It’s time to order a Caucasian because The Dude has finally joined film immortality. Joel and Ethan Coen’s cult classic The Big Lebowski was just one of an incredible class of 25 films added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
The oldest film on the list dates back to 1913 and is titled Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day. It features several important African American performers from that period, including Bert Williams, the first African American to headline a Broadway show. Most of the film was believed lost until fairly recently, when the Museum of Modern Art discovered seven reels of footage.
Three other films from the 1910s were included - Shoes, a 1916 film created by writer/director Lois Weber; Unmasked from 1917, starring Grace Cunard and Francis Ford; and The Dragon Painter from 1919, featuring Sessue Hayakawa, Hollywood’s first Asian star.
While the list does feature these and several other historically important films, it does feature a few familiar classics. These movies will now be preserved forever by the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation.
“The National Film Registry showcases the extraordinary diversity of America’s film heritage and the disparate strands making it so vibrant," Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said.. "By preserving these films, we protect a crucial element of American creativity, culture and history."
The most recent film on the list is James Benning’s 13 Lakes, from 2004, which presents 13 American lakes without any humans in the shot.
Some of the Golden Age Hollywood films that will be preserved forever include Betty Grable’s first Technicolor musical, Down Argentine Way (1940); Busby Berkeley’s The Gang’s All Here (1943); House of Wax (1953) with Vincent Price; The Power and the Glory (1933), featuring Preston Sturges’ first screenplay; Howard Hawks’ iconic John Wayne Western Rio Bravo (1959); Leo McCarey’s classic comedy Ruggles of Red Gap (1933); and Henry King’s State Fair (1933).
More recent classics on the list include The Big Lebowski; Steven Spielberg’s definitive World War II classic Saving Private Ryan (1998); John Hughes’ hilarious Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986); Roman Polanski’s horror classic Rosemary’s Baby (1968); the independent film Please Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976); Arthur Penn’s Western Little Big Man (1970); Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and the Oscar winner Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (1970).
Shorts on the list include Felicia (1965); Pixar’s iconic Luxo Jr. (1986) film; Moon Breath Beat (1980); silent WWII film V-E +1 (1945); and Frank Tashlin’s THe Way of Peace (1947).
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