Three days ago BBC Culture posted the results of a poll of 62 international film critics who’d been asked to name the 100 Greatest American Films of all time. The BBC’s description of this group (a) doesn’t mention online voices and (b) explains that “some of the critics we invited to participate are film reviewers at newspapers or magazines, others are broadcasters and some write books.” Esteemed, knowledgable fuddy-duds, in other words. Scholastically correct fashionistas and a smattering of old-schoolers who know their stuff but — important trait to keep in mind — are also careful to limit their favorites to films that are currently approved of by the fine and fanciful “they.”
The BBC could have mentioned that this group, not atypically, is basically bending and blowing with the current cultural winds. Hence Gone With The Wind has barely made the cut at #$97 (a satisfying moment for GWTW basher Lou Lumenick) and — this pisses me off — Rio Bravo is listed at #41 but no High Noon at all. And Marnie at #47? Mainly because a small, tightly-knit fraternity of hardcore Marnie dweebs (Richard Brody, Glenn Kenny, Dave Kehr, et. al.) have been beating the drum for years. Last April I voiced strong disgreement with the Marnie cult and yet here it is, sitting on a Greatest American Films list…my spirit wilts. And where’s One-Eyed Jacks? And where’s Shane?