The Top 100... Part Three

We approach the middle of the pack and hit a streak of fifteen straight films – numbers 36 through 50 – I would not want to take issue with (and most of these I’d love to watch today). Just look... the 30’s, 40’s 50, 60’s, 70s and teens are represented – it’s exactly what a list like this is supposed to be. It’s pretty white, but so was American film for most of the 20th Century.

Well… OK, I do have an issue; a couple actually. One is the enormous disrespect shown to film comedy on lists like this. I’m still angry that Gandhi won Best Picture while Ghostbusters – a superior film in all respects – didn’t even get a nomination, but that’s another blog.

A second issue I have is with the absence of John Cassavetes from a list that includes Kevin Costner. And I think I see a solution to all of it (two solutions if you count removing Costner). Even though most people may not be familiar with it (and confuse it with a film by John Carpenter with a similar title) Cassavetes made a minor masterpiece in 1986 by teaming Peter Falk and Alan Arkin (whose earlier film The In-Laws belongs here too) in a comedic remake of Double Indemnity called BIG TROUBLE. Add Beverly D’Angelo, Charles Durning, Robert Stack and Richard Libertini and you get a movie that is considerably funnier than TOOTSIE. So, substituting for DOUBLE INDEMNITY at number 38 is BIG TROUBLE (1986) and that streak now looks like this:

MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969) THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946) BIG TROUBLE (1986) DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) WEST SIDE STORY (1961) REAR WINDOW (1954) KING KONG (1933) THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) TAXI DRIVER (1976) JAWS (1975) SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937) BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)

Moving right along….

Mozart’s place in history is secure already and “biopics” are an abomination unto the Lord. Michael Mann is the best American filmmaker alive today and in addition to MANUNTER being superior to SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (and Brian Cox creating a far scarier Hannibal Lechter), his two masterworks are THIEF and HEAT. THIEF is the more economical and has the best performance of James Caan’s career. Out with Wolfgang, in with Jimmy.

51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. THIEF (1981)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)

M*A*S*H is a fine film, but if Altman is going to be represented by any single film it has to be NASHVILLE so let’s switch these at #56. Further, at #57 THE THIRD MAN is quite wonderful AND quite British. I’m sorry but this is a list of the 100 greatest American movies. We’ve already allowed Kubrick in on a technicality; if we let this in we have to start looking at Michael Powell and Lindsey Anderson and the thought just makes my head hurt. In its place I will put David Mammet’s HOUSE OF GAMES (1987) which is as smart a mystery film as has ever been written.

56. NASHVILLE (1976)
57. HOUSE OF GAMES (1987)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)

Many people find THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS deserving for inclusion here. I’m not one of them however and I want to substitute the far scarier Mike Nichols film WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966) which both gives Nichols a second spot on the list, something he richly deserves, and - just as finding a slot for THE BIG SLEEP opened a place for Bogart and Bacall - also finds a space for Taylor and Burton. And it just feels better, doesn’t it?

Now 61-65 looks like this:

61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)

And 66-70 can stay just like it is (even if the remake of The Manchurian Candidate did manage to point out problems with the plot of the original that had never previously occurred to me).

66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)

Ah, but now we have some work to do.

71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)

Personally I am of a mind to scrap all but Chaplin. EL CID (1961) is a better epic. It also stars Heston and allows Sophia Loren entry to the list. The danger if FOREST GUMP gets a place at the table is that it makes it impossible to turn away THE BIG CHILL and that danger is just too great. The same can be said for WUTHERING HEIGHTS and Bruce Willis’ ARMAGEDDON which are emotionally identical twins. Finally, DANCES WITH WOLVES beat GOODFELLAS (for picture AND director) so there must be some sort of nod to the law of karma. The revised list looks like this:

71. PRIZZI’S HONOR (1985)
72. EL CID (1961)
73. CHOOSE ME (1984)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. CASINO (1995)

Much better.

PRIZZI'S HONOR gets Jack Nicholson another slot while also giving another nod to William Hickey (the reptilian Don Prizzi) whose other spot is in a small part in THE PRODUCERS.

CHOOSE ME may be unknown to many reading this, but that's a mistake correctable by seeking out a copy of the DVD. One of the two great films by Altman-apprentice, Alan Rudolph (the other is TROUBLE IN MIND).

CASINO both reeks vengence on Kevin Costner and allows Sharon Stone her rightful place in the top 100.

The final 25 coming up is a bit. Stay tuned.