But Star Wars (the 1977 one) is a childhood favourite and inviolable when it comes to criticism. Empire just doesn’t compare.

In fact, No.s 4, 6, 7, 9 & 10 should not be in the Top 10, though they should be on the list.

Everyone talks about the greatness of the opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan. I’ve always felt the final battle was even better. So many deaths in that sequence are the most harrowing I’ve seen in any war movie.

I’d be the first to argue that King Kong 1933 has aged REMARKABLY Well, certainly ditto on The Third Man, Citizen Kane, And yes, Psycho too (only fault with Psycho is the needless denoument which has not aged well, by my criteria…the rest of the film is great).

Fargo is an American Classic much the same way that Citizen Kane and The Godfather is, and quite a cinematically austere film. Totally belongs in the upper bounds of the list.

What surprises me is the lack of Douglas Sirk and John Frankenheimer - Sure The Manchurian Candidate is there, but I’d much rather the man have more than one title up there, SECONDS should have been on the list. In terms of very modern films, I’d have liked to see City of God and The 25th Hour there too. C’est La Vie.

Oh, and Empire beats the cinematic tar out of A new hope, whether you were old enough to catch them on the original theatrical run or not!

Anyway, plenty of people are getting their panties in a bunch over this list, but I think that’s because some people take lists too seriously. It’s a fun list. Maybe a little predictable at points, but you can’t call having Ed Wood, Leon, L.A. Confidential, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, or Aguirre, the Wrath of God predictable.

Yes, I’m a little flabbergasted that Paul Newman (my second favorite actor EVER) was more or less snubbed: Hud, The Hustler, Butch Cassidy, The Sting, The Verdict, and ESPECIALLY Cool Hand Luke were all overlooked. What a shame. The lack of foreign films is indeed disappointing, but the reason they’re left off makes sense: our access to foreign films is limited compared to English-speaking ones and it seems that everyone had their 10-20 foreign films that they loved and voted for - but they were all different and thus canceled each other out, whereas other films like The Godfather made nearly every list regardless. Of course other all-time favorites of mine such as The Great Silence, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Outlaw Josey Wales, The Deer Hunter, Le Samourai, Once Upon a Time in America, Downfall, Harvey, The Twilight Samurai, The Elephant Man, Samurai, Rope, High Noon, Ikiru, The City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, and so on were all overlooked and didn’t make the cut… yet, I’m still happy with the list. I think it’s interesting and unique, despite many of the predictable choices.

Yes, I’m actually proud of this list.

As for SPRyan, I was captivated by the entire film. Not once was I even close to being bored. Yes, the opening sequence is maybe the best part, but everything that happens afterwards is so much more important (from a character depth and story standpoint).

And Adam, “Fargo” is brilliance personified.

Heh. I’m not a gigantic fan of The Godfather either. It was on my list though and belongs somewhere on a top 100 for sure. Given the choice, i’ll take Citizen Kane over it though. For my money, Coppola’s The Conversation and Apocalypse are more compelling films, but I acknowlege the affect of The Godfather on the American Psyche as much as those other two films.

As I mentioned on last weeks show, the bottom 20 of the list is always more interesting than the top 20 - films that are canonized almost beyond contention. As much as I love Casablanca (and I love the film, particularly the supporting cast), it doesn’t belong in the top 10.

I hate to be the contrarian here, but most of my top 10 was in the bottom 30 on this list, perhaps massive points boosts even put them up there.

I am shocked too about a couple of those. SPR actually came in at about 106 and American Beauty at about 168.

I’m pissed (though not surprised) that Godfather came in at #1. Most over-rated film in history. Not only did it come in at #1, it was on FAR more voters’ lists and had a higher score than any of the films after it BY FAR.

Every title after Godfather were pretty close in contention (i.e. neck and neck throughout the entire vote tallying process). But it was clear right away that The Godfather would blow everything else out of the water. I still don’t get it.

There are some adbsent that I thought were automatically going to make it onto the list in some way. Example of that are:

Saving Private Ryan - I was utterly GOBSMACKED that this didn’t make it!
Requiem for a Dream
Donnie Darko
Se7en
Mulholland Drive
OLBDOY!!
CITY OF GOD!!
American Beauty
Batman Begins
Snatch
And many, many more….

7 of MY Top 10 made it onto the list and 40 of the films I had on my ranked top 100 list made it onto the final list - so I am content.