AFI’s 10 TOP 10 — CHALLENGE RANK: MYSTERY

Hello and welcome to “AFI’s 10 Top 10 — Challenge Rank,” this is an article series where we put to test the American Film Institute’s various list rankings through a critical and audience consensual assessment scale. We will be breaking down “AFI’s 10 Top 10” lists, right here. The “AFI’s 10 Top 10” originally broke down by genre what are the 10 best films in that specified genre. We covered Courtroom Drama in the first article and Romantic Comedies in the second article in the series, we are now going to tackle “AFI’s 10 Top 10: Mystery” category. Here’s the list of films and how they ranked from “AFI’s 10 Top 10: Mystery”:

1.) “Vertigo”

2.) “Chinatown”

3.) “Rear Window”

4.) “Laura”

5.) “The Third Man”

6.) “The Maltese Falcon”

7.) “North By Northwest”

8.) “Blue Velvet”

9.) “Dial M for Murder”

10.) “The Usual Suspects”

If you want to see the actual AFI page of the Top 10? The link is below: http://www.afi.com/10top10/category.aspx?cat=5

Now, this is how AFI ranked the best films of the mystery genre. But do critics and audiences agree with AFI’s consensus? Well, through a rather collective algorithm from various critical and audience aggregators, I came to forming an overall consensual ranking of the collective films from “AFI’s 10 Top 10: Mystery”. I was a rather surprised how things turned out here among the consensual rankings compared to AFI’s rankings but here’s how it laid out:

Consensual Placement: 10th

DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954)

AFI’S RANKING: #9

LOGLINE: An ex-tennis pro carries out a plot to murder his wife. When things go wrong, he improvises a brilliant plan B.

DIRECTED BY: Alfred Hitchcock

STARS: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings and John Williams

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Dial M For Murder” went down 1 spot from #9 to #10 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 9th

BLUE VELVET (1986)

AFI’S RANKING: #8

LOGLINE: The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

DIRECTED BY: David Lynch

STARS: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Blue Velvet” slid down 1 spot from #8 to #9 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 8th

THE USUAL SUSPECTS (1995)

AFI’S RANKING: #10

LOGLINE: A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which began when five criminals met at a seemingly random police lineup.

DIRECTED BY: Bryan Singer

STARS: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri and Stephen Baldwin

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “The Usual Suspects” climbed 2 spot from #10 to #8 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 7th

VERTIGO (1958)

AFI’S RANKING: #1

LOGLINE: A San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend’s wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

DIRECTED BY: Alfred Hitchcock

STARS: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes and Tom Helmore

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Vertigo” plunged a whopping 6 spots, going from #1 to #7 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list. This was the biggest drop among all films on the list.

Consensual Placement: 6th

LAURA (1944)

AFI’S RANKING: #4

LOGLINE: A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.

DIRECTED BY: Otto Preminger

STARS: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Laura” dipped 2 spots from #4 to #6 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 5th

THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)

AFI’S RANKING: #6

LOGLINE: A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

DIRECTED BY: John Huston

STARS: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George and Peter Lorre

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “The Maltese Falcon” ticked up 1 spot from #6 to #5 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 4th

NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)

AFI’S RANKING: #7

LOGLINE: A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.

DIRECTED BY: Alfred Hitchcock

STARS: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Jessie Royce Landis

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “North By Northwest” raised 3 spot from #7 to #4 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 3rd

CHINATOWN (1974)

AFI’S RANKING: #2

LOGLINE: A private detective hired to expose an adulterer finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.

DIRECTED BY: Roman Polanski

STARS: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston and Perry Lopez

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Chinatown” fell 1 spot from #2 to #3 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 2nd

THE THIRD MAN (1949)

AFI’S RANKING: #5

LOGLINE: A pulp novelist travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend.

DIRECTED BY: Carol Reed

STARS: Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles and Trevor Howard

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “The Third Man” scaled 3 spots from #5 to #2 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

Consensual Placement: 1st

REAR WINDOW (1954)

AFI’S RANKING: #3

LOGLINE: A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.

DIRECTED BY: Alfred Hitchcock

STARS: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey and Thelma Ritter

CONSENSUS RESPONSE: “Rear Window” ascended 2 spots from #3 to #1 among the consensual critics and audiences assessment over AFI’s placement of the film on their list.

In concluding, you can see the critical consensual assessment with critics and audiences ranked rather differently overall with every film placing in a different position from AFI’s ranking list. So, how would you personally rank these top-tier mystery films?

Article Note: All loglines are sourced from IMDb.com.

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