APOCALYPSE NOW
YEAR = 1979
GENRE= War
LENGTH=153m
MPAA=R
DIR. =Francis Ford Coppola
STAR = Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando
ACADEMY AWARDS=Cinematography, Sound
Nominations=
AFI RANK = 28
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= YES
GRADE = 9

Perhaps the only "art" film about war that truly succeeds, this was Coppola's last great work. At a time when everyone rushed to depict the torturous events of an earlier decade, trying to make sense of what happened in Vietnam and its consequences, "Apocalypse Now" delved deep into the very essence of the matter. While not necessarily striving to convey the exact historical details, it gave us the spirit of the war, its utter insanity and absurdity. Based on a Joseph Conrad story, set in a different time period, the plotline follows a soldier (Sheen) assigned to "terminate with extreme prejudice" a US colonel (Brando) who has gone berserk. As the boat with Sheen and his crew traverses its way further into uncharted territory, the sense of almost surreal dread overtakes the audience, as if the film has gone mad in its own right. Werner Herzog's "Aguirre the Wrath of God" has achieved something comparable, perhaps even better, but with his unearthly cinematography and arguably the best use of popular music (Wagner, The Doors) in a motion picture, Copolla has the edge. Only near the end does his opus stumble when Brando's primordial musings, by now the stuff of parody, threaten to turn campy. Thankfully, the stunning climax, apocalyptic indeed, restores this moodiest of films' rightful spirit.

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DEER HUNTER
YEAR = 1978
GENRE=Drama, War
LENGTH=183m
MPAA=R
DIR. =Michael Cimino
STAR = Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, Meryl Streep
ACADEMY AWARDS= Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Walken), Editing, Sound
Nominations= Actor (De Niro), Supporting Actress (Streep), Original Screenplay, Cinematography
AFI RANK = 78
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= NO
GRADE = 7

Anything that we needed to know about Vietnam, we could have been told in half the time. An epic with nothing to be epic about, "Deer Hunter" chronicles the experiences of three buddies (De Niro, Walken, Savage) before, during and after the war. A snail pace, and a derivative, uninteresting storyline make this a tedious affair. Only one scene (a devastating round of torture that our heroes must undergo as Vietcong prisoners) stands out from the rest, and it alone accounts for the relatively high grade. The sequence is the very pinnacle of suspense, more frightening than any horror movie in its realism. Strangely enough, one learns more about the characters in that fifteen-odd minute episode than from the rest of the picture. John Woo, in a 1990 remake from an Asian viewpoint, "Bullet in the Head", showed us what Cimino's film could have been if its pace was consistently faster by about three times.

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STAR WARS
YEAR = 1977
GENRE=Sci-Fi
LENGTH=121
MPAA=PG
DIR. =George Lucas
STAR = Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness
ACADEMY AWARDS= Editing, Art Direction, Costume Design, Original Score, Sound, Visual Effects
Nominations= Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Guinness), Original Screenplay
AFI RANK = 15
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT=YES
GRADE =10

Perhaps THE ultimate paradigm of the twentieth century's popular culture, "Star Wars" has remained such a huge success because it never "sold out" to competitive studios, being first and foremost a vision of one man. There were no test screenings, no bargaining with moneyhungry execs, no last-minute rewrites to please the audience. All those tricks are ironically, what the blockbuster legacy of Lucas' brainchild has spawned. The premise might not be entirely original: similarities to Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress" are disturbingly close, down to the droids' dialogue ("We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life." is virtually a direct quotation). What created such a bonafide international phenomenon was an uncanny, brilliant fusion of various cultures' key legends. "Star Wars" is more than a feature film so marvelously entertaining it can be experienced several times in a row like an amusement park ride: it has generated a special mythology that the last three generations has followed en masse. Anyone whose imagination has ever extended beyond the limits of this shabby planet will treasure the movie, and some might even be slightly jealous of Lucas for "beating them to the punch", with the screen adaptation of his fantastic world and not theirs. The mystery of "Star Wars" persists: can the most popular motion picture of all time also serve a double purpose as a work of art ? Undoubtedly it can. Maybe The Force has something to do with it...

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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
YEAR = 1977
GENRE=Sci-Fi
LENGTH=152m
MPAA=PG
DIR. =Steven Spielberg
STAR = Richard Dreifus, Melinda Dillon
ACADEMY AWARDS= Cinematography, Sound Effects Editing
Nominations= Director, Supporting Actress (Dillon), Editing, Art Direction, Original Score, Sound
AFI RANK = 64
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= PERHAPS
GRADE = 8.5

An intriguing, artful feature by Spielberg, the only one of his films that might actually deserve a spot on the list. The movie's primary topic is the baffled earthlings' reception of an alien civilization intent on making contact, complete with a global conspiracy (amusingly, a blueprint for "X-Files"). The question of how an interplanetary culture exchange would go about, and how a particular individual would be affected, has fascinated many since childhood. "Close Encounters" makes for an interesting and sometimes quite thrilling exploration of the theme, with recognizable elements lifted right out of Hitchkock and other classic directors. If only Steven was wise enough to continue his sci-fi venue, he could have become someone akin to James Cameron, always a respectable and exciting filmmaker, but no, his mushy side prevailed. A case of inflated ego demanded a higher, more noble purpose to somehow enlighten humanity with grand (read extremely challenging) subjects. In the long run, none of his later works has been as satisfying and well-rounded as this one.

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ANNIE HALL
YEAR = 1977
GENRE= Romantic Comedy
LENGTH= 94m
MPAA=PG
DIR. =Woody Allen
STAR = Woody Allen, Diane Keaton
ACADEMY AWARDS= Picture, Director, Actress (Keaton), Original Screenplay
Nominations= Actor (Allen)
AFI RANK = 31
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= YES
GRADE = 8.5

Not necessarily the funniest, but the best crafted and classiest of all the Woody pictures. Despite its relative innocence and a substantial degree of nostalgia, "Annie Hall" never engages in either of the two most dreadful sins of Comedy, i.e. slowing down or becoming excessive. Though they may seem overused now, many of the movie's devices were innovations set loose on an unsuspecting American audience: Allen's walk-on flashbacks, the subtitled thoughts of a flirting couple, the split-screen therapy session. For once, Woody does not exploit his troubled quasi-pedophilia theme (which nearly ruined "Manhattan"), and sticks to the pitfalls of an adult relationship, whose cyclical progression until it simply peters out, is expertly documented here. The most prolific film comedian of our time has to be represented by at least one work, and this seems to be a perfect choice.

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TAXI DRIVER
YEAR = 1976
GENRE= Drama, Crime
LENGTH=112m
MPAA=R
DIR. =Martin Scorsese
STAR = Robert DeNiro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel
Academy Award Nominations= Picture, Actor (De Niro), Supporting Actress (Foster), Original Score
AFI RANK = 47
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= YES
GRADE = 9

Scorcese must have known his Dostoyevsky well, and not strictly in the positive sense. In a decision of startling audacity for the seventies, he created a modern-day Rascolnikov as an emotionally scarred Vietnam vet, plunging into greater madness at the very core of the world's rotten heart: New York City. One who develops his own agenda of redemption, and eventually becomes a near automaton set to eliminate all that he hates, at any cost. De Niro, as Travis Bickle, is no longer a mere promising talent, but a true revelation, a paragon of male urban despair, a picture-perfect definition of a walking timebomb. His metamorphosis into a killing machine is incredibly vivid and tense, a performance that glues to the screen and transcends all boundaries, making you revel in its very depravity and rejoice in the sublimely staged climax through which De Niro almost sleepwalks, blinded by uncontrollable obsession. This is interactive cinema: the kind that takes the viewers' senses into full custody and does not release them until the very last moment. Jodie Foster, unlike Dostoyevsky's fallen saints, plays her part with bitter cynicism combined with hidden vulnerability, a far more appropriate behavior for a teenage prostitute. Bernard Hermann, the man who brought you the "Psycho" soundtrack, creates an equally memorable score. Yes, "Taxi Driver" would have been an all-around 10, if not for the final three minutes. Just as "Crime and Punishment"'s tacked-on epilogue of dubious "salvation" spoils the overall experience, so does the film's, which should have ended right at the end of that overhead crane shot of authorities and bystanders arriving on the scene of Travis' ultimate crime.

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ROCKY
YEAR = 1976
GENRE= Drama, Sports
LENGTH=125m
MPAA=PG
DIR. =John Avlidsen
STAR = Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, Burt Young
ACADEMY AWARDS= Picture, Director, Editing
Nominations= Actor (Stallone), Actress (Shire), Supporting Actor (Meredith, Young), Original Screenplay, Song
AFI RANK = 78
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT=NO
GRADE = 6.5

The kind of innocuous, blatantly uplifting movie that pulls few punches and offers few surprises. All of the situations make sense (we can see exactly why they are supposed to be heartwarming), but the trouble is, they're obvious and deliberate. But what do you expect from something written by Stallone himself ? All and all not a bad effort, and sure to inspire much beer-fueled bonding in front of the nations' tubes, although a boxing movie in which the foulest expression is "screw you, creepo", is something only Hollywood can concoct. Real boxing fans and film enthusiasts know of other flicks (including #24 on the list) that are far better contenders.

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NETWORK
YEAR = 1976
GENRE= Black Comedy
LENGTH= 120m
MPAA= R
DIR. =Sidney Lumet
STAR = Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, William Holden, Robert Duvall
ACADEMY AWARDS= Actor (Finch), Actress (Dunwaway), Supporting Actress (Beatrice Straight), Original Screenplay
Nomination= Picture, Director, Actor (Holden), Supporting Actor (Ned Beatty), Cinematography, Editing
AFI RANK = 66
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= YES
GRADE =9

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
YEAR = 1975
GENRE= Drama
LENGTH= 128m
MPAA = R
DIR. =Milos Forman
STAR = Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Danny De Vito, Brad Dourif
ACADEMY AWARDS= Picture, Director, Actor (Nicholson), Actress (Fletcher), Adapted Screenplay
Nominations= Supporting Actor (Dourif), Cinematography, Editing, Original Score
AFI RANK = 20
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= YES
GRADE = 10

The greatest humanist film to come out of the States, and no "Patch Adams", either. This thinly-veiled commentary on the age old problem of a complex individual's unwillingness to adjust does not wallow in cheap sentiment for a second. Should any tears be spilled, not one of them are forcefully extracted: all the happenings inside the walls of a nameless mental institution seem disturbingly true to life, and that is precisely what makes Forman's study in nonconformity so difficult to watch at times. Although most of the lines are evidently scripted (this is Hollywood, after all) , Nicholson as a virtuoso rebel-rouser and the rest of the inmates overachieve in acting. Along with "Midnight Cowboy", "One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest" was the only Best Picture Oscar winner which dared to keep things as real as possible.

JAWS
YEAR = 1975
GENRE= Horror, Adventure
LENGTH= 124m
MPAA=PG
DIR. =Steven Spielberg
STAR =Roy Scheider, Richard Dreifus, Robert Shaw
ACADEMY AWARDS= Editing, Original Score, Sound
Nominations= Picture
AFI RANK = 48
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= PERHAPS
GRADE = 8

Not scary at all, on the contrary, a great deal of dumb fun. The frolics of three grown men on an admittedly small boat, acting like a bunch of grade-schoolers at play, is purely Spielberg's territory. Which one of them will be eaten (at least one has to be, according to the genre's unbreakable rules)? Of course we know the answer way before the unfortunate is graphically (but in a manner deemed acceptable to all parentally guided audiences) devoured. One of the movie's great ironies that a giant rubber shark that malfunctioned half the time, proved instrumental not only to the career of the most popular director in the world; it would also account for the mechanical churning out of such special-effects blockbuster hopefuls as "Deep Rising" by major studios. Of course, Hollywood always strove to make money, but before the 70's, it relegated creature features and action to B-movie studios, depending on Epics and War films to bring in the dough. Nowadays, "Jaws" might seem a bit slow to a desensitized audience who is used to the monster being revealed in the first 20 minutes. Spielberg himself took a note of this when he made his later, much less enjoyable Dinosaur pics.

THE GODFATHER PART II
YEAR = 1974
GENRE= Crime, Drama
LENGTH= 200m
MPAA= R
DIR. =Francis Ford Coppola
STAR = Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino,Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall
ACADEMY AWARDS= Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (De Niro), Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Original Score
Nominations= Actor (Pacino), Supporting Actors (Michael V. Gazzo, Lee Strassberg), Supporting Actress (Talia Shire), Costume Design
AFI RANK = 32
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= YES
GRADE = 9

Everything that the first one was, only to a slightly lesser degree. De Niro, in a role that finally broke him through to the American public, and earned him an Oscar, is recruited as young Don Corleone, showcasing his vengeful wrath to be later used more efficiently in "Taxi Driver". The flashback structure does not always work flawlessly, and the picture as a whole does not have the emotional pull of Part I. Part II is best viewed in conjunction with its predecessor, edited together into a coherent six hour "saga".

CHINATOWN
YEAR = 1974
GENRE= Film Noir, Thriller
LENGTH= 131m
MPAA= R
DIR. =Roman Polanski
STAR = Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway
ACADEMY AWARDS=Orignial Screenplay
Nominations= Picture, Director, Actor (nicholson), Actress (Dunaway), Cinematography, Editing,  Art Direction, Original Score, Costume Design, Sound
AFI RANK = 19
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= YES
GRADE = 10

The first picture of the R-rated era to demonstrate that Film Noir as a genre can never expire. Outliving the Western and the Musical, it continues to reincarnate into new forms, producing magnificent results on an equal level (if not higher) with the 40's classics. "Chinatown" jumpstarted this revival, and in a way is directly responsible for some of the later 20th century's finest cinema: "Blade Runner", "Blue Velvet", "L.A. Confidential", to name a few. All of these involve the same basic precept: a lonely, lovestruck protagonist pitted against an unbeatable force of corruption in a decaying, perverse society. All feature a mysterious female in need of protection. Polanski revisits old ground, untreaded for almost two decades, with the confidence and skill of an auteur he always was. He seems to have full control of the movie: nothing interferes with his vision, right down to an epochal conclusion that needs to be heartily applauded for its refreshing lack of compromise.

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AMERICAN GRAFFITI
YEAR = 1973
GENRE= Comedy, Teen
LENGTH= 110
MPAA=PG
DIR. =George Lucas
STAR = Richard Dreifus, Ron Howard, Harrison Ford
Academy Award Nominations= Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Candy Clark), Original Screenplay, Editing
AFI RANK = 77
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT=YES
GRADE =9

Lucas' warm-up before a venue into hyperspace. Among his many pre-"Star Wars" accomplishments was the first demonstration to the studios of a teen flick's true marketing potential, and the popularization of a "nonoriginal" soundtrack consisting of popular songs. Other films attempted to do the same, but "Rebel Without a Cause" looked at youth as essentially troublemakers, and "Mean Streets" failed at the box-office. "American Graffiti" had finally brought home the point: what the youth really wanted to see was themselves and their music on the big screen. While little of consequence or depth happens to the movie's cruisin' bunch of early 60's high-school grads (many visibly old for their parts), it's the soundtrack , courtesy of the notorious DJ Wolfman Jack (playing himself), that makes the crucial difference. The music, blaring out of every car radio in town, fills the nightly streets like a cavernous echo, adding a heightened feeling of excitement and anticipation, exactly as it does in the everyday reality of most teenagers.

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THE GODFATHER
YEAR = 1972
GENRE= Crime, Drama
LENGTH= 175m
MPAA= R
DIR. =Francis Ford Coppola
STAR = Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
ACADEMY AWARDS= Picture, Actor (Brando), Adapted Screenplay
Nominations= Director, Supporting Actors (Caan, Duvall, Pacino), Editing, Original Score, Costume Design, Sound
AFI RANK = 3
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= YES
GRADE = 10

This epic of epics, in my wholehearted view, remains to this day America's  most accomplished feature film. Even without understanding the dialogue's nuances or the storyline's elaborate twists, one is still inexorably drawn to the movie, as I found myself to be since the earliest time. What makes it so enormously appealing and deeply satisfying is Copolla's masterful direction. Every frame is constructed in such an ingenious manner, that if taken out of context and hung up on a wall as a painting, it would take up another value, becoming as work of art in and of itself. Indeed, it is tempting to compare the dark indoor compositions (the mise-en-scenes' arrangement especially) to Rembrandt and other Dutch masters, without exaggeration. The staging of each scene is handled with the kind of technical and spiritual ballance advocated only in Eastern religions: no extreme close-ups, no jittery or stale camera movements. On a visual level, "The Godfather" posesses an ehtereal beauty regardless of content. The picture's other aspects reveal an astounding proximity to irrefutable perfection: an immortal original score with at least three distinguished motifs; the superlative acting by all of the Corleone Mafia clan and their enemies; the compelling plot which swiftly unfolds before us through, among other things, the most riveting montage since "Battleship Potemkin", no less. Even its minute details are widely quoted today: what comes most easily to mind is the shot-by-shot parody of Brando's botched assassination in '99's "Analyze This", and the more obscure slang term : "to pull a Fredo", coined  in "Swingers" (one of the 90's hippest comedies). Just to decipher the later, decidedly dirty reference should be a good excuse to watch "The Godfather" yet again.

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FRENCH CONNECTION
YEAR = 1971
GENRE= Crime, Action
LENGTH= 104m
MPAA= R
DIR. =William Friedkin
STAR = Gene Hackman, Roy Schieder
ACADEMY AWARDS= Picture, Director, Actor (Hackman), Adapted Screenplay, Editing
Nominations= Supporting Actor (Scheider), Cinematography, Sound
AFI RANK = 70
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= NO
GRADE = 7

A landmark action movie in its day, "The French Connection" feels slow and antique in comparison to modern adrenaline pumpers like "Speed". Before that ubiquitously mentioned (and positively outstanding) car chase gets under way, Hackman (a perpetually bad-habited detective) and his partner snoop around aimlessly for a good hour. The opening foot pursuit with the restless antihero sporting a Santa outfit is quite amusing, but not much else can sustain serious interest. The abrupt ending is completely uncalled for and thus pretentious. The end result is a flawed, uneven film that received high honors and prestige simply because nothing of the sort preceded it.

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CLOCKWORK ORANGE
YEAR = 1971
GENRE=Sci-Fi, Black Comedy
LENGTH=137m
MPAA=R
DIR. =Stanley Cubrick
STAR = Malcolm McDowell
Academy Award Nominations= Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing
AFI RANK = 46
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT=NO ( By Default )
GRADE =9.5

An outrageous meditation on violence, popular culture and modern society's tendency toward relentless self-gratification as well as its increasingly invasive methods of preserving law and order, "The Clockwork Orange", cannot, sadly, be placed on the list. Kubrick's most extravagant, colorful and dynamic film is British to the bone. There is nothing American about it: actors, locations, and even music (except for that "Singin' in the Rain" bit) all belong elsewhere. Besides, the director, in a justifiably wise move, abandoned Hollywood and was living in England where he, indeed , achieved greater independence. One interesting note about the movie: all of the slang that Alex (the "Ode to Joy" loving , miscreant protagonist) and his associates use is entirely based on the Russian language: "droog" means friend, "korova" =cow, "moloko"=milk, "devochka"=girl, "khorosho" (not horrorshow, as often misheard)= good, "bog"= god, "malenki"= small, "golova" (not gulliver)=head, "suka"=bitch, etc.

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M*A*S*H
YEAR = 1970
GENRE= Comedy, War
LENGTH= 116m
MPAA= R
DIR. =Robert Altman
STAR = Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Robert Duvall
ACADEMY AWARDS= Adapted Screenplay
Nominations= Picture, Director, Supporting Actress (Sally Kellerman), Editing
AFI RANK = 56
WORTHY OF PLACEMENT= NO
GRADE =6

"Nashville" would have been a far superior representation of Altman's style on the AFI list, than this exercise in ultrarealist comedy (an oxymoron in itself). True, the director's methods were way ahead of his time, and still, in fact not widely adopted by either the indie or the traditional Hollywood communities. Everything in this Korean military hospital (to inspire the long-running TV sitcom) happens so nonchalantly that entire jokes will be missed completely if the viewer does as much as turn away from the screen for a second. The characters' dialogue requires subtitles to fully comprehend; they either mumble under their noses or talk all at once- even reality is not always so frustrating. The trio of undisciplined pranksters at the center of the action is not unlike the Marx Brothers in essence, minus the laughs. Much of the time watching "M*A*S*H" is spent figuring out what exactly, obvious slapstick aside, is supposed to be so hilarious. Altman is in  much better element when he's not staging pure comedy.

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