BEST ALL TIME? LET THE DEBATE BEGIN.Byline: Reed Johnson Reed Cameron Johnson (born December 8, 1976 in Riverside, California) is an outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of the American League East division of Major League Baseball. He weighs 180 lb (82 kg) and is 5'10" tall. Daily News Staff Writer First came the serious part: the voting. Now comes the fun part: the second-guessing. In the best democratic tradition, Tuesday's release of the 100 greatest American movies, as chosen by the American Film Institute American Film Institute (AFI), nonprofit organization established in Washington, D.C., in 1967 by the National Endowment for the Arts to preserve and catalog American films and television, to provide work grants for new and established filmmakers, and to increase , drew mixed, though generally positive, reviews. Among Hollywood insiders, film preservationists, movie historians and museum curators, the consensus seemed to be that the winners amounted to a fairly predictable bunch of movies that time and tradition already have prestamped with approval. That didn't stop film buffs from indulging in some enjoyable hair-splitting and Tuesday afternoon quarterbacking. ``I could argue with it, sure,'' said AFI AFI American Film Institute AFI Awaiting Further Instructions AFI Armed Forces Insurance AFI A Fire Inside (band) AFI Air Force Instruction AFI Australian Film Institute AFI Agencia Federal de Investigación voter and film preservationist pres·er·va·tion·ist n. One who advocates preservation, especially of natural areas, historical sites, or endangered species. pres Jim Katz, four of whose restoration projects, including ``Vertigo'' and ``Lawrence of Arabia Lawrence of Arabia: see Lawrence, T. E. Lawrence of Arabia T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), legendary hero, led Arab revolt against Turkey. [Br. Hist.: Benét, 572] See : Adventurousness ,'' made the final 100. However, Katz added, ``I'll tell you the best part of it all is that in its own way and for whatever commercial agenda the AFI has, it's really making people aware of old films.'' The announcement of the 100 winners was televised Tuesday night on KCBS KCBS Kansas City Barbecue Society KCBS Korea Christian Book Service (now called KCB; Seoul, Korea) KCBS Kerala Catholic Bible Society (Kerala, India) (Channel 2). They were chosen from a pool of 400 finalists selected by the institute. Ballots were then sent to 1,500 prominent representatives of the film world, among them screenwriters, directors and critics. AFI established the contest to promote the first 100 years of American filmmaking. The criteria for winning included historical significance, critical recognition and awards, and popularity as measured by box office, syndication, video sale and rental figures. John Allyn, a department of radio, TV and film professor at California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an , echoed the prevailing sentiment that voters had found nothing new to praise under the Hollywood sun. ``It's pretty much old standards,'' he said. Even so, Allyn questioned the omission of Buster Keaton's landmark silent comedy ``The General'' and Robert Altman's epic slice of Americana, ``Nashville.'' He also took issue with voters' preference for Howard Hawks' ``Bringing Up Baby'' (No. 97) over the director's other comedy classic ``His Girl Friday,'' which failed to make the grade. ``I thought `His Girl Friday' was a much better film. It's whimsical and it's much more action-packed,'' Allyn said. |
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