Time Comes for Groundhog Day, Others, on Latest AFI Top 10 List
If you’ve been waiting for Groundhog Day to get its due, your wait, like Bill Murray’s at the end of that film, is finally over.
The 1993 comedy about a weatherman’s very, very long day was one of 100 films honored by the American Film Institute with its latest best-of list.
AFI’s 10 Top 10, a list of lists, actually, covering genres from animation to Western, was revealed in a CBS special Tuesday.
The three-hour program was the least-watched show of the night on the big four networks, averaging an estimated 5.5 million viewers, per Nielsen Media Research.
Game 6 of the NBA Finals and the premiere of America’s Got Talent might have proved bigger draws, but Marty McFly wasn’t complaining.
Like Groundhog Day, 1985’s Back to the Future was an AFI first-timer, coming in at 10th on the list of Hollywood’s 10 best sci-fi movies of all time. (Groundhog Day was honored in the fantasy category, where it ranked eighth.)
Other newbies: The Lion King (4th, animation); Shrek (eighth, animation); Cinderella (ninth, animation); Finding Nemo (10th, animation); the 1924 silent version of The Thief of Bagdad (ninth, fantasy); Red River (fifth, Western); McCabe & Mrs. Miller (eighth, Western); and The Hustler (sixth, sports).
The courtroom drama category featured the most newcomers to an AFI list: sixKramer vs. Kramer (third), Witness for the Prosecution (sixth), Anatomy of a Murder (seventh), In Cold Blood (eighth), A Cry in the Dark (ninth) and Judgment at Nuremberg (10th).
The romantic comedy, mystery, gangster and epic genres did not welcome rookies. Every film honored in those categories was on at least one previous AFI list, if not several others. The Wizard of Oz, for example, made the cut on 10 other AFI lists, more than any other film honored as a 10 Top 10 film.
In all, the AFI has now issued 13 best-of lists since 1998, when it unveiled its picks for the 100 top U.S. movies of the 20th century.
Here’s a rundown of the top 10 genre categories:
ANIMATION
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937
- Pinocchio, 1940
- Bambi, 1942
- The Lion King, 1994
- Fantasia, 1940
- Toy Story, 1995
- Beauty and the Beast, 1991
- Shrek, 2001
- Cinderella, 1950
- Finding Nemo, 2003
FANTASY
- The Wizard of Oz, 1939
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001
- It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946
- King Kong, 1933
- Miracle on 34th Street, 1947
- Field of Dreams, 1989
- Harvey, 1950
- Groundhog Day, 1993
- The Thief of Bagdad, 1924
- Big, 1988
GANGSTER
- The Godfather, 1972
- Goodfellas, 1990
- The Godfather Part II, 1974
- White Heat, 1949
- Bonnie and Clyde, 1967
- Scarface: The Shame of a Nation, 1932
- Pulp Fiction, 1994
- The Public Enemy, 1931
- Little Caesar, 1930
- Scarface, 1983
SCIENCE FICTION
- 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968
- Star Wars: Episode IVA New Hope, 1977
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982
- A Clockwork Orange, 1971
- The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951
- Blade Runner, 1982
- Alien, 1979
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1956
- Back to the Future, 1985
WESTERN
- The Searchers, 1956
- High Noon, 1952
- Shane, 1953
- Unforgiven, 1992
- Red River, 1948
- The Wild Bunch, 1969
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller, 1971
- Stagecoach, 1939
- Cat Ballou, 1965
SPORTS
- Raging Bull, 1980
- Rocky, 1976
- The Pride of the Yankees, 1942
- Hoosiers, 1986
- Bull Durham, 1988
- The Hustler, 1961
- Caddyshack, 1980
- Breaking Away, 1979
- National Velvet, 1944
- Jerry Maguire, 1996
MYSTERY
- Vertigo, 1958
- Chinatown, 1974
- Rear Window, 1954
- Laura, 1944
- The Third Man, 1949
- The Maltese Falcon, 1941
- North By Northwest, 1959
- Blue Velvet, 1986
- Dial M for Murder, 1954
- The Usual Suspects, 1995
ROMANTIC COMEDY
- City Lights, 1931
- Annie Hall, 1977
- It Happened One Night, 1934
- Roman Holiday, 1953
- The Philadelphia Story, 1940
- When Harry Met Sally…, 1989
- Adam’s Rib, 1949
- Moonstruck, 1987
- Harold and Maude, 1971
- Sleepless in Seattle, 1993
COURTROOM DRAMA
- To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962
- 12 Angry Men, 1957
- Kramer vs. Kramer, 1979
- The Verdict, 1982
- A Few Good Men, 1992
- Witness for the Prosecution, 1957
- Anatomy of a Murder, 1959
- In Cold Blood, 1967
- A Cry in the Dark, 1988
- Judgment at Nuremberg, 1961
EPIC
- Lawrence of Arabia, 1962
- Ben-Hur, 1959
- Schindler’s List, 1993
- Gone With the Wind, 1939
- Spartacus, 1960
- Titanic, 1997
- All Quiet on the Western Front, 1930
- Saving Private Ryan, 1998
- Reds, 1981
- The Ten Commandments, 1956
Chuck Palahniuk’s Choke Gets a Greenlight, Sam Rockwell to Star
Chuck Palahniuk is the biggest untapped resource producing books today. His breakthrough novel Fight Club, was made into one of the most brilliant films of the last 10 years. Yet none of his other novels have gone into production since, Until now.
According to the author’s official fansite (a great site about not just Chuck but also authors and writing), Choke has finally been given the greenlight. Sam Rockwell is set to star, and first-timer Clark Gregg will be directing.
Gregg is an actor who has done a lot of bit parts in television shows (The West Wing, The New Adventures of Old Christine) and movies (Hoot, In the Land of Women) over the last 20 years. He wrote What Lies Beneath for director Robert Zemeckis. Gregg adapted Choke into screenplay form and has been championing the project for several years now. According to the author, the mom is most likely Glenn Close, Annette Benning or Juliana Moore.
I’m glad to see that another one of his books has finally been given a chance. Although, I wish it were Survivor - which was set to go into production before, well, that day. You see, Survivor’s main character is a terrorist who hijacks a plane and… yeah, that project is way dead. But it’s definitely my favorite Palahniuk novel (underneath Fight Club, of course).
If you never want to read Choke, than don’t pick it up in a book store and start reading the first chapter. It might very well be the best opening chapter in terms of sucking you in.
Choke follows Victor Mancini and his friend Denny through a few months of their lives with frequent flashbacks to the days when Victor was a child. Victor grew up while going from one foster home to another. Victor’s mother was found to be unfit to raise Victor. Several times throughout his childhood his mother would kidnap him from his foster parents. They would eventually be caught and he would again be remanded over to the government child welfare agency.
In the present day setting of the book, Victor is now a man in his mid-twenties who left medical school in order to find work to support his mother who is now in a nursing home. He cannot afford the care that his mother is receiving so he resorts to being a con man. His “con” is to go to restaurants and midway through his meal, he forces himself to choke on his food. When some good Samaritan comes over to perform the Heimlich maneuver, he spits the food out and thanks them for saving his life. He keeps a detailed list of everyone who saves him and sends them frequent letters about fictional bills he is unable to pay. The people feel so sorry for him that they give him money, send him cards and letters asking about him how he’s doing, and even continue to send him money to help him with the bills.
We reported last year that Universal has acquired the rights to the book, so one must assume they are the studio moving the film into production.