AFI Top 100 Movies

 

I still really, really do not get the greatness of Citizen Kane.  It's fine, I guess, but I don't get why it's considered to be the best movie ever.  Really, Kane at #1, and To Kill a Mockingbird at #34?  Who makes these lists?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UYlX1-mj4s

AFI Top 100 Movies, Revised

I don't really know why AFI felt the need to revisit their original list after only 10 years, but it's interesting to see how political correctness changed it. 

The new movies included:  The General  (1926), Intolerance  (1916), Fellowship of the Ring  (2001), Nashville  (1975), Sullivan's Travels  (1941), Cabaret  (1972), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  (1966), Saving Private Ryan  (1998), The Shawshank Redemption  (1994), In the Heat of the Night  (1967), All the President's Men  (1976),  Spartacus  (1960), Sunrise  (1927), Titanic  (1997), A Night at the Opera  (1935), 12 Angry Men  (1957), The Sixth Sense  (1999), Swing Time  (1936), Sophie's Choice  (1982),  The Last Picture Show  (1971), Do the Right Thing  (1989), Blade Runner  (1982), and Toy Story  (1995).

Almost 1/4 of the list was replaced, some by newer movies.

 

The films removed from the list included:  Doctor Zhivago  (1965), The Birth of a Nation  (1915), From Here to Eternity  (1953), Amadeus  (1984), All Quiet on the Western Front  (1930), The Third Man  (1949), Fantasia  (1940), Rebel Without a Cause  (1955), Stagecoach  (1939), Close Encounters of the Third Kind  (1977), The Manchurian Candidate  (1962), An American in Paris  (1951), Wuthering Heights  (1939), Dances with Wolves  (1990), Giant  (1956), Fargo  (1996), Mutiny on the Bounty  (1935), Frankenstein  (1931), Patton  (1970), The Jazz Singer  (1927), My Fair Lady (1964), A Place in the Sun  (1951), and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1967).

 

I think the ones that surprise me the most are Rebel Without a Cause, Jazz Singer, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, as they're considered landmark movies.  But of course, Nashville - which nobody's even heard of - and Titanic - which was cinematically impressive but had a crappy storyline - are good enough to replace them.  Obviously this means I don't know anything.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MdPok1Jul0

AFI Top 100 Songs

For some reason, AFI absolutely loves Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.  While I can't really dispute "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" at #1 (although I probably would have placed it top 5), I can't for the life of me figure out "The Man That Got Away" at #11.  Wondering what movie it's from?  Exactly.  It's a song you probably don't know unless you're a diehard Judy fan.  I think these songs should be determined by significance in the movie as well as influence on pop culture.

And while I'd love to see Porgy and Bess ("Summertime", #52), I can't find it.  So we'll have to wait on that review.

Here is a lengthy collection of all 100 songs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcg9xXjz7ks&list=PLz59ctKeMZfKI3vtr4RqnlhkIkuCrEDlY 

But if you don't have time, then watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIiT51Y5uiM

AFI Top 100 Thrills

 

Not necessarily 100 thrillers, this list also encompasses action movies, mysteries, and horror films. And then there was the occasional odd fit, like The Wizard of Oz, which I'm sure was just on there so AFI could have Judy Garland on every list. There were a good number (7) that I refused to watch.

 

Robert Mitchum is very scary.  Gaslight remains my favorite psychological thriller, and Raiders of the Lost Ark is the most exciting movie ever.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMIhMlUaBDE

 

AFI Top 100 Passions

 

 

The thing I had to remember when looking at the movies on this list is that "passion" is not the same as "love".  I'd dispute calling some of these films love stories, but I suppose they're passionate, so here they are. 

 

I haven't yet seen Morocco (#83) or Porgy and Bess (#92).

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_H3atqLp2Q 

 



AFI Top 100 Laughs

I guess comedy means different things to different people, but I did find some pleasant surprises on this list - Buster Keaton, Nick and Nora Charles, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and Ball of Fire, to name a few.  I still really do not get Woody Allen, and I think O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Princess Bride should have made the list.

Oh, and I haven't yet seen The Freshman or The Heartbreak Kid.  I haven't been able to find them, but I'll review them when I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzf43LdYeYU

AFI Top 50 Heroes

“...but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself.”  

 

I love Atticus Finch.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-6ZvOQ0hBI 

AFI Top 50 Villains

I guess I don't disagree with any on this list.  It seems to me Darth Vader should be higher, but I can't dispute the first two choices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8JjH724-ho

AFI Top 10 of 10 Film Genres

 

I'm not going to re-list them all, but here are the top movies in each genre:

 

Animation - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Fantasy - The Wizard of Oz

Gangster - The Godfather

Science Fiction - 2001: A Space Odyssey

Western - The Searchers

Sports - Raging Bull

Mystery - Vertigo

Romantic Comedy - City Lights

Courtroom Drama - To Kill a Mockingbird

Epic - Lawrence of Arabia

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n54V-F5Y_xc 

AFI Top 25 Film Scores

 

 

While Star Wars deserves the top spot without question, I don't necessarily agree with the rest of the list.  Star Wars brilliantly demonstrates what a film score should be - it needs to be easily identifiable with the movie, and it should evoke the emotions and essence of the story.  As someone said, the score is very much a character in Star Wars.  John Williams is a genius. 

 

And yes, Lord of the Rings should be on this list.

 

1 STAR WARS    2 GONE WITH THE WIND    3 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA    4 PSYCHO    5 THE GODFATHER   6 JAWS   7 LAURA   8 THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN   9 CHINATOWN   10 HIGH NOON   11 THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD   12 VERTIGO   13 KING KONG (1933)   14 E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL  15 OUT OF AFRICA  16 SUNSET BLVD.   17 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD   18 PLANET OF THE APES   19 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE   20 THE PINK PANTHER   21 BEN-HUR   22 ON THE WATERFRONT 23 THE MISSION  24 ON GOLDEN POND    25 HOW THE WEST WAS WON

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjMNNpIksaI

AFI Top 100 Cheers

I haven't yet seen The Defiant Ones and I can't figure out why neither Netflix nor the library has it. Oh well.  Overall, a pretty good list.  I don't think Breaking Away or 2001 should be on it.  They were stupid and pointless.  As for the others, I may not have liked them all but at least I see how they fit this category.  It fits that Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Tom Hanks, and Frank Capra are well-represented here.

But while I'm not going to be petty about the order, I have to disagree with The Sound of Music being as low as #41.  Have they not seen that movie?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AJI6XTRGsc

AFI Top 100 Quotes

 

 

The only movie quote not yet listed is "What a dump" from Beyond the Forest.  I haven't been able to find that movie.  Incidentally, Elizabeth Taylor quotes that line in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, when she asks Richard Burton what movie it's from - so I guess that will have to count.

 

This list confirms my belief that Casablanca is the best written movie of all time, what with 6 quotes listed.  Why don't people talk like that anymore?  My only objection is that there aren't any Princess Bride quotes.  I think it's fair to say that that movie is the most quoted film of our generation.  Seriously, when ESPN devotes half an hour to quoting it, I think it's made a significant stamp on pop culture.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594Oxq4c0XA 

 

 

 



AFI Top 25 Musicals

 

 

We've finished the Musicals category.  While I certainly can't dispute their top choice, I still consider The Sound of Music the most-loved musical of all time.  Fiddler on the Roof will always be my favorite.  And I really, really don't get the love affair AFI (or anyone, for that matter) has with Judy Garland.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdapEFiyTdY  

AFI 100 Years...100 Stars

We've completed our list of 100 Stars.  Well, almost.  Sophia Loren (#21), Mary Pickford (#24), and Ava Gardner (#25) were not in any of the movies on any of the lists, so none of their movies were reviewed here.  All the others are. 

What have I learned?  I've discovered I adore Gary Cooper, prefer Buster Keaton to Charlie Chaplin, am afraid of Robert Mitchum, can't stand Judy Garland (ok, I knew that, but it was confirmed), think Barbara Stanwyck's bangs are ridiculous, and don't get Lauren Bacall's appeal.  I think Audrey Hepburn is fine but overrated, and Marilyn Monroe's acting skills are overlooked because people think of her as a sex symbol.  I really, really like Sidney Poitier, and I don't know why William Holden is on the list, because he shouldn't be in the company of greats like Gable, Grant, and Stewart.

I also think it bears repeating that I love Jimmy Stewart.  Clark Gable is king.  Cary Grant is suave, and Gene Kelly is so fine (doo lang, doo lang, doo lang).

And while the purpose of the second set of 50 was merely to introduce the original 50, and so they picked whomever was available, I think they should have made an effort to make it a real list.  It's a shame that because they came later people like Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Jack Lemmon, and the like weren't recognized.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=theg-vnwevg

About: Category Count

In case you look at the categories on the right hand side, please keep in mind that it counts the number of posts that include that category, not the number of entries per category. Therefore, the final counts won't necessarily equal 100 for each.
For example, Star Wars had two heroes, but is listed as one hero post. Casablanca had six quotes, but is counted only once. Top 100 will be more than that, because it also includes the revised list. And the stars category will be much more than 100, because some movies have more than one star, and also because many stars appear in more than one movie.
So in other words, disregard the numbers.

What's This All About?

I'm on a quest to view all of the movies on the American Film Institute's Top 100 lists (well, at least almost all - I'm not convinced that my life will be any better if I actually watch The Exorcist or a few of the others. But we'll see how it goes).
For those who don't know, 13 years ago, AFI compiled a list of the best 100 movies made in the first 100 years of Hollywood ( http://www.afi.com/100years/ ). Over the next ten years, they made new lists, sorting movies by genre:

100 Stars
100 Laughs
100 Thrills
100 Passions
100 Heroes & Villains
100 Songs
100 Film Quotes
100 Years of Film Scores (actually only 25 movies)
100 Years of Musicals (again, 25)
100 Cheers
10th Anniversary Edition (a slightly altered Top 100)
10 Top Ten (more genres)

In all, there are far more than 100 movies, although some overlap several categories. I think I've now seen over half of them, and I figure why do this if I can't share my thoughts? So here they are, my personal reviews of AFI's Top 100.