Twenty-five movies that range from 1895 to 2010 have been added to the US Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, an annual tradition that is one of my favorite movie moments of the year.
While many 2024 new movies are currently jockeying for Oscar attention, being added to the National Film Registry has just as much, if not more, significance in the grand scheme of movie history. Only considering movies that are more than 10 years old, the National Film Registry makes its picks for movies that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant and prove to stand the test of time.
The Library of Congress said that 6,700 movies were submitted by the public for consideration this year. Of the ones selected you have David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s internet age drama The Social Network, Robert Rodriguez’s classic kids movie Spy Kids and 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which ends its 50th anniversary with this honor. But I have my particular favorites from this year’s crop of National Film Registry additions: 1962’s The Miracle Worker, 1987’s Dirty Dancing and 2007’s Best Picture winner No Country for Old Men.
The Miracle Worker is an adaptation of a Broadway play about the life of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, who sought to teach her how to communicate. Front and center in this movie are a pair of all-time great performances from Anne Bancroft as the stern and driven Sullivan and Patty Duke, who does an incredible job of portraying Keller that feels authentic. Director Arthur Penn masterfully worked with his two actresses and effectively turned the stage play into an effective big screen biopic. This is actually the second year in a row that the National Film Registry has added a title about Helen Keller, following the addition of the documentary, Helen Keller in Her Story, in 2023.
It honestly surprised me that Dirty Dancing had not already been added to the National Film Registry for how much the movie is fixed in pop culture — from the iconic dance with “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” to one of Patrick Swayze’s career-defining performances. But better late than never. In fact, that was the case for me as I only sat down and watched the movie for the first time during the early days of the pandemic, but I was quickly won over by it. While I’m happy we here at WTW included Dirty Dancing in our 100 best movies of all time list, I’m even happier to see that Dirty Dancing will now be preserved as an essential movie in Hollywood history.
No Country for Old Men is the third movie directed by the Coen Brothers to earn a spot in the National Film Registry, following 1996’s Fargo and 1998’s The Big Lebowski. The incredible thing is that all three movies are quite different but are also so definitively Coen Brothers' movies. In the case of No Country for Old Men, they really lean into the darkness of this crime drama about an unstoppable force, Anton Chigurh (a magnificent Javier Bardem), and everyday hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) who stumbles on a bunch of cash from a drug deal gone wrong. This is one of the best directed movies I’ve ever seen, with many moments sticking with you long after the credits roll.
Those are my three picks, but there are plenty of phenomenal additions to the National Film Registry with this year’s selection. Check them all out below and how you can watch them right now online (if possible):
- Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1895): watch on YouTube for free
- KoKo’s Earth Control (1928): watch on YouTube for free
- Angels with Dirty Faces (1938): not available online at this time
- The Pride of the Yankees (1942): streaming for free on Peacock, Prime Video, Tubi and more
- Invaders from Mars (1953): streaming for free on Tubi, Pluto TV and Fandango at Home
- The Miracle Worker (1962): streaming for free on Tubi and Pluto TV
- The Chelsea Girls (1966): watch on YouTube
- Ganja and Hess (1973): streaming for free on Tubi
- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): streaming for free on Peacock, Tubi, Pluto TV and more
- Uptown Saturday Night (1974): watch on YouTube or rent via digital on-demand
- Zora Lathan Student Films (1975-76): not available online at this time
- Up in Smoke (1978): available to rent via digital on-demand
- Will (1981): not available online at this time
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): streaming on MGM Plus and Paramount Plus
- Beverly Hills Cop (1984): streaming on Paramount Plus and Pluto TV
- Dirty Dancing (1987): streaming on Peacock
- Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989): available to rent via digital on-demand
- Powwow Highway (1989): not available online at this time
- My Own Private Idaho (1991): available to rent via digital on-demand
- American Me (1992): available to rent via digital on-demand
- Mi Familia (1995): available to rent via digital on-demand
- Compensation (1999): not available online at this time
- Sky Kids (2001): streaming on Max
- No Country for Old Men (2007): streaming on Paramount Plus and Pluto TV
- The Social Network (2010): streaming on Paramount Plus and Pluto TV
Turner Classic Movies is also planning to show a number of these movies as part of a special programming block on Wednesday, December 18. As of publication it was not clear what movies would be shown.
