# AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies

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 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 | Orson Welles | RKO Radio Pictures | 1 | 1 |
| Casablanca | 1942 | Michael Curtiz | Warner Bros. Pictures | 2 | 3 |
| The Godfather | 1972 | Francis Ford Coppola | Paramount Pictures, Alfran Productions | 3 | 2 |
| Gone with the Wind | 1939 | Victor Fleming | Selznick International Pictures | 4 | 6 |
| Lawrence of Arabia | 1962 | David Lean | Horizon Pictures | 5 | 7 |
| The Wizard of Oz | 1939 | Victor Fleming | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 6 | 10 |
| The Graduate | 1967 | Mike Nichols | Lawrence Turman | 7 | 17 |
| On the Waterfront | 1954 | Elia Kazan | Horizon-American Pictures | 8 | 19 |
| Schindler's List | 1993 | Steven Spielberg | Amblin Entertainment | 9 | 8 |
| Singin' in the Rain | 1952 | Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 10 | 5 |
| It's a Wonderful Life | 1946 | Frank Capra | Liberty Pictures | 11 | 20 |
| Sunset Boulevard | 1950 | Billy Wilder | Paramount Pictures | 12 | 16 |
| The Bridge on the River Kwai | 1957 | David Lean | Horizon-American Pictures | 13 | 36 |
| Some Like It Hot | 1959 | Billy Wilder | Ashton Productions, The Mirisch Company | 14 | 22 |
| Star Wars | 1977 | George Lucas | Lucasfilm | 15 | 13 |
| All About Eve | 1950 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 20th Century-Fox | 16 | 28 |
| The African Queen | 1951 | John Huston | Horizon Enterprises, Romulus Films | 17 | 65 |
| Psycho | 1960 | Alfred Hitchcock | Shamley Productions | 18 | 14 |
| Chinatown | 1974 | Roman Polanski | Long Road Productions | 19 | 21 |
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | 1975 | Miloš Forman | Fantasy Films | 20 | 33 |
| The Grapes of Wrath | 1940 | John Ford | 20th Century-Fox | 21 | 23 |
| 2001: A Space Odyssey | 1968 | Stanley Kubrick | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 22 | 15 |
| The Maltese Falcon | 1941 | John Huston | Warner Bros. Pictures | 23 | 31 |
| Raging Bull | 1980 | Martin Scorsese | Chartoff-Winkler Productions | 24 | 4 |
| E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | 1982 | Steven Spielberg | Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment | 25 | 24 |
| Dr. Strangelove | 1964 | Stanley Kubrick | Hawk Films, Polaris Productions | 26 | 39 |
| Bonnie and Clyde | 1967 | Arthur Penn | Tatira-Hiller Productions | 27 | 42 |
| Apocalypse Now | 1979 | Francis Ford Coppola | Omni Zoetrope | 28 | 30 |
| Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | 1939 | Frank Capra | Columbia Pictures | 29 | 26 |
| The Treasure of the Sierra Madre | 1948 | John Huston | Warner Bros. Pictures | 30 | 38 |
| Annie Hall | 1977 | Woody Allen | United Artists | 31 | 35 |
| The Godfather Part II | 1974 | Francis Ford Coppola | The Coppola Company | 32 | 32 |
| High Noon | 1952 | Fred Zinnemann | Stanley Kramer Productions | 33 | 27 |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | 1962 | Robert Mulligan | Pakula-Mulligan Productions, Brentwood Productions | 34 | 25 |
| It Happened One Night | 1934 | Frank Capra | Columbia Pictures | 35 | 46 |
| Midnight Cowboy | 1969 | John Schlesinger | Jerome Hellman Productions | 36 | 43 |
| The Best Years of Our Lives | 1946 | William Wyler | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | 37 | 37 |
| Double Indemnity | 1944 | Billy Wilder | Paramount Pictures | 38 | 29 |
| Doctor Zhivago | 1965 | David Lean | Carlo Ponti Productions | 39 | - |
| North by Northwest | 1959 | Alfred Hitchcock | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 40 | 55 |
| West Side Story | 1961 | Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins | Beta Productions, The Mirisch Company, Seven Arts Productions, B & P Enterprises | 41 | 51 |
| Rear Window | 1954 | Alfred Hitchcock | Paramount Pictures, Patron | 42 | 48 |
| King Kong | 1933 | Merian C. Cooper | RKO Radio Pictures | 43 | 41 |
| The Birth of a Nation | 1915 | D.W. Griffith | David W. Griffith Corp. | 44 | - |
| A Streetcar Named Desire | 1951 | Elia Kazan | Warner Bros. Pictures, Charles K. Feldman Productions | 45 | 47 |
| A Clockwork Orange | 1971 | Stanley Kubrick | Polaris Productions, Hawk Films | 46 | 70 |
| Taxi Driver | 1976 | Martin Scorsese | B & P Enterprises, Italo-Judeo | 47 | 52 |
| Jaws | 1975 | Steven Spielberg | Universal Pictures, Zanuck/Brown Company | 48 | 56 |
| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | 1937 | David Hand, et al. | Walt Disney Productions | 49 | 34 |
| Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | 1969 | George Roy Hill | Campanile Productions | 50 | 73 |
| The Philadelphia Story | 1940 | George Cukor | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 51 | 44 |
| From Here to Eternity | 1953 | Fred Zinnemann | Columbia Pictures | 52 | - |
| Amadeus | 1984 | Miloš Forman | The Saul Zaentz Company | 53 | - |
| All Quiet on the Western Front | 1930 | Lewis Milestone | Universal Pictures | 54 | - |
| The Sound of Music | 1965 | Robert Wise | Argyle Enterprises, 20th Century-Fox | 55 | 40 |
| M*A*S*H | 1970 | Robert Altman | Aspen Productions | 56 | 54 |
| The Third Man | 1949 | Carol Reed | London Film Productions | 57 | - |
| Fantasia | 1940 | Walt Disney | Walt Disney Productions | 58 | - |
| Rebel Without a Cause | 1955 | Nicholas Ray | Warner Bros. Pictures | 59 | - |
| Raiders of the Lost Ark | 1981 | Steven Spielberg | Lucasfilm | 60 | 66 |
| Vertigo | 1958 | Alfred Hitchcock | Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions, Paramount Pictures | 61 | 9 |
| Tootsie | 1982 | Sydney Pollack | Mirage Enterprises, Punch Productions, Columbia Pictures, Delphi Productions | 62 | 69 |
| Stagecoach | 1939 | John Ford | Walter Wanger Productions | 63 | - |
| Close Encounters of the Third Kind | 1977 | Steven Spielberg | Columbia Pictures, EMI | 64 | - |
| The Silence of the Lambs | 1991 | Jonathan Demme | Strong Heart Productions | 65 | 74 |
| Network | 1976 | Sidney Lumet | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artists | 66 | 64 |
| The Manchurian Candidate | 1962 | John Frankenheimer | M. C. Productions | 67 | - |
| An American in Paris | 1951 | Vincente Minnelli | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 68 | - |
| Shane | 1953 | George Stevens | Paramount Pictures | 69 | 45 |
| The French Connection | 1971 | William Friedkin | D'Antoni Productions | 70 | 93 |
| Forrest Gump | 1994 | Robert Zemeckis | The Tisch Company | 71 | 76 |
| Ben-Hur | 1959 | William Wyler | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 72 | 100 |
| Wuthering Heights | 1939 | William Wyler | Samuel Goldwyn Productions | 73 | - |
| The Gold Rush | 1925 | Charlie Chaplin | Charles Chaplin Productions | 74 | 58 |
| Dances with Wolves | 1990 | Kevin Costner | TIG Productions, Majestic Films International | 75 | - |
| City Lights | 1931 | Charlie Chaplin | Charles Chaplin Productions | 76 | 11 |
| American Graffiti | 1973 | George Lucas | Coppola Co., Lucasfilm | 77 | 62 |
| Rocky | 1976 | John G. Avildsen | Chartoff-Winkler Productions | 78 | 57 |
| The Deer Hunter | 1978 | Michael Cimino | EMI | 79 | 53 |
| The Wild Bunch | 1969 | Sam Peckinpah | Phil Feldman Productions, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts | 80 | 79 |
| Modern Times | 1936 | Charlie Chaplin | Charles Chaplin Film Corp. | 81 | 78 |
| Giant | 1956 | George Stevens | Warner Bros. Pictures | 82 | - |
| Platoon | 1986 | Oliver Stone | Hemdale Film Corporation | 83 | 86 |
| Fargo | 1996 | Joel Coen | Working Title Films | 84 | - |
| Duck Soup | 1933 | Leo McCarey | Paramount Productions | 85 | 60 |
| Mutiny on the Bounty | 1935 | Frank Lloyd | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 86 | - |
| Frankenstein | 1931 | James Whale | Universal Pictures | 87 | - |
| Easy Rider | 1969 | Dennis Hopper | The Pando Company, Raybert Productions | 88 | 84 |
| Patton | 1970 | Franklin J. Schaffner | 20th Century-Fox | 89 | - |
| The Jazz Singer | 1927 | Alan Crosland | Warner Bros. Pictures, The Vitaphone Corp. | 90 | - |
| My Fair Lady | 1964 | George Cukor | Warner Bros. Pictures | 91 | - |
| A Place in the Sun | 1951 | George Stevens | Paramount Pictures | 92 | - |
| The Apartment | 1960 | Billy Wilder | The Mirisch Company | 93 | 80 |
| Goodfellas | 1990 | Martin Scorsese | Warner Bros. Pictures, Irwin Winkler Productions | 94 | 92 |
| Pulp Fiction | 1994 | Quentin Tarantino | A Band Apart, Jersey Films | 95 | 94 |
| The Searchers | 1956 | John Ford | C.V. Whitney Pictures | 96 | 12 |
| Bringing Up Baby | 1938 | Howard Hawks | RKO Radio Pictures | 97 | 88 |
| Unforgiven | 1992 | Clint Eastwood | The Malpaso Company | 98 | 68 |
| Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | 1967 | Stanley Kramer | Columbia Pictures | 99 | - |
| Yankee Doodle Dandy | 1942 | Michael Curtiz | Warner Bros. Pictures | 100 | 98 |
| The General | 1926 | Buster Keaton | Buster Keaton Productions, Joseph M. Schenck Productions | - | 18 |
| Intolerance | 1916 | D.W. Griffith | Reliance-Majestic Studios | - | 49 |
| The Fellowship of the Ring | 2001 | Peter Jackson | New Line Cinema, WingNut Films | - | 50 |
| Nashville | 1975 | Robert Altman | ABC Motion Pictures | - | 59 |
| Sullivan's Travels | 1941 | Preston Sturges | Paramount Pictures | - | 61 |
| Cabaret | 1972 | Bob Fosse | ABC Pictures, Allied Artists | - | 63 |
| Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | 1966 | Mike Nichols | Warner Bros. | - | 67 |
| Saving Private Ryan | 1998 | Steven Spielberg | Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks Pictures | - | 71 |
| The Shawshank Redemption | 1994 | Frank Darabont | Castle Rock Entertainment | - | 72 |
| In the Heat of the Night | 1967 | Norman Jewison | The Mirisch Corporation | - | 75 |
| All the President's Men | 1976 | Alan J. Pakula | Wildwood Enterprises | - | 77 |
| Spartacus | 1960 | Stanley Kubrick | Bryna Productions | - | 81 |
| Sunrise | 1927 | F.W. Murnau | Fox Film Corporation | - | 82 |
| Titanic | 1997 | James Cameron | Lightstorm Entertainment, Paramount Pictures | - | 83 |
| A Night at the Opera | 1935 | Sam Wood | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | - | 85 |
| 12 Angry Men | 1957 | Sidney Lumet | Orion-Nova Productions | - | 87 |
| The Sixth Sense | 1999 | M. Night Shyamalan | Hollywood Pictures | - | 89 |
| Swing Time | 1936 | George Stevens | RKO Radio Pictures | - | 90 |
| Sophie's Choice | 1982 | Alan J. Pakula | ITC Entertainment | - | 91 |
| The Last Picture Show | 1971 | Peter Bogdanovich | BBS Productions | - | 95 |
| Do the Right Thing | 1989 | Spike Lee | 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks | - | 96 |
| Blade Runner | 1982 | Ridley Scott | The Ladd Company, Shaw Brothers | - | 97 |
| Toy Story | 1995 | John Lasseter | 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, 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 (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 five titles from Rosenbaum's list (including Do the Right Thing), and the accompanying promotional poster lists the titles in alphabetical order.