   The American
Film Institute in Los Angeles, California, in mid-June
1998 commemorated the extraordinary first 100 years of
American movies by making a "definitive selection
of the 100 greatest American movies of all time, as determined
by more than 1,500 leaders from the American film community." The 400
Nominated Films were feature-length fictional
movies produced between 1912 and 1996 "with the
goal of amassing a capsule of the first 100 years of
American cinema, across decades and across genres."
In subsequent years, the AFI has also produced
other lists of the following:
Read this site's Commentary
on AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies.
Judging
criteria for the selection process of the Top 100 films included:
-
 Feature-Length
Fiction Film - narrative format typically over
60 minutes in length
American
Film - English language film with significant creative
and/or financial production elements from the United States
Critical
Recognition - formal commendation in print
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
- Major
Award Winner - recognition from competitive events
including awards from organizations in the film community
and major film festivals
Facts
about the Films Chosen:
 Citizen
Kane (1941) was chosen the #1 film of all
time.
The films span from 1915 ( The
Birth of a Nation at #44) to 1996 (Fargo at
#84).
Charlie Chaplin was the most celebrated
actor/director on the list, with three films: The
Gold Rush (1925) (at #74), City
Lights (1931) (at #76), and Modern
Times (1936) (at #81).
Steven Spielberg directed five of
the 100 greatest American movies: Schindler's
List (1993) (at #9), E.T.
The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (at #25), Jaws
(1975) (at #48), Raiders
of the Lost Ark (1981) (at #60), and Close
Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (at #64).
Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder
each directed four films on the list. Ten other directors
each directed three (for example, Frank Capra, Francis
Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, William Wyler,
John Ford, and Charlie Chaplin, among others). Victor Fleming
was the only director with two top ten films, although
he shared directing duties with three other uncredited
talents for Gone
With the Wind (1939). Michael Curtiz was only recognized
with two films. Woody Allen had only one film in the list.
In total, 13 directors accounted for 43 percent of the
top 100 films of all time.
Marlon Brando was the only actor
to star in two of the top 10 films, The
Godfather (1972) (at #3) and On
The Waterfront (1954) (at #8).
James Stewart and Robert De Niro
were the most represented actors in a starring role,
each with five films in the top 100. Many actors appeared
in four films in the list of 100 greatest American films.
James Dean was represented by two of his three films. Fred
Astaire didn't appear anywhere in the films listed.
Robert Duvall appeared in six, including
his minor role in To
Kill a Mockingbird (1962). And character actor
Ward Bond appeared in the most films, seven: It
Happened One Night (1934), Bringing
Up Baby (1938), Gone
With the Wind (1939), The
Grapes of Wrath (1940), The
Maltese Falcon (1941), It's
a Wonderful Life (1946) and The
Searchers (1956).
Katharine Hepburn was the most represented
leading actress, with four films: The
African Queen (1951), The
Philadelphia Story (1940), Bringing
Up Baby (1938), and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
(1967). She was followed by Natalie Wood, Diane Keaton
and Faye Dunaway, with three films each. Barbara Stanwyck
and Bette Davis had only one film each. There were no films
showcasing Ginger Rogers or Greta Garbo.
A majority of the 100 great films
are classifed as dramas. There are 11 comedies (debatable
depending upon what's classified as a comedy), 8 musicals,
9 war films, 8 westerns, 4 science fiction films, 4 horror
films and 2 animated films. There are only 4 silent films
on the list.
The top ten included movies from
every decade, from the 1930s to the 1990s, with the exception
of the 1980s. The first film on the 100 list from the 1980s
was Martin Scorsese's Raging
Bull (1980) (at #24).
The 1950s was the most represented
decade on the list, with 20 films. And 70 of the films
on the list were from 1950 and after. 14 films were made
after 1980. More than half of the films (56) were made
between 1950 and 1979, thereby ignoring cinema's early
years and some of the modern era. Each decade's summary:
Silent era: 3 films, 1930s: 15 films, 1940s: 12 films,
1950s: 20 films, 1960s: 18 films, 1970s: 18 films, 1980s:
6 films, and 1990s: 8 films.
The year 1939, which remains the
most celebrated year in the history of film, had five films
in the top 100: Gone
With the Wind (1939) (at #4), The
Wizard of Oz (1939) (at #6), Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington (1939) (at #29), Stagecoach
(1939) (at #63), and Wuthering
Heights (1939) (at #73). Both 1951 and 1969 have
four films each.
The
Godfather, Part II (1974) (at #32) was the only
sequel represented on the list, although it could be argued
that The Silence of the Lambs (1991) (at
#65) was a sequel to Manhunter (1986).
Thirty-three of the films (one-third)
were Academy Awards' Best Picture
Winners. Seventy-five of the films (three-fourths)
were Academy Awards' Best Picture Nominees. (Forty-two
of the seventy-five nominated films lost the Best Picture
race.)
Six of the top 10 films on the AFI
list won a Best Picture Oscar: Casablanca
(1942) (at #2), The
Godfather (1972) (at #3), Gone
With The Wind (1939) (at #4), Lawrence
of Arabia (1962) (at #5), On
The Waterfront (1954) (at #8), and Schindler's
List (1993) (at #9).
- The highest ranking film that won no Oscars
was #10, Singin'
In The Rain (1952).
Note: The films that are marked with
a yellow star are
the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected
as the 100 Greatest Films.
See this listing organized
by decade: America's 100
Greatest Movies (By Decade)
and the original 400 Greatest
American Films (nominations) |
The Best Films of All Time - A Primer of Cinematic
History
