The Top 100 Project

Jump in the shower for our 59th AFI review, but watch out for mama’s boys wielding butcher knives. One of the most famous scenes/scores/performances in movie history can all be found in Hitchcock’s most successful flick. Download...or face the wrath of Master Bates!

We begin the ‘60s with Billy Wilder’s final AFI flick, a rom-com-dram starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Suicide, fraternization and corporate backstabbing: the keys to any comedy! This movie IS a delight though. Hit that button!

Paddling slaves, leprosy and chariots, baby! Good times. Charlton Heston is the scantily-clad title character and veteran of Old Hollywood William Wyler is at the helm. Huge production, huge hit. Also, we do a quick recap of the AFIers from the ‘50s. Hit it!

“Bond before Bond” is one way to nutshell our 56th Top 100 podcast. Cary Grant is Mr. Suave despite being in constant danger. Eva-Marie Saint is a terrific foil and Alfred Hitchcock’s direction remains some of his best work. Initiate our take on NBN!

The AFI’s most revered comedy is the 55th edition of the T100P. Billy Wilder’s screwball cross-dressing flick has a fantastic trio in the starring roles (Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and especially Jack Lemmon). It’s also one of the most enjoyable movies on this list. Go to it!

One of our most contentious editions yet is the 54th AFI Top 100 podcast, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. It was an unloved flop in 1958, but it’s a revered classic 56 years later. Settle in for a lengthy gab-gab about Hitch, Kim, Jimmy Stew, and their tale of love, lust and lunacy.

Bridge On The River Kwai is the T100P’s 53rd podcast and it’s a jolly good show. War movies on the AFI list are always compelling, especially when David Lean is at the helm and Alec Guinness is losing his proper mind out in the Burmese jungle. So dust off your hat and your Geneva Conventions pamphlet and start collaborating with the enemy whilst hearing our chatter!

Get furious a dozen times because 12 Angry Men is the 52nd edition of the T100P. Director Sidney Lumet’s first film is a revered classic, despite its simplicity and black-and-whiteness. Sequester yourself with your listening device and find out if we dug Henry Fonda & friends doing their civic duty!

Podcast #51 hits us with racism, sexism and probably 1 or 2 other Giant Rock Hudson “isms”. The Texas soap opera ends the run of AFI movies for director George Stevens and star James Dean, maybe not a moment too soon. There’s much to discuss in this 200-moment movie, so time’s a-wastin’.

We jump back on the John Wayne horse and cover another western in podcast #50. The Searchers is the AFI swan song for both the Duke and director John Ford. Their flick is a Bible for other film-makers. It isn’t perfect though. Our thoughts? They await you!

You’re tearing the T100P apart! Jimmy Dean brings his angst to the party in Rebel Without A Cause, the 49th look at AFI classics. But is this a true classic or just an overwrought guilty pleasure? You need to know, so hit that button!

Rear Window peeps into YOUR window as the 48th podcast from the T100P. Alfred Hitchcock teams up with Jimmy Stewart for the 1st time and one of us thinks it’s a home run. The other is not convinced. Controversy! There might even be a few bad impressions thrown around. Go to it!

It’s the return of The Not 100 Project! No AFI movies need apply. This week we review 3 Canadian flicks: The Sweet Hereafter, Cube and The Barbarian Invasions. We even have an interview with the co-writer of Cube, Andre Bijelic! Tune us in, eh!

On The Waterfront is the subject of podcast #47! It’s Marlon Brando in top form. His co-stars? Great too. And the flick’s got a message. Not since Pinocchio has a Hollywood movie talked about this much “conscience”. Plus, let’s not forget the subtext of Elia Kazan’s Commie-ratting. Were we split on OTW's virtues? Find out!

Edition #46 of the T100P is the star-studded From Here To Eternity. Boxing, bullets, bugles, babes, buddies, and bombs before breakfast, this one has almost everything that starts with a B. It also has Burt (Lancaster) in his only AFIer and Monty Clift in his last. Activate!

Podcast #45 is a simple title for a complex movie: Shane. This sod-busting western has an abundance of depth. The movie was so effective, it even made one of us misty-eyed. Who was it? Also, is Shane the Batman of the old west? Dial us up and find out!

For the first time since last August, we’re in the old west. Our 44th Top 100 podcast finds Gary Cooper fighting for his life in High Noon. The highly regarded western is on eight (8!) different AFI lists, so they obviously dig it. What about the T100P perspective? Well, stand up for what’s right and listen to our take!

Our 43rd Top 100 podcast is an almost perfect musical and it’s Singin’ In The Rain! Even hard-hearted musical-haters have got to surrender to this one. Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor and friends certainly wowed us. You too? Come on...you too!

The T100P’s podcast #42 might not be the answer to all of life's questions, but it DOES end Humphrey Bogart’s AFI run...and it’s John Huston’s final AFIer as a director. It also marks the return of Katharine Hepburn. The Institute adores this movie. Did we? You must find out!

We take our 4th break from the AFI Top 100 and review a movie that didn’t make their list. This time it’s one of the best pictures of recent memory, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind! This is a strange, challenging, funny, yearning, aching, lost-love story...and it’s just in time for Valentine’s Day! Bonus: you can read Ryan’s gushy 2004 review on the IMDb and on www.top100project.com.