It’s the Sunday Movie Showdown, The
American Film Institute’s (AFI) Top 100 vs. the Internet Movie Databases’
(IMDb) Top 100.
#14- Psycho vs. Star Wars
#13 - Star Wars vs. Seven Samurai
It's a double feature today since Star Wars is going to battle against both Psycho and Seven Samurai. The best I can tell you is that at least both of these films put up a good fight against Star Wars.
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| If you need me, I'll be crying in the corner because of this pic |
I'm watching Psycho even as I write this. It has the dubious honor of being the first slasher movie. This movie, even after viewing it half a dozen times over my life, still scares me. That music. The shower scene. Anthony Perkin's all-American good looks right up to the point where... well, you know.
The suspense, the canted angles, the crazy lighting, that big-ass scary house, the final skull overlay with Norman's face: I love it all.
Seven Samurai I didn't love as much. I had never seen Kurosawa's epic tale in it's entirety -- only bits and pieces. Really, I knew more about Kurosawa's influence on other filmmakers than I really did about this movie itself.
Seven Samurai is ambitious. Basically a how-to in battle scenes and action. It's impressive, I'll admit,
especially for its 1954 date, but would've still been impressive even decades later. It's impressive now.
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| Seven Samurai |
But do I think it's like the greatest movie in the history of sliced bread like many of its devotees think? Uh, no. Don't get me wrong, if I had to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down, I would definitely give it an up. But the movie is a little tedious and overwrought.
Okay, so both Psycho and Seven Samurai are great films. But I'm being asked to compare them against Star Wars.
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| "Hey, it's me..." |
Have you met me? The original Star Wars trinity trilogy is basically my religion favorite set of films in the world. Even though A New Hope isn't my favorite of the original three, it still beats Psycho and Seven Samurai for me.
I watched Star Wars again today. I still love it. Now I get to love it from a new viewpoint as my children begin to realize how great it is. So although Hitchcock and Kurosawa may have influenced more filmmakers with their films, I can't think of a single other movie that influenced my childhood and life more than Star Wars.
So, basically AFI and IMDb each get one point this week. Score: AFI - 47, IMDb - 41. Next week we continue the Lucas love fest with The Searchers vs Empire Strikes Back.
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
47
|
41
|
|
| #11 | City Lights (1931) | LoTR: Return of the King (2003) |
#13
|
Star
Wars (1977)
|
Seven Samurai (1954)
|
#14
|
Psycho (1966)
|
Star
Wars (1977)
|
#15
|
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
|
Goodfellas
(1990)
|
#16
|
Sunset
Boulevard (1950)
|
Casablanca (1942)
|
#17
|
The
Graduate (1967)
|
Fight Club (1999)
|
#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
|
Goodfellas
(1990)
|
Up (2009)
|
#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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