American Film Institute - Original Top 100 (1998)

I personally started to really look at film as art 11 years ago when AFI announced their top 100 movies over the first 100 years of movies. I started to look over the list and realized I knew very little about film and craved to know so much more. I've never, in the 11 years came across anyone else who has even looked at the AFI as anything creditable. But I wanted to start this discussion to see if maybe there's someone here who's ventured on the AFI website thousands of times looking for that hidden classic that they've yet to see and haven't heard anything about. Below I've put there first list, the TOP 100 done in 1998.

I was a critic of this list as I watched more and more of these movies. I realized it should've have been called the Top 100 most important or influential movies. But still I think every movie on this list is important, just as important as the Mona Lisa or The Empire State building or any other form of art you like. It's weird but it sadden's me when people haven't seen most of these movies. So anyway, below's the list, I've seen/own all 100, like I said some really shouldn't be considered the Top 100 movies because they aren't that good, e.g. (The Jazz Singer).

1.CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2.CASABLANCA (1942)
3.GODFATHER, THE (1972)
4.GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5.LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6.WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1939)
7.GRADUATE, THE (1967)
8.ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9.SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993) (My number 1 movie of all time, if I created a list of 100) And No, I'm not even Jewish.
10.SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
11.IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12.SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13.BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, THE (1957)
14.SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15.STAR WARS (1977)
16.ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17.AFRICAN QUEEN, THE (1951)
18.PSYCHO (1960)
19.CHINATOWN (1974)
20.ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
21.GRAPES OF WRATH, THE (1940)
22.2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23.MALTESE FALCON, THE (1941)
24.RAGING BULL (1980)
25.E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26.DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27.BONNIE & CLYDE (1967)
28.APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29.MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30.TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31.ANNIE HALL (1977)
32.GODFATHER PART II, THE (1974)
33.HIGH NOON (1952)
34.TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35.IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36.MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37.BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE (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.BIRTH OF A NATION, THE (1915)
45.STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, A (1951)
46.CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971)
47.TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48.JAWS (1975)
49.SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50.BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51.PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE(1940)
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52.FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53.AMADEUS (1984)
54.ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55.SOUND OF MUSIC, THE (1965)
56.M*A*S*H(1970)
57.THIRD MAN, THE (1949)
58.FANTASIA (1940)
59.REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60.RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61.VERTIGO (1958)
62.TOOTSIE (1982)
63.STAGECOACH (1939)
64.CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65.SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE (1991)
66.NETWORK (1976)
67.MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (1962)
68.AMERICAN IN PARIS, AN (1951)
69.SHANE (1953)
70.FRENCH CONNECTION, THE (1971)
71.FORREST GUMP (1994)
72.BEN-HUR (1959)
73.WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74.GOLD RUSH, THE (1925)
75.DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76.CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77.AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78.ROCKY (1976)
79.DEER HUNTER, THE (1978)
80.WILD BUNCH, THE (1969)
81.MODERN TIMES (1936)
82.GIANT (1956)
83.PLATOON (1986)
84.FARGO (1996)
85.DUCK SOUP (1933)
86.MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87.FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88.EASY RIDER (1969)
89.PATTON (1970)
90.JAZZ SINGER, THE (1927)
91.MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92.PLACE IN THE SUN, A(1951)
93.APARTMENT, THE (1960)
94.GOODFELLAS (1990)
95.PULP FICTION (1994)
96.SEARCHERS, THE (1956)
97.BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98.UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99.GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

it's a great collection of important (and, oftentimes, brilliant) films--but it's always been apparent that this particular list was censored by a bunch of cranky old bastards who fear change.. the fact that only nine of these movies were released in the fifteen years leading up to 1998 (and only one of those broke the top 50), just goes to show that they played it safe to a fault...

i agree that you have to distance yourself (at least a bit) from art before being capably objective about it--but, man, these guys didn't take ANY risks.. the 80s and 90s produced several of the best films EVER made, not to mention many of the most innovative--and these bastards give the nod to Forrest Gump and Dances with Wolves..

I think we view the list differently now than in 1998. In 98, Gump to me was still one of the best movies ever, I still really enjoy it, not sure how high I would rate it. DwW's, yeah, mind boggling. I thought it was good the first time I watched it, but it's nothing that I ever crave or desire to watch over and over, like say Duck Soup, which was was way too down on the list.

It's funny you bring up the old cranky guys, that's exactly what my little brother (now 23) says about them. But I let him know it's really the Top 100 important films with some exceptions.

As far as the newer movies opposed to the older movies, I often tell people that movies are like living beings that change with age. It's quite facsinating to see how a movie ages. My best examples fall into action movies which always age the worst. Batman (Tim Burton) and Terminator 2. When these movies came out, they were amazing, people had never seen anything like it. But Batman now is cheesy 80's style, Terminator is laughable. I enjoy both, but the generation after me probably says WTF.

Comedies also age strangely. What I found funny 8 years ago, I don't anymore and vice versa. Some always sticks, I think the ones that stick are the true classics, even if when they came out I didn't find them that funny. I look at Caddyshack. I find this movie hilarious. I laugh everytime I watch it, but I grew up with my Mom watching it so I saw it at a young age. People who now watch it for the first time, ask what's so funny.

So to compile a list that can actually hold and be creditable, I think you do have to go with the safer bets because you can't tell how a movie will be looked at in 5 years, etc. Similar to my thoughts on Slumdog Millionaire, that movie will be a joke of a best picture winner IMO. I don't see that movie aging well at all, yet the 1927 movie Wings (first best picture winner ever), I find amazing and it's over 75 years old.

What newer movies did you not see on the list that you think got snubbed?

packpaljs wrote:What newer movies did you not see on the list that you think got snubbed?

okay, for the sake of argument, let's say there's a bare minimum of 2 years before someone can objectively place a movie in the top 100.. barring '97 and '98, here's some of my favorites in the years leading up to the list:

Bottle Rocket (1996)
Seven (1995)
Ed Wood (1994)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Barton Fink (1991)
Goodfellas (1990)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Die Hard (1988)

as i said, these are personal favorites--but i think a solid argument could be made for each of them being worthy of the Top 100.. at least, certainly moreso than Dances With Wolves.. i think the primary reason for their exclusion is, as i said, cranky old bastards playing it safe.. (i gave 1993 a pass because they listed one of your favorite films for that year)

Fellas made it at #94.

I think Glengarry Glen Ross was an amazing movie, I almost didn't watch it because it wasn't on this list but having seen it regardless, I'm so glad.

I haven't seen Bottle Rocket or Barton Fink so I have no comment on those.

Ed Wood, I love Tim Burton, but I would argue Edward Scissorhands before any other Burton film that didn't make the list. But that IMO.

Die Hard was a nominee list, not sure why it didn't make the final cut. It looks like no straight action movie made the list. All action movies had a catch, adventure, sci-fi, etc. No straight action film.

Indiana Jones, I've wondered this myself. My guess is they put the first one on the list, but to put any sequels on would've sparked them to also put the sequels to the Star Wars movies. And as my original thoughts state I think it's more the important films list and the 1st of the series is really the bar setter in both cases IJ and SW. They did put Godfather 1 and 2 on but I don't think you'll find anyone argue that you could have one without the other.

packpaljs wrote:Fellas made it at #94.

whoops! my apologies to the living members of the 1998 AFI--assuming there are any..

Ed Wood, I love Tim Burton, but I would argue Edward Scissorhands before any other Burton film that didn't make the list. But that IMO.

I was never a fan of Edward S., but I think most (not all, obviously) people would agree that it hasn't aged as well as Ed W... either way, the AFI is missing something

Die Hard was a nominee list, not sure why it didn't make the final cut. It looks like no straight action movie made the list. All action movies had a catch, adventure, sci-fi, etc. No straight action film.

i describe it as the "greatest Christmas movie ever made".. maybe they could've bumped It's a Wonderful Life..

as for the sequels, i suppose that's a valid excuse (after all, we couldn't have all four Tremors movies hogging up space).. nonetheless, the list remains incomplete and relies far too much on homogenized "classics" of the distant past--neglecting plenty of superior recent films.. that said, it's a great jumping-off point for anyone interested in the history of film

NSpan wrote: i describe it as the "greatest Christmas movie ever made".. maybe they could've bumped It's a Wonderful Life..

.... You mean, you don't rank A Christmas Story as the "Greatest Christmas movie ever made"? Shocking.

silversurfer19 wrote:

NSpan wrote: i describe it as the "greatest Christmas movie ever made".. maybe they could've bumped It's a Wonderful Life..

.... You mean, you don't rank A Christmas Story as the "Greatest Christmas movie ever made"? Shocking.

okay, okay, Die Hard is the best Christmas movie with machine guns... whereas A Christmas Story is the best Christmas movie with BB guns... in other words, if a Christmas movie doesn't have some kind of gun, it ain't worth watching...

USA! USA! USA!

You do know that they updated the list last year, right? Newfangled films like "The Shawshank Redemption" and the first LOTR are on there.

http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/100Movies.pdf?docID=301

My favorite was the "Heroes and Villians" and I also liked the quote one. I watched these every year, but half the time they would completely suck. It's not really what got me into films though. I was into fantasy sports and was looking for some type of non-sports fantasy league, found this place (actually, the other place, you know the one we don't speak of) and these bastards (you know who you are) helped get me into film.

Yes, I think I'm going to create a AFI form for each list. I disown the updated verison. I think it's sucks and just validates the first one even more.

packpaljs wrote:

Terminator is laughable.

You bite your god damn tongue.

Speaking of Terminator 2 and not in a bad way. It's like laughing at The Evil Dead. My point is it's not in the same realm as it was when it first came out.

You are right, It dropped from the best film ever made, to the second best, because Dark Knight was that damn good.

packpaljs wrote:I disown the updated verison.

it does seem like more of an apology for the original list than an actual attempt to make a definitive top 100

exactly and how some of the movies jumped 70 or 80 spots and others just disappeared.