AND THE WINNER IS…

Heading into Manhattan today for a few more “pre-season” chats, and then a little picnic and movie with a friend in Bryant Park, where classics are shown outdoors on a big screen every Monday night—tonight’s selection is Hud (1963), in which my friend Patricia Neal gives a great performance opposite Paul Newman (who is now ailing), and for which she ultimately received the Academy Award for Best Actress.

UPDATE: The bad news? Rain drove us away from the outdoor screening fairly early. The good news? It drove us to the Regal Cinema in Times Square to see WALL-e, something I had put off doing independently—I’d had a scheduling conflict with the press screening, and then found other things to do this past weekend when it was released nationwide (and, along with the Angelina Jolie-starrer Wanted, made history: never before had two newly-opening films both earned more than $50 million at the box-office in a weekend.) The bottom line? I’m man enough to admit it: WALL-e is the real deal. I’m not as convinced as some that it can earn a Best Picture nomination (the early release date and widespread condescending attitudes toward animated films will probably be too much for it to overcome), but it certainly represents Pixar’s best argument yet, is earning a ton at the box-office, and seems a cinch to win Best Animated Feature. The capper? At about 10pm, on my way from the theater back to Grand Central Station, I passed Bryant Park, and was pleasantly surprised to see that not only was the screening going forward, but that the lawn was absolutely packed with people of all ages, races, and orientations who seemed to be eating it up. As someone whose greatest hope is to see old movies find new audiences, this really warmed my heart… or perhaps the heat can be attributed to the one steamy scene from the film that I stuck around for before running to catch my train, which you can see for yourself below…

I am on a cloud right now, having just finished a wonderful hour-and-a-half interview with the lovely and legendary actress Eva Marie Saint, who starred as Edie Doyle opposite Marlon Brando in Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront (1954) and as Eve Kendall opposite Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959). Saint, who will turn 84 next week, is one of the few true greats of the Golden Age who is still walking and talking, and it means so much to me that I will be able to include her among the more than 100 other interviews I have conducted for my book project (through which I hope to excite young people about old movies). Tremendous, tremendous thanks to Gena, Lea, and Jeff for helping to make this happen.

A few days ago, I strongly criticized a new list from Entertainment Weekly that purported to identify “The 100 Best Films of the Last 25 Years.” I feel it is only fair and right, therefore, to share my own list of “The 100 Best Films of the Last 25 Years.” No list of this sort fully pleases anyone but its maker—a few exclusions, inclusions, or oddly-ordered choices will always tick off people—but I’d like to think that my list, at the very least, reflects more consideration than the 15 minutes that EW apparently devoted to theirs. You can check it out and decide for yourself by clicking below…

1. Schindler’s List (1993, S. Spielberg)
   
2. Sideways (2004, A. Payne)
3. Do the Right Thing (1989, S. Lee)
4. The Shawshank Redemption (1994, F. Darabont)
5. Pulp Fiction (1994, Q. Tarantino)
   
6. GoodFellas (1990, M. Scorsese)
7. Groundhog Day (1993, H. Ramis)
   
8. Titanic (1997, J. Cameron)
9. Unforgiven (1992, C. Eastwood)
10. The Color Purple (1985, S. Spielberg)
11. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, M. Gondry)
    
12. Amadeus (1984, M. Forman)
13. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007, J. Schnabel)
    
14. L.A. Confidential (1997, C. Hanson)
    
15. Saving Private Ryan (1998, S. Spielberg)
16. Mystic River (2003, C. Eastwood)
    
17. Forrest Gump (1994, R. Zemeckis)
18. About Schmidt (2002, A. Payne)
    
19. Platoon (1986, O. Stone)
    
20. Field of Dreams (1989, P.A. Robinson)
21. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992, J. Foley)
    
22. Rain Man (1988, B. Levinson)
23. The Squid and the Whale (2005, N. Baumbach)
    
24. The Killing Fields (1984, R. Joffe)
25. The Thin Blue Line (1989, E. Morris)
26. The Player (1992, R. Altman)
27. There’s Something About Mary (1998, B. Farrelly/P. Farrelly)
28. The Usual Suspects (1995, B. Singer)
29. The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003, P. Jackson)
    
30. Back to the Future (1985, R. Zemeckis)
    
31. Lost in Translation (2003, S. Coppola)
32. Gone Baby Gone (2007, B. Affleck)
    
33. House of Sand and Fog (2003, V. Perelman)
    
34. Toy Story (1995, J. Lasseter)
35. Million Dollar Baby (2004, C. Eastwood)
    
36. Goodbye, Lenin! (2003, W. Becker)
37. The Truman Show (1998, P. Weir)
38. Traffic (2000, S. Soderbergh)
39. Glory (1989, E. Zwick)
    
40. American Beauty (1999, S. Mendes)
    
41. The Departed (2006, M. Scorsese)
42. The Apostle (1997, R. Duvall)
    
43. Braveheart (1995, M. Gibson)
44. Juno (2007, J. Reitman)
45. Tsotsi (2005, G. Hood)
46. Broadcast News (1987, J.L. Brooks)
    
47. The Pianist (2002, R. Polanski)
    
48. Fatal Attraction (1987, A. Lyne)
49. Beauty and the Beast (1991, G. Trousdale/K. Wise)
50. Sense and Sensibility (1995, A. Lee)
51. Ray (2004, T. Hackford)
    
52. Pleasantville (1998, G. Ross)
    
53. The Silence of the Lambs (1991, J. Demme)
    
54. Jurassic Park (1993, S. Spielberg)
55. The Big Lebowski (1998, J. Coen)
56. The Sea Inside (2004, A. Amenabar)
    
57. Crash (2005, P. Haggis)
    
58. Dogville (2003, L. Von Trier)
    
59. The Fugitive (1993, A. Davis)
    
60. No Country for Old Men (2007, E. Coen/J. Coen)
    
61. Die Hard (1988, J. McTiernan)
62. Wall Street (1987, O. Stone)
    
63. Casino (1995, M. Scorsese)
64. Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004, M. Moore)
65. Witness (1985, P. Weir)
66. United 93 (2006, P. Greengrass)
    
67. Election (1999, A. Payne)
    
68. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006, C. Eastwood)
69. Far from Heaven (2002, T. Haynes)
    
70. A Beautiful Mind (2001, R. Howard)
71. The Passion of the Christ (2004, M. Gibson)
72. Superbad (2007, G. Mottola)
73. Thirteen (2003, C. Hardwicke)
74. Before Sunset (2004, R. Linklater)
75. Talk to Her (2002, P. Almodovar)
    
76. The March of the Penguins (2005, L. Jacquet)
77. Hoop Dreams (1994, S. James)
    
78. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit of Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006, L. Charles)
79. A Bronx Tale (1993, R. De Niro)
80. Fargo (1996, J. Coen)
    
81. Fight Club (1999, D. Fincher)
82. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001, A. Cuaron)
83. Apollo 13 (1995, R. Howard)
84. In America (2003, J. Sheridan)
    
85. Mrs. Doubtfire (1993, C. Columbus)
86. Elephant (2003, G. Van Sant)
87. Home Alone (1990, C. Columbus)
    
88. Cinderella Man (2005, R. Howard)
    
89. Munich (2005, S. Spielberg)
90. Jesus Camp (2006, H. Ewing/R. Grady)
    
91. Boogie Nights (1997, P.T. Anderson)
92. In the Valley of Elah (2007, P. Haggis)
93. The Virgin Suicides (1999, S. Coppola)
94. City of God (2002, F. Meirelles)
95. Lone Star (1996, J. Sayles)
    
96. The Lion King (1994, R. Allers/R. Minkoff)
    
97. Gladiator (2000, R. Scott)
    
98. Se7en (1995, D. Fincher)
99. Amores Perros (2000, A.G. Inarritu)
100. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007, S. Lumet)

We’ve been talking about movie lists all week thanks to AFI’s annual special, but AFI is not alone. Entertainment Weekly has introduced another one into the discussion—”The 100 Best Films of the Past 25 Years“—which is causing a big uproar on the net, and deservedly so: this is the worst selected, most inexplicably ordered “greatest” list I have ever seen from a supposedly-credible outlet, and whoever was involved with this at EW should be embarassed. Casino Royale (2006) ahead of Schindler’s List (1993)? South Park (1999) but no The Shawshank Redemption (1994)? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. To be fair, I’ll post my own top choices in a few hours, but in the meantime click below to see the EW abomination for yourself…

1. Pulp Fiction
2. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
3. Titanic
4. Blue Velvet
5. Toy Story
6. Saving Private Ryan
7. Hannah and Her Sisters
8. The Silence of the Lambs
9. Die Hard
10. Moulin Rouge
11. This Is Spinal Tap
12. The Matrix
13. Goodfellas
14. Crumb
15. Edward Scissorhands
16. Boogie Nights
17. Jerry Maguire
18. Do The Right Thing
19. Casino Royale
20. The Lion King
21. Schindler’s List
22. Rushmore
23. Memento
24. A Room With a View
25. Shrek
26. Hoop Dreams
27. Aliens
28. Wings of Desire
29. The Bourne Supremacy
30. When Harry Met Sally…
31. Brokeback Mountain
32. Fight Club
33. The Breakfast Club
34. Fargo
35. The Incredibles
36. Spider-Man 2
37. Pretty Woman
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
39. The Sixth Sense
40. Speed
41. Dazed and Confused
42. Clueless
43. Gladiator
44. The Player
45. Rain Man
46. Children of Men
47. Men in Black
48. Scarface
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
50. The Piano
51. There Will Be Blood
52. The Naked Gun: From The Files of the Police Squad!
53. The Truman Show
54. Fatal Attraction
55. Risky Business
56. The Lives of Others
57. There’s Something About Mary
58. Ghostbusters
59. L.A. Confidential
60. Scream
61. Beverly Hills Cop
62. sex, lies and videotape
63. Big
64. No Country For Old Men
65. Dirty Dancing
66. Natural Born Killers
67. Donnie Brasco
68. Witness
69. All About My Mother
70. Broadcast News
71. Unforgiven
72. Thelma & Louise
73. Office Space
74. Drugstore Cowboy
75. Out of Africa
76. The Departed
77. Sid & Nancy
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
79. Waiting For Guffman
80. Michael Clayton
81. Moonstruck
82. Lost In Translation
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn
84. Sideways
85. The 40-Year-Old Virgin
86. Y Tu Mama Tambien
87. Swingers
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
89. Breaking The Waves
90. Napoleon Dynamite
91. Back to the Future
92. Meance II Society
93. Ed Wood
94. Full Metal Jacket
95. In the Mood for Love
96. Far From Heaven
97. Glory
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley
99. The Blair Witch Project
100. South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut

This morning I picked up a copy of The Reader (Vintage, 1999), the 224-page novel by Bernard Schlink that has been adapted for the big screen by Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Hare (The Hours), will star Oscar-nominated stars Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet, and will be released in theaters by M-G-M and The Weinstein Company on December 12. Just a few hours later, I am pages away from finishing it, and while I’ll reserve full comment until that time, let me just say now that this is a tremendous story that could be a powerhouse contender if handled properly, and that Winslet is perfectly cast. That being said, my clear understanding is that her Best Actress campaign will be for Revolutionary Road, the Scott Rudin-produced film directed by her husband Sam Mendes (American Beauty) that is also supposed to be terrific, which means that the Weinsteins can opt to either butt-heads or to get a little creative and push her performance in this production as Supporting. Based on the size of Winslet’s role in the book, I don’t think that doing so would come across as any more flagrant a play for the win than the one successfully made for Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men last year. Anyway, it’ll be interesting to follow…

Update (6/19, 12pm): Just finished. I cannot fathom a scenario in which this powerful story, with this impressive group of talent behind it, doesn’t pull down some major nominations… especially—in one category or another—Winslet, who is perfectly cast… and check out the makeup job they did on her for scenes late in the story!

As previewed (along with predictions) on this site yesterday, the American Film Institute tonight announced the results of its industry poll to determine the top ten films in ten different genres, or “10 Top 10,” during a three-hour program on CBS. I find it very hard to find fault with the vast majority of the selections—particularly with those that top each list—but I’ll recap the results and share a few reactions anyway…

AFI Top 10: Animated

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
2. Pinocchio (1940)
3. Bambi (1942)
4. The Lion King (1994)
5. Fantasia (1940)
6. Toy Story (1995)
7. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
8. Shrek (2001)
9. Cinderella (1950)
10. Finding Nemo (2003)

PREDICTIONS 7/10, including Snow White as #1; failed to include Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, and Finding Nemo in favor of Dumbo (1941), Babe (1995), and Lady and the Tramp (1955).
COMMENTARY The top three look exactly right—the first full-length animated film, the first great morality tale adapted into a full-length animated film, and the most moving animated film of them all. Then things go a bit askew, in my opinion. The Lion King ahead of Fantasia, the most ambitious animated film of the Disney era? Cinderella behind not only The Lion King, but also Shrek? Shrek?! All-time? As I see it, this list is just a little too heavy on recent stuff (half the films were made post-1990) and a little too light on animation’s Golden Age (although I have no objections about the inclusion of Beauty and the Beast, arguably the last great Disney film and the only animated film ever nominated for Best Picture).

AFI Top 10: Romantic Comedies

1. City Lights (1931)
2. Annie Hall (1977)
3. It Happened One Night (1934)
4. Roman Holiday (1953)
5. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
6. When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
7. Adam’s Rib (1949)
8. Moonstruck (1987)
9. Harold and Maude (1971)
10. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
    

PREDICTIONS 6/10; missed Adam’s Rib, Moonstruck, Harold and Maude, and Sleepless in Seattle (1993) in favor of Ninotchka (1939), Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Apartment (1960), and The Lady Eve (1941).
COMMENTARY I couldn’t be more pleased to be wrong about the #1 film—I thought they’d go with Annie Hall (1977), but the same voters who put Shrek ahead of Dumbo somehow managed to remember the silent-era masterpiece City Lights. 2, 3, and 4 are exactly as they should be, as well, and I’m pleased voters opted for The Philadelphia Story as their requisite Cary Grant-Katharine Hepburn rom-com over the also great (but not as much so) Bringing Up Baby and Holiday (both 1938). Meg Ryan, whose movies have not aged well, somehow shows up on the list twice, and while I understand When Harry Met Sally…, I really cannot accept the notion that Sleepless in Seattle is a better rom-com than the wonderful classic that inspired another Ryan film, You’ve Got Mail (1998), namely Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner (1940). It’s disheartening to see snubs of Lubitsch (not even Ninotchka or Trouble in Paradise?), Preston Sturges (The Lady Eve, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, or The Palm Beach Story?), Billy Wilder (The Apartment? Sabrina?), Leo McCarey (The Awful Truth?), and above all Howard Hawks (if not Bringing Up Baby, then why not His Girl Friday or Ball of Fire?). Bottom line: Rob Reiner, one. Ernst Lubitsch, zero.

AFI Top 10: Westerns

1. The Searchers (1956)
   
2. High Noon (1952)
3. Shane (1953)
4. Unforgiven (1992)
5. Red River (1948)
6. The Wild Bunch (1969)
7. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
8. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
9. Stagecoach (1939)
10. Cat Ballou (1965)
    

PREDICTIONS 8/10, including The Searchers as #1, High Noon as #2, and Shane as #3; missed McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Cat Ballou in favor of Giant (1956) and Dances with Wolves (1990).
COMMENTARY I couldn’t be more thrilled that The Searchers, arguably my favorite of all movies, claimed the top spot, while the often-maligned (unfairly) High Noon placed second. I wasnot at all confident that Red River was going to make the cut, having been snubbed on previous AFI lists, but I’m glad it did. I wish I could say the same about silly Cat Ballou, which had no business displacing must-see heavyweights like William Wellman’s The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Howard Hawks’ Rio Bravo (1959), John Sturges’ The Magnificent Seven (1960), John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show (1971)—it’s good, but hell, it’s not even the funniest satire of the genre… that would be Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974), which deserved a spot on the list but I figured is still too politically-incorrect to earn that endorsement, even thirty-five years after its release. Only other complaint: Why is Stagecoach (1939), which introduced John Wayne and also the generic archetypes for every western that followed, so low on this list?

AFI Top 10: Sports

1. Raging Bull (1980)
   
2. Rocky (1977)
3. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
4. Hoosiers (1986)
5. Bull Durham (1988)
6. The Hustler (1961)
7. Caddyshack (1980)
8. Breaking Away (1979)
9. National Velvet (1944)
10. Jerry Maguire (1996)
    

PREDICTIONS 7/10, including Raging Bull as #1, Rocky as #2, and The Pride of the Yankees as #3; missed Caddyshack, Breaking Away, and National Velvet in favor of Chariots of Fire (1981), Field of Dreams (1989), and Million Dollar Baby (2004).
COMMENTARY I can’t argue with the top three, but Hoosiers at #4? Caddyshack, which is a great comedy but is not even really about sports, at #7? And Bull Durham at #5 (fine), but no Field of Dreams anywhere? I’ll take my three that I missed over the three they used instead. And I was kinda waiting for a Rudy (1993) upset…

AFI Top 10: Mystery

1. Vertigo (1958)
   
2. Chinatown (1974)
3. Rear Window (1954)
4. Laura (1944)
5. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
6. The Third Man (1949)
7. North by Northwest (1959)
8. Blue Velvet (1986)
9. Dial M for Murder (1954)
10. The Usual Suspects (1995)
    

PREDICTIONS 8/10; missed North by Northwest and Dial M for Murder in favor of In the Heat of the Night (1967) and Gaslight (1943).
COMMENTARY Nobody loves Hitchcock more than I do, but I think of North by Northwest and especially Dial M for Murder (in which we know who the killer is all along and just wait to see if he’ll be caught) more as thrillers than mysteries—his Rebecca (1940) and Suspicion (1941) fit the definition better, in my opinion. I’d say the same for Vertigo except that I suppose Jimmy Stewart doesn’t realize he’s chasing the same woman until the end, even if it seems he should, so it’s still a mystery to him. No gripe about Rear Window, though, which is absolutely a mystery. I’m really glad that a few more people will check out Laura and The Third Man, two of cinema’s most underrated masterpieces, as a result of their inclusion, and only wish there had been room for George Cukor’s comparably good Gaslight (1943), as well as Stanley Donen’s Charade (1963), Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place (1950), Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (1955, which helped inspire Pulp Fiction), or Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai (1948).

AFI Top 10: Fantasy

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
   
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
3. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
4. King Kong (1933)
5. Miracle of 34th Street (1947)
6. Field of Dreams (1989)
7. Harvey (1950)
8. Groundhog Day (1993)
9. The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
10. Big (1988)
    

PREDICTIONS 7/10, including The Wizard of Oz as #1; missed Miracle on 34th Street, Groundhog Day, and The Thief of Bagdad in favor of The Princess Bride (1987), Mary Poppins (1964), and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971).
COMMENTARY Apparently The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a better and/or more important fantasy film than It’s a Wonderful Life and King Kong, according to this crowd… I’m not buying. At least they had the good sense to include Harvey and Groundhog Day, two must-sees, if not Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon (1937), Robert Stevenson’s Mary Poppins (1964), Gary Ross’ Pleasantville (1998), or Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), each of which is wondrous.

AFI Top 10: Sci-Fi

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
   
2. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
3. E.T.—The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
   
4. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
5. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
6. Blade Runner (1982)
7. Alien (1979)
8. Terminator 2 (1991)
9. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
10. Back to the Future (1985)
    

PREDICTIONS 7/10; missed Star Wars: A New Hope, Terminator 2, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers in favor of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Frankenstein (1931), and Planet of the Apes (1968).
COMMENTARY Simply forgot Star Wars was on the ballot. Shocked by absence of Close Encounters, not because I love it, but because I’ve always been led to believe others did, especially at the AFI, which has honored it on previous lists (including their overall 100 greatest movies).

AFI Top 10: Gangster

1. The Godfather (1972)
   
2. GoodFellas (1990)
3. The Godfather, Part II (1974)
   
4. White Heat (1949)
5. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
6. Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932)
7. Pulp Fiction (1994)
   
8. The Public Enemy (1931)
9. Little Caesar (1930)
10. Scarface (1983)
    

PREDICTIONS 7/10, including The Godfather as #1; missed Bonnie and Clyde, Scarface: The Shame of a Nation, and Scarface in favor of On the Waterfront (1954), Touch of Evil (1958), and The Untouchables (1987).
COMMENTARY Simply forgot Bonnie and Clyde was on the ballot. But no On the Waterfront? Are you kidding?

AFI Top 10: Courtroom Drama

1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
   
2. Twelve Angry Men (1957)
3. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
   
4. The Verdict (1982)
5. A Few Good Men (1992)
6. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
7. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
   
8. In Cold Blood (1967)
9. A Cry in the Dark (1988)
10. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
    

PREDICTIONS 6/10, including To Kill a Mockingbird as #1 and Twelve Angry Men as #2; missed Kramer vs. Kramer, The Verdict, In Cold Blood, and A Cry in the Dark in favor of Inherit the Wind (1960), The Caine Mutiny (1954), Philadelphia (1993), and The Accused (1988).
COMMENTARY I shouldn’t have missed The Verdict, but as far as Kramer vs. Kramer goes I just didn’t feel enough of the film was set in the courtroom to merit its inclusion. Oh, and A Cry in the Dark is hands-down the most random, out-of-left-field selection of the night—over Inherit the Wind (1960)?! I think I’m gonna go cry myself to sleep.

AFI Top 10: Epic

1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
   
2. Ben-Hur (1959)
3. Schindler’s List (1993)
   
4. Gone with the Wind (1939)
5. Spartacus (1960)
6. Titanic (1997)
7. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
   
8. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
9. Reds (1981)
10. The Ten Commandments (1956)
    

PREDICTIONS 7/10; missed Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan, and Reds in favor of Apocalypse Now (1979), The Birth of a Nation (1915), and Braveheart (1995).
COMMENTARY I think this category was just poorly defined, which led to films being nominated and then included that are not really epics… Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, for instance, are wonderful long dramas, but they are not epics. To me, epics are as much about the “size” of the movie as the length: they are large-scale, massive spectacles, not just marathon sittings… otherwise Shoah or other fine hours-eaters would have made the cut. I guess Gone with the Wind falls in-between the two definitions, which is why it placed third, but it would have topped my list because of the crane shot over the depot of wounded veterans, the burning of Atlanta, and so many other showy moments spread over three hours. I’m delighted they got Lewis Milestone’s pioneering epic All Quiet on the Western Front on there, and only wish it was ahead of some of the others for which it paved the way. Speaking of which, where the hell are the politically-incorrect but historically-pivotal early D.W. Griffith epics The Birth of a Nation (1915) and/or Intolerance (1916)? Lastly, I’m surprised The Ten Commandments placed so low, not because it’s the greatest movie ever made, but because I have always closely associated it and its director, Cecil B. DeMille, with the word “epic.”

Myself and Cyd Charisse following an interview at her home several years ago

If you stopped by the site only yesterday, you got the sense that this sad news might be coming—it’s one of the few times you’ll find me sorry to be correct. Tonight, you can honor Cyd Charisse by watching these short but mesmerizing clips of her dancing with Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and with Fred Astaire in The Band Wagon (1953). As my college film professor Thomas Doherty often emphasized, the thing that separates dance sequences in Golden Age musicals like these from those that we see in today’s films is that you never see a cut while the dancers are dancing… they were that good, and there wasn’t a female among them better than Charisse. No less an authority than Astaire felt that way—he considered her his favorite parter (yes, over Ginger Rogers) and once nostalgically explained, “When you dance with her, you stay danced with.”

In a three-hour special that will air tomorrow evening at 8pm EST/5pm PST on CBS, the American Film Institute will unveil its latest “greatest list”—this year, the AFI will actually announce ten lists identifying the top ten films in ten different genres, or “10 Top 10,” which were selected by 1,500 leaders from all sectors of the film industry from a ballot (PDF version here) featuring fifty options for each genre, which offered the opportunity to write-in any other candidate, as well.

The AFI’s “10 Top 10″ follows “100 Movies” (1998), “100 Stars” (1999), “100 Laughs” (2000), “100 Thrills” (2001), “100 Passions” (2002), “100 Heroes and Villains” (2003), “100 Songs” (2004), “100 Movie Quotes” (2005), “25 Film Scores” (2005), “100 Cheers” (2006), “25 Musicals” (2006), and “100 Movies: 10th Anniversary Edition” (2007). These lists have been widely credited for generating interest in classic movies among young people, and for that the AFI deserves immense praise.

(So, too, do a select few others, including: the National Society of Film Critics, whose books The A-List, The X-List, and the forthcoming The B-List also offer well-considered choices and well-written explanations for them, including several by my friend Jim Verniere, the great film critic at the Boston Herald; Tim Dirks of the marvelous indie web site Filmsite.org, which features fantastic in-depth analysis and rankings of classics; Sight and Sound magazine, for their once-each-decade polls; Turner Classic Movies, for offering easy access to all the important classics on both TV and DVD; and, of course, passionate professors in burgeoning film departments at colleges and universities across the country, including several with whom I’ve been fortunate enough to work, like Tom Doherty and Alice Kelikian. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few others who are worthy of mention, but I think these are the biggies.)

As I sifted through the AFI’s ’10 Top 10′ ballot before filing this post, I contemplated two very different things: (a) the films/filmmakers that have been embraced on previous AFI lists, and (b) the films/filmmakers that I believe most deserve recognition. By blending these two considerations together, I have composed my predictions of what these lists will end up looking like. (LOCK denotes a film that I cannot fathom being excluded from its category.)

Be sure to share your own favorites/predictions in the “Comments” section before the show…

Romantic Comedies (segment hosted by Jessica Alba)

1. Annie Hall (1977, d. Woody Allen) LOCK
   
2. It Happened One Night (1934, d. Frank Capra) LOCK
3. Roman Holiday (1953, d. William Wyler)
   
4. The Philadelphia Story (1940, d. George Cukor)
5. City Lights (1931, d. Charlie Chaplin)
   
6. Ninotchka (1939, d. Ernst Lubitsch)
7. Bringing Up Baby (1938, d. Howard Hawks)
8. When Harry Met Sally… (1989, d. Rob Reiner)
   
9. The Apartment (1960, d. Billy Wilder)
10. The Lady Eve (1941, d. Preston Sturges)

Fantasy (segment hosted by Sean Astin)

1. The Wizard of Oz (1939, d. Victor Fleming) LOCK
2. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946, d. Frank Capra) LOCK
3. King Kong (1933, d. Merian C. Cooper/Ernest B. Shoedsack) LOCK
4. The Princess Bride (1987, d. Rob Reiner)
5. Mary Poppins (1964, Robert Stevenson)
   
6. Big (1988, d. Penny Marshall)
7. Field of Dreams (1989, d. Phil Alden Robinson)
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, d. Peter Jackson)
9. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971, d. Mel Stuart)
10. Harvey (1950, d. Henry Koster)

Mystery (segment hosted by Gabriel Byrne)

1. Chinatown (1974, d. Roman Polanski) LOCK
2. The Maltese Falcon (1941, d. John Huston) LOCK
3. Vertigo (1958, d. Alfred Hitchcock)
   
4. Laura (1944, d. Otto Preminger)
5. Rear Window (1954, d. Alfred Hitchcock)
6. The Third Man (1949, d. Carol Reed)
   
7. In the Heat of the Night (1967, d. Norman Jewison)
8. The Usual Suspects (1995, d. Bryan Singer)
9. Gaslight (1944, d. George Cukor)
10. Blue Velvet (1986, d. David Lynch)

Epic (segment hosted by Kirk Douglas)

1. Gone with the Wind (1939, d. Victor Fleming) LOCK
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962, d. David Lean) LOCK
3. Ben-Hur (1959, d. William Wyler) LOCK
4. The Ten Commandments (1956, d. Cecil B. DeMille) LOCK
5. Apocalypse Now (1979, d. Francis Ford Coppola)
6. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, d. Lewis Milestone)
7. The Birth of a Nation (1915, d. D.W. Griffith)
8. Braveheart (1995, d. Mel Gibson)
9. Spartacus (1960, d. Stanley Kubrick)
10. Titanic (1997, d. James Cameron)

Western (segment hosted by Clint Eastwood)

1. The Searchers (1956, d. John Ford) LOCK
2. High Noon (1952, d. Fred Zinnemann) LOCK
3. Shane (1953, d. George Stevens) LOCK
4. Stagecoach (1939, d. John Ford)
   
5. Unforgiven (1992, d. Clint Eastwood)
6. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969, d. George Roy Hill)
7. The Wild Bunch (1969, d. Sam Peckinpah)
   
8. Giant (1956, d. George Stevens)
9. Red River (1948, d. Howard Hawks)
10. Dances with Wolves (1990, d. Kevin Costner)

Sports (segment hosted by Cuba Gooding Jr.)

1. Raging Bull (1980, d. Martin Scorsese) LOCK
2. Rocky (1976, d. John G. Avildsen) LOCK
3. The Pride of the Yankees (1942, d. Sam Wood) LOCK
4. Chariots of Fire (1981, d. Hugh Hudson) LOCK
5. Bull Durham (1988, d. Ron Shelton) LOCK
6. The Hustler (1961, d. Robert Rossen) LOCK
7. Jerry Maguire (1996, d. Cameron Crowe)
   
8. Field of Dreams (1989, d. Phil Alden Robinson)
9. Hoosiers (1986, d. David Anspaugh)
10. Million Dollar Baby (2004, d. Clint Eastwood)

Animation (segment hosted by Jennifer Love Hewitt)

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, d. David Hand) LOCK
2. Cinderella (1950, d. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, etc.) LOCK
3. Bambi (1942, d. David Hand) LOCK
4. Fantasia (1940, d. Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, etc.) LOCK
5. Pinocchio (1940, d. Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen) LOCK
6. Toy Story (1995, d. John Lasseter)
7. Dumbo (1941, d. Ben Sharpsteen)
   
8. Babe (1995, Chris Noonan)
9. Lady and the Tramp (1955, Clyde Gernomini, Wilfred Jackson, etc.)
10. The Lion King (1994, Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff)

Gangster (segment hosted by Quentin Tarantino)

1. The Godfather (1972, d. Francis Ford Coppola) LOCK
2. On the Waterfront (1954, d. Elia Kazan) LOCK
3. The Godfather, Part II (1974, d. Francis Ford Coppola) LOCK
4. GoodFellas (1990, d. Martin Scorsese)
5. White Heat (1949, d. Raoul Walsh)
6. Touch of Evil (1958, d. Orson Welles)
   
7. Little Caesar (1930, d. Mervyn LeRoy)
8. The Public Enemy (1931, d. William A. Wellman)
9. Pulp Fiction (1994, d. Quentin Tarantino)
10. The Untouchables (1987, d. Brian De Palma)

Sci-Fi (segment hosted by Sigourney Weaver)

1. E.T.—The Extra Terrestrial (1982, d. Steven Spielberg) LOCK
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, d. Stanley Kubrick) LOCK
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, d. Steven Spielberg) LOCK
4. Alien (1979, d. Ridley Scott) LOCK
5. Blade Runner (1982, d. Ridley Scott)
   
6. Back to the Future (1985, d. Robert Zemeckis)
7. A Clockwork Orange (1971, d. Stanley Kubrick)
8. Frankenstein (1931, d. James Whale)
   
9. Planet of the Apes (1968, d. Franklin J. Schaffner)
10. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, d. Robert Wise)

Courtroom Drama (segment hosted by James Woods)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, d. Robert Mulligan) LOCK
2. Twelve Angry Men (1957, d. Sidney Lumet) LOCK
3. Inherit the Wind (1960, d. Stanley Kramer)
4. Witness for the Prosecution (1957, d. Billy Wilder)
   
5. Anatomy of a Murder (1959, d. Otto Preminger)
6. The Caine Mutiny (1954, d. Edward Dmytryk)
7. Philadelphia (1993, d. Jonathan Demme)
8. The Accused (1988, d. Jonathan Kaplan)
9. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961, d. Stanley Kramer)
   
10. A Few Good Men (1992, d. Rob Reiner)

I am back east after a hectic last few days in Hollywood—sorry for not posting, but there was just no opportunity. I could get into details now… but I won’t. Suffice it to say that I have returned with not only a number of exciting new interviews/interview commitments, but also a significantly better understanding of the landscape of the upcoming awards season.

Among the sadder things I learned during one meeting is that the health of the great actress-dancer Cyd Charisse has taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks, leaving her many friends and husband, Tony Martin, gravely concerned. Charisse, who is best known for her work in classic M-G-M musicals such as Singin’ in the Rain (1952), The Band Wagon (1953), Brigadoon (1954), and Silk Stockings (1957), is no spring chicken (she turned 87 in March), but she and Martin (who she married in 1948, and who is 95) have remained quite active in recent years, and she seemed to be in very good form when she gave me a wonderful interview for my aforementioned book project just a few years ago. Anyway, here’s hoping she’s back on those famous million-dollar legs very soon.

Additional thoughts go out to Jackie Cooper‘s wife of nearly fifty-five years, Barbara Kraus, who is also ailing.

And, finally, of course, to the family of the great Tim Russert, whose weekly Q&As on NBC’s Meet the Press were must-see TV and helped to shape our national dialogue (as well as my own love of politics and interviewing style) for the past seventeen years. The universal praise and outpouring of grief over his untimely passing strikes me as comparable only to that which followed the death of another beloved analyst of our society, humorist Will Rogers, who perished in a plane crash in 1935, and of course the trio of 1960s political-assassination victims, President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in June 1968, exactly forty years ago this week.

ALSO: In completely unrelated news, I just wanted to mention that I spotted, of all people, Sid Ganis leaving a meeting at my hotel on Friday afternoon… I didn’t run into any stars this trip, but I ran into the president of the Academy… how appropriate!

This morning began with a very nice breakfast at the hotel, which was even nicer because it was comped—amazing what the discovery of some green gook in the toilet can get you! Afterwards, we headed out to Venice Beach to enjoy the beautiful weather, and later to the Los Angeles Farmer’s Market to get a bite and check out the shops. (I picked up a framed 27×40 original poster of Dracula at an art gallery, and only later thought about how much fun it is going to be trying to get that back to the east coast in one piece.)

As far as work goes, I scheduled some great interviews for the coming days, about which I’m very excited but also overwhelmed, as I have very little time to prepare: tomorrow, I’ll be speaking with Gloria Stuart, who most know as the older version of Kate Winslet in Titanic (1997), for which she received an Oscar nomination, but who was actually a great star of the early sound era in films like The Invisible Man (1933); Norman Corwin, one of the most important figures in the history of radio, whose “On a Note of Triumph” address on V-E Day in 1945 is regarded as one of the high points of the medium; and Jackie Cooper, the great 1930s child star who became the youngest person ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar (he’s still the record holder) for his powerful performance in Skippy (1931), for which director Norman Taurog famously induced him to cry by threatening to shoot his dog. Then, the crown jewel is on Friday, when I’ll have the privilege and thrill of speaking with one of the great actresses and beauties ever to grace the silver screen, Eva Marie Saint, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in On the Waterfront (1954) opposite Marlon Brando, and stole Cary Grant’s heart in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, among other fine performances. More on all of these to come.

I also had a dinner meeting with an old friend who is a top publicist for a major studio whose big horse is an early Best Picture favorite of many experts, based on its pedigree. (Deliberately vague, in case you wondered!) Our relationship is such that we never BS each other trying to sell something that isn’t there because we respect each other enough to know that the other one can see right through it, so I took what was said very seriously. While I agreed not to publicize the exact sentiments of our discussion this early in the season, I will be able to address them before long, and they will be taken into consideration when I compile my initial projections later this summer.

That’s all for now. Thanks for checking the site, and as always, I can be reached for industry-related inquiries at scottfeinberg[at]hotmail[dot]com, and for all other inquiries in the Comments section. Until next time…