AFI’s 100 Years is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute, from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies.
How many have you seen?
The American Film Institute is a nonprofit organisation with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. Established in 1967, AFI launched the first comprehensive history of American film and sparked the movement for film preservation in the United States.
1: CITIZEN KANE (1941)
Director: Orson Welles
Welles’s epic tale of a publishing tycoon’s rise and fall is entertaining, poignant, and inventive in its storytelling, earning its reputation as a landmark achievement in film.
When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane’s (Welles) dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from obscurity to staggering heights. Though Kane’s friend and colleague Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), and his mistress, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), shed fragments of light on Kane’s life, the reporter fears he may never penetrate the mystery of the elusive man’s final word, “Rosebud.”
2: THE GODFATHER (1972)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
One of Hollywood’s greatest critical and commercial successes, The Godfather gets everything right; not only did the movie transcend expectations, it established new benchmarks for American cinema.
Based on Mario Puzo’s novel of the same name, focuses on the powerful Italian-American crime family of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). When the don’s youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), reluctantly joins the Mafia, he becomes involved in the inevitable cycle of violence and betrayal. Although Michael tries to maintain a normal relationship with his wife, Kay (Diane Keaton), he is drawn deeper into the family business.
3: CASABLANCA (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
An undisputed masterpiece and perhaps Hollywood’s quintessential statement on love and romance, Casablanca has only improved with age, boasting career-defining performances from Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
Rick Blaine (Bogart), who owns a nightclub in Casablanca, discovers his old flame Ilsa (Bergman) is in town with her husband, Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Laszlo is a famed rebel leader, and with Nazis on his tail, Ilsa knows only Rick can help them get out of the country.
4: RAGING BULL (1980)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Arguably Scorsese’s and Robert De Niro’s finest film, Raging Bull is often painful to watch, but it’s a searing, powerful work about an unsympathetic hero.
The true story of a middleweight boxer as he rises through the ranks to earn his first shot at the middleweight crown. He falls in love with a gorgeous girl from the Bronx. The inability to express his feelings enters into the ring and eventually takes over his life. He eventually is sent into a downward spiral that costs him everything.
5: SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952)
Directors: Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen
Clever, incisive, and funny, Singin’ in the Rain is a masterpiece of the classical Hollywood musical.
A spoof of the turmoil that afflicted the movie industry in the late 1920s when movies went from silent to sound. When two silent movie stars’, Don Lockwood (Kelly) and Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), latest movie is made into a musical a chorus girl (Debbie Reynolds) is brought in to dub Lina’s speaking and singing. Don is on top of the world until Lina finds out.
6: GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
Director: Victor Fleming
Gone with the Wind’s epic grandeur and romantic allure encapsulate an era of Hollywood filmmaking – but that can’t excuse a blinkered perspective that stands on the wrong side of history. Includes themes and character depictions which may be offensive and problematic to contemporary audiences.
Epic Civil War drama focuses on the life of petulant Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh). Starting with her idyllic life on a sprawling plantation, the film traces her survival through the tragic history of the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and her tangled love affairs with Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).
7: LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
Director: David Lean
The epic of all epics, Lawrence of Arabia cements director David Lean’s status in the filmmaking pantheon with nearly four hours of grand scope, brilliant performances, and beautiful cinematography.
Due to his knowledge of the native Bedouin tribes, British Lieutenant T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole) is sent to Arabia to find Prince Faisal (Alec Guinness) and serve as a liaison between the Arabs and the British in their fight against the Turks during World War I.
8: SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)
Director: Steven Spielberg
The film blends the abject horror of the Holocaust with Steven Spielberg’s signature tender humanism to create the director’s dramatic masterpiece.
Businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) arrives in Krakow in 1939, ready to make his fortune from World War II, which has just started. After joining the Nazi party primarily for political expediency, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for similarly pragmatic reasons. When the SS begins exterminating Jews in the Krakow ghetto, Schindler arranges to have his workers protected to keep his factory in operation, but soon realizes that in so doing, he is also saving innocent lives.
9: VERTIGO (1958)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
An unpredictable scary thriller that doubles as a mournful meditation on love, loss, and human comfort.
Hitchcock’s romantic story of obsession, manipulation and fear. A detective is forced to retire after his fear of heights causes the death of a fellow officer and the girl he was hired to follow. He sees a double of the girl, causing him to transform her image onto the dead girl’s body. This leads into a cycle of madness and lies.
10: THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
Director: Victor Fleming
An absolute masterpiece whose groundbreaking visuals and deft storytelling are still every bit as resonant, The Wizard of Oz is a must-see film for young and old.
When a tornado rips through Kansas, Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog, Toto, are whisked away in their house to the magical land of Oz. They follow the Yellow Brick Road toward the Emerald City to meet the Wizard, and en route they meet a Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) that needs a brain, a Tin Man (Jack Haley) missing a heart, and a Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) who wants courage. The wizard asks the group to bring him the broom of the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) to earn his help.
11: CITY LIGHTS (1931)
Director: Charlie Chaplin
12: THE SEARCHERS (1956)
Director: John Ford
13: STAR WARS (1977)
Director: George Lucas
14: PSYCHO (1960)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
15: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
16: SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
Director: Billy Wilder
17: THE GRADUATE (1967)
Director: Mike Nichols
18: THE GENERAL (1927)
Director: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
19: ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
Director: Elia Kazan
20: IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
Director: Frank Capra
21: CHINATOWN (1974)
Director: Roman Polanski
22: SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
Director: Billy Wilder
23: THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
Director: Henry Ford
24: E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
Director: Steven Spielberg
25: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
Director: Robert Mulligan
26: MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
Director: Frank Capra
27: HIGH NOON (1952)
Director: Fred Zinneman
28: ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
29: DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
Director: Billy Wilder
30: APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
31: THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
Director: John Houston
32: THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
33: ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975)
Director: Milos Forman
34: SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
Directors: W. Cottrell, D. Hand, W. Jackson
35: ANNIE HALL (1977)
Director: Woody Allen
36: THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
Director: David Lean
37: THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
Director: William Wyler
38: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
Director: John Houston
39: DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
40: THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
Director: Robert Wise
41: KING KONG (1933)
Directors: M. C. Cooper, E. B. Schoedsack
42: BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
Director: Arthur Penn
43: MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
Director: John Schlesinger
44: THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
Director: George Cukor
45: SHANE (1953)
Director: George Stevens
46: IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
Director: Frank Capra
47: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
Director: Elia Kazan
48: REAR WINDOW (1954)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
49: INTOLERANCE (1916)
Director: D. W. Griffith
50: LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, THE (2001)
Director: Peter Jackson
51: WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
Directors: J.Robbins, R. Wise
52: TAXI DRIVER (1976)
Director: Martin Scorcese
53: THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
Director: Michael Cimino
54: M*A*S*H (1970)
Director: Robert Altman
55: NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
56: JAWS (1975)
Director: Steven Spielberg
57: ROCKY (1976)
Director: J. G. Avildsen
58: THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
Director: Charles Chaplin
59: NASHVILLE (1975)
Director: Robert Altman
60: DUCK SOUP (1933)
Director: LEO McCarey
61: SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (1941)
Director: Preston Sturges
62: AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
Director: George Lucas
63: CABARET (1972)
Director: Bob Fosse
64: NETWORK (1976)
Director: Sidney Lumet
65: THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
Director: John Houston
66: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
67: WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966)
Director: Mike Nichols
68: UNFORGIVEN (1992)
Director: Clint Eastwood
69: TOOTSIE (1982)
Director: Sydney Pollack
70: A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
71: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)
Director: Steven Spielberg
72: THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
Director: Frank Darabont
73: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
Director: George Roy Hill
74: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
Director: Jonathan Demme
75: IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967)
Director: Norman Jewison
76: FORREST GUMP (1994)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
77: ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)
Director: Alan J. Pakula
78: MODERN TIMES (1936)
Director: Charles Chaplin
79: THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
Director: Sam Peckinpah
80: THE APARTMENT (1960)
Director: Billy Wilder
8!: SPARTACUS (1960)
Directors: Stanley Kubrick
82: SUNRISE (1927)
Director: F. W. Murnau
83: TITANIC (1997)
Director: James Cameron
84: EASY RIDER (1969)
Director: Dennis Hopper
85: A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935)
Directors: S. Wood, E. Goulding
86: PLATOON (1986)
Director: Oliver Stone
87: 12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
Director: Sydney Lumet
88: BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
Director: Howard Hawks
89: THE SIXTH SENSE (1999)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
90: SWING TIME (1936)
Director: George Stevens
91: SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982)
Director: Alan J. Pakula
92: GOODFELLAS (1990)
Director: Martin Scorsese
93: THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
Director: William Friedkin
94: PULP FICTION (1994)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
95: THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971)
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
96: DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)
Director: Spike Lee
97: BLADE RUNNER (1982)
Director: Ridley Scott
98: YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
99: TOY STORY (1995)
Director: John Lasseter
100: BEN-HUR (1959)
Director: William Wyler
Criteria
Films were judged according to the following criteria:
Feature length: Narrative format, at least 60 minutes long.
American film: English language, with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States. (Certain films, notably The Bridge on the River Kwai, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Lawrence of Arabia, were British-made but funded and distributed by American studios. The Lord of the Rings was New Zealand-made with American funding.)
Critical recognition: Formal commendation in print.
Major award winner: Recognition from competitive events including awards from organisations in the film community and major film festivals.
Popularity over time: Including figures for box office adjusted for inflation, television broadcasts and syndication, and home video sales and rentals.
Historical significance: A film’s mark on the history of the moving image through technical innovation, visionary narrative devices or other groundbreaking achievements.
Cultural impact: A film’s mark on American society in matters of style and substance.
As with awards, the list of those who vote and the final vote tally are not released to the public, nor the criteria for how the 400 nominated films have been selected.
Source: afi.com and imdb.com
