AFI's 100 Years....100 Passions (1 Viewer)

[Dan B]

Pretty good special, as are all of the AFI specials. I was also surprised that Body Heat was only #94 and that Lolita (whichever version you prefer) didn't make the list at all!

-Dan B

 

[Evan Case]

Though the "genre" isn't always my favorite (compared to past specials, anyway), this was another great show from the folks at the AFI.
Two fist-pumping "Yes!" moments for me (I get into these, what can I say?) were the inclusion of Sunrise and City Lights. The former is one of my all-time Top Ten and one I figured would've been forgotten. The latter I expected to be on but started getting antsy as the countdown wound down (I didn't want a repeat of the original Top 100 where I kept expecting The General to show up, got more excited as the finale approached, and was then shocked by the "surprise" of The Graduate appearing at #7 and eliminating Keaton's chance at making it.)
Evan

 

[teapot2001]

Seth, when do you think you could make a copy of Sunrise for me? Those clips shown on the special looked great!

~T

 

[MartinTeller]

Hmm... no Brief Encounter?

As I expected it would be, this is my "worst" AFI list so far (in terms of # of movies I've seen on the list)

Top 100 Movies: 57 (6 of top 10)

Top 100 Laughs: 48 (10 of top 10)

Top 100 Thrills: 64 (9 of top 10)

Top 100 Passions: 25 (3 of top 10)

 

[Quentin]

"Passion" may have been a misnomer in the case of this list. Film Noir did poorly overall (Body Heat at #94?), and the more romantic films did far better. Thus, lust and passion lose out to romance.

I don't have a problem with that...but, it means a lot more schmaltz near the top ("Love Story", "The Way We Were", etc.)

With this in mind, I'm very surprised "Titanic" didn't do better...

I nailed the top 5. I was NOT surprised at "Roman Holiday" - easily one of the most romantic and sweet films ever made.

 

[Jay E]

The list is completely meaningless to me as are all the other AFI lists. When Ghost finishes at #19, then any legitimacy this list holds goes out the window.

 

[Tim RH]

I was surprised that BRAVEHEART and especially FORREST GUMP (one of my personal favorite love stories) didn't make it onto that list.
But overall, I think this was one of the better AFI Top 100 lists out there.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Thi, yeah, as soon as it comes back in. I finally got off my butt and got to the library for the AFI revote, but Sunrise was out. :frowning:
So I picked up Intolerance so that I can see all of that film now. As soon as Sunrise is brought back I'll get it and copy it for ya. Pretty sad that it has to come to that.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Thus, lust and passion lose out to romance.

Yes, this seems to be the lean with this list.

Still I thought the list made a lot more sense than the confusing "thrills" list. I wish they had split that into "thrills" as action/adventure/spy only and then "chills" for horror/murder/mystery.

And sometimes I think some films slip a little too high in these genre lists simply by being great. I would have dropped King Kong and It's a Wonderful Life down the romance list from where they were, simply because the romance is only part of those films not the primary focus. Important yes, but without the romance there is still a story there, while in Body Heat if you take out the romance and you have very little left, same with Notorious.

Take the romance out of Kong and you still have Jurassic Park, take it out of Wonderful Life and you still have Frequency (or whatever, you get my drift).

 

[ScottR]

Oh yeah, what happened to Cleopatra (1963)????? Passion has never been so realistic on the screen (and for very good reason!!) This omission is a shame!

 

[Quentin]

I agree on "King Kong". But IaWL? I think the love story is AT LEAST as important there as it is in "Notorious". Take the romance out of "Notorious" and you still have a Hitchcock spy/suspense flick (though, not nearly as good). If you take it out of IaWL, I doubt he even stays in Bedford Falls! His family and wife are far too important to his life.

 

[Seth Paxton]

Well, what I mean is that the film's main schtick is not romantic love, but instead this ability to reevaluate your life by changing the past.

I mean you can still have the primary narrative without the romance, you can have a man visited by an angel and able to see what life would have been had he not been born. In fact that premise is used ALL the time in TV shows without also bringing in the romance. We know it's a tribute to the film without the romance, you can have the IaWL narrative without the courtship.

The courtship is a part of the narrative, but what people leave the theater thinking about is not romantic passion but about APPRECIATION of one's worth in life and the life you take for granted.

Taking the stance you are that IaWL is romance because their romance is part of their life is like saying Casablanca is a war flick like Schindler's List...not quite. The presence of other elements that are part of the narrative don't totally lock a film into that genre.

But my point was not to discount the romance, simply to say that IaWL should not be near the top of a list of passion films simply because that is not it's focus. Instead it would top a list of "life affirming" films. I have no problem with it being on the list, just not nearly so high for it's "passion".

 

[Seth Paxton]

Scott, I was wondering about Cleopatra as well. Perhaps it is perceived quality of the film as a whole that kept it off the list.

 

[Steven Sims]

I was surprised Moulin Rouge wasn't even one of the nominees. Seems to be a pretty passionate movie to me. I still get choked up every time I hear "Come What May".