The Horse's Head

#812) Johnny Guitar (1954)

#812) Johnny Guitar (1954)

OR “Joan on the Range”

Directed by Nicholas Ray

Written by Philip Yordan and Ben Maddow. Based on the novel by Roy Chanslor.

Class of 2008

The Plot: On the outskirts of an Arizona town in the Old West, Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden) enters a saloon, having been sent for by the saloon’s owner, Vienna (Joan Crawford). Shortly thereafter, Vienna is confronted about her connection to the Dancin’ Kid (Scott Brady) and his gang, who have been accused of murdering the brother of Vienna’s longtime rival Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge). With the prospect of Vienna’s saloon being closed down, Johnny agrees to stay and protect Vienna. But this is just the tip of the iceberg as plenty of secrets will be revealed in this Western that doesn’t play by anyone’s rules.

Why It Matters: The NFR calls the film “one of the stranger, kinkier Westerns of all time” with “enough symbolism to keep a psychiatrist occupied for years”. An essay by “the dean of classic film distributors” Michael Schlesinger digs into some of that symbolism.

But Does It Really?: Unfortunately I side with most 1954 critics when I say, “What the hell was that?” I’m not a fan of Westerns to begin with, so you’d think one that subverts all the tropes would hold my interest a little more, but nope, “Johnny Guitar” is just another Western I had to muddle through for this blog. Now before I hear you cry “You just didn’t get it”, clearly this movie has enough devotees to admit it might be working on a frequency I’m just not catching. “Johnny Guitar” isn’t bad, it’s just weird, but it’s another one of those underrated Westerns that film scholars love, so it finds a deserving spot on the NFR, despite my misgivings.

Title Track: Composed by Victor Young with lyrics by Peggy Lee (who also performs the song), “Johnny Guitar” plays briefly over the end titles, which clearly wasn’t enough to get the song an Oscar nomination. Speaking of…

Seriously, Oscars?: No Oscar or precursor nominations for “Johnny Guitar”, though it did land at 9th place in the French magazine’s Cahiers du Cinéma’s annual top ten list, the first hint that this film’s appeal lays abroad.

Other notes

The novel of “Johnny Guitar” was published in May 1953 with the dedication “To Joan Crawford”. Shortly afterwards Crawford picked up the film rights to the novel and got the film set up at Republic Pictures, one of the smaller Hollywood studios which specialized in Westerns. Crawford also brought along director Nicholas Ray after a film they were going to make for Paramount fell through. “Johnny Guitar” was Crawford’s first Western since 1930’s “Modern Moon”.
Most of the outdoors scenes were filmed on location in and around Sedona, Arizona, which explains why several shots look like they’re at Big Thunder Mountain. Allegedly, Joan Crawford refused to participate in the Arizona shoots, so all of her close-ups were filmed in-studio against rear projection of Arizona. Speaking of the cinematography, shoutout to the Trucolor process. These landscape shots look gorgeous in the kind of color that seemed to only exist in ‘50s movies.
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something that’s throwing me about Joan Crawford’s performance. Of her five NFR appearances, “Johnny Guitar” is the only period piece, so maybe I just don’t buy her as anything other than a modern woman? Still, Westerns were very big in the ‘50s, and Joan was always good at knowing what her audience was willing to accept her in. It’s also her only color film on the NFR (so far), so maybe I’m just not used to seeing her striking features in something other than a much more forgiving black-and-white. Vienna’s also a very unsympathetic character, which makes sense for this story, but maybe I’m just used to caring more for the likes of Mildred Pierce or Blanche Hudson.

I feel bad for Sterling Hayden. He may be playing the title character, but this is clearly Joan’s movie. He has a few heroic moments, but at the end of the day is movie really should have been called “Vienna”. There’s even a long stretch in the middle where Johnny is absent from the action. He doesn’t even get above-the-title billing! Oh, and it’s pretty obvious that Sterling Hayden doesn’t know how to play the guitar, which you’d think would be a major prerequisite for the part
My biggest qualm with the movie: there’s too many secrets going on at the beginning. The first big scene in the saloon features all the main characters, each with some secret that won’t be revealed until later in the movie, meaning there’s a lot of opaque dialogue happening that makes you feel like you came in the middle. Not helping matters is that once the character secrets are revealed, I didn’t care.

Somewhat infamously, everyone hated everyone else on this shoot. Crawford didn’t like Mercedes McCambridge (she wanted Claire Trevor to play Emma) and their rivalry soured production for everyone else. Crawford also didn’t get along with Sterling Hayden, and the feeling was more than mutual, with Hayden stating later that there wasn’t enough money in the world to get him to work with Crawford again, adding “And I like money.”
Speaking of McCambridge, I liked her performance in this, mainly because it was unapologetically campy. She plays Emma with scenery-chewing gusto, making no effort to hide her desire for vengeance against Vienna. Also, as mentioned in many an essay about the film, you can definitely read a lesbian subtext into the Vienna/Emma dynamic. Ultimately this movie is about their relationship.
As with any Western, there’s a plethora of familiar faces. There’s Ward Bond in his umpteenth NFR appearance leading the posse. The Dancin’ Kid’s gang consists of a pre-fame Ernest Borgnine, plus Royal Dano aka Robot Lincoln (hey that’s two Disneyland references in one post!). And one of Vienna’s loyal employees is John Carradine, who gets slightly more to do with his screen time here than he did in “The Court Jester”.
Several references are made throughout the film to Albuquerque, New Mexico, but everyone pronounces it “al-ba-kirk”. Only three syllables? Not Al-ba-kirk-ee? Or even the Bugs Bunny sanctioned Al-ba-koik-ee?
Man, I really don’t have much else to say about “Johnny Guitar”. To reiterate, I don’t think it’s a bad movie, it just didn’t hold my interest in the way I hoped it would. But hey, there’s over 900 movies on this list, I’m not going to enjoy all of them. As “Johnny Guitar” reached its inevitable showdown conclusion, all I could think as I was watching was, “What the hell was that?”

Legacy

Although “Johnny Guitar” was a modest box office hit upon release, critics at the time hated it. The film fared much better in Europe, where it was championed by the likes of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. In subsequent years, “Johnny Guitar” has gotten a critical reevaluation, leading to more universal praise and its eventual spot on the NFR.

Roy Chanslor wrote another western novel that would get turned into a movie: “The Ballad of Cat Ballou”.

Among the filmmakers inspired by “Johnny Guitar” is Pedro Almodóvar, who included the film during a pivotal scene in “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”.

During my viewing I wondered if the film was ever a play at some point. Turns out it wasn’t just a play, it was a musical! A musical adaptation of “Johnny Guitar” played Off-Broadway in 2004, and according to the aforementioned Schlesinger essay played up the implied lesbian subtext between Vienna and Emma to the hilt.
And of course, electric guitarist Johnny “Guitar” Watson got his stage name after seeing this movie.

#811) Ten Nights in a Bar Room (1926)

#811) Ten Nights in a Bar Room (1926)

OR “Temperance, Temperance”

Directed by Roy Calnek

Based on the novel “Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and What I Saw There” by Timothy Shay Arthur and the play adaptation by William W. Pratt.

Class of 2025

The Plot: Local tavern the Sickle and Sheaf in the town of Cedarville is the setting for this melodrama. It seems that the tavern (and the inn that houses the tavern) was recently taken over by Simon Slade (Lawrence Chenault) who swindled ownership away from his business partner Joe Morgan (Charles Gilpin). Despondent, Joe turns to drinking and quickly becomes the town drunk, spending his days at the Sickle and Sheaf rather than with his wife Fannie and their young daughter Mary (Myra Burwell and Actor Unknown). There’s plenty of unnecessary subplots and preaching on the dangers of alcohol to go around in one of the earliest surviving films with an all-Black cast.

Why It Matters: The NFR write-up gives the briefest of historical significance for this film, which we’ll get into as we go.

But Does It Really?: Obviously any silent era Black cinema should be preserved, but “Ten Nights” has one thing going for it that gives it a unique quality. This was the fourth film adaptation of the novel “Ten Nights in a Bar-Room” (a very popular novel at the time), but the first with an all-Black cast. Turns out this movie was the “The Wiz” of its day! While the film as a whole was a bit of a slog to get through, its historical significance (and its representation of the short-lived Colored Players Film Corporation) helps it stand out among its NFR contemporaries.

Everybody Gets One: Although this is Charles Sidney Gilpin’s sole NFR appearance (and one of his rare film roles), he has an important connection to another NFR movie. Primarily a stage actor, Gilpin originated the role of Brutus Jones in Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones”. His refusal to use that word on stage led to him being bypassed for the eventual film adaptation with Paul Robeson.

Wow, That’s Dated: This is another one of those movies of the era where drinking and gambling are the two greatest evils in the world, and the results are always fatal.

Title Track: The punctuation surrounding the words “Bar Room” has led to some confusion over the years. The original books spells it “Bar-Room”, while other adaptations opt for “Bar-room”. Several listings for this film (including the official NFR write-up) list the word as “Barroom”, but as always, when in doubt I go with the film’s title card, which in this case separates it into two distinct words. Granted, the title card appears to be a recreation for the 2016 restoration, so we may never know for sure.

Other notes

The Colored Players of Philadelphia, aka The Colored Players Film Corporation, was founded in 1926 by actor Sherman H. Dudley and theater owner David Starkman. Both men were interested in producing Black films free from the stereotypes prevalent in minstrel shows and other movies of the time. “Ten Nights” was the second film produced by the company, following “A Prince of His Race” earlier that same year.
This is the second movie from the Class of 2025 with an unnecessary framing device, in this case a traveling salesman who visits Cedarville once a year and saw everything that happened to Joe and Simon. It’s a holdover from the novel, but man does it slow down the movie.
Speaking of extraneous characters, this movie sure has a lot of them. The first ten minutes of the movie is mostly title cards introducing all of these characters. This movie’s only an hour long, do we need all these subplots?
One of the side characters is named Mehitable, a name I’ve never heard before and probably never will again. It’s an Old Testament name based on the Hebrew word for “God benefits”. Speaking of, Mehitable’s actor Arline Mickey (and her scene partner Edward Moore as Sample Swichel) are playing to the back of the house. Tone it down you two, it’s a movie.
We get some fun special effects when the bottle Joe is holding in his hand turns into a snake. And that is definitely a real snake. Ah, the dangers of silent film.
No spoilers, but like so many films of this era, things take a tragic turn. It all comes across as a bit heavy-handed through a modern lens, but I’ve come to expect these melodramas to be…melodramatic.
Sometimes I wonder: Did any of this movie’s cast or crew have any idea what the future would hold for this movie? Did any of them suspect it would be viewed 100 years later as a historical artifact, to say nothing of the technology enabling this film to be viewed anywhere in the world? Just a thought.
[Spoilers] This movie’s finale involves an angry mob, plus some nice model work as the tavern is set on fire. I’m just curious how the stage adaptation handled all of this. We end with a title card labeled “Retribution”, with a sort-of happy ending for Joe that as best I can tell isn’t in the original book.

Legacy

Colored Players Film Corporation made two more films after “Ten Nights”: “Children of Fate” and “The Scar of Shame” (its only sound feature). The company shut down around 1929 following money mismanagement, as well as strong competition from other Black filmmakers like Oscar Micheaux. Of the four films produced, only “Ten Nights” and “The Scar of Shame” are known to survive.
“Ten Nights” received one more remake in 1931, a sound version starring William Farnum. After that, the novel and its subsequent film adaptations all faded into obscurity. The 1926 “Ten Nights” got a reprieve in 2016 when it was released by Kino Lorber as part of their “Pioneers of African-American Cinema” collection, including “Within Our Gates”, “The Blood of Jesus”, and several other noteworthy NFR titles.

#810) Brooklyn Bridge (1981)

#810) Brooklyn Bridge (1981)

OR “The Docs of New York”

Directed by Ken Burns

Written by Amy Stechler. Based on “The Great Bridge” by David McCullough.

Class of 2025

The Plot: New York’s famous Brooklyn Bridge finally gets its due in Ken Burns’ first documentary. Presented in two halves, “Brooklyn Bridge” chronicles the bridge’s lengthy and dangerous construction as well as its legacy and impact on pop culture and architecture. And even at this early stage in Ken Burns’ career, we get plenty of zoomed-in historical photos with accompanying voice-overs.

Why It Matters: The NFR gives some background for the film and praises Ken Burns as “a trusted public historian”. The write-up includes an interview with Ken Burns for the Library of Congress upon the induction of “Brooklyn Bridge” into the NFR. Did you know Ken Burns nominates films for NFR consideration too? Looks like I’m in esteemed company.

But Does It Really?: Because he’s known primarily for television, I didn’t realize Ken Burns has a few theatrical documentaries, and given Burns’ impact on documentary film of course one of them should be on the NFR. Like so many of Burns’ documentaries, “Brooklyn Bridge” quite impressively makes history come alive, turning what could have been bland engineering history into something much more personal and cinematic. I learned a lot about the Brooklyn Bridge thanks to this film, though to be fair I didn’t know anything about it going in; but still, it’s an informative, entertaining watch. Ken Burns is one of the most influential documentarians in American film, so having “Brooklyn Bridge” on the NFR is a natural choice to honor the man.

Everybody Gets One: Ken Burns knew he wanted to be a filmmaker since childhood, but it wasn’t until studying at Hampshire College that he decided on documentary filmmaking, fascinated by figuring out a way to “wake up American history”. In the late ‘70s, Burns received a copy of “The Great Bridge”, David McCullough’s book about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, and knew he had to make a documentary based on it. “Brooklyn Bridge” was Ken Burns’ first documentary feature, and his first collaboration with PBS.

Seriously, Oscars?: “Brooklyn Bridge” was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 1982 Oscars, losing to Arnold Schwartzman’s “Genocide”, which…yeah this movie was not going to beat the Holocaust. Although Ken Burns didn’t win an Oscar for “Brooklyn Bridge” (or for his subsequent nomination for “The Statue of Liberty”), he has received five Emmys, four Peabodys, and a Grammy for his TV documentaries.

Other notes

We start with some genuinely beautiful compositions of the Brooklyn Bridge and the New York skyline, shot by Burns over the course of two years. It’s just like “Manhattan” except it’s in color and significantly less problematic.
We do get plenty of what has been dubbed “the Ken Burns effect”, in which the camera zooms in on a still photo. I don’t recall it being so frequent to the point of distraction, but then again maybe it’s just been done so often in the last 45 years I didn’t notice. Shoutout to Burns and his team for applying the Ken Burns effect manually; they went to dozens of film archives and filmed each photograph on an easel, complete with zoom-ins. Who needs Final Cut Pro?
Burns assembled quite the eclectic cast for this film’s first person voiceovers. First off is narrator David McCullough, author of the original book that inspired Burns, who is also interviewed throughout. Washington Roebling (who oversaw most of the bridge’s construction) is voiced by his own great-grandson Paul Roebling, and his wife Emily is voiced by the great Julie Harris making her second NFR appearance. Most surprising among the voice cast, author Kurt Vonnegut and playwright Arthur Miller! I assume Vonnegut is the one voicing the Mark Twain quote about Roebling’s Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge.
Again, I didn’t know anything about the Brooklyn Bridge before watching this film, so all the information was new to me. For starters I didn’t realize it took 14 years to build! The other major point is that the original engineer John Roebling died a month into construction, with his son Washington taking over, though he quickly developed Caisson disease (aka “the bends”) and had to supervise the entire construction from home. Man, the past was brutal.
On a related note, you could not pay me to walk on a bridge while it was still under construction.
Things really take off in Part Two, which celebrates the bridge as an icon. We begin with numerous paintings and sketches of the bridge from a variety of artists and styles. They’re all wonderful to see, but most notable to me was Georgia O’Keeffe’s 1949 painting of the bridge, which somehow takes the bridge’s rigid structure and molds it into O’Keeffe’s…um, anatomical aesthetic.

Also included among the tributes are plenty of film clips that either feature the bridge or prominently reference it. The films included are “The Bowery” with George Raft, “Way Out West” with Laurel and Hardy, “It Happened in Brooklyn” with Frank Sinatra, “Bowery Bugs” with Bugs Bunny, and “Tarzan’s New York Adventure” with…Tarzan.

There are several references throughout to people being conned into buying the Brooklyn Bridge. While never explicitly mentioned within the documentary, this is a reference to George C. Parker, a con man in the early 20th century who would allegedly convince naive immigrants fresh off the boat that he constructed the Brooklyn Bridge and would sell it to them for everything they had. While it’s disputed that Parker ever actually did that, the idea of buying the Brooklyn Bridge became synonymous with gullible acts of stupidity. And if you believe that I got a bridge I can sell you.
Playwright Arthur Miller makes an on-camera appearance at the end to provide his introspection about what the Brooklyn Bridge symbolizes. Though not directly referenced, Miller wrote the play “A View from the Bridge” about Italian-Americans in Brooklyn, so I assume that’s why he’s here.

Legacy

“Brooklyn Bridge” premiered at the Brooklyn Museum in late 1981 before playing the film festival circuit and a brief theatrical run. The film was first broadcast on PBS on the Brooklyn Bridge’s 99th birthday: May 24th, 1982.
The Brooklyn Bridge has gone through a number of refurbishments over the last 45 years, including a complete replacement of its cable system and the addition of protected bike paths. The bridge is still one of the most popular tourist attractions in New York, hosting over 115,000 cars, 30,000 walkers, and 4,000 cyclists a day.

“Brooklyn Bridge” should not be confused with “Brooklyn Bridge”, the high-quality yet low-rated 1990s sitcom about Gary David Goldberg’s childhood in Brooklyn. Still, when am I ever going to get another chance to reference that show on this blog?

David McCullough would go on to write two presidential autobiographies that would become prestige HBO projects: “Truman” and “John Adams”.

Ken Burns’ follow-up to “Brooklyn Bridge” was a documentary about Shakers, but he came into prominence in 1990 with the success of his nine part series “The Civil War”. Other notable Ken Burns documentaries include “Baseball”, “Jazz”, and “The War”. As of this writing, Burns’ most recent series was his six-parter “The American Revolution” in 2025. In the aforementioned Library of Congress interview, Burns stated that he was “over the moon” about “Brooklyn Bridge” being added to the National Film Registry.

#809) Sleeping Beauty (1959)

#809) Sleeping Beauty (1959)

OR “Three Fairies and a Little Lady”

Directed by Clyde Geronimi (supervising), Eric Larson, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Les Clark (sequence)

Written by Erdman Penner, Joe Rinaldi, Winston Hibler, Bill Peet, Ted Sears, Ralph Wright, and Milt Banta. Based on the fairy tale by Charles Perrault.

Class of 2019

The Plot: Once upon a time, the beautiful Princess Aurora (voiced by Mary Costa) is born, and her kingdom celebrates at her christening. The festivities are thwarted, however, by Maleficent (voiced by Eleanor Audley) an evil fairy who wasn’t invited. She curses the baby to die on her 16th birthday by pricking the spindle of a spinning wheel. Thankfully, the good fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, (voiced by Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, and Barbara Luddy) change the spell so that she merely sleeps, to be awakened by true love’s first kiss. That’s about it plotwise, but please enjoy the stunningly beautiful animation as Walt Disney’s brand of storytelling reaches its pinnacle.

Why It Matters: The NFR praises the film’s “magnificent score” and “vivid images and charming details”, while also singling out Maleficent as “one of Disney’s most enduring villainesses”.

But Does It Really?: While not my personal favorite Disney animated film, “Sleeping Beauty” is, for my money, the most beautiful. The artistry on display is so good it distracts from the movie’s thin story and characters. But then again, “Sleeping Beauty” never pretends to be anything other than a wholesome, pure fairy tale, so there’s a lot I’m willing to forgive in the story department. Overall, the movie holds up well and still has enough enchanting moments to be considered among the best Disney films. While I never pushed to get “Sleeping Beauty” on the NFR, I’m glad it made the cut.

Seriously, Oscars?: “Sleeping Beauty” received a single Oscar nomination: Best Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) for George Bruns’ adaptation of the Tchaikovsky ballet score. The film lost to another NFR entry: “Porgy and Bess”.

Other notes

Walt Disney began plans for an animated adaptation of “Sleeping Beauty” in 1950, but production was delayed several times throughout the decade. The first draft was scrapped due to its similarities to “Snow White” and “Cinderella”, and then production was delayed in the mid-50s because Walt was unhappy with the animation (he was also focusing more on the construction of Disneyland as well as his slate of live-action movies and TV shows). “Sleeping Beauty” was originally scheduled for a 1955 release before being pushed back to 1957, then 1958, until finally being released in January 1959 at a final cost of over $6 million, the most expensive animated feature up to that point.
Shoutout to Eyvind Earle, credited for the film’s “Color Styling”, who primarily served as the film’s art director. In an unprecedented move, Walt gave control of the film’s visual style to Earle, the first time a single animator was given that much authority over a Disney film. Earle’s mixture of pre-Renaissance, Medieval, and Gothic gives “Sleeping Beauty” its distinct aesthetic, filling every millimeter of the Technirama 70 widescreen with beautifully detailed backgrounds, helping it stand out among Disney’s other animated features.

For what it’s worth, Princess Aurora is one of the few Disney heroines for which both of her birth parents are alive and stay alive for the whole movie. Granted she wasn’t raised by them and her mother doesn’t even have a name, but I’ll take what I can get.
Ah, Maleficent. When it comes to Disney villains, you can’t do much better than a vengeful fairy who looks like the devil and sounds like Cinderella’s stepmother. Eleanor Audley is two for two with iconic Disney villains, and this is her masterwork, cackling and chewing the scenery in her limited screentime. Bonus shoutout to the legendary Marc Davis, supervising animator for both Maleficent and Aurora. Talk about range!

Outside of Audley, I don’t have a lot to say about the voice cast. Mary Costa definitely has the pipes for Aurora, as does Bill Shirley as Prince Phillip. All three good fairies play well off each other, especially Luddy as stubborn Merryweather. And NFR buffs may recognize Marvin Miller as the narrator; he also narrated “Gerald McBoing-Boing” and voiced Robby the Robot in “Forbidden Planet”.
In true Disney fashion, a little too much time is spent fleshing out the side characters rather than our protagonists. The fairies are fun and endearing, especially when they try to plan Aurora’s birthday, but most of the film’s screentime is devoted to them rather than Aurora. We don’t even see grown-up Aurora (or Briar Rose, her witness relocation name) until 18 minutes into the movie. It also doesn’t help that Aurora is, ya know, asleep for most of the third act.

In a film filled with okay songs, “Once Upon a Dream” is the sole standout, serving as the film’s leitmotif (even being referenced as a minor plot point). It’s a charming sequence, although there’s an unintentional lol moment for me when the song ends and Prince Philip softly asks Aurora, “Who are you?”. These are the questions you ask before you start romantically singing at someone.

I’m trying very hard not to poke holes in a fairy tale, but I have a few questions. First off, they ban all the spinning wheels in the kingdom, so what did they do for clothes for 16 years? And if the curse is lifted after sunset on Aurora’s 16th birthday, why would you bring her back to the castle before sunset? I know, I know, it’s a fairy tale, just let it be.
I love the reaction shot of Maleficent as she watches her goons capture Prince Philip. It’s like Jane Greer watching the fight/getting secretly turned on in “Out of the Past”.

That’s one heck of a finale. The score amps up with the action as Prince Philip escapes Maleficent’s dungeon, fights off her goons, and does battle with Maleficent as a fire-breathing dragon. You just wish it went on a bit longer.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned in my research is that in the Perrault version, the prince doesn’t break the spell with a kiss, but rather by being “captivated by her beauty”. So they did have consent back then!

Speaking of the original fairy tale, are we not doing the second part where Prince Philip’s mother is an ogress who wants to eat Aurora and their children? You know what, good call.

Legacy

“Sleeping Beauty” premiered in 1959 to mixed reviews. While it did well at the box office, it failed to recoup its budget, resulting in Disney reporting a financial loss in 1960 for the first time in a decade. A subsequent re-release of “Sleeping Beauty” in 1970 finally landed the film in the black.
Always quick to cross-promote one of his movies, Walt had the castle at Disneyland named after “Sleeping Beauty” (this is 1955 when the film was still due out in 1957). When production was pushed back, dioramas were added inside the castle telling the story of “Sleeping Beauty”, which are still there to this day. Disneyland Paris also has a Sleeping Beauty Castle, complete with its own dragon in the dungeon!

Like so many other popular Disney franchises, the characters from “Sleeping Beauty” pop up in countless other Disney media, most notably Maleficent who typically serves as the leader of all Disney villains. Maleficent is prominently featured in the theme park show Fantasmic, though due to one viral incident her dragon form no longer breathes fire.

Speaking of Maleficent, the mistress of all evil has gotten not one but two live-action remake/prequel/sequels starring Angelina Jolie. The first “Maleficent” hit when live-action Disney remakes were still a novelty, but unfortunately “Mistress of Evil” arrived just as we were all getting sick of those damn things.

But the biggest influence “Sleeping Beauty” had was on Disney animation itself. The film’s financial loss led to layoffs at Walt Disney Productions, and Walt determined that future animation films had to be done much more cheaply. Starting with 1961’s “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”, the original drawings were Xeroxed directly onto animation cels (rather than being hand-painted), resulting in the “scratchy” animation style that defined the next era of Disney animation. It would take 30 years and another fairy tale – “The Little Mermaid” – before Disney animation hit its next zenith.

Further Viewing: “Grand Canyon”, the Oscar-winning short that preceded “Sleeping Beauty” in its original theatrical run. This is why there’s a Grand Canyon diorama at Disneyland!

The Horse’s Head’s NFR Tournament of Losers Ballot 2026!

Another year, another round of NFR nominations. But this isn’t just any year for me: it’s my 10^th year nominating films for the NFR, and to celebrate I wanted to do something a little different. Of the 249 films I’ve nominated over the last nine years, 51 have been inducted, which means 198 have become this blog’s perennial bridesmaids. So this year I’m choosing my nominees through a point system I’ve dubbed “The Horse’s Head’s Tournament of Losers Ballot 2026!”. I’ve taken each of my nominated films from the last nine years and assigned them points via a system so unnecessarily complex it would make you ask “Are you okay?” and “Seriously, are you okay? Do want to talk about it? Maybe go for a walk?” I’m fine, I promise. But I appreciate the concern.

Without further ado, my NFR Tournament of Losers Ballot 2026!

Scarface (1983): 1423 points
Aliens (1986): 1389 points
Aladdin (1992): 1297 points
Frozen (2013): 1153 points
The Avengers (2012): 1075 points
Fight Club (1999): 1013 points
Spider-Man (2002): 986 points
Avatar (2009): 964 points
Gremlins (1984): 959 points
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001): 955 points
The Sixth Sense (1999): 831 points
Finding Nemo (2003): 830 points
Poltergeist (1982): 824 points
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997): 756 points
Gladiator (2000): 741 points
Beetlejuice (1988): 725 points
Alice in Wonderland (1951): 642 points
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954): 591 points
Skyfall (2012): 586 points
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961): 581 points
Fatal Attraction (1987): 561 points
The Great Escape (1963): 558 points
Seven (1995): 554 points
Edward Scissorhands (1990): 551 points
Speed (1994): 542 points
The Wolf Man (1941): 539 points
The Usual Suspects (1995): 529 points
The Jungle Book (1967): 523 points TIE
Up (2009): 523 points TIE
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993): 516 points
Mean Girls (2004): 495 points
Good Will Hunting (1997): 485 points
The Seven Year Itch (1955): 481 points
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957): 460 points
300 (2007): 453 points
The Elephant Man (1980): 451 points
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985): 446 points
Footloose (1984): 441 points
Space Jam (1996): 431 points
Big (1988): 422 points
Cast Away (2000): 417 points
Sleepless in Seattle (1993): 414 points
Song of the South (1946): 411 points
Driving Miss Daisy (1989): 409 points
Inglourious Basterds (2009): 408 points
Boogie Nights (1997): 399 points
Blue Velvet (1986): 393 points

Now you may be wondering, “Wait, 47? Didn’t you say you nominated 50?” Yes, I did. Thanks for paying attention; we should go for that walk. I swapped out the bottom three for a few ringers. Apologies to the trio of movies that made the Top 50 via the point system: Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Labyrinth (1986), and Anchorman (2004). I will prioritize these three on my 2027 ballot, though it would be funny if all three of them got inducted this year.

My first two ringer films are two personal favorites I nominate every year: “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963) and “Original Cast Album: Company” (1970). I wrote a whole post explaining how great they are. Shout out to “Mad World”, which was eight points shy of making the list on its own.

As for my 50th film, I’m picking a 2016 film that is freshly eligible for the NFR, and there was only one movie that I felt should get the nod: Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land”. As a tribute to the golden age of Hollywood musicals and with winning lead performances from Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, this film has maintained…Wait, there was a mistake. “Moonlight”, you guys have been nominated for the NFR. This is not a joke. “Moonlight” is my 50th NFR nominee.

What can I say? I love topical humor.