As we stare down the final days of December, year-end lists are popping up more and more frequently. While the IMDb Top 250 used to be a fair guidepost for some of the best films of all time, its ratings have skewed more towards newer releases in the past few years (is Inception really the 14th greatest film of all time?). Well the fine folks at the Alamo Drafthouse have taken it upon themselves to compile an ultimate Top 100 list using the personal Top 100s of the theater chain’s six-person national programming team. The result is an eclectic mix of titles, ranging from Raiders of the Lost Ark to The Apartment to Alien to City Lights to Ed Wood to Mean Girls.
Select titles from the list will start screening at Drafthouses across the country in January, but for those of you that don’t live near an Alamo Drafthouse, consider picking a few titles from this list and programming a movie marathon of your own with your friends. Hit the jump to read the full press release, followed by the Alamo 100 list.
Here’s the press release:
Austin, TX - Friday, December 13, 2013 - Alamo Drafthouse unveils its first ever list of top 100 films, the "Alamo 100," as chosen by the theater's film programmers. Beginning in January 2014 all Alamo Drafthouse locations will exhibit films throughout the year from their list of essentials.
"In preparing my own list, I imagined that I was on a desert island (a really improbable desert island equipped with a TV, DVD player and electricity) and could only have 100 movies to rewatch for the rest of my life," says Alamo CEO and founder Tim League. "There are plenty of lists out there that rank based on popularity or cinematic importance. We wanted the Alamo 100 list to get to the heart of why we really love movies."
A quick glance at the Alamo 100 reveals the incredible diversity of taste on the national programming team, which consists of Tim League, RJ LaForce, Greg MacLennan, Sarah Pitre, Tommy Swenson, and Joe Ziemba.
"We're incredibly proud of the fact that our passions encompass 1960s French films and modern day rom coms, Kubrick masterpieces and epic action flicks, obscure trash-horror and feel-good classics, says Lead Programmer Sarah Pitre. "There is simply no classification that can contain our devotion to the silver screen."
In order to generate the Alamo 100, each programmer was given the Herculean task of paring down his or her own list to just 100 favorites. These titles were then compiled and ranked based on two factors: 1) Their rank on each programmer's list, and 2) The number of times the title appeared on more than one list.
"The results are an eclectic mix of shoe-ins and surprises," explains Pitre. "And we hope that this wildly divergent collection leads to many conversations within the Alamocommunity.
The Alamo 100 launches this January at Alamo theaters nationwide with seven titles that capture the spirit of this list: BRAZIL (1985), CITY LIGHTS (1931), THE GOONIES (1985), MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975), RAGING BULL (1980), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), and SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984) - with many more screening throughout the year.
Free collectible button pins themed to each title will be available while supplies last at every Alamo 100 screening.
To further explore the Alamo 100, visit the official website. The full list follows below:
10 Things I Hate About You
2001: A Space Odyssey
400 Blows, The
Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The
Alien
Apartment, The
Apocalypse Now
Back to the Future
Beaches of Agnes
Best Years of Our Lives, The
Big
Big Trouble in Little China
Black Lizard
Blade Runner
Bottle Rocket
Brazil
Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, The
Carnival of Souls
Casablanca
Christmas Story, A
City Lights
Clockwork Orange, A
Clueless
Daisies
Danger: Diabolik
Dark Knight, The
Dazed and Confused
Delicatessen
Dirty Harry
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial
Ed Wood
Empire Strikes Back, The
Escape From New York
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Evil Dead 2
Fantastic Mr. Fox, The
For A Few Dollars More
General, The
Ghostbusters
Godfather II, The
Godfather, The
Gold Rush, The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The
Goonies, The
Hannah And Her Sisters
Hausu
Home Alone
Joe vs the Volcano
Johnny Guitar
Jules and Jim
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
Leon: The Professional
Lord of the Rings, The
Love Actually
Mean Girls
Modern Times
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Napoleon
Night of the Hunter, The
Night To Dismember, A
Ninotchka
Notorious
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
Plan 9 From Outer Space
Playtime
Pride & Prejudice
Princess Bride, The
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raising Arizona
Road Warrior, The
Robocop
Royal Tennenbaums, The
Rushmore
Singin’ in the Rain
Sixteen Candles
Some Like it Hot
Sons Of The Desert
Star Wars: A New Hope
Step Up 2: The Streets
Streets of Fire
Succubus
Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The
Tommy Boy
UHF
Uncle Buck
Vampires, Les
Vertigo
Waiting for Guffman
Warriors, The
Wayne’s World
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Woman Is A Woman, A aka Une Femme Est Une Femme
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