the more titles they put on the registry every year the more it devalues it. two-thirds of these films ive never even heard of.
the national film registry should be for the absolute best of the best. “the muppet movie” doesnt cut it for me.
Make. Them. Stop.
“The National Film Registry films are selected not as the “best” American films but instead for their enduring importance to U.S. culture.”
So that’s that.
Culture:
1 : cultivation, tillage
2 : the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education
3 : expert care and training
4 a : enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training b : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills
5 a : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time c : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization d : the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic
How unfortunate that numbers 2 and 4 have no relation to U.S. film culture.
“THE EXILES chronicles one night in the lives of young Native American men and women living in the Bunker Hill district of Los Angeles. Based entirely on interviews with the participants and their friends, the film follows a group of exiles — transplants from Southwest reservations — as they flirt, drink, party, fight, and dance.”
“5 a : the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations b : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group”
“A small time crook threatens to blow up a New York landmark unless his demands for money are met. They’re not, and he does. We see Lady Liberty’s head disintegrate in an explosion. In our final shot: our terrorist sits overlooking New York harbor, nonchalantly munching his lunch while observing the headless Statue of Liberty. Oh yeah, it’s a comedy. For our terrorist, picture someone cute & cuddly. Say, Danny DeVito. (…) The shot of Lady Liberty’s head exploding was a remarkable special effect, reports a former NYU film student, especially by the standards of thirty years ago — and especially for a student film. (…) Naturally, Hot Dogs for Gauguin helped launch the careers of Brest and DeVito.”
I think, that’s an aesthetic importance.
I actually want to see The Exiles now that it is available on dvd. i was hoping it fit more in with 2 or 4 than 5, however.
Where’s Twilight?
“Where’s Twilight?”
Hahahahahaha!!! And Avatar? And Dark Knight?
@ Bobby Wise & Mike Spence
Don’t complain, nominate!
You can select up to 50 titles when you write to that e-mail address. Get to crackin’ on your lists!
nah. id rather complain! besides, anything i could nominate will get picked sooner or later. its not like i know some secret important film that no one in america has ever seen before. and like i said, if theyre picking 25 titles every year theres not too much thats gonna slip through the cracks.
What Bobby said.
I’ve never even heard of most of them and 1, 14, and 24 are the only ones I’ve seen.
our tax dollars at work.
I think the list is a good mix of great movies and “culturally significant” ones. I remember years ago going almost daily to the all summer long MOMA American Film Comedy series and while I was thrilled to be introduced for the first time to thew onders of Preston Sturges, I also sat through for “culturally significant” reasons the likes of “Beach Party” and a Don Knotts comedy possibly “The Ghost and Mr Chicken”. When a movie grosses half a billion dollars , whether it’s good or not, it becomes “culturally significant”. Just as when a bad movie is a cultural touchstone , it too should be part of the registry: “Showgirls” anyone?
thank God they saved The Muppet Movie (1979)
Forget Avatar or Titanic
the last film scene that truly wowed me was
Kermit riding a bicycle
that is where technology peak in my mind
this looks like a down year for the registry, a bunch of culture i would prefer not to preserve. all i gotta say is Pillow Talk. It doesn’t seem to gel with such gems as “jammin the blues” which was just on tcm a couple of days ago. Hot Dogs for Gauguin sounds promising though.
“nah. id rather complain! "
That’s why we never advance.
In my humble opinion, the National Film Registry should aim at preserving ALL American films. In fact, each country should try to preserve ALL of its films.
By the way, the National Film Registry has many of my favourite American films, but it’s still missing a lot of them… to name a few:
Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Rain Man (1988)
Amadeus (1984)
Gremlins (1984) – a guilty pleasure
Ordinary People (1980)
Marathon Man (1976)
The Exorcist (1973)
Sleuth (1972) !!!!!
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) !!!!!
The Party (1968)
My Fair Lady (1964)
East of Eden (1955)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Sabrina (1954)
T.J. Royal
1) Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
2) The Exiles (1961)
3) Heroes All (1920)
4) Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972)
5) The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
6) Jezebel (1938)
7) The Jungle (1967)
8) The Lead Shoes (1949)
9) Little Nemo (1911)
10) Mabel’s Blunder (1914)
11) The Mark of Zorro (1940)
12) Mrs. Miniver (1942)
13) The Muppet Movie (1979)
14) Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
15) Pillow Talk (1959)
16) Precious Images (1986)
17) Quasi at the Quackadero (1975)
18) The Red Book (1994)
19) The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-36)
20) Scratch and Crow (1995)
21) Stark Love (1927)
22) The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
23) A Study in Reds (1932)
24) Thriller (1983)
25) Under Western Stars (1938)
The only movie I really know that much about out of this list is Once Upon A Time In The West, which really should’ve already BEEN on the National Film Registry before now. Is anyone at all surprised to see the music video for Thriller on here, given that Michael Jackson died this year?
Here’s a .pdf describing the movies a little bit more in-depth. http://www.loc.gov/film/NFR2009.pdf
There’s also a an e-mail address where you can suggest up to 50 titles (movies, music videos, short films, cartoons, etc.) per year for inclusion in the National Film Registry. Only one of my votes this year made it on there, for Once Upon A Time In The West. Here’s to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and White Dog making it for 2010!
Here’s the e-mail address: dross@loc.gov
And here’s a good page to read up on the National Film Registry: http://www.loc.gov/film/vote.html