AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies


The first of the AFI 100 Years... series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years... 100 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 was unveiled in 1998.

Criteria

Films were judged according to the following criteria:
  1. Feature length: Narrative format, at least 60 minutes long.
  2. American film: English language, with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States.
  3. Critical recognition: Formal commendation in print.
  4. Major award winner: Recognition from competitive events including awards from organizations in the film community and major film festivals.
  5. Popularity over time: Including figures for box office adjusted for inflation, television broadcasts and syndication, and home video sales and rentals.
  6. Historical significance: A film's mark on the history of the moving image through technical innovation, visionary narrative devices or other groundbreaking achievements.
  7. Cultural impact: A film's mark on American society in matters of style and substance.

    List

FilmRelease yearDirector1998 rank2007 rankChange
Citizen Kane1941Orson Welles11 0
Casablanca1942Michael Curtiz23 1
1972Francis Ford Coppola32 1
Gone with the Wind1939Victor Fleming46 2
Lawrence of Arabia1962David Lean57 2
1939Victor Fleming610 4
1967Mike Nichols717 10
On the Waterfront1954Elia Kazan819 11
Schindler's List1993Steven Spielberg98 1
Singin' in the Rain1952Gene Kelly105 5
It's a Wonderful Life1946Frank Capra1120 9
Sunset Boulevard1950Billy Wilder1216 4
1957David Lean1336 23
Some Like It Hot1959Billy Wilder1422 8
Star Wars1977George Lucas1513 2
All About Eve1950Joseph L. Mankiewicz1628 12
1951John Huston1765 48
Psycho1960Alfred Hitchcock1814 4
1926Buster Keaton—18—
Chinatown1974Roman Polanski1921 2
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest1975Miloš Forman2033 13
1940John Ford2123 2
'1968Stanley Kubrick2215 7
1941John Huston2331 8
Raging Bull1980Martin Scorsese244 20
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial1982Steven Spielberg2524 1
Dr. Strangelove1964Stanley Kubrick2639 13
Bonnie and Clyde1967Arthur Penn2742 15
Apocalypse Now1979Francis Ford Coppola2830 2
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington1939Frank Capra2926 3
1948John Huston3038 8
Annie Hall1977Woody Allen3135 4
1974Francis Ford Coppola3232 0
High Noon1952Fred Zinnemann3327 6
To Kill a Mockingbird1962Robert Mulligan3425 9
It Happened One Night1934Frank Capra3546 11
Midnight Cowboy1969John Schlesinger3643 7
1946William Wyler3737 0
Double Indemnity1944Billy Wilder3829 9
Doctor Zhivago1965David Lean39——
North by Northwest1959Alfred Hitchcock4055 15
West Side Story1961Robert Wise4151 10
Rear Window1954Alfred Hitchcock4248 6
King Kong1933Merian C. Cooper4341 2
1915D. W. Griffith44——
1951Elia Kazan4547 2
1971Stanley Kubrick4670 24
Taxi Driver1976Martin Scorsese4752 5
Jaws1975Steven Spielberg4856 8
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs1937David Hand, et al.4934 15
Intolerance1916D. W. Griffith—49—
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid1969George Roy Hill5073 23
2001Peter Jackson—50—
1940George Cukor5144 7
From Here to Eternity1953Fred Zinnemann52——
Amadeus1984Miloš Forman53——
All Quiet on the Western Front1930Lewis Milestone54——
1965Robert Wise5540 15
MASH1970Robert Altman5654 2
1949Carol Reed57——
Fantasia1940Walt Disney58——
Rebel Without a Cause1955Nicholas Ray59——
Nashville1975Robert Altman—59—
Raiders of the Lost Ark1981Steven Spielberg6066 6
Vertigo1958Alfred Hitchcock619 52
Sullivan's Travels1941Preston Sturges—61—
Tootsie1982Sydney Pollack6269 7
Stagecoach1939John Ford63——
Cabaret1972Bob Fosse—63—
Close Encounters of the Third Kind1977Steven Spielberg64——
1991Jonathan Demme6574 9
Network1976Sidney Lumet6664 2
1962John Frankenheimer67——
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?1966Mike Nichols—67—
An American in Paris1951Vincente Minnelli68——
Shane1953George Stevens6945 24
1971William Friedkin7093 23
Forrest Gump1994Robert Zemeckis7176 5
Saving Private Ryan1998Steven Spielberg—71—
Ben-Hur1959William Wyler72100 28
1994Frank Darabont—72—
Wuthering Heights1939William Wyler73——
1925Charlie Chaplin7458 16
Dances with Wolves1990Kevin Costner75——
In the Heat of the Night1967Norman Jewison—75—
City Lights1931Charlie Chaplin7611 65
American Graffiti1973George Lucas7762 15
All the President's Men1976Alan J. Pakula—77—
Rocky1976John G. Avildsen7857 21
1978Michael Cimino7953 26
1969Sam Peckinpah8079 1
Modern Times1936Charlie Chaplin8178 3
Spartacus1960Stanley Kubrick—81—
Giant1956George Stevens82——
'1927F. W. Murnau—82—
Platoon1986Oliver Stone8386 3
Titanic1997James Cameron—83—
Fargo1996Coen brothers84——
Duck Soup1933Leo McCarey8560 25
1935Sam Wood—85—
Mutiny on the Bounty1935Frank Lloyd86——
Frankenstein1931James Whale87——
12 Angry Men1957Sidney Lumet—87—
Easy Rider1969Dennis Hopper8884 4
Patton1970Franklin J. Schaffner89——
1999M. Night Shyamalan—89—
1927Alan Crosland90——
Swing Time1936George Stevens—90—
My Fair Lady1964George Cukor91——
Sophie's Choice1982Alan J. Pakula—91—
1951George Stevens92——
1960Billy Wilder9380 13
Goodfellas1990Martin Scorsese9492 2
Pulp Fiction1994Quentin Tarantino9594 1
1971Peter Bogdanovich—95—
1956John Ford9612 84
Do the Right Thing1989Spike Lee—96—
Bringing Up Baby1938Howard Hawks9788 9
Blade Runner1982Ridley Scott—97—
Unforgiven1992Clint Eastwood9868 30
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner1967Stanley Kramer99——
Toy Story1995John Lasseter—99—
Yankee Doodle Dandy1942Michael Curtiz10098 2

2007 update notes

Twenty-three films from the original top 100 films list were removed in 2007:
Four films released between 1996 and 2006 were added:
Nineteen films made before 1996 were also added:

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:
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:
An updated version of the list, billed as a 10th Anniversary edition, aired on CBS on June 20, 2007, and was hosted by Morgan Freeman.

Criticisms

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.
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 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 list includes five titles from Rosenbaum's list, and the accompanying promotional poster lists the titles in alphabetical order.