The second smartest thing Peter Bart ever did is ask me to write for Variety

And the first smartest thing, of course, was push for Francis Ford Coppola to be hired as director of The Godfather. You can read more about that in my CultureMap interview.

Robert Osborne's 5th Annual Classic Film Festival

A film festival with Goldfinger, The Godfather, King Kong -- and Fred Willard? And with Mr. Class himself as the MC? Cowabunga. Check out the info here.

Still No. 1: 'Citizen Kane'

Take two: Nearly ten years after the AFI's first 100 Years... 100 Movies countdown, Vertigo (No. 9) and Raging Bull (No. 4) managed to collect enough votes to displace The Graduate (No. 17 now, No. 7 then) and On the Waterfront (No. 19 now, No. 8 then) for ranking in the Top Ten of the new Top 100. But Citizen Kane remains -- as before, and very likely forever -- No. 1. And, hey, you'll get no argument from me over that.

Other titles in the upper echelon: The Godfather (No. 2 now, No. 3 then), Casablanca (No. 3/No. 2), Singin' in the Rain (No. 5/No. 10), Gone with the Wind (No. 6/No. 4), Lawrence of Arabia (No. 7/No. 5), Schindler's List (No. 8/No. 9) and The Wizard of Oz (No. 10/No. 6). Safe titles? Maybe. Great titles? Definitely.

David Germain of The Associated Press compares and contrasts the 1998 and 2007 lists here.