It's the Sunday Showdown:
continuing my comparison of the American Film Institute's and Internet Movie
Database's Top 100 films.
#46: AFI's It Happened One Night vs. IMDb's Alien
It Happened One Night vs.
Alien was not a very difficult choice.
I thought it would be harder. I am a huge fan of Sigourney Weaver as Ellen
Ripley. And Aliens, the 1986 follow
up to Alien, changed my whole world.
Ripley: … show me everything. I can handle myself.
Hicks: Yeah, I noticed.
^^ that is like everything beautiful in the world, right
there. Everything I wanted to be when I was 13 years old in 1986. Everything
I am at 40. ;-) Ripley & I: we can handle ourselves.
But alas, we’re not talking about Aliens (which, btw was my
winning pick when it showed at #60 for IMDb against Duck Soup), we’re talking about Alien.
Sigourney Weaver still kicks butt in Alien, but it’s not the same. And she goes back into the spaceship
for a cat.
A cat.
I wouldn’t cross a sidewalk to help a cat. Much less rush
back into a ship 1) deep in space, 2) about to explode, and 3) holding an alien that survives by implanting
its parasitic larvae inside human hosts and has acid for blood.
So, despite how great I think Aliens is, I’m not a huge fan of Alien. Sorry.
It Happened One Night
is the classic screwball comedy from 1934. It stars Clark Gable and Claudette
Colbert. It’s charming and has possibly influenced every romantic comedy since.
To summarize, it’s this:
.
.
I love this every bit as much as I love Ellen Ripley. For
many of the same reasons. She can handle herself. And he noticed.
So my vote goes to It
Happens One Night. And AFI continues to dominate 35-23.
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
35
|
23
|
|
#11
|
City Lights (1931)
|
LoTR:
Return of the King (2003)
|
#19
|
On
the Waterfront (1954)
|
LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
|
#31
|
The
Maltese Falcon (1941)
|
LoTR: The Two Towers(2002)
|
#46
|
It Happened One Night (1934)
|
Alien (1979)
|
#47
|
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
|
Wall E (2008)
|
#48
|
Rear Window (1954)
|
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
|
#49
|
Intolerance
(1916)
|
The Shining (1980)
|
#50
|
LoTR:
Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
|
Spirited Away (2001)
|
#51
|
West Side Story (1961)
|
Paths of Glory (1957)
|
#52
|
Taxi Driver
(1976)
|
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
|
#53
|
The Deer Hunter (1978)
|
Double
Indemnity (1944)
|
#54
|
M*A*S*H* (1970)
|
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
|
#55
|
North by Northwest (1959)
|
The Pianist (2002)
|
#56
|
Jaws
(1975)
|
The Lives of Others (2006)
|
#57
|
Rocky
(1976)
|
The Departed (2006)
|
#58
|
The
Gold Rush (1925)
|
Memento (2000)
|
#59
|
Nashville (1975)
|
City
Lights (1931)
|
#60
|
Duck Soup (1933)
|
Aliens
(1986)
|
#61
|
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
|
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
(2004)
|
#62
|
American Graffiti
(1973)
|
Requiem
for a Dream (2000)
|
#63
|
Cabaret (1972)
|
Das
Boot (1981)
|
#64
|
Network (1976)
|
The Third Man (1949)
|
#65
|
The
African Queen (1951)
|
L.A. Confidential (1997)
|
#66
|
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
|
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
|
#67
|
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
|
Chinatown
(1974)
|
#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)
|
Can IMDb stop this runaway train? Next week is the class
western Shane (that I’ve never seen) vs.
the blissful foreign Amelie (that I love). Perhaps IMDb can
catch a break.
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