Sunday, June 15, 2008

Countdown to AFI's 10 Top 10: Epic

"I came, I saw, I conquered."
-- Julius Caesar

The countdown is almost complete for AFI's 10 Top 10, this year's entry in the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies series, and we've saved the biggest for last: the epic. Sprawling stories about larger-then-life individuals, as told on the big screen with all the cinematic style and technique a Hollywood studio budget can buy, epics have been a favorite of the AFI lists over the past ten years. And Oscar as well: 15 of the 50 nominated films are Best Picture winners, with an additional 14 BP nominees as well.

Which one will top this top ten as the number one epic of all time? If past listings are any indication, the three strongest contenders, with five prior mentions apiece, are Gone With the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia and Titanic. They should all place high here, but my bet is that Lawrence will triumph; after all, when one thinks "epic", one thinks Lawrence of Arabia. Coming in slightly behind these three, with four listings each, are such other strong possibilities as the 1959 Ben-Hur, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Forrest Gump, The Godfather Part II (also a gangster nominee), Schindler's List and Spartacus.

Don't count out the next batch of epics, with two war pictures -- Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan -- with three listings each vying with Braveheart, Dances With Wolves (also a western nominee), Doctor Zhivago, Gandhi, Patton and the 1956 The Ten Commandments (all with two listings each), plus single placers All Quiet on the Western Front, Giant (another western nominee), Gladiator, Glory, Intolerance, Reds and the very first epic, The Birth of a Nation (the oldest, and quite possibly the most controversial, of the potential honorees). And you can also add in Gladiator's fellow AFI Award winners, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Letters from Iwo Jima (the newest of the 50 nominees; see the comments section below for the full list).

That doesn't leave much room for anything else, including Cleopatra, How the West Was Won (yet another western nominee), The Last Emperor, The Longest Day, Malcolm X, Once Upon a Time in America (another gangster nominee) and no less then four Jesus movies (The Greatest Story Ever Told, The King of Kings, The Last Temptation of Christ and The Passion of the Christ). But, since they didn't even place in the AFI's inspirational movies list (100 Cheers), I wouldn't count on them making this list either.

At last, the final results will be revealed this Tuesday on CBS with the three-hour television special, AFI's 10 Top 10, beginning at 8:00 PM EST. But the countdown isn't quite over yet, as I will be chiming in one last time tomorrow with a look at the program's line up of celebrity hosts and guest stars, who often foretell what films end up on the final list.

1 comment:

Kirby Holt said...

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT 1930
APOCALYPSE NOW 1979
BEN-HUR 1926
BEN-HUR 1959
THE BIG PARADE 1925
THE BIRTH OF A NATION 1915
BRAVEHEART 1995
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI 1957
CLEOPATRA 1963
DANCES WITH WOLVES 1990
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO 1965
EL CID 1961
FORREST GUMP 1994
THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE 1921
GANDHI 1982
GIANT 1956
GLADIATOR 2000
GLORY 1989
THE GODFATHER PART II 1974
GONE WITH THE WIND 1939
THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD 1965
HOW THE WEST WAS WON 1962
INTOLERANCE 1916
JULIUS CAESAR 1953
THE KING OF KINGS 1927
THE LAST EMPEROR 1987
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS 1992
THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST 1988
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 1962
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA 2006
THE LONGEST DAY 1962
MALCOLM X 1992
THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING 1975
MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD 2003
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA 1984
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST 2004
PATTON 1970
QUEEN CHRISTINA 1933
QUO VADIS? 1951
REDS 1981
THE ROBE 1953
SAMSON AND DELILAH 1949
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 1998
SCHINDLER'S LIST 1993
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS 1932
SPARTACUS 1960
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 1923
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 1956
TITANIC 1997
WAR AND PEACE 1956