LETTERS TO L.A. LIFE : READERS DEBATE AFI, DN PICKS OF TOP 100 MOVIES.

I thoroughly enjoyed the front-page dedication of ``The Top 100 Movies of All Time'' (June 17, Daily News) written by Bob Strauss. However, I take exception to certain criticisms and would like to suggest others he has perhaps overlooked.

While I agree that ``Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'' is perhaps nondeserving, Mr. Strauss hardly goes out on a limb to state his point. He states that ``Guess Who's'' is his vote ``as the worst movie to make the top 100 cut.'' Well Bob, guess what? The AFI agreed with you when they ranked it 99 out of 100!

What you probably meant is that it didn't deserve to even be there.

While I agree that ``The General'' and ``Sullivan's Travels'' deserved recognition, I don't agree with your assessment that ``Do the Right Thing'' warranted praise. If you truly wanted to include a black film, may I suggest ``The Color Purple'' or ``Boyz N the Hood.''

Perhaps the voters should have rented ``Papillon,'' ``Young Frankenstein,'' ``The Sting,'' ``Lost Weekend,'' ``Chariots of Fire,'' ``The Right Stuff'' and ``Witness for the Prosecution'' before voting.

- Stephen C. Mancini

Encino

Films made by such high-numbered box-office stars like Shirley Temple, Betty Grable, Mickey Rooney, Margaret O'Brien, Gene Autry, Spencer Tracy, Will Rogers and many others brought more enjoyment to fans than most of the AFI 100-best list. (Offhand, I didn't see theirs listed).

Many people went to see the stars. The film stories were secondary.

- Lillian Spencer

Burbank

After reading your cover story on the AFI ``Top 100'' movies of all time, it was ironic to see the ``To Our Readers'' box at the bottom of the page, which read ``Opinions does not appear in today's Daily News.''

While I painstakingly suffered through Daily News film critic Bob Strauss' ``opinions'' within this article, it occurred to me your editors knew that any more ``opinions'' would be overkill. Mr. Strauss' whining about the list omitting ``less well-known works'' and not including what Strauss labels a ``B-movie master (Jacques Tourner's ``Out of the Past'') ... not even a household name among the director-savvy set.''

Perhaps Mr. Strauss should have read Reed Johnson's article that appeared directly below his. In Johnson's article, he clearly states the criteria for making the list included ``popularity as measured by box-office, syndication, video sales and rental figures.'' Mr. Johnson also indicates there were 400 finalists. Among them, Buster Keaton's ``The General'' was a nominee, it just didn't make the final grade.

So stop grieving about it, Mr. Strauss; it's unbecoming.

- Debbie M. Helbig

Burbank

Editor's note: The ``To Our Readers'' box referred to here appeared in the Opinions page of the Daily News.

I watched with interest, the AFI show that listed America's top 100 films. Like (Meryl) Streep, I too was disappointed. Not for the same reason, but more because I have just learned that AFI supplied the judges with a list of 400 titles from which the top 100 would be chosen. That, I think, makes the ``Top 100'' very suspect.

In point of fact, I would have to include two of Ms. Streep's films, ``Sophie's Choice'' and ``Out of Africa,'' both very moving portrayals of strong women, and both really fine films.

I also have a few oldies, like ``Robin Hood'' (the Errol Flynn version, of course), ``Public Enemy No 1,'' ``Lonely Are the Brave'' (a great film) and many, many more. Of course, I have no way of knowing if those films would have placed in the top 100 because I don't know what the ``top 400'' were that AFI selected.

Hardly a true assessment.

- Ron Honthaner

Studio City