It’s the Sunday Movie Showdown, The
American Film Institute’s (AFI) Top 100 vs. the Internet Movie Databases’
(IMDb) Top 100.
#18: The General vs. City of God
 |
| City of God |
But honestly, by the
end of the film, I didn’t care about these characters – not really at all. Something
about the explicit, wanton violence caused me to give up on them early in the
film and leave them for dead – which they all pretty much were by the end of
the film. But no matter what, I have to admit it kept my attention.
The General, the
Buster Keaton silent classic about the Civil War, was perhaps not as exciting,
and definitely not as graphically violent, as City of God. But it is
Buster Keaton doing what Keaton does best: amazing physical feats – the consummate stuntman/actor.
The General is a
1.5 hour sort-of comedy, sort-of drama about a mild-mannered railroad engineer
who risks life and limb to retrieve his stolen train engine from a band of
Union spies and rescue the love of his life.
 |
| Iconic scene from The General |
The problem with The
General is that it really is neither comedy nor drama. It didn’t really
make me laugh and it didn’t really make me worry about what was going to
happen. But the NOT problem with The General is how physically fabulous Buster
Keaton is. This movie had action, long before there were any sort of CGI special
effects to help move action along. And there are some really nice cinematic
moments in the movie.
The General has
been called the greatest silent movie of all time. I don’t agree with that statement,
but I will give it my vote over City of
God. But I give it my vote more as a salute to Keaton’s massive physical
talent than because I enjoy this movie so much.
So the score stands
at AFI – 46, to IMDb -37. AFI seems to be pulling way ahead again, but
looking at the upcoming comparisons (I’ve made the entire list available above,
if you want to look at the remaining films) I think IMDb is going to win at
least the next couple, maybe more.
Next week’s Showdown is The
Graduate vs. Fight Club. Let me just warn you, if you’re a fan of The Graduate, you should probably sit
next week out.
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
46
|
37
|
|
| #11 | City Lights (1931) | LoTR: Return of the King (2003) |
#18
|
The General (1927)
|
City
of God (2002)
|
| #19 | On the Waterfront (1954) | LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001) |
#20
|
It's
a Wonderful Life (1946)
|
Rear Window (1954)
|
#21
|
Chinatown (1974)
|
Once
Upon a Time in the West (1968)
|
| #22 |
Some
Like It Hot (1959)
|
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
|
#23
|
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
|
Toy
Story 3 (2010)
|
#24
|
E.T.
the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
|
Psycho (1960)
|
#25
|
To
Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
|
The Usual Suspects (1995)
|
#26
|
Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
|
The Matrix (1999)
|
#27
|
High
Noon (1952)
|
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
|
#28
|
All About Eve (1950)
|
Se7en
(1995)
|
#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)
|
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