AFI's Top 100 Films

[Strangler Lewis]

I have a soft spot in my heart for "The Poseidon Adventure" because it was one of the two movies that when it came out, my parents refused to let me even though most of my friends were going. "The Getaway" was the other.

I rank The Poseidon Adventure highly in the genre of 70s movies where men shout at each other a lot.

[AllyOops!]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

(Unlikely as it might seem ... I gave the original Poseidon Adventure a recentish viewing - after its retarded remake came out - - and it's actually a very good movie, easily the best of the bloated epics and far and away the best "disaster" movie.)

Amen! I love Irwin Allen disaster flicks (although I loathe any other disaster flick- they wig me out)!

I love the Poseidon Adventure & have seen it many a time. Great movie! The sequel? My boyfriend loved it (he's never seen the original). I wanted to puke. It literally made my stomach turn. Zero storyline, but lots of gruesome special effects sequences. It just sucked harder then, well, me on my boyfriend & I's anniversary night.

The Towering Inferno was also awesome. I have both that & Poseidon on DVD. Inferno scared me, though (I've always feared fire since I was a little girl). The one low point? It stars O.J. as the loveable security guard who, in the end, rescues a baby kitten. Yay for rescuing the kitten, nay for being a cold-blooded murderer, you a*hole. Notice all angry roads lead to O.J. for me?

In the end, it's all nothing more then opinion. Have I seen most of the movies on that list? Nope. But then, I'm a TV freak who also loves to read. I'm not too big on goin' to the movies.

[Babette]

I saw this was going to be on and missed it. I love to watch the AFI show because it brings up so many emotions and memories as I watch all of the clips. I don't always agree with these lists, but I think many movies are chosen based on their cultural impact as much as (or more than) the quality of the film/story.

Originally Posted by Bornieo: Fully Loaded

I Star Wars should be higher on the list IMHO and Wizard of Oz should be dropped.

Agreed - anything with flying monkeys (except Wicked) should be banned from our society!

Originally Posted by AllyOfTheDolls

I'll probably sound like some uncultured or uneducated hillbilly, but I fell asleep during Citizen Kane. It just couldn't hold my interest.

I don't get the hoopla over that one either. I think it is like Sixth Sense where everyone most people were shocked by the revelation at the end.

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

'Cause seriously, if you put the chariot race up against the part where Woody and Buzz ride the remote control car...

I would love to see that!

I will have to dissect the list later when I have more time. I have seen exactly 50% of the new list (that I recall), but 57% of the old list. I am sure I saw about 10 more as a child, and have no memory of the films. Many of them are on my Netflix list as "films I've heard they're great and want to see".

[Alex]

Anybody who doesn't get the brilliance of Citizen Kane (and even if you don't think it is great shakes now it was brilliant in 1941) and want to at least understand, I strongly recommend getting the DVD and listening to the two commentary tracks (by Peter Bogdanovich and Roger Ebert).

Personally, I think it holds up incredibly well and I do think it may be the best made film of all time (so I am fine with the story though my personal favorite for entertainment is All About Eve) but if you are interested in film history watching those commentaries will provide the context.

[Boss Radio]

I disagree with these omissions:

Stagecoach (1939)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Frankenstein (1931)
My Fair Lady (1964)

And where, I ask you, is The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, one of John Ford's greatest films? Where is Harold and Maude? The Day the Earth Stood Still? The Lost Weekend?

AFI should break the list into pre-1950 and post-1950. Then they get two specials and everyone is happy.

[blueerica]

While I still haven't thoroughly scanned the list, one must consider ground-breaking films, even if they don't hold up as well today. Then again, they missed such ground-breaking robot films as The Day the Earth Stood Still in favor of other movies.

The Searchers really stands as one of my least favorite movies of all time, but mostly due to my beliefs. Though it was a departure for Ford with the blurred lines, and especially for John Wayne (that is, I think, his first "bad-guy" role, except, he can't just be a bad guy, he's still glorified and not in a way that's meaningful, it's like they try to make him out like he's a good guy, which I think is pretty crappy). I still don't know why it's so high on the list. I just have to think it's even on there because it was such a departure for Wayne, in particular. (Crappy movie - makes me want to read Cormac McCarthy for that super gritty bloody stuff in which the bad are bad, even when they're good, and there isn't any fluff over it.)

Ugh, OK, I really do need to go through the list more.

[blueerica]

YAY for Boss - The Day the Earth Stood Still!

I really can't see how that's miss-able, especially given today's political climate.

[Boss Radio]

It worked for Gaza and the West Bank.
Kind of.

[Alex]

I agree on The Searchers and wonder what changed in the last decade that it moved from 96 on the list to 12. Is it just the recent publicity of the big DVD release that got so much press?

[Boss Radio]

Originally Posted by Alex

Anybody who doesn't get the brilliance of Citizen Kane (and even if you don't think it is great shakes now it was brilliant in 1941) and want to at least understand, I strongly recommend getting the DVD and listening to the two commentary tracks (by Peter Bogdanovich and Roger Ebert).

Personally, I think it holds up incredibly well and I do think it may be the best made film of all time (so I am fine with the story though my personal favorite for entertainment is All About Eve) but if you are interested in film history watching those commentaries will provide the context.

Hear, hear. It is every bit as good as its craft.