I enjoyed this movie, although I wish I hadn't watched the documentary about it. I really think the director is a piece of work, and not in a good way. He gives me the heebie-jeebies. Sorry, but I need to be honest with you.
Anyway, there are a few reasons I think this film was included in the AFI list (the second time):
1) critics say the performances were really amazing - four of the actors were nominated for Academy Awards, and Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman won (you go girls!!)
2) it is a slice of life film portraying the way television changed our communities and lifestyles, and the way small towns in the West were changing as people started moving away into bigger cities
3) it launched the careers of several actors and the director
4) it was one of the first movies to not have a score - the music in the film was all songs of the time and interestingly, was always diegetic, coming from car radios, record players, jukeboxes, etc
Overall, I'd say it was good, and I'm glad I saw it. It is definitely a film that will stick with me and I really appreciated the performances of the actors and the some of the choices the director made, such as shooting in black and white to capture the time period, to better convey a mood, and to make use of a greater depth of field (this was a tip he got from his BFF Orson Welles apparently).
One thing that stood out to me was the interactions between the older and younger generations, especially as I find myself reaching that point lately where I'm switching to the other side (NBD I'M OK WITH IT TOTALLY I AM). The younger generation seemed restless, uncertain, trying to find their way making such obvious but sincere and heartfelt mistakes (growing pains). The older generation seemed more reserved, having wisdom that could be shared but that was not always received. "Hey you sweet youngsters, do you want some advice? No? Ok just do your own thing. I'm cool."
It's interesting that the director was only 31 at the time, and in the documentary he talks about hiring the younger generation first, along with the male older generation actor (he had a connection to Western director John Ford so Bogdanovich knew who he wanted from the start); he had more trouble finding the "older women" actors (around 40 = "older women" NBD). He had to ask people for suggestions because he literally had no idea. Like the older generation was literally a second thought, which is how the younger generation seemed to perceive the older generation in the film as well. [The director clearly identified more with the younger generation - he started a relationship with Cybill Shepard who was about 14 at the time (gross, NBD).]
Either way, Bogdanovich ended up with some good people in the end, obviously. Especially Cloris Leachman, who will always be one of my favorite actresses. I hated in the film how Sonny talked about Cybill's character being so much prettier than Cloris' in the context of how well he treated her, like prettiness is the most important characteristic when determining how to treat someone. I guess when you get to be my/our age, you finally understand that prettiness is a fleeting characteristic and not something that should be used to determine how well to treat someone anyway.
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P.S. A side benefit to this is learning so much more about filmmaking technique and theory. I actually learned what diegetic sound was from watching Archer (seriously) but now I know more about depth of field too.
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