Sunday, May 4, 2008

Culling the Heard and Scene

A little bit of fluff that might be of interest here, the film critic for Time Out New York, David Fear, has a piece in/on MSNMovies has piece today on what 10 movies he would drop out of the "classics" category. I agree with some of what he say, disagree with other judgments, but it did put me in the mind of what movies I might similarly cull. For the exercise, let us rely on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest American films. For my part I would begin with #71 Forrest Gump, stupid perseverance can see us through indeed. #75 Dances With Wolves might not be far behind, the story of one soul-ful white man who understood, merde.

2 comments:

jon faith said...

Off subject, but I found the Agee on Sturges satisfying -- I have always noted the morbid moments in Howard Hawks, the unflinching glimpses even in comedies like His Girl Friday which chill the spirit, however briefly. As noted there is a loose motion in Sturges which can crawl over brutality or privation without a loss of velocity.

jon faith said...

Just perused the first list and my knife is out in defense of Arsenic and Old Lace, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner and Easy Rider. My arguments are weakest with Poitier-Travy-Hepburn, but damn, man!

As for Gentleman's Agreement, can we eschew a film that sports a line like, "He called me a dirty Jew"?