AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies

AFI 100 Years... series
1998 100 Movies
1999 100 Stars
2000 100 Laughs
2001 100 Thrills
2002 100 Passions
2003 100 Heroes and Villains
2004 100 Songs
2005 100 Movie Quotes
2005 Film Scores
2006 100 Cheers
2006 Movie Musicals
2007 100 Movies (Updated)
2008 AFI's 10 Top 10

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.

It was released in video in two versions: a 145-minute version, which aired on CBS, and a 460-minute version, which aired as a 10-part series on TNT. It was hosted by Jodie Foster, Richard Gere, Sally Field and narrated by James Woods. However, the following note is found on the AFI website, "NOTE: Due to licensing restrictions, the telecasts of the AFI 100...100 Series are not available for distribution or purchase on DVD or VHS." This apparent discrepancy may result from unclear use of the phrase "...released in video...", implying that the performance may be available for public purchase. AFI seems to clearly indicate this is not possible.

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.

Contents

Criteria

Films were judged according to the following criteria.

  1. Feature-length: Narrative format, at least 40 minutes long.
  2. 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 and Lawrence of Arabia, were British-made but funded and distributed by American studios.)
  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

Film Release Year 1998 rank 2007 rank
Citizen Kane 1941 1 1
Casablanca 1942 2 3
The Godfather 1972 3 2
Gone with the Wind 1939 4 6
Lawrence of Arabia 1962 5 7
The Wizard of Oz 1939 6 10
The Graduate 1967 7 17
On the Waterfront 1954 8 19
Schindler's List 1993 9 8
Singin' in the Rain 1952 10 5
It's a Wonderful Life 1946 11 20
Sunset Boulevard 1950 12 16
The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957 13 36
Some Like It Hot 1959 14 22
Star Wars 1977 15 13
All About Eve 1950 16 28
The African Queen 1951 17 65
Psycho 1960 18 14
The General 1927 — 18
Chinatown 1974 19 21
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975 20 33
The Grapes of Wrath 1940 21 23
2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 22 15
The Maltese Falcon 1941 23 31
Raging Bull 1980 24 4
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982 25 24
Dr. Strangelove 1964 26 39
Bonnie and Clyde 1967 27 42
Apocalypse Now 1979 28 30
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939 29 26
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 30 38
Annie Hall 1977 31 35
The Godfather Part II 1974 32 32
High Noon 1952 33 27
To Kill a Mockingbird 1962 34 25
It Happened One Night 1934 35 46
Midnight Cowboy 1969 36 43
The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 37 37
Double Indemnity 1944 38 29
Doctor Zhivago 1965 39 —
North by Northwest 1959 40 55
West Side Story 1961 41 51
Rear Window 1954 42 48
King Kong 1933 43 41
The Birth of a Nation 1915 44 —
A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 45 47
A Clockwork Orange 1971 46 70
Taxi Driver 1976 47 52
Jaws 1975 48 56
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 49 34
Intolerance 1916 — 49
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969 50 73
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001 — 50
The Philadelphia Story 1940 51 44
From Here to Eternity 1953 52 —
Amadeus 1984 53 —
All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 54 —
The Sound of Music 1965 55 40
MASH 1970 56 54
The Third Man 1949 57 —
Fantasia 1940 58 —
Rebel Without a Cause 1955 59 —
Nashville 1975 — 59
Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 60 66
Vertigo 1958 61 9
Sullivan's Travels 1941 — 61
Tootsie 1982 62 69
Stagecoach 1939 63 —
Cabaret 1972 — 63
Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 64 —
The Silence of the Lambs 1991 65 74
Network 1976 66 64
The Manchurian Candidate 1962 67 —
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966 — 67
An American in Paris 1951 68 —
Shane 1953 69 45
The French Connection 1971 70 93
Forrest Gump 1994 71 76
Saving Private Ryan 1998 — 71
Ben-Hur 1959 72 100
The Shawshank Redemption 1994 — 72
Wuthering Heights 1939 73 —
The Gold Rush 1925 74 58
Dances with Wolves 1990 75 —
In the Heat of the Night 1967 — 75
City Lights 1931 76 11
American Graffiti 1973 77 62
All the President's Men 1976 — 77
Rocky 1976 78 57
The Deer Hunter 1978 79 53
The Wild Bunch 1969 80 79
Modern Times 1936 81 78
Spartacus 1960 — 81
Giant 1956 82 —
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans 1927 — 82
Platoon 1986 83 86
Titanic 1997 — 83
Fargo 1996 84 —
Duck Soup 1933 85 60
A Night at the Opera 1935 — 85
Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 86 —
Frankenstein 1931 87 —
12 Angry Men 1957 — 87
Easy Rider 1969 88 84
Patton 1970 89 —
The Sixth Sense 1999 — 89
The Jazz Singer 1927 90 —
Swing Time 1936 — 90
My Fair Lady 1964 91 —
Sophie's Choice 1982 — 91
A Place in the Sun 1951 92 —
The Apartment 1960 93 80
Goodfellas 1990 94 92
Pulp Fiction 1994 95 94
The Last Picture Show 1971 — 95
The Searchers 1956 96 12
Do the Right Thing 1989 — 96
Bringing Up Baby 1938 97 88
Blade Runner 1982 — 97
Unforgiven 1992 98 68
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 1967 99 —
Toy Story 1995 — 99
Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 100 98

2007 update notes

Twenty-three films from the original top 100 films list were removed in 2007:

  1. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
  2. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
  3. From Here to Eternity (1953)
  4. Amadeus (1984)
  5. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
  6. The Third Man (1949)
  7. Fantasia (1940)
  8. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
  9. Stagecoach (1939)
  10. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
  11. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
  12. An American in Paris (1951)
  13. Wuthering Heights (1939)
  14. Dances with Wolves (1990)
  15. Giant (1956)
  16. Fargo (1996)
  17. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
  18. Frankenstein (1931)
  19. Patton (1970)
  20. The Jazz Singer (1927)
  21. My Fair Lady (1964)
  22. A Place in the Sun (1951)
  23. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Four films released between 1996–2006 were added:

  1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
  3. Titanic (1997)
  4. The Sixth Sense (1999)

Nineteen films made before 1996 were also added:

  1. The General (1926)
  2. Intolerance (1916)
  3. Nashville (1975)
  4. Sullivan's Travels (1941)
  5. Cabaret (1972)
  6. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
  7. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
  8. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
  9. All the President's Men (1976)
  10. Spartacus (1960)
  11. Sunrise (1927)
  12. A Night at the Opera (1935)
  13. 12 Angry Men (1957)
  14. Swing Time (1936)
  15. Sophie's Choice (1982)
  16. The Last Picture Show (1971)
  17. Do the Right Thing (1989)
  18. Blade Runner (1982)
  19. Toy Story (1995)

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 and The Third Man. Rosenbaum also produced an alternate list of 100 American movies that he felt had been overlooked by the AFI.[1] 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 five titles from Rosenbaum's list, and the accompanying promotional poster lists the titles in alphabetical order.

See also

References

  1. ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (June 26, 1998). "List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies". Chicago Reader. http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/100best.html. Retrieved 2008-06-03. 

External links