Wesley’s Week (March 12-18, 2007)

by Wesley

The American Film Institute currently is asking for its members to vote for the best American movies of all time – the same polling the organization did 10 years when it kicked off its “100 Years, 100 Greatest” series, as the AFI likes to term it. Now, I will admit that I am a sucker for the AFI’s countdowns, which appear as a three-hour special every June on CBS, for many reasons: it has old and sometimes rare film clips; it often has people involved in the productions commenting on the clips; and it makes you wonder exactly who was voting and why they voted the way they did. I find that there are always at least five entries in every AFI list that I feel would not merit being in my personal top 200 list, much less that organization’s top 100. Perhaps others feel the same way, and that may be why they are having a re-vote on the 100 greatest films of all time, because the first list engendered so much controversy.

I remember the selections I felt were particularly poor in the 1997 voting included Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? and Easy Rider. I would not go so far as to say they are worthless, mind you, just that they do not resonate as being classics in my view. Here’s hoping they are knocked out this time. What would I put in their place? Well, the first list justifiably faced complaints for being short on comedies, so I might put Duck Soup and The Thin Man in their place.

What really worries me about this new list are the possible entries of films made after 1997 that could make the cut for this go-round. I have not been too impressed with much of the crop that has been nominated for Academy Awards, yet I fear those films will have the best chance of obtaining the most votes this time. Why? Because the AFI lists in the past have been dominated with films that were at least nominated for Best Picture, and when you realize the infinite number of memorable movies that do not fall into that category, such as My Man Godfrey, you realize what a dubious method it is to use the Oscar nominations as your main guideline in selecting all-time great motion pictures.

Also, with the new list including the same number of nominees there were in 1997 (400 pictures), that means that some of the older ones had to be cut. I wonder which ones were and why, since no one has publicized that at all, probably because it would be so demoralizing for anybody involved with them. (“Hey, Chuck, remember that film of yours they put on the AFI ballot back in 1997? Well, it is not on there this time. Guess it really started to go downhill over the last decade, huh?”)

Whatever the winners turn out to be, I will no doubt be watching the special and cursing or praising whatever makes the cut. If you love movies, I would advise you to do so too. (And you did not hear me say this either, but record the special and put it in your collection – the rights to show the clips are so high that the AFI cannot afford to sell the special as a DVD on the market or even repeat it. Trust me, your grandkids will appreciate you for doing that.)

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