As a man of many lists (I obsess over rankings, though more in art/media fields than, say, sports), I and no doubt I alone (other than my wonderful mom, who still likes these things as much as I do) have been chomping at the bit waiting for AFI's announced revision of their 1997 "100 Greatest Films of All Time" opus. Now that it's here, while I managed to shoot my wad, I must admit that I was a little disappointed, but then again, how else could it have ended? Adding "newer" films seems like a concession to those smaller-minded folk who were unsatisfied with the previous list's lack of more modern selections, yet, anticlimactically, they only ended up bringing in 4 films made after the publication of the first list, and the newest one is already 6 years old (2001's "Lord of the Rings"), so in fact, this NEW list is even more arguably "antiquated" than the old one, which managed to sneak in a film made less than a year prior to its own official unveiling (1996's "Fargo") and included a fair share of ones within 6 years of itself. So what was the point? Especially since a majority of films didn't even change their POSITION on the list, let alone their very inclusion. 23 films in all were replaced this time, and a look at the lot of rejects (courtesy of Wikipedia) at least shows that the scattered AFI voters are paying closer attention this time. With a few exceptions ("Rebel Without a Cause", "The Third Man", "Frankenstein", "Fantasia", "Close Encounters", maaaaybe "Amadeus"), I can't lament the absence of any of these rejected titles, even if the substituting newcomers are a mixed bag themselves, MOST worthy but some rather suspicious ("The Sixth fucking Sense"? Do people really love anything about that movie?). And of course several remaining films on the new AFI list simply boggle the mind - "Easy Rider", "Ben Hur", "The French Connection", "Shane", and "The Graduate" being the worst offenders. Iconic films, sure, most of them pretty good even, but the greatest films in history? Learn to separate "really really famous" from "genuinely great", peeps. Jesus.
Then there is the trickier business of criticizing the ranking adjustments. I can accept "Raging Bull"'s placement on the list, even if I'd never include it myself, but blasting it all the way up to the top 5?! Is that a way of bolstering our national love for Martin Scorsese? If it's necessary to throw him a bone, "Taxi Driver" should've been the spotlighted choice, or even the additions of either "The King of Comedy" or "The Aviator", if you ask me. Furthermore, how does it make any sense that "Unforgiven" - a terrific film, don't get me wrong - ascends a third of the list from the very bottom to the 60s, while one of the most undeniably influential and revered films of the last 20 years, "Pulp Fiction", remains stuck in the bottom 10? How the fuck does "Forrest Gump" stay far ahead of it? Is there some covert backlash against the movie that I haven't noticed, because as far as I can tell, people still love, respect, and are inspired by Tarantino's masterpiece as much as ever. #94, my ass. Other curiously low rankings include "The Deer Hunter" (up from last time but still only at 58), "The Godfather 2" (still #32, and I wouldn't put it any higher myself, but this is a movie often regarded as THE best ever, so I'm surprised it can't get higher), "Dr. Strangelove" at 39 (although at least "2001" is in the top 20 now), and "All About Eve", which fell 12 spots when it really should have jumped to the top 10 where it belongs. Conversely, I find it quite interesting that "Vertigo", "City Lights", and "The Searchers" rocketed so far up in the rankings, more or less to top 10 positions (last time, "The Searchers" was in the bottom 10, now it's #12!). Does this say anything about how our tastes have changed? I wish I knew.
In the end, I'm glad the pointlessness of the list was somewhat revealed by leaving the top 10 mostly intact, with "Citizen Kane" the reigning champion. Shows that the voting wasn't rigged this time to contrive diversity. It stayed honest, albeit occasionally baffling ("In the Heat of the Night"???), although even this consistency, or integrity if you will, also resulted in a not-very-exciting new list. All of which points toward one conclusion: this didn't need to happen. For the sake of my own entertainment, I'm happy it did, but really, nothing was gained. It could've just been posted on the Internet rather than made into a TV special (which, even more disappointingly, didn't even elaborate very much on the reasons why each film was chosen; just a few sound bytes here and there from actors with fond memories of certain picks). I have a couple extra films now that I need to go see sooner rather than later - in a neat bit of history, I just finished seeing every last one of the films on the 1997 list the same day I watched this new special ("Mutiny on the Bounty" was the clincher), so now I've got "Intolerance", "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", and "Sophie's Choice" to seek out sometime before 2017, when some respected elderly actor at the time (Tom Hanks?) trots out the new batch (gooo "Grindhouse"!), although I was already inching my way towards "Intolerance" and the rest of Meryl Streep's filmography. Here's the list in all its redundant glory. Newbies to the 100 are capitalized. How many have YOU seen?
1. "Citizen Kane," 1941. (my silly grades: A-)
2. "The Godfather," 1972. (A)
3. "Casablanca," 1942. (A-)
4. "Raging Bull," 1980. (B)
5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952. (A)
6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939. (B+)
7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962. (B)
8. "Schindler's List," 1993. (A-)
9. "Vertigo," 1958. (A-)
10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939. (B+)
11. "City Lights," 1931. (A-)
12. "The Searchers," 1956. (B)
13. "Star Wars," 1977. (B+)
14. "Psycho," 1960. (A)
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968. (A)
16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950. (A)
17. "The Graduate," 1967. (C)
18. "The General," 1927. (A-)
19. "On the Waterfront," 1954. (B+)
20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946. (A)
21. "Chinatown," 1974. (B+)
22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959. (C+)
23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940. (B)
24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982. (B)
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962. (A-)
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939. (A-)
27. "High Noon," 1952. (A)
28. "All About Eve," 1950. (A+)
29. "Double Indemnity," 1944. (A-)
30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979. (A-)
31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941. (A-)
32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974. (A-)
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975. (C)
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937. (A)
35. "Annie Hall," 1977. (B+)
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957. (B+)
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946. (A+)
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948. (A-)
39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964. (A)
40. "The Sound of Music," 1965. (B)
41. "King Kong," 1933. (A-)
42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967. (B-)
43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969. (B)
44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940. (B+)
45. "Shane," 1953. (C+)
46. "It Happened One Night," 1934. (B+)
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951. (B-)
48. "Rear Window," 1954. (B+)
49. "Intolerance," 1916. (---)
50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001. (B+)
51. "West Side Story," 1961. (B+)
52. "Taxi Driver," 1976. (A-)
53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978. (A-)
54. "M-A-S-H," 1970. (B)
55. "North by Northwest," 1959. (B+)
56. "Jaws," 1975. (A)
57. "Rocky," 1976. (B)
58. "The Gold Rush," 1925. (A-)
59. "Nashville," 1975. (B+)
60. "Duck Soup," 1933. (A-)
61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941. (A)
62. "American Graffiti," 1973. (B+)
63. "Cabaret," 1972. (B+)
64. "Network," 1976. (B+)
65. "The African Queen," 1951. (B+)
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981. (A-)
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966. (---)
68. "Unforgiven," 1992. (B+)
69. "Tootsie," 1982. (B-)
70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971. (A-)
71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998. (A)
72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994. (A)
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969. (B)
74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991. (B)
75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967. (C-)
76. "Forrest Gump," 1994. (B+)
77. "All the President's Men," 1976. (B)
78. "Modern Times," 1936. (B+)
79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969. (B+)
80. "The Apartment, 1960. (A-)
81. "Spartacus," 1960. (B)
82. "Sunrise," 1927. (A-)
83. "Titanic," 1997. (A)
84. "Easy Rider," 1969. (C+)
85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935. (B+)
86. "Platoon," 1986. (B+)
87. "12 Angry Men," 1957. (A-)
88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938. (B)
89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999. (B)
90. "Swing Time," 1936. (B)
91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982 (---).
92. "Goodfellas," 1990. (A)
93. "The French Connection," 1971. (B)
94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994. (A)
95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971. (A-)
96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989. (A-)
97. "Blade Runner," 1982. (B-)
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942. (B)
99. "Toy Story," 1995. (A)
100. "Ben-Hur," 1959. (B)
FANTASTIC ADDITIONS TO THE LIST
1) Sullivan's Travels
2) The Last Picture Show
3) Toy Story
4) 12 Angry Men
5) Saving Private Ryan
6) The Shawshank Redemption
7) Titanic
8) Sunrise
9) The General
10) Swing Time (in theory - Fred Astaire required recognition)
LAME ADDITIONS TO THE LIST
1) In the Heat of the Night (I could've swore this was on the list last time, though)
2) The Sixth Sense (Shyamalan's films have dated)
3) Spartacus (like a slightly improved "Ben Hur")
4) All the President's Men (good movie but by no means great)
5) Lord of the Rings (inevitable, but ehhh)
10 SELECTIONS THAT SHOULD BE HIGHER
1) Pulp Fiction
2) The Best Years of Our Lives
3) All About Eve
4) The Deer Hunter
5) Dr. Strangelove
6) Titanic
7) Goodfellas
8) The Shawshank Redemption
9) 2001
10) The Last Picture Show
10 SELECTIONS THAT SHOULD BE LOWER
1) Raging Bull
2) Lawrence of Arabia
3) Schindler's List
4) The Grapes of Wrath
5) E.T.
6) The Sound of Music
7) Midnight Cowboy
8) A Streetcar Named Desire
9) Lord of the Rings
10) Butchy Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
10 SELECTIONS THAT SHOULD BE REMOVED ALTOGETHER
1) Easy Rider
2) The Graduate
3) Shane
4) Rocky
5) Ben-Hur
6) The French Connection
7) Forrest Gump
8) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
9) Some Like it Hot
10) Tootsie
MY TOP 25 CHOICES FOR FILMS THAT SHOULD BE ADDED FOR THE NEXT EDITION, IN 10 YEARS (FILMS THAT ACTUALLY COULD STAND A CHANCE, NOT JUST ANYTHING)
1) Back to the Future (it was among the 400 nominees both times, so it could happen!...)
2) Young Frankenstein
3) Mary Poppins
4) Magnolia
5) A.I. Artificial Intelligence
6) Pinocchio
7) In a Lonely Place
8) Before Sunrise/Sunset
9) The Princess Bride (it's basically one of the favorite movies of every person in my generation)
10) Beauty and the Beast
11) The Royal Tenenbaums or Rushmore
12) The Big Sleep
13) Grizzly Man
14) The Aviator
15) Bride of Frankenstein
16) The Breakfast Club (c'mon, it has the same generational appeal/unique quality that has made "The Graduate" so endlessly worshipped)
17) The Incredibles
18) My Dinner with Andre
19) JFK
20) His Girl Friday
21) The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
22) All That Jazz
23) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
24) Punch-Drunk Love
25) Children of Men
and something with Errol Flynn would be awesome
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