I’m back! November was a completely crazy month for me.
Between working on See No Evil – my romantic
suspense manuscript that was requested by a publisher, various out of town
races, and the fact that my dear mother had a minor stroke, The Adventures of Calamity Jane had to take
a back seat for a while.
But never fear, the SundayShowdown is back. This week is #59: AFI’s Nashville vs. IMDb’s City
Lights. To me it was an easy choice: Chaplin’s City Lights. No qualms.
I did not care for Nashville.
I hear words like “brilliant,” “challenging,” and “complex” used to describe
Robert Altman’s 1975 classic . But
honestly, I just don’t see it. It seemed
dated and, honestly, boring to me. By the time the inevitable violence comes at
the end, it’s just that – inevitable.
Plus, against City
Lights? Nashville didn’t have a
chance. The last of Chaplin’s Little Tramp films, City Lights was released
three years after talkies had already taken over the motion picture industry –
a hugely gutsy movie on Charlie Chaplin’s part.
It’s got all the classic Little Tramp elements, plus an undertone to it –
the knowledge that these types of films were coming to an end.
City Lights is
funny, first and foremost. My kids watched it and belly-laughed at parts. But
more than that I liked it because I found it charming. Definitely classic Chaplin.
So with this, IMDb has almost tied it up! The score stands
AFI – 22, IMDb – 21.
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
22
|
21
|
|
#58
|
The
Gold Rush (1925)
|
Memento (2000)
|
#59
|
Nashville (1975)
|
Bright
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 Rocky vs. The Departed. Haven't seen The Departed. Mostly because I never wanted to.
