AFI's 100 Best Movie Songs, Updated June 25

Oh yes, Oh, What a Beautiful Morning should have been there. Oh, I just saw Jolson's Mammy from Jazz Singer among the nominated.

I do think the top ten hit the right note -- they are landmark songs that are highpoints of each classic film. The filmations of Rodgers and Hammerstein musical still leave a lot to be desired. I do prefer "Carousel" over all the others and even it suffers from an uneven dramatic flow.

I agree with you about the top 10. That was no easy task picking only 100. But - I was not pleased that "Luck Be A Lady" or Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead, made the list. (lol)
Carousel has always been a favorite of mine - (especially, since I had the Broadway Cast recording and was anxiously waiting to see it on screen,and was not disappointed. I loved it at the time.

I, for one, was really upset that Somewhere Out There from An American Tail didn't make the list. Now I know the movie wasn't that great, but the song was pretty awesome and it completely set the tone for the whole movie and the poor little mouse.

There were a few too many Streisand songs for my taste. I know she sings well and her songs are mostly famous, but they aren't all that spectacular. And there was no Hello Dolly! That song is very good and it has Louis Armstrong in it. But whatever. What's done is done. All the more reason for me to get famous and make my own list shows. :wink:

It's in the list of 400 nominees, Harkins, and welcome to A2K and the film forum. I wasn't upset that a panel chose songs that I wouldn't have put on the final list of 100 -- that's the subjectivity of any such list. The quality of the film did seem to influence the selections that ended up on the final list.

To reiterate from the site (and I've updated the main topic posting), this is the way that artistically and historically the songs were selected:

The Criteria

The jurors were asked to consider the following criteria while making their selections:


Feature-Length Fiction Film: The film must be in narrative format, typically more than 60 minutes in length.

American Film: The film must be in the English language with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States.

Song: Music and lyrics featured in an American film that set a tone or mood, define character, advance plot and/or express the film's themes in a manner that elevates the moving image art form. Songs may have been written and/or recorded specifically for the film or previously written and/or recorded and selected by the filmmaker to achieve the above goals.

Cultural Impact: Songs that have captured the nation's heart, echoed beyond the walls of a movie theater, and ultimately stand in our collective memory of the film itself.

Legacy: Songs that resonate across the century, enriching America's film heritage and captivating artists and audiences today.

Seeing the list of nominated songs that LW provided, I am at least somewhat mollified to see that both "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" and "Hooray for Captain Spaulding" made it on the list. That the former was not named in the final 100, however, remains an unpardonable crime. The voters should hang their heads in shame.


I'm sure that played a role: the voters would have been more familiar with movies that they had seen. But it's sorta' like the golden glove awards in baseball: they tend to go to good hitters as often as to good fielders.

Oh, one more comment: I just realized that this is the first AFI list that I've seen where I can't complain about the lack of silent films.

The AFI panel I'm sure have all seen each film. The film history aspect of the judgement is also subjective but I'd trust experts on that one rather than an average moviegoer.

You are being facetious about "Lydia the Tatooed Lady?" That could be one that made the nomination list for historical reasons and not one we'd all like to hear played over and over again.

Well, I don't think I'd want to hear "Hakuna Matata" over and over again either, but there it is on the list.

Hey, "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" is a fantastic song; as a comic song, I'd rank it higher than "Buttons and Bows" or "Puttin' on the Ritz" or some of the others on the list (but not "Springtime for Hitler"). Also, looking over the list of nominees, I think there's another glaring omission: "Blame Canada!" "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut" was the best movie musical to appear in the last twenty years. Why that wasn't included in the final 100 is completely baffling.

And no, I'm not being facetious.

I could put the "South Park" film up there as an animation film but there were only two good songs in the film, "Blame Canada!" one of them. "Chicago" was a far superior movie. Our selections would be just as subjective and without the historical expertise of the panel. Their disclaimer that this is not the list to end all lists was satisfactory.

Of course, that's really the value of these kinds of lists. Not to be definitive, but to be though-provoking.

I believe and the as much as said it that they wanted to start a narrative and get people excited about the movies, and especially vintage films.

Silent films not included but actually, "Show Boat" was also filmed as a silent movie! It's a great story with a social conscious so I guess it worked without music although I understand that many theaters had live performances with the film.

LW: It's not surprising that "Showboat" was made as a silent, since it was a book (by Edna Ferber) before it was a musical. And silent movies often had live orchestras (and often a "sound effects" man in the pit); not so sure about singing along with the movie, but that wouldn't surprise me.

I sure would have like to seen that -- hey, H.G. where's your damn time machine when you need it?

The first sound "Showboat" was directed by James Whale who directed "Frankenstein" and "The Bride of Frankenstein" and immortalized in the film "Gods and Monsters." This is the clip they played on the AFI special with Paul Robison singing the most heart wrenching version of "Ol' Man River" ever performed. Funny that film history is the history of the 20th century.

To me "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" is a classic, but Life of Brian did not qualify as American enough perchance?

Did you find it on the long list posted earlier? Here's a link where the entire list of nominees were posted:


LINK TO AFI LONG LIST PAGE ON A2K

On this forum "Life of Brian" maybe gets mentioned over every other comedy.