IkoStar

OneLuvGirl has recently done the world a most excellent service by translating The American Film Institute’s top 100 films from PDF, which is rubbish, to HTML. And they are:

1. CITIZEN KANE
2. THE GODFATHER
3. CASABLANCA
4. RAGING BULL
5. SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
6. GONE WITH THE WIND
7. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
8. SCHINDLER’S LIST
9. VERTIGO
10. THE WIZARD OF OZ
11. CITY LIGHTS
12. THE SEARCHERS
13. STAR WARS
14. PSYCHO
15. 2001: A SPACE ODDITY
16. SUNSET BLVD.
17. THE GRADUATE
18. THE GENERAL
19. ON THE WATERFRONT
20. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
21. CHINATOWN
22. SOME LIKE IT HOT
23. THE GRAPES OF WRATH
24. E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL
25. TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD
26. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
27. HIGH NOON
28. ALL ABOUT EVE
29. DOUBLE INDEMITY
30. APOCALYPSE NOW
31. THE MALTESE FALCON
32. THE GODFATHER, PART II
33. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
34. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
35. ANNIE HALL
36. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIFE
38. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
39. DR. STRANGELOVE
40. THE SOUND OF MUSIC
41. KING KONG
42. BONNIE AND CLYDE
43. MIDNIGHT COWBOY
44. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY
45. SHANE
46. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
47. A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE
48. REAR WINDOW
49. INTOLERANCE
50. THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING
51. WEST SIDE STORY
52. TAXI DRIVER
53. THE DEER HUNTER
54. M*A*S*H
55. NORTH BY NORTHWEST
56. JAWS
57. ROCKY
58. THE GOLD RUSH
59. NASHVILLE
60. DUCK SOUP
61. SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS
62. AMERICAN GRAFFITI
63. CABARET
64. NETWORK
65. THE AFRICAN QUEEN
66. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
67. WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLFE?
68. UNFORGIVEN
69. TOOTSIE
70. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
71. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
72. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
73. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID
74. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
75. IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
76. FORREST GUMP
77. ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
78. MODERN TIMES
79. THE WILD BUNCH
80. THE APARTMENT
81. SPARTACUS
82. SUNRISE
83. TITANIC
84. EASY RIDER
85. A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
86. PLATOON
87. 12 ANGRY MEN
88. BRINGING UP BABY
89. THE SIXTH SENSE
90. SWING TIME
91. SOPHIE’S CHOICE
92. GOODFELLAS
93. THE FRENCH CONNECTION
94. PULP FICTION
95. THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
96. DO THE RIGHT THING
97. BLADE RUNNER
98. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY
99. TOY STORY
100. BEN-HUR

I’ve got this cognitive disorder where my mind shuts off when it sees any movie older than about 1964. Whenever I see a top x movies list the first thing I do is look for “Some Like It Hot”, and if it’s there, I stop reading.

Not this time though - because I was faintly appalled by the numbers of films here that drop below my highly arbitrary low-water-mark… Who was this list put together by? A load of old-age pensioners? I mean I’ve been to film school etc, and I know Hitchcock wrote the book (and invented the grammar). and it’s blasphemy to say that “actually, I think that’s kindof crap now”, and this will garuntee you fail the course, but it’s really time someone called Empror’s New Clothes on this one. This list is a septegenerian back-slappers nostaligia trip.

The numbers break down as follows:

20s - 3
30s - 12
40s - 11
50s - 16
60s - 17
70s - 20
80s - 8
90s - 11
00s - 2

So there you go kiddie-winkies. 80% of the best movies were made before you were even born. Anyone who’s made a movie in the last 10 years or so? Sorry. Your movies simply aren’t as good as the ones they used to make in the 1930s.