I can't decide if number 17 on the list is going to be hard or easy. The AFI 100 Years 100 Movies selections are certainly a varied bunch, and while are some true classics (Dr. Strangelove), there are also some dubious selections (How the F@*K did Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring make number 50 on the list?), and there are clearly some blaring omissions (Young Frankenstein? Monty Python and the Holy Grail? The Big Lebowski?).
T and I have decided that even though some of the things on the list are not mutual list items (the odds of my donating my hair to Locks for Love seems pretty slim), we are both required to see all of these movies in the 1001 days, even if we've already seen them. Once we see a movie from the list, we'll put it up here with a brief description/review/rant (depending on our mood at the time). At any rate, here is our progress so far.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
-If you don't like this movie, I will personally punch you in the face! (Whew.... I feel better now that I've got that off my chest.) But, seriously, it's got everything you could ever ask for in a movie: Paul Newman (check), Robert Redford (check), Katherine Ross (check), cowboys, prostitutes, "colorful" ex-pats riding donkeys in Bolivia, shit... even the soundtrack is amazing (In case you didn't know: Burt Bacharach wrote the music, including the song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" for the movie, and won Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score in the process. Don't believe me, just ask Wikipedia). To top it all off T had never seen it... which was a travesty, that I felt needed to be rectified post haste. All in all, I don't think there could have been a better film to kick things off.
On the Waterfront
-Ok, to be perfectly honest, I had never seen On the Waterfront. I know, I know... "I coulda been a contender, I coulda been somebody" what can I say I have been remiss in my duties as a movie fan. But to tell you the truth, one of the only things I could think of whilst watching was, "HOLY SHIT! Is that a skinny Marlon Brando". So if you didn't realize that he wasn't always the size of a VW bug, you should see this picture. Or, I suppose, if you are a fan of classic American cinema. But mostly the first thing.
Jaws
-I haven't actually watched Jaws yet since 1/1/11, but Theresa did and I will, I promise. Still, I think I can write up a quick plot synopsis from memory. Jaws, as I recall, is the heartwarming story about a mongoloid James Bond villian who overcomes his severe orthodontic disabilities and goes on to.......... oh. wait. I'm thinking of Jaws. Nevermind. Speaking of movie soundtracks, though, apparently John Williams saved Spielberg's ass with that duh nuh.... duh nuh..... duh nuh. because the animatronic shark, "Bruce", didn't work for shit. The shark theme lets the audience know the shark is there without having to actually show it on screen. Next time you watch Jaws pay attention and you'll notice that the shark doesn't even appear on screen until more than halfway through the film (this may be a gross over-exaggeration on my part, seeing how as I just told you that I haven't seen the movie recently, but as they say, "It aint a lie if you believe it").
2001: A Space Odyssey
-I love Arthur C. Clark, which is probably why I enjoyed every part of 2001 where there was actually something happening. But most of the movie is just shots of spaceships, astronauts and planets with some kind of epic soundtrack. I understand that the movie is from 1968, back in the time before cgi, but seriously.... the movie is almost 2 1/2 hours long and at least half of it is slow-mo spacecraft shots. Of course, if you can get past that, the movie is pretty amazing. And HAL is definitely one of the best movie villains of all time.
Well, there it is. The first four of our one hundred movies. And we're only 19 days in... way ahead of schedule. Until next time--N
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