Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden today announced the 2017 selections to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Selected for their cultural, historic and/or aesthetic importance, these 25 motion pictures range from an early film of the New York subway in 1905 and the musical biopic "La Bamba" to the holiday action thriller "Die Hard" and "The Goonies," the adventure tale of a band of misfits.
"The selection of a film to the National Film Registry recognizes its importance to American cinema and the nation's cultural and historical heritage," Hayden said. "Our love affair with motion pictures is a testament to their enduring power to enlighten, inspire and inform us as individuals and a nation as a whole. Being tasked with selecting only 25 each year is daunting because there are so many great films deserving of this honor."
Spanning the period 1905 to 2000, the films named to this year's registry include Hollywood blockbusters, documentaries, silent movies, animation, shorts and independent and home movies. The 2017 selections bring the number of films in the registry to 725, which is a small fraction of the Library's vast moving-image collection of 1.3 million items.
The public can tune into Turner Classic Movies (TCM) at 8 p.m. E.T. tonight to view a selection of films named to the registry this year. The Librarian joins movie critic Leonard Maltin to discuss the films. The Library also announced that 64 motion pictures, previously named to the National Film Registry, are now freely available online at loc.gov/collections/selections-from-the-national-film-registry/about-this-collection/. Follow the conversation about the 2017 registry on Twitter at @librarycongress and #NatFilmRegistry.
Among this year's selections are the 1939 aviation adventure starring Cary Grant, "Only Angels Have Wings"; Elia Kazan's 1947 study of anti-Semitism, "Gentleman's Agreement"; Stanley Kramer's 1967 groundbreaking drama "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," featuring powerhouse performances by Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier; Yvonne Rainer's 1972 experimental film "Lives of Performers"; the Steven Spielberg-executive produced 1985 adventure "The Goonies"; the 1989 inspirational fantasy "Field of Dreams," starring Kevin Costner; "Titanic," James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster about the great maritime disaster; Christopher Nolan's 2000 breakthrough thriller "Memento"; two very different films starring Kirk Douglas, the historical epic "Spartacus" and the film noir "Ace in the Hole"; and the 1978 version of the quintessential superhero, "Superman," directed by Richard Donner, who also was the director of "The Goonies."