Out of Egypt:

While I'm in a Listing Mood...

Here's my current status on the AFI list. I confess some of these I watched with a group of friends whose explicit goal was to see movies on the AFI list. We enjoyed most of them, however.

If anyone wants my opinion on the movies (or literature - in the entry below) in bold, drop me a line in the comments.

1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. GODFATHER, THE (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. WIZARD OF OZ, THE (1939)
7. GRADUATE, THE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993)
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
11. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI, THE (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. AFRICAN QUEEN, THE (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
21. GRAPES OF WRATH, THE (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. MALTESE FALCON, THE (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE & CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. GODFATHER PART II, THE (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) (saw this one in class, several times)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. BIRTH OF A NATION, THE (1915)
45. STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, A (1951)
46. CLOCKWORK ORANGE, A (1971) (the one movie I've ever refused to see)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. PHILADELPHIA STORY, THE (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. SOUND OF MUSIC, THE (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. THIRD MAN, THE (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, THE (1991)
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (1962)
68. AMERICAN IN PARIS, AN (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. FRENCH CONNECTION, THE (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959) (saw this one in class once)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. GOLD RUSH, THE (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976) (saw part of it on TV once)
79. DEER HUNTER, THE (1978)
80. WILD BUNCH, THE (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956)
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. JAZZ SINGER, THE (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964) (ask me about my ideological stance against this film - and the musical it's based on - sometime)
92. PLACE IN THE SUN, A (1951)
93. APARTMENT, THE (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. SEARCHERS, THE (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

You haven't seen The Godfather. Holy crap -- you must go to Blockbuster right now. Ignore your finals. This is more important.

Posted by: mesh at April 29, 2004 11:20 AM

Tell me about your ideological stance against My Fair Lady, and the musical it's based upon.

Posted by: Paul Baxter at April 29, 2004 5:41 PM

Uh, don't you mean your stance on the musical, My Fair Lady, and the play that it's based on?

Actually, I'm even more interested in your ideological stance on Clockwork Orange, since you refuse to see it.

Posted by: nougatmachine at April 30, 2004 3:23 AM

No I meant the musical. Play's different. That's my ideological stance in a nutshell. The musical (and movie) are horrendously anti-feminist; Eliza basically sucks it up and marries Higgins, as if she (a now-educated woman) had no other options). Whatever happens to that guy who loves her? He shows up in only one or two scenes after they meet.

In the play, Eliza was a liberated woman after the Higgins treatment. She tells him to go take a hike, deservedly.

I've heard that when "MFL" appeared on the stage for the first time they said "based on Pygmalian by G.B.S." at the beginning. Shaw was so upset at how they screwed up his ending (to make it more "romantic," I suppose) that he stood up and screamed "This is not my play" until security forced him to leave. Say what you will about the man, that's impressive.

And as for Clockwork Orange, I think that the movie, through its visual style and explicitness, just turns into a glorification of the very depravity it (presumably) intends to speak against. For proof of this, look no further than the posters you see on college campuses across America (even my own). They give the "droogs" an aura of hipster coolness. Thus, the movie, though based on a novel with philosophical intentions, ends up being a celebration of amorality.

That's my view, insofar as I see it at 4:45 am.

Posted by: Evan Donovan at April 30, 2004 4:47 AM

Mesh,

I have discovered that there is a disturbingly large amount of people at Covenant who haven't seen any of the Godfather movies. Its a travesty.

Evan,

I own the trilogy on DVD...if you don't come down here asking to borrow it in the next week I'm going to have to beat you when you come back in the fall.

Posted by: steele at April 30, 2004 4:09 PM

I would posit that is a function of the way the movie is marketed (not that perception and marketing are not important). I think the film itself is pretty in line with the book, thematically. Namely, the point has less to do with the droogs themselves, but how Alex (the character is Alex, right? It's been a while) is eventually brainwashed by the state into being a good citizen by removing all of his free will. That's what the minister himself says at the end. And isn't that, in the end, a Christian theme?

As far as the portrayl of the droogs, especially in the first half of the movie --- well, it IS told in the first person, after all. You could hardly expect the narrator to come down on himself too hard. I thought the whole point was to ignite cognitive dissonance: the narrator says all this stuff is just peachy, but you yourself are shocked to watch it. I really don't think anybody was intended to enjoy in the audience, for instance, the scene where the droogs beat up the author. That's how I received it anyway.

That said, I think you make an excellent point about how the film is marketed and sold. I guess it's possible you could say I'm just rationalizing like a madman to justify the movie because I think it's cinematography and technical aspects are insanely sweet, but what I said about the themes above were exactly how I honestly perceived them. Also note that I saw the movie before I read the book.

That said, I agree with you 100% on My Fair Lady versus Pygmalion.

Posted by: nougatmachine at April 30, 2004 4:26 PM

Steele, when are you leaving? I'm here till Sunday. After the hellish finals of Tuesday and Wednesday, I should be free to come down and borrow that.

Posted by: Evan Donovan at April 30, 2004 4:43 PM