AFI Recap: #91 – #100

91. My Fair Lady (1964) – I will say I enjoyed the linguistic aspect of this movie and found it quite interesting.  I also found both Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrington to be very charming in their roles.  However, there are way, way, way too many songs and it is overlong by about an hour. 

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92. A Place in the Sun (1952) – This tale of climbing the social ladder starring Liz Taylor and Montgomery Cliff has its pluses and minuses.  The story was quite unexpected and took some twists I didn’t see coming.  But Clift is such a wooden lead it makes it somewhat hard to swallow.  A decent movie, but I’m not sure why its here and 12 Angry Men isn’t. 

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93. The Apartment (1960) – One of the great films of comedy.  Jack Lemmon and Shirley MaClaine both give wonderful performances in this charming movie which seems like it was a major influence on the modern hit show Mad Men.  Its not quite at the level of other comedy greats like MASH, but it should still be on this list.  This is probably the perfect place for it. 

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94. Goodfellas (1990) – I’m not a guy who “gets” Scorsese much, but I would say that this is my favourite of his films.  Goodfellas has a great energy.  Now, this is praised by a lot of people, and I wouldn’t say I’m one of those die hard Goodfellas fans, I just enjoy it.  It shouldn’t be ahead of Pulp Fiction, but I’m okay with it making the cut of 100.

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95. Pulp Fiction (1994) – One of the most influential of recent films, Pulp Fiction definitely deserves a place on this list and perhaps could be a few notches higher.  Great dialogue, interesting performances, and an unorthodox storytelling method sets this great film apart. 

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96. The Searchers (1956) – If you’ve been following these recaps you know I’m not a big fan of westerns or musicals.  I don’t mind westerns, it just requires more for them to win me over.  The Searchers didn’t accomplish that.  John Wayne’s performance was as typically John Wayne as ever, and this story just wasn’t all that involving.  There was some nice cinematography, but that’s about it. 

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97. Bringing Up Baby (1938) – If there is one movie on this list which deserves more recognition than is gets, its this one.  Simply put, Bringing Up Baby is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.  Its screwball comedy at its utmost best and Grant and Hepburn are amazing together.  And beneath the hilarity is a really great philosophy about living without restrictions and within a certain level of chaos.  This should be much, much, much higher on this list.  Much higher.  An absolute gem.

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98. Unforgiven (1992) – Unforgiven took me by surprise.  It managed to pull off being a tribute to westerns while also using the genre’s best qualities to be a great film.  It looks great and its pacing is just right; a slow build to a great and fitting conclusion. Read my full review here.

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99. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967) – Some people believe that this is too self aware and is liberal, PC rambling.  They are wrong.  Guess Who manages to hit just the right sentiment; not being too preachy nor too wishy-washy.  The racism is dealt with responsibly in a way that is appreciated; it doesn’t go one way and the fact that we are not dealing with conservative parents but liberal parent’s who are now faced with their ideals makes it mean much more.  That, and Spencer Tracy is simply awesome. 

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100. Yankee Doodle Dandee (1942) – Well, as I’ve said I’m not a musical fan.  But this one wasn’t half bad.  Perhaps that’s because the song and dance routines actually made sense within the context of the film.  They only showed up when the characters themselves were performing them on stage.  And though I wasn’t a big fan of the songs (and I thought Cagney was really struggling with them), I liked the story and really laughed at some great moments, like when his future wife meets him dressed as an old man, and when she makes a certain comment about flowers and candy.  But I have to say this: This movie may just have the stupidest sounding name  in Hollywood history. One of the worst titles ever.  Oh well. 

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My favourite of the 10: Bringing Up Baby

Well, that’s it.  I’ve gone through the entire list.  Check out all of my entries here.  I hope you’ve found my recaps interesting and informative.