I was very briefly diverted by the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 best American movies, but I couldn’t stay interested long enough to write a full-fledged posting. It’s a safe, middlebrow-earnest big-money canon, even by the standards of Hollywood, though I was no less struck by how many first-rate popular films went unmentioned and, presumably, unregretted. (Where, for instance, is Roman Holiday? Or To Have and Have Not? Or Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)
I haven’t seen 26 of the films:
4. “Raging Bull,” 1980
7. “Lawrence of Arabia,” 1962
8. “Schindler’s List,” 1993
11. “City Lights,” 1931
30. “Apocalypse Now,” 1979
33. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” 1975
41. “King Kong,” 1933
43. “Midnight Cowboy,” 1969
49. “Intolerance,” 1916
50. “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” 2001
53. “The Deer Hunter,” 1978
57. “Rocky,” 1976
59. “Nashville,” 1975 (I couldn’t get past the songs)
62. “American Graffiti,” 1973
66. “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” 1981
67. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, 1966 (no, but I saw the play!)
70. “A Clockwork Orange,” 1971
78. “Modern Times,” 1936
81. “Spartacus,” 1960
82. “Sunrise,” 1927
86. “Platoon,” 1986
91. “Sophie’s Choice,” 1982
95. “The Last Picture Show,” 1971 (I started it but lost interest)
96. “Do the Right Thing,” 1989
97. “Blade Runner,” 1982
99. “Toy Story,” 1995
The only one that I truly regret never having seen is Raging Bull, though I can’t imagine anyone seriously regarding it as the fourth greatest American film ever made. As for the others, you couldn’t pay me to see most of them.
For the record, here are my ten favorite films on the list:
1. “Citizen Kane”
5. “Singin’ in the Rain”
9. “Vertigo”
12. “The Searchers”
16. “Sunset Blvd.”
21. “Chinatown”
28. “All About Eve”
29. “Double Indemnity”
55. “North by Northwest”
61. “Sullivan’s Travels”