I just watched the AFI top 100 films.....again and yet again, Citizen Kane is STILL #1. I just don't get it! I have watched this film and MANY of the top 100 even several of the silent films and I don't understand it.

 

I wasn't a big fan of Citizen Kane maybe someone can explain why this movie is considered to be so good?

 

In no particular order I would place: Godfather, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Wizard of Oz, Several of Dustin Hoffman's movies, Star Wars, All About Eve, Raging Bull, and To Kill A Mockingbird (which by the way was stupid to have this film at 34) ALL above Citizen Kane.

 

I am even trying to look at this film through my theatrical eyes and I still can't put it in a top 10 list.

 

What do all of you think?

It's in the top 3 for sure for me. Broke so much new ground in its time that it was light years ahead of anything that had been done to that point. New filming angles and focus techniques as well as innovative uses of dialogue primarily.

A lot of is the technical innovation used by Orson Welles and his cinematographer, Gregg Toland. They used deep focus photography where you could see objects in the background as well as the foreground.

This was also the first movie in which ceilings were visble. Welles and his colleagues of radio and stage actors were also given the keys to a major studio project, which was unheard of.

The best way, though, to answer your question is to listen to Roger Ebert's commentary track on the DVD. It is very engrossing and informative.

BTW, I do not consider it the greatest ever (although it ranks way up there) but it stills tells a great story and the acting is 1st rate.

Tried watching it as a kid and couldn't get through it, have tried a couple times as an adult and couldn't watch it. Add Gone with the Wind to that list too.

 

Now Pauly Shore's Biodome, I will put down the remote everytime I see that on TV. :lol:

I guess what I am gathering from everyone is that it was a great movie FROM IT'S TIME but if it was released today it wouldn't be as well recieved, correct?

I guess what I am gathering from everyone is that it was a great movie FROM IT'S TIME but if it was released today it wouldn't be as well recieved, correct?

 

A number of movies from other eras that were techonologically groundbreaking are nothing compared to the sort of thing we have available TODAY. The lasting impacts of the cinematography as well as innovations in set design are what vault it to the top. From the vantage point of cinematic technique nothing comes close.

 

Orson Wells was a brilliant filmmaker.

 

Random Trivia note:

 

What was the last role Wells played before his death?

Add Gone with the Wind to that list too.

 

In no particular order I would place: Godfather, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Wizard of Oz, Several of Dustin Hoffman's movies, Star Wars, All About Eve, Raging Bull, and To Kill A Mockingbird (which by the way was stupid to have this film at 34) ALL above Citizen Kane.

 

I am even trying to look at this film through my theatrical eyes and I still can't put it in a top 10 list.

 

About the theatrics I can understand somewhat but I think the critics are romancing this movie too much. I did not know that it was the first time a celing was shown.

 

I also learned from watching the AFI show that "In The Heat of The Night" when the black guy slaps the white guy, it was the first time a black man had EVER hit a white man in a major movie.

If you'll watch a movie from before Citizen Kane and then watch it, you'll understand a bit more... But even with that said, I'm not a fan of this movie. It does not crack my top 10.

A number of movies from other eras that were techonologically groundbreaking are nothing compared to the sort of thing we have available TODAY. The lasting impacts of the cinematography as well as innovations in set design are what vault it to the top. From the vantage point of cinematic technique nothing comes close.

 

Orson Wells was a brilliant filmmaker.

 

Random Trivia note:

 

What was the last role Wells played before his death?

 

If you'll watch a movie from before Citizen Kane and then watch it, you'll understand a bit more... But even with that said, I'm not a fan of this movie. It does not crack my top 10.

 

I get it now. The thing that amazes me the most is the fact that this movie has been #1 for so long, almost every internet list has it #1 and almost every newspaper, etc...

 

What is the #1 movie for all of you?

I honestly don't feel quialified to argue with the AFI on this one.

 

I have personal favorite films, but that has nothing to do with the rankings according to the AFI.

I honestly don't feel quialified to argue with the AFI on this one.

 

I have personal favorite films, but that has nothing to do with the rankings according to the AFI.

 

Well come on, I am not trying to discredit AFI, but I don't get it because I have seen at least 75 of the 100 movies and I hate the fact that they are basing the Greatest Movie of All Time, on the fact that the movie was "before it's time" What about Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind?

 

Sorry, I am not spouting at you, and don't think I am picking on you or anything.

Well come on, I am not trying to discredit AFI, but I don't get it because I have seen at least 75 of the 100 movies and I hate the fact that they are basing the Greatest Movie of All Time, on the fact that the movie was "before it's time" What about Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind?

 

Sorry, I am not spouting at you, and don't think I am picking on you or anything.

 

 

What would you base it on? What categories would you use to rank/rate something along those lines?

 

What would your top 100 be and why?

I get it now. The thing that amazes me the most is the fact that this movie has been #1 for so long, almost every internet list has it #1 and almost every newspaper, etc...

 

What is the #1 movie for all of you?

 

My personal favorite is American History X... I'd watch that movie every day and take something new from it every time.

Citizen Kane was as groundbreaking a film as there ever has been - I would rank it number two behind Forrest Gump.

What would you base it on? What categories would you use to rank/rate something along those lines?

 

What would your top 100 be and why?

 

I will sit down one day real soon and make out a top 100. I would have some of my math-freak friends devise a formula that includes box office sales, DVD/VHS sales, popular polls and innovation/technological advancement.

 

I would use sales/popularity because a movie can be a ground-breaking smash-hit with critics and be total garbage, (i.e. Citizen Kane and any of the clay-mation movies)