March Movie Madness Bracket

For NCAA basketball fans and cinephiles alike, I've created an all-time movie bracket to compare with this year's 64 teams (excluding the play-in games). Though I've included a few personal favorites, I've seeded most of the films based on popular lists, such as the Sight and Sound Critics' List and the AFI Top 100, and placed each group of 16 in one of the 4 divisions. My plan is to track the winners and see which film wins the tournament this year. I'll post updates until the winner is crowned. This should be an interesting experiment. If you'd like to do your own, feel free to send me a link.

Here's a breakdown of my bracket and the divisions in which I've placed the films.

1 Citizen Kane
1 The Godfather
1 Casablanca
1 Vertigo

2 Lawrence of Arabia
2 2001: A Space Odyssey
2 Raging Bull
2 Seven Samurai

3 Tokyo Story
3 City Lights
3 Persona
3 The Rules of the Game

4 8 1/2
4 Sunrise
4 The Searchers
4 Breathless

5 Singin' in the Rain
5 The Red Shoes
5 M
5 The Seventh Seal

6 Taxi Driver
6 The 400 Blows
6 La Dolce Vita
6 Metropolis

7 Pierrot le Fou
7 The General
7 Cries and Whispers
7 Rear Window

8 A Clockwork Orange
8 Some Like It Hot
8 Apocalypse Now
8 It's a Wonderful Life

9 L'Avventura
9 Man with a Movie Camera
9 Psycho
9 Andrei Rublev

10 Goodfellas
10 Wild Strawberries
10 Rashomon
10 The Passion of Joan of Arc

11 Sunset Blvd.
11 Grand Illusion
11 Pulp Fiction
11 Three Colors: Red

12 Modern Times
12 The Bicycle Thief
12 Rio Bravo
12 The Godfather Part II

13 The Night of the Hunter
13 Children of Paradise
13 Black Narcissus
13 The Magnificent Ambersons

14 In the Mood for Love
14 Days of Heaven
14 His Girl Friday
14 The French Connection

15 The Maltese Falcon
15 Jules and Jim
15 The Apartment
15 Breaking the Waves

16 Annie Hall
16 The Philadelphia Story
16 Star Wars
16 Raiders of the Lost Ark

Midwest:

1 Casablanca (Wichita St.)
2 Raging Bull
3 Persona
4 The Searchers
5 M
6 La Dolce Vita
7 Cries and Whispers
8 Apocalypse Now
9 Psycho
10 Rashomon
11 Pulp Fiction
12 Rio Bravo
13 Black Narcissus
14 His Girl Friday
15 The Apartment
16 Star Wars

West:

1 Vertigo (Arizona)
2 Seven Samurai
3 The Rules of the Game
4 Breathless
5 The Seventh Seal
6 Metropolis
7 Rear Window
8 It's a Wonderful Life
9 Andrei Rublev
10 The Passion of Joan of Arc
11 Three Colors: Red
12 The Godfather Part II
13 The Magnificent Ambersons
14 The French Connection
15 Breaking the Waves
16 Raiders of the Lost Ark

South:

1 Citizen Kane (Florida)
2 Lawrence of Arabia
3 Tokyo Story
4 8 1/2
5 Singin' in the Rain
6 Taxi Driver
7 Pierrot le Fou
8 A Clockwork Orange
9 L'Avventura
10 Goodfellas
11 Sunset Blvd.
12 Modern Times
13 The Night of the Hunter
14 In the Mood for Love
15 The Maltese Falcon
16 Annie Hall

East:

1 The Godfather (Virginia)
2 2001: A Space Odyssey
3 City Lights
4 Sunrise
5 The Red Shoes
6 The 400 Blows
7 The General
8 Some Like It Hot
9 Man with a Movie Camera
10 Wild Strawberries
11 Grand Illusion
12 The Bicycle Thief
13 Children of Paradise
14 Days of Heaven
15 Jules and Jim
16 The Philadelphia Story

You can see my complete movie bracket here, with my predictions that correspond to my basketball ones. (Just click and drag to look through it.) For instance, I have #4 Michigan State (Sunrise) and #4 Louisville (The Searchers) playing in the championship. You can check out the actual NCAA bracket here to see which teams match which films. I can't wait to see how this turns out!