AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies

A shortlist of 400 American films was drawn up and those in the `business' were allowed to vote on which they thought were the most exciting and thrilling. The top 100 were taken and screened on this programme. Harrison Ford presents.

I'm not a big fan of movie lists or movie list programmes. I'll give them a good try if they are one offs or publicly voted from an open list, but many, like this one, are professionals voting from a set list. Here we are restricted to 400 movies and all of them American. The opening clips show that this 400 included Twister and Shanghai Noon! I mean come on – how can you expect anything different from the same old names and faces. But to be honest the list is still OK – I imagine that even if they had left it open then most of the top 100 would have been more of less the same.

My problem with this programme was the total lack of value in the almost 3 hour running time. If all I wanted was the list then I could have got it off the internet or a newspaper. No, a programme about the list should have added something of value to most if not all of the films on the list. Sadly for the majority of the films there is only a clip and then a celebrity saying `oh yeah I liked it' etc. My favourite was the way they used Jean Claude Van Damme as a contributor – he says nothing of any value whatsoever!

I expected them to try and interview the director or star of the film in question for a little insight to the film or a funny tale. In some cases this happens but for a lot of them the contributors have nothing to do with the film (Carl Weathers, Lucy Liu, Van Damme) who have nothing to say. Lucy Liu is used a lot but says nothing that a man in the street couldn't have said. I know that each film is only given 2 or 3 minutes but when a lot of them are a clip and an unrelated celeb saying that they liked it and it was a great movie etc.

The flip side of this is that lots of those interviewed called the film `the greatest yada yada ever'. Charlton Heston is the worst one of this. In his three pieces for his three films he calls them the greatest ever – does he really believe that everything he does is great and worthy of being on the list! A Touch of Evil is `the greatest thriller ever made', Planet of the Apes is `the greatest sci-fi movie ever made' and Ben-Hur has `the greatest action scenes in history'. I found that for the vast majority of the films that nothing of any value or interest was said, so I was left with clips of films that I had already seen.

The most interesting bit of watching the show was seeing how messed up American TV is. For any clip with swearing is bleeped out throughout the whole show. However any violence is shown in all it's glory, including the climax of the Wild Bunch for God's sake! Why are they so scared of bad language but will happily show people getting killed or bleeding? The other thing of note is how incredibly wooden Harrison Ford has become since the days of Han Solo and Indiana Jones.

Overall this was a waste of three hours for me. I should have just read the list in 3 minutes instead. I had hoped that the three minutes given to each film were wasted. For the vast majority nothing of any value was said and it could easily have been a clips show without any comments. Total waste of time.

The choices weren't extraordinarily good but I enjoyed watching the interviews in yet another flawed AFI program. Honestly, I don't know anyone who actually agrees with these shows--it's more or less just a matter of ocassionally agreeing with a choice or two.

Like the AFI's previous lists, top 100 films and the top 100 comedies, the content of the top 100 heart pounders, as well as the order, will raise much debate. While some will welcome the debate, others will be infuriated by omissions as well as movies they believe to be undeservedly on the list. The list tends to be bias in favour of Hitchcock and Spielberg films and at times makes the viewer wonder what the AFI's definition of "heart pounding" is. Personally I'm still fuming over E.T: the extra-terrestrial's inclusion to the list, and not only that, but the fact that it's right next to Saving Private Ryan.

What this TV-special does provide is an hour of fascinating film clips from some of the best movies of all time. The narrative is provided by a variety of film-makers, actors and critics. William Friedkin and surprisingly Carl Weathers provide the best insight and commentary, and at the other end of the spectrum, Jean Claude Van Damme's mumbling makes you wonder if he's ever seen the movies that he's talking about. Some of the comments help in proving the intensity of the films, while others reveal bad choices by the AFI. Case in point: One actor's comment on All the President's Men - "It required you to listen to a lot of details, a lot of facts". OOOOhhh, i can feel my heart pounding!

All in all, the program was entertaining and educational for those who don't think that old films can be exciting. Except for the criticisms above as well as the spoiling of some movies (especially Psycho), AFI's top 100 heart pounders is a good way to spend 2 hours. Just don't take it too seriously.