The Best!

I was reading the New York Times today (at work, of course) and I read a piece by Stanley Fish in which he listed the ten movies that are, in his opinion, the best American movies. No doubt your interest has been piqued - which movies made the cut? Have you seen any of them? Perhaps one of your favorite movies is on the list? To satisfy your curiosity, here are Stanley's Top Ten:

1. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy; dir. William Wyler
2. Sunset Blvd. (1950) starring William Holden, Gloria Swanson; dir. Billy Wilder
3. Double Indemnity (1944) starring Walter Neff, Barbara Stanwyck; dir. Billy Wilder
4. Shane (1953) starring Alan Ladd; dir. George Stevens
5. Red River (1948) starring John Wayne; dir. Howard Hawks
6. Raging Bull (1980) starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty; dir. Martin Scorsese
7. Vertigo (1958) starring Jimmy Stewart; dir. Alfred Hitchcock
8. Groundhog Day (1993) starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell; dir. Harold Ramis
9. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) starring Judie Garland, Margaret O'Brien; dir. Vincente Minnelli
10. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945) starring Peggy Ann Garner, James Dunn; dir. Elia Kazan

His honorable mentions include Quiz Show, The Wild Bunch, Nashville, My Darling Clementine, How Green Was My Valley, The Night of the Hunter, Lonely Are the Brave, Detective Story, All About Eve, and Ace in the Hole.

As a disclaimer (mine, not Mr. Fish's), please note that Stanley is an older gentlemen. This helped me to understand why eight out of ten of his picks were released prior to 1960, and the newest film in his list is Groundhog Day. There are 733 comments on Stanley's piece, most of them disagreeing with him and/or suggesting alternative films that exemplify American film-making. To me, this list read more like "My Favorite Films Growing Up, by Stanley Fish" than a truly accurate representation of the best domestic films. Because I know that you're all waiting for it, I now offer you my own "Top Ten Best American Films." (Disclaimer: my rating system is not written in stone. I hate having to choose my favorite movies. To me, it's how I would imagine parents would feel if they had to choose a favorite child - though perhaps that's a bad example. Lots of parents have favorites, even though they shouldn't! Anyway.) (Also, my list is limited to movies that I have seen.)

1. Casablanca (1942) starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman; dir. Michael Curtiz
2. Psycho (1960) starring Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins; dir. Alfred Hitchcock
3. The Defiant Ones (1958) starring Sidney Poitier, Tony Curtis; dir. Stanley Cramer
4. On the Waterfront (1954) starring Marlon Brando; dir. Elia Kazan
5. The Godfather (1972) starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino; dir. Francis Ford Coppola
6. Star Wars (1977) starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher; dir. George Lucas
7. Pulp Fiction (1994) starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson; dir. Quentin Tarantino
8. The Usual Suspects (1994) starring Kevin Spacey, Dean Keaton; dir. Bryan Singer
9. Schindler's List (1993) starring Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes; dir. Steven Spielberg
10. Philadelphia (1993) starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington; dir. Jonathan Demme

So that's it. Those are the ten movies that I believe are the best examples of American film-making. I know that there are those that may disagree with me, but since very few of them will read my blog, I feel secure in my choices. In fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to throw out a few honorable mentions: Fight Club, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Magnificent Seven, Some Like It Hot, The Great Escape, The Philadelphia Story, and Dr. Strangelove.

Now, some of you (you know who you are) may be thinking to yourselves "Hey! She's completely ignoring many time-honored classics - films that have made lists ever since they were made!" It's true. I am ignoring many of the films that you might learn about in a film class. But let's be serious: how many of you would have watched Citizen Kane if it hadn't been required viewing for said film class? I've seen it (for a film class), and I found it to be incredibly boring. And if you're still not satisfied with either my top ten or my honorable mentions, I invite you to make your own lists. Send me the link to your blog so that I can criticize your choices.