The AFI 100 - Countdown to No Longer Liking Slasher Movies

[jetpack_monkey]

Based on Roger Ebert's assertion that I will no longer want to watch "dead teenager" movies after having seen all 100 of AFI's Greatest American Movies EVAR, I present the list of all 100, with those that I have seen in bold, those that I own in italics, and those whose very presence makes no freaking sense to me appended with several question marks. Once the list is all bold, we'll see whether or not I don't want to watch slasher movies ever again.

1. "Citizen Kane" (1941)
2. "The Godfather" (1972)
3. "Casablanca" (1942)
4. "Raging Bull" (1980)
5. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952)
6. "Gone With the Wind" (1939)
7. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962)
8. "Schindler's List" (1993)
9. "Vertigo" (1958)
10. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939)
11. "City Lights" (1931)
12. "The Searchers" (1956)
13. "Star Wars" (1977)
14. "Psycho" (1960)
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
16. "Sunset Boulevard" (1950)
17. "The Graduate" (1967)
18. "The General" (1927)
19. "On the Waterfront" (1954)
20. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)
21. "Chinatown" (1974)
22. "Some Like It Hot" (1959)
23. "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940)
24. "E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982)
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962)
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939)
27. "High Noon" (1952)
28. "All About Eve" (1950)
29. "Double Indemnity" (1944)
30. "Apocalypse Now" (1979)
31. "The Maltese Falcon" (1941)
32. "The Godfather, Part II" (1974)
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975)
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) -- roomie owns this one
35. "Annie Hall" (1977)
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957)
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946)
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948)
39. "Dr. Strangelove" (1964)
40. "The Sound of Music" (1965) ???
41. "King Kong" (1933)
42. "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) - I owned this up until recently, when I discovered that the "widescreen" was just the pan'n'scan with the top and bottom lopped off. I gave it to the roomie, who is less picky about such things.
43. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969)
44. "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)
45. "Shane" (1953)
46. "It Happened One Night" (1934)
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951)
48. "Rear Window" (1954)
49. "Intolerance" (1916)
50. "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001)
51. "West Side Story" (1961)
52. "Taxi Driver" (1976)
53. "The Deer Hunter" (1978)
54. "MASH" (1970)
55. "North by Northwest" (1959)
56. "Jaws" (1975)
57. "Rocky" (1976)
58. "The Gold Rush" (1925)
59. "Nashville" (1975)
60. "Duck Soup" (1933)
61. "Sullivan's Travels" (1941)
62. "American Graffiti" (1973)
63. "Cabaret" (1972)
64. "Network" (1976)
65. "The African Queen" (1951)
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981)
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966)
68. "Unforgiven" (1992)
69. "Tootsie" (1982)
70. "A Clockwork Orange" (1971)
71. "Saving Private Ryan" (1998)
72. "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994)
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969)
74. "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991)
75. "In the Heat of the Night" (1967)
76. "Forrest Gump" (1994) ???
77. "All the President's Men" (1976)
78. "Modern Times" (1936)
79. "The Wild Bunch" (1969)
80. "The Apartment" (1960)
81. "Spartacus" (1960)
82. "Sunrise" (1927)
83. "Titanic" (1997) ???
84. "Easy Rider" (1969)
85. "A Night at the Opera" (1935)
86. "Platoon" (1986)
87. "12 Angry Men" (1957)
88. "Bringing Up Baby" (1938)
89. "The Sixth Sense" (1999)
90. "Swing Time" (1936)
91. "Sophie's Choice" (1982)
92. "Goodfellas" (1990)
93. "The French Connection" (1971)
94. "Pulp Fiction" (1994)
95. "The Last Picture Show" (1971)
96. "Do the Right Thing" (1989)
97. "Blade Runner" (1982)
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942)
99. "Toy Story" (1995) - roomie owns a copy
100. "Ben-Hur" (1959)

I've seen 65 films on the list. So, 35 to go before we find out if Ebert's assertion is true.

Comments

[sarakat.livejournal.com]

Why the question marks after The Sound of Music? Not disagreeing or agreeing, just curious.

But am totally on board with Titanic having the question marks. *g*

[midnightfae.livejournal.com]

Sound of Music makes me want to tear my brain out. :P

And I'm a huge musical fan.

[neonhummingbird.livejournal.com]

I can actually get behind Sound of Music (for sheer force of endurance and fabulous cinematography) and Titanic (like it or hate it, it was a lot of work to put that sucker together), much more than I can get behind Singin' in the Rain, which is fun, but completely incoherent and not particularly intelligent. And Snow White? The hell? Can we have the good Disney animation instead of merely the first one? Finding Nemo and Beauty and the Beast kick Snow White's butt on all possible levels!

(I've seen maybe 15 movies on this list, which is higher than I thought it would be. But I also don't watch dead teenager movies. So, apparently I'm skewing everyone's curves. :) Go, me. )

[sarakat.livejournal.com]

Heh. I don't watch Dead Teenager movies either. At least not without a big ass pile of pillows and a lap to crawl into. *g*

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Singin' in the Rain is the God of the American Musical and all other American Musicals shall bow down before. Kneel heathens!

Seriously, though. It's a movie made of pure joy. And making fun of people with funny voices. You can't go wrong. ...actually, there's that "You Are My Lucky Star" song that needs to die a horrible death, but otherwise...

[neonhummingbird.livejournal.com]

< laughing > I completely agree both that Singin' is fun and that that song (and the entire accompanying 'dance' sequence) needs to be gone. Letting Gene Kelly get arty is always a big mistake.

I was completely in love with Singin' when I was younger, and I still like it. I just don't think it's one of the best movies ever made. (Although Make 'Em Laugh' may very well be the best comedy routine ever filmed. Love that so much.) Nope -- Mary Poppins, FTW! :)

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Crap, I don't think I'm using any of my Mary Poppins icons anymore, otherwise I'd hit you with one right now.

[steinba.livejournal.com]

You've never seen 2001? Seriously? You need to remedy that. Just keep your fast-forward button handy, you'll need it for approximately 2/5 of the movie. Then read 3001 - it explains the plot of 2001 in a way that 2001 never does.

Titanic is on there for production values I guess, and The Sound Of Music has stood the test of time. I can't explain Forrest Gump or Pulp Fiction, or (and here I'm going to lose my geek cred) Fellowship. Let me explain before you stone me - how does a movie shot and CGI'd entirely in New Zealand, scored by a Canadian, and based on a British work, possibly qualify as one of the top 100 American movies?

[midnightfae.livejournal.com]

Because it was an American production. It doesn't have to do with who or what is in the movie, but often with where the money for the film came from. Harry Potter films, for example, are also American productions.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

I've read the original novel and 2010. And I've seen the 2010 movie. Do they count? Actually, I've probably seen all of 2001. I've just never seen it straight through.

I think the fact that you're taking Fellowship to task purely on its qualifications as an American film confirms your geek cred.

[steinba.livejournal.com]

They don't count as Kubrick's 2001, no.

Also, MASH: The Movie gets a whole bunch of question marks from me - I haven't seen it, but it can't be THAT good, can it?

I question Snow White being the Disney representative, as opposed to, say, Fantasia.

And I've only seen nineteen of these. Inexcusably excluding both Godfather movies. I would have gotten the DVDs to remedy that, but they cost so much that Amazon made me an offer I could easily refuse.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

<hotfuzz>What, you've not seen The Godfather</hotfuzz>

Damn, if the movie wasn't three hours long, I'd bring it to Con for group viewing.

[kenobi.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the godfather until I got sick in Greece =P

[kittycat22.livejournal.com]

Huh. I can back up the question mark movies you have--- even though I don't think Titanic was remotely one of the "best movies ever made," I can see why it's on there from the work that went into it and all that. Plus, a lot of people seem to dig it. But, with both Forrest Gump and Sound of Music, I totally get it and love them. *shrugs* I do think Ebert's comments are pretty crappy, though, and I generally hate Dead Teenager movies.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Forrest Gump's head is down the wrong hole, as far as I'm concerned. It's basic message: If you are dumb and do not question the decisions of others, you will succeed. However, thinking for yourself and questioning our authority will give you AIDS. Be smart: be dumb.

[kittycat22.livejournal.com]

See, I don't really look at it as that kind of "message" movie... I just enjoy it for all the historical stuff that this random guy was a part of. I like the simplicity of Forrest... that sort of boiling down of basic values to a "Be nice, love your mom, don't exploit others" sort of thing. Not anywhere near ALL that should be said, but still... those are nice values to stick to.

I do, however, agree that Jenny could have had a much better fate. That being said, at that time and with that lifestyle... it's pretty realistic. I would've liked it if they'd taken her farther down the singing/activism road, though.

[kajivar]

I've only seen 6 of the top 20. Clearly I am a cultural heathen.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Clearly.

[midnightfae.livejournal.com]

I've seen 59.... How the hell did I manage to see 59?

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

How many have you seen because I showed them to you?

[midnightfae.livejournal.com]

There are actually several that I've seen that you haven't. So there! *nyah*

Just because my movie prowess is like a geriatric lion with laryngitis, pattern baldness and faulty dentures, doesn't mean I don't have any. :P

[bellatemple]

"The General" is fantastic, by the way, and comes highly recommended by me. But then, I'm a Buster Keaton fan.

"The Grapes of Wrath" made me want to stab my eyes out with a spork.

And, yeah, I never got the love affair with "The Sound of Music", either. My sister though? Will go to midnight screening sing-alongs. . . .

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

I love "Cops", so "The General" is definitely on my list of "to watch."

[timjr.livejournal.com]

Looks at #14.

Dude. There's a slasher movie -on the list-. *cough*

And I totally need to catch up, as I've only seen 57 of em.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Psycho is about as much a slasher film as The Jazz Singer is a talkie. Sure they began the cycle, but they really don't resemble the cycle they spawned. Plus, Psycho only features two deaths, none of whom are teenagers (and Ebert's specific term was "Dead Teenager movies").

[timjr.livejournal.com]

Well... yes. This is true. But I agree with the sentiment that Ebert is waaay too... elitist with what he said.

And I seriously doubt a whole lot of people are going to have epiphanies nowadays from 'Citizen Kane'.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

It's a shame, too, because historically the guy has been very horror friendly. He championed Dawn of the Dead -- even brought the film down for his selection at a Texas film festival that was showing the likes of Bread and Chocolate.

Then again, of the 212 horror films he's reviewed, the star breakdown runs:
4.0 stars - 9
3.5 stars - 16
3.0 stars - 50
(at this point, 75 reviews are "very good to excellent" - 35%)
2.5 stars - 23
2.0 stars - 50
("fair to good" - 73 reviews - 34%)
1.5 stars - 21
1.0 stars - 34
("poor to sub-par" - 55 reviews - 26%)
0.5 stars - 5
Zero stars - 4
("DIE DIE DIE" to "die die die" - 9 reviews - 4%)

Going over Ebert's stats for all films reviewed regardless of genre... he's actually pretty fair to horror. I mean, he's less likely to give horror a 3-4 star rating (57% of all Ebert reviews are in that range) and more likely to give them a 1-1.5 star review (these account for 12% of Ebert's overall reviews), but the middle ground is fairly close and he's actually less likely to give a horror film a 0.5 or zero star review then films from other genres.

Huh. I wonder where this new 'tude comes from, then.

[stephanielamb.livejournal.com]

Are you planning on going to see Death Race 2000 this Friday?

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. How about you?

[stephanielamb.livejournal.com]

Yes yes, me annnnnnnd the boy. Who also has an interest in such things. Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way. :P I'll look for you there!