[lbo-talk] "Citizen Kane" leads "Godfather" in movie poll

[uvj at vsnl.com]

Reuters.com

"Citizen Kane" leads "Godfather" in movie poll
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1920765120070621?sp=true

Thu Jun 21, 2007

By Arthur Spiegelman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Citizen Kane," Orson Welles' powerful portrait of
an unscrupulous media baron, beat back an assault from "The Godfather," on
Wednesday to retain its title as the greatest American film.

Film critics, historians and experts voted "Kane" as the top U.S. film for
the second time in a decade in a poll conducted by the American Film
Institute. The results were revealed in a three-hour CBS special "100 Years,
100 Movies, 10th Anniversary Edition."

"The Godfather," which ranked third in the original poll of 100 great films
a decade ago. moved up a notch to second place while "Casablanca" slipped to
number three.

Also in the top 10 were a surprising "Raging Bull" at number four, up 20
places from a decade ago. "Singin' in the Rain" was in fifth place, "Gone
With The Wind" was sixth followed by "Lawrence of Arabia," "Schindler's
List," "Vertigo" and "The Wizard of Oz."

"Vertigo," the Hitchcock film starring James Stewart, rose to 9th place
after placing 61st in the original poll.

"American film has always reflected and, in many respects, defined who we
are," said AFI president and chief executive Jean Picker Firstenberg.

She credited the spreading popularity of the DVD with spurring interest in
silent films and in often neglected masterpieces like John Ford's "The
Searchers," which went from 96 on the original list to 12 this year.
For the first time, D.W. Griffith's silent masterpiece "Intolerance" was
voted onto the list as was Buster Keaton's "The General" while Charlie
Chaplin's poignant "City Lights" rose from 76 to 11 on the list.
But Griffith's racist 1915 film "Birth of a Nation" fell off the list
entirely because of its now unpopular ideology, despite its history of
technical innovations.

Of the 43 newly eligible films released from 1996 to 2006, only "Lord of the
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (50), "Saving Private Ryan" (71),
"Titanic" (83) and "The Sixth Sense" (89) made the cut.

Other new additions to the list include "Cabaret" (63), "Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?" (67), "The Shawshank Redemption" (72), "All The President's
Men" (77), "Spartacus" (81) and "A Night at the Opera" (85).

Among those films that did not make the list were: "Fantasia," "Doctor
Zhivago," "Birth of a Nation," "The Jazz Singer," My Fair Lady," "From Here
to Eternity" and "An American in Paris."

AFI film historian Pat Hansen said it seemed that musicals took the biggest
hit. "Musicals seemed out of favor and were replaced by more popular films
like 'Titanic' and 'Saving Private Ryan'," she said.

Reuters

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