GREAT AMERICAN MOVIES

Tomorrow night, at 8:00 EDT, the American Film Institute will unveil the second edition of their list of the 100 best American movies of all time. This 10th anniversary edition of a nine-year-old list has been given the name "100 Years, 100 Movies," despite the fact that they're dating from 1895, which would make it "112 Years, 100 Movies," and their 400 film longlist of candidates starts with The Birth of a Nation and The Cheat from 1915, which would make it "90 Years, 100 Movies."

Either way, the list is apt to be a celebration of the tedious and mediocre, just like the original. Which means that we're only about 40 hours away from the angry ranting of all the world's cinephiles about "where is this?" or, "they included that?" I've decided to beat the rush, and also stick my neck out a little bit: my pre-emptive critique of the AFI list will be a Top 100 American Films list of my very own.

Within some limits. I'm using the AFI's rules, which dictate that these must be feature-length (so none of the half-dozen Warner shorts that define the limits of American animation), fiction narrative (no Errol Morris, Albert Maysles, D.A. Pennebaker or The Last Waltz) American-produced films released before 2006. Actually, the write-in rules permit films released in 2006, but the longlist ends with 2005, and given that my own inclination is to set a much stricter 10-year cutoff, I'll resist the urge to include Snakes on a Plane.

I've given myself an additional rule: no more than five films from any given director (in 1998, only Spielberg met this number). It really should have been four (or even three!), but I had a hard enough time limiting myself to five John Ford films.

To the AFI, an "American" film ultimately just means, "made with some American money," but I'm not okay with calling Lawrence of Arabia or Barry Lyndon "American" on those grounds (and those grounds still don't explain The Third Man, which you can most certainly expect to see on their list tomorrow). For my purposes, I'm including anything which feels more "American" than Brazil, which was produced by an Israeli through a British company, and directed by an expatriate American.

The AFI also encourages "awards won" as a criterion, which is just stupid. Historical significance I'll accept (there is one film on my list that I've included solely for its historical importance. See if you can guess which one), but the Oscars are a much better barometer of changing tastes than cinematic importance. This is how you end up with things like Ben-Hur on, or anywhere near, top 100 lists.

Oh, and I'll obviously be live-blogging the special tomorrow.

(By the way, I just want to cut off the obvious complaint: yes, ranking films is stupid and futile and arbitrary. It is also fun, in the way of many stupid and futile things. Let's all agree that this isn't the last word on anything - it's not even my last word. By the time I hit "publish" I'll probably already regret something).

Films marked with * are common to the the 1998 AFI Top 100 (37 total)
Films marked with † are not on the 2007 ballot (27 total)

1. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
*2. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
*3. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
4. The General (Buster Keaton, 1926)
*5. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
*6. Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen, 1952)
*7. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
*8. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
9. A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974)
*10. City Lights (Charles Chaplin, 1931)
*11. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
*12. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
13. Sherlock, Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
*14. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
15. Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
*16. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
*17. Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)
*18. Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, 1950)
*19. North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
†20. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (John Ford, 1949)
†21. Short Cuts (Robert Altman, 1993)
22. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) [1991 cut]
23. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
24. The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
25. Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1972)
26. Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944)
†27. Angels with Dirty Faces (Michael Curtiz, 1938)
*28. Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
*29. The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925) [1925 silent version]
*30. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
*31. The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
32. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
33. The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1983)
34. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
35. Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932)
*36. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
37. Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935)
*38. The Philadelphia Story (George Cukor, 1940)
†39. 3 Women (Robert Altman, 1977)
†40. Pickup on South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953)
*41. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
†42. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)
43. Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)
*44. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
*45. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
†46. Footlight Parade (Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley, 1933)
†47. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)
*48. Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
49. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) [1998 restoration]
*50. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
51. White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949)
52. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
53. The Awful Truth (Leo McCarey, 1937)
*54. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
55. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
56. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
*57. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)
*58. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
59. The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976)
60. Pinocchio (Hamilton Luske & Ben Sharpsteen, 1940)
*61. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
62. The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz, 1938)
*63. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
†64. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
*65. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
66. Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)
†67. Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
*68. King Kong (Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)
*69. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
†70. Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1978)
71. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (Preston Sturges, 1944)
*72. Fantasia (Disney Animation Studios, 1940)
†73. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
74. Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (D.W. Griffith, 1916)
75. Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)
76. The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1954)
*77. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
78. The Freshman (Sam Taylor and Fred C. Newmeyer, 1925)
†79. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976) [1976 cut]
†80. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra, 1933)
†81. Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1977) [1978 theatrical cut]
†82. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (Martin Scorsese, 1974)
†83. Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
†84. Barton Fink (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1991)
†85. California Split (Robert Altman, 1974)
*86. Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936)
†87. Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
*88. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
†89. Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
†90. Three Days of the Condor (Sydney Pollack, 1975)
†91. The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
92. Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
93. Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
†94. Schizopolis (Stephen Soderbergh, 1996)
95. Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1949) AKA Deadly Is the Female
96. Adam’s Rib (George Cukor, 1949)
†97. Miller’s Crossing (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1990)
98. Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946)
†99. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
†100. My Dinner with Andre (Louis Malle, 1981)

Fun with statistics: by decade, there is one film from the 1910s, 5 from the 1920s, 15 from the 1930s, 19 from the 1940s, 13 from the 1950s, 6 from the 1960s, 20 from the 1970s, 8 from the 1980s, 11 from the 1990s, and 2 from the current decade.

Robert Altman and John Ford each have 5 films on the list.

Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Billy Wilder each have 4 films.

Woody Allen, Charles Chaplin, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Curtiz, Howard Hawks and Stanley Kubrick each have 3 films.

11 directors have two apiece: John Cassavetes, George Cukor, Clint Eastwood, Buster Keaton, Ernst Lubitsch, David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Leo McCarey, Ridley Scott, Preston Sturges, and the Coen brothers.


What about...

More modern films?
Four movies made in the last ten years were quite all my heart could take. Let's wait and see what we think of Eternal Sunshine around 2010, okay?

Ace in the Hole?
Horribly, I've never seen it.

The African Queen?
The AFI might have a hard-on for this film, but that doesn't mean everyone else has to.

The Bridge on the River Kwai?
Fails the "Brit Test."

Close Encounters of the Third Kind?
Five Spielberg films? I think not.

Gone with the Wind?
Sheer contrarianism.

The Graduate?
Would you believe it was no. 101?

The Grapes of Wrath?
Not even close to Ford's best.

Greed?
Again, horribly, I haven't seen it.

High Noon?
I fucking hate "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling."

Star Wars/The Empire Strikes Back?
Punishing Lucas for the prequel trilogy. Because, obviously, he's reading this.

Titanic?
Eat me.