Sunday Showdown: AFI vs. IMDb (#59)

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.