**Warning: This Program is not for the Faint of Heart**

June 14, 2001 12:12 PM

**Warning: This Program is not for the Faint of Heart** The American Film Institute has come out with its list of 100 most thrilling movies (presumably, ever). Voters at the AFI website don't quite agree. (AFI #1= Psycho vs. public's Star Wars.)
posted by caraig (16 comments total)

Depends on the adjective you associate with it...thrilling can be taken in numerous ways...they use the term "heart-pounding" on the link on their site, and while starwars was entertaining, I wouldn't have classed it as heart-pounding, which Psycho, the Exorcist, Jaws, and even NBNW were (the latter in a quaint old-world kind of way)
posted by DiplomaticImmunity at 12:19 PM on June 14, 2001

Isn't it feint of heart?
posted by milnak at 12:24 PM on June 14, 2001

It is interesting to note that these are the most thrilling *american* films.
posted by bison at 12:29 PM on June 14, 2001

hmmmm, "thrilling" movie in my mind immediately conjurs the first Indy Jones flick... Glad to see that others felt the same way. The grain of salt got bigger when I saw the recent lifetime achievement award for Streisand.
posted by machaus at 12:30 PM on June 14, 2001

It is interesting to note that these are the most thrilling *american* films.

well, it is the *american* film institute, is it not?
posted by bluishorange at 12:32 PM on June 14, 2001

The Wizard of Oz is "thrilling" and "heart-pounding"? Well for Ghod's sake get your valium and your nitroglycerin pills because we're going to Pigs in Space tonight.

(the Hollywood W. of O. is deprecated anyway because poor Judy Garland looks no more like Dorothy than Liz Taylor does.)
posted by jfuller at 12:39 PM on June 14, 2001

I am a geek. Specifically, I am a Sci-Fi loving geek. I am the internet-mongering, computer-building, Orson-Scot-Card-reading, computer-programming, online-game-playing kind of Sci-Fi loving geek.

And I know that Star Wars is a bad movie.

Yes, the 1977 original Star Wars, later re-released as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It's a bad movie.

Feel free to love it; even I do. Feel free to call it your favorite movie, though I do not. Just don't pretend it's not a bad movie.
posted by NortonDC at 12:46 PM on June 14, 2001

AFI is going to whore this 100 list things till it dies a horrible, horrible way. Still, I guess I'm kinda happy that 5 Kubrick films made the list. hmm?

21. A Clockwork Orange
29. The Shining
40. 2001
62. Spartacus
95. Full Metal Jacket
posted by tiaka at 12:48 PM on June 14, 2001

Regarding Wizard of Oz, think about it from a young child's point of view. I can remember, gee it must be 45 years ago or so, my first exposure to it. Those flying monkeys scared the s#!t out of me.
posted by fpatrick at 1:03 PM on June 14, 2001

I guess My Dinner With Andre would have been too obvious. Or Stalker. That Tarkovsky guy sure knew how to pace a film!

ha!

bored at work

c
posted by Kafkaesque at 2:53 PM on June 14, 2001

Here's a question: Why is the Exorcist scary? I've asked people before, and I'm still no clearer to an answer. Are people afraid of becoming possessed by the devil?
posted by Doug at 7:50 PM on June 14, 2001

Here's a question: Why is the Exorcist scary?

It's because Linda Blair looks like that Pepsi girl! Ack!!! Scary!!!

Seriously, I think it's a combination of factors, but that movie was the scariest thing I've ever seen. Part of it was the mood, the unpredictability of the actions of the girl.
posted by gyc at 9:00 PM on June 14, 2001

They ran through the 100 films on CBS the other night. At first I was ambivalent about the show, but then I got sucked in. I was reminded of a lot of thrilling movies that I will probably now watch again. Two on the top of my list: Rosemary's Baby and A Clockwork Orange.
posted by neuroshred at 11:52 PM on June 14, 2001

Are people afraid of becoming possessed by the devil?

In a nutshell, yes.
posted by kindall at 12:39 AM on June 15, 2001

Just don't pretend [Star Wars is] not a bad movie.

Uhhh. Okay. You may not enjoy it, but that doesn't make it a bad movie. What's "bad" about it? From a technical point of view, the film is a near masterpiece. The silly, cliched story and dialogue were intentional.

I'm confused.
posted by daveadams at 9:06 AM on June 15, 2001

I've only seen forty of the one hundred movies on that list. So if the AFI's purpose was to get people to rent or buy movies of the past, well, there's a sucker born every minute and I'll take the bait. There's ten movies though that I refuse to see. I do not equate cringe scenes and absurdity in plot or premise with heart-stopping.

However with excellent storytelling, and arguably the ultimate film of its genre - I've yet to find its equal. No one will ever be able to argue otherwise with me: Star Wars was, is and always shall be a great film. It's all subjective anyway.
posted by ZachsMind at 4:22 PM on June 16, 2001