Alamo Drafthouse unveils its list of 100 favorite films, the "Alamo 100," as chosen by the theater's national film programmers based in Austin. Beginning in January 2014, Alamo – Richardson will start screening films throughout the year from this non-ranked list of essentials—Alamo100.
And just what is the Alamo 100?
Our local programmer, James Wallace describes the list best: “There's the AFI 100, Sight & Sound Top 100, the IMDb 250; those are nothing like the Alamo 100! The thing I love about this list is it's one for movie lovers by movie lovers, very much our approach as a theater and our programming as a whole. It carries no pretension. It is and isn't a cult list, a classic list, an art snob, an indie list, a popcorn blockbuster list, a guilty pleasure list… it's really all of those things at the same time, comprised of the films that we would take with us if we had to live alone on an island and could only take 100 movies to watch over and over for the rest of our lives. Simply put, its movies we can't live without and can't live with not making sure you see them too!"
According to Alamo’s national programmers
A quick glance at the Alamo 100 reveals the incredible diversity of taste on the national programming team, which consists of Tim League, RJ LaForce, Greg MacLennan, Sarah Pitre, Tommy Swenson, and Joe Ziemba.
“In the end, it all boiled down to the fact that we just love the hell out of movies. And so this list is defined, not by filmmaking genius or cultural impact, but by the space reserved in our hearts,” says Sarah Pitre, national programmer based in Austin. “The Alamo 100 encompasses the movies that we wore out on VHS, the films our friends are sick of hearing us rave about, the cinematic gems that feel like living, breathing members of our family. This is a list that reminds us why we fell in love with cinema in the first place, and why the magic of that romance will never fade.”
In order to generate the Alamo 100, each programmer was given the Herculean task of paring down his or her own list to just 100 favorites. These titles were then compiled and ranked based on two factors: 1) their rank on each programmer's list, and 2) the number of times the title appeared on more than one list.
January’s entries
The Alamo 100 launches this January at Alamo in Richardson with eight titles that capture the spirit of this list:
- —RAGING BULL (1980) – January 5
- —MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975) – January 9
- —BRAZIL (1985) – January 12
- —CITY LIGHTS (1931) – January 19
- —RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) – January 22
- —THE GOONIES (1985) – January 23
- —SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984) – January 28
- —DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964) – January 29
Explore the full list as well as view the programmers' individual lists: Alamo100.com.
