This is pretty much the best idea going. The Alamo Drafthouse (along with jeans-maker Levi’s) is showing nine different classic flicks in (or around) the locations where they take place. Some settings are more spot on than others — Jackie Brown in LA’s Del Amo Fashion Mall is perfection — but the whole concept is just fantastic.

I believe they have done this in past years as well, but this is the first I’m hearing of it and, I believe, this is the most ambitious, nationwide tour. (The 2008 lineup, for example, was all pretty local to Tejas.)

Here’s the full list of movies (each of which got one of the sweet “alt posters” shown above), dates and location:

August 6 JACKIE BROWN, at Los Angeles’ Del Amo Fashion Mall

August 7 DIRTY HARRY, at San Francisco’s Washington Square Park

August 8 THERE WILL BE BLOOD, at California’s Kern County Museum

August 8 CONVOY, at the Ft. Davis drive-in in Las Vegas, N.M.

August 13 THE BLUES BROTHERS, at Chicago’s Joliet Prison

August 14 ROBOCOP, at Detroit’s Russell Industrial Center

August 19 ROCKY I-III, at the Philadelphia Art Museum

August 20 ON THE WATERFRONT, at Hoboken’s Pier A

August 27 THE GODFATHER PART II, on a Manhattan rooftop near Little Italy

I’ve seen all except Convoy (which is playing in a double feature with Red Dawn, which is horrible) and would probably go to see any of the others if they were local. Rest assured, I will definitely be enjoying The Godfather II, easily one of the finest ten movies ever made, atop a roof in Little Italy. Vito-style.

Hell, I may even break my personal code of ethics and step foot into New Jersey to watch Marlon Brando fail at being a contender.

* … and Red Dawn

Pretty simple

Head over to his original post to see the graphs for Scorsese, the Cohen Brothers, Tarantino, David Fincher, Ridley Scott, William Friedkin and the Wachowski Brothers. All are muy neato.

But the three that were the most interesting to me were the three most extreme charts: M. Night Shyamalan (the initial subject of the discussion), Stanley Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola. Honestly, it pains me to even write those three names in the same sentence, but it makes for a nice comparison when you compare M. Night’s 1929-stock-market-looking graph next to Kubrick’s unassailable career of acclaim next to Coppola’s inconsistency.

Ultimately, however, even though Coppola has made some hot garbage in his day, he will likely always remain in my top five of all time just on the strength of there being no more impressive four-movie run in cinematic history than The Godfather, The Conversation (which I honestly don’t even really like), The Godfather II and Apocalyspe Now. There might be three of the best ten films ever in there. Just unreal.

Along similar lines, good luck to any actor who ever wants to have a cleaner, more perfect IMDB page than John Cazale. Nice resume, buddy.