The American Film Institute revealed their 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time in a three hour special on CBS last night. I tuned in late as I had a telephone meeting with a book club that was discussing Ribbon of Years, so I missed seeing clips and hearing comments on the first 40 or so films.
In glancing down the list, there are only three films which I may not have seen. I say "may not" because it is possible/even probable that I saw them (at least on TV) and they didn’t have much impact on me, for good or for bad. I certainly know the titles. I just can’t be sure I’ve seen them. Maybe I’d better see if they are available on Netflix.
The one movie on this list of inspiring films that caused me to stop in my tracks was #78, Thelma & Louise. T&L inspiring? Let’s see. Two women leave boyfriend and husband, commit crimes including shooting an attempted rapist, run from the police, and then drive off a cliff rather than get caught. Sorry. I think of inspiring as being something uplifting and encouraging (even if the movie has lots of hardship, such as Schindler’s List). But how is committing murder and suicide uplifting? Thelma & Louise has loads of fans, and it can be called well-acted, exciting, dangerous, titillating. But I don’t consider it an inspiring film by any stretch of the imagination. It isn’t a film that makes me want to be a better person. Just my opinion.
Here’s the Top Ten, all terrific and inspiring:
1 | IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE | 1946 |
2 | TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD | 1962 |
3 | SCHINDLER’S LIST | 1993 |
4 | ROCKY | 1976 |
5 | MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON | 1939 |
6 | E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL | 1982 |
7 | THE GRAPES OF WRATH | 1940 |
8 | BREAKING AWAY | 1979 |
9 | MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET | 1947 |
10 | SAVING PRIVATE RYAN | 1998 |
To see the full list, visit the AFI site.
What would be on your Top 100 list of most inspiring films that didn’t make this list? And are there any that you would remove?
-rlh-
How about “To Sir With Love,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” “Goodbye Mr. Chips” (the original), “Brian’s Song,” (maybe that was a TV movie), “Keys of the Kingdom” (Gregory Peck), “Random Harvest,” (Greer Garson), “A Tale of Two Cities,” (Ronald Coleman), “The Bishop’s Wife,” (Cary Grant version)to name a few classics… I’d get rid of ET and definitely “An officer and a gentleman” (more depressing than anything!)and move a few others up into the top ten spot – like Sound of Music, Seabiscuit, Mrs. Miniver…
Yes to everything Pam said, and I want to add “Radio”, a fantastic movie with Ed Harris and Cuba Gooding, 2003. Great acting, great story. A high school coach takes a mentally handicapped young man, who isn’t even in school, under his wing and he becomes beloved in the town (old South, 1970’s setting.) Warms my heart just thinking about that movie and that there are people like that out there.
Too new to make the list might be “Akeelah and the Bee.” Fantastic!
And I love, love, love “Finding Forrester.” What about the Italian film, “A Beautiful Life”? So bittersweet in its inspirational qualities. Along the same lines, “The Hiding Place.”
I had a VERY hard time being inspired by Erin Brockovich. Well, I mean, PARTS of her were inspiring, but probably not the parts I should have been aspiring to! 🙂
Oh, “A Beautiful Life” was really good, although so SAD!
And I LOVED “Radio.” I bawled an ocean when I saw that.
Camy
Hard to believe that “The Sound of Music” came in at 41 and “Chariots of Fire”, one of my all time favorite movies, barely made the list at 100. Maybe the list somewhat shows the biases of the “jury of 1,500 film artists, critics and historians” 🙂
Ahhhhh…..so, so many movies!! To pick 100 would be extremely difficult for me to do and I am sure I would omit more than 50 that I should have considered. But when it gets right down to it; most inspiring movie of all time is “It’s A Wonderful Life”! What better inspiration to know that your life DOES matter to someone, somehow, somewhere. After all, it matters to GOD and the awesome but suttle inspiration of the power of prayer revealed near the end!