It’s the Sunday Movie Showdown, The American Film Institute’s (AFI)
Top 100 vs. the Internet Movie Databases’ (IMDb) Top 100.
Okay, so somehow I got totally confused and instead of doing
#10: The Wizard of Oz vs. The Dark Knight, I watched #6: Gone With the Wind vs.
Inception. (Evidently I knew it was a
movie from 1939 and a Chris Nolan flick, I just didn’t know which ones). So we're a little out of order this week -- sorry.
 |
| Inception: A little confusing but a fun ride |
It’s just good, crazy, what-the-heck-is-going-on fun to
watch. The acting is good, the effects are good, the story is… well, confusing,
but good.
Yet, do I think it is
the #6 movie of all time? Um, no. Honestly, it’s
not even my favorite Christopher Nolan movie.
 |
| Gable's Rhett Butler |
The juxtaposition of the four vastly different main characters is just wondrous, imo. I’ve been watching this movie since I was a
little girl and have always loved it. Oh, to have the strength of Scarlett and
yet the kindness of Mellie…
And oh to have someone like Rhett Butler who wants to come
along and sweep me off my feet. It’s what romance is made of, and has definitely
influenced my writing.
Of course, I am a southern girl. I was born in Atlanta; got
married in a grand old home in Savannah. I would be interested to know if
someone without my southern roots – but with my same fondness for grand romance
– finds Gone
With the Wind as enthralling as I do.
Romance aside, the crane shot scene from Atlanta that backs
away and shows the wounded Confederate soldiers lying on the ground by the 1000s
is still jarring to me each time I see it.
So Gone With the Wind is definitely my winner this week,
bringing the score to AFI – 48, IMDb – 42. Next week the films we should’ve
done this week: #10 The Wizard of Oz vs. The Dark Knight
AFI’s Top 100
|
IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
|
|
48
|
42
|
|
#6
|
Gone with the Wind (1939)
|
Inception
(2010)
|
| #11 | City Lights (1931) | LoTR: Return of the King (2003) |
#12
|
The
Searchers (1956)
|
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
|
#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)
|
Since you ask... my experience is that non-Southerners actually find it hard to say anything *good* about GWTW.... They can't get past the racism, sexism, etc. Personally? (As a person with a foot in both worlds) I just find it over-long and incredibly boring.
ReplyDeleteBut I've never bothered to watch Inception, either, so take all that for the less than two cents it's worth.
Thanks Mark. It's interesting to hear your take on GWTW. Sometime if you see Inception I'd love to get your opinion on that one. It's a doozy.
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