I have a list of things I want to do in my life. I’ve kept the list, in one form or another, for over twenty years. Some are really big things, like getting a Bachelor’s Degree. Some are really small things, like touring the Alexander Ramsey House. Occasionally, I add to the list. On rare occasions, I remove things from it. And sometimes – every once in a great while – I get to move an item from the list of things I want to do, to the list of things I’m glad I’ve done.
Today, I moved two things from the former list to the latter list. More significantly, I completed the two goals at the exact same time.
But in order to explain how I did that, I first have to give you some background…
Way back in 1990, Walt Disney Studios released their film Fantasia on big screen once again. It was the 50th anniversary of their beloved flick, and though the movie had been brought back to theaters several times in that half century, they billed this run as “In Theaters for the Last Time!”
I was a big fan of early Disney films (Snow White, Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio), yet Fantasia was the one Disney film from that early era that I had never seen. I decided I would just have to see it in theaters! This was a film, more than any other Disney film, that had to be seen on the big screen. I asked my Dad – an avowed movie buff – if he would take me to see it, but he didn’t have much interest. About a month later, I was talking to two of my cousins who had recently spent the weekend at our grandparents’ home. They told me that Grandma had taken them to see Fantasia. What! Why didn’t I get invited! “We didn’t think you’d want to see it,” they said, explaining that it’s not really a movie that boys usually care about.
A few weeks passed, and while out in the door-to-door work with a friend from my congregation, I whined to him that I hadn’t yet had a chance to see Fantasia. He – being old enough to have a driver’s license – offered to take me to the theater that evening. And he did. The problem is…Fantasia had just left the theater the day before.
In the years that passed, I never saw the film, even though it’s probably just a Netflix click away. To my list of Things I Want To Do, I added “See Fantasia in Big Screen.”
Fast-forward to 1998. Early in that year, the American Film Institute announced it 
would be coming out with their list of the 100 Greatest American Films. This intrigued me, as I had spent my teens watching loads of films, and I was curious as to how many of these I had seen. I was also recently married, and Jennifer and I were in the process of watching all the movies that had scored the Oscar for Best Picture. Getting near the completion of that set of films, I was eager to find another “best of” list to tackle.
When the list was finally announced on TV in June of that year, Jennifer and I watched the entire telecast. I wrote down each film as it was announced. They went in reverse order – starting with Yankee Doodle Dandy at #100 and proceeding,
Have you seen Yankee Doodle Dandy? It’s a pretty good flick.
over the course of two hours and way too many commercials – to Citizen Kane at #1. At that time, I had seen just over 60% of the films on the list. Of course, I had seen the big blockbusters, like Jaws (#48) and Star Wars (#15). I had also seen most of the Best Picture winners, such as All Quiet on the Western Front (#54) and Annie Hall (#31). And I had seen a decent amount of the old classics, such as King Kong (#43) and Modern Times (#81).
Have you seen Citizen Kane? It’s a really good flick.
I didn’t pay much attention to the list after that. I didn’t have to. I knew I would eventually see all the films on the list. And, indeed, I nearly did. As Jennifer and I watched the rest of the Best Picture winners, and as more films became easily available to view online, I slowly chipped away at the list without even really thinking about it. For instance, about two years ago, a coworker was talking with me about Easy Rider (#88), and I confessed I’d never seen it. The next day, he brought his DVD copy into work, and I watched it that evening.
Have you seen Star Wars? You haven’t? What! For god’s sake, get off this blog right now and go watch it so you can join the rest of us here in civilization.
Of course, I didn’t see all the films on the list, because Fantasia was on the list at #58, and I couldn’t just go and rent it, could I?
A few years ago, Jennifer and I went to the St. Anthony Main theater to see Religulous. The theater heavily promoted the Minneapolis Film Society (MFS). I took their brochure. Noticing that they frequently bring old classics back to the big screen, I signed up for their emails. Every time an email from them came in my inbox, I scrolled through it, looking to see if they were showing anything of interest. Of course, finding Fantasia on their calendar was a futile endeavor, as Disney had already said they would never release it on the Big Screen ever again. Still…Disney is nothing if not money hungry, and surely at some point they would deem it financially beneficial to re-release their classic.
Last month, I was going through my emails, unsubscribing to all the companies and organizations that send me emails every day. When I go to the latest MFS email, I scrolled down looking for the “unsubscribe” button. But then I saw it…Fantasia was coming to the St. Anthony Main theater for three showings in celebration of its 75th anniversary! Had it really been a quarter-century since its 50th anniversary release? Indeed, it had. I selected the Saturday showing and snatched up two tickets for the November 14th showing.
A few days later, I thought to myself, “Hey, I wonder how many of the AFI’s Top 100 films I’ve seen?” I mean, I knew I hadn’t seen Fantasia, but how many others were missing?
The answer: one.
Besides Fantasia, the only other flick on the list I hadn’t seen was the one at #92: A Place in the Sun.
Despite the presence of Elizabeth Taylor, this was an unexpectedly enjoyable flick.
I quickly reserved it from the library. By Wednesday, November 4th, I had watched it and, with that, I’d seen 99% of the films on AFI’s list. I remained 1% of the way from the finish line for the next ten days.
Today, with pop-corn, candy, a soft drink, and my daughter, we saw Fantasia in big screen. And I’ve now seen all of AFI’s Top 100 films.
Have you seen Fantasia? I have.