Not only doesn't the American Film Institute not put Field of Dreams on its strictly for profit, revised 100 films list, but they knock out Dances With Wolves......What I'd like to say about this decision, I can't, because this is a family blog. Here's what I wrote elsewhere:
I find the American Film Institute’s revised, so-called “100 best” list preposterous.
No “Dances With Wolves,” “Roman Holiday,” “Gentleman’s Agreement,” “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner,” “Judgment at Nuremberg?” Come on.
“Toy Story” is listed, but not“Dumbo,” “Pinocchio” or “Fantasia?” No “Breakfast atTiffany’s?” “Mrs. Miniver” or anything Katharine Hepburn made with Spencer Tracy? No Tracy, in fact.
Only one Paul Newman film (“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” ranked too low). Only one Gregory Peck film (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” also ranked too low). And evidently, Martin Scorcese’s friends had a hand in putting this list together (“Raging Bull” at number 4? Please.)What the heck is “West Side Story” doing on the list? Does the panel know it had two stars (Natalie Wood andRichard Beymer) who didn’t do their own singing? And where are “Top Hat,” “An American in Paris” and “The Band Wagon?”
The movies were chosen by Hollywood insiders and critics. It’s time for AFI chief Jean Picker Firstenberg to let the selection process include those who really know something about movies – the public. Aren’t these films made for them? I would recommend that AFI put their original lists of 400 films on their Web site, and let the public make its picks.
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More about this tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's a link back to the Dances With Wolves review I did in March, just to explain again why this movie is so special:
http://costnercinemachat.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
