This week - #66: Raiders
of the Lost Ark (AFI) vs. Reservoir Dogs (IMDb)
(Had to skip
#67: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
vs. Chinatown due to some Netflix
delays – that will be next week’s Showdown)
I want to
state for the record that I loved Reservoir
Dogs back in the day. I was 20 years
old when I saw it for the first time and I adored everything about it. In all our writing classes we were always
told to “show, don’t tell.” Tarantino did the exact opposite of that – created an
action movie made up almost entirely of talking – and it worked beautifully. It put Tarantino on the map, and like him or
not, he’s stayed there ever since.
But who can
win against Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Nobody. Definitely not Dogs. Raiders
is perhaps the greatest action-adventure film of all time. It’s pure fun.
Not to mention it contains the best opening scene of a movie, like,
ever. Plus, Harrison Ford. How could it lose?
“It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.”
So the score stands: AFI -19, IMDb - 16
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDB’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
#58
|
The
Gold Rush (1925)
|
Memento (2000)
|
#66
|
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
|
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
|
#68
|
Unforgiven (1992)
|
The
Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
|
#69
|
Tootsie (1982)
|
Modern
Times (1936)
|
#70
|
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
|
Life
is Beautiful (1997)
|
#71
|
Saving
Private Ryan (1998)
|
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
(1975)
|
#72
|
The
Shawshank Redemption (1994)
|
Back to the Future (1985)
|
#73
|
Butch
Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969)
|
The Prestige (2006)
|
#74
|
Silence
of the Lambs (1991)
|
Pan’s
Labyrinth (2006)
|
#75
|
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
|
Raging
Bull (1980)
|
#76
|
Forrest Gump (1994)
|
Cinema
Paradiso (1988)
|
#77
|
All the President’s Men (1976)
|
Singing
In the Rain (1952)
|
#78
|
Modern Times (1936)
|
Some
Like it Hot (1959)
|
#79
|
The Wild Bunch (1969)
|
The
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
|
#80
|
The Apartment (1960)
|
Rashomon
(1950)
|
#81
|
Spartacus (1960)
|
All
About Eve (1950)
|
#82
|
Sunrise:
A Song of Two Humans (1927)
|
Amadeus (1984)
|
#83
|
Titanic
(1997)
|
Once Upon A Time in America (1984)
|
#84
|
Easy Rider (1969)
|
The
Green Mile (1999)
|
#85
|
A Night at the Opera (1935)
|
Full
Metal Jacket (1987)
|
#86
|
Platoon
(1986)
|
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
|
#87
|
12 Angry Men (1957)
|
Inglorious
Basterds (2009)
|
#88
|
Bringing
Up Baby (1938)
|
The Great Dictator (1940)
|
#89
|
Sixth
Sense (1999)
|
Braveheart (1995)
|
#90
|
Swing Time (1936)
|
The
Bicycle Thief (1948)
|
#91
|
Sophie’s
Choice (1982)
|
The Apartment (1960)
|
#92
|
Up
(2009)
|
Goodfellas (1990)
|
#93
|
The
French Connection (1971)
|
Downfall (2004)
|
#94
|
Pulp
Fiction (1994)
|
Gran Torino (2008)
|
#95
|
The Last Picture Show (1971)
|
Metropolis
(1927)
|
#96
|
Do
The Right Thing (1989)
|
The Sting (1973)
|
#97
|
Blade
Runner (1982)
|
Gladiator (2000)
|
#98
|
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
|
The
Maltese Falcon (1941)
|
#99
|
Toy
Story (1995)
|
Unforgiven (1992)
|
#100
|
Ben
Hur (1959)
|
The Elephant Man (1980)
|
Good choice. Dogs is fantastic, but Raiders is Raiders. It is a category all its own. I mean... let's face it... Raiders is PERFECT. Not a single frame is wrong. Dogs... while awesome isn't quite perfect.
ReplyDeleteAlthough... have I ever told you my theory about Dogs? What if I told you that Mr. Orange is NOT the traitor? Cuz, he's not.