AFI - No spoilers

[mellytu74]

OK.

It's clear that AFI didn't take my advice on everything.

[silverscreenselect]

I'm a bit surprised no one picked up on this thread, perhaps because very few people were watching the actual show. Ratings were down quite a bit from last year, perhaps because it was opposite the NBA Finals and America's Got Talent. Unlike that show, however, this one featured a lot of people with real talent.

Overall, it was a lot of fun to watch, with the mini-top ten format working surprisingly well. Considering that some of the categories (gangster in particular) had to stretch to get to ten quality films, limiting each category to ten winners makes sense.

Seeing some of the old timers is also a delight. Kirk Douglas' mind is still sharp even though he struggles to speak; anything he does is a gift to the audience. I was saddened to hear Ben Gazzara; he doesn't appear to be in very good condition.

Some real surprises in the selections, the biggest of which was selecting City Lights as the top romantic comedy of all time (one other silent film, the original Thief of Bagdad, made the fantasy list). Chaplin's performance aside, it's not a movie that's aged well. I would have thought that the runner-up, Annie Hall, would have been picked number one, and that Pretty Woman would have made the list.

I was surprised and disappointed that Cat Ballou and McCabe and Mrs. Miller made the Westerns list instead of films like The Magnificent Seven, My Darling Clementine, Liberty Valance; The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or Fort Apache. The Searchers is currently enjoying an upswing in popularity, so I'm not surprised it beat out High Noon for number one.

Gangster films was the one category where they stretched to get to ten movies (Godfathers 1 and 2 made the list separately, although Lord of the Rings was considered one movie). The 30's movies (Little Ceaesar, the original Scarface and Public Enemy) haven't aged well and are more important from a historical context than as top quality movies. Still, most more recent gangster films have their own flaws as well.

Courtroom dramas had a couple of puzzling selections, A Cry in the Dark and In Cold Blood (Kramer vs. Kramer ranked far too high as well). I don't know how they could leave Inherit the Wind off the list, and The Caine Mutiny, Breaker Morant, and The Accused would also have been better choices.

Dial M for Murder is not one of HItchcock's best efforts; I would rather have seen Double Indemnity on the list of best mysteries.

One very odd coincidence from last night. I received a box of DVD's yesterday that I picked up at a good price and was opening the box while while the show was on. One of the DVD's I got was Cat Ballou and I was in the process of opening the box when the film was announced as one of the top ten Westerns. I turned to Mrs. SSS and said, "Guess what I just got," and showed her the Ballou DVD.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Did you get Eastern Promises for her?

[silverscreenselect]

Did you get Eastern Promises for her?

Not yet....

I only pick up films I can get a deal on. Something like Eastern Promises, I'll pick up at Blockbuster when they mark down their used DVD's over a holiday weekend.

[starfish1113]

I just watched this on TiVO last night. The one omission that struck me was that Close Encounters of the Third Kind didn't make the Top Ten Sci Fi movies. Before they announced number one, I confidently announced that it would be number one. I had forgotten about 2001....

Also, if anybody still has this TiVO'd, check out when they interview the man who directed Schindler's List. Underneath, they identify him as...

Steven Speilberg.

[ulysses5019]

Did you get Eastern Promises for her?

Why don't you just mail her your copy?

[danielh41]

Dial M for Murder is not one of HItchcock's best efforts; I would rather have seen Double Indemnity on the list of best mysteries.

When I looked at the original ballot of 50 films from each category last fall, I was shocked that Double Indemnity wasn't even on the list. What kind of film organization can list the top 50 mysteries and not include Double Indemnity? So I not only wrote it in on my ballot, I made it number one (the balloting was done by simply selecting ten films without ranking them and then picking a number one only for tiebreaking purposes). I don't know if they actually counted my vote, but I did send it in before the deadline asking them to count it. I never heard from them.

My ballot was actually the closest to AFI's selections in the animated category. 8 of the final films were in my ten picks. The AFI and I were in the least agreement in the romantic comedy, sports, and courtroom drama categories. Only four of my selections in each of those sections made the AFI top ten. I will admit that my sports movie selections were very slanted toward baseball movies. I took more offense at the courtoom drama selections. The Caine Mutiny, Inherit the Wind, and Absence of Malice were the three off my list that I felt most strongly should have been included.

As far as number ones in each category, the AFI and I were in agreement only twice. We both had Lawrence of Arabia as the top epic and The Godfather as the top gangster movie. Three of my other number ones came in at number two in their respective categories (Star Wars in sci-fi, Rocky in sports movies, and High Noon in Westerns), and my top romantic comedy came in third on the AFI list (It Happened One Night).

It was still a fun show to watch, and it was better than the NBA with officiating so dreadful that claims of game fixing can actually be taken credibly....

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Did you get Eastern Promises for her?

Why don't you just mail her your copy?

I don't own a copy, we rent movies from Netflix.

[mellytu74]

I was waiting for someone to pick this up!

I enjoyed the show overall -- agreed with some selections, disagreed with others. Always the way it goes with these things.

At first I didn't even realize who Ben Gazzara was. I only heard the voice and, when I got back to the TV, the shot was a medium shot of him on his stool, so I couldn't tell.

But, yes, I don't think he looks good, either. Makes seeing him not that long ago in that PBS film on early Broadway all the more bittersweet.

BTW: If you get the chance to see that film, do it. All these actors talking about being struggling working actors and the lives they lived.

SCI-FI: I HATED 2001, so I just kind of rolled my eyes. An easy swap of Close Encounters anywhere on the list for 2001.

Where, oh WHERE was Forbidden Planet? I'd gladly give up Clockwork Orange for Forbidden Planet.

WESTERNS: I'm not surprised to see The Searchers, given its new-found popularity, at #1 but, like sss, I can name a half-dozen Westerns that I feel belong there ahead of McCabe & Mrs. Miller or Cat Ballou.

AND McCabe & Mrs. Miller above Stagecoach? Uh, no.

FANTASY: Less quibble than I thought I was going to. I had Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Lost Horizon on my list. I thought Groundhog Day should be higher.

I have a VERY soft spot for Douglas Fairbanks' The Thief of Bagdad. Back in the day, our local PBS station showed silent movies on Saturday night. My dad, who was born in 1911, would watch them with me and tell me about silent movie stars. Thief of Bagdad was one of the first silent movies I saw.

I was also very glad to see Field of Dreams as fantasy and not a sports movie because any movie that has Shoeless Joe Jackson batting right-handed is NOT a baseball movie.

SPORTS: My list had Slapshot, A League of Their Own and Eight Men Out (no National Velvet, Jerry Maguire or Caddyshack - although I have no quibbles with Caddyshack).

Thrilled that Breaking Away made it. I love that movie.

GANGSTER: sss - If they'd listened to me, they wouldn't have had a problem getting to 10.

My list included Atlantic City, Angels with Dirty Faces, On the Waterfront, Key Largo (subbing for Little Ceasar as the Edward G. movie) and Once Upon a Time in America. I listed Godfather II first and Godfather second, with Goodfellas third and neither Scarface.

ANIMATION: I can't find my list but I know I had Lady & the Tramp on there.

MYSTERY: I wrote in Double Indemnity, too, dan. I also had The Big Sleep and LA Confidential.

COURTROOM DRAMA: I'm with sss - where's Inherit the Wind?

EPIC: I would have subbed Intolerance for All Quiet on the Western Front. I love AQotWF but never really thought of it or Private Ryan as an epic on the Lawrence of Arabia scale.

ROMANTIC COMEDY: I had seven on the list. No Annie Hall (I forgot about it), Harold & Maude (HAROLD & MAUDE??? WTF??) or City Lights (which I never really thought of as a Romantic Comedy although I guess technically it is).

I had Ball of Fire, The Lady Eve and His Girl Friday instead. I really wanted to get My Man Godfrey on the list but I couldn't think of anything to take off.

I was stunned that Pretty Woman wasn't on the list. When they were counting down, and revealing #1, I was so sure it was going to be Pretty Woman.

[MarleysGh0st]

I was also very glad to see Field of Dreams as fantasy and not a sports movie because any movie that has Shoeless Joe Jackson batting right-handed is NOT a baseball movie.

Hmmmm.

If a historical inaccuracy were sufficient to put a film in the fantasy genre, it'd be a very crowded category, indeed!

[silverscreenselect]

FANTASY: Less quibble than I thought I was going to. I had Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Lost Horizon on my list. I thought Groundhog Day should be higher.

I would have thought that Heaven Can Wait would make the list rather than Here comes Mr. Jordan. The 1940 remake of Thief of Bagdad (which just came out on a Criterion DVD) was another possibility.

SPORTS: My list had Slapshot, A League of Their Own and Eight Men Out (no National Velvet, Jerry Maguire or Caddyshack - although I have no quibbles with Caddyshack).

I forgot about Slapshot, but that should have been on there ahead of National Velvet or Caddyshack.

GANGSTER: sss - If they'd listened to me, they wouldn't have had a problem getting to 10.

My list included Atlantic City, Angels with Dirty Faces, On the Waterfront, Key Largo (subbing for Little Ceasar as the Edward G. movie) and Once Upon a Time in America. I listed Godfather II first and Godfather second, with Goodfellas third and neither Scarface.

The Scarface remake has had such a great affect on our society, second only to the Godfather movies themselves. It's achieved a significance far above its dramatic value, and for that reason alone I'd put it on a list of the top gangster films.

EPIC: I would have subbed Intolerance for All Quiet on the Western Front. I love AQotWF but never really thought of it or Private Ryan as an epic on the Lawrence of Arabia scale.

I'm very surprised they put Reds on the list instead of Dr. Zhivago. If the voters had a soft spot for Warren Beatty, then why wasn't Heaven Can Wait on the list.

[mellytu74]

FANTASY: Less quibble than I thought I was going to. I had Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Lost Horizon on my list. I thought Groundhog Day should be higher.

I screwed up the quote thing.

SSS said: I would have thought that Heaven Can Wait would make the list rather than Here comes Mr. Jordan. The 1940 remake of Thief of Bagdad (which just came out on a Criterion DVD) was another possibility.

MELLY replies:

Actually, I had both Mr. Jordan AND Heaven can Wait on my list, as well as Lost Horizon. I just realized as I read your reply that I hadn't listed it.

I didn't have Big, Thief of Bagdad (good memories of my dad notwithstanding) or Lord of the Rings (which, like Annie Hall, I forgot about) on my list.

I really did think Heaven Can Wait would make the list.

And now that you mention it, I am surprised that Dr. Zhivago wasn't on the epic list.

Although I liked Reds better.

[mellytu74]

I was also very glad to see Field of Dreams as fantasy and not a sports movie because any movie that has Shoeless Joe Jackson batting right-handed is NOT a baseball movie.

Hmmmm.

If a historical inaccuracy were sufficient to put a film in the fantasy genre, it'd be a very crowded category, indeed!

LOL!!

It isn't just the historical inaccuracy.

It's the historical inaccuracy within the context of this particular movie.

Field of Dreams is about reverance for the game, and fathers & sons playing catch, and all that.

There is a real heartfelt love of the game in this movie. There is enormous detail in the vintage uniforms, gloves, etc.

I can appreciate all of that as a labor of love.

They put so much detail into everything only to have arguably the greatest left-handed hitter in the history of the game -- Joe Jackson (and the novel from which Field of Dreams is taken is called Shoeless Joe) -- hitting from the wrong side of the plate?

It disappoints me because I really do love this movie on many levels. It's a fine, fine FANTASY.