The first of the AFI 100 Years... series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years...100 American Movies 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. The 100-best list American films was unveiled in 1998. AFI released an updated list in 2007.

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 Third Man, 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 organizations 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.

List

Film Release year Director Production companies 1998 Rank 2007 Rank Citizen Kane 1941 RKO Radio Pictures 1 1 Casablanca 1942 Warner Bros. Pictures 2 3 1972 Paramount Pictures, Alfran Productions 3 2 Gone with the Wind 1939 Selznick International Pictures 4 6 Lawrence of Arabia 1962 Horizon Pictures 5 7 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 6 10 1967 Lawrence Turman 7 17 On the Waterfront 1954 Horizon-American Pictures 8 19 Schindler's List 1993 Amblin Entertainment 9 8 Singin' in the Rain 1952 , Stanley Donen Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 10 5 It's a Wonderful Life 1946 Liberty Pictures 11 20 Sunset Boulevard 1950 Paramount Pictures 12 16 1957 Horizon-American Pictures 13 36 Some Like It Hot 1959 Ashton Productions, The Mirisch Company 14 22 Star Wars 1977 Lucasfilm 15 13 All About Eve 1950 20th Century-Fox 16 28 1951 Horizon Enterprises, Romulus Films 17 65 Psycho 1960 Shamley Productions 18 14 Chinatown 1974 Long Road Productions 19 21 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975 Fantasy Films 20 33 1940 20th Century-Fox 21 23 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 22 15 1941 Warner Bros. Pictures 23 31 Raging Bull 1980 Chartoff-Winkler Productions 24 4 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment 25 24 Dr. Strangelove 1964 Hawk Films, Polaris Productions 26 39 Bonnie and Clyde 1967 Tatira-Hiller Productions 27 42 Apocalypse Now 1979 Omni Zoetrope 28 30 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939 Columbia Pictures 29 26 1948 Warner Bros. Pictures 30 38 Annie Hall 1977 United Artists 31 35 1974 The Coppola Company 32 32 High Noon 1952 Stanley Kramer Productions 33 27 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962 Pakula-Mulligan Productions, Brentwood Productions 34 25 It Happened One Night 1934 Columbia Pictures 35 46 Midnight Cowboy 1969 Jerome Hellman Productions 36 43 1946 Samuel Goldwyn Productions 37 37 Double Indemnity 1944 Paramount Pictures 38 29 Doctor Zhivago 1965 Carlo Ponti Productions 39 North by Northwest 1959 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 40 55 West Side Story 1961 , Jerome Robbins Beta Productions, The Mirisch Company, Seven Arts Productions, B & P Enterprises 41 51 Rear Window 1954 Paramount Pictures, Patron 42 48 King Kong 1933 RKO Radio Pictures 43 41 1915 David W. Griffith Corp. 44 1951 Warner Bros. Pictures, Charles K. Feldman Productions 45 47 1971 Polaris Productions, Hawk Films 46 70 Taxi Driver 1976 B & P Enterprises, Italo-Judeo 47 52 Jaws 1975 Universal Pictures, Zanuck/Brown Company 48 56 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 Walt Disney Productions 49 34 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 Campanile Productions 50 73 1940 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 51 44 From Here to Eternity 1953 Columbia Pictures 52 Amadeus 1984 The Saul Zaentz Company 53 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 Universal Pictures 54 1965 Argyle Enterprises, 20th Century-Fox 55 40 M*A*S*H 1970 Aspen Productions 56 54 1949 London Film Productions 57 Fantasia 1940 Various Walt Disney Productions 58 Rebel Without a Cause 1955 Warner Bros. Pictures 59 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 Lucasfilm 60 66 Vertigo 1958 Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions, Paramount Pictures 61 9 Tootsie 1982 Mirage Enterprises, Punch Productions, Columbia Pictures, Delphi Productions 62 69 Stagecoach 1939 Walter Wanger Productions 63 Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 Columbia Pictures, EMI 64 1991 Strong Heart Productions, Orion Pictures 65 74 Network 1976 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artists 66 64 1962 M. C. Productions 67 An American in Paris 1951 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 68 Shane 1953 Paramount Pictures 69 45 1971 D'Antoni Productions 70 93 Forrest Gump 1994 The Tisch Company 71 76 Ben-Hur 1959 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 72 100 Wuthering Heights 1939 Samuel Goldwyn Productions 73 1925 Charles Chaplin Productions 74 58 Dances with Wolves 1990 TIG Productions, Majestic Films International 75 City Lights 1931 Charles Chaplin Productions 76 11 American Graffiti 1973 Coppola Co., Lucasfilm 77 62 Rocky 1976 Chartoff-Winkler Productions 78 57 1978 EMI 79 53 1969 Phil Feldman Productions, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts 80 79 Modern Times 1936 Charles Chaplin Film Corp. 81 78 Giant 1956 Warner Bros. Pictures 82 Platoon 1986 Hemdale Film Corporation 83 86 Fargo 1996 Working Title Films, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment 84 Duck Soup 1933 Paramount Productions 85 60 Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 86 Frankenstein 1931 Universal Pictures 87 Easy Rider 1969 The Pando Company, Raybert Productions 88 84 Patton 1970 20th Century-Fox 89 1927 Warner Bros. Pictures, The Vitaphone Corp. 90 My Fair Lady 1964 Warner Bros. Pictures 91 1951 Paramount Pictures 92 1960 The Mirisch Company 93 80 Goodfellas 1990 Warner Bros. Pictures, Irwin Winkler Productions 94 92 Pulp Fiction 1994 A Band Apart, Jersey Films, Miramax Films 95 94 1956 C.V. Whitney Pictures 96 12 Bringing Up Baby 1938 RKO Radio Pictures 97 88 Unforgiven 1992 The Malpaso Company 98 68 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 1967 Columbia Pictures 99 Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 Warner Bros. Pictures 100 98 1926 Buster Keaton Productions, Joseph M. Schenck Productions 18 Intolerance 1916 Reliance-Majestic Studios 49 2001 New Line Cinema, WingNut Films 50 Nashville 1975 ABC Motion Pictures 59 Sullivan's Travels 1941 Paramount Pictures 61 Cabaret 1972 ABC Pictures, Allied Artists 63 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966 Warner Bros. 67 Saving Private Ryan 1998 Amblin Entertainment, Paramount Pictures DreamWorks Pictures 71 1994 Castle Rock Entertainment 72 In the Heat of the Night 1967 The Mirisch Corporation 75 All the President's Men 1976 Wildwood Enterprises 77 Spartacus 1960 Bryna Productions, Universal Pictures 81 Sunrise 1927 Fox Film Corporation 82 Titanic 1997 Lightstorm Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Paramount Pictures 83 1935 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 85 1957 Orion-Nova Productions, United Artists 87 1999 Hollywood Pictures 89 Swing Time 1936 RKO Radio Pictures 90 Sophie's Choice 1982 ITC Entertainment 91 1971 BBS Productions 95 Do the Right Thing 1989 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks 96 Blade Runner 1982 The Ladd Company, Shaw Brothers 97 Toy Story 1995 Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios 99

2007 changes Twenty-three films were replaced in the 2007 tenth anniversary list. Doctor Zhivago, previously ranked #39, was the highest-ranked film to be dropped from the updated list, while The General at #18 was the highest-ranked new entry.

Broadcast history Presentation broadcast on CBS A 145-minute presentation of the 100 films aired on CBS on June 16, 1998.

Presentation broadcast on TNT A 460-minute version aired as a 10-part series on TNT, narrated by James Woods and hosted by American talents as follows:

Richard Gere hosted the episode "Against the Grain" Richard Gere hosted the episode "Beyond the Law" Sally Field hosted the episode "Family Portraits" Jodie Foster hosted the episode "In Search of..." Sally Field hosted the episode "Love Crazy" Richard Gere hosted the episode "War & Peace" Sally Field hosted the episode "The Wilder Shores of Love" Jodie Foster hosted the episode "The Antiheroes" Richard Gere hosted the episode "Out of Control" Jodie Foster hosted the episode "Fantastic Flights"

Presentation broadcast on TNT UK Another version of the same 460-minute program was produced by Monique De Villiers and John Heyman from A World Production company to British television and market featuring different interviews and each segment being hosted by British talents in the following order: Michael Caine hosted and narrated episode "Against the Grain" Ray Winstone hosted and narrated "Beyond the Law" Emily Watson hosted and narrated "Family Portraits" Richard Harris hosted and narrated "In Search of..." Joely Richardson hosted and narrated episode "Love Crazy" Jeremy Irons hosted and narrated episode "War and Peace" Liam Neeson hosted and narrated episode "The Wilder Shores of Love" Judi Dench hosted and narrated episode "The Anti-Heroes" Jude Law hosted and narrated episode "Out of Control" Helena Bonham Carter hosted and narrated "Fantastic Flights"

Criticisms As with awards, the list of those who vote and the final vote tally are not released to the public.

On June 26, 1998, the Chicago Reader published an article by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum which offers a detailed response to the movies in the AFI list, as well as criticism of the AFI's appropriation of British films, such as Lawrence of Arabia (albeit with aforementioned American funding) and The Third Man. Rosenbaum also produced an alternative list of 100 American movies that he felt had been overlooked by the AFI. Rosenbaum chose to present this alternative list alphabetically since to rank them according to merit would be "tantamount to ranking oranges over apples or declaring cherries superior to grapes."

The AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list includes three films from Rosenbaum's list (The General, Intolerance and Do the Right Thing), and the accompanying promotional poster lists the titles in alphabetical order.

See also BFI Top 100 British films List of films considered the best

References

External links AFI 100 Years...100 Movies (1998 edition) AFI 100 Years...100 Movies (2007 edition) List of the 400 nominated movies (1998 edition) List of the 400 nominated movies (2007 edition) Montreal Mirror editorial SFM Entertainment page on the special; includes video clip