Greetings! Yesterday, as I sat home alone, sick and in bed on a Friday night, I came up with a bit of a movie viewing project for myself. I also got the idea from other Spouters who have little viewing projects they blog about (thank you). For the past ten years, since the original list, I have been trying to watch the American Film Institute's top 100 films. Then, the AFI came out with a new list of top 100 films, but not before they came out with other lists to rank certain genres and modes of American films. Since I've newly discovered the joy of instant-movies on Netflix, I have decided to watch every single film on those lists, including revisiting the ones I had already seen (unless I truly hated it).
I know what you're thinking: isn't that a bit limiting, a bit cliche, a bit contrite? Aren't you restricting yourself from watching other classic but non-American films? Well, I've got a Netflix queue filled with a variety of films, including classic foreign films, and this project does not supersede watching other movies. I'm watching these films at my leisure, whenever I can, while I expand my movie-mind on other films in the process--and I will always watch my weekend movie, that's a tradition that seems to have come from childhood. Some of these films are films I truly believe I should watch, though, and so begins this project.
Just a note: this project is not so much to see whether or not I agree with rank and order and such but to see if I agree that each film can truly be labeled a great American film, to watch some of those bona fide classics, and to just expand the list of movies I have seen. This project will also give me the chance to revisit certain films that others find great, but that I found not as great as I was led to believe upon first viewing (Citizen Kane, anyone?). Also, I just love lists (see the Oscars group for confirmation), and I love movies, and in the strike-induced TV slump, I need something to watch and excuses to buy some of the movies I've been wanting to buy - which means that some of these films that I have already seen pass my test and have been on my wish list awhile.
This project won't take as much time as you might think, either. Because of the nature of the AFI and some of their lists, and the movies in question, some movies appear on multiple lists. Take my first example. The movie I started with, because of its instant availability, was Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock's master-thriller. Psycho is rated on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#18)
100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies (#1)
100 Years...100 Heroes and Villans (Norman Bates is the #2 villain)
100 Movie Quotes (#56 - Norman Bates: "A boy's best friend is his mother.")
25 Film Scores (#4)
The Revised Top 100 (#14)
Does everyone know the story? In brief: Marion (Janet Leigh), who enjoys afternoon delights with hardware store manager Sam (John Gavin), a man unwilling to commit to marriage, and who is unhappy at her real estate job, embezzles $40,000 in solid cash that she is given to be deposited in the bank, based on impulse in her frustrations. In her flight, she becomes paranoid and exhausted and soon discovers the Bates Motel, a bit off the beaten path. Innkeeper Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), who seems nervous but essentially cheerful, tells her she is the first guest in weeks and treats her to a late dinner of sandwiches while he discusses his invalid mother, who Marion overhears having an argument with Norman and who he indicates lives with him in the creepy house behind the motel. It's what happens next that everyone should know.
I revisited Psycho for several reasons. The first time I watched it, I was with my sister. Psycho is one of her favorite movies, and what's worse, though she's younger than me, I had never seen the thing all the way through. Unbelievable, right? I mean, this was only a couple of years ago at best. It was late at night when we sat down to view this classic. I was very excited. But sometime after the famous shower scene...I fell asleep. Can you believe it? I fell asleep to Psycho!
So, I really didn't watch the whole thing. I woke up in time to see the inevitable climax and all that, but I missed all of the middle part when Sam and Marion's sister search for Marion. Thus, I put the movie on my "Movies I Want to Watch Again" list for this very reason.
Why did I fall asleep, though? I recall that I was very tired, and that was part of it, but wasn't the movie scary enough to keep me awake?
The answer: no. And even on repeat viewing, I almost fell asleep again. I had to shake myself out of droopy eyelids at the very same part.
This is not a knock on the film. Let me be clear that this film is a masterpiece, no question. I mean, I give it a 10 for the filmmaking brilliance of the thing. This film makes me long for the days when horror movies were more about suggestion and less about in-your-face gore. What I love about this film is how each piece of the story is laid carefully and subtley in front of the viewer, making the viewer realize that Marion led herself straight to that shower. Anthony Perkins' performance is brilliant - he's so natural and adds just that hint of "offness" that would make any first-time viewer have pause before deciding that he might be harmless. Each frame and shot was perfectly choreographed, particularly in that shower scene. The cinematography was awesome. The score by Bernard Hermann (Hitch's go-to scorer) is classic. There is no recognizable flaw to this film, in my opinion. Psycho is a great American film, truly and wholeheartedly, that pushed the boundaries of acceptable film-viewing with its depiction of then-taboo topics such as afternoon sex and split personalities.
But I don't love Psycho, and I fell asleep or almost fell asleep twice trying to watch it. What's my problem? The answer: Psycho is such a great film, it has permutated the public consciousness so much, that even on first viewing, I ALREADY KNEW THE ENDING. I mean, really. That twist would have been so much more effective, and everything up to it so much more resonant, if I didn't know the inevitable punchline of the thing.
That's not the film's fault or anyone's fault, and maybe it's even somewhat of a compliment - I mean, not many movies can claim such a quality of well-knownness. But for me, the first time viewer in her 20's at the time, the film lost a little something because I knew what was coming next.
Also, because of its well-known quality, I find the film jumpy-scary but not screamy-scary. I always jump when "Mother" gets the PI because she springs out of nowhere. Hermann's score again gives the movie its creepy, jumpy, suspensful feel (even Hitch felt that a large part of the effect of the film was that screechy "ree ree ree" of high-pitched violins).
Moreoever, the film actually feels like a play in two acts. The first act is the story of Marion and her discovery of the Bates Motel. The second act is the search for Marion (who we all know meets her end in the shower). That also lent itself to a bit of sleepyness because I was wide awake through the Marion half but felt the almost-starting over quality of the second, when all of the characters are questioning Bates about what we already know.
I still feel and will never deny that it's a masterpiece, though. There are parts of it that I love. I love the conversations that Marion imagines in her head as the camera focuses on her worried face, driving her car toward who knows where. I absolutely love the scene when Marion and Norman are discussing why Norman stays with his mother over dinner. I think that's one of the creepiest scenes, if not the creepiest, in the entire movie, especially with all of Norman's stuffed birds surrounding them. My favorite shot of the film is the last one, where the skull briefly flashes over Norman's face.
As the first film in the AFI Project, I've tried twice to watch it and love it, but its greatness has ironically kind of spoiled me truly loving the film for the reasons I stated above. As such, it does not pass the test. I won't buy it. But I'm glad I watched it, and anyone who counts themselves a movie fan should not avoid Psycho. To call it a classic would be an understatement.