Black Sheep have a Long Tail
It is difficult to explain what makes any great work great, and particularly difficult with movies, and maybe more so with Citizen Kane than with over great movies, because it isn’t a work of special depth or a work of subtle beauty. It is a shallow work, a shallow masterpiece. Those who try to account for its stature as a film by claiming it to be profound are simply dodging the problem - or maybe they don’t recognise that there is one. Like most of the films of the of the sound ear that are called masterpieces, Citizen Kane has reached its audience gradually over the years rather than at the time of release.
Pauline Kael, Raising Kane, 1971.
Note: Spinvox initially transcribed Citizen Kane as Sits in the game. I fucking love that.