# AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers

100 Years… 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies is a list of the most inspiring films as determined by the American Film Institute. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series, which has been compiling lists of the greatest films of all time in various categories since 1998. It was unveiled on a three-hour prime time special on CBS television on June 14, 2006.
The films were selected by a jury of over 1,500 people involved in the film industry, who were polled in November 2005.

## The list

| # | Movies | Director | Year |
| 1 | It's a Wonderful Life | Frank Capra | 1946 |
| 2 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Robert Mulligan | 1962 |
| 3 | Schindler's List | Steven Spielberg | 1993 |
| 4 | Rocky | John G. Avildsen | 1976 |
| 5 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Frank Capra | 1939 |
| 6 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Steven Spielberg | 1982 |
| 7 | The Grapes of Wrath | John Ford | 1940 |
| 8 | Breaking Away | Peter Yates | 1979 |
| 9 | Miracle on 34th Street | George Seaton | 1947 |
| 10 | Saving Private Ryan | Steven Spielberg | 1998 |
| 11 | The Best Years of Our Lives | William Wyler | 1946 |
| 12 | Apollo 13 | Ron Howard | 1995 |
| 13 | Hoosiers | David Anspaugh | 1986 |
| 14 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | David Lean | 1957 |
| 15 | The Miracle Worker | Arthur Penn | 1962 |
| 16 | Norma Rae | Martin Ritt | 1979 |
| 17 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Miloš Forman | 1975 |
| 18 | The Diary of Anne Frank | George Stevens | 1959 |
| 19 | The Right Stuff | Philip Kaufman | 1983 |
| 20 | Philadelphia | Jonathan Demme | 1993 |
| 21 | In the Heat of the Night | Norman Jewison | 1967 |
| 22 | The Pride of the Yankees | Sam Wood | 1942 |
| 23 | The Shawshank Redemption | Frank Darabont | 1994 |
| 24 | National Velvet | Clarence Brown | 1944 |
| 25 | Sullivan's Travels | Preston Sturges | 1941 |
| 26 | The Wizard of Oz | Victor Fleming | 1939 |
| 27 | High Noon | Fred Zinnemann | 1952 |
| 28 | Field of Dreams | Phil Alden Robinson | 1989 |
| 29 | Gandhi | Richard Attenborough | 1982 |
| 30 | Lawrence of Arabia | David Lean | 1962 |
| 31 | Glory | Edward Zwick | 1989 |
| 32 | Casablanca | Michael Curtiz | 1942 |
| 33 | City Lights | Charlie Chaplin | 1931 |
| 34 | All the President's Men | Alan J. Pakula | 1976 |
| 35 | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | Stanley Kramer | 1967 |
| 36 | On the Waterfront | Elia Kazan | 1954 |
| 37 | Forrest Gump | Robert Zemeckis | 1994 |
| 38 | Pinocchio | Ben Sharpsteen Hamilton Luske | 1940 |
| 39 | Star Wars | George Lucas | 1977 |
| 40 | Mrs. Miniver | William Wyler | 1942 |
| 41 | The Sound of Music | Robert Wise | 1965 |
| 42 | 12 Angry Men | Sidney Lumet | 1957 |
| 43 | Gone with the Wind | Victor Fleming | 1939 |
| 44 | Spartacus | Stanley Kubrick | 1960 |
| 45 | On Golden Pond | Mark Rydell | 1981 |
| 46 | Lilies of the Field | Ralph Nelson | 1963 |
| 47 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | Stanley Kubrick | 1968 |
| 48 | The African Queen | John Huston | 1951 |
| 49 | Meet John Doe | Frank Capra | 1941 |
| 50 | Seabiscuit | Gary Ross | 2003 |
| 51 | The Color Purple | Steven Spielberg | 1985 |
| 52 | Dead Poets Society | Peter Weir | 1989 |
| 53 | Shane | George Stevens | 1953 |
| 54 | Rudy | David Anspaugh | 1993 |
| 55 | The Defiant Ones | Stanley Kramer | 1958 |
| 56 | Ben-Hur | William Wyler | 1959 |
| 57 | Sergeant York | Howard Hawks | 1941 |
| 58 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Steven Spielberg | 1977 |
| 59 | Dances with Wolves | Kevin Costner | 1990 |
| 60 | The Killing Fields | Roland Joffé | 1984 |
| 61 | Sounder | Martin Ritt | 1972 |
| 62 | Braveheart | Mel Gibson | 1995 |
| 63 | Rain Man | Barry Levinson | 1988 |
| 64 | The Black Stallion | Carroll Ballard | 1979 |
| 65 | A Raisin in the Sun | Daniel Petrie | 1961 |
| 66 | Silkwood | Mike Nichols | 1983 |
| 67 | The Day the Earth Stood Still | Robert Wise | 1951 |
| 68 | An Officer and a Gentleman | Taylor Hackford | 1982 |
| 69 | The Spirit of St. Louis | Billy Wilder | 1957 |
| 70 | Coal Miner's Daughter | Michael Apted | 1980 |
| 71 | Cool Hand Luke | Stuart Rosenberg | 1967 |
| 72 | Dark Victory | Edmund Goulding | 1939 |
| 73 | Erin Brockovich | Steven Soderbergh | 2000 |
| 74 | Gunga Din | George Stevens | 1939 |
| 75 | The Verdict | Sidney Lumet | 1982 |
| 76 | Birdman of Alcatraz | John Frankenheimer | 1962 |
| 77 | Driving Miss Daisy | Bruce Beresford | 1989 |
| 78 | Thelma & Louise | Ridley Scott | 1991 |
| 79 | The Ten Commandments | Cecil B. DeMille | 1956 |
| 80 | Babe | Chris Noonan | 1995 |
| 81 | Boys Town | Norman Taurog | 1938 |
| 82 | Fiddler on the Roof | Norman Jewison | 1971 |
| 83 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Frank Capra | 1936 |
| 84 | Serpico | Sidney Lumet | 1973 |
| 85 | What's Love Got to Do with It | Brian Gibson | 1993 |
| 86 | Stand and Deliver | Ramón Menéndez | 1988 |
| 87 | Working Girl | Mike Nichols | 1988 |
| 88 | Yankee Doodle Dandy | Michael Curtiz | 1942 |
| 89 | Harold and Maude | Hal Ashby | 1971 |
| 90 | Hotel Rwanda | Terry George | 2004 |
| 91 | The Paper Chase | James Bridges | 1973 |
| 92 | Fame | Alan Parker | 1980 |
| 93 | A Beautiful Mind | Ron Howard | 2001 |
| 94 | Captains Courageous | Victor Fleming | 1937 |
| 95 | Places in the Heart | Robert Benton | 1984 |
| 96 | Searching for Bobby Fischer | Steven Zaillian | 1993 |
| 97 | Madame Curie | Mervyn LeRoy | 1943 |
| 98 | The Karate Kid | John G. Avildsen | 1984 |
| 99 | Ray | Taylor Hackford | 2004 |
| 100 | Chariots of Fire | Hugh Hudson | 1981 |