AFI's 100 most inspiring movies

speck76

speck76

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The American Film Institute is coming out with its list of 100 most inspiring movies in a special to air June 14. (on CBS I think)

AFI’s 100 Years…100 CHEERS
America's Most Inspiring Movies
AFI has compiled this ballot of 300 inspiring movies to aid your selection process. Due to the extraordinarily subjective nature of this process, you will no doubt find that AFI's scholars and historians have been unable to include some of your favorite movies in this ballot, so AFI encourages you to utilize the spaces it has included for write-in votes.

AFI asks jurors to consider the following in their selection process:
CRITERIA
FEATURE-LENGTH FICTION FILM
Narrative format, typically over 60 minutes in length.

AMERICAN FILM
English language film with significant creative and/or production elements from theUnited States. Additionally, only feature-length American films released before January 1, 2005 will be considered.

CHEERS
Movies that inspire with characters of vision and conviction who face adversity and often make a personal sacrifice for the greater good. Whether these movies end happily or not, they are ultimately triumphant – both filling audiences with hope and empowering them with the spirit of human potential.

LEGACY
Films whose "cheers" continue to echo across a century of American cinema.

The list of the nominees can be found here http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/cheers300.pdf

So....which films "inspire" you the most?
 
GenerationX

GenerationX

Well-Known Member
I hope they remove any film from consideration that contains the dreaded, sappy "slow clap". I hate that cliche. It's so manipulative and unrealistic.

That said, I do have a heart. The most inspirational films to me are:

Fiction, but based on true events (probably allowed, according to their rules): Rudy, Apollo 13
Non-Fiction (not allowed): Hoop Dreams
Non-Fiction, Non-English (double no-no): The Passion of the Christ
 
prberk

prberk

Well-Known Member
"North Dallas Forty" and "9 to 5" were on there, but "Old Yeller" was NOT???!!!

The criteria include "characters of vision and conviction who face adversity and often make a personal sacrifice for the greater good." Isn't "Old Yeller" a definitive classic childhood film for exactly that?

Definitely more inspirational than either of the others. Even though I love "9 to 5," I hardly see it as more inspirational than "Old Yeller."

I think that the academy-types all have a prejudice against Disney, and always have. He is too low-brow and populist for them. Not to mention that so many snot-nosed children attend his films (or, in his case, "movies" -- they are only "films" when they meet sophisticated standards). :lookaroun

Paul
 
imagineer boy

imagineer boy

Well-Known Member
BTW, there is also going to be a life time achievement award presented to Sean Connery on the eighth, similar to the one George Lucas got last year. So, I'm going to be anxiouse to see that. The one with George Lucas last year was hilarious with the opening by William Shatner, and Carrie Fisher's speech. :lol: "Star Wars made me into a doll, which my ex-husband could stick needles into." :lol:
 
ctwhalerman

ctwhalerman

New Member
imagineer boy said:
BTW, there is also going to be a life time achievement award presented to Sean Connery on the eighth
Click to expand...

Let's see how mad he gets when they continually play the James Bond theme that night. And I hope they don't include the dubious Oscar-winning scene from The Untouchables were he has been pelted with atleast 30 bullets and still manages to crawl all the way inside his apartment and sputter out some heartwrenching words to Kevin Costner.

I'm actually intrigued by this new list though, because so many of the greatest movies do not have uplifting themes. With just the AFI's top ten, it's clear: Kane dies and his sled is burned, Ilsa and Rick do not end up together, Don Michael kills everyone, Rhett leaves Scarlett even if she's going to see what come tomorrow, Lawrence dies and his Arab allies are denied independence, Dorothy simply wakes up after her dream just a bit wiser, Benjamin and Elaine do end up together but still live with the sound of silence, Brando still isn't a contender, Schindler's story may be a little uplifting but no one feels uplifted after watching that, leaving number 10 Singin' in the Rain as the only uplifting one in the top ten, and it's not in the list of 400. Should be interesting to see what is picked.

The list of 400 has a lot of miscues though: Coming Home is brilliant, but is not uplifting at all (it's a very sullen Best Years of Our Lives basically), Dances With Wolves makes us feel shame; Chariots of Fire is ENGLISH, not American, so shouldn't be on the list, although I do love the film; Almost Famous (called a "big hug" by Roger Ebert) should be on the list instead of Jerry Maguire; The Killing Fields is in the same vein as Schindler's List, in that a short uplifting ending has apparently made the excruciating images of the previous 2.5 hours pointless; Patton is misplaced; Revenge of the Nerds, need I say more?; and, the coup de grace of them all, 2001: A Space Odyssey- Kubrick never made an uplifting thing in his life, and is probably spinning in his grave.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, E.T., The Shawshank Redemption,and It's a Wonderful Life (#12 on the all-time list) are uplifting juggernauts, and I like the overlooked Lumet films 12 Angry Men and The Verdict, and I hope Mary Poppins shows up on the list, and I'm sure the Gipper will show up too but seriously, what's the over/under on the overdone Rocky being number one on this list (All the President's Men is still far superior)?

Sorry for the ranting, but it's 4:30 and I've got nothing better to do.:brick:
 

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