‘Brokeback Mountain,’ ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘My Fair Lady’ Added to National Film Registry

December 12, 2018

“Brokeback Mountain,” “Jurassic Park,” “My Fair Lady,” “The Shining,” “Hud” and “Monterey Pop” are among the best known titles among this year’s additions to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

A place on the list — always made up of 25 films — guarantees the film will be preserved under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act. The criteria for selection is that the movies are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.

“The National Film Registry turns 30 this year and for those three decades, we have been recognizing, celebrating and preserving this distinctive medium,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “These cinematic treasures must be protected because they document our history, culture, hopes and dreams.”

The 2018 selections bring the total number of films in the registry to 750. Hayden will discuss the 25 new films with Leonard Maltin on Turner Classic Movies at 8 p.m. E.T. Wednesday.

The new titles include two Academy Award best picture winners in 1964’s “My Fair Lady” and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 thriller “Rebecca.” Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster “Jurassic Park” is by far the highest grosser of the 25 films, with worldwide box office of more than $1 billion.

The list includes a trio of film noir titles — “Leave Her to Heaven” (1945), Orson Welles’ “The Lady From Shanghai” (1947), and “Pickup on South Street” (1953) — a revisionist Western with 1963’s “Hud,” and a Stephen King horror story adaptation in 1980’s “The Shining,” directed by Stanley Kubrick.

Other notables are Disney’s 1950 animated “Cinderella”; “Days of Wine and Roses,” Blake Edwards’ 1962 story of alcoholism; James L. Brooks’ comedy-drama “Broadcast News” (1987); “One-Eyed Jacks,” Marlon Brando’s only directorial effort; the 1949 musical “On the Town”; Kasi Lemmons’ 1997 thriller “Eve’s Bayou”; and 1955’s thriller “Bad Day at Black Rock.”

Two war films made the list: “The Informer,” a 1935 drama that takes place during the Irish Rebellion of 1922 and the 11th film directed by John Ford to be named to the registry; and Oscar-winning Vietnam documentary “Hearts and Minds” (1974), directed by Peter Davis.

“Brokeback Mountain,” starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, was released in 2005 and has become the newest film on the registry, which requires that a film be at least 10 years told to be selected. Currently, 1891’s “Newark Athlete” is the registry’s oldest title.

The inclusion of the seminal 1967 music festival film “Monterey Pop” — highlighted by performances by Janis Joplin, The Who, Otis Redding and Jimi Hendrix, who set his guitar on fire — drew an appreciative response from director D.A. Pennebaker.

“It was, for us, a vast undertaking,” Pennebaker said. “We were using all five of our homemade cameras, some with three thousand foot reels we’d never tried before, praying they’d all work, and that it turned out as wonderful as it did I can still scarcely believe. But every camera was guided by an artist, some for the first time, looking for the poetry of the music and its artists as never before. It was an inspired crew and every member of it earned this selection into the National Registry. They were the best.”

The registry also selected a pair of films showcasing Native Americans with footage from the 1908 Dixon-Wanamaker expedition, which was found in 1982 in an antique store in Montana; and 1998’s “Smoke Signals,” the first feature film to be written, directed and co-produced by Native Americans.

The selections also included 1984’s short animated film “Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People,” produced by one of the industry’s first black female animators, Ayoka Chenzira.

“For my independently produced animated experimental film to be included in the National Film Registry is quite an honor,” said Chenzira. “I never imagined that ‘Hair Piece’ would be considered to have cultural significance outside of its original intent, which was a conversation and a love letter to Black women (and some men) about identity, beauty and self-acceptance in the face of tremendous odds.”

The new films also include a trio from the silent era — 1898’s “Something Good — Negro Kiss,” a 29-second film that’s the earliest known footage of black intimacy on screen; 1917’s “The Girl Without a Soul”; and Buster Keaton’s 1924 film “The Navigator.” The Library of Congress released a report in 2013 that found that 70% of the nation’s silent feature films have been lost forever and only 14% exist in their original 35 mm format.

The librarian makes the annual registry selections after conferring with members of the National Film Preservation Board and Library specialists. Additionally, the librarian considered more than 6,300 titles nominated by the public.

2018 National Film Registry (alphabetical order):

Films Selected for the 2018 National Film Registry (alphabetical order)
1. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
2. Broadcast News (1987)
3. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
4. Cinderella (1950)
5. Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
6. Dixon-Wanamaker Expedition to Crow Agency
7. Eve’s Bayou (1997)
8. The Girl Without a Soul (1917)
9. Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People (1984)
10. Hearts and Minds (1974)
11. Hud (1963)
12. The Informer (1935)
13. Jurassic Park (1993)
14. The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
15. Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
16. Monterey Pop (1968)
17. My Fair Lady (1964)
18. The Navigator (1924)
19. On the Town (1949)
20. One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
21. Pickup on South Street (1953)
22. Rebecca (1940)
23. The Shining (1980)
24. Smoke Signals (1998)
25. Something Good – Negro Kiss (1898)

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