Jurassic Park, Brokeback Mountain, and The Shining join the National Film Registry
Aux Features FilmHere’s some good news that should brighten this dreary December day: In the event that mankind is wiped out and everyone you know and love is both completely eradicated and utterly forgotten, Jurassic Park will still exist in some form—as will Brokeback Mountain, The Shining, Cinderella, Broadcast News, and 20 other historically significant films. This is courtesy of the Library Of Congress’ National Film Registry, which gathers up a new batch of films every year that have been deemed worthy of preservation. This new class is joining last year’s excellent collection of picks, which included Die Hard, Titanic, and Memento.
Going back to this year’s selections, Brokeback Mountain is now the most recent film of the 750 on the registry and Jurassic Park is one of the most commercially successful. Variety dug through the rest of the list to highlight the significance of some of the other selections, like 1998's Smoke Signals (the first feature film written, directed, and produced by Native Americans), the 1984 animated short Hair Piece: A Film For Nappy-Headed People (created by one of the first black female animators in the industry), and 1898's Something Good—Negro Kiss (a 29-second recording that is “the earliest known footage of black intimacy on screen.”
Both Something Good and Hair Piece will actually air on Turner Classic Movies tonight as part of a tribute to the new films being inducted into the National Film Registry, with Leonard Maltin and The Library Of Congress’ Dr. Carla Hayden introducing those two shorts and fellow 2018 honorees My Fair Lady, The Informer, Monterey Pop, Hearts And Minds, and The Lady From Shanghai.
You can see an alphabetical list of this year’s National Film Registry inductees below.
1. Bad Day At Black Rock (1955)
2. Broadcast News (1987)
3. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
4. Cinderella (1950)
5. Days Of Wine And Roses (1962)
6. Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition To Crow Agency
7. Eve’s Bayou (1997)
8. The Girl Without A Soul (1917)
9. Hair Piece: A Film For Nappy-Headed People (1984)
10. Hearts And Minds (1974)
11. Hud (1963)
12. The Informer (1935)
13. Jurassic Park (1993)
14. The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
15. Leave Her To Heaven (1945)
16. Monterey Pop (1968)
17. My Fair Lady (1964)
18. The Navigator (1924)
19. On The Town (1949)
20. One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
21. Pickup On South Street (1953)
22. Rebecca (1940)
23. The Shining (1980)
24. Smoke Signals (1998)
25. Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898)
21 Comments
I’m genuinely surprised My Fair Lady was just now added.
I love musical more than the average person, but My Fair Lady is not a very good movie. I think it drags, I don’t think it’s visually very interesting, Henry Higgins as a character is insufferable, and Audrey Hepburn (despite being the treasure that she is) is miscast.
disagree
I disagree with your disagreement, and if you disagree again, I’ll disagree times infinity.
I don’t find it insufferable that Henry Higgins is insufferable 😛
It’s kinda the point!
You’re worse than Hitler.
Wait, Adolf Hitler, right?
Jawohl!
The costumes are fabulous, though.
but Cecil Beaton kind of was Hitler.
Higgins is a great character when Leslie Howard is playing him in Pygmalion. The people who made the musical just somehow got the idea that he was puckish and loveable instead of a narcissistic monster (or maybe Harrison insisted).Mrs. Higgins and the Colonel were great, anyway, and Alfred Doolittle was a treasure.
I dislike musicals more than the average person, but I like My Fair Lady (it does drag, though).
I love that Monterey Pop made it. Dude the three disc set is really amazing, you have to watch the Otis Redding and Jimi performances in their entirety, next to Queen at Live Aid it’s one of the greatest concert recordings ever. Good on them putting some flavor in there, I am too lazy to check if they added Killer of Sheep yet. There’s an unwritten thesis (I didn’t say a great one) called “Industrial Dehumanization: The Philly of ERASERHEAD vs. the LA of Killer of Sheep”
“Killer of Sheep” was inducted into the Registry 28 years ago.I have not ever once heard anyone talk about “Brokeback Mountain” and been able to avoid thinking about the episode of “South Park” where Stan and Wendy go see the art movie where gay cowboys eat pudding.
wow 28 years ago, that’s great! I’m wondering if you are proposing a thesis about Brokeback? Does it relate to Barry and Levon and $240 worth of pudding? awwww yeeehhhhhh
Another year, another snub. When will there be justice for Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach?!?
There’s a lot of great choices here. It’s nice to see another Keaton make it. The Navigator was a wonderful movie and I’m sure in time, most of his work will be included.Two of the greatest film noirs made it, The Lady From Shanghai and Pickup on South Street. The latter ranks among my all-time favorite films. Rebecca is just about as good a Gothic romance as you’ll ever find and at the top of Hitchcock’s best films. I’m surprised it wasn’t in sooner.The Informer is one of John Ford’s most unjustly neglected works. I hope The Lost Patrol will be inducted as well. It’s nice to see Bad Day At Black Rock, a pseudo-western with one of the greatest tough guy casts ever assembled.Lots of great picks, overall.
Fun fact: Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition To Crow Agency made the list as the first film to spark an ugly flame war. The 1908 letters pages of the National Geographic were bitterly divided between people claiming it was a masterpiece and others who insisted it was SJW crap.
Smoke Signals! Awesome! (One of if not THE most quoted film in all of Indian Country)
Suck it, Crash!