Klem’s Top 99 Movies

I’ve made prior mention of Team Klem's Friday Night Movie Night routine. We enjoy movies, Wife Klem and I.

The American Film Institute (AFI) put out a list of America’s 100 Greatest Movies. This list was brought to my attention a number of years ago by my pal McGettigan the Elder. I won’t burden you with that list, though you may peruse it here if you so desire; AFI’s America’s 100 Greatest Movies [scroll down to 'List of 100 Winning Movies']. I completed my viewing of all 100 movies a few years ago and they left me largely disappointed.

Many of those ‘Greatest Movies’ seem to have been included for the wrong reasons. The Birth of a Nation (1915) was the first motion picture, I think it was, but a film speaking favorably of the KKK’s origins, as this one does, seems out of place. Then there’s An American in Paris (1951) starring Gene Kelly. Sure it’s fun watching his legs move around when he dances, but a whole movie of that? Come on. The Jazz Singer (1927) starring Al Jolson wearing black face. This is one of the first movies to combine audio with the visual, I understand. Incidentally, the audio occurs only during singing and is otherwise a silent film. My beef with this selection is that we’re supposed to be talking the Greatest Movies, not most novel.

It also seems that many movies were included on the list because of popular actors, directors, or combinations of the two that came together on a film. Great or popular talents do not necessarily make for a great movie. Look at Bringing Up Baby (1938) starring Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Debacle. Baby is a leopard named Baby. [The film is not deserving of a spoiler alert.]

Certainly the list is sprinkled with a few good movies; The Godfather (1972), Gone With the Wind (1939), the Graduate (1967), and Clockwork Orange (1971). But a mere sprinkling of good ones after building it up as ‘America’s 100 Greatest Movies’ left this guy feeling a bit punk about the whole thing.

As an exercise of mental remediation, I eventually set about compiling a list of 99 Good movies. My own list follows below.

Klem’s Top 99 Films

1 Fight Club - (1999) Brad Pitt, Ed Norton
2 Saving Private Ryan - (1998) Tom Hanks
3 Good, Bad, and the Ugly - (1966) Clint Eastwood
4 Gladiator - (2000) Russell Crowe
5 Heat - (1995) Al Pacino, Robert Deniro
6 Magnolia - (1999) Tom Cruise
7 Good Will Hunting - (1997) Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
8 Toy Story - (1995)
9 Seven - (1995) Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey
10 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - (1986) Mathew Broderick

11-20
Rocky - (1976) Sylvester Stallone
the Big Lebowski - (1998) Jeff Bridges
Rocky II - (1979) Sylvester Stallone
Gattaca - (1997) Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman
the Graduate - (1967) Dustin Hoffman
Jerry Maguire - (1996) Tom Cruise
the Godfather - (1972) Marlon Brando
Pulp Fiction - (1994) John Travolta, Uma Thurman
American Psycho - (2000) Christian Bale
the Prestige - (2006) Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman

21-30
the Shawshenk Redemption - (1994) Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman
Toy Story II - (1999)
Bad Influence - (1990) Rob Lowe, James Spader
the Matador - (2005) Pierce Brosnan
Punch Drunk Love - (2002) Adam Sandler
Memento - (2000) Guy Pearce
Princess Bride - (1987) Cary Elwes
Mad Max - (1979) Mel Gibson
Star Wars - (1977) Harrison Ford
All Quiet On the Western Front - (1930)

31-40
Return of the Jedi - (1983) Harrison Ford
the Royal Tannenbaums - (2001) Gene Hackman, Owen Wilson
the Game - (1997) Michael Douglas
the World According To Garp - (1982) Robin Williams
the Freshman - (1990) Mathew Broderick, Marlon Brando
Clockwork Orange - (1971)
Boogie Nights - (1997) Mark Wahlberg
U-Turn - (1997) Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Lopez
Quest For Fire - (1981)
the Longest Day - (1962) John Wayne, Henry Fonda

41-50
True Romance - (1993) Christian Slater
Braveheart - (1995) Mel Gibson
Requiem For a Dream - (2000) Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly
A Perfect World - (1993) Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood
the Talented Mr. Ripley - (1999) Matt Damon, Jude Law
the Spanish Prisoner - (1997) Steve Martin
What Dreams May Come - (1998) Robin Williams
Catch 22 - (1970) Alan Arkin
Flatliners - (1990) Keifer Sutherland
Catch Me If You Can - (2002) Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks

51-60
Dead Man - (1995) Johnny Depp
the Silence of the Lambs - (1991) Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins
Twelve Monkeys - (1995) Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - (1969) Redford, Newman
the Dirty Dozen - (1967) Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, E. Borgnine
the Truman Show - (1998) Jim Carey, Ed Harris
Raiders of the Lost Ark - (1981) Harrison Ford
the In-Laws - (1979) Alan Arkin, Peter Foulk
Dances with Wolves - (1990) Kevin Costner
Indecent Proposal - (1993) Demi Moore, Robert Redford

61-70
Kelly’s Heroes - (1970) Clint Eastwood
the Rules of Attraction - (2002) James Van Der Beek
She’s the One - (1996) Ed Burns
the Sixth Sense - (1999) Bruce Willis
Reservoir Dogs - (1992) Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth
My Own Private Idaho - (1991) Keanu Reeves, River Phoenix
Cast Away - (2000) Tom Hanks
Interview With the Vampire - (1994) Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt
the Big Red One - (1980) Lee Marvin
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - (2000) George Clooney

71-80
the Incredibles - (2004)
the Great Escape - (1963) Steve McQueen
the Pianist - (2002) Adrien Brody
Point Break - (1991) Keanu Reeves
A Midnight Clear - (1992)
the Swimmer - (1968) Burt Lancaster
Das Boot - (1981)
Six Degrees of Separation - (1993) Will Smith
Animal House - (1978) John Belushi
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels - (1998)

81-90
Trainspotting - (1996)
Highlander - (1986) Christopher Lambert
Mutiny On the Bounty - (1935) Clark Gable
Rushmore - (1998) Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman
Traffic - (2000) Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas
American Beauty - (1999) Kevin Spacey
the Train - (1964) Burt Lancaster
Snatch - (2000) Brad Pitt
the Terminator - (1984) Arnold Schwartzeneggar
Fast Times at Ridgemont High - (1982) Sean Penn

91-99
Patton - (1970) George C. Scott
the Beast - (1988 or 1989; about a tank in the Afghan desert)
Dirty, Rotten, Scoundrels - (1988) Steve Martin, Michael Caine
Papillon - (1973) Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman
Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner - (1967) Sidney Poitier, K. Hepburn
It’s a Wonderful Life - (1946) Jimmy Stewart
the Outsiders - (1983) Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, K. Bacon
Pearl Harbor - (2001) Ben Affleck
the Wild Bunch - (1969) Ernest Borgnine, William Holden


Let me know if you feel I've neglected to mention a great one.
-klem