Back before I had kids, I enjoyed watching a good movie or two. The Journal & Courier put the American Film Institute’s Top 100 movies in a sidebar.
Oddly, I have watched only one of the top 10 — The Wizard of Oz. Of the remainder, I feel pretty silly for not having seen The Godfather. Also, I think I’d enjoy Raging Bull. The rest of the top 10, maybe, maybe not. I’ve put in bold the ones I’ve seen. In italics are ones that I haven’t seen, but want to. Even though I like movies quite a bit, apparently there are a ton of great ones I’ve not seen or only seen parts. Maybe my tastes are not very refined, though, because a lot of them just hold no interest for me.
The American Film Institute’s 2007 list of the top-100 American movies:
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.â€, 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?â€, 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.
Well, the Shadow has seen 77 of the titles, but then again, he’s a former film critic and film studies student at IU.
Of the films that you expressed no interest in seeing, I do hope you give a few a try. I can’t count how many times I’ve expected to see something boring, only to experience something that engaged my interest and sparked a passionate response. )”Blade Runner” did that!) Good movies are like that. It’s not necessarily the plot — it’s how the story is told.
Unfortunately, the reverse is true (“M*A*S*H”). But’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Yeah, 2001 is great. It can be difficult, though, since it’s nearly a 3 hour movie and there’s around 30 minutes of dialog. My wife loathes the movie and fell asleep the last time we watched it.
Now’s a real good time to watch All The President’s Men …
“Sixth Sense” in the top 100? No! This might come off sounding egotistical, but I figured out what the “surprising twist” in that movie would be just from reading reviews saying there was a twist. I think that one will fall out the next time there’s a list. Certainly either Dr. Zhivago or Amadeus, which fell off the list this time, should take its place.
Schindler’s List might be the least “fun” movie on this list (although Saving Private Ryan ain’t fun either) but ought to be required viewing for every high school senior before they graduate (probably not earlier than that though…)
No “Cool Hand Luke.” No “Caddyshack.” No “Blues Brothers.” No “Better Off Dead.” Hell, they don’t even have “Starship Troopers” on the list. Rigged!
Yeah, I think they shyed away too much from just plain old goofball comedies! The only comedies are quasi-serious ones. Personally, I think if you’re gonna put Woody Allen on there I’d rather watch Sleeper or Bananas than Annie Hall. And I’d rather watch There’s Something About Mary than a lot of these…
I watched “Citizen Kane” because the wife said I ought to, and it’s always number one on the list. It wasn’t a waste of time, and I could see how it was revolutionary at the time.
“The Deer Hunter” is a great movie. The russian roulette scene is some of the best acting I’ve ever seen.
What, no Face/Off? No Killer Clowns from Outer Space? These people are whack.
On a more serious note, Doug, I’m truly amazed that you haven’t seen Easy Rider. I thought everybody had seen that one. You probably also ought to check out the French Connection…it’s really good.
What a great chance to really unload. I can only agree with three of the Film Institute’s top 10 (The Godfather, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia). They really blew it in picking Vertigo (#8) over Hitchcock’s best, especially over Notorious (unranked). (About all I came away with from Vertigo was the impression that Jimmy Stewart was playing someone really stupid). And to omit The Third Man (1949) and Pinocchio (1940) is unforgivable. Clustered around the 30th spot are three of my favorites:
28. “All About Eve,†1950.
29. “Double Indemnity,†1944.
31. “The Maltese Falcon,†1941.
As for Citizen Kane, I personally preferred “The Magnificent Ambersons”, at least until its final 10 minutes, and Jorge Borges wrote one of the most prescient film reviews of “Citizen Kane” when he said something to the effect that it was a film that lots of people would point to as being great but wouldn’t watch a second time.
I figured if I lived long enough, somebody somewhere would let slip that “Citizen Kane” might not be No. 1 on their list.