10 Best American Movies

(H/t the Corner)

On his NYT blog, Stanley Fish lists the top ten American movies of all time:

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Sunset Blvd (1950)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Shane (1953)
Red River (1948)
Raging Bull (1980)
Vertigo (1958)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Meet Me in St Louis (1944)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

Got that? Only two movies since 1958 are able to crack the top ten. Yeesh. Look, I'm attached to movies I grew up with too, but at least I have the wit to try and spread it around so that I don't look shallow.
No, I don't have my own list here. Some obvious candidates would be:

Gone with the Wind
Casablanca
Rear Window
West Side Story
Star Wars
ET
Dead Poet Society
Goodfellas
Schindler's List

and literally thousands of others.

Comments

DD4 said…
I have had "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" on my wish list with Netflix for at least two years. Apparently it hasn't been made into a DVD yet.
10:31 PM
Hans said…
You could easily put Talladega Nights, Animal House, Ronin, and Army of Darkness on that list, too. Sheesh. I've never even heard of a couple of his movie selections.

Help me think up a list of movies that you feel absolutely compelled to watch whenever you trip over them while flipping through the channels. Road House is an obvious candidate.
11:50 PM
Peder said…
Hans, I'd put Castaway and Anchorman in that category.
6:42 AM
Alfred T. Mahan said…
As far as a real list of top movies, you two are obviously not serious; anyone who thinks Talledega Nights OR Dead Poet's Society belongs with Double Indemnity or The Best Years Of Our Lives should seek immediate professional counseling.

As far as compelling movies, I agree on Road House (MST called it the greatest movie of all time), and would llump Animal House and Army of Darkness in with thar category.
9:05 AM
Hans said…
Andrew, I was kind of joking with my movie additions list - but only kind of. All of those would be on my list movies I would rather watch than the ones on Mr Fish's list, though. I think that Vertigo is weak - Kim Novak looks like a clown throughout the whole movie with her eyebrows painted on. It's distracting. Raging Bull is overrated. Groundhog Day is good and would be on my list of movies that I have to watch if I land on it while flipping through the channels. That's about it.

Also, my wife says that you should stop wasting time commenting on other people's blogs and write on your own. She's been waiting impatiently for another glimpse into your world for weeks now.
11:58 PM
Alfred T. Mahan said…
Looking back at Mr. Fish's list (what a name!), I will certainly agree that Vertigo is overrated, but then I've never been a fan of Mr. Hitchcock's works. I've never seen Raging Bull, and wonder if it's included for the iconic De Niro role.

I will say that I caught Anchorman the other night, and found it to be like watching a documentary about killer sharks or crocodiles or something; it's so oddly compelling and bizzare, I couldn't change the channel.

Great cinema it's not, but it was amusing, at least.
12:37 AM
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