National Film Registry 2010

For those who don't know, the National Film Registry here in the USA is a list of films selected for preservation in the Library of Congress. Each year, twenty-five films are chosen and given priority, with the current total at five hundred and fifty. An effort is made to select films from a variety of eras and genres, with selections made based on the cultural or artistic relevance of the films rather than the personal taste of those involved in choosing them. Just about any film can be selected--I know of at least two home movies listed in the registry (Disneyland Dream and the film of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse), and I'm always surprised (almost always pleasantly) by the year's selections. This year's twenty-five films, arranged in alphabetical order:

1. Airplane (1980)
2. All the President’s Men (1976)
3. The Bargain (1914)
4. Cry of Jazz (1959)
5. Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
6. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
7. The Exorcist (1973)
8. The Front Page (1931)
9. Grey Gardens (1976)
10. I Am Joaquin (1969)
11. It’s a Gift (1934)
12. Let There Be Light (1946)
13. Lonesome (1928)
14. Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
15. Malcolm X (1992)
16. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
17. Newark Athlete (1891)
18. Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
19. The Pink Panther (1964)
20. Preservation of the Sign Language (1913)
21. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
22. Study of a River (1996)
23. Tarantella (1940)
24. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
25. A Trip Down Market Street (1906)

Am still cracking up about Airplane! being included--I had to double check to make sure that there wasn't a second film with that title. It makes sense, though--the disaster film was a big trademark of the 1970s, and the disaster film parodies that followed it deserve to be remembered as well.