As the eve is upon us, and we get ready for (what could be?) a whole new list, I think it is fitting to review AFI’s list from 10 years ago. Click on the artwork for a different take on each film.

#1 CITIZEN KANE (1941)
KANE

From www.filmsite.org:

The fresh, sophisticated, and classic masterpiece, Citizen Kane (1941), is probably the world’s most famous and highly-rated film, with its many remarkable scenes and performances, cinematic and narrative techniques and experimental innovations (in photography, editing, and sound).

#2 CASABLANCA (1942)

CASABLANCA

From Turner Classic Movies Online Database www.tcmdb.com:

In the six decades since its 1942 release, Casablanca has grown into such a legend that it almost transcends mere cinema. Its lines of dialogue can be quoted by people who have not even seen the film: “Here’s looking at you, kid,” “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” and the oft misquoted “Play it, Sam.”

#3 THE GODFATHER (1972)

GODFATHER

From www.rogerebert.com:

What is important is loyalty to the family. Much is said in the movie about trusting a man’s word, but honesty is nothing compared to loyalty. Michael doesn’t even trust Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) with the secret that he plans to murder the heads of the other families. The famous “baptism massacre” is tough, virtuoso filmmaking: The baptism provides him with an airtight alibi, and he becomes a godfather in both senses at the same time.

#4 GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)

GONE WITH

From Barbara Shulgasser, SFGate.com:

The movie plays its role in movie history, becoming one of the great box-office performers in the pre-Steven Spielberg and George Lucas days. The search to find Selznick’s ideal Scarlett O’Hara, the willful Southern belle who would destroy several Southern gentlemen in pursuit of the man she loved but who didn’t love her, was the talk of Hollywood.

#5 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)

ARABIA

By Rita Kempley, washingtonpost.com:

The film’s genius is its marriage of intimate portrait and big-screen epic. T.E. Lawrence, a repressed 29-year-old British mapmaker, becomes a desert Napoleon, worshiped as a self-proclaimed demigod. His story is an atavistic “Revenge of the Nerds,” every angry adolescent’s dream come true. It is also the tragedy of a troubled scholar whose repressed violence spills out in the seminal sword-rattling of the battle scenes.

#6 THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)

WIZARD

From the flickfilosopher.com:

The transition from the sepia tones of Dorothy’s Kansas to the Technicolor world of Oz is a reminder of how glorious color film must have been when it was new — and the movie, sepia and color sections alike, looks absolutely stunning in the new DVD release, digitally remastered for the film’s 60th anniversary.

#7 THE GRADUATE (1967)

Graduate

From Variety.com:

Miss Bancroft, feline and slinky in a manner very much like Lauren Bacall, is excellent, as is Miss Ross, an exciting, fresh actress from the Universal stable, who has a long career ahead of her. Hoffman is perfect in his role. William Daniels and Elizabeth Wilson play his parents in top fashion. Small, but well-cast, supporting contingent includes co-scripter Henry, as a room clerk.

#8 ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)

Waterfront

by J. Hoberman, Village Voice:

Always on the verge of unshed tears, his face a smooth mask of tragedy, Brando’s Terry is as soulfully stupid as he is beautiful—a male Marilyn Monroe (who achieved sex deity status in 1954). No other actor ever made more poignant use of what, pace John Steinbeck, might be called the Lenny factor. Terry is a sort of brute yet vulnerable animal trembling on the brink of consciousness. In class terms, he embodies what culture critic Harold Rosenberg once called “the pathos of the proletariat.”

#9 SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)

SCH LIST

By Carmel Gallagher, from bbc.co.uk:

The film finishes on a powerful note in present day with the real Schindler survivors and their descendants visiting his grave. It is the final reminder that this is a true story of one man’s bravery and that in “saving one life, you save the entire world”.

#10 SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952)

RAIN

From reelviews.com:

Singin’ in the Rain is considered by many people to be among the best Hollywood musicals of all time. For those who have seen the movie, the reason for this is not difficult to understand. Watching Singin’ in the Rain is an exuberant, magical experience – a journey deep into the heart of feel-good territory. Sitting through the film’s 102 minutes is like ingesting a mood-altering drug. It’s the perfect antidote to the blues and the blahs, and a way to bolster, enhance, and extend a natural high.