Hundreds of Screens: It's (Not) a Wonderful Life

One of my favorite movie theaters in Manhattan is the IFC center. Unlike a lot of multiplexes it definitely has its own character. This is even more obvious on the inside where creepy heavy black curtains surround you in cavern like spaces. One time going to INLAND EMPIRE, I swear we thought we were in a Lynch movie before we even took our seats... so many hallways we were ushered through with curtains everywhere and fellow moviegoers disappearing into other rooms with unmarked doors along the pathway.(I haven't had that experience again so they either restructured or we were really inside a Lynchian nightmare) You couldn't mistake it for another theater. Before it was the IFC Center it was the Waverly and as such hosted one of the very first movie events I ever attended in New York. I can't remember details but it was a John Waters night and there was some sort of contest. Drag queens were everywhere and I thought 'New York moviegoing is spectacular!'


Not that that degree of special proved regular. The strange thing though is that every time I go to the IFC, which isn't often given its location, something memorable does happen.

The memorable thing isn't always good. Tonight my friend Ed suggested we attend It's A Wonderful Life. I thought "Perfect!" what a way to kick off a few days holiday with friends. The super long pre-show began with a few David Lynch moments (they sell his coffee there) interspersed with multiple trailers and then the movie began... without sound. Then the movie began again with what we thought was sound... was that sound?...without picture. Then the whole thing shut off. Nearly an hour after the scheduled start time they were saying "five minutes" so we left. But it's one of those movies we all know by heart, isn't it? So even as we stumbled off to dinner and on to other activities I'm pretty sure we still heard the bell ring many blocks away as Clarence got his wings.

*

Kissing: When George Met Mary

Happy November 1 to you all. It is I, Piper, editor, camera operator, usher, ticket-taker, curator, and concession attendant of the Lazy Eye Theatre. It is my honor to help Nathaniel while he is away, and it is my pleasure to continue a new series on Film Experience called “Kissing” not to be confused with another series "Cussing" which is to come later in the year (don't bet on that last idea). I am told I can write about anything as it relates to kissing, which is quite intimidating really because there are so many things to write about when writing about kissing. Naturally, I went to my funny place, but couldn’t think of any funny kiss that was really worth mentioning. Then I wanted to write about the worst kiss in movie history (Stallone and Stone in The Specialist?), but the truth is I’m kind of a softy when it comes to the love arena, so I wanted to take a serious approach to this series. So I thought about movie kisses in general and I decided I don’t really like them. Why? Because I just don’t buy most of them. How can I? I’m not the one kissing or being kissed. Wouldn’t it be great if we could kiss all these beautiful stars so that we would know if they were good kissers. Like is Kate Winslet a good kisser? Or Rachel Weisz? I might call each of them and see if I can set up five minutes to find out.

To me the magic of a kiss doesn’t really happen with the kiss at all. It happens in the moments leading up to the kiss. I compare it to a Dirty Harry movie with a really good bad guy. The purpose of every Dirty Harry movie is to set up a bad guy, make him super bad and then kill him off in the end. If the bad guy isn’t bad enough, there isn’t the satisfaction when he gets killed, so you have to make him really bad and kill him really good. Same thing goes with a kiss. Building to a really good kiss is what it’s all about. If those moments before the kiss aren't good, the kiss isn't either.

So most movie kisses fail because they don’t allow for those moments that build to a perfect kiss. Because a kiss is really everything. Movies today use the sex scene as the ultimate declaration of love, but a good kiss is really the truth. So I guess that’s why I am constantly struck by the kiss between George (Jimmy Stewart) and Mary (Donna Reed) in Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life. In the movie, you really feel that George wants to kiss Mary, but more than that you feel like Jimmy wants to kiss Donna. And that’s what sells me on the scene. It’s real. As the two of them listen in on a phone call from old pal Sam Wainwright, they wiggle and squirm because they are unsure what will happen next. There’s obviously chemistry between the two and Capra holds the scene long enough so that when George finally grabs Mary and kisses her, there are sparks. The actual kiss is clumsy, short and not even shot that well but what makes it magic are the moments before it. And in my book, that makes for a mighty good kiss.

AFI: The New Top 100 List

The Revised Greatest American Films List
I'm happy to see Blade Runner, Nashville, and Cabaret added. They all hold high rank in my own favorites listing. What say ye about this new lineup? (To be helpful I've added their previous AFI ranking to the right --big changes in bold)

1. "Citizen Kane" (1941) same
2. "The Godfather" (1972) 3
3. "Casablanca" (1942) 2
4. "Raging Bull" (1980) 24
5. "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) 10
6. "Gone With the Wind" (1939) 4
7. "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) 5
8. "Schindler's List" (1993) 9
9. "Vertigo" (1958) 61
10. "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) 6


11. "City Lights" (1931) 76
12. "The Searchers" (1956) 96
13. "Star Wars" (1977) 15
14. "Psycho" (1960) 18
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) 22
16. "Sunset Boulevard" (1950) 12
17. "The Graduate" (1967) 7
18. "The General" (1927) new
19. "On the Waterfront" (1954) 8
20. "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) 11

21. "Chinatown" (1974) 19
22. "Some Like It Hot" (1959) 14
23. "The Grapes of Wrath" (1940) 21
24. "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) 25
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) 34
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) 29
27. "High Noon" (1952) 33
28. "All About Eve" (1950) 16
29. "Double Indemnity" (1944) 38
30. "Apocalypse Now" (1979) 28

31. "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) 23
32. "The Godfather, Part II" (1974) same
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) 20
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937) 49
35. "Annie Hall" (1977) 31
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) 13
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) same
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) 30
39. "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) 26
40. "The Sound of Music" (1965) 55

41. "King Kong" (1933) 43
42. "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) 27
43. "Midnight Cowboy" (1969) 36
44. "The Philadelphia Story" (1940) 51
45. "Shane" (1953) 69
46. "It Happened One Night" (1934) 35
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) 45
48. "Rear Window" (1954) 42
49. "Intolerance" (1916) new
50. "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001) new

51. "West Side Story" (1961) 41
52. "Taxi Driver" (1976) 47
53. "The Deer Hunter" (1978) 79
54. "M*A*S*H" (1970) 56
55. "North by Northwest" (1959) 40
56. "Jaws" (1975) 48
57. "Rocky" (1976) 78
58. "The Gold Rush" (1925) 74
59. "Nashville" (1975) new
60. "Duck Soup" (1933) 85

61. "Sullivan's Travels" (1941) new
62. "American Graffiti" (1973) 77
63. "Cabaret" (1972) new
64. "Network" (1976) 66
65. "The African Queen" (1951) 17
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) 60
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) new
68. "Unforgiven" (1992) 98
69. "Tootsie" (1982) 62
70. "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) 46 (i still don't understand how this one qualifies as American)

71. "Saving Private Ryan" (1998) new
72. "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994) new
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969) 50
74. "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) 65
75. "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) new
76. "Forrest Gump" (1994) 71
77. "All the President's Men" (1976) new
78. "Modern Times" (1936) 81
79. "The Wild Bunch" (1969) 80
80. "The Apartment" (1960) 93

81. "Spartacus" (1960) new
82. "Sunrise" (1927) new
83. "Titanic" (1997) new
84. "Easy Rider" (1969) 88
85. "A Night at the Opera" (1935) new
86. "Platoon" (1986) 83
87. "12 Angry Men" (1957) new
88. "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) 97
89. "The Sixth Sense" (1999) new
90. "Swing Time" (1936) new

91. "Sophie's Choice" (1982) new
92. "Goodfellas" (1990) 94
93. "The French Connection" (1971) 70
94. "Pulp Fiction" (1994) 95
95. "The Last Picture Show" (1971) new
96. "Do the Right Thing" (1989) new
97. "Blade Runner" (1982) new
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) 100
99. "Toy Story" (1995) new
100. "Ben-Hur" (1959) 72

<---they're tearing him apart: James Dean lost BOTH his spots on the top 100. And Monty Clift too. Argh. The films that fell out were...Doctor Zhivago #39, North by Northwest #40, Birth of a Nation #44, From Here To Eternity #52, Amadeus #53, All Quiet on the Western Front #54, The Third Man #57, Fantasia #58, Rebel Without a Cause #59, Stagecoach #63, Close Encounters of the Third Kind #64, The Manchurian Candidate #67, An American in Paris #68, Wuthering Heights #73, Dances With Wolves #75, Giant #82, Fargo #84, Mutiny on the Bounty #86, Frankenstein #87, Patton #89, The Jazz Singer #90, My Fair Lady #91, A Place in the Sun #92, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner #99

weirdest entry: Sophie's Choice... almost never listed in any "best of", apart from Meryl Streep's astonishing performance, is in the top 100 --They collectively name it the 6th best of the entire 80s decade. Whaaaa?

lesson learned: nothing below the top 30 is ever safe. It all depends on who they poll and which way the winds blow.