I actually saw this showing of AFI's 100 YEARS, 100 THRILLS first run in 2001. I really enjoyed the first 3-hour show of the best American films in '98 and was really looking forward to this one. Right off the bat, I was very disappointed with many of their choices. Interestingly, I think their top 10 is pretty solid (including some of my all time favorite films such as Pyscho-#1, Jaws-#2, North By Northwest-#4, Alien-#6). In particular, Psycho and Jaws are not only atop my thrilling list, but they are also in my top 5 of ALL TIME films! So no arguments there. North by Northwest is definitely in my top 10 thrilling, and probably in my top 20, if not 10, of all time films. Alien definitely makes tops in my sci fi list.
I won't really even argue with some of the other top 10 choices like Exorcist-#3, Raiders of the Lost Ark-#10, The French Connection-#8, even though these movies are not amongst my faves, but I know that they are considered iconic films and they do qualify in the "thrilling" category! My least fave of the top 10 is Silence of the Lambs-#5, which I believe to be monumentally overrated and boring as all get out! I much prefer Michael Mann's Manhunter (which I don't think made the top 100!).
Throughout the 100, they made some really good choices, like The Terminator-#42, Dirty Harry-#41, Bullitt-#36, Star Wars-#27, Magnficicent Seven-#79, High Noon-#20, Die Hard-#39, 2001-#40, The Fugitive-#33, Invasion of the Body Snatchers-#47, and a few others. The Terminator, Dirty Harry, and Die Hard would probably make my personal top 10 thrilling movies.
But, boy, did they also make some ODD picks, too! Sorry, but much as I love some of them, movies like The Godfather-#11, The Wizard of Oz-#43, Vertigo-#18, Double Indemnity-#24, The Maltese Falcon-#26, Casablanca-#37, Rocky-#52, Gaslight-#78, 12 Angry Men-#88, Bonnie and Clyde-#13 (to name a few!) do NOT belong on this list! And several of these are amongst my all-time best films! But "thrilling" is overstating it a bit. I mean, one could really find thrilling moments in virtually any genre of film, but that doesn't qualify it automatically as a thrilling movie! Most of the movies I mentioned in this paragraph are closer to "dramas" than "thrillers"! Godfather, Maltese Faclon, 12 Angry Men in particular are amongst my top films of all time, but NOT "thrilling"!
Even movies that could qualify like Titanic-#25, Braveheart-#91 and Poseidon Adventure-#90 leave me scratching my head! Braveheart (which I think is very overrated) has a healthy amount of sappy love story and romance in it and even the scenes that are supposed to be thrilling (the war scenes) are overwrought and have idiotic humor in them that make them come across as kind of laughable. Titanic is two-thirds (maybe more) love story! I even argue that Braveheart and Titanic aren't even good movies (but they have their positive points), but Poseidon Adventure definitely SUCKS as a movie! Shouldn't a movie be at least "good", even if it has thrills in it, to make the list? Heck, Thelma and Louise-#76 is basically a "chick flick" and really the so-called thrilling scenes are diluted by this very fact!
I would say at least one-third (maybe more!) of the AFI top 100 list has movies that don't belong. I would also drop a movie like T2 since there is already T1 on the list and also I think T2 is very overrated as a film and not nearly as thrilling as T1. My general rule would probably be no sequels just because of virtually all the action/sci-fi thrilling films I've seen, I generally preferred the original to the sequel anyway! Even movies like The Deer Hunter-#30 and Saving Private Ryan-#45 don't belong! Deer Hunter is basically a drama and Ryan has a healthy amount of talk and drama and slows down at times! A great film like Taxi Driver-#22 is borderline for me; while it is a essentially a character study, it also moves a pretty good pace and it is so intense and gripping with Travis Bickle being such a ticking time bomb the whole way through, it could qualify as "thrilling".
Some noticeable omissions for me are movie like Robocop, Lethal Weapon, The Hidden, and Predator, all 80s classics that have stood the test of time and all very popular movies that qualify as thrilling! There's a gold mine of thrilling movies from the 80s that were left off! Some of the most entertaining films in the modern era come from that decade! Also, I noticed that the Western wasn't well represented.
Overall, AFI did a poor job of selecting this list. It really disappoints me, too, because it's bad that the Academy rarely ever gets anything right. At the very least one would think a body like AFI which should have no reason to be biased. I mean, who cares if Godfather makes this "thrilling" list since it is already regarded by AFI as the 2nd greatest film of all time? That honor ought to be good enough!
While I did like the show itself and the hosting by Harrison Ford and SOME of the choices, overall, this was a FAIL by the AFI!
I won't really even argue with some of the other top 10 choices like Exorcist-#3, Raiders of the Lost Ark-#10, The French Connection-#8, even though these movies are not amongst my faves, but I know that they are considered iconic films and they do qualify in the "thrilling" category! My least fave of the top 10 is Silence of the Lambs-#5, which I believe to be monumentally overrated and boring as all get out! I much prefer Michael Mann's Manhunter (which I don't think made the top 100!).
Throughout the 100, they made some really good choices, like The Terminator-#42, Dirty Harry-#41, Bullitt-#36, Star Wars-#27, Magnficicent Seven-#79, High Noon-#20, Die Hard-#39, 2001-#40, The Fugitive-#33, Invasion of the Body Snatchers-#47, and a few others. The Terminator, Dirty Harry, and Die Hard would probably make my personal top 10 thrilling movies.
But, boy, did they also make some ODD picks, too! Sorry, but much as I love some of them, movies like The Godfather-#11, The Wizard of Oz-#43, Vertigo-#18, Double Indemnity-#24, The Maltese Falcon-#26, Casablanca-#37, Rocky-#52, Gaslight-#78, 12 Angry Men-#88, Bonnie and Clyde-#13 (to name a few!) do NOT belong on this list! And several of these are amongst my all-time best films! But "thrilling" is overstating it a bit. I mean, one could really find thrilling moments in virtually any genre of film, but that doesn't qualify it automatically as a thrilling movie! Most of the movies I mentioned in this paragraph are closer to "dramas" than "thrillers"! Godfather, Maltese Faclon, 12 Angry Men in particular are amongst my top films of all time, but NOT "thrilling"!
Even movies that could qualify like Titanic-#25, Braveheart-#91 and Poseidon Adventure-#90 leave me scratching my head! Braveheart (which I think is very overrated) has a healthy amount of sappy love story and romance in it and even the scenes that are supposed to be thrilling (the war scenes) are overwrought and have idiotic humor in them that make them come across as kind of laughable. Titanic is two-thirds (maybe more) love story! I even argue that Braveheart and Titanic aren't even good movies (but they have their positive points), but Poseidon Adventure definitely SUCKS as a movie! Shouldn't a movie be at least "good", even if it has thrills in it, to make the list? Heck, Thelma and Louise-#76 is basically a "chick flick" and really the so-called thrilling scenes are diluted by this very fact!
I would say at least one-third (maybe more!) of the AFI top 100 list has movies that don't belong. I would also drop a movie like T2 since there is already T1 on the list and also I think T2 is very overrated as a film and not nearly as thrilling as T1. My general rule would probably be no sequels just because of virtually all the action/sci-fi thrilling films I've seen, I generally preferred the original to the sequel anyway! Even movies like The Deer Hunter-#30 and Saving Private Ryan-#45 don't belong! Deer Hunter is basically a drama and Ryan has a healthy amount of talk and drama and slows down at times! A great film like Taxi Driver-#22 is borderline for me; while it is a essentially a character study, it also moves a pretty good pace and it is so intense and gripping with Travis Bickle being such a ticking time bomb the whole way through, it could qualify as "thrilling".
Some noticeable omissions for me are movie like Robocop, Lethal Weapon, The Hidden, and Predator, all 80s classics that have stood the test of time and all very popular movies that qualify as thrilling! There's a gold mine of thrilling movies from the 80s that were left off! Some of the most entertaining films in the modern era come from that decade! Also, I noticed that the Western wasn't well represented.
Overall, AFI did a poor job of selecting this list. It really disappoints me, too, because it's bad that the Academy rarely ever gets anything right. At the very least one would think a body like AFI which should have no reason to be biased. I mean, who cares if Godfather makes this "thrilling" list since it is already regarded by AFI as the 2nd greatest film of all time? That honor ought to be good enough!
While I did like the show itself and the hosting by Harrison Ford and SOME of the choices, overall, this was a FAIL by the AFI!