Meet the new AFI 100--same as the old AFI 100. (Titanic for Fargo?!)

[Bicoastal]

Well, not exactly. 77% of the movies on the list stayed exactly the same, although someone clearly liked "Raging Bull" a whole lot more and "The Graduate" a whole lot less this time around. And of course, #1 is still "Citizen Kane"--and probably always will be. I first saw that movie when I was only 9 years old, and my high opinion of it has never wavered.

However, 23 new films made the list this time around--effectively bumping 23 films from 10 years ago into film oblivion, if you take these lists seriously. Here's the ones that are now on:

Intolerance, 1916. The General, 1918. Sunrise, 1927. A Night at the Opera, 1935. Swing Time, 1936. Sullivan's Travels, 1941. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951. 12 Angry Men, 1957. Spartacus, 1960. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966. In the Heat of the Night, 1967. The Last Picture Show, 1971. Cabaret, 1972. Nashville, 1975. All the President's Men, 1976. Sophie's Choice, 1982. Blade Runner, 1982. Do the Right Thing, 1989. The Shawshank Redemption, 1994. Toy Story, 1995. Titanic, 1997. Saving Private Ryan, 1998. The Sixth Sense, 1999. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.

And here are the ones that are now gone:

The Birth of a Nation, 1915. Jazz Singer, 1927. All Quiet on the Western Front, 1930. Frankenstein, 1931. Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935. Stagecoach, 1939. Wuthering Hights, 1939. Fantasia, 1940. The Third Man, 1949. American in Paris, 1951. A Place in the Sun, 1951. From here to Eternity, 1953. Rebel Without a Cause, 1955. Giant, 1956. The Manchurian Candidate, 1962. My Fair Lady, 1964. Dr. Zhivago, 1965. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, 1967. Patton, 1970. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977. Amadeus, 1984. Dances With Wolves, 1990. Fargo, 1996.

There are plusses, to be sure: Nice to see the racist "Birth of a Nation" replaced with "Do the Right Thing." I'm glad that Fred Astaire, Preston Sturges, and Pixar are now represented. And 12 Angry Men is the movie that EVERY liberal should see. BUT--does anyone think the "Sixth Sense" will be remembered a decade from now? Did "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "Manchurian Candidate" deserve the old heave-ho--or James Dean's entire oeuvre, for that matter? And--did the AFI really have to swap out the Coen Brothers' loopy avant-garde genius for one of the most bloated, cliched, poorly written epics of all time, leaving a true classic like "LA Confidential" to once AGAIN twist in the wind?

Your thoughts, cinephiles.

[ghostsofgiants]

1. The Sixth Sense and Titanic?

I'm sorry, what are the criteria for this list?

[Bicoastal]

3. There aren't many, really--

* Must be over 60 minutes
* Must be American made
* Must be a commercially made, non-documentary film
* Must be considered "good" in some way

I'm just as surprised as you are about those two...:shrug:

[ghostsofgiants]

4. The "must be 'good'" part kinda throws me for a loop...

Because those two movies suck.

What does "commercially" made mean? No independent films, only major studio films?

[NYCGirl]

2. Glad to see my second favorite film of all time, "Sullivan's Travels" make the list —

but one or two more Sturges films would've been nice. Hard to believe "The General" just made it this time. As far as the drop-offs, I've always thought "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" was well-meaning but flabby, "My Fair Lady" was overrated, but taking off "Frankenstein", which created one of the greatest iconic images of all time?

[begin_within]

5. My top 15...

1. Tokyo Story (1953) http://imdb.com/title/tt0046438/
2. The Bicycle Thief (1948) http://imdb.com/title/tt0040522/
3. Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) http://imdb.com/title/tt0060138/
4. Soy Cuba (1964) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058604/
5. Psycho (1960) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/
6. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056687/
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/
8. Five Easy Pieces (1970) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065724/
9. El Norte (1983) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085482/
10. Casablanca (1942) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/
11. Chinatown (1974) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/
12. East of Eden (1955) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048028/
13. The Lion in Winter (1968) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063227/
14. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059170/
15. Salt of the Earth (1954) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047443/

Though I like a lot of the films on AFI's list, I think it's a crime to drop all of James Dean's films off their list. Stagecoach and From Here to Eternity should have stayed on their list.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. Disagree with Birth of a Nation being taken out.

That is, if the list reflects "influence" rather than "entertainment value."

We would probably not have movies in its current form if not for BOAN -- the techniques introduced/popularized in the film were revolutionary at the time.

I think the list is heavily biased towards influential films, which is the only reason I think Citizen Kane, an otherwise crappy film, is even on the list -- Citizen Kane, BOAN, and Battleship Potemkin (Soviet-era) are clearly the three most influential films ever, in terms of technique, but none of them, IMO, possess any real "entertainment value."

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

7. What?!

So, Dances With Wolves, gone? Patton, Close Encounters, Fargo, gone? Titanic(!), The Sixth Sense, Saving Private Ryan, Spartacus (I am a Kubrick fanatic, and still I wouldn't have added this film), added?

Wrong! They lose.

My top ten, just for the hell of it

10. The Silence of the Lambs
9. Traffic
8. Dr. Strangelove
7. The Godfather
6. Citizen Kane
5. Taxi Driver
4. City of God
3. A Clockwork Orange
2. Apocalypse Now
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey