AFI's New Top 100 of All-Time

The AFI seems to update their top 100 movies of all-time list every week or so, but here is that latest update, with my commentary following.

1. "Citizen Kane," 1941. (saw, 1)
2. "The Godfather," 1972.
3. "Casablanca," 1942. (saw, 2)
4. "Raging Bull," 1980.
5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952. (saw, 3)
6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939. (saw, 4)
7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.
8. "Schindler's List," 1993. (saw, 5)
9. "Vertigo," 1958. (saw, 6)
10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939. (saw, 7)
11. "City Lights," 1931.
12. "The Searchers," 1956.
13. "Star Wars," 1977. (saw, 8)
14. "Psycho," 1960. (saw, 9)
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968. (saw, 10)
16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.
17. "The Graduate," 1967. (saw, 11)
18. "The General," 1927.
19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.
20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946. (saw, 12)
21. "Chinatown," 1974. (saw, 13)
22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.
23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940. (saw, 14)
24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982. (saw, 15)
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962. (saw, 16)
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939. (saw, 17)
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. (saw, 18)
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937. (saw, 19)
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. (saw, 20)
40. "The Sound of Music," 1965. (saw, 21)
41. "King Kong," 1933. (saw, 22)
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. (saw, 23)
49. "Intolerance," 1916.
50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001. (saw, 24)
51. "West Side Story," 1961. (saw, 25)
52. "Taxi Driver," 1976. (saw, 26)
53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
54. "M*A*S*H," 1970. (saw, 27)
55. "North by Northwest," 1959. (saw, 28)
56. "Jaws," 1975. (saw, 29)
57. "Rocky," 1976. (saw, 30)
58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.
59. "Nashville," 1975.
60. "Duck Soup," 1933. (saw, 31)
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. (saw, 32)
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.
68. "Unforgiven," 1992.
69. "Tootsie," 1982.
70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971. (saw, 33)
71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998. (saw, 34)
72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994. (saw, 35)
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.
74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991. (saw, 36)
75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.
76. "Forrest Gump," 1994. (saw, 37)
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. (saw, 38)
86. "Platoon," 1986. (saw, 39)
87. "12 Angry Men," 1957. (saw, 40)
88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.
89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999. (saw, 41)
90. "Swing Time," 1936.
91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982. (saw, 42)
92. "Goodfellas," 1990.
93. "The French Connection," 1971. (saw, 43)
94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994. (saw, 44)
95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.
96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.
97. "Blade Runner," 1982. (saw, 45)
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.
99. "Toy Story," 1995. (saw, 46)
100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

There we have it and as can be seen, I've viewed almost half of the top 100 films of all time (so says AFI) at least once.

Now, how about some commentary? First off, while I have viewed both Citizen Kane and Casablanca and believe they to be two of the best films ever, I personally don't believe them to be the best and third best in American film history. I CAN understand why they'd be placed there, though. So, while I don't completely agree on their ranking, I don't have much problem with them being ranked where they are.

I believe that AFI did an excellent job in ranking 100 of the top films via influence, but not necessarily in quality. While I can't argue that The Beatles are one of the most influential (if not THE most) rock bands in history, I personally don't think they are the very best.

I find it odd that AFI likes to update their list so frequently and they only have four films listed from 1997 to the current year of 2007 (10+ years): Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, and The Sixth Sense. I have never been a huge fan of the LOTR series, but from an originality and execution standpoint, I give the trilogy a great amount of credit, so I can understand it being ranked where it is. But, I cannot understand the other three from the past ten years. I can understand Tom Hanks' other film, Forrest Gump, being ranked in the top 100, but not Saving Private Ryan. The one I understand the least is The Sixth Sense. Yeah, that was a fun little movie the first time through or observing other first-timers as they witnessed the surprise ending. But, another film of Willis', 12 Monkeys, is far superior to The Sixth Sense in terms of quality, music, costuming, acting, direction, and influence. If one likes surprise endings and a more quality film, what about The Usual Suspects? How can a film like Titanic get the nod over American Beauty? Gandhi, Full Metal Jacket, Amadeus, Brokeback Mountain, Million Dollar Baby, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, Fargo, where are all they? I loved the original Psycho, but do not believe it to be superior to Hitchcock's other classics: Rear Window, North by Northwest, or The Man Who Knew Too Much. I enjoyed The Graduate, but don't believe that to be one of the top 20 films of all-time. I may have to view To Kill A Mockingbird again, but remember after viewing it the first time, how upset I was at the portions of the book it skipped past. I think that both of Stanley Kubrick's classics, Dr. Strangelove and A Clockwork Orange should be ranked higher than they are. Taxi Driver was a Martin Scorcese classic and should be ranked higher than No. 52. I thought The Silence of the Lambs was a fun movie, where Anthony Hopkins truly stood out with his timeless performance, but I was slightly disappointed in the overall quality of the film and don't believe it to be one of the top 100 all time (200, maybe). Perhaps Pulp Fiction and Toy Story are on their way out, but why are they in the top 100 in the first place? I'll give Pulp Fiction credit that it has been one of the more influential modern bits of cinema, so for that alone, I'm willing to understand AFI's position. But, I have to believe that there are better, more quality animated/family films than Toy Story. It was a cute and solid piece of filmmaking, no doubt, but I wouldn't rank it in my top 100 films ever.

One thing this list will give me and hopefully others, is a list of 54 films of which I've yet to see. Hopefully, I'll get on the ball (car, in this case) and view a few of these "classics" I've yet to see and judge for myself if they can be justifiably classified as one of the top films of all-time.