AllMovie

Richard Gere, Jodie Foster, and Sally Field host this documentary TV series with clips from movies cited in the American Film Institute's controversial 100 Greatest Films special (aired June 16, 1998 on CBS). The AFI list irritated numerous movie buffs, film academics, and cinema critics, who noted the omission of Buster Keaton, Preston Sturges, King Vidor, Ernst Lubitsch and other top talents. The opening hour-long installment, "Against the Grain," skips lightly over any historical context while honoring American movie heroes with clips from Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Easy Rider (1969), the Oscar-winning To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and other classics. The series' second episode, "Beyond the Law," focuses on American film noir and crime movies -- from Billy Wilder's grim Double Indemnity (1944) to Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994). Interviews include Capra, Fred Zinnemann, Milos Forman, and the 88-year-old Elia Kazan. The series premiered June 23, 1998 on TNT.