Do yourself and your family a big favor. 

Don’t watch either of the first two Godfather movies, because once you do you will very likely become addicted to them, and you will want to watch them every time either one comes on TV or cable (I would not say the same about no. 3). 

And I would encourage you to rethink “All About Eve,” and “The Graduate.”

I guess I watch too many movies.  I’ve seen all but 18 on the list, and there were several I would be happy to never see again.  I couldn’t choose 5 I haven’t seen that I would like to. Basically, if I havn’t seen it, I have no interest in it.  My five favorites on the list are:  Singin’ in the Rain, It’s a Wonderful Life, The African Queen, Rear Window, and Ben Hur.  Five on the list I watched and either actively disliked or was extremely bored by were:  2001 A Space Odyssey, Apocalypse Now, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Annie Hall, and The Birth of a Nation.  Five favorites that weren’t on the list were:  The Ten Commandments (with Charlton Heston, not the silent one), The Great Escape, Fiddler on the Roof, The Lord of the Rings, and Waking Ned Devine.

How does someone named Bettinelli not see the Godfather Trilogy?

If I want to watch home movies, I got those.

I’ve only seen 11 of these movies. I really need to get out more.

Well, off the top of my head there are at least 5 films that have no place on that list:

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Amadeus (!!)
Dances With Wolves
Forrest Gump
Fargo

And, just for the sake of argument, at least five to replace them, in chron order:

Rebecca
Our Town (yes, the play is better and the current state of the film’s condition is poor, but the ensemble and performances are pitch-perfect and Copland’s score among the most evocative ever done)
The Lady Eve
Magnificent Ambersons (even in its butchered condition it’s heads above any of the five to be removed)
The Night of The Hunter

Honorable Mention: Most Dangerous Game (an overlooked gem of the classic 30s horror genre)

Megan: Or stay in and watch movies more.

Liam, your beef is with the American Film Institute. In case you didn’t click through to the link, here was their criteria:
Movies that were on the list:

  * had to be made in the United States;
  * must have English as their language;
  * must run over sixty minutes in length;
  * had to be recognised at many award shows and festivals, and by critics and audiences;
  * left a lasting mark on American history and society.

Frankly, I don’t often find myself in agreement with the tastes of film geeks so I consider it a wonder I recognize so many movies on their list.

I guess you are a film fan, so it’s no wonder I recognize the name of only 1 of the 6 movies you list.

Thanks for the tag.  It is interesting to see the areas of overlap and mismatch.

Dom, you really should watch the Godfather - good stuff.  And I would avoid Fargo - but that is just my opinion.

My reply is up.

Any such list that excludes the greatest film of all time, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, isn’t worthy of the empty spool on my bathroom wall.

And the exclusion of BECKET is also inexcusable.

At least they had the sense to include THE THIRD MAN.

Dom

Yes, my beef is with the AFI, of course. The films I listed met the AFI criteria more than the films I suggest be removed.

Rebecca is classic early US Hitchcock (albeit with a British cast and setting) - many scenes in it are reference points in other films and media.
The Lady Eve is the classic Preston Surges screwball comedy with Barbara Stanwyck.
Magnificent Ambersons is Orson Welles *other* masterpiece, based on the influential Booth Tarkington novel about the rise and fall of an mid-western dynasty at the turn of the 20th century - the advent of the automobile in this film being a much-referred device in other works
The Night of the Hunter is one you should see - Charles Laughton directing Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish in a magnificently dark nightmare - so many images from this film have been used in other films and media.

I hardly go to the movies any more - usually only once a year. American films had a great run in the early-mid 90s, but Titanic in 1997 so altered economies in major studios that we are condemned to a much higher load of unedited mediocrity nowadays.

Thomas

A Man for All Seasons was a UK, not US, film, so it cannot qualify on the AFI list. I think that is also true for Becket, IIRC.

Thanks for the tag Dom.  Got my list up, but I ignored the criteria of course.

Avoid Fargo.  It was awful in my opinion.  They gave the Asian guy a Norwegian accent.  And everybody was just a bunch of hicks stumbling through life.

All About Eve is a fairly good movie.  Its status as a classic in the gay community has little, if anything, to do with the actual movie itself.

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