Thursday, July 19, 2007

My Top 100 ... For Now

To give you a taste for my tastes in movies, I have listed the 100 films that I voted for in the American Film Institute's most recent poll. You can find it in the sidebar under the heading "My Ballot: AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies - 10th Anniversary Edition".

As is my prerogative, this list is certainly subject to change. For example, in the six months since I voted I have seen Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd, an awesome movie that certainly would be included if I were making the list today. Oh well, at least they will be re-polling members once more in another ten years.

For the record, 64 of my choices made the final cut, announced about a month ago. They are indicated on the chronological list in the sidebar with a *, and the links will take you to their respective IMDB pages.

What is most fun about these things (for me anyway) is figuring out the statistics of it all. You know, the most this or the least that. I have compiled facts and figures for each of the AFI lists, which will appear in this section eventually. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, here is some interesting data for the 100 movies on my ballot:


  • The oldest film is Harold Lloyd's Safety Last; the newest is Brokeback Mountain.
  • The most represented decade is the 1950's, with 18 films.
  • The most represented year is (naturally) 1939, with 5 films.
  • There are 3 silents on the list (I know, I need to see more).
  • Dramas account for 45 entries, the most represented genre. Musicals, one of my favorite genres (go figure), comes in second with 17.
  • Steven Spielberg is the most represented director (5 times), followed by Alfred Hitchcock (4 times).
  • The actors who appear the most are Humphrey Bogart, Dustin Hoffman and James Stewart, with 4 films each, while the actresses are Faye Dunaway (purely coincidental) and Judy Garland, with 3 films each.
  • The Godfather Part II is the only sequel (isn't that always the case?).
  • There are 6 animated films, 7 if you count Mary Poppins.
  • There are only 4 films with overt gay themes: Midnight Cowboy, Cabaret, Dog Day Afternoon and Brokeback. This is a case where foreign fare does infinitely better.
  • 24 films were Oscar-winning Best Pictures. 43 more were nominated for that prize as well. (For the record, Safety Last was released prior to the Academy's existence.)
  • The film with the longest title is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (49 letters, symbols and spaces); the shortest is Jaws (4 letters).
  • 37 1/4 * films are in glorious black and white.

* This figure includes the Kansas sections of The Wizard of Oz.

UPDATE: The list has been removed from the sidebar and can now be found in the comments section below.

Links via Imdb.com and AFI.com.
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1 comment:

  1. Kirby HoltAugust 16, 2007 at 5:10 AM

    SAFETY LAST
    THE GENERAL *
    ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
    CITY LIGHTS *
    FRANKENSTEIN
    42ND STREET
    KING KONG *
    IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT *
    TOP HAT
    SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS *
    THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD
    GONE WITH THE WIND *
    MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON *
    STAGECOACH
    THE WIZARD OF OZ *
    WUTHERING HEIGHTS
    FANTASIA
    THE GRAPES OF WRATH *
    PINOCCHIO
    CITIZEN KANE *
    THE MALTESE FALCON *
    SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS *
    BAMBI
    CASABLANCA *
    STORMY WEATHER
    DOUBLE INDEMNITY *
    LAURA
    MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS
    THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES *
    IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE *
    THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE *
    WHITE HEAT
    ALL ABOUT EVE *
    SUNSET BOULEVARD *
    THE AFRICAN QUEEN *
    A PLACE IN THE SUN
    A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE *
    HIGH NOON *
    SINGIN' IN THE RAIN *
    FROM HERE TO ETERNITY
    SHANE *
    ON THE WATERFRONT *
    REAR WINDOW *
    A STAR IS BORN
    REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE
    THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI *
    12 ANGRY MEN *
    VERTIGO *
    NORTH BY NORTHWEST *
    SOME LIKE IT HOT *
    PSYCHO *
    SPARTACUS *
    WEST SIDE STORY *
    LAWRENCE OF ARABIA *
    THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
    TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD *
    THE GREAT ESCAPE
    GOLDFINGER
    MARY POPPINS
    THE SOUND OF MUSIC *
    BONNIE AND CLYDE *
    THE GRADUATE *
    IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT *
    PLANET OF THE APES
    2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY *
    MIDNIGHT COWBOY *
    PATTON
    A CLOCKWORK ORANGE *
    THE FRENCH CONNECTION *
    CABARET *
    THE GODFATHER *
    THE EXORCIST
    CHINATOWN *
    THE GODFATHER PART II *
    DOG DAY AFTERNOON
    JAWS *
    ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST *
    ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN *
    NETWORK *
    TAXI DRIVER *
    CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
    STAR WARS *
    RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK *
    E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL *
    TOOTSIE *
    A CHRISTMAS STORY
    AMADEUS
    BLUE VELVET
    PLATOON *
    GOODFELLAS
    BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
    SCHINDLER'S LIST *
    PULP FICTION *
    BABE
    TOY STORY *
    FARGO
    TITANIC *
    THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
    THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING *
    CHICAGO
    BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN

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