I just had to explain to people in my area why I was laughing...
Posted on 06/21/2007 8:04:26 AM PDT by teddyballgame
LOS ANGELES — The years have been kind to "Citizen Kane," including the last decade. The 1941 Orson Welles classic — the story of a wealthy young idealist transformed by scandal and vice into a regretful old recluse — was again rated the best movie ever Wednesday by the American Film Institute.
In the CBS special "AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition," "Citizen Kane" held the same No. 1 billing it earned in the institute's first top-100 ranking in 1998.
There were notable changes elsewhere, though, with Martin Scorsese's 1980 masterpiece "Raging Bull" bounding upward from No. 24 in 1998 to No. 4 on the new list and Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 thriller "Vertigo" hurtling from No. 61 to No. 9 this time.
Charles Chaplin's 1931 silent gem "City Lights" jumped from No. 76 to No. 11, while the 1956 John Ford-John Wayne Western "The Searchers" took the biggest leap, from No. 96 all the way to No. 12.
"The ones that made the huge jumps are really, really fascinating," said Jean Picker Firstenberg, chief executive at AFI, which has done top-10 lists every year since 1998 showcasing best comedies, thrillers, love stories and other highlights in American cinema.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I just had to explain to people in my area why I was laughing...
“how about the top 10 B movies?” Reflecting my knowledge of cult films, not just personal favorites (some of these would not be in my top 10).
1. Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
2. Freaks
3. Eraserhead
4. Rocky Horror
5. El Topo
6. Mad Max
7. The Warriors
8. Spider Baby
9. The Forbidden Zone
10. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T
The list includes E.T., but excludes Zhivago?
Inconceivable.
The strength of Citizen Kane has nothing to do with the story. The strength is in the additions that Orson Welles made to cinematic language with that film.
The story is only the vehicle with which Orson used for his bag of tricks. There are more compelling stories.
The roadshow independents were not part of the Hollywood Studio system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_Code
Local censors caused the exploitation filmmakers problems, not Hayes.
You want to tell me that Russ Meyer’s Immoral Mr. Teas was submitted for “Hayes Code approval”?
Of course the link you provided doesn’t even mention roadshow movies. But I do know there’s a DVD release of Marijuana Devil Weed out there that has a commentary by one of the guys who used to show those kind of movies and he discusses at length how they got around various censors including Hays. There probably were many that just avoided Hays completely, but others didn’t, and specifically the “morality-movies” were designed to be able to deal with Hays and still cater to a smut desiring audience.
By the time Mr Teas came out Hays was finally starting to collapse. Otto Preminger was already getting movies out and successful without Hays certification, the writing was on the wall.
Top 5 overall - but that was a list specifically for the 1980s.
They lost me when they put Toy Story ahead of Ben Hur.
I think you need a lesson on the relationship between correlation and causation.
Blade Runner is a great movie for philosophers.
This list was based on a polling of various filmmakers. I doubt any of them would publicly admit liking that movie.
Only wonks and geeks care about “cinematic language”. People like to be entertained, or moved. Why is Titanic, a long soap opera disguised in its promotion as a disaster/SFX movie, on the list at all? Or, Annie Hall?
SO totally agree ...
Here's the link to the list. No Moonstruck on that list and THAT is a great movie. Other choices of mine that are No Shows: As Good As It Gets, Guarding Tess ... nice movies about nice people without all the four letter words sprinkled liberally throughout and everybody grabbing at everybody else all naked and sweaty and up close.
The Searchers yes, #12 ... no Quiet Man and that certainly would have gotten my vote! Excellent movie ... (no patty fingers now!)
The Hays Code was completely inconsistent and was changed constantly before being dumped altogether. Something like ‘Psycho’ in 1960 or ‘Anatomy of a Murder’ in 1959 would have been verklempt in the mid 40s. Because of the Hays Code, Hitchcockc’s Suspicion had to have its ending changed because the Hays Code would not allow a husband plotting to kill his wife. It rendered the film nonsensical. Great films made in the early 1930s, before the Hays Code, could not be shown again uncut till the mid 60s.
‘Kane’ has shown up at the top of these polls since the 50s. They never fell out of love with it. Welles predicted the careers of Howard Hughes, Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando and his own.
‘Raging Bull’ is commonly called the best American film of the 1980s. Roger Ebert and many others.
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