Australia's Favourite Films

On Sunday night, the ABC ran a programme entitled 'My Favourite Film', which was basically the announcement of the country's 10 favourite flicks, after a 3 month internet and mail and phone poll. The results were in some cases, very surprising.
10. Fight Club
9. Gone with the Wind
8. The Princess Bride
7. Pulp Fiction
6. Star Wars - Episode IV
5. Donnie Darko
4. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Blade Runner
2. Amelie
1. Lord of the Rings (Trilogy)
Excellent films, all of them. But best ever? Absolutely not. And nor should they be. This is the 'favourite' films of the Australian public. This is not the assessment of an assortment of film experts, but the preference of the unwashed masses. I think it is indicative of the ephemeral nature of film that almost all are so recent (Citizen Kane came in at 92). One point that film elitists must come to terms with is that modern films are, in fact, very good. Occasionally.
Peter Carey is one such elitist who can't stop extolling the virtues of every film ever made by a foreigh director. Here is an article he wrote attacking the 'My Favourite Film' process.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/movie-favourites-a-populist-grovel/2005/12/07/1133829659777.html

Not to say that these aren't great movies - they are - but intelligentsia such as he must accept that films that are American and made in the past 20 years can still be great, and labelling the public (and by virtue of that the ABC) as foolish is ignorant in the extreme.

By the way, if you want to see the full top 100, see the below address:

http://www.abc.net.au/myfavouritefilm/