100 Years...100 Movies

AFI's 100 GREATEST
AMERICAN MOVIES
10th Anniversary Edition

Summary - Part 1




The American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California, in 2007 honored and updated its "definitive selection of the 100 greatest American movies of all time" from 1996, 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 newly-eligible films from 1996 to 2006.

Read this site's Commentary on AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies (original)
America's 100 Greatest Movies (by decade) (original)
The original 400 Greatest American Films (nominees)

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.


AMERICA's 100
GREATEST MOVIES
10th Anniversary

Summary - Part 1


Title

1998 Ranking

2007 Ranking

Citizen Kane (1941)
Welles broke all the rules and invented some new ones with his searing story of a newspaper publisher with an uncanny resemblance to William Randolph Hearst.

# 1

# 1

The Godfather (1972)
Brando is Don Vito Corleone, the sympathetic head of a New York crime family, whose business it is to make offers people can't refuse. His son Michael's true nature is revealed at the end, when a christening is intercut with a bloodbath that cements his new position within the family.

# 3

# 2

Raging Bull (1980) *
De Niro is Jake LaMotta, the middleweight boxing champ whose opponents in the ring are no match for the demons he fights in his personal life. The film is often noted for Thelma Schoonmaker's achievement in editing.

# 24

# 4

Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
This musical set in Hollywood during the conversion from silent to sound films has Kelly singing, dancing and splashing in puddles. Reynolds and O'Connor lend support in some of the most delightful song and dance numbers ever filmed.

# 10

# 5

Schindler’s List (1993)
The film is based on the true, complex, and often puzzling story of Oskar Schindler, the Sudeten German industrialist who saved hundreds of Jews from the gas chambers during the Holocaust. "This list is an absolute good. The list is life."

# 9

# 8

Vertigo (1958) *
Stewart's fear of heights, Novak's woman of mystery, Bernard Herrmann's haunting score, and the city of San Francisco provide Hitchcock with a great love story and sexual obsession on a grand psychological level.

# 61

# 9

City Lights (1931) *
This silent masterpiece was released three years after the start of talkies. In this Chaplin classic, the Little Tramp falls hopelessly in love with a blind flower seller, risking everything to gain money for her much-needed operation.

# 76

# 11

The Searchers (1956) *
Ford's landmark saga is a quest to find a child abducted by Comanches right after the Civil War. Wayne, an Indian-hating ex-soldier, wages an internal battle while devoting years to searching for his niece, abducted during an Indian raid.

# 96

# 12

Star Wars (1977)
A landmark science fiction fantasy about a young man, Luke Skywalker, who finds his calling as a Jedi warrior and with the help of "droids" and an outlaw named Han Solo embarks on a mission to rescue a princess and save the galaxy from the Dark Side. "May the force be with you."

# 15

# 13

Psycho (1960)
Leigh is on the lam with stolen money and makes the mistake of checking into the Bates Motel, run by Perkins...and his mother. Hitchcock's horror film is best remembered for the shower scene and Bernard Herrmann's chilling score.

# 18

# 14

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Kubrick's science fiction epic puts mankind in context between ape and space voyager. The film created a stir for its special effects, the computer HAL, and the debate about the meaning of the film's final sequence.

# 22

# 15
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Elliot is a young boy from a broken home who discovers an extra-terrestrial creature that has been stranded on earth—light years from home. Together they form a universal friendship, and Elliot helps E.T. "phone home."
# 25
# 24
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Foote adapted Harper Lee's award-winning novel into one of Peck's most memorable movies. Seen through the eyes of his young daughter, Atticus Finch defends an innocent black man accused of rape in a racially divided Alabama town during the Depression.
# 34
# 25
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Appointed to the US Senate because the power brokers believe they've got a hayseed on their hands, Jefferson Smith surprises everyone with his honesty and gravitas. Framed by the political machine that cleverly twists the truth, Smith almost waves a white flag, but Clarissa Saunders gives him a fast lesson in civics. Filibuster!!!
# 29
# 26
High Noon (1952)
On his wedding day, Cooper is forced to face an old enemy alone as the people of his town turn their backs on him. His Quaker bride Kelly ultimately comes to his aid as the clock ticks toward noon and the inevitable shootout.
# 33
# 27
Double Indemnity (1944)
Wilder's searing adaptation of James M. Cain's novel of duplicity and murder gave "nice guy" MacMurray a shot at film noir. He is the insurance agent seduced by Stanwyck into murdering her husband so that she can file an accident claim.
# 38
# 29
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
This sequel to The Godfather (1972) shows us the world of the Corleones before and after the events shown in the first film, with new godfather Michael struggling to bring his family into the modern age. In the film's extended flashback sequences, De Niro is the young Vito as he gains power in the New York City mafia.
# 32
# 32
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Disney's first full-length animated feature still resonates with audiences young and old as the beautiful young princess is saved from the wicked queen by the dwarfs who whistle while they work.
# 49
# 34
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Released immediately after the World War II, Wyler's story of three men returning from war was the right film at the right time—mirroring the experiences of so many soldiers adjusting to a new life. Russell, a young vet who lost his hands, plays a man trying to figure out if he can pick up the pieces of his old life.
# 37
# 37
The Sound of Music (1965)
Andrews is Maria, a nun who becomes governess to the Von Trapp family in this film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical. Maria falls in love with the children and their handsome widowed father just as Austria is being annexed by the Nazis. The film's songs include the title song, Do-Re-Mi and Climb Every Mountain.
# 55

# 40
King Kong (1933)
With a mixture of live action, animation, and special effects, this film follows the plight of a giant ape whose love for the beautiful Wray leads to his death, as he topples from the Empire State Building. But it wasn't the airplanes that killed the mighty Kong— "It was beauty killed the beast."
# 43
# 41
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Sophisticated and screwball all at once, Hepburn's cool, icy heiress really belongs with Grant, her ex. It takes tabloid newsman Stewart to bring out the fires buried deep inside her. This is a comedy of manners and class distinction. "The prettiest sight in this fine, pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges."
# 51
# 44
Shane (1953)
Told through the eyes of a young boy, Shane is a former gunslinger who appears out of nowhere and helps a group of settlers defend themselves against the cattlemen who want their land.
# 69
# 45
The Deer Hunter (1978) *
The effects of the Vietnam war on a tightly knit community challenge the bonds of friendship and love. A game of Russian Roulette, first played in a POW camp, temporarily reunites De Niro with his estranged friend Walken in a back alley of Saigon.
# 79
# 53
M*A*S*H (1970)
Altman's episodic antiwar film about a mobile medical unit during the Korean War gave American audiences a reason to laugh at the height of Vietnam. The overlapping dialogue and irreverent story thumbed its nose at all things political and pushed the boundaries of filmmaking.
# 56
# 54
Rocky (1976)
No one believes a loser like Rocky Balboa can go the distance. When world heavyweight champ Apollo Creed wants to fight an "unknown," Rocky gets his shot in the ring and at love. "Yo, Adrian!"
# 78
# 57
The Gold Rush (1925)
In one of his most famous films, lone Alaskan prospector Chaplin attempts to stave off hunger by dining on his shoe, much to the consternation of cabin mate Swain, who imagines that Charlie is a giant chicken.
# 74
# 58
Duck Soup (1933) *
The Brothers Marx defend Freedonia, with their own brand of anarchy and satire in this antiwar comedy that's a combination of Gilbert and Sullivan and vaudeville. Groucho and Harpo had perfected their "mirror gag" on stage and brought it to Depression-era audiences sorely in need of a laugh.
# 85
# 60
American Graffiti (1973)
One night in the life of some high school grads becomes a turning point on the road to adulthood. Lucas' breakthrough film featured an ensemble cast of future stars and a non-stop soundtrack of 1950s and '60s hits.
# 77
# 62
Network (1976)
Low ratings make for angry shareholders and veteran news anchorman Howard Beale takes the fall. But his rant, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," suddenly changes the picture and the lives of everyone at fourth-place UBS.
# 66
# 64
Unforgiven (1992) *
Eastwood directs and stars as a formerly notorious gunslinger forced to return to his murderous ways after his wife dies and his family needs money. The film was noted for challenging the morality of Western stereotypes created by American film.
# 98
# 68
Modern Times (1936)
Chaplin speaks! And ends the silent era with this film about a little man working on an assembly line, who is literally caught in the hub of an industrialized society, and after several trips to the hospital and jail, ultimately finds happiness with a kindred soul.
# 81
# 78
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Aging outlaws and relentless bounty hunters converge at the US-Mexico border in 1913. Slow-motion action violence became Peckinpah's calling card after the success of this Western masterpiece.
# 80
# 79
The Apartment (1960)
Wilder's wry take on corporate America skewers the climb through the bedroom to the boardroom. Lemmon is a career-climbing executive who offers his boss' the use of his apartment for an extra-marital fling. His foolproof plan falls apart when he falls in love with his boss's girlfriend. "That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise!"
# 93
# 80
Easy Rider (1969)
Fonda and Hopper, better known as Captain America and Wyatt, hit the road on their choppers to find an America bitterly divided by the Vietnam war. On the way they pick up Nicholson, who gets turned on and tuned in. The original independent film was an anthem for the 1960s'cultural dialogue on freedom, individualism and patriotism.
# 88
# 84
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Hepburn's heiress is mad for Grant's uptight paleontologist. The plot and characters define screwball comedy, not the least of which involves a pet leopard who can be soothed by listening to I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby.”
# 97
# 88
GoodFellas (1990)
This gangster film for modern day is based on the true story of Henry Hill, played by Liotta, who dreamed as a kid of becoming a member of the glamorous mob who ran his New York City neighborhood. De Niro and Pesci are members of the family he ascends to, until he breaks the code and eventually falls from grace.
# 94
# 92
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino's tale of violence, corruption and redemption broke new ground with his non-linear story of two hit men who live by a strict moral code. They intersect the lives of a boxer, a crime boss, his drug-using wife, a couple of small-time crooks and of course—the Gimp!
# 95
# 94
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Cagney sings and dances his way through the patriotic songs George M. Cohan composed in the early years of American vaudeville and musical theatre. Songs like Over There, It's A Grand Old Flag and Yankee Doodle Dandy inspired generations when the world was at war.
# 100
# 98
Note: Major Increase in Ranking *    

 

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