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 The
American Film Institute's (AFI) seventh polling, 100 Years...100
Songs highlighted "America's Greatest Music in the Movies."
AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs revealed the 100 greatest
songs in American films, as chosen by leaders of the entertainment community,
in a three-hour television event, that aired on the CBS Television Network
in June 2004. Other AFI pollings were for:
A
ballot was distributed in 2003 with 400
nominated films and songs to a jury of 1,500 leaders from the
film community, including film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors,
editors, composers, cinematographers, etc.) critics and historians.
Only songs from feature-length American films released before
January 1, 2003, were considered. [AFI defined an American film as an
English language film with significant creative and/or financial production
elements from the United States, and a feature-length film as a motion
picture of narrative format that is typically over 60 minutes in length.]
Voters could submit up to five write-in choices not included among the
400 nominees. The jurors were asked to consider the following criteria
in their selections of greatest songs:
- Song - Music and lyrics (that must be part
of the film) featured in an American film that set a tone of 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 for the film itself.
- Legacy - Songs that resonate across the century,
enriching America's film heritage and captivating artists and audiences
today.
NOT ELIGIBLE: Tunes with no lyrics -- like
the "Colonel Bogey March" from The
Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and the themes from Gone
With the Wind (1939), Doctor Zhivago (1965), and
The Godfather (1972) were not eligible.
Film scores were not eligible. "Laura" - the theme from
the Oscar-nominated drama of the same name Laura
(1944), "A Summer's Place" and [The Theme from]
"Picnic" were not eligible because the lyrics did
not appear in the film and were written for the song after the film's
release. For clarification's sake, a song need not have been written
especially for a movie to be eligible. Bob Seger's "Old Time
Rock and Roll" was eligible even though it was not written
specifically for the film Risky Business (1983).
Facts
(and some opinions) About the Choices for the Greatest American Movie
Songs:
- The 1960s had 20 songs in the top 100; in descending
order for the other decades: the 1950s were represented 17 times,
the 1970s 16 times, the 1940s 14 times, the 1980s 13 times, the 1930s
11 times, the 1990s 6 times, and the 2000s 3 times. There were none
from the 1920s.
- The earliest song on the top 100 list was "Isn't
It Romantic" from Love Me Tonight (1932) at #73. The newest
was "All That Jazz" from Chicago (2002) at #98, and
"Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile (2002) at #93.
- Two seasonal songs placed in the top 100: "White
Christmas" at #5, and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
at #76.
- Two counter-cultural films featured these honored
songs: "Born to Be Wild" from Easy
Rider (1969) at #29, and "Aquarius" from Hair
(1979) at #33.
- There were no Beatles songs among the nominees --
and obviously, in the winners list.
- Dubious 'winners' included "Ding Dong the Witch
is Dead" at #82, "Fight the Power" at #40, "Let
The River Run" at #91, and "Lose Yourself" at #93.
"Puttin' On The Ritz" at #89 was attributed to Young
Frankenstein (1974) but was originally sung in Blue Skies
(1946)
- Three musicals succeeded in having their three nominees
honored in the top 100: Singin' In The Rain
(1952): "Singin' in the Rain" at #3, "Make
'Em Laugh" at #49, and "Good Morning" at #72; The
Sound Of Music (1965): "The Sound of Music" at #10,
"My Favorite Things" at #64, and "Do Re Mi" at
#88; and West Side Story (1961): "Somewhere"
at #20, "America" at #35, and "Tonight" at #59.
- Two unrelated versions of "New York, New York"
made the top 100: "Theme From New York, New York" in New
York, New York (1977) at #31, and "New York, New York"
in On The Town (1949) at #41.
- There were two Burt Bacharach compositions in the
top 100: "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" from Butch
Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969) at #23, and "Arthur's
Theme (Best That You Can Do)" from Arthur (1981) at #79.
- Judy Garland was represented five times on the list:
"Over The Rainbow" at #1, "The Man That Got Away"
at #11, "The Trolley Song" at #26, "Get Happy"
at #61, and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" at
#76. (Garland's daughter, Liza Minnelli had two songs on the list:
"Cabaret" at #18, and "Theme From New York, New York"
at #31.)
- The only other individual represented five times
on the list was Gene Kelly: "Singing in the Rain" at #3,
"I Got Rhythm" at #32, "New York, New York" at
#41, "Good Morning" at #72, and "Long Ago and Far Away"
at #92.
- Barbra Streisand was represented four times on the
list: "The Way We Were" at #8, "Evergreen (Love Theme
From A Star Is Born)" at #16, and two Funny Girl (1968)
songs: "People" at #13, and "Don't Rain On My Parade"
at #46.
- Two others were found four times on the list - Fred
Astaire: "Cheek to Cheek" at #15, "Let's Call The Whole
Thing Off" at #34, "The Way You Look Tonight" at #43,
and "That's Entertainment" at #45; Julie Andrews: "The
Sound of Music" at #10, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"
at #36, "My Favorite Things" at #64, and "Do Re Mi"
at #88.
- Popular title songs from many musicals or other films
failed to make the top 100: "Three Coins In The Fountain"
in Three Coins In The Fountain (1954), "Love Is A Many-Splendored
Thing" in Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (1955), "An
Affair To Remember" in An Affair To Remember (1957), "Charade"
in Charade (1964), "Born Free"
in Born Free (1966), and "Thoroughly Modern Millie"
in Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), to name a few.
- Nominees from rock musicals that surprisingly didn't
make the top 100: "The Time Warp" in The Rocky Horror
Picture Show (1975), "Big Bottom" from This Is Spinal
Tap (1984).
- Winners with either animation or puppetry: "When
You Wish Upon A Star" at #7, "Some Day My Prince Will Come"
at #19, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" at #36, "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"
at #47, "Beauty And The Beast" at #62, "Rainbow Connection"
at #74, and "Hakuna Matata" at #99.
- Although "That's Entertainment" in The
Band Wagon (1953) ranked at #45, nominee "There's No Business
Like Show Business" from Annie Get Your Gun (1950) didn't
make the cut.
- Other classic standard songs that were nominated
but didn't appear in the final list: "That Old Black Magic"
from Bus Stop (1956), "I've Got You Under My Skin"
from Born To Dance (1936), "Silver Bells" from The
Lemon Drop Kid (1951), and "If I Loved You" and "You'll
Never Walk Alone" from Carousel (1956).
Other surprising omissions in the top 100 from the 400 nominees: "Hello,
Dolly!" from Hello, Dolly! (1969), "Seventy-Six Trombones"
from The Music Man (1962), "The Candy Man" from Willy
Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971), and "Consider Yourself"
from Oliver! (1968).
- Many of the songs that were in the top 100 list were
merely adaptations from their Broadway stage musical versions, such
as "The Sound Of Music" from The
Sound Of Music (1965) at #10, "I Could Have Danced All
Night" from My Fair Lady (1964)
at #17, "Cabaret" from Cabaret (1972) at #18, "Aquarius"
from Hair (1979) at #33, "America" from West
Side Story (1961) at #35, "Shall We Dance" from
The King And I (1956) at #54, "Thank
Heaven For Little Girls" from Gigi (1958) at #56, "Tonight"
from West Side Story (1961) at #59,
and "All That Jazz" from Chicago (2002) at #98.
See also this site's informative sections on Entertainment
Weekly's 100 Best Film Soundtracks, Film
Comment's 101 Film Score Milestones (1933-2001), and Greatest
Musical Song/Dance Movie Moments and Scenes (illustrated).
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