The American Film Institute has revisited its rankings of the top 100 films of all time from ten years ago, and
here is the new list. I imagine we all have quibbles with this one. The AFI overrates some movies --
Some Like It Hot a top 25 movie of all time?
The Godfather: Part II only 32nd? It seems to rate a few of the classic silents too high out of tribute more than actual watchability. And at the risk of alienating a certain type of person --
Star Wars is one of the most important movies of all time, but one of the thirteen best of all time? No way. They also overrate
Gone With the Wind, but everyone always seems to, and I have always found that these lists almost reflexively rank
Citizen Kane and
Casablanca in the top three without much dissent.
These sorts of lists exist to create arguments. And to get people to buy dvd's. Which will work: The wife and I (first time I've ever written that) have planned to watch the top 100 in the next year.
By the way, the Best Years of Our Lives is one of the five greatest movies ever produced.
2 comments:
There is no doubt that the list is based on importance as much as watchability. Anyone that thinks that Star Wars for instance is better than Empire Strikes Back is high, but Star Wars is clearly about a thousand times more significant in the history of film. And some of their rankings are a bit odd--Ben Hur at 100, after Toy Story?? Ramming speed on Woody and Buzz Lightyear!!!!
What's nice about this list is that whether you agree with the rankings or not, it's a great touchstone if you are looking for a good movie to watch. When AFI came out with the original list, I printed it out and counted out how many I'd seen and it was about half of them, give or take 5-8. So I set about watching them all and was introduced to some incredible movies I probably wouldn't have watched otherwise. Also learned a lot about movies and my taste them, such as how funny some of those Charlie Chaplin silent films are, how the Marx Brothers were true geniuses (Duck Soup is phenomenally funny) and that musicals, even with the legendary Gene Kelly, have always sucked.
Thunderstick -
Naturally Ana loves musicals, which leaves me in for some misery when we make our way through the list, probably starting in July. It seems tome that AFI wanted to be inclusive, which is why some musicals and silents simply ranked far too high in order for the list to have the appropriate diversity of genres.
I fully agree that the list provides a great touchstone. And it will prompt me to see a bunch of movies I should have seen long ago.
dcat
Post a Comment