Broadsheet: AFI's Top 100 Movies

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly

Thursday, June 21, 2007

I realize that any list touting the Top 100 movies of all time is a highly subjective thing, but I have to say I agree with most of them. I was surprised at how many I have seen given that I don't care for war films in particular, and boxing films don't do much for me either. I wish there were more horror and comedy films on the list - genres always underrepresented. I mean, how can you have a list without the original "Dracula", or "Frankenstein", or the glaring exception of "Young Frankenstein". A lot of these I've caught up with on a rainy Sunday afternoon on cable. I've highlighted the dozen or so I haven't seen. Which ones haven't you seen yet?

1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.
2. "The Godfather," 1972.
3. "Casablanca," 1942.
4. "Raging Bull," 1980.
5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.
6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.
7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.
8. "Schindler's List," 1993.
9. "Vertigo," 1958.
10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.
11. "City Lights," 1931.
12. "The Searchers," 1956.
13. "Star Wars," 1977.
14. "Psycho," 1960.
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.
16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.
17. "The Graduate," 1967.
18. "The General," 1927.
19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.
20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.
21. "Chinatown," 1974.
22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.
23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.
24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.
27. "High Noon," 1952.
28. "All About Eve," 1950.
29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.
30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.
31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.
32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.
35. "Annie Hall," 1977.
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.
39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.
40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.
41. "King Kong," 1933.
42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.
43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.
44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.
45. "Shane," 1953.
46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.
48. "Rear Window," 1954.
49. "Intolerance," 1916.
50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.
51. "West Side Story," 1961.
52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.
53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
54. "M-A-S-H," 1970.
55. "North by Northwest," 1959.
56. "Jaws," 1975.
57. "Rocky," 1976.
58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.
59. "Nashville," 1975.
60. "Duck Soup," 1933.
61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.
62. "American Graffiti," 1973.
63. "Cabaret," 1972.
64. "Network," 1976.
65. "The African Queen," 1951.
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.
68. "Unforgiven," 1992.
69. "Tootsie," 1982.
70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.
71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.
72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.
74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.
75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.
76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.
77. "All the President's Men," 1976.
78. "Modern Times," 1936.
79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.
80. "The Apartment, 1960.
81. "Spartacus," 1960.
82. "Sunrise," 1927.
83. "Titanic," 1997.
84. "Easy Rider," 1969.
85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.
86. "Platoon," 1986.
87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.
88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.
89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.
90. "Swing Time," 1936.
91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.
92. "Goodfellas," 1990.
93. "The French Connection," 1971.
94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.
95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.
96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.
97. "Blade Runner," 1982.
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.
99. "Toy Story," 1995.
100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

posted by Broadsheet @ 6:27 PM

7 Editorial Opinions:

At June 21, 2007, tfg said…

This comment has been removed by the author.
At June 21, 2007, tfg said…

Were they smoking crack? Shaving Ryan's Privates is on the the same list as The Godfather?!? Where is Cool Hand Luke, Three Days of the Condor and Absence of Malice? As far as I'm concerned, Hollywood has pumped out nothing but crap for the last 20 years.
At June 22, 2007, acw said…

Wow, except for Private Ryan we've both missed the same movies. Weird.

Also, I agree with TFG.

Also, I think in a pinch a few of these could be considered "horror", or at least horror's cousin "thriller".
At June 22, 2007, Anonymous said…

About 1/3 of that list I never got a chance to see or deliberately avoided (Musicals, especially).

E.T.? Bored of The Rings?

Where's Miller's Crossing, Dog Day Afternoon, Fight Club, or Touch Of Evil?
At June 22, 2007, Anonymous said…

Greatest movie ever "The Best Years of Our Lives" Whenever I catch it on cable, no matter what time of the night it is - I HAVE to stay up and watch it !!!
At June 29, 2007, Anonymous said…

Thank you so much for posting these movies!! I was trying to watch all the classics like Citizen Kane. I saw the list in Butler Eagle and cut it out but lost it. Thands again.
At July 19, 2007, Anonymous said…

Umm these films are on here for different reasons than you all think. No doubt Fight Club is a great movie, it is a cult film. There is a problem with how you see the greatest movies than what AFI sees as a great movie. For instance number 44 was once the birth of a nation which is a racist film about black people hurting the advancement of America. The reason it is on there is because of its new cutting edge cineamaphotography.