Sunday Showdown: AFI vs. IMDb (#29 & #20)

It’s the Sunday Movie Showdown, The American Film Institute’s (AFI) Top 100 vs. the Internet Movie Databases’ (IMDb) Top 100. This week a little jumping around:

#29 – Double Indemnity vs. It’s a Wonderful Life

#20 – It’s a Wonderful Life vs. Rear Window

If I had this many kids, I'd throw myself off a bridge too

We’ve made it into the twenties. From here on out, many of the films are on both sides of the list somewhere, so I will try to cover both as I get to them.

This week was chock-full-o-Jimmy Stewart. I have to admit, it was the first time I’d ever watched It’s a Wonderful Life with my air-conditioning running full blast. And unfortunately, my air-conditioning didn’t make me like the movie any better.

That’s right, I said I don’t like It’s a Wonderful Life. (I also kick puppies when no one is looking and give my kids yogurt and tell them it’s exactly like ice cream.)

Honestly, I find the film ridiculously sentimental. I can barely watch it without rolling my eyes and wanting to tell George Bailey: “Co-dependent much? Enabler? Why don’t you help these people learn how to fix themselves rather than fix everything for them??”

What’s the old saying again? Build a man a fire and he’ll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire and he’ll be warm for the rest of life.

Double Indemnity - Great but not enough

Or something like that. :-)

But despite my dislike of Wonderful Life, I can understand and even respect its place as an American cinematic classic. The term Capraesque is in our vocabulary for a reason.

So I give It’s a Wonderful Life my vote over Double Indemnity, because, although it may be sappy, it’s still a better movie than Double Indemnity. (Although, don’t get me wrong, I love Indemnity, and gave it my vote over The Deer Hunterback at #53)

Rear Window - perhaps my favorite Hitchcock & Stewart film

But for #20, against Rear Window, there’s no way I’m giving my vote to Wonderful Life. But Jimmy Stewart shouldn’t be too sad, since he’s losing to himself.

So, two wins for IMDb this week, bringing the score to: AFI -42, IMDb -32.

	AFI’s Top 100	IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
	42	32
#11	City Lights (1931)	LoTR: Return of the King (2003)
#19	On the Waterfront (1954)	LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
#20	It's a Wonderful Life (1946)	Rear Window (1954)
#29	Double Indemnity (1944)	It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
#30	Apocalypse Now (1979)	Memento (1990)
#31	The Maltese Falcon (1941)	LoTR: The Two Towers(2002)
#32	The Godfather Part II (1974)	Sunset Boulevard (1950)
#33	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)	Dr. Strangelove (1964)
#34	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)	Forrest Gump (1994)
#35	Annie Hall (1977)	Leon: The Professional (1994)
#36	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)	Citizen Kane (1941)
#37	The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)	Apocalypse Now (1979)
#38	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)	North By Northwest (1959)
#39	Dr. Strangelove (1964)	American Beauty (1999)
#40	The Sound of Music (1965)	American History X (1998)
#41	King Kong (1933)	Taxi Driver (1976)
#42	Bonnie and Clyde (1967)	Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
#43	Midnight Cowboy (1969)	Saving Private Ryan (1998)
#44	The Philadelphia Story (1940)	Vertigo (1958)
#45	Shane (1953)	Amelie (2001)
#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)

Next week should be All About Eve vs. Se7en and High Noon vs. Silence of the Lambs (but you never actually know). Classic classics vs. contemporary classics. I think we’re going to end up with one winner from each.