Yes, it’s another one of those American Film Institute’s lists of “greatest movies” sure to prompt reveries of nostalgia and fits of disagreement. In the case of “the 100 greatest love stories of all time,” there is, of course, plenty of both.
I mean who can quibble with “Casablanca” topping the list? Rick and Ilsa now have more than Paris. The screen epic “Gone With The Wind,” second to nearly none, seems properly placed. From third, “West Side Story,” on up it gets appropriately debatable. Should (7) “Doctor Zhivago” come before or after (12) “My Fair Lady,” for example?
But “King Kong” at 23? Even if it is the original (1933). Even though Faye Ray was a vulnerable babe. C’mon.
Ahead of (41) “Funny Girl,” (50) Shakespeare in Love,” (52) “The Graduate,” (56) “The English Patient” and (61) “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”? And barely behind (20) “From Here To Eternity” and (22) “On Golden Pond,” which are incongruously sandwiched between (21) “Pretty Woman.”
I mean if you’re that enamored of the hackneyed beauty-and-the-beast theme, there’s always, well, (34) “Beauty and the Beast.”