Top 5 From the AFI Top 100

Travis

So, in the thread for movies that people haven't seen @A.Ron.Hubbard brought up the AFI top 100 list and it seemed like a lot of people had the sentiment that they maybe hadn't seen as many of the movies from the list as they would like (myself included). So, I thought it might be both fun and a good reference if any interested parties put their top 5 out there (or as many as you like, 5 just felt like a good number). Also, if you think there is a great movie that may not make your top 5, but you feel has probably been overlooked by people that you want to highlight, please do so. So, what say you?

Here's a link to the list: http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx

Mine (in the order that they occurred to me):
the Maltese Falcon
Fellowship of the Ring
Silence of the Lambs
Pulp Fiction
Annie Hall

It was really hard to not put Sunset Boulevard, North By Northwest and Dr. Strangelove in so I suppose that I have now listed them as honorable mentions.

hypergenesb

I've seen about 80% of this list, due mostly to film classes in college.

My Top 5 favorites (in no particular order)
• Chinatown
• Goodfellas
• Star Wars
• Pulp Fiction
• All the President's Men

Honorable Mentions: The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Silence of the Lambs, Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange, and any of the Hitchcock films on the list

Travis

@hypergenesb‌ Chinatown is one that I haven't gotten to yet. I really need to see that one. I hear really great things.

I saw Citizen Kane in my mid 20s, after hearing that it was the best movie ever made for years and years. I was really surprised when I wasn't let down. It may not be my favorite, but it really is a fantastic movie.

AntManBee

1. 2001: A Space Oddysey
2. Dr. Strangelove
3. Citizen Kane
4. The Godfather
5. Taxi Driver

I was disappointed that my favorite Woody Allen movie, Crimes & Misdemeanors, didn't make the cut.

Also, I know this is the AFI and films from outside the U.S. have no business in the discussion, but Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire without a doubt hits my all-time top 5. So I just wanted to give it a shout out here.

Dee

Singin' In The Rain
Some Like It Hot
To Kill A Mockingbird
Cabaret
The Philadelphia Story

Can I have 6? If so, Goodfellas.

Travis

@Dee‌ Singin' in the Rain is so great. If I had gone to a top 10 that would have made it. It's my wife's all time favorite movie.

Dee

@TravisSmith‌ I ADORE Singin' In The Rain - I watch it every year or so, and have done since I was little. The talent of Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor blows me away. It boggles my mind to think how fit they must have been. In the "Good Morning" scene you can really see Debbie Reynolds working to keep up with them - and she does, bless her. But they make it look like a breeze.

Jim

I don't want to say Godfather 1 & 2 on the same list but they're both amazing. So here's my roughly ordered list:

• The Godfather
  
• Star Wars
  
• Pulp Fiction
  
• Dr. Strangelove
  
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
  

There are several that are super close to cracking the top 5, like Rocky, but I can't remove anything in good conscience.

ksa1001

Wow, what a hard exercise. I believe I had 11. To narrow down to 5 I went with the films I've actually WATCHED the most times.

The Godfather
Saving Private Ryan
Goodfellas
Pulp Fiction
Do The Right Thing

tom_g

How come Dee got six??

I'd go with:

The Bridge on the River Kwai
Lawrence of Arabia
Pulp Fiction
The Godfather
Goodfellas

Dee

@tom_g‌ I took advantage of the "or as many as you like" bit. :-)

FlashGordon

1)The Godfather
2)Dr Strangelove
3)Goodfellas
4)Rear Window
5)Pulp Fiction

That was hard and I actually feel bad for not including some of the others, I would casually throw away the statement 'that film is totally in my top 5 of all time', without ever actually compiling the list and especially never by ranking, I've had to face up to that lack of commitment here and it wasn't nice.

I wrote a bit of rant and then deleted it here, about why films like A clockwork orange, Lawrence of Arabia etc are considered American films, when they've got a British cast, British Director and in ACWO entirely filmed & set in the UK, but i argued myself full circle to that if you're putting up the cash, you basically own it.. I'd hate the 'big 6' if they hadn't financed the greatest films of all time.

Emmelyne

This was a very difficult task, and it has reminded there are many movies I need to watch!

All About Eve (definitely the top of this particular list)

Pulp Fiction

Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf

The Deer Hunter

The Shawshank Redemption

I almost included Duck Soup, but truthfully Monkey Business is my favorite Marx Brothers movie.

I probably should have included Raider's of the Lost Ark and Star Wars, but being that I was born in the seventies and a child of the eighties, I feel those are a given and are understood as such. Maybe I am cheating a little. Sorry!

TaraC73

Tough task to pick out just 5, but my all time favorite movies are on this list so I'll just go with that. In my favorite order:
Godfather I & II**
Shawshank Redemption
Jaws
Pulp Fiction
Goodfellas

** I rank I&II together because IMO they really need to widely release the Godfather saga (I&II edited together in chronological order) and it would end up on every list as the greatest movie of all time.

JayInMemphis

Damn, this is a difficult exercise. Not everything that I might consider for my Top 5 made the list, but working within this universe of American and sometimes British movie classics, these jump out for crackling scripts, ensemble performances, and added texture like music or cinematography:

Casablanca
12 Angry Men
Network
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Jaws #jawsisbetter

Yeah, tough choices. Dr. Strangelove is getting plenty of love in here, so I left it off as a 5B. Had a hard time choosing a Hitchcock, but Vertigo isn't my favorite of his (I love Rear Window, which was on, and Rope, which wasn't).

When picking a single film as opposed to a body of work, it's strange which directors came up. I mean, OK, John Ford, but I wouldn't have guessed Spielberg about myself. Love Sidney Lumet though.

Raiyne

I'm going to name my top 5 films not already on someone's list.

The Grapes of Wrath
The Searchers
Blade Runner
It Happened One Night
Unforgiven

Hatorian

Star Wars 

Saving Private Ryan

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Shawshank Redemption

then its a tie between Lord of the Rings and Toy Story

Frakkin T

If Captain America The Winter Soldier is not on that list then the AFI can go f**k itself

Frakkin T

Just kidding! There's no way I could choose 5 of these and put them in order. Pulp Fiction is probably the most fun for me, but Star Wars and ET have so much more sentimental value. Citizen Kane is a towering achievement, as is the pair of Godfathers and Apocalypse Now. The is nothing like Taxi Driver or Clockwork Orange or Cuckoo's Nest. This list is a little suspect to me, anyway; like many "best" lists, it is drama-heavy and very much "genre films need not apply."