AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Rankdown (FINAL RESULTS, #10-#1)

[cinewest]

I hope someone saves Chinatown, which like so many revisionist genre films of the 70's is probably the best of its type.

I ranked Chinatown #1 in this year's ICM Favourites poll. Pulp Fiction and Apocalypse Now were also in my top 4, and Dr. Strangelove was #11. So in my opinion several of the all time greats left - I also had Casablanca pretty high.

The biggest casualties for me have been Citizen Kane (the American masterwork of the 40's), and Godfather 1 & 2 (A combo American masterwork of the 70's).

[beasterne]

Round 10 cuts have been made!

And two films have already been resurrected. We’ll make sure that the other veto holders have time to check the thread before we move to the next round (which is looking like it will be a ballot phase). Which films will make the final round? We’ll know very soon!

[cinewest]

So 8 films left at the moment, with 4 potential vetoes left to be played (3 in Onderhond holds true to his word)

1 from the 20's- Still haven't seen Sunrise
0 from the 30's
1 from the 40's- Casablanca may represent hollywood studio films from the 40's well, and who can argue with Bogart, but it doesn't come close to Citizen Kane
1 from the 50's- Though I think Wilder's films, like Hitchcock's, tend to be over celebrated, Sunset Boulevard is my favorite of his and a worth contender for best American film of the 50's, along with a couple by Hitch.
2 from the 60's (both by Kubrick)- hard to argue with these
1 from the 70's- Probably my favorite decade in American film, and Coppola deserves the representation, if not for Godfather 1 & 2 then for Apocalypse Now
1 from the 80's- Don't see the Spike Lee film in the same class with the others discussed, though in light of current protests in the U.S., it clearly had its finger on important issues
1 from the 90's- Pulp Ficition is certainly one of the key American films of the 90's

[AB537]

I hope someone saves Chinatown, which like so many revisionist genre films of the 70's is probably the best of its type.

I ranked Chinatown #1 in this year's ICM Favourites poll. Pulp Fiction and Apocalypse Now were also in my top 4, and Dr. Strangelove was #11. So in my opinion several of the all time greats left - I also had Casablanca pretty high.

The biggest casualties for me have been Citizen Kane (the American masterwork of the 40's), and Godfather 1 & 2 (A combo American masterwork of the 70's).

Both are also great, and Godfather I is also in my top 10. While this AFI list has some odd inclusions and a few glaring omissions, it still does contain a lot of good stuff.

[jeroeno]

No veto from me. I was saving my veto for Pulp Fiction or Casablanca and would've used it for either 2001 or Apocalypse Now.

[sol]

I hope someone saves Chinatown, which like so many revisionist genre films of the 70's is probably the best of its type.

It's tempting really since I would much rather have that representing the 1970s than just Apocalypse Now. Actually, there is a lot of stuff that it is tempting to resurrect with my final veto. I could go for Virginia Woolf from my all-time top 20, or City Lights which I have seen at least four times and which I love. But if I am being totally honest with myself, it only makes sense to resurrect the one single film in this list that I have seen 5 times over the past 7 years, which brings us to:



Final Veto: Welcome back from the grave, Singin' in the Rain.

[brokenface]

I was beginning to regret not waiting a bit on my veto since it seems others would have saved Apocalypse Now & 2001. Singin in the Rain would've been my 3rd choice

[Onderhond]

That just leaves 1 more veto (jvv)!

[cinewest]

That just leaves 1 more veto (jvv)!

Drum roll.... C'mon Jvv, your chance to make a perfect 10.

Can't really be upset to have a classic hollywood musical (probably the most celebrated of all time, if only for a couple of outstanding numbers) back in the mix. I grew up on movies like Casablanca and Singing in the Rain, and while I still have a soft spot for them, I prefer a different kind of filmmaking, one that is less old-fashioned, for one thing.

[jvv]

I'm resurrecting Sullivan's Travels.

[Onderhond]

Ballot time!

Are we going to post them here (leaving room for tactical voting) or will we be using a different method?

[blocho]

Have we decided on how balloting works? One vote each, or a top three, or rank them all? Beasterne, since you started this, I suggest you just pick a method for us. I'm happy with whatever you choose.

[beasterne]

Round 10 is in the books!

Finally, after a punishing gauntlet of ten rounds, 110 cuts, and 20 vetoes, we are down to these 10 remaining films:

1. Casablanca
2. Singin' in the Rain
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. Sunset Blvd.
5. Apocalypse Now
6. Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
7. Sullivan's Travels
8. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
9. Pulp Fiction
10. Do the Right Thing

These films have avoided cuts and/or attracted vetoes throughout this game, and are deserving of their place in the final 10. But now we have reached the point in the game where another round of cuts isn't possible. That means we have now entered the ballot phase.

For this phase of the game, each player will rank these 10 films from #1 to #10. A rank of #1 will award a film 10 points; a rank of #10 will award a film 1 point. Once you have ranked your list, please PM me with your ballot. Once I have received all 11 ballots, I will total up the points for each film and present the last 10 films in a final rankdown until we are left with our ultimate champion. If two films are tied at the same number of points, the tie will be broken by first place votes, then second place votes, etc.

This game has been a ton of fun, and I am really excited to see the conclusion!

[beasterne]

Got your PM AB!

Anyone else who wants to try to predict the top 10, send me a PM with your guesses. Here is what's currently remaining:

Well, it turned out that it was just AB and me competing in this minigame. Congrats to AB, who correctly predicted 7 of the top 10! I was 2nd-best with 6 out of 10.

The correct predictions were:

2001
Apocalypse Now
Dr. Strangelove
Pulp Fiction
Singin' in the Rain
Sullivan's Travels
Sunrise

[toromash]

Hmm. A question. what if i havent seen all 10 movies?

[jeff_v]

I would say the scoring should be based on average rank rather than raw # of points to account for films that people might not have seen. That way you can submit a partial ballot.

[Onderhond]

The remaining 10s ratings:

1 x 4.0*
2 x 2.5*
1 x 2.0*
2 x 1.5*
2 x 1.0*
2 x 0.5*

[mightysparks]

Sent in my ballot. My ratings:

2x10
1x9
3x8
1x6
2x5
1x4

[jeff_v]

All 8's, 9's & 10's because I'm corny like that.

[AB537]

Well, it turned out that it was just AB and me competing in this minigame. Congrats to AB, who correctly predicted 7 of the top 10! I was 2nd-best with 6 out of 10.

I'll take it. For what it's worth, of the remaining options I have 3 10s, 3 9s, 1 8 and 3 7s.

[jeroeno]

5 10's, 2 9's and 3 8's. I'm very happy with how this turned out.
Biggest misses for me : 12 Angry Men and The Silence of the Lambs

[cinewest]

I think there are more interesting ways of determining a winner in a game like this than with ranked submission lists, especially as this entire board is top heavy with those as it is.

Once again, reality TV could serve as Inspiration, here.

The last two vetoes tipped the scale of preference in favor of old Hollywood classics a bit too much, and I wonder if that also serves as a predictive of the top vote getters.

Oddly enough, the main outlier has been Pulp Fiction, throughout the game, so I predict a top 5 finish (probably higher) for this one.

Given onderhond’s scorn of 2001, this Kubrick probably can’t win, but I still expect a top 5 finish.

Let me ruminate a bit more, and I can probably name the other top 5 finishers and the winner, can you?

[jeroeno]

2001 will win. Onderhond could've nominated it five times more and still it would've been saved.

[cinewest]

2001 will win. Onderhond could've nominated it five times more and still it would've been saved.

Maybe you are right, but it will have to overcome a 1 point vote from Onder that will lower its average score a fair bit. I still think that it will finish top 5, maybe even top 3, but the winner may not have to overcome the same kind of disadvantage.

[Onderhond]

There's 11 players, one low vote won't matter that much I think.

[cinewest]

There's 11 players, one low vote won't matter that much I think.

I wouldn't be so sure that there is an overwhelming consensus in its favor, though, not with some of the eliminations and vetoes I have seen during this game.

[sol]

Ballot sent.

At least half of the final ten are 10/10 films in my books, and I think only one film is not in my all-time top 500.

[sol]

Predicted winner:

Spoiler

Casablanca

or

Spoiler

Dr. Strangelove

I don't think anybody out there really hates either of these films??

[cinewest]

Predicted winner:

Spoiler

Casablanca

or

Spoiler

Dr. Strangelove

I don't think anybody out there really hates either of these films??

Yes, I think you just hit on two more of the top 5 in this game, one of which could very well take it, especially as studio classics seem very popular with this group.

If I were voting on the final 10, the older, hollywood studio films would be in the bottom 5, except that I would switch Sunset Boulevard with Do The Right Thing to complete my top 5:

2001
Apocalypse Now
Dr. Strangelove
Pulp Fiction
Sunset Boulevard

[brokenface]

So what's everyone's final lists of cuts? And anyone else make it through un-vetoed? I guess it means I chose fairly safe/uncontroversially. But I like to think I was doing a service to the group with some of these

Forrest Gump, Tootsie, Titanic, Butch Cassidy, Rocky, Spartacus, To Kill a Mockingbird, Some Like it Hot, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Grapes of Wrath

[Onderhond]

and I think only one film is not in my all-time top 500.

Not a single one is part of my Top 600

[jvv]

My final list of cuts: Duck Soup, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Bringing up Baby, Intolerance: Love's Struggle throughout the Ages, Bonnie and Clyde, The Searchers, On the Waterfront, Rear Window, The Silence of the Lambs, The Bridge on the River Kwai

As far as I remember none of my cuts were vetoed.

My prediction for the winner:

Spoiler

Sunset Blvd.

[beasterne]

10 ballots have been received, and with one ballot remaining only two films are still in the running as the champion. Which one will come out on top?

Hmm. A question. what if i havent seen all 10 movies?

Can you watch the movie(s) you haven't seen in the near future?

[cinewest]

I can probably guess who's ballot is outstanding :-), and I have a very good idea which two films are competing for first place. Is at least one of them by Kubrick?

[pitchorneirda]

As an observer, my guess is that

Spoiler

2001

and

Spoiler

Sunrise

are the two possible champions

[beasterne]

I think there are more interesting ways of determining a winner in a game like this than with ranked submission lists, especially as this entire board is top heavy with those as it is.

Once again, reality TV could serve as Inspiration, here.

I've been thinking about this a little bit this morning. Maybe we could do a vote for cuts, rather than a ballot? So with 10 films left, have everyone vote for which film they'd like to cut, and the movie with the most votes gets the chop. Then we move to the next round. I could probably even take a quick look at the current ballots when this is over to see if this method changes anything...

[Onderhond]

I've been thinking about this a little bit this morning. Maybe we could do a vote for cuts, rather than a ballot? So with 10 films left, have everyone vote for which film they'd like to cut, and the movie with the most votes gets the chop. Then we move to the next round. I could probably even take a quick look at the current ballots when this is over to see if this method changes anything...

It's an interesting method (also used in some democratic multi-party system countries to determine the winner of an election I believe).
Remaining vetoes could give it an extra twist too.

Would really be interesting to try this without knowing the results of the ballots and check the difference afterwards (though I would still see the ballot result as the true winner).

[beasterne]

FINAL RESULTS! We'll count down #10 to #1, and then afterwards we can get into total scores, ballot breakdowns, stats, and everything else.

#10 Do the Right Thing (1989)

Directed by: Spike Lee

Votes for first place

(1): Onderhond

[Onderhond]

All that hard work ...

[beasterne]

#9 Sullivan's Travels (1941)

Directed by: Preston Sturges

Votes for first place:

(0)

Edit: Tie-breaker was handled incorrectly, Sullivan's Travels was 9th, not 8th...