AFI Best 100 FILMS list

[gideon]

Did anybody see the AFI 100 Years/100 Films last night? I thought the LOTR trilogy got jobbed as all three films were eligible but only FELLOWSHIP made the cut at #50. I guess ROTK sweeping the Academy Awards 11 out of 11 and not having any other film ever win more was not enough? I guess being #2 on the all time box office list is not enough? STAR WARS at #13 is a joke -- a really bad joke on true film fans. Its a B movie that is fun and entertaining but a great film - pulleasse!

Nice to see the great John Ford film THE SEARCHERS climb more than any other film going from #96 ten years ago to #12 now. CITIZEN KANE, as always, #1 with THE GODFATHER #2.

 

[Darth Caedus]

Did anybody see the AFI 100 Years/100 Films last night? I thought the LOTR trilogy got jobbed as all three films were eligible but only FELLOWSHIP made the cut at #50. I guess ROTK sweeping the Academy Awards 11 out of 11 and not having any other film ever win more was not enough? I guess being #2 on the all time box office list is not enough? STAR WARS at #13 is a joke -- a really bad joke on true film fans. Its a B movie that is fun and entertaining but a great film - pulleasse!

Nice to see the great John Ford film THE SEARCHERS climb more than any other film going from #96 ten years ago to #12 now. CITIZEN KANE, as always, #1 with THE GODFATHER #2.

If I remember correctly, I think the Lord of the Rings as a whole was #50, but they just showed scenes from FoTR. I might be wrong, but that's what I remember. I think star wars was a great revoluationary film. I brought fun and fantasty to cinema and was the first of its time. It deserved to be #13, IMO, it should have been higher. Films like SUNRISE, that were up there, they were also revoulationary films of their time and deserve to be in the top 100 films of all time. I saw most of the my favorite movies up there, including my favorite comedy It Happened One Night (can't remember the number, but happy it was on there).

I wasn't expecting dustin hoffman to start bawling when talking about Tootsie and saying it wasn't a comedy to him. That was a little awkward...

 

[PosterBoyKelly]

Pootie Tang wasn't 1? WTF?

 

[Darth Caedus]

Sorry, was wrong it was FoTR that was #50. Here's the list List

P.S. Pootie Tang was #3.

 

[gideon]

If you go to the AFI website they have the list of all 400 nominated films. Each of the three LOTR films was nominated individually. FOTR was the only one of the three to get on the list. I do not think the listing was for all three.
Also love IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. Neat to see three Capra films on the list.

 

[Darth Caedus]

If you go to the AFI website they have the list of all 400 nominated films. Each of the three LOTR films was nominated individually. FOTR was the only one of the three to get on the list. I do not think the listing was for all three.
Also love IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. Neat to see three Capra films on the list.

Was also great to see City Lights, my favorite Chaplin movie jump 65 spots to #11. And Bustor Keaton's The General was a suprise at #18, my favorite of his. Also found it odd to find Godfather and Casablanca switch spots for #2 and #3, was odd to have that happen. Citizen Kane still shouldn't be #1, kind of a bore if you ask me.

 

[gideon]

DC - you have pretty good tast in movies

You have to watch pre-KANE cinema to see how revolutionary KANE really was in terms of story telling, point of view, camera angles, etc. Its really one of the few films that you can take apart scene by scene and learn something every time.

Regarding GODFATHER and CASABLANCA, perhaps its AFI being more "modern" by elevating the more recent film? CITY LIGHTS has perhaps the greatest ending of any film I have ever seen - okay PATHS OF GLORY rivals it - with Chaplins acting as the girl recognizes who he really is being some of the best moments ever put on screen.

How do you explain the dumping of BIRTH OF A NATION from #44 to off the list altogether? Gotta be political correctness. A film in which the Ku Klux Klan is pictured as heroes does not stand much of a chance in the current climate. Although they did seem to replace it with INTOLERANCE - another Griffith film which I do think is far better. Interesting that the final reel of INTOLERANCE - made 90 years ago - is still considered too fast paced and too quickly jump cut for even audiences today.

 

[customizerwannabe]

Raging Bull #4??? I loved it, but no way. I'd put Taxi Driver ahead of it, and even that being much further down the list. I like Godfather replacing Casablanca and I've always loved Citizen Kane.

 

[Darth Caedus]

DC - you have pretty good tast in movies

You have to watch pre-KANE cinema to see how revolutionary KANE really was in terms of story telling, point of view, camera angles, etc. Its really one of the few films that you can take apart scene by scene and learn something every time.

Regarding GODFATHER and CASABLANCA, perhaps its AFI being more "modern" by elevating the more recent film? CITY LIGHTS has perhaps the greatest ending of any film I have ever seen - okay PATHS OF GLORY rivals it - with Chaplins acting as the girl recognizes who he really is being some of the best moments ever put on screen.

How do you explain the dumping of BIRTH OF A NATION from #44 to off the list altogether? Gotta be political correctness. A film in which the Ku Klux Klan is pictured as heroes does not stand much of a chance in the current climate. Although they did seem to replace it with INTOLERANCE - another Griffith film which I do think is far better. Interesting that the final reel of INTOLERANCE - made 90 years ago - is still considered too fast paced and too quickly jump cut for even audiences today.

Hey thanks :chew :chew You still see in films today camera techniques and shots that Wells originated with Kane. Of City Lights (the boxing scene still make me laugh), Virginia Cherill (the blind flower girl from City Lights) came to one of my cinema classes and spock to the class about filming City Lights. Boy did she not like Chaplin, from the stories she told, it is understandable too. My guess for dumping Birth of a Nation would be the political correctness as well. I mean, a woman jumping off a cliff rather then be raped by a black man is some pretty hardcore stuff. And "replacing" it with Intolerance I can see.

 

[Mookeylama]

DC - you have pretty good tast in movies

You have to watch pre-KANE cinema to see how revolutionary KANE really was in terms of story telling, point of view, camera angles, etc. Its really one of the few films that you can take apart scene by scene and learn something every time.

.

first time i watched Kane it was obvious how revolutionary it was. i remember thinking of all the new things i hadn't seen before in films of it's time. i mean they dug holes in the floor for the camera to get extreme angles for crikes sake! but damn it bored me to tears lol. thankful for it tho just for the doors it opened.

as for AFI, i never agree w/ them anyway.

 

[darthviper107]

Hey, Blade Runner is on there.

 

[carbo-fation]

I am also upset at the fact that TTT and RotK didn't make the list. And how could they push Ben Hur down to the last place. Besides RotK, it's the only movie to have won 11 oscars.

 

[gideon]

Carth C -- WOW - I totally envy your experience in that film class hearing directly from Virginia Cherrill on the making of CITY LIGHTS? Did she talk about actually being fired from the film, and then being brought back?
Wikipedia article says the following

Of the final scene, critic James Agee wrote in Life magazine in 1949 that it was the "greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid"

That is pretty high praise indeed. Orson Welles, the genius behind KANE claimed that LIGHTS was his favorite film of all time.

Carbo - I agree with your anger about BEN HUR at #100. It was directed by the great William Wyler, probably his second best film next to BYOOLives, and is better than at least half the films on the list.

 

[Darth Caedus]

Yea, we were lucky to even hear from here. She lived in Santa Barbara and my film teacher met her and asked her if she would come to the class. The story was that Chaplin would have the crew meet for filming from 800am-600pm everyday. Chaplin would work from 800am-1200pm and then go home and not come back. During this time, the rest of the crew had to stay on set till 600pm JUST in case he came back. (which is so retarded) So she said that one day she decided to leave early on JUST a day that Chaplin decided to come back and he fired her on the spot. Since the filming had taken like 2 years, and her scenes were almost finished, the studio was forced to hire her back for double the wage. She said that "she never wanted to talk to the little sh*t ever again." That was a pretty insane night.

 

[LOTRFan]

My quick thoughts:

Silence of the Lambs is too low, FOTR was the best of the three and is too low, Raging Bull while great is too high ...




and where is Tremors?!

 

[Darth Loki]

That list is so biased it's disgusting. AFI should stand for Alzheimers Film Institution because they can't remember anything after 1980

 

[Anzik]

As far as I'm concerned, the opinions of Hollywood's collective aren't worth a roll of toilet paper.
Considering the immense number of films created and how many are even remotely memorable gives them the batting average of a blind, armless baseball player.
The entertainment industry is completely loathesome. Very little moral substance, political correctness and delusions of intelligence. Is there any other business that gets together to make such a spectacle of itself to say how great itself is? How many awards shows are there?

I see the list changing as younger generations replace older ones. Out of the top three, Citizen Kane is very dull, Godfather is great but I don't think its better than Casablanca. There is a scene between Bergman and Bogey when they first see each other in Ricks when four different emotions roll across their faces without saying a word. We haven't seen actors like that in a long time and certainly there weren't any in Godfather.

 

[wookilar8]

Seeing as nobody posted the list.



2007 AFI LIST OF TOP 100 MOVIE

1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.

2. "The Godfather," 1972.

3. "Casablanca," 1942.

4. "Raging Bull," 1980.

5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.

6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.

7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.

8. "Schindler's List," 1993.

9. "Vertigo," 1958.

10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.

11. "City Lights," 1931.

12. "The Searchers," 1956.

13. "Star Wars," 1977.

14. "Psycho," 1960.

15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.

16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.

17. "The Graduate," 1967.

18. "The General," 1927.

19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.

20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.

21. "Chinatown," 1974.

22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.

23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.

24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.

25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.

26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.

27. "High Noon," 1952.

28. "All About Eve," 1950.

29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.

30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.

31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.

32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.

33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.

34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.

35. "Annie Hall," 1977.

36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.

37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.

38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.

39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.

40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.

41. "King Kong," 1933.

42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.

43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.

44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.

45. "Shane," 1953.

46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.

47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.

48. "Rear Window," 1954.

49. "Intolerance," 1916.

50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.

51. "West Side Story," 1961.

52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.

53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.

54. "M-A-S-H," 1970.

55. "North by Northwest," 1959.

56. "Jaws," 1975.

57. "Rocky," 1976.

58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.

59. "Nashville," 1975.

60. "Duck Soup," 1933.

61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.

62. "American Graffiti," 1973.

63. "Cabaret," 1972.

64. "Network," 1976.

65. "The African Queen," 1951.

66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.

67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.

68. "Unforgiven," 1992.

69. "Tootsie," 1982.

70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.

71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.

72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.

73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.

74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.

75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.

76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.

77. "All the President's Men," 1976.

78. "Modern Times," 1936.

79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.

80. "The Apartment, 1960.

81. "Spartacus," 1960.

82. "Sunrise," 1927.

83. "Titanic," 1997.

84. "Easy Rider," 1969.

85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.

86. "Platoon," 1986.

87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.

88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.

89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.

90. "Swing Time," 1936.

91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.

92. "Goodfellas," 1990.

93. "The French Connection," 1971.

94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.

95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.

96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.

97. "Blade Runner," 1982.

98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.

99. "Toy Story," 1995.

100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

1998 LIST OF AFI'S TOP 100 MOVIES
1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.

2. "Casablanca," 1942.

3. "The Godfather," 1972.

4. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.

5. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.

6. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.

7. "The Graduate," 1967.

8. "On the Waterfront," 1954.

9. "Schindler's List," 1993.

10. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.

11. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.

12. "Sunset Boulevard," 1950.

13. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.

14. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.

15. "Star Wars," 1977.

16. "All About Eve," 1950.

17. "The African Queen," 1951.

18. "Psycho," 1960.

19. "Chinatown," 1974.

20. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.

21. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.

22. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.

23. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.

24. "Raging Bull," 1980.

25. "E.T. - the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.

26. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.

27. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.

28. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.

29. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.

30. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.

31. "Annie Hall," 1977.

32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.

33. "High Noon," 1952.

34. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.

35. "It Happened One Night," 1934.

36. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.

37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.

38. "Double Indemnity," 1944.

39. "Doctor Zhivago," 1965.

40. "North by Northwest," 1959.

41. "West Side Story," 1961.

42. "Rear Window," 1954.

43. "King Kong," 1933.

44. "The Birth of a Nation," 1915.

45. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.

46. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.

47. "Taxi Driver," 1976.

48. "Jaws," 1975.

49. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.

50. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.

51. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.

52. "From Here to Eternity," 1953.

53. "Amadeus," 1984.

54. "All Quiet on the Western Front," 1930.

55. "The Sound of Music," 1965.

56. "M.A.S.H," 1970.

57. "The Third Man," 1949.

58. "Fantasia," 1940.

59. "Rebel Without a Cause," 1955.

60. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.

61. "Vertigo," 1958.

62. "Tootsie," 1982.

63. "Stagecoach," 1939.

64. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," 1977.

65. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.

66. "Network," 1976.

67. "The Manchurian Candidate," 1962.

68. "An American in Paris," 1951.

69. "Shane," 1953.

70. "The French Connection," 1971.

71. "Forrest Gump," 1994.

72. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

73. "Wuthering Heights," 1939.

74. "The Gold Rush," 1925.

75. "Dances With Wolves," 1990.

76. "City Lights," 1931.

77. "American Graffiti," 1973.

78. "Rocky," 1976.

79. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.

80. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.

81. "Modern Times," 1936.

82. "Giant," 1956.

83. "Platoon," 1986.

84. "Fargo," 1996.

85. "Duck Soup," 1933.

86. "Mutiny on the Bounty," 1935.

87. "Frankenstein," 1931.

88. "Easy Rider," 1969.

89. "Patton," 1970.

90. "The Jazz Singer," 1927.

91. "My Fair Lady," 1964.

92. "A Place in the Sun," 1951.

93. "The Apartment," 1960.

94. "Goodfellas," 1990.

95. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.

96. "The Searchers," 1956.

97. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.

98. "Unforgiven," 1992.

99. "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," 1967.

100. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.