syscom3
Pacific Historian
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Citizen Kane," Orson Welles' powerful portrait of an unscrupulous media baron, beat back an assault from "The Godfather," on Wednesday to retain its title as the greatest American film.
Film critics, historians and experts voted "Kane" as the top U.S. film for the second time in a decade in a poll conducted by the American Film Institute. The results were revealed in a three-hour CBS special "100 Years, 100 Movies, 10th Anniversary Edition."
"The Godfather," which ranked third in the original poll of 100 great films a decade ago. moved up a notch to second place while "Casablanca" slipped to number three.
Also in the top 10 were a surprising "Raging Bull" at number four, up 20 places from a decade ago. "Singin' in the Rain" was in fifth place, "Gone With The Wind" was sixth followed by "Lawrence of Arabia," "Schindler's List," "Vertigo" and "The Wizard of Oz."
"Vertigo," the Hitchcock film starring James Stewart, rose to 9th place after placing 61st in the original poll.
"American film has always reflected and, in many respects, defined who we are," said AFI president and chief executive Jean Picker Firstenberg.
She credited the spreading popularity of the DVD with spurring interest in silent films and in often neglected masterpieces like John Ford's "The Searchers," which went from 96 on the original list to 12 this year.
For the first time, D.W. Griffith's silent masterpiece "Intolerance" was voted onto the list as was Buster Keaton's "The General" while Charlie Chaplin's poignant "City Lights" rose from 76 to 11 on the list.
But Griffith's racist 1915 film "Birth of a Nation" fell off the list entirely because of its now unpopular ideology, despite its history of technical innovations.
Of the 43 newly eligible films released from 1996 to 2006, only "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (50), "Saving Private Ryan" (71), "Titanic" (83) and "The Sixth Sense" (89) made the cut.
Other new additions to the list include "Cabaret" (63), "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (67), "The Shawshank Redemption" (72), "All The President's Men" (77), "Spartacus" (81) and "A Night at the Opera" (85).
Among those films that did not make the list were: "Fantasia," "Doctor Zhivago," "Birth of a Nation," "The Jazz Singer," My Fair Lady," "From Here to Eternity" and "An American in Paris."
AFI film historian Pat Hansen said it seemed that musicals took the biggest hit. "Musicals seemed out of favor and were replaced by more popular films like 'Titanic' and 'Saving Private Ryan'," she said.
2007 AFI list of top-100 movies
The American Film Institute's 2007 list of the top-100 American movies:
1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.
2. "The Godfather," 1972.
3. "Casablanca," 1942.
4. "Raging Bull," 1980.
5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.
6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.
7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.
8. "Schindler's List," 1993.
9. "Vertigo," 1958.
10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.
11. "City Lights," 1931.
12. "The Searchers," 1956.
13. "Star Wars," 1977.
14. "Psycho," 1960.
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.
16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.
17. "The Graduate," 1967.
18. "The General," 1927.
19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.
20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.
21. "Chinatown," 1974.
22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.
23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.
24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.
27. "High Noon," 1952.
28. "All About Eve," 1950.
29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.
30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.
31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.
32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.
35. "Annie Hall," 1977.
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.
39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.
40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.
41. "King Kong," 1933.
42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.
43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.
44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.
45. "Shane," 1953.
46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.
48. "Rear Window," 1954.
49. "Intolerance," 1916.
50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.
51. "West Side Story," 1961.
52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.
53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
54. "M-A-S-H," 1970.
55. "North by Northwest," 1959.
56. "Jaws," 1975.
57. "Rocky," 1976.
58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.
59. "Nashville," 1975.
60. "Duck Soup," 1933.
61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.
62. "American Graffiti," 1973.
63. "Cabaret," 1972.
64. "Network," 1976.
65. "The African Queen," 1951.
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.
68. "Unforgiven," 1992.
69. "Tootsie," 1982.
70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.
71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.
72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.
74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.
75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.
76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.
77. "All the President's Men," 1976.
78. "Modern Times," 1936.
79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.
80. "The Apartment, 1960.
81. "Spartacus," 1960.
82. "Sunrise," 1927.
83. "Titanic," 1997.
84. "Easy Rider," 1969.
85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.
86. "Platoon," 1986.
87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.
88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.
89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.
90. "Swing Time," 1936.
91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.
92. "Goodfellas," 1990.
93. "The French Connection," 1971.
94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.
95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.
96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.
97. "Blade Runner," 1982.
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.
99. "Toy Story," 1995.
100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.
etc although its a bit over exaggerated even when I got old enough to join in the chances of free love never seemed to come my way. ( maybe cause I'm an ugly git who knows )
LOOK OUT an Ice Berg " 
