AFI's Top 100: 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 I find the above list highly debatable after #3... Contrast that list with the BFI's list: 1. "The Third Man," 1949 2. "Brief Encounter," 1945 3. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962 4. "The 39 Steps," 1935 5. "Great Expectations," 1946 6. "Kind Hearts and Coronets," 1946 7. "Kes," 1969 8. "Don't Look Now," 1973 9. "The Red Shoes," 1948 10. "Trainspotting," 1996 11. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957 12. "If....," 1968 13. "The Ladykillers," 1955 14. "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," 1960 15. "Brighton Rock," 1947 16. "Get Carter," 1971 17. "The Lavender Hill Mob," 1951 18. "Henry V," 1944 19. "Chariots of Fire," 1981 20. "A Matter of Life and Death," 1946 21. "The Long Good Friday," 1980 22. "The Servant," 1963 23. "Four Weddings and a Funeral," 1994 24. "Whisky Galore!," 1949 25. "The Full Monty," 1997 26. "The Crying Game," 1992 27. "Doctor Zhivago," 1965 28. "Monty Python's Life of Brian," 1979 29. "Withnail and I," 1987 30. "Gregory's Girl," 1980 31. "Zulu," 1964 32. "Room at the Top," 1958 33. "Alfie," 1966 34. "Gandhi," 1982 35. "The Lady Vanishes," 1938 36. "The Italian Job," 1969 37. "Local Hero," 1983 38. "The Commitments," 1991 39. "A Fish Called Wanda," 1988 40. "Secrets & Lies," 1995 41. "Dr. No," 1962 42. "The Madness of King George," 1994 43. "A Man For All Seasons," 1966 44. "Black Narcissus," 1947 45. "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp," 1943 46. "Oliver Twist," 1948 47. "I'm All Right Jack," 1959 48. "Performance," 1970 49. "Shakespeare in Love," 1998 50. "My Beautiful Laundrette," 1985 Shakespeare in Love? The Commitments? Uh, no. The Long good Friday? Hell yeah. Well, what IYO makes a film great? What films are missing from these lists? Which ones should be expunged?
Performance, Sound, Writing, Cinematography, Artistic Direction, Lighting, Sets, Movement, Length, just about everything.
The AFI selection is ************************, of course, but looking at the two lists together proves just how great Hollywood has been and how weak the British film industry has always been. I mean, how many countries would have to dredge up crap like Chariots of Fire, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Doctor Zhivago, A Man For All Seasons, and Shakespeare in Love for a Top 50 list?
15. "Star Wars," 1977 28. "Apocalypse Now," 1979 36. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969 39. "Doctor Zhivago," 1965 46. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971 50. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969 8. "Don't Look Now," 1973 10. "Trainspotting," 1996 11. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957 12. "If....," 1968 14. "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning," 1960 19. "Chariots of Fire," 1981 23. "Four Weddings and a Funeral," 1994 24. "Whisky Galore!," 1949 25. "The Full Monty," 1997 26. "The Crying Game," 1992 27. "Doctor Zhivago," 1965 28. "Monty Python's Life of Brian," 1979 33. "Alfie," 1966 34. "Gandhi," 1982 38. "The Commitments," 1991 39. "A Fish Called Wanda," 1988 42. "The Madness of King George," 1994 43. "A Man For All Seasons," 1966 46. "Oliver Twist," 1948 47. "I'm All Right Jack," 1959 49. "Shakespeare in Love," 1998
Star Wars is an important film due to the effect it had on the industry, but it is not great. It owes too much to Kurosawa, Flash Gordon, and even Leni Riefensthal. I'm surprised the BFI list doesn't include: The Cruel Sea A Hard Day's Night In Which We Serve This Sporting Life (rugby, not soccer) I'd have thrown in The Dambusters and The Four Feathers (39 version) but that would be too many war films. There are a number of good British policiers from the late 50s and early 60s but I don't know if they'd belong in the top 50. Question is, what does? It's hard to think of 21 realistic replacements.
It seems like most of those movies are at least 30 years old. Great movies are made now, but critcs have a mental block that prevents them from seeing the greatness.
Re: Re: AFI's Top 50 / BFI's Top 50; are these "great" films? What makes a film great? So "The Bridge on the River Kwai" is good enough for the AFI, but not the BFI?
Re: Re: Re: AFI's Top 50 / BFI's Top 50; are these "great" films? What makes a film great Oops. I didn't mean for "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "If....," or "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" to be there.
100 movies and not one with Rutger Hauer. Something is very very wrong. I think a movie with one good scene in it can be considered good, but any movie with even one boring or untrue section cannot be considered great. A movie on a list like this should be wall-to-wall great. It should also leave something that sticks inside you for a while. I have not seen many of these movies, but I was surprised to see "Local Hero" on the second list. It is a great and slightly bizzare comedy and a personal favorite, but I don't think of it as one of the best movies ever made.
A movie's greatness is based on how effectively it negotiates the rules and traditions of cinema's past and offers hope for its future.
Re: Re: AFI's Top 50 / BFI's Top 50; are these "great" films? What makes a film great? Looking at the AFI list, besides "Schindler's List" there is no movie in over 20 years. So on this criteria, there isnt much hope for quality films in the future.
Re: Re: AFI's Top 50 / BFI's Top 50; are these "great" films? What makes a film great? True, but in addition I would offer that a great movie should have a very strong emotional and intellectual impact on the viewer. I often like to say that a great piece of art, in this case film, should be able to pull you from wherever you happen to be (emotionally, physcially, spiritually, etc) at the time to that "place" that the movie is at. Ideally, though not necessarily, film should also operate on many levels, from entertainment all the way through to education touching many other facets in between. In addition there is often some undefineable element that speaks directly to the core being of the viewer in the way any great piece of art, be it music, literature, or what have you does. It is a confluence of both objective and subjective criteria. Now GT and I might be talking about the some of the same things (probably included in cinema's traditions and rules are some of the things I'm talking about) but I don't believe that one has to have knowledge of the rules to recognize great art. It certainly helps, expands, and elucidates to have the knowledge, but movies at their core are mechanically reproduced stories meant to be told to some untold, usually larger than 1, number of people. Or some ************ like that. Basically a movie should be cool.
Re: Re: Re: AFI's Top 50 / BFI's Top 50; are these "great" films? What makes a film great I agree, but bad movies often do that to me, too. The recent version of Les Miserables comes to mind. Made me cry like a baby, and that movie blows.
"John Q." made me cry like a baby; a horrible film that had a moment that struck me, and I was done...
Re: Re: Re: Re: AFI's Top 50 / BFI's Top 50; are these "great" films? What makes a film g Point taken, but what I was trying to get at was something a little different. Obviously a movie that blows chunks will force you to have a reaction, usually violent.
Didn't we once have a thread based on "Embarrasingly Bad Movies That Made You Cry?" Mine is unbelievable: Rocky IV. The scene when he says the to the crowd, "Then the whole world can change!" Ok, so not actually blubbering, but definitely misted over. As for the point of THIS thread, I like the definitions of "great" offerred so far, but I think that without the added note of "endurance," one can't really argue very seriously for greatness. That is, time ultimately does help clarify the issue.
I agree. And since I'm currently hating on Jackson and his so-called Tolkien adaptation, The Two Towers, I'll submit that this film, over time, will be less and less celebrated as the things for which it is already considered "great" (effects and sound) become yesterday;s technology, and the viewer is left with script (shit) and acting (none, except for Otto, who is given nothing to work with by the aforementioned fecal script)... Rocky IV? Well, mine's John Q., so I can't really talk, but...Rocky IV?
The two lists seem to have notably different standards. AFI seems to look for films that were unique and had an impact on films after them. BFI seemed to be more interested in the story first. Thus movies like Local Hero and A Long Good Firday make it on BFI, and the Rear Window and North By Northwest do not. I am slightly amazed that The Days of Wine and Rose (I think that is the title) didn't make it on either list. Additionally, on BFI, I think Big should be included at the expense of The Full Monty. Ben Hur also seems to be missing. A great movie is one that challenges the viewer in story: "Could I do what they did and get away with it?" "Would I risk turning my life upside down for him/her/that?" Additionally, a great movie must be visually astounding. Schindler's List certianly fits that criteria. A great movie can combine emotion and awe. But what do I know, I cried for the Karate Kid.
The BFI list should have included: - Kenneth Brannagh's version of "Henry V" - "Pink Floyd: The Wall" - "The Lion in Winter"
I cried at the end of Raising Arizona. Cause I wanted me a toddler who would grow up to play ball, but all I have a swarthy short Mexican kids, dammit...