now this is my kinda contest!

Meanwhile, the American Film Institute is holding one of the best contests ever. The winner gets to be guest programmer for a night, and the AFI Silver theatre in Silver Spring, MD, will show a number of films of the winner's choosing!

Holy. Crap. People.

I so want to enter, but the problem is, I don't know what films I'd want to show. I'd want to have a selection that isn't too popular, isn't too well-known, but isn't too... too... well, let's just say THE NINTH CONFIGURATION and RAVENOUS are right out. They have to be underseen and not-too-recent, but still actually good, and interesting enough to get attention.

So what to choose, what to choose? My current top ten favorite films goes as follows (as taken from my big huge megalist of Favorite Things Ever):

1.) Once Upon a Time in the West
2.) Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
3.) The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
4.) Sunday in the Park with George
5.) Ravenous
6.) Shaun of the Dead
7.) The Fountain
8.) Manhunter
9.) 12 Angry Men
10.) The Brothers Karamazov

I think ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST is a must. It's a generally-regarded but underseen masterpiece that deserves to be on the big screen with full theatre sound. So does THE FOUNTAIN, but as much as I desperately want to see that on the big screen again (will my TV possibly be the same? Not since LOTR has there been a film...) that just came to theatres and still needs at least ten years before people start coming around to that film, just the way they did with 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV might be great; a classic Hollywood take on my favorite novel of all time, with Yul Brenner, Lee J. Cobb, The Shat, and heartbreakingly beautiful Maria Schell, whose smile has destroyed stronger men than I. But then, I'm not sure if that should be on my favorite films list rather than the Jason Robards THE ICEMAN COMETH.

But there are so many other films I adore. Other strong possible ideas that come to mind include BLOOD SIMPLE, PSYCHO II, DIABOLIQUE, THE THING, TITUS, GATTACA, BUBBA HO-TEP, and L.A. STORY. Ohh, and Paul Scofield's super obscure and utterly brilliant KING LEAR, directed by Peter Brook, that's a hell of a contender as well.

What do any of you folks think would make an ideal lineup for a John Hefner night at AFI? I get to select my top five, but it looks like the top three I choose are the most important. I really need to bear this some serious consideration. Because if Arch fucking Campbell can get his own night at the movies, I bloody well deserve it too!

The List, Draft One

So I've been giving the top five movie choices for the AFI contest a lot of thought. They want me to select five films in order of preference, the top three being the most important. Here's what I have so far, counting down in order of preference:

5.) THE FOUNTAIN
--- This shouldn't be in here, as it's far too recent. By which I mean, too recently in people's minds, and it's going to need at least ten years before folks start to really realize what a gem this film is (not that everyone will or should, as I know some of you guys didn't care for it). But frankly, this is MY ideal list, right? And this is a film that touched me on a deeply personal level that so desperately needs to be seen on a huge screen, with the best stereo system available. Just for that ONE moment at the climax. I dunno, maybe I'll come to my senses and remove it, but it's there for now. It's my favorite film of 2006 and one of my favorites of all time, even if it is too soon.

4.) THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV (1958)
--- Like LEAR, this is mainly here because of how fucking rare it is, and if anyone could dig up a reel, it's the AFI. This film does a wonderful job of adapting Dostoevsky's mammoth novel and, by sacrificing the explicit philosophical segments (you'd just have to), you're left with a non-stop three hour piece of stellar entertainment. Of course, I haven't seen it in three, four years now, so would I still love it? I think so. And the cast! Yul Brynner, Maria Schell, William Shatner, Claire Bloom, Lee J. Cobb, Richard Baseheart, Albert Salmi... excellent.

3.) KING LEAR (1971, dir. Peter Brook)
--- This is my favorite version of my favorite Shakespeare play (RAN notwithstanding, as it doesn't really count), directed by the great theatre director Peter Brook (MARAT/SADE) and starring the utterly brilliant Paul Scofield. It's a very rare film, not even available on VHS anymore, and even though it only uses about 1/4 of the actual text, it deserves to be on my DVD shelf right between Branagh's HENRY V and Taymor's TITUS. It's also unrelentingly disturbing and even terrifying, as LEAR abso-fucking-lutely must be.

2.) Still Undecided. I'm weighing the options.
--- Maybe Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD, since I really need a geek movie in there, and I've come to love this film more and more each time I see it.
--- Another geek classic would be THE THING, directed by John Carpenter. This might well be my very favorite horror movie, and it only seems to get better with age. Watching that in a packed theatre could be a fucking brilliant experience, to say the least.
--- Or maybe THE STRAIGHT STORY, my very favorite David Lynch film, a small story set against a huge backdrop of expansive Iowa farmland, a slow little story that demands and deserves attention at every small moment. Beautiful.
--- AKIRA KUROSAWA'S DREAMS was the first Kurosawa film I'd ever seen, and while it's hardly his masterpiece and yeah, it's very uneven, it's the closest one to my heart. Because while three of these eight short films are kinda subpar, the other five are absolutely powerful, beautiful, surreal little wonders of cinema.
--- And then there's OPEN RANGE. Directed by and starring Kevin Costner, who self-financed this film because he clearly understood what he had on his hands and wanted the rest of the world to see it. A year ago, I became one of those very few to see it as well. He should have gotten a Best Picture nomination for this film easily, but the days of the slow, quiet, old-school American Westnern are pretty well gone. I need to rewatch this with someone else, to see if it really was an excellent as I'd thought. If so, then this film truly needs and deserves recognition, all the WATERWORLDS of the world be damned. Also, it has Robert Duvall. Nuff said, true believer.
... maybe I'll remove THE FOUNTAIN to make room for two of these?

1.) ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
--- A no-brainer, especially since the DVD has equalized the sound, so that the guitars don't blast you like they should, and as a result, the whole film experience is severely hindered. Especially for the scene on the farm, when the music kicks in, that scene should fucking punch you in the gut. I want to have that experience with this utterly epic masterpiece on the big screen. Charles Bronson. Jason Robards. Claudia Cardinale. And Henry Fonda, and one of the greatest cinematic villains of all time. Ennio Morricone's soundtrack is so amazing, Sergio Leone filmed around it, as Morricone recorded it before they even began filming. I still don't know which film is Leone's masterpiece, between this, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, and the superior-to-GODFATHER (but maybe not GODFATHER II) Jewish mob epic ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA. My favorite film.


Whatchoo folks think?