Welcome to Part Two in a revision of the “AFI’s 100 Greatest American Movies” list. Now we’re looking at numbers 16 through 20 and the first thing I’ll say is that there are better John Houston films, and better Bogart films, than THE AFRICAN QUEEN, but it’s a fine film nonetheless and does offer the Bogart/Hepburn pairing that has burned a place in the collective memory (and on this list). My first real BIG objection is to ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST. It is a brilliant, a near-perfect novel, and a genuinely vile and nasty film. Here’s why I think that:
It is clear that the character of McMurphy is the Christ figure, and it is through his death and sacrifice that the Big Indian is saved at the end. The novel is narrated by the Big Indian and it is made very clear that the Big Indian is stark raving mad. I understand the difficulties of adapting the page to the screen, I understand the compromises that must be made to accommodate the medium – hell, my favorite character in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil, is cut entirely from Peter Jackson’s films and I never complained. But there is no reason for inserting the little scene in which the Big Indian lets on to McMurphy that he’s faking it – a scene that removes the crucifixion metaphor from the narrative and reduces everything to little more than the nihilistic romp of the loonies. No reason other than sheer meanness. Kesey hated the film for that. I do too. It’s gone.
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994)
In its place I’ve stuck another (much better) film about madness from my list of 30 alternates – Oliver Stone’s one real masterpiece, NATURAL BORN KILLERS. I’ve never made feature films but I do know something about how they’re made. There’s no other film on this list I can’t imagine making, but this one is just unfathomable to me. I don’t know any other film like it. It also opens a hole at #83 because there’s really no reason for Oliver Stone to be on the list more than once, and APOCALYPSE NOW is so much better than PLATOON anyway. Moving on….
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
My first question here is whether or not Spielberg’s E.T. meets the one big criterion here – that the film reward repeated viewings with new insights. I am suspicious in that regard, but I also haven’t seen the film for years so I’ll reserve judgment. Where I won’t reserve judgment however is in regards to John Ford’s THE GRAPES OF WRATH. The novel is one of the two or three best novels I’ve ever read. Ford’s film always reminds me of my favorite Oscar Wilde quotation: “Only someone with a heart of stone could look upon the death of Little Nell without laughing.”
It is clear that the character of McMurphy is the Christ figure, and it is through his death and sacrifice that the Big Indian is saved at the end. The novel is narrated by the Big Indian and it is made very clear that the Big Indian is stark raving mad. I understand the difficulties of adapting the page to the screen, I understand the compromises that must be made to accommodate the medium – hell, my favorite character in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil, is cut entirely from Peter Jackson’s films and I never complained. But there is no reason for inserting the little scene in which the Big Indian lets on to McMurphy that he’s faking it – a scene that removes the crucifixion metaphor from the narrative and reduces everything to little more than the nihilistic romp of the loonies. No reason other than sheer meanness. Kesey hated the film for that. I do too. It’s gone.
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. NATURAL BORN KILLERS (1994)
In its place I’ve stuck another (much better) film about madness from my list of 30 alternates – Oliver Stone’s one real masterpiece, NATURAL BORN KILLERS. I’ve never made feature films but I do know something about how they’re made. There’s no other film on this list I can’t imagine making, but this one is just unfathomable to me. I don’t know any other film like it. It also opens a hole at #83 because there’s really no reason for Oliver Stone to be on the list more than once, and APOCALYPSE NOW is so much better than PLATOON anyway. Moving on….
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
My first question here is whether or not Spielberg’s E.T. meets the one big criterion here – that the film reward repeated viewings with new insights. I am suspicious in that regard, but I also haven’t seen the film for years so I’ll reserve judgment. Where I won’t reserve judgment however is in regards to John Ford’s THE GRAPES OF WRATH. The novel is one of the two or three best novels I’ve ever read. Ford’s film always reminds me of my favorite Oscar Wilde quotation: “Only someone with a heart of stone could look upon the death of Little Nell without laughing.”
Its heavy-handed maudlin melodrama does nothing but disgrace the novel. I understand I am a voice crying in the wilderness; I know that no one less than Pauline Kael considered it one of the few examples of a film being better than the book, but I don’t care. I can’t even think of Ma Joad without laughing. Off the list, and I’ll replace it with the film from closest to its own time, THE BIG SLEEP (1946) and replace Steinbeck with that combination of Raymond Chandler (who wrote the novel) and William Faulkner (who wrote the screenplay). This also allows Bogart & Bacall to assume their rightful place on the list. A veritable pile of dead birds now lie by the one stone. Moving on….
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
The last time we went to the shooting range I told my wife “Nice grouping.” I can say the same for these five films. I have nothing but praise for all of them.
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
Now I have a few issues here. ANNIE HALL has not aged as well as you may think if you haven’t actually sat through it recently. I think Woody Allen more than deserves multiple places on the list, but I also think that HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, ALICE, MANHATTAN, and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S SEX COMEDY are better movies. Of these MANHATTAN is the most similar replacement, but I’ve got to go with HANNAH, what I think is the strongest film he’s ever made.
So now the list looks like this:
31. HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
I’m not a fan of either HIGH NOON or TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, but it isn’t my intent to rework this into a list of “my favorite movies” so that doesn’t matter. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT however, which is a film that I like quite a lot, is one I am going to remove because (1) Capra is already well-represented here, and (2) while it is a fine example of classic film comedy, Mel Brooks, the finest comedy filmmaker, well… ever, is not represented at all. Brooks has three great films, THE PRODUCERS, BLAZING SADDLES and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Of these, it is THE PRODUCERS which is a better film than either IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT or, dare I say it, DUCK SOUP. For my money it is the greatest film comedy of all time.
Now the list looks like this…
31. HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. THE PRODUCERS (1968)
…and I’ve managed to replace six of the top 35. I’m also sort of wishing now that I hadn’t started into this as it is going to take way more time than I thought, but without explaining my reasons all we have is a list, and I hate lists. We’ll call this the end of part two.
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