Greetings, citizens! Once again it is I, Robogeek, and today I'm ready to rumble with the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films. This project was launched to celebrate the first century of American film (1896-1996), though technically only films from 1912 to 1996 were eligible.
First off, some comments on the process. A 400-film ballot was sent to over 1,500 people including industry executives, creative and technical talent, film historians and critics, political leaders, and one "average" moviegoer from each state. Now, ideally, all of those 1,500 people should have been required to have seen all 400 of the "nominated" films before voting, but of course that's unrealistic. Also, given how few silent films people have seen (let alone survive), I might have been tempted to simply make this list the 100 Greatest American _Sound_ Films, but oh, well.
That said, I must say I agree with the AFI list more than I disagree with it. Sure, I'd rearrange it a bit, and probably swap out a good dozen films (Like "Pulp Fiction" and "Dances With Wolves," for instance) for some others (like "The Last Emperor" and "Wings.") However, my biggest changes to the list would come at the top of it, where I'd place two films in the top ten that don't even appear on the list at all. And while I do happen to agree with a lot of Harry's takes on the list, there are some marked differences in our opinions. (And, in case some of you are wondering... personally if "Titanic" were eligible, it would just make it onto my list.)
So, in response to the AFI list, I decided to whip up a "rebuttal" of sorts in the form of my own personal top 40 list -- just for kicks. (Settling on my top 40 was plenty tough; arranging personal rankings down to 100 would have been nigh-impossible.) Anyway, here goes nothing...
Robogeek's 40 Greatest American Films of All Time:
1.) Citizen Kane (1941)
2.) Casablanca (1942)
3.) Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
4.) Gone With The Wind (1939)
5.) King Kong (1933)
6.) Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936)
7.) The Thin Man (1934)
8.) Vertigo (1958)
9.) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
10.) Singin' In The Rain (1952)
11.) Doctor Zhivago (1965)
12.) Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
13.) The Wizard of Oz (1939)
14.) Ben-Hur (1959)
15.) Rear Window (1954)
16.) City Lights (1931)
17.) To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
18.) It's A Wonderful Life (1946)
19.) Schindler's List (1993)
20.) An American in Paris (1951)
21.) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
22.) High Noon (1952)
23.) Spartacus (1960)
24.) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
25.) North By Northwest (1959)
26.) The Maltese Falcon (1941)
27.) Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
28.) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
29.) The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
30.) Touch of Evil (1958)
31.) The Searchers (1956)
32.) The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
33.) The Godfather, Part II (1974)
34.) The Godfather (1972)
35.) The Third Man (1949)
36.) The Big Sleep (1946)
37.) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
38.) A Night at the Opera (1935)
39.) Star Wars (1977)
40.) Fantasia (1940)
And there you have it, for whatever it's worth. (For more information on the AFI 100, visit http://AFI.100movies.com/)
Behave,
