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AFI Rates 'Citizen Kane' No. 1 Movie
FoxNews ^ | 6/21/07 | staff

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 ...


TOPICS: TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: afi; filmsnobs
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To: EyeGuy

It’s a one of kind experience though. No movie like it. It’s not really about Vietnam


121 posted on 06/21/2007 9:59:52 PM PDT by Borges
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To: OC_Steve
What no “Lonely Lady” starring Pia Zadora?

Ever since she got divorced from her billionaire husband, the AFI turned it's back on her. But she'll have her revenge. Oh yes.

122 posted on 06/21/2007 10:09:17 PM PDT by lowbridge ("The mainstream media IS the Democratic Party." - Rush Limbaugh)
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To: RockinRight
Fletch is crap. Spaceballs is crap.

What. No Jerry Lewis?

123 posted on 06/21/2007 10:10:20 PM PDT by lowbridge ("The mainstream media IS the Democratic Party." - Rush Limbaugh)
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To: steve8714

If you’re striking that Average Joe populist tone then Titanic should be #1 since it was the highest grossing film of all time. ‘Annie Hall’ is constantly imitated by just about every Romantic comedy.


124 posted on 06/21/2007 10:40:51 PM PDT by Borges
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To: Borges
I'm getting more responses to my post on this thread than to posts on subjects that actually matter!

And I think Suspicion worked just fine with them leading you to think that Cary Grant was plotting to murder his wife and it turned out he was contemplating suicide! Who saw that coming???

125 posted on 06/22/2007 6:53:19 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator ( . . . veyiqchu 'eleykha farah 'adummah temimah, 'asher 'ein-bah mum, 'asher lo'-`alah `aleyha `ol.)
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To: Borges
‘Raging Bull’ is commonly called the best American film of the 1980s

Yes, common wisdom is often wrong.

126 posted on 06/22/2007 11:44:39 AM PDT by what's up
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To: what's up
I don’t necessarily agree with its high ranking but just wanted to point out that it’s not a surprising choice given its high standing amongst film critics. It’s never been terribly popular with a mass audience. It was a flop upon release in 1980.
127 posted on 06/22/2007 11:49:06 AM PDT by Borges
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To: spectre
#11

http://www.filmsite.org/afi100filmsA.html

128 posted on 06/22/2007 11:52:45 AM PDT by Mrs.Liberty
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To: Mrs.Liberty
Ooops

AFI TOP 100

129 posted on 06/22/2007 11:53:33 AM PDT by Mrs.Liberty
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To: Mrs.Liberty
#11 It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

I remember the first Christmas after Jimmy Stewart died it was hard to watch that movie. He seemed almost like family.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

130 posted on 06/22/2007 12:01:06 PM PDT by mware (By all that you hold dear..on this good earth... I bid you stand! Men of the West!)
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To: Borges

But, Annie Hall just isn’t funny. It may be witty, but wit isn’t comedy. Wit is when you laugh about how smart you are. Comedy is when the other guy laughs, and nobody cares how smart you are.
My beef with Titanic is less the storyline than the masking of its nature to get me to shell out theater money for it.
Certain elements of AH may be imitated, but most of the others are funnier. When Harry met Sally is a good example- we are told it is derivative, but the people behind it respected the filmgoer and put their pleasure ahead of their own. To Woody and his crew it was always more important to be the artiste.


131 posted on 06/22/2007 2:35:22 PM PDT by steve8714 ("A man needs a maid", my ass.)
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To: teddyballgame
Schindler’s List and The Godfather are OK but where’s To Kill A Mockingbird and The Grapes of Wrath?
132 posted on 06/22/2007 3:04:24 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative ("The meaning of peace is the absence of opposition to socialism."-Karl Marx)
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To: steve8714
I don't see witty and funny as mutually exclusive. You have to bring something to the table about a given culture to find anything funny. An Eskimo fresh from a life in the Artic without access to media would probably would not find 'Airplane!' funny. 'Funny' is obviously dependent on one's taste buds and cultural referents. I know people who don't think 'Holy Grail' is funny. AH is probably the most literate film to ever win the Best Picture Oscar. And Woody's jibes at Los Angeles are still as relevant and funny as ever.

Titanic was a superior disaster movie. It had suspense/action scenes that put most other suspense/action films to shame.
133 posted on 06/22/2007 3:08:04 PM PDT by Borges
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To: dfwgator
Airplane! (Any thread about airplanes in peril always turns into an Airplane! references thread)

"Hey, you're Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, you play center for the Los Angeles Lakers. My dad says...you don't work hard enough on defense."

134 posted on 06/22/2007 3:17:47 PM PDT by GOP_Raider (FReepmail me to join the FR Idaho Ping List.)
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To: GOP_Raider

“You try dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the floor for 48 minutes.”


135 posted on 06/22/2007 3:41:48 PM PDT by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Still Championship U)
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To: teddyballgame
2. The Godfather

On Bravo Channel right now if anyone's interested.

136 posted on 06/22/2007 4:19:37 PM PDT by Kenny Bania
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To: GOP_Raider

“I am serious...and don’t call me Shirley.”


137 posted on 06/22/2007 6:20:19 PM PDT by steve8714 ("A man needs a maid", my ass.)
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To: mware
DOH... I apologize: The link I first posted was to the 1997 List, not the 2007 list, here:

2007 AFI Top 10.

It's A Wonderful Life is at #19.

138 posted on 06/23/2007 5:36:36 AM PDT by Mrs.Liberty
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To: All
Additionally, from the AFI website:

"In addition, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will air a cable festival this fall that features many of the movies. And the 100 films will be available in videostores across the nation as part of this special celebration, with labels designating these films as part of AFI's 100 greatest list."

---www.afi.com

139 posted on 06/23/2007 5:38:49 AM PDT by Mrs.Liberty
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To: teddyballgame

“25!”

Jaws has to be on there somewhere.


140 posted on 06/23/2007 5:40:51 AM PDT by Vision ("Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him." Jeremiah 17:7)
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