The Most Moving Moving Pictures
The other night, the American Film Institute unveiled its choices for the "100 Most Inspirational Movies of All Time."
I'm a sucker for lists like these, because I love all kinds of movies. Well, except for those Flatulence-Obsessed Tweener Flicks, such as this spring's "The Benchwarmers." Which, in a way, I still grudgingly respect, since they make googles of dollars.
The "Most Inspirational" list is the 10th Top 100 honor roll AFI has released since 1998, in an ongoing celebration of film called "100 Years, 100 Movies." AFI has recognized cinematic greatness in all sorts of categories, from "Top 100 Thrillers," to "Top 100 Villains," to "Top 100 Wooden Performances by Brad Pitt."
Most entertainment industry awards presume to make "us," the great unwashed, privy to the sophisticated wisdom of "them," a privileged and elite group of entertainment industry insiders who control the voting. But AFI's "Top 100s" are different. The vote that could put your fave film atop an AFI list could come from you - yep, little ol' unwashed you.
Understand, qualifying is tough. You must have (1) $50 to fork over to AFI, and (2) a pulse. Together, these secure you a one-year membership as a "Friend" of AFI, with the right to vote for future "All Time" lists, such as the upcoming "Top 100 Wacky Faces Made by Jim Carrey."
As on every AFI list, dozens of the top inspirational movies are classics, "classic" meaning "films my family will never watch," not, and I quote, "in a billion years, even if you MAKE us!" This is because they're in black and white. My wife did watch a bit of "Good Night and Good Luck" before falling asleep, but my kids positively won't tolerate any monochromatic viewing experience, except for that episode of Nickelodeon's "Fairly Oddparents" where Timmy wishes all people were the same, so Wanda and Cosmo have to turn everyone into shapeless, unwashed gray blobs.
I'll probably also never convince my wife to sit and watch any of the sports-related inspirational films. That's too bad, because I think every sports-centered picture ever made has some sort of inspirational - as well as persperational - message. This is true even of the baseball-themed "Benchwarmers." It inspired me to realize that if junk like this can get produced, I DEFINITELY need to send Steven Spielberg those moronic movie ideas I dreamed up a couple years ago.
About a dozen "sports" movies made the top 100, but that's kind of stretching it, since I'm counting "Searching for Bobby Fisher," which is about chess, and "Rudy," which is about some rinky-dink college football team.
However, I must say of "Rudy" that I'm proud, as a born-and-bred Hoosier, that it's one of three films on the list set in Indiana. The other two earned Top 15 rankings, proving, I think, that "Indiana" and "inspiration" are synonymous ("synonymous" meaning "containing many of the same letters"). The basketball film "Hoosiers" garnered 13th place, and the bicycling movie "Breaking Away" earned the 8th spot. I have high hopes that by the time AFI starts producing "200 Years, 200 Movies" lists, yet another film with a significant Indiana storyline will be among those honored - "The Don Stuart Story," starring, as me, me. (I told you I had several moronic movie ideas!)
Speaking of being cast as oneself, there are several such portrayals among the top inspirational movies. In film No. 22, "The Pride of the Yankees," Babe Ruth played himself; in "2001: A Space Odyssey," the supercomputer "HAL" was played by an actual supercomputer named Hal; and in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," ranked 67th, the stiff and expressionless robot was, of course, Brad Pitt.
Speaking of Babe Ruth, 200 other films were nominated for AFIs inspirational list, but didn't make the top 100. One was 1948's "The Babe Ruth Story," starring William Bendix as the lamest-swinging Sultan of Swat in movie history. The kindest review I ever read of this film called it "perfectly abysmal."
Other curious nominees stand out as well: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"? "Rollerball"? "The Bad News Bears"?
Who in the heck considers these movies "inspirational"? Well, according to a rumor I started--I mean, found--on the Internet, the nominating committee was pressured to add these films by the film industry's most privileged and elite group of insiders - the makers of Flatulence-Obsessed Tweener Flicks.
TakefiveT5@yahoo.com
I'm a sucker for lists like these, because I love all kinds of movies. Well, except for those Flatulence-Obsessed Tweener Flicks, such as this spring's "The Benchwarmers." Which, in a way, I still grudgingly respect, since they make googles of dollars.
The "Most Inspirational" list is the 10th Top 100 honor roll AFI has released since 1998, in an ongoing celebration of film called "100 Years, 100 Movies." AFI has recognized cinematic greatness in all sorts of categories, from "Top 100 Thrillers," to "Top 100 Villains," to "Top 100 Wooden Performances by Brad Pitt."
Most entertainment industry awards presume to make "us," the great unwashed, privy to the sophisticated wisdom of "them," a privileged and elite group of entertainment industry insiders who control the voting. But AFI's "Top 100s" are different. The vote that could put your fave film atop an AFI list could come from you - yep, little ol' unwashed you.
Understand, qualifying is tough. You must have (1) $50 to fork over to AFI, and (2) a pulse. Together, these secure you a one-year membership as a "Friend" of AFI, with the right to vote for future "All Time" lists, such as the upcoming "Top 100 Wacky Faces Made by Jim Carrey."
As on every AFI list, dozens of the top inspirational movies are classics, "classic" meaning "films my family will never watch," not, and I quote, "in a billion years, even if you MAKE us!" This is because they're in black and white. My wife did watch a bit of "Good Night and Good Luck" before falling asleep, but my kids positively won't tolerate any monochromatic viewing experience, except for that episode of Nickelodeon's "Fairly Oddparents" where Timmy wishes all people were the same, so Wanda and Cosmo have to turn everyone into shapeless, unwashed gray blobs.
I'll probably also never convince my wife to sit and watch any of the sports-related inspirational films. That's too bad, because I think every sports-centered picture ever made has some sort of inspirational - as well as persperational - message. This is true even of the baseball-themed "Benchwarmers." It inspired me to realize that if junk like this can get produced, I DEFINITELY need to send Steven Spielberg those moronic movie ideas I dreamed up a couple years ago.
About a dozen "sports" movies made the top 100, but that's kind of stretching it, since I'm counting "Searching for Bobby Fisher," which is about chess, and "Rudy," which is about some rinky-dink college football team.
However, I must say of "Rudy" that I'm proud, as a born-and-bred Hoosier, that it's one of three films on the list set in Indiana. The other two earned Top 15 rankings, proving, I think, that "Indiana" and "inspiration" are synonymous ("synonymous" meaning "containing many of the same letters"). The basketball film "Hoosiers" garnered 13th place, and the bicycling movie "Breaking Away" earned the 8th spot. I have high hopes that by the time AFI starts producing "200 Years, 200 Movies" lists, yet another film with a significant Indiana storyline will be among those honored - "The Don Stuart Story," starring, as me, me. (I told you I had several moronic movie ideas!)
Speaking of being cast as oneself, there are several such portrayals among the top inspirational movies. In film No. 22, "The Pride of the Yankees," Babe Ruth played himself; in "2001: A Space Odyssey," the supercomputer "HAL" was played by an actual supercomputer named Hal; and in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," ranked 67th, the stiff and expressionless robot was, of course, Brad Pitt.
Speaking of Babe Ruth, 200 other films were nominated for AFIs inspirational list, but didn't make the top 100. One was 1948's "The Babe Ruth Story," starring William Bendix as the lamest-swinging Sultan of Swat in movie history. The kindest review I ever read of this film called it "perfectly abysmal."
Other curious nominees stand out as well: "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"? "Rollerball"? "The Bad News Bears"?
Who in the heck considers these movies "inspirational"? Well, according to a rumor I started--I mean, found--on the Internet, the nominating committee was pressured to add these films by the film industry's most privileged and elite group of insiders - the makers of Flatulence-Obsessed Tweener Flicks.
# # #
TakefiveT5@yahoo.com
posted by Don Stuart at 2:44 PM
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