An interesting if not sort of vague idea for a special (100 Most Inspirational Films). The special itself was okay--while compared to other specials it attempted to get people actually involved with the films to chat, it also relied on these people quite a bit to talk about other films which got kind of tiresome (Lou Diamond Phillips, I swear, was on all night).
100. Chariots of Fire. A great sports film, but where's The Natural? One of the most inspirational films gets punked?
99. Ray. Each year, AFI throws one recent film on there that I think will look foolish several years down the road.
98. The Karate Kid. Too low! This film is a cornerstone of numerous '80s kids' life. Ralph Macchio looks pretty good too.
97. Madame Curie. The first "me confused" pick. Not saying it isn't worthy, but I didn't think this had a chance in heck of getting on the list.
96. Searching for Bobby Fischer. Always wanted to see this.
95. Places in the Heart. Sadly a film more well known for inspiring Sally Field's ill-fated Oscar speech.
94. Captains Courageous. Spencer Tracy, a marvelous actor, won Oscars for the goopiest parts--this and Boys Town.
93. A Beautiful Mind. Good choice.
92. Fame. Great theme song.
91. The Paper Chase. Hee hee. John Houseman was the man.
90. Hotel Rwanda. Now this could be a well chosen recent pick.
89. Harold and Maude. Interesting. Where was Bud Cort?
88. Yankee Doodle Dandy. Cagney's only Oscar.
87. Working Girl. Yes, it has one of the seminal '80s songs, but it is really worthy of being on the list?
86. Stand and Deliver. Shockingly low. "A negative times a negative is a positive!"
85. What's Love Got to Do With It? Angela Bassett: Oscar-nominated star one minute, then co-star in "Mr. 3000."
84. Serpico. It's not really inspirational, but I get more punch out of Dog Day Afternoon: "Attica! Attica!"
83. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. So if someone told Gary Cooper that Adam Sandler would play the role in a remake, how would he react?
82. Fiddler on the Roof. Never saw the movie, but this is one of the best musicals.
81. Boys Town. My mom: "Mickey Rooney is still alive?"
80. Babe. I would have liked to see Christine Cavanaugh (the voice of Babe).
79. The Ten Commandments. A classic for DeMillions.
78. Thelma and Louise. Hard to remember how big this movie was, but then again, it's hard to remember when Geena Davis was an Oscar-nominated/winning actress.
77. Driving Miss Daisy. Morgan Freeman was a no-show. Boo!
76. Birdman of Alcatraz. Another kind of puzzling pick, especially this high.
75. The Verdict. This looks good.
74. Gunga Din. The second best known film about heroes stopping the Thuggee cult.
73. Erin Brockovich. Was not aware DeVito produced this until he said so.
72. Dark Victory. One of a long-phased out genre (which made a brief comeback with "Love Story").
71. Cool Hand Luke. I'm not really sure how inspirational this is.
70. Coal Miner's Daughter. Mrs. Griswold is Patsy Cline.
69. The Spirit of St. Louis. A baffling pick, IMHO.
68. An Officer and a Gentleman. Heh. So many oft-quoted lines ("I got nowhere else to go!")
67. The Day the Earth Stood Still. Inspirational in a way, but the film does show how Earthlings are bloodthirsty twits.
66. Silkwood. Cher claimed it was her first film, but she lied.
65. A Raisin in the Sun. A lot of Poitier.
64. The Black Stallion. A good choice, I suppose.
63. Rain Man. Hoffman's performance has become more of a remembered caricature.
62. Braveheart. Pretty low, I thought. "They can never take our FREEEEEDOM!"
61. Sounder. Nice to see movies that rarely pop up on these lists.
60. The Killing Fields. Sam Waterston...man, it's hard to remember when he was an actor and not just Jack McCoy.
59. Dances With Wolves. This movie was big. Really big. Hard to remember when it seemed that Kevin Costner was the next Big Thing.
58. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Classic.
57. Sergeant York. This made the Heroes list and I'm pretty sure they just used the same clips.
56. Ben-Hur. Ben-Hur got punked on the Heroes list, good for Judah.
55. The Defiant Ones. Poitier, one of the older commentators, was definitely a welcome presence.
54. Rudy. A good choice, but where's "Knute Rockne, All American"?
53. Shane. Not terribly inspirational, but a great film.
52. Dead Poets Society. I always found this overrated.
51. The Color Purple. Oprah.
50. Seabiscuit. Good movie, good choice, but too high.
49. Meet John Doe. My, Gary Cooper gave Poitier a run for Best Represented Actor.
48. The African Queen. Fine choice.
47. 2001: A Space Odyssey. I really don't think this is inspirational at all, but I saw the commentators' points.
46. Lilies of the Field. Poitier's Oscar.
45. On Golden Pond. Henry Fonda's only Oscar, a shame, as he deserved at least two more.
44. Spartacus. "I'm Spartacus!" Classic.
43. Gone With the Wind. Man, this makes all the lists.
42. 12 Angry Men. Too low! What a great movie.
41. The Sound of Music. Also rather low, considering how beloved the movie is.
40. Mrs. Miniver. See, I saw Miniver making the list, but not Curie.
39. Star Wars: A New Hope. By far, the most inspirational of the Star Wars films (only Return comes close).
38. Pinocchio. Inspirational definitely, scary as heck though. Arguably the most inspirational song of all time (only "Over the Rainbow" comes close).
37. Forrest Gump. Good choice.
36. On the Waterfront. Inspirational perhaps, but interesting to note that it is arguably Kazan's mea culpa for selling out his buddies.
35. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. How did Poitier react, finding out that Ashton Kutcher was playing him in the remake?
34. All the President's Men. Walter Cronkite was a nice presence, even if he didn't say too many interesting things.
33. City Lights. Even the clip made me tear up. And why does Marlee Matlin need an interpreter? She talks very clearly, definitely as good as Kirk Douglas.
32. Casablanca. An oft picked film.
31. Glory. Good choice.
30. Lawrence of Arabia. An iffy, but reasonable choice.
29. Gandhi. Good to have Ben Kingsley on hand.
28. Field of Dreams. Yes, definitely.
27. High Noon. Inspirational character, not so inspirational film (people ••••).
26. The Wizard of Oz. How is this NOT in the top ten?
25. Sullivan's Travels. Nice to see they remembered this.
24. National Velvet. Good.
23. The Shawshank Redemption. You wonder how this film became so popular, not saying it's not worthy, but what happened?
22. The Pride of the Yankees. Another classic tear jerker.
21. In the Heat of the Night. This really isn't that inspirational. A great movie, though.
20. Philadelphia. Melissa Etheridge was on a lot despite having no film connections.
19. The Right Stuff. I thought Apollo 13 should have been here instead (and it would be).
18. The Diary of Anne Frank. Kind of a puzzling pick, as the movie is not considered great.
17. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Yup.
16. Norma Rae. Sally's first Oscar.
15. The Miracle Worker. "Wa-tah."
14. The Bridge on the River Kwai. How is this inspirational? Did the viewers see the ending to this film? Did they realize what Nicholson's hunger strike ultimately produced?
13. Hoosiers. Definitely.
12. Apollo 13. Great film.
11. The Best Years of Our Lives. I know it's sacrilege, but I think they could remake this.
10. Saving Private Ryan. Yup.
9. Miracle on 34th Street. Edmund Gwenn. Is. Santa. Claus.
8. Breaking Away. A fine choice, but this really should have been lower and Oz taking its place.
7. The Grapes of Wrath. Of course.
6. E.T. It's hard to remember just how inspirational this is until you hear that music again and your pulse starts to quicken.
5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Great choice.
4. Rocky. Tell me, who can't, upon hearing this music, jump up and down and run up and down stairs, punching the air?
3. Schindler's List. A touch high for being inspirational.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird. Of course. Great book.
1. It's a Wonderful Life. And I agree.
4. Rocky. Tell me, who can't, upon hearing this music, jump up and down and run up and down stairs, punching the air? - Mike C
Me.
Sorry. Just never liked "The Theme From Rocky". Not that fond of the movie either. Or the sequels...
33. City Lights. Even the clip made me tear up. And why does Marlee Matlin need an interpreter? She talks very clearly, definitely as good as Kirk Douglas. - Mike C
This isn't Charlie Chaplin's film we're talking about, is it? I loves me some Chaplin.
"I like to watch." - Chance the Gardener
Yes, it is Chaplin.
I love "Gonna Fly Now." If I was ever in Philly, I probably would be a big douche and run up the museum steps.
Taken by itself, the first Rocky movie was not too bad, but the franchise bastardized it. I would have liked it much more without the weight off the soap operaish manipulative sequels.
Correct, although the sequels did offer hordes of iconic-ly goofy moments, like Clubber Lang and Ivan "I must break you" Drago.
I've never seen Rocky II, but the very premise of it seems to me a complete slap in the face of what Rocky I was about.
100. Chariots of Fire. A great sports film, but where's The Natural? One of the most inspirational films gets punked?
I would have liked to see "Miracle" (2004), the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team and its upset of the Soviet Union hockey team, on the list.
99. Ray. Each year, AFI throws one recent film on there that I think will look foolish several years down the road.
I like this movie a lot, but I think of Ray Charles' story as more awe-inspiring than inspirational.
91. The Paper Chase. Hee hee. John Houseman was the man.
Great to watch if you want to get psyched about being a student in an academic setting. Wears off quickly as reality sets in.
78. Thelma and Louise. Hard to remember how big this movie was, but then again, it's hard to remember when Geena Davis was an Oscar-nominated/winning actress.
Probably one of the most misinterpreted movies of recent decades. This movie seems to be remembered as sort of a feel-good, road comedy about two empowered women who just "aren't gonna take it anymore" from the stupid, abusive men in their lives (thanks largely to the movie marketing campaign of the time). However, this is really a tragedy. And while the two protagonists are women, they spend most of the movie driven toward their unfortunate fate by a series of mistakes they make which dig them into a deeper and deeper hole. What was in fact inspirational about this movie was not the story, but the fact that it got made and had the success that it did, with a female first-time screenwriter who won the Oscar for the screenplay, two female actresses in the leads, no male leads, and huge box office success in 1991.
70. Coal Miner's Daughter. Mrs. Griswold is Patsy Cline.
Don't you mean "Carrie" (Sissy Spacek) is "Loretta Lynn"? "Mrs. Griswold" was Beverly D'Angelo, and Patsy Cline was depicted by Jessica Lange in the movie "Sweet Dreams" (1985).
62. Braveheart. Pretty low, I thought. "They can never take our FREEEEEDOM!"
I would think that this movie was also inspirational to the movie industry as far as how to more realistically depict middle-ages battle brutality on-screen. When I first saw this movie in 1995, I had never seen anything as well-done as this movie in that regard.
47. 2001: A Space Odyssey. I really don't think this is inspirational at all, but I saw the commentators' points.
Highly inspirational in 1968? Yes. But now, in 2006? Probably not. Any reasonable expectation that the U.S. space program was going to be as advanced in the actual year 2001 as it was in this movie probably petered out in the mid-1970s, and it was certainly gone by the happening of the Challenger shuttle explosion on January 28, 1986. Where this movie used to fit into the science fiction genre, it's now more accurately period fantasy.
43. Gone With the Wind. Man, this makes all the lists.
I can't remember why this is inspirational. I'll have to watch it again.
39. Star Wars: A New Hope. By far, the most inspirational of the Star Wars films (only Return comes close).
This should be a lot higher on the list. This movie has actually influenced people's interests over their lives, and has probably inspired a generation of filmmakers, technicians, computer programmers, engineers, etc., in some way.
23. The Shawshank Redemption. You wonder how this film became so popular, not saying it's not worthy, but what happened?
Home video, cable, word of mouth. It's a great movie.
21. In the Heat of the Night. This really isn't that inspirational. A great movie, though.
It really all comes down to when Mr. Endicott (white) slaps Virgil Tibbs (black) in the face and, with no hesitation, Virgil Tibbs slaps Mr. Endicott right back in his face - in 1967.
15. The Miracle Worker. "Wa-tah."
I think it was, "Wa-wa."
11. The Best Years of Our Lives. I know it's sacrilege, but I think they could remake this.
I don't think it's sacrilege, but I think it's a movie of its time, which might not work as well if remade.
9. Miracle on 34th Street. Edmund Gwenn. Is. Santa. Claus.
This is a feel-good movie, but I don't know that it's really inspirational.
99. Ray. Each year, AFI throws one recent film on there that I think will look foolish several years down the road.
I like this movie a lot, but I think of Ray Charles' story as more awe-inspiring than inspirational.
I just realized that by my own comment here, I'm saying that the movie was inspirational.
Yes, Coal Miner's Daughter does star Spacek as Lynn, but D'Angelo does play Patsy Cline in the film.
"Miracle" is a reasonable choice as well.
I guess when I say remake of Best Years, I meant like a redo, sort of like taking the basic idea and characters and adapting it to the modern day, post-Iraq experience. You're correct in that most of the movie is a product of its time, so it would have to come up with different scenarios.
11. The Best Years of Our Lives. I know it's sacrilege, but I think they could remake this.
I had to think about that one, but I did remember that they already had. It was a TV movie, made in 1975, titled Returning Home.
(Me, from July 9, 2006)
43. Gone With the Wind. Man, this makes all the lists.
I can't remember why this is inspirational. I'll have to watch it again.
I just watched this movie again. Good movie, although highly overrated, in my opinion (I don't put much stock in technical innovation, or influence on future movies for such ratings). As for anything inspirational about the movie, the only thing I really took from it was not to be like these people. Some might say Scarlett's resolve to win back Rhett Butler at the end of the movie is inspirational. However, it might be argued that she's deluding herself.