America’s Favorite Movie
National Review,
by
Kyle Smith
Original Article
Posted By: MissMolly,
4/5/2020 4:49:25 AM
For more than a decade, readers volunteering their ratings on the movie site IMDb have declared The Shawshank Redemption (1994) their favorite film of all time. (Number two is The Godfather). Unlike the unholy tablets that are the box office charts, which are strongly linked to marketing budgets and show a preference for regurgitated storylines, and unlike the Oscars, which reflect the preferences of an exclusive coterie of largely like-minded insiders at a single moment in time, the IMDb survey provides an excellent, constantly updated, democratic overview of which movies endure in the popular imagination over time. Shawshank has motivated more than two million people to log their ratings.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
VinGoombatz 4/5/2020 7:03:20 AM (No. 369045)
One big cliché. From beginning to end. Only thing missing was Tom Hanks.
14 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
spacer 4/5/2020 7:24:33 AM (No. 369063)
exactly #1.
8 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
franq 4/5/2020 7:46:13 AM (No. 369080)
Never watched it. Have no intention to watch it. Same for The Godfather. Wasn't there some trilogy? Why sit through nine hours of video to hear one line?
I'll make you an offer you can't refuse...
4 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
petrichor 4/5/2020 8:08:42 AM (No. 369098)
Really? Shawshank? I like it. Hard to believe it's anyone's favorite movie. I think if you'd asked, you'd find that most people have many favorite movies and their "list" would change every time you asked. Except for me. It's "The Philadelphia Story" (no, not Tom Hanks). Yes, it's RomCom, but at its best!
2 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
JackBurton 4/5/2020 8:18:20 AM (No. 369107)
Casablanca.
I mean, do you really need to ask?
18 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 4/5/2020 8:28:46 AM (No. 369118)
Gotta be Blazing Saddles!
16 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
GO3 4/5/2020 8:42:33 AM (No. 369143)
I liked Shawshank a lot, but my favorite is L.A. Confidential.
0 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
F15 Gork 4/5/2020 8:50:09 AM (No. 369155)
Red River - John Wayne
4 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
doublesharp 4/5/2020 8:58:45 AM (No. 369165)
Tombstone w/ Kurt Russell
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Paperpuncher 4/5/2020 9:05:27 AM (No. 369173)
Kelly's Heroes and a strong vote for Second Hand Lions (nice story, funny and a happy ending)
7 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Highlander 4/5/2020 9:59:07 AM (No. 369234)
All time for me, “The Searchers,” and I never get tired of watching it. I first saw it in a theater in El Paso, at 11, with my Dad.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 4/5/2020 10:15:26 AM (No. 369269)
Never saw it. No big plan or objection. Just never got around to it.
4 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
udanja99 4/5/2020 10:54:07 AM (No. 369318)
Loved the novella and liked the movie but by far my favorite is The Lord of the Rings trilogy. (NOT The Hobbit - Jackson should have followed the book and made one movie instead of adding a bunch of extra characters, events and too many CGIs.)
4 people like this.
Geez, everyone so far disagrees with the author, favorite is hard to say but for me it’s way up there close to the top at least.
0 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Robert Jones 4/5/2020 11:38:42 AM (No. 369371)
Since no one said it,”High Noon”.
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 4/5/2020 12:01:44 PM (No. 369399)
That was a dumb movie that glorified criminality. Totally immorality, as only Hollyweird can do best.
4 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
slsusnr 4/5/2020 12:25:38 PM (No. 369434)
Miracle on 34th Street.
7 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
FLCracker 4/5/2020 12:28:03 PM (No. 369435)
I don't know why, but the one movie I can watch virtually whenever it is on, is "The Fifth Element."
"Does anyone else want to negotiate?"
3 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
StormCnter 4/5/2020 6:17:37 PM (No. 369803)
"Shawshank" was entertaining, but far from my own favorite. Give me "Leave Her to Heaven", "Flight of the Phoenix" (the first one), "Hawaii", "Green Dolphin Street", the 1949 "Little Women" and the more recent "The Peanut Butter Falcon". Many others would rank ahead of "Shawshank". I did very much enjoy the "Godfather" films, too.
0 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Italiano 4/5/2020 6:48:20 PM (No. 369820)
I think I saw it. Not sure.
0 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
NYbob 4/5/2020 6:50:35 PM (No. 369823)
Must be some sort of generational mixup. Shawshank is unremarkable in so many ways. My list changes or shifts around, but the most impressive movie is the first one I saw with my dad and brother, 20,000 Leagues. Then it comes and goes depending on mood. Ozzie Davis's crackup in The Hill often springs to mind when the idiot load is heavy. Goldfinger for a dusty nostalgia trip. Kung Fu Hustle for the ending. 2001 for all the reasons some hate it. Once Upon a Time in the West for sound and the masterful edit of the final shootout. Touch of Evil for camera work and setup. There is probably a 300 other movies I would watch again before I looked at Shawshank. In fact I am sure I won't bother to watch that movie again. Godfather was a masterful movie, but like the Sopranos and Boardwalk, I feel like I sat in a sewer for a couple of hours after watching criminal thugs and their world.
0 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Penny Spencer 4/5/2020 6:56:11 PM (No. 369836)
Second vote for L.A. Confidential. And also The Best Years of Our Lives.
1 person likes this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
ladydawgfan 4/5/2020 9:31:44 PM (No. 369939)
I've never seen any of the Godfather movies nor have I seen Shawshank. They just didn't interest me. Same with James Bond. Not my cup of tea. My faves are as follows:
"Airplane!!" Don't call me Shirley!
"Down Periscope" Kelsey Grammer at his slapstick best, this movie always makes me laugh.
"Secondhand Lions" Excellent movie and eye candy for classic car lovers.
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" Saw it in the theater, own the director's copy and it is still unmatched in its genre. Hope they NEVER remake it!
"Poltergeist (1982)" First time I've ever seen or heard an entire movie theater scream in unison.
I have many others that are family favorites. I'm sure that someone will mention some of them at some point in this thread.
0 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
DVC 4/6/2020 3:05:40 AM (No. 370066)
Casablanca is way up there. I love Open Range, some of the best dialog, great story and acting and the shootout is one of the best western shoot outs ever filmed. As modern shootouts go, Heat was memorable, and the border crossing traffic jam shootout in Sicario
0 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
DVC 4/6/2020 3:08:48 AM (No. 370067)
And some that are considered "great movies" I despised when I saw them and still do.
Close Encounters fo the 3rd Kind, Pulp Fiction and Fargo, I thought were just
awful messes, yet the critics and many movie fans, including a number of my friends just
love them. I can't see it, but people's tastes vary a lot, clearly.
0 people like this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
DVC 4/6/2020 3:12:49 AM (No. 370068)
oops, . Sicario was very intense, realistic, but would not make you want to ever visit Mexico again.
Silent Running, Interstellar, Le Mans, Rio Bravo, True Grit, Second Hand Lions, Toy Story, Terminator and Terminator 2, IMO worth seeing multiple times.
0 people like this.
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