“About eight or nine months ago, there was a cover story in the Sunday NY Times’ Arts and Leisure section about Kane. The author’s point was that if Kane is, and has been for some 30 years running, the best American cinema has ever done, why bother trying anymore? His point was, ‘Let’s retire the jersey,’ so to speak. Let’s all acknowledge Kane is fantastic and just remove it from the running, so that some other film has a shot at the title.

“My feeling is that it still holds up. I watch it roughly five times a year, and am always amazed at how ahead of its time it was. Every time I watch it, it’s a revelation. That said, it’s not one of my top five favorites. Those spots are held by Jaws, JFK, Do the Right Thing, The Last Temptation of Christ, and A Man for All Seasons. And considering I don’t watch any of those flicks as often as I wind up watching Kane, the conspicuous absence of Kane from that list might make someone wonder, ‘So why isn’t it on your list?’

“I think it comes down to the fact that Kane is legendary and so much larger than life. It’s hard to group it with anything else and not have the anything else come up short. I’m with the writer of the Times piece. It’s time for a film made within the last 30 years to have a shot at the top position.”

Wells to Smith: I think that’s what Ty Burr and the Entertainment Weekly crew were saying, in part, when they put The Godfather at the top of their list.