This weekend I went through the list
of 1,001 movies to see before you die and made a sublist of all the movies
I remember seeing. That's 182 movies. Then I shuffled the order of the sublist
without looking (i.e., shuf <movie_list.txt
>random_list.txt), and sent it to my helpful wife, who read out the
movies in pairs. For each pair, I decided on the spot which of the two is more my favorite.
Laura marked the winners, and the result is today's post: round one of the
2014 JEC Movie Madness Tournament.
The tournament is single elimination, and the winners of these first-round match-ups will face off in round two. However, unlike in a typical single-elimination tournament, where the brackets are preset and everyone knows who will play whom in the next round, these tournament rounds will be randomized, preventing me from knowing in advance which movies will face off and thus preventing me from forming opinions in advance. I'm aiming for spur-of-the-moment, kinda.
A bit of commentary before the results: Round one led to some agonizing losses as well as some upsets. It's a shame that the two movies on the list with the most memorable of bicycling scenes paired up against each other, and E.T. missed the cut. Also sadly out are When Harry Met Sally, Network, and Amelie. All three movies would make many of my top-X lists, but all three were unfortunate to compete against powerhouses in the first round. As for upsets, the first-round knockout of Citizen Kane is a shocker, and it lost to a martial arts film!
Here are the results from round one:
Titanic (1997) vs The Great Escape (1963)
Fargo (1996) vs The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) vs A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Total Recall (1990) vs Dances with Wolves (1990)
Breaking Away (1979) vs E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
North by Northwest (1959) vs Some Like It Hot (1959)
Bull Durham (1988) vs The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Groundhog Day (1993) vs Rushmore (1998)
Grease (1978) vs Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Full Metal Jacket (1987) vs Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) vs Jurassic Park (1993)
Taxi Driver (1976) vs The Searchers (1956)
Reservoir Dogs (1992) vs When Harry Met Sally (1989)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) vs The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Maltese Falcon (1941) vs Easy Rider (1969)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966) vs Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
Rain Man (1988) vs Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Casablanca (1942) vs The Matrix (1999)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) vs Scream (1996)
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) vs Braveheart (1995)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) vs Clueless (1995)
The Lion King (1994) vs A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Chinatown (1974) vs Alien (1979)
The Third Man (1949) vs Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Magnolia (1999) vs Young Frankenstein (1974)
Pi (1998) vs Heat (1995)
Scarface (1983) vs Forbidden Planet (1956)
Forrest Gump (1994) vs Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Network (1976) vs Fight Club (1999)
Moulin Rouge (2001) vs Rear Window (1954)
The Jerk (1979) vs Double Indemnity (1944)
Rocky (1976) vs Gone With the Wind (1939)
Pretty Woman (1990) vs Toy Story (1995)
Sunset Blvd. (1950) vs Touch of Evil (1958)
Amadeus (1984) vs Apocalypse Now (1979)
Batman (1989) vs O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Rosemary's Baby (1968) vs Star Wars (1977)
Dr. Strangelove (1964) vs Dawn of the Dead (1978)
On the Waterfront (1954) vs The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) vs The Godfather (1972)
8 ½ (1963) vs Dirty Harry (1971)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984) vs Meet the Parents (2000)
Jaws (1975) vs Die Hard (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) vs Big (1988)
Being John Malkovich (1999) vs Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Usual Suspects (1995) vs The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Exorcist (1973) vs American Beauty (1999)
The Player (1992) vs The Sound of Music (1965)
There's Something About Mary (1998) vs West Side Story (1961)
The French Connection (1971) vs A Christmas Story (1983)
Edward Scissorhands (1990) vs Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Natural Born Killers (1994) vs Chicago (2002)
Clerks (1994) vs One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Raising Arizona (1987) vs Ghostbusters (1984)
The Graduate (1967) vs All About Eve (1950)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) vs Blue Velvet (1986)
Aliens (1986) vs Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Cool Hand Luke (1967) vs Goldfinger (1964)
The Sting (1973) vs Gladiator (2000)
Memento (2000) vs The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Naked Gun (1988) vs To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Traffic (2000) vs Mad Max (1979)
The Princess Bride (1987) vs Trainspotting (1996)
Saving Private Ryan (1998) vs Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Gallipoli (1981) vs Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Pulp Fiction (1994) vs The Evil Dead (1982)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) vs Vertigo (1958)
L.A. Confidential (1997) vs Top Gun (1986)
The Seven Samurai (1954) vs The Shining (1980)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) vs Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) vs 12 Angry Men (1957)
The Godfather Part II (1974) vs Amelie (2001)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) vs Goodfellas (1990)
Glory (1989) vs Thelma & Louise (1991)
Blade Runner (1982) vs The Last Picture Show (1971)
An Affair to Remember (1957) vs The Breakfast Club (1985)
Deliverance (1972) vs Roman Holiday (1953)
Gangs of New York (2002) vs Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1981)
Back to the Future (1985) vs It Happened One Night (1934)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) vs Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) vs Citizen Kane (1941)
Fantasia (1940) vs Seven (1995)
The Natural (1984) vs Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Rope (1948) vs Airplane! (1980)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) vs Brazil (1985)
Midnight Cowboy (1969) vs Spirited Away (2001)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) vs Mulholland Dr. (2001)
The Terminator (1984) vs This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Carrie (1976) vs Independence Day (1996)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) vs Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
Round two will take place sometime within the next two weeks.
6 comments:
How the heck did Laura match them up?
Geri— Laura had a file containing 182 shuffled lines of text, with each line specifying one movie. She matched the movies by reading the lines out loud to me two at a time. The effect was to create 91 random pairings of the 182 movies.
Which Movie gets a bye next round?
Anonymous— Great question. Probably whichever one is last on the random list.
Did you ever post Round 2?
Bobby et al.— Nope, I've had the 2nd-round results sitting in my email inbox for a year. Maybe I should make this a one-post-a-year tournament. Gotta take the long view on these things, you know.
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