The American Film Institute spent a considerable amount of time and effort arriving at their list of the “100 Greatest American Movies of All Time.” Here’s the complete list:
1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956)
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
I recognize nitpicking lists like this one is silly and I don’t really intend to do that. What I do want to do is to use it as a foundation for a discussion of film history. I do this by offering a list of my own: “The 30 Great American Films That Didn’t Make The AFI List.” These are:
1. CABERET (1972)
2. STALAG 17 (1953)
3. NASHVILLE (1975)
4. IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963)
5. WHITE HEAT (1949)
6. EL CID (1961)
7. BULL DURHAM (1988)
8. THE PRODUCERS (1968)
9. THE AVIATOR (2004)
10. CASINO (1995)
11. SLAPSHOT (1977)
12. THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
13. WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
14. HOUSE OF GAMES (1987)
15. THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET (1984)
16. HEAT (1995)
17. BASIC INSTINCT (1992)
18. RAISING ARIZONA (1987)
19. THE BANK DICK (1940)
20. NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994)
21. PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED (1986)
22. HANNAH & HER SISTERS (1986)
23. MANHATTAN (1979)
24. BIG TROUBLE (1986)
25. ALICE (1990)
26. MALCOLM X (1992)
27. THIEF (1981)
28. PRIZZI’S HONOR (1985)
29. CHOOSE ME (1984)
30. MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)
Let’s start at the top and go through these five at a time. The exercise is to see how many of these alternates can find a spot replacing AFI films on the list.
The top of the list seems pretty stable to me, no problems here, and all deserving films in many respects. One thing I should mention is that the only way a list like this makes any sense to me is if I assume that the order is random. I think it is meaningless to engage in arguments over whether CASABLANCA, at number 2, is really “better” than THE GRADUATE at number 7. So there’ll be none of that. They both belong on the list – they’re equal.
1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
The second five are also very strong. My only suggestion might be read as heretical – remove SCHINDLER’S LIST. It isn’t the best film on the Holocaust (SHOAH is) and it isn’t Spielberg’s best film either. Nor is it as good a film as SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982) or CABERET (1972) which are both along similar themes. Of these two, CABARET is the better film. I say that for one moment in particular which I think is unique in the history of film as far as I know. Here’s what happens….
The scene is an outdoor café where the three principles sit having a drink. An oompah band plays on a bandstand, the tables are full. Suddenly our attention is drawn to a boy, maybe 15, 16 years old, standing and singing a song. The boy is beautiful, his hair is beautiful, his skin is beautiful, his eyes are beautiful, his voice is beautiful. The song he sings is beautiful. It is about the Rhine giving “its gold to the sea…. Tomorrow belongs to me!”
All the people at the tables stop and stare at the beautiful boy with the beautiful voice singing the beautiful song. They start to sing the beautiful song with him. They rise up. In the theatre I was rising up. Tomorrow belongs to me!
Then the camera, which has been on a fairly tight close-up of the head and shoulders of the beautiful boy begins to slowly pull back.
The camera is now history.
The beautiful boy is wearing a beautiful brown shirt and has a beautiful armband with a beautiful swastika…..
Wait.
No.
And just then – CUT – to Joel Grey, a transgendered deity behind a piece of wavy glass, distorted, looking into the camera, mouthing the words, “You too” and smiling.
I’ve never been more devastated by a film, not ever.
It goes on the list.
So let’s stick it in there at number 9.
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. CABARET (1972)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
The next five are interesting:
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE was a flop at the box office when it was originally released, and a critical flop as well. It sat abandoned on the shelf for years – this was before films had any life beyond the theatre, no secondary markets, no TV, cable, video. The window in which the film’s owners could renew the film’s copyright protection came and went and the film quietly entered into the public domain. Some years later small independent TV stations looking for cheap programming, especially around the holidays, stumbled upon it. It cost nothing, it filled time, perfect.
Eventually it underwent a critical re-evaluation and a surge in popularity. The film became interwoven with the culture. It is one of the best arguments for not extending copyright protection I’ve ever heard. For my money Capra’s best film is the throw away one he shot to raise a little money for his family to live on when he went into the Army to make propaganda films during the Second World War, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944), but we’ll leave IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE ALONE as it’s quite good and its impact far greater.
STAR WARS is an interesting pick. Its brilliance is in two decisions it makes early on. First, it is the first film to depict the futuristic technology of science fiction as rusted, jury-rigged, and prone to break downs. The Millennium Falcon is a bit like a 1963 Ford Falcon – say a prayer, turn the key. Second – and this is SO brilliant – it sets itself “long, long ago…. In a galaxy far, far away.” By setting itself in the distant past and impossibly far away it can get away with almost anything without raising the eyebrows of the audience. It also has a terrific sense of humor, something extremely rare for the genre.
Since Lucas’ better film, AMERICAN GRAFFITI, is also on the list, we’ll leave STAR WARS where it is.
SOME LIKE IT HOT is a masterpiece. But SUNSET BOULEVARD…. This one makes me a bit uneasy. Wilder has other, better films and they’re also on the list. But STALAG 17 (1953) isn’t. It also stars William Holden and it is, I believe, a better, more entertaining, more successful movie. So I’m going to swap them. Now we have:
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. STALAG 17 (1953)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
Having made it through the top 15 we will pause here and pick this up later in Part Two.
1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956)
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
I recognize nitpicking lists like this one is silly and I don’t really intend to do that. What I do want to do is to use it as a foundation for a discussion of film history. I do this by offering a list of my own: “The 30 Great American Films That Didn’t Make The AFI List.” These are:
1. CABERET (1972)
2. STALAG 17 (1953)
3. NASHVILLE (1975)
4. IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963)
5. WHITE HEAT (1949)
6. EL CID (1961)
7. BULL DURHAM (1988)
8. THE PRODUCERS (1968)
9. THE AVIATOR (2004)
10. CASINO (1995)
11. SLAPSHOT (1977)
12. THE BIG SLEEP (1946)
13. WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
14. HOUSE OF GAMES (1987)
15. THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET (1984)
16. HEAT (1995)
17. BASIC INSTINCT (1992)
18. RAISING ARIZONA (1987)
19. THE BANK DICK (1940)
20. NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994)
21. PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED (1986)
22. HANNAH & HER SISTERS (1986)
23. MANHATTAN (1979)
24. BIG TROUBLE (1986)
25. ALICE (1990)
26. MALCOLM X (1992)
27. THIEF (1981)
28. PRIZZI’S HONOR (1985)
29. CHOOSE ME (1984)
30. MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)
Let’s start at the top and go through these five at a time. The exercise is to see how many of these alternates can find a spot replacing AFI films on the list.
The top of the list seems pretty stable to me, no problems here, and all deserving films in many respects. One thing I should mention is that the only way a list like this makes any sense to me is if I assume that the order is random. I think it is meaningless to engage in arguments over whether CASABLANCA, at number 2, is really “better” than THE GRADUATE at number 7. So there’ll be none of that. They both belong on the list – they’re equal.
1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
The second five are also very strong. My only suggestion might be read as heretical – remove SCHINDLER’S LIST. It isn’t the best film on the Holocaust (SHOAH is) and it isn’t Spielberg’s best film either. Nor is it as good a film as SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982) or CABERET (1972) which are both along similar themes. Of these two, CABARET is the better film. I say that for one moment in particular which I think is unique in the history of film as far as I know. Here’s what happens….
The scene is an outdoor café where the three principles sit having a drink. An oompah band plays on a bandstand, the tables are full. Suddenly our attention is drawn to a boy, maybe 15, 16 years old, standing and singing a song. The boy is beautiful, his hair is beautiful, his skin is beautiful, his eyes are beautiful, his voice is beautiful. The song he sings is beautiful. It is about the Rhine giving “its gold to the sea…. Tomorrow belongs to me!”
All the people at the tables stop and stare at the beautiful boy with the beautiful voice singing the beautiful song. They start to sing the beautiful song with him. They rise up. In the theatre I was rising up. Tomorrow belongs to me!
Then the camera, which has been on a fairly tight close-up of the head and shoulders of the beautiful boy begins to slowly pull back.
The camera is now history.
The beautiful boy is wearing a beautiful brown shirt and has a beautiful armband with a beautiful swastika…..
Wait.
No.
And just then – CUT – to Joel Grey, a transgendered deity behind a piece of wavy glass, distorted, looking into the camera, mouthing the words, “You too” and smiling.
I’ve never been more devastated by a film, not ever.
It goes on the list.
So let’s stick it in there at number 9.
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. CABARET (1972)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
The next five are interesting:
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE was a flop at the box office when it was originally released, and a critical flop as well. It sat abandoned on the shelf for years – this was before films had any life beyond the theatre, no secondary markets, no TV, cable, video. The window in which the film’s owners could renew the film’s copyright protection came and went and the film quietly entered into the public domain. Some years later small independent TV stations looking for cheap programming, especially around the holidays, stumbled upon it. It cost nothing, it filled time, perfect.
Eventually it underwent a critical re-evaluation and a surge in popularity. The film became interwoven with the culture. It is one of the best arguments for not extending copyright protection I’ve ever heard. For my money Capra’s best film is the throw away one he shot to raise a little money for his family to live on when he went into the Army to make propaganda films during the Second World War, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1944), but we’ll leave IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE ALONE as it’s quite good and its impact far greater.
STAR WARS is an interesting pick. Its brilliance is in two decisions it makes early on. First, it is the first film to depict the futuristic technology of science fiction as rusted, jury-rigged, and prone to break downs. The Millennium Falcon is a bit like a 1963 Ford Falcon – say a prayer, turn the key. Second – and this is SO brilliant – it sets itself “long, long ago…. In a galaxy far, far away.” By setting itself in the distant past and impossibly far away it can get away with almost anything without raising the eyebrows of the audience. It also has a terrific sense of humor, something extremely rare for the genre.
Since Lucas’ better film, AMERICAN GRAFFITI, is also on the list, we’ll leave STAR WARS where it is.
SOME LIKE IT HOT is a masterpiece. But SUNSET BOULEVARD…. This one makes me a bit uneasy. Wilder has other, better films and they’re also on the list. But STALAG 17 (1953) isn’t. It also stars William Holden and it is, I believe, a better, more entertaining, more successful movie. So I’m going to swap them. Now we have:
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. STALAG 17 (1953)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
Having made it through the top 15 we will pause here and pick this up later in Part Two.
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