My Top 95 films, Part I

While making up this list (presuming that 5 of the 10 movies I hadn't seen would have made my top 100, therefore leaving 95) I saw movies on the official list that after some more thought decided don't belong there to begin with (conveniently clearing up more room for movies I like ... what a coincidence, huh?).

So here are more movies that don't belong among the big boys:

"The Sixth Sense," 1999: Yeah, I liked it when it first came out. Now it just seems to be a great idea for a movie than an actual movie. Plus, now that M. Night Shamalamadingdong has become a "Robot Chicken" punchline ("What a tweeest!") I can't take it seriously anymore.

"Forrest Gump," 1994: It's not the worst movie to be best picture (that's either "The Greatest Show on Earth" or "The English Patient"), but it's the one that kept "Pulp Fiction" from being best picture. That's good enough for me.

"12 Angry Men," 1957: A classic, but something had to give when I started listing my movies, and this one was on the bubble.

"A Clockwork Orange," 1971: It's never been my favorite Kubrick movie like "2001" or "Strangelove," or ones I can't stand like "Barry Lyndon" or "Eyes Wide Shut." It's in the middle with "The Shining."

"Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942: Taking this one off hurt, but something had to go.


"Sophie's Choice," 1982: Haven't seen it in years, and I remember it being good, but the ones I thought up I think are better. That's my choice.

So now, here's the first part of my list. I bold-faced the ones I added, and the ones I haven't discussed yet ... I'll discuss.

51. "Spartacus," 1960.
52. "The Apartment," 1960.
53. "The Right Stuff," 1983.
54. "The African Queen," 1951.
55. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.
56. "Toy Story," 1995.
57. "Annie Hall," 1977.
58. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.
59. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.
60. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.
61. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.
62. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.
63. "The Sound of Music," 1965.
64. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1963.
65. "Jaws," 1975.
66. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.
67. "All the President's Men," 1976.
68 "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.
69. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.
70. "To Be Or Not To Be," 1942. The bravest film to come out of the early 1940s, made when it still wasn't clear Hitler was going to lose. It really deserves more respect than it gets.
71. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
72. "Rocky," 1976.
73. "Unforgiven," 1992.
74. "Back to the Future," 1985: Perfect movie. Enough said.
75. "M-A-S-H," 1970.
76. "The Ten Commandments," 1956
77. "Nashville," 1975.
78. "Double Indemnity," 1944.
79. "Rio Bravo," 1959: In "High Noon," Gary Cooper spends a lot of the movie trying to round up help. John Wayne spends this movie trying not to get help because he doesn't want to get anybody killed. Which one sounds more like a hero to you?
80. "Cabaret," 1972.
81. "Patton," 1970. This got booted off the list for some reason, probably to make room for "Titanic." Bad idea. I'm booting it back on.
82. "American Graffiti," 1973.
83. "Tootsie," 1982.
84. "Taxi Driver," 1976.
84. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.
85. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.
86. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.
87. "Platoon," 1986.
88. "The Thin Man," 1934: I like to think of this as a musical without music. The sharp dialogue and banter between William Powell and Myrna Loy is a duet for writers.
89. "Apollo 13," 1995: A classic workplace drama, only the workplace is space and the drama is whether they can get three men back to Earth alive.
90. "Blazing Saddles" 1974: It was a coin toss between this and "Young Frankenstein." This won because of the campfire scene, Lily von Schtupp's "I'm Tired" and Harvey Korman's timeless performance as Hedy Lamarr ("That's HEDLEY!")
91. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," 2000: This probably violates some AFI rule since it's in Chinese, but I don't care. It's the purest cinema I've ever seen. And I still think Ang Lee would have made a better "Star Wars" prequel than George Lucas did.
92. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.
93. "Memento," 2002. When they list the best movies of the decade, this will be up there, mark my words. It plays with the notion of memory and story structure, and best of all, it respects the audience to come up with its own answers instead of spoon-feeding them like we're morons.
94. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.
95. "It Happened One Night," 1934.