Well, I’ve finally done it. I’ve finished the list!
I’ve watched all of the “Top 100 Movies” as listed by the American Film Institute.
It’s been a long time coming – watching a lot of classics in all genres.
Many of them you’ve seen. Many of them you’ve always known you “should” see.
It was fun with Charlie Chaplin & Buster Keaton… as well as classics by
Steven Spielberg & Alfred Hitchcock. Musicals & silent films. Action & thrillers.
Just to give you a headstart, here’s the AFI Top 100 Movies of All Time…
at least, as of the 2007 list revision… and a few memorable movie lines!!!
1. Citizen Kane – “Rosebud.”
2. The Godfather – “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
3. Casablanca – “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
4. Raging Bull – “I got these small hands. I got little girl’s hands.”
5. Singin’ In The Rain – “Lina. She can’t act. She can’t sing. She can’t dance. A triple threat.”
6. Gone With The Wind – “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
7. Lawrence of Arabia – “The best of them won’t come for money; they’ll come for me.”
8. Schindler’s List – “You’re giving them hope. You shouldn’t do that. ‘That’s’ cruel.”
9. Vertigo – “Anyone could become obsessed with the past with a background like that.”
10. The Wizard of Oz – “There’s no place like home.”
11. City Lights – “Tomorrow the birds will sing.”
12. The Searchers – “Figure a man’s only good for one oath at a time.”
13. Star Wars – “May the force be with you.”
14. Psycho – “We all go a little made sometimes.”
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey – “Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”
16. Sunset Boulevard – “I’m ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille.”
17. The Graduate – “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me.”
18. The General – silent title page… “Heroes of the day”
19. On The Waterfront – “Do it to him before he does it to you.”
20. It’s A Wonderful Life – “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.”
21. Chinatown – “You’re dumber than you think I think you are.”
22. Some Like It Hot – “Real diamonds! They must be worth their weight in gold!”
23. The Grapes of Wrath – “Sure don’t look none too prosperous.”
24. ET – The Extra-Terrestrial – “ET phone home.”
25. To Kill A Mockingbird – “There goes the meanest man that ever took a breath of life.”
26. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – “Mr. President, will the Senator yield?”
27. High Noon – “I knew you had guts, but never figured you for brains.”
28. All About Eve – “Fasten your seat belts – it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
29. Double Indemnity – “Do I laugh now, or wait ’til it gets funny?”
30. Apocalypse Now – “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”
31. The Maltese Falcon – “Say, what’s on your mind besides your hat?”
32. The Godfather, Part II – “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
33. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – “Rules? Piss on your fucking rules!”
34. Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs – “Whistle while you work.”
35. Annie Hall – “Hey, don’t knock masturbation. It’s sex with someone I love.”
36. The Bridge Over The River Kwai – insert catchy whistling tune here…
37. The Best Years Of Our Life – “If you wrote that once, you wrote it a hundred times.”
38. The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre – “Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges.”
39. Dr. Strangelove – “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the War Room!”
40. The Sound Of Music – “There’s nothing wrong with the children. Only the governesses.”
41. King Kong – “Those chains ore made of chrome steel.”
42. Bonnie And Clyde – “Next time, I’ll aim a little lower.”
43. Midnight Cowboy – “I only get carsick on boats.”
44. The Philadelphia Story – “You’re far and away your favorite person in the world.”
45. Shane – “A gun is as good or bad as the man using it.”
46. It Happened One Night – “Believe you me, you bore me to distraction.”
47. A Streetcar Named Desire – “Stella!!!”
48. Rear Window – “Nothing has caused the human race so much trouble as intelligence.”
49. Intolerance – “Such a wonderful king. If only he thought as we do.”
50. The Lord Of The Rings: Fellowship Of The Rings – “Nobody tosses a dwarf.”
51. West Side Story – “When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way.”
52. Taxi Driver – “You talkin’ to me? Well, I’m the only one here.”
53. The Deer Hunter – “You’re so full of shit, you’re gonna float away.”
54. M*A*S*H – “Oh Frank. My lips are hot. Kiss my hot lips.”
55. North By Northwest – “You’re the smartest girl I’ve ever spent the night with on a train.”
56. Jaws – “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
57. Rocky – “Your gonna eat lightnin’ and you’re gonna crap thunder.”
58. The Gold Rush – cue the classic silent film piano music soundtrack…
59. Nashville – “He wouldn’t bathe, so we all had to pee in his bed to get him discharged.”
60. Duck Soup – “I got a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it.”
61. Sullivan’s Travels – “There’s a lot to be said for making people laugh.”
62. American Graffiti – “Your car is uglier than I am. That didn’t come out right.”
63. Cabaret – “What good is sitting alone in your room. Come hear the music play.”
64. Network – “I’m as mad as hell… and I’m not going to take it any more!”
65. The African Queen – “There ain’t nothing so complicated as the inside of a torpedo.”
66. Raiders Of The Lost Ark – “It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.”
67. Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? – “You can’t afford to waste good liquor.”
68. Unforgiven – “You ain’t ugly like me, it’s just that we both got scars.”
69. Tootsie – “I don’t believe in Hell. I believe in ‘unemployment’, not Hell.”
70. A Clockwork Orange – “Initiative comes to thems that wait.”
71. Saving Private Ryan – “It’s like finding a needle in a stack of needles.”
72. The Shawshank Redemption – “Hope is a dangerous thing. It can drive a man insane.”
73. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid – “I’m not crazy. I’m just colorful.”
74. The Silence Of The Lambs – “I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.”
75. In The Heat Of The Night – “They call me Mister Tibbs!”
76. Forrest Gump – “Life was like a box of chocolates.”
77. All The President’s Men – “When you’ve got ’em by the balls, hearts & minds will follow.”
78.  Modern Times – “Buck up – never say die. We’ll get along.”
79. The Wild Bunch – “I’ll hold ’em here ’til Hell freezes over or you say different.”
80. The Apartment – “That’s the way it crumbles… cookie-wise.”
81. Spartacus – “Good luck, and may fortune smile upon… most of us.”
82. Sunrise – “Don’t be afraid of me.”
83. Titanic – “I’m the king of the world.”
84. Easy Rider – “If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him.”
85. A Night At The Opera – “You know the old saying. Two’s company, five’s a crowd.”
86. Platoon – “Excuses are like assholes, Taylor. Everybody’s got one.”
87. 12 Angry Men – “Look, you voted guilty. Which side are you on?”
88. Bringing Up Baby – “A man wrestling a leopard in a pond, he’s in no position to run.”
89. The Sixth Sense – “I see dead people.”
90. Swing Time – “No one could teach you to dance in a million years.”
91. Sophie’s Choice – “I longed desperately to escape, to pack my bags & flee, but I did not.”
92. Goodfellas – “Funny like a clown? I amuse you?”
93. The French Connection – “You wanna play ‘hide the salami’ with this old lady?”
94. Pulp Fiction – “That’s 30 minutes away. I’ll be there in 10.”
95. The Last Picture Show – “Chicken fry me a steak and try to use meat this time.”
96. Do The Right Thing – “Take your pizza and get the fuck back to Africa.”
97. Blade Runner – “Nothing is worse than having an itch you can never scratch.”
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy – “It’ll be great as long as those critics don’t eat off my leg.”
99. Toy Story – “To infinity and beyond!”
100. Ben-Hur – “You’re either for me, or against me.”
So there’s the list…Â which one is your favorite?
My stumbling block was film #82 – “Sunrise” from 1927.
It just wasn’t available anywhere. Not on Netflix. Not on Amazon. Not anywhere.
But then suddenly… after about 6 months of searching… Netflix finally got it!
So I watched “Sunrise” and officially finished the list. A surprisingly entertaining,
black & white silent film – about a man trying to “off” his wife and hide the body
out in the lake… only to find he can’t and falls back in love with her! Needless to say,
the mistress isn’t too thrilled with the renewed marriage romance. Not bad
once you get used to the subtitles.
All in all, it was a great project. I would highly recommend watching “the list”
to anyone who enjoys the movies. I think it is important to have a well-rounded knowledge
of history & pop culture… and I am now a lot better in the Movies & Film categories
when we watch “Jeopardy” or play Trivial Pursuit. It was also great to hear some
of the famous movie lines now in the actual context of the film…
lines you’ve always heard, but never really knew where they came from.
“Here’s looking at you kid.”
FYI… I still don’t agree with “Citizen Kane” being number one!..  it’s a sled!!!
