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THE TOP 100 AMERICAN MOVIES

This list of top 100 American movies comes from combining top 100 lists presented by AFI, Filmsite, Mr. Showbiz, Movieline Magazine, and Video Detective, all released between 1995 and now. For the most part, I do not know how these different organization came up with their lists and will make no claims as to their individual merits. I think though that arguably, this consensus list is superior to any of the individual lists that help form it. Still, I combined them to see how Americans see their own films in comparison to international opinion. One of the big differences between this list and the list for all films based on critics polled from all over the world is that the films here are much more populist. They are less oriented toward existential themes and humanism and more toward rugged individualism. They are less philosophical and more materialist. On one final note, some of the films on this list are more British than American, but I suppose they can be seen as a product of both countries, if not because of the filmmakers, then because of monetary sources.

1 Citizen Kane 1941 Welles 2 Casablanca 1942 Curtiz 3 Singin' in the Rain 1952 Kelly; Donen 4 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Kubrick 5 The Godfather 1972 Coppola 6 Gone With the Wind 1939 Fleming 7 Raging Bull 1980 Scorsese 8 The Godfather, Part II 1974 Coppola 9 Some Like It Hot 1959 Wilder 10 North By Northwest 1959 Hitchcock 11 It's A Wonderful Life 1946 Capra 12 Chinatown 1974 Polanski 13 The Wizard of Oz 1939 Fleming 14 Vertigo 1958 Hitchcock 15 Lawrence of Arabia 1962 Lean 16 All About Eve 1950 Mankiewicz 17 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned 1964 Kubrick to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 18 City Lights 1931 Chaplin 19 Rear Window 1954 Hitchcock 20 The Philadelphia Story 1940 Cukor 21 The Third Man 1949 Reed 22 The Searchers 1956 Ford 23 Psycho 1960 Hitchcock 24 The Maltese Falcon 1941 Huston 25 Sunset Blvd. 1950 Wilder 26 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial 1982 Spielberg 27 Apocalypse Now 1979 Coppola 28 Touch of Evil 1958 Welles 29 Annie Hall 1977 Allen 30 Double Indemnity 1944 Wilder 31 Schindler's List 1993 Spielberg 32 One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest 1975 Forman 33 The Graduate 1967 Nichols 34 Taxi Driver 1976 Scorsese 35 Star Wars 1977 Lucas 36 The Wild Bunch 1969 Peckinpah 37 On the Waterfront 1954 Kazan 38 The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957 Lean 39 Modern Times 1936 Chaplin 40 Manhattan 1979 Allen 41 The African Queen 1951 Huston 42 Stagecoach 1939 Ford 43 West Side Story 1961 Wise; Robbins 44 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948 Huston 45 Bonnie and Clyde 1967 Penn 46 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 Wyler 47 The Gold Rush 1925 Chaplin 48 Blade Runner 1982 Scott 49 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937 Sharpsteen 50 The Manchurian Candidate 1961 Frankenheimer 51 The Grapes of Wrath 1940 Ford 52 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939 Capra 53 The General 1927 Keaton 54 Sunrise 1927 Murnau 55 Notorious 1946 Hitchcock 56 The Magnificent Ambersons 1942 Welles 57 Night of the Hunter 1955 Laughton 58 Midnight Cowboy 1969 Schlesinger 59 Intolerance 1916 Griffith 60 Bringing Up Baby 1938 Hawks 61 Letter From an Unknown Woman 1948 Ophuls 62 Nashville 1975 Altman 63 It Happened One Night 1934 Capra 64 High Noon 1952 Zinnemann 65 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962 Mulligan 66 King Kong 1933 Cooper; Schoedsack 67 The Lady Eve 1941 Sturges 68 Paths of Glory 1957 Kubrick 69 The Big Sleep 1946 Hawks 70 Blue Velvet 1986 Lynch 71 Jaws 1975 Spielberg 72 A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 Kazan 73 An American In Paris 1951 Minnelli 74 Shane 1953 Stevens 75 Top Hat 1935 Sandrich 76 The Silence of the Lambs 1991 Demme 77 Ben-Hur 1959 Wyler 78 Wuthering Heights 1939 Wyler 79 My Darling Clementine 1946 Ford 80 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 Spielberg 81 A Clockwork Orange 1971 Kubrick 82 Greed 1924 Von Stroheim 83 The Palm Beach Story 1942 Sturges 84 Duck Soup 1933 McCarey 85 The Deer Hunter 1978 Cimino 86 Ninotchka 1939 Lubitsch 87 The Birth of a Nation 1915 Griffith 88 Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942 Curtiz 89 Meet Me in St. Louis 1944 Minnelli 90 Trouble in Paradise 1932 Lubitsch 91 His Girl Friday 1940 Hawks 92 Five Easy Pieces 1970 Rafelson 93 Rebecca 1940 Hitchcock 94 Sullivan's Travels 1941 Sturges 95 The Adventures of Robin Hood 1938 Curtiz 96 Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Hitchcock 97 A Star Is Born 1954 Cukor 98 Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid 1969 Hill 99 Amadeus 1984 Forman 100 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 Milestoneand the 10 that did not quite make it:101 The Sound of Music 1965 Wise 102 M*A*S*H 1970 Altman 103 Sherlock, Jr. 1924 Keaton 104 Fantasia 1941 Sharpsteen 105 East of Eden 1955 Kazan 106 Red River 1948 Hawks 107 The Empire Strikes Back 1980 Kershner 108 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 Ford 109 Sweet Smell of Success 1957 Mackendrick 110 Out of the Past 1947 Tourneur

I've seen all but 3 films on the list. It is a bit overstacked with Hitchcock (he has seven). While one has to take the exact ranking in these things with a grain of salt, in my opinion, the most overrated film here is The African Queen. The most underrated is Amadeus. Sturges' much made-of neglect on the AFI list is corrected here where he has three films. Personally though, aside from Sullivan's Travels, I've always thought Sturges overrated anyway. Keaton only gets in with The General while Sherlock, Jr. just misses. The list is certainly lacking in daring and nothing approaches the avant-garde. Leave the experimentation overseas I suppose.

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