AFI’s Top 100 Movie Facts Part 4
At last readers, I am ready to share with you the 100th story in my blog! With it, we conclude our tribute to AFI’s Top 100 films, which was released in 2007, and films ranked 1 through 25. I hope you have enjoyed this 4-part series as much as I enjoyed doing research for it. Once again, please feel free to comment on your favorite facts.
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) — Gregory Peck and Mary Badham (Scout) became very close during the filming of this movie and remained in contact until Peck’s death on June 12th, 2003. They always called each other by their character names “Scout” and “Atticus.”
24. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) — Harrison Ford originally filmed a cameo as Elliot’s schoolmaster in this film, but unfortunately the scene ended up on the cutting room floor.
23. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) — The truck that the Joad family uses in this film is the same model from the book; a 1926 Hudson “Super Six.” There also was a sequel to this film in-development at Fox, but it was never produced. It would have been called “Highway 66.”
22. Some Like It Hot (1959) — Tony Curtis’s voice for “Josephine” was dubbed by an actor named Paul Frees as Curtis couldn’t speak high enough. Paul Frees is best known at the Walt Disney Studios for being the original voice of Donald Duck’s uncle, Professor Ludwig Von Drake.
21. Chinatown (1974) — The line “Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown,” is ranked #74 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of all time.
20. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) — The scene where Clarence saves George’s life on the bridge was filmed on a backlot at RKO Radio Pictures when the temperature was 90 degrees Fahrenheit. If you look closely at the scene, you will see Jimmy Stewart sweating on camera.
19. On the Waterfront (1954) — Ten years before Fred Gwynne became well known throughout the world as Herman Munster in The Munsters (1964-1966), he made his Hollywood debut in the bit role of “Slim” in this movie.
18. The General (1927) — This was Buster Keaton’s favorite movie out of all of his movies out of his 57 movies.
17. The Graduate (1967) —2017 is the 50th anniversary for “The Graduate.” It was released on December 22nd, 1967.
16. Sunset Boulevard (1950) — This film spawned a Broadway musical in 1994 with Glenn Close in the role of Norma Desmond, opening on November 17th, 1994 and playing for 977 performances at the Minskoff Theatre. The famous line, “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,” is ranked #7 on American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest Movie Quotes of all time.
15. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) — Long before Anthony Daniels became known throughout the world as C-3PO in Star Wars, he went to see this movie. He hated it so much, that he left the theater after only ten minutes and demanded his money back.
14. Psycho (1960) — Grace Kelly and Deborah Kerr were both considered for the role of Marion Crane in this film before Janet Leigh was cast. Janet Leigh made this film the same year she made the Romantic Comedy Who Was That Lady? (1960) which was the fifth film she made with her then-husband, Tony Curtis. (Their other films include: Houdini (1953), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), The Vikings (1958), and The Perfect Furlough (1958)). Leigh was impersonated by Scarlett Johansson in the movie Hitchcock (2012) which depicts what went on behind the scenes during the making of “Psycho.”
13. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) — George Lucas, who created the Star Wars universe, was so confident that “Star Wars,” would flop that he didn’t even attend this film’s premiere. Instead, he went on vacation with pal Steven Spielberg where they began developing Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
12. The Searchers (1956) — John Wayne considered this film to be his favorite, of all his films as well as the character of Ethan Edwards to be the best character he ever played on screen. Because of that, he named his youngest son Ethan Wayne.
11. City Lights (1931) — Charlie Chaplin said that this was his favorite of all his movies. When the film opened in America on January 31st, 1931, he invited Albert Einstein to the film’s premiere, and when it premiered in England, Chaplin invited George Bernard Shaw. Both Einstein and Shaw accepted the invitations.
10. The Wizard of Oz (1939) — Judy Garland won the Academy Award for Best Juvenile Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, for her performance as Dorothy in this film. Five years later, Garland made the film Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) under the direction of future husband Vincente Minnelli and starring opposite Margaret O’Brien, who won an Oscar in the same category for her performance as Garland’s youngest sister, “Tootie” Smith. Both “Wizard of Oz,” and “Meet Me in St. Louis,” share the theme of “There’s no place like home.”
9. Vertigo (1958) — This Hitchcock classic was a critical and commercial failure at the box office. Alfred Hitchcock blamed it on Jimmy Stewart “looking too old” to appeal to young audiences anymore. As a result, Hitchcock never worked with Stewart again, even though Stewart had originally been one of his favorite collaborators.
8. Schindler’s List (1993) — When Steven Spielberg showed frequent collaborator John Williams the cut of the film before it had been scored, Williams was so overwhelmed with emotion that he had to walk outside in order to compose himself. When he came back, Williams told Spielberg he deserved a better composer. Spielberg replied “I know, but they’re all dead.”
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) — David Lean, who won his second Best Director Oscar for his direction of this film, makes a cameo in the movie as a motorcyclist at the Suez canal. (His first Best Director Oscar was for The Bridge on River Kwai (1957) which is ranked #36 of AFI’s Top 100).
6. Gone With the Wind (1939) — George Cukor was originally slated to direct the film but was fired due to consistent creative differences with producer David O. Selznick. Cukor was later hired to be the director for “The Wizard of Oz,” but unfortunately was dismissed from that film before too long as well. Ironically, he was replaced by Victor Fleming on both films and Fleming directed the final cuts of each. (Fleming won his one and only Best Director Oscar for “Gone With the Wind.”)
5. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) — In addition to playing the role of Don Lockwood, Gene Kelly served as co-director and choreographer of this classic film. He also had two choreography assistants who didn’t receive any screen credit in the film, Carol Haney and Gwen Verdon (future Mrs. Bob Fosse). Kelly at one point recommended Haney for the role of Kathy Selden in the film, and was dismayed when Louie B. “L.B.” Mayer chose to cast Debbie Reynolds in the role.
4. Raging Bull (1982) — Robert De Niro trained extensively with the real Jake LaMotta in order to play him on screen in this film and they did 1000 rounds together. LaMotta thought De Niro had exactly what it took to be a professional boxer. De Niro also entered three boxing matches in Brooklyn as part of his training and won two of them.
3. Casablanca (1942) — In the early-to-mid 2000s, Madonna wanted to remake “Casablanca,” with herself as Ilsa Lund and Ashton Kutcher as Rick Blaine. She received rejections from every studio in Hollywood and has since then scrapped the idea.
2. The Godfather (1972) — Al Pacino has acknowledged that Marlon Brando was able to produce genuine tears when they were shooting the scene where Michael pledges himself to his father.
1. Citizen Kane (1941) — Orson Welles was just 25 years old when he produced, co-wrote, and starred in this film, his very first feature film. It had never been done in film before and hasn’t been done since. Welles received Oscar nominations in all three categories, but only won for the script that he co-wrote with Heman J. Mankiewicz.
It’s been awesome counting down these amazing movies with you. Please let me know what you think!
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