The American Film Institute's 2007 list of the top-100 American movies: (1 Viewer)

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syscom3

Pacific Historian
14,751
10,558
Jun 4, 2005
Orange County, CA
Already I am thinking "what in the world were they thinking" when they chose some of the movies.

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.
 
Holy macaroni I must be getting old or something out of that list I have 27 on DVD including Citizen Kane, To Kill a Mocking Bird, North by Northwest African Queen. I think Citizen Kane is very likely the best movie ever made (up until now that is)
 
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Ive got that one too CY although rubbish in a factual sense I think its a great movie the special effects are brilliant.
Tootsie I didn't like at all
 
Think "The Graduate" is overrated. It's a big thing with the baby boomers but as a movie, it was so-so. Seems to be a generational thing about being mad at Mommy and Daddy. Made a movie about it. Good music though.

Other "No" votes:

Annie Hall- Nah, just Nah.
Tootsie- Agree with ya', cute, but not great
Spartacus- Come on, it's just another Saturday morning Gladiator Flick with better actors.
Titanic- Agreed. She got back on a sinking boat 2X! Movie oughta be banned just for her gross stupidity.
Easy Rider- Didn't get it. Was another Baby Boomer/mad at the parents thing.
Do the Right Thing- Gotta feel something for the characters to make a movie work. That one didn't work in that way. Too...contrived and over the top.
 
You're probably right about the baby boomer thing TS I was a 50's baby and really in the UK things didn't improve significantly for the working class after the war until the mid sixties when more disposable income became available so films about rebellion and escapism where very popular Being the swinging sixties in the UK meant Psychedelic happenings:rolleyes: 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 )
 
Titanic shouldn't be on the list

Not sure I agree Cyrano. I keep getting this sinking feeling with any movie about Titanic:lol: :lol: :lol:

But on a more serious note. Sys noticed that John Wayne's 100th Birthday just recently passed by. Like or hate him. John Wayne has to be a legend in films and Hollywood. Liked the Old Duke movies and I see The Searchers is on the list of all time greatest movies
 
The list is a reflection on the ages of the movie critics or others that do the ratings.

If you would look at similar list's as the movies are ranked going over the past few decades, you would see more movies from the early days of cinema, and fewer current movies of that ranking year.

"The Graduate" and "Easy Rider" are popular with many ciritics, because it was "THE" movie of their teen or young adult years.

One thing to remember about these listings, is the first thing a movie needs to do is to tell a story, and the ones that do it well, tend to end high on these lists. "Titanic" was a great movie because it told a story quite well. Most people didnt care about the factual basis of the movie.

And also look at the natural bias's of the people here in this forum. I bet 100% of us are biased for a few genre's of movies, and nearly all of us would not enjoy other genres. But we are not a reflection of the population at large. The AFI list's are generated by large numbers of critics and tend to reflect a broad range of opinions.
 
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You have to admit though, it was neat watching the ship sink.

Only part of the movie that was worth it. Kind of like the Arizona blowing up in Pearl Harbor. Both movies stank. Well, Pearl Harbor set records on stinking. Titanic was nowhere near as bad. But the special effects were cool.
 
I still like Titanic what ever anyone says, where she breaks her back and the screws drop back into the water was some very clever CGI and besides that I like Kate Winslets tits.
 
It would've been if it didn't take about 2 hours to go down!

Wouldn't have made a very long film NC would it

" :shock:LOOK OUT an Ice Berg "

CRAAACK

"Oh S**t,:oops: send out a mayd.......glub"

THE END

I agree NC Goodfellas is a great gangster movie, probably my favorite.
 

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