The American Film Institute released their list of the top 100 movies some time back. Some good choices, some bad choices, but ultimately it’s a mere suggestion and meant to provoke discussion.
I’ve also realized that I usually have nothing to do on Tuesday nights. After some tough thinking, I realized that there’s a connection here.
With that in mind, I’m hosting a movie night for several of my friends. Each Tuesday we’re going to watch the next movie in the list, starting with Citizen Kane. Someone asked why we won’t start at 100 and work our way down-- I replied that if we began with Yankee Doodle Dandy, we’d probably lose interest after a few weeks and have little to show for it. If we start with Citizen Kane, Casablanca, et al, and get bored after a few weeks, at least we saw the best.
Given that there are relatively few Dopers in the Minneapolis area, I’d like to extend this worldwide. If you’re interested in participating, great! Just watch the movie every Tuesday night (if you really want to be picky, showtime is at 7:30 pm central US time) and join me in this thread (or in the sequel threads, if this actually becomes moderately successful)
Because of the wide variety of Doperish insight, I think it’d be a great experience for us to watch these movies “together” and then discuss them afterwards. Or maybe I’m just blissfully clueless. Either way, I’ve got a smile on my face.
One last try- I thought I’d get at least two responses…
C’mon, it’ll be fun! You can share your best Crowe/Tom/Joel || Mike wisecracks. You can intelligently discuss the filming techniques while others complain that Rosebud was a fricking sled. You can even leave your pants off while doing this.
Or you can burn in hell while screaming, “I wish, I wish I had watched those movies! Oh, have mercy!”
Why, whatever do you mean? Rosebud is a doper (and a pretty cute one at that).
[sub]What’s wrong with you, giving away the ending to a 60 year old movie? Next thing you know, you’ll be telling us the secret of The Third Man or that Edward Norton’s character in Fight Club is mumble mumble mumble.[/sub]
Yeah, right, Rosebud was a sled. Rosebud was his innocence, you fool! Next thing you’ll be telling us that Bobo was just a stuffed bear… [/TongueInCheek]
Hmm… turns out I’ve only seen about 47 of the 100. Not horrible considering that more than 74 were made before I was born. (I was born in 74… odd numerical patterns.)
Honestly I don’t know if I’d want to watch Citizen Kane again anyway. Innovative techniques for it’s day, I’m sure, but I thought it was a rather cold, uninviting film. I could respect it, but not love it. Casablanca, on the other hand…
Cold, uninviting? Just like this girl I dated in college…
Skip the movie and join in the discussion, then. Plus, this is a great excuse for everyone to add to their movie collection. You can be pretentious! Whereas other people have Amazon Women on the Moon and Earth Girls Are Easy (cough cough), you can have Casablanca and Citizen Kane! Women will swoon, men will admire you, and small children will run shrieking because you forgot to wear pants.
Amazon Women on the Moon–I could have sworn that was an Abbott and Costello movie… They had these balloons that popped whenever Lou (who they had declared King) had an unfaithful thought or something along those lines.
And I already own Casablanca; maybe I won’t watch it today, maybe not tomorrow…
OK, I’ll see if I didn’t tape over the “master-pizza” of American cinema from the last time it was on TCM. Maybe I’ll appreciate more the second time. If I don’t have it, can I substitute the Simpson Halloween’s “Citizen Kang”?
[minor hijack]
K-zoo is about 3.5 hours one way for me. I drove that once for a blind “date”. (Never again!) That’s a little far for me to drive on a weeknight. I have to drive to GR on Thursday for work as it is.
But I must think there are a few other Kazoo Dopers… I’ve already met three from Flint.
[/minor hijack]
This sounds like fun, but could you give us say, the first 5 films? I know my household won’t be able to religiously commit to Tuesday nights, but it would be a good list to have on hand when we go to the video store over the weekend.
Sure. According to the link in the OP (if you want all 100), the top ten movies are:
Citizen Kane (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
The Godfather (1972)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
On The Waterfront (1954)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
If you can’t watch the movie on Tuesday night, that’s fine-- just try to catch it before the next Tuesday and join in the discussion threads as they come up. Ideally I’d like to have one thread per week/movie to keep the discussions distinct, and we’d just move to the next one as time goes by.
And yup, almost two years is commitment indeed. Here’s hoping the message board is still around in 2003…
