was the first feature film directed by Orson Welles, who also played the title character of Charles Foster Kane.

In the film the character of Charles Kane is a ruthless publishing tycoon who cares not for people, but power. He cares nothing for those around him, and those who are close to him often suffer in order for Kane to benefit while he collects money and power. This alienates all of his friends and loved ones, and Kane grows old and lonely in his crumbling multi-million dollar estate. A handful of people visit him as he dies of old age in his bed. At the time of his death Kane is unaware of the world around him and begins to whisper the word "Rosebud" over and over again until he dies.

After his death the film follows a reporter by the name of Thompson who has been given the job of finding out what the dying millionaires final words meant. Thompson digs deep into Kane's past and uncovers the story of a young businessman who enters publishing as a thrill seeking venture, and over time it turns him into a bitter, twisted, and corrupt man who treats his business as a war zone and sets himself up as the general in charge of it.

The ending has quite a surprise twist, and those who have not seen or read about the classic movie will be surprised to learn what the tycoon's dying word really meant.

Written by Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz the creators openly stated that the character of Charles Foster Kane was based on an amalgamation of several famous businessmen of the time such as William Randolph Hearst, Howard Hughes and Samuel Insull.

William Randolph Hearst was so troubled by the film that he offered RKO pictures $800,000 to destroy all proof of its existence. The reason for his offer was due to his claim that the

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