AFI’s Top 100 Films List Forum Challenge (Part 3) (1 Viewer)

[Scott Dill]

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

I know that I saw this as a kid on TV, but last night I finally got to see the new Fox 5-star DVD of this film (great disc by the way). In all honestly I think that I need to see this one again before I can fully appreciate it. It was a gritty, believable cop story, that seemed all the more realistic to me because the details of the investigation were somewhat confusing and the were not the typical supercop that is illustrated in most films.
Hackman was fantastic - as always. Friedkin did an excellent job, but like Coppola, its apparent that he is a once great director who has now lost his way.
I suppose that I need to watch the supplements, but could someone .... anyone explain the running joke about "picking your feet in picipsi(sp)"?
That leaves one more to see.
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
[Edited last by Scott Dill on September 29, 2001 at 11:06 AM]

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Whatever you do,never ever watch a movie at four in the morning. I was fortunate to see French Connection twice.
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"I don't know, Marge. Trying is the first step towards failure." - Homer J. Simpson
My DVD Collection

 

[Scott Dill]

Whatever you do,never ever watch a movie at four in the morning. I was fortunate to see French Connection twice.

uh,....ok.
What are you talking about?

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I was kinda joking around there. Wes Ray and I went on a movie shopping spree one summer, and he got The French Connection. For some strange reason (I think it was Wednesday), we just watched movies one right after the other. We watched things like Chinatown, Face/Off, and it was about four when we finally got to French Connnection. I was too sleepy to get into the movie so by the time it was over, I didn't like it too much. But some time down the road, I gave it a second chance, and it was fantastic. Moral of the story, never try to watch movies at four in the morning.
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"I don't know, Marge. Trying is the first step towards failure." - Homer J. Simpson
My DVD Collection

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I knocked The French Connection off my list tonight. Overall, a fine film. I do have one question though. Spoiler:After the police ripped the brown Lincoln Continental apart while searching for the drugs, how in the heck can anyone believe that they put the car back together perfectly before returning it to the frenchman? I just do not see how this was possible.
Four to go: On The Waterfront, All Quiet On The Western Front, Sunset Boulevard, The Grapes Of Wrath.
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My DVD Collection
AFI 100 Films to watch: 40 -> 4

 

[Dome Vongvises]

It Happened One Night
Film Score: B+
The Good
- Acting performances
- Story
- Plot
The Bad
- Probably set the precedent for a lot of romantic comedy cliches
Finally got around to seeing this movie. It held some significance for me, if for the fact that it is so far only one of three movies to win the big four. I liked it quite a bit. For a movie from 1934, the humor is only slightly dated. It occured to me near the end of the movie how similar a lot of the moments are to ones in Spaceballs. Again, Capra proves his ability to weave and tell an interesting story in a sentimental way. This movie in no way, however, is in the same caliber of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or It's A Wonderful Life. This movie sure does have its good moments, like during the singing in the bus, the "faked" argument in the house, or when Ellie Andrews flashes some leg, which by the way are very nice

. I wonder what this movie was remade as?
69 down (woohoo!), 31 to go.
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"I don't know, Marge. Trying is the first step towards failure." - Homer J. Simpson
My DVD Collection
[Edited last by Dome Vongvises on September 30, 2001 at 09:51 PM]

 

[Sarah S]

Just finished seeing the French Connection. I have to say that I did like the movie. Gene Hackman was really good & I liked the fact that it was shot mostly using natural light with no built sets etc. I also saw where the Blues Brothers got their inspiration from the car chase sequence in which apparently, none of the collisions/obstacles were planned & luckily, no one was hurt.
You might want to know where I picked up those "interesting trivial details." No, I did not buy the dvd set, I was flipping channels & discovered the movie would be on FXM starting shortly. "Great," I said to myself. The movie was shown without interruption (which I expected) and apparently in its OAR for which I was happy. However, FXM exec somehow decided that everyone who wants to watch it on their channel has already seen the movie before so every 45 seconds or so an "interesting detail" would pop up on the screen & give away important plot points or talk about what was going on in the movie or talk about the history/making of the movie. I was kind of angry about this & began to look forward to the scenes with the French actors, as they would not let the "bug" appear over the subtitles. If I had wanted to watch "Pop-Up Video" I would have turned to VH1. Let that be a warning to all. Myself, I am never going to watch FXM again.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Three down over the weekend.
Bringing Up Baby - I've seen most of this movie on about 4 different occasions, but was finally able to sit and watch the entire film. I'm a big Howard Hawks fan and I wish there was somebody like him today. This was easily one of the funniest films that I've ever seen and the comedy has dated very well. I give this a solid A and can't wait for the Special Edition DVD. (Just Hoping) ****
Ben Hur - I've been putting this one off for awhile due primarily to it's 3-1/2 hour run time. Overall, I was impressed and it didn't drag near as much as I thought that it would. I was a little disappointed w/ the picture quality on the DVD, but at least I could see the entire picture. I would still rate Spartacus ahead of this, but it was definitely worth watching. ***
The French Connection - I've seen this film before, but it was a shoddy full frame VHS and wanted to give it a proper viewing. This was a very good film, but I couldn't seem to relate to either of the police characters (They were a bit too radical for me). I almost found myself cheering on the criminals at times. It's probably just me. ***
Also, I enjoy the subtitle trivia on FXM. I guess that it would be nice if it was optional using closed captioning though.
15 to go + about 10 OAR re-watches.

 

[Hugh Jackes]

The French Connection —
I joined the recent round of people who saw this on the Fox Movie Channel. I really disliked this movie.
I'm not the smartest guy around, but I'm reasonably intelligent. I couldn't figure out what was going on for the first half of the movie.
I thought it was far-fetched that Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Cloudy Russo (Roy Scheider) would dedicate months to tailing Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco) on a hunch. And that their lieutenant would authorize it.
I also could not buy in to the fact that they got the latitude to do this because the heroin supply on the streets of New York was completely dried up. What, every junkie in New York was strung out waiting for the next shipment of horse?
I like tough cop movies, but Popeye was an unrealistic fanatic who wasn't really interested in upholding the law. He just liked busting heads, hassling minorities, and being a control freak. Cloudy was just this generic, bland partner, who could have been played by anybody; a waste of Scheider's talent.
Don Ellis' score was that God-awful late '60s/early '70s faux jazz that is really just a series of discordant notes. It added nothing to the story; it just distracted me.
The car chase was the most amazing thing in the movie, but screeching tires and running into things just was not enough. I did kinda like the ironic/tragic twist at the very end, but by then I didn't really care. I was just happy because I was smelling the end of this stinker.
Grade: C-
Scott Merryfield — I agree, the reassembled car just didn't work. Too hokie.
Dome Vongvises — It did not matter whether you saw this movie at 4:00 AM or 4:00 PM. It was an incoherent mess at either hour.
Sarah S — Not all of the showings had pop ups. Since some of the commenters appreciated the trivia tidbits, perhaps we should just push for FMC to warn us in advance. Maybe show the two versions back-to-back for the trivia buffs?
Eric Peterson — I wasn't exactly rooting for bad guys, but these crappy cops sure didn't connect (no pun intended) with me either.
Seen85
Not seen:15
Should see again:13

 

[Robert Crawford]

Hugh,
Why don't you really tell us how you feel about "The French Connection"? Needless to say, I disagree with your assessment but whatever, you're welcome to your opinion.
Crawdaddy
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Peter Staddon: "I didn't say you can put 'Monkeybone' back!"

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Hey Craw,
I calls 'em as I sees 'em.
But if all of us liked every movie on this list, the discussions would get pretty dull, wouldn't they?
[Edited last by Hugh Jackes on October 02, 2001 at 10:31 AM]

 

[Sarah S]

I just finished The Best Years of Our Lives; good movie. Well directed, good acting and great cinimatography. 4 out of 4 for me.
I don't know where that puts me as I can't find my list at the moment. Somewhere in the twenties still I imagine.
Doing this challenge, movie by movie....
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[Dome Vongvises]

M*A*S*H
Film Score: B

- great dialogue
- humor not out-dated
- great acting performances
- realistic in certain conventions

- abrupt cuts might jar some
- unrealistic in other conventions
Review:
M*A*S*H is a satirical look at the lives of Army surgeons during the Korean War. Or at least that's the description I've read when trying to find out about the movie's story and plot. I think the movie does a successful job of portraying the lives of those said surgeons. Moments of fun and humor are successfully juxtaposed with images of the casualties and brutalties of war. I found the funny moments to be particularly humorous while the depiction of the bodies being operated on to be seriously grotesque. It's strange to watch Donald Sutherland in a funny role, when growing up he struck you as being a serious actor. But then I got to see Animal House, where for the first time I saw him as a comedic actor. He still has this form here, and it was a delight. I really didn't have any problem with the movie, only that it was slightly unrealstic. If Patton is any indication, a real Army camp would've been run with strict discipline and so forth. But hey, if it was realistic, then we wouldn't have M*A*S*H now would we As for the comparisons to the T.V. show, I think they're both equal on their own merits. But if anybody is reading this, can somebody explain why Robert Altman (or is it the original author of the novel) didn't like the T.V. series?
Maltese Falcon
Film Score: A-

- intelligent script
- great acting performances

- confusing in parts
It's movies like this that make me wonder why in the hell did Humphrey Bogart win an Oscar for his performance in The African Queen. His acting performance was ten times better in this movie as a hard-nosed, not-so-squeaky clean detective than he was as a whipped boat captain!!! This movie is a good text book example on how to construct a detective movie. It's filled with unscrupulous characters like the Fat Man (the Mafia-like Don), to Joel Cairo (aka the funny sounding/looking guy from all those Bugs Bunny cartoons

). Everybody is tainted by evil, the classic convention of a film noir. But like film noir (not necessarily a bad thing, more of a caveat), the movie requires a higher than usual attention span to follow certain story points (of course, with my hard of hearing and small attention span, I had to rewind the movie over and over in spots). Oh well, simply put, I had fun watching this movie.
71 down, only 29 more to go!!!
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"I don't know, Marge. Trying is the first step towards failure." - Homer J. Simpson
My DVD Collection

 

[Sarah S]

Hi!
Over the weekend I finshed watching:
Rebel Without A Cause. I'm sorry, but for me the plot never quite jelled. You could easily see what the movie was trying to say, but I don't really think it was focused enough. 3 out of 4.
Platoon. The biggest surprise of this movie was noticing Johnny Depp in a supporting role. Beautiful cinematography, and probably slightly more realist about what was happening in 'Nam at the time than Apocalypse Now. The performances also made me want to see it again someday. 4out of 4.
Taxi Driver. I did not like this movie. For me, the plot was not focused enough & as I deal with people like De Niro's character everyday at work: I do not need to come home & see a movie about them. 2 1/2 out of 4.
Consulting my version of the list, I see I have 20 to go. I sincerely believe I'll make this challenge in time.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Duck Soup
Film Score: A

- great dialogue
- great script
- relevant humor

- small stuff
Review
This is my first ever Marx Brothers movie, and I'm glad I saw this. It is quite possibly the 3rd funniest movie I've ever seen. The movie hasn't aged that much at all as this comedy uses one of the greatest and most ageless conventions of humor, slapstick comedy. The dialogue is great as Groucho Marx keeps spitting out one-liners after the other. This is, of course, pretty ironic when you consider that the major complaints of film buffs these days is that too many movies of today use one-liners, but those same said film buffs praise movies like Duck Soup and Annie Hall as being witty comdies. I liked the Italian Marx bros, but there were moments when the blond/mute Marx brother stole the show. That guy is a complete jerk

!!! The 4th Marx brother was the only disappointment in the movie (is he really like that?). Oh well, I guess such juvenile humor can appeal to college guys like me

.
Edit: 72 down, 28 to go!!!
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"I don't know, Marge. Trying is the first step towards failure." - Homer J. Simpson
"Stranger things have happened..." - Wes Deskins
My DVD Collection
[Edited last by Dome Vongvises on October 09, 2001 at 09:48 PM]

 

[Seth Paxton]

Heads up gang, one of the trickier (at least for me) films to catch is coming on again in a few days.
Mutiny on the Bounty will be on at 7 AM (that might be Central instead of Eastern) on October 17th (a Wednesday morning).
I forgot to note which station, either AMC or TCM, but I'm sure you guys know the routine for finding out which it is.
Also, Yankee Doodle Dandy makes an appearance Tuesday, Novemeber 13th in the early morning (6 AM I think)

 

[Eric Peterson]

Seth,
Thanks for the heads-up. Those are 2 of 14 that I have yet to see.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Participant list updated. If I missed anyone, please let me know.
Hugh Jackes asked:

What's the proper length of Birth of a Nation? My wife brought me a copy at the video store last week that was approximately 90 minutes. This didn't seem right, so we returned it to the shelf.
What version is correct?

Hopefully by now you've figured out the answer. But since no one here answered your query, the DVD you want should have a running time of 187 minutes.
80 days and counting. Are we all going to finish?
~Edwin

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

REVISITED: Citizen Kane (1941)

(out of four); #1 on the AFI List.
This film only gets better and better each time I see it. A tragic story so well told and with vast amount of images that are ever so unforgettable.
~Edwin

 

[Mitty]

After I don't know how many months, I knocked another off my list, Howard Hawks' Bringing Up Baby.
Very fun movie, a screwball comedy with a frenetic pace. Both Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn were terrific, Hepburn even funnier than usual, in a role quite unlike most of her other work. I don't think I've ever seen her play against her usual graceful type. Her comedy was quite physical here.
I don't know that I'd necessarily include in a top 100 list personally - there are probably better examples of the great American screwball comedy - but it was a lot of fun. Let's put it this way, I'd buy it immediately if Warner deigned to release it on DVD.

Only one to go: The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson. [sarcasm]That oughtta be a piece of cake to track down.[/sarcasm]