Showing posts with label It's a Wonderful Life. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 31, 1997

Mr. Showbiz: 100 Best Movies of All Time

Mr. Showbiz:

100 Best Movies of All Time

The Mr. Showbiz site, which Filmsite.org called, “one of the Web’s earliest providers of entertainment and celebrity news and information,” was established in 1995 and ceased in 2001. In 1997, the site published two lists – one ranked the top 100 movies based on critics and the other on readers. Here the two lists have been aggregated to create a single top 100 list. Note: the top 50 movies appeared on both lists.

1. Casablanca (1942)
2. Gone with the Wind (1939)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. The Godfather Part II (1974)
5. Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
6. The Godfather (1972)
7. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
9. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
10. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

11. Pulp Fiction (1994)
12. North by Northwest (1959)
13. Blade Runner (1982)
14. The Graduate (1967)
15. Raging Bull (1980)
16. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
17. Apocalypse Now (1979)
18. Chinatown (1974)
19. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
20. Schindler’s List (1993)

21. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
22. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
23. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
24. Vertigo (1958)
25. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
26. Rear Window (1954)
27. Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
28. Jaws (1975)
29. Taxi Driver (1976)
30. Annie Hall (1977)

31. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
32. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
33. Manhattan (1979)
34. Goodfellas (1990)
35. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
36. Unforgiven (1992)
37. Some Like It Hot (1959)
38. Blue Velvet (1986)
39. Die Hard (1988)
40. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

41. The Deer Hunter (1978)
42. All About Eve (1950)
43. Psycho (1960)
44. The Terminator (1984)
45. West Side Story (1961)
46. The Piano (1993)
47. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
48. Tootsie (1982)
49. The Quiet Man (1952)
50. Patton (1970)

51. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
52. City Lights (1931)
53. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
54. Braveheart (1995)
55. Forrest Gump (1994)
56. To Have and Have Not (1944)
57. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
58. Independence Day (1996)
59. The Wild Bunch (1969)
60. Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)

61. The Palm Beach Story (1942)
62. Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)
63. Double Indemnity (1944)
64. The Sound of Music (1965)
65. The Manchurian Candidate (1961)
66. The Searchers (1956)
67. The Usual Suspects (1995)
68. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
69. Ninotchka (1939)
70. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

71. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
72. Fargo (1996)
73. On the Waterfront (1954)
74. Grease (1978)
75. Touch of Evil (1958)
76. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
77. Nashville (1975)
78. Aliens (1986)
79. The Hustler (1961)
80. The Big Sleep (1946)

81. Bonne and Clyde (1967)
82. Dances with Wolves (1990)
83. The Princess Bride (1987)
84. Network (1976)
85. Top Gun (1986)
86. Se7en (1995)
87. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
88. Gunga Din (1939)
89. Field of Dreams (1989)
90. The Rock (1996)

91. Hud (1960)
92. The Third Man (1949)
93. Trainspotting (1996)
94. Modern Times (1936)
95. Jerry Maguire (1996)
96. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
97. Red River (1948)
98. Jurassic Park (1993)
99. Hamlet (1948)
100. Notorious (1946)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
Mr. Showbiz (1997). “Critics’ Best: The 100 Best Movies of All Time”
Mr. Showbiz (1997). “Readers picks’ Best: The 100 Best Movies of All Time”

Originally posted 7/31/2019.

Wednesday, December 3, 1997

Los Angeles Daily News: "The Greatest American Movies"

Los Angeles Daily News:

The Greatest American Movies

In response to the American Film Institute announcing its list of 400 films to be voted on for its “100 Years…100 American Movies” list, the Los Angeles Daily News conducted its own poll of its readers, using the same list. The original list resulted in multiple ties and more than 100 titles. Ties have been broken here according to movies’ overall standing in Dave’s Movie Database and the list has been restricted to the first 100 titles.

1. Casablanca (1942)
2. Citizen Kane (1941)
3. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
4. Gone with the Wind (1939)
5. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
6. The Godfather (1972)
7. The African Queen (1951)
8. The Sound of Music (1965)
9. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
10. Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)

11. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
12. Schindler’s List (1993)
13. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
14. It Happened One Night (1934)
15. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
16. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
17. Patton (1970)
18. Dances with Wolves (1990)
19. King Kong (1933)
20. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

21. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
22. All About Eve (1950)
23. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
24. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
25. Stagecoach (1939)
26. Fantasia (1940)
27. High Noon (1952)
28. Ben-Hur (1959)
29. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
30. Psycho (1960)

31. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
32. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
33. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
34. Oklahoma! (1955)
35. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
36. Forrest Gump (1994)
37. My Fair Lady (1964)
38. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
39. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
40. Some Like It Hot (1959)

41. West Side Story (1961)
42. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
43. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
44. On the Waterfront (1954)
45. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
46. From Here to Eternity (1953)
47. An American in Paris (1951)
48. Laura (1944)
49. The Quiet Man (1952)
50. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

51. North by Northwest (1959)
52. The Graduate (1967)
53. Rocky (1976)
54. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
55. The Ten Commandments (1956)
56. Frankenstein (1931)
57. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
58. Double Indemnity (1944)
59. Mary Poppins (1964)
60. Braveheart (1995)

61. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
62. M*A*S*H (1970)
63. Lost Horizon (1937)
64. Raging Bull (1980)
65. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
66. Midnight Cowboy (1969)
67. Rebecca (1940)
68. Giant (1956)
69. Mrs. Miniver (1942)
70. Wings (1927)

71. The Jazz Singer (1927)
72. Annie Hall (1977)
73. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
74. 12 Angry Men (1957)
75. The Sting (1973)
76. The French Connection (1971)
77. The Gold Rush (1925)
78. American Graffiti (1973)
79. Tootsie (1982)
80. Rain Man (1988)

81. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
82. The Color Purple (1985)
83. The Longest Day (1962)
84. Apocalypse Now (1979)
85. Chinatown (1974)
86. The Third Man (1949)
87. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
88. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
89. Shane (1953)
90. Funny Girl (1968)

91. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
92. Gunga Din (1939)
93. The Godfather Part II (1974)
94. Vertigo (1958)
95. Taxi Driver (1976)
96. Rear Window (1954)
97. Blade Runner (1982)
98. The Lion King (1994)
99. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
100. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
Los Angeles Daily News (12/3/1997). “The Greatest American Movies”

Originally posted 8/27/2019; last updated 5/29/2023.

Friday, December 20, 1996

50 years ago: It’s a Wonderful Life, the perennial Christmas classic, released

It’s a Wonderful Life

Released: December 20, 1946

Studio: RKO

Genre: Christmas fantasy/drama/romance

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 3.30 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 147.30 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Frank Capra

Screenwriting: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra

Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Henry Travers

Review:

“An uplifting magical film, worth all of the praise it’s received.” ^VD “Only Capra and this cast could pull it off so well; this film seems to improve with age. ” ^LM The film – initially a flop – owes its current status as a “beloved holiday classic” ^MSN to a clerical error at the copyright office. The film was mistakenly moved into the public domain in 1974 which meant local TV stations could play the movie without paying royalties. ^MSN

The film was based on “The Greatest Gift,” a short story by Philip an Doren Stern which was originally written as a Christmas card. ^LM It “contains at least one true celluloid miracle: James Stewart’s engrossing performance as George Bailey, one of Hollywood’s most honorable, memorable and troubled American dreamers.” ^TV He plays “an average man in an average town who feels his life is worthless and decides to jump off a bridge.” ^VD “His crusty-but-lovable guardian angel Clarence (Travers), who is desperately trying to earn his wings, shows up to give him a tour of his town without his presence.” ^FS George learns “just how important he is to all the people around him” ^VD and “that wealth is measured in love and friendship.” ^FS

“Moral courage, small-town American life, civic cooperation, and family love are glorified while corporate greed and selfishness are condemned.” ^FS “It’s a film designed to grab your cockles and warm them till they smoulder,” ^T95 climaxing in “an idyllic Christmas card finale.” ^FS