It's the Sunday Showdown:
continuing my comparison of the American Film Institute's and Internet Movie
Database's Top 100 films. I know, I know, I missed last week. But in my defense, I am in
the middle of writing novel #3…
#48: AFI's Rear Window vs. IMDb's Lawrence of Arabia
Holy moly, I agonized over this one. Before watching them both, I thought it would be easy: Rear Window would win, hands down.
 |
| Rear Window - What's not to love? |
Lawrence of Arabia, on the other hand, in my mind was… well,
Lawrence of Arabia. The blond guy in the
desert. With the music. I honestly didn’t remember much more about it than that.
Well, evidently I’m pretty stupid because Lawrence of Arabia is a great movie. You
can hardly describe it without using the word ‘epic’ (as a matter of fact AFI lists it as its #1Epic ).
And it is long. Perhaps a tad too long. But still just wondrous filmmaking,
acting, and story (based on the true story of T.E. Lawrence. Who knew? Not me
because I evidently slept through
every history class).
So what I thought was going to be an easy decision turned
much more difficult once I watched Lawrence again. But when it came down to it, I
just could not go against Rear Window.
(Never fear, both of these films show up again higher on the list, Lawrence against Schindler’s List [#7]and Rear Window against… wait for it… It’s a Wonderful Life – Jimmy Stewart v. Himself [#20]. So we'll get to talk about them some more.)
So AFI pulls even further ahead, with a score of 34 to 23.
Next week pits one of the great screwball comedies against one of the great sci-fi thrillers: It Happened One Night vs. Alien.
(Never fear, both of these films show up again higher on the list, Lawrence against Schindler’s List [#7]and Rear Window against… wait for it… It’s a Wonderful Life – Jimmy Stewart v. Himself [#20]. So we'll get to talk about them some more.)
So AFI pulls even further ahead, with a score of 34 to 23.
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
34
|
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)
|
#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)
|
Next week pits one of the great screwball comedies against one of the great sci-fi thrillers: It Happened One Night vs. Alien.
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