Each year the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress picks 25 films to be preserved for their position as American cultural touchstones. Beginning in 1989, the registry has a total of 550 films. Among the selections this year were five films from the 1970s (the most of any decade this year) and two from the 1980s, including The Empire Strikes BackA. The earliest film selected was 1906’s A Trip Down Market Street. The latest was Spike Lee’s Malcolm X from 1992. Another film by Lee, Do the Right Thing, was added to the Registry in 1999. Here’s the 2010 list:
Airplane! (1980)
All the President’s Men (1976)
The Bargain (1914)
Cry of Jazz (1959)
Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Front Page (1931)
Grey Gardens (1976)
I Am Joaquin (1969)
It’s a Gift (1934)
Let There Be Light (1946)
Lonesome (1928)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Malcolm X (1992)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Newark Athlete (1891)
Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
The Pink Panther (1964)
Preservation of the Sign Language (1913)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Study of a River (1996)
Tarantella (1940)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
A Trip Down Market Street (1906)
