100 GREATEST AMERICAN MOVIES
100 Years...100 Movies
10th Anniversary Edition

The Winners





The American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California, in 2007 honored and updated its "definitive selection of the 100 greatest American movies of all time" from its 1998 list, as determined by more than 1,500 leaders from the American film community. See the entire winners list below for 2007.

See this site's AFI's 100 Greatest American Films - 1998
Commentary on AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies (original)
The original 400 Greatest American Films (nominees)

The 400 Nominated Films (for the 10th Anniversary Edition) were feature-length fictional movies produced between 1912 and 1996 with newly-eligible films from 1996 to 2006.

Judgment Criteria for Selection of 100 Greatest American Movies (10th Anniversary Edition):

  • Feature-length: Narrative format typically over 60 minutes in length.
  • American film: English language, with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States.
  • Critical Recognition: Formal commendation in print, television, and digital media.
  • Major Award Winner: Recognition from competitive events including awards from peer groups, critics, guilds and major film festivals.
  • Popularity Over Time: This includes success at the box office, television and cable airings, and DVD/VHS sales and rentals.
  • Historical Significance: A film's mark on the history of the moving image through visionary narrative devices, technical innovation or other groundbreaking achievements.
  • Cultural Impact: A film's mark on American society in matters of style and substance.
AFI's 100 Greatest American Films - 2007 List
See also AFI's 100 Greatest American Films (original, 1998)
1.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Welles broke all the rules and invented some new ones with his searing story of a newspaper publisher with an uncanny resemblance to William Randolph Hearst.
51.
West Side Story (1961)
The Romeo and Juliet tale gets resurfaced on the streets of New York with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, based on their breakthrough Broadway hit. The Sharks and the Jets mix it up for some of the most memorable dance sequences in film history.
2.
The Godfather (1972)
Brando is Don Vito Corleone, the sympathetic head of a New York crime family, whose business it is to make offers people can't refuse. His son Michael's true nature is revealed at the end, when a christening is intercut with a bloodbath that cements his new position within the family.
52.
Taxi Driver (1976)
De Niro is Travis Bickle, a New York City cab driver whose rage builds in a lonely, dark world, until his attempt to befriend and free Foster's 12-year-old prostitute from her pimp culminates in a violent shootout. "You talkin' to me?"
3.
Casablanca (1942)
Bogart is jaded idealist Rick Blaine, an American nightclub owner in French Morocco who sacrifices the love of a lifetime to join the world's fight against the Nazis. "Here's looking at you, kid."
53.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The effects of the Vietnam war on a tightly knit community challenge the bonds of friendship and love. A game of Russian Roulette, first played in a POW camp, temporarily reunites De Niro with his estranged friend Walken in a back alley of Saigon.
4.
Raging Bull (1980)
De Niro is Jake LaMotta, the middleweight boxing champ whose opponents in the ring are no match for the demons he fights in his personal life. The film is often noted for Thelma Schoonmaker's achievement in editing.
54.
M*A*S*H (1970)
Altman's episodic antiwar film about a mobile medical unit during the Korean War gave American audiences a reason to laugh at the height of Vietnam. The overlapping dialogue and irreverent story thumbed its nose at all things political and pushed the boundaries of filmmaking.
5.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
This musical set in Hollywood during the conversion from silent to sound films has Kelly singing, dancing and splashing in puddles. Reynolds and O'Connor lend support in some of the most delightful song and dance numbers ever filmed.
55.
North By Northwest (1959)
Grant is the Hitchcockian everyman caught up in something he doesn't understand as he travels from New York to Mount Rushmore in this mire of spies, counterspies and romance.
6.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Selznick poured his heart and soul into the filming of Margaret Mitchell's bestseller about the Old South, the Civil War and Reconstruction. The burning of Atlanta was a high-water mark for screen excitement, as well as Rhett Butler's delivery of Hollywood's first four-letter word, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!"
56.
Jaws (1975)
A great white shark terrorizes the resort town of Amity. Spielberg shot some scenes at water level, making the audience feel as though they were treading water. John Williams' pulsating score still haunts swimmers around the world.
7.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
During World War I, young English officer T. E. Lawrence comes to believe he can give Arabia back to the Arabs. The movie made O'Toole a star and introduced Sharif to an international audience.
57.
Rocky (1976)
No one believes a loser like Rocky Balboa can go the distance. When world heavyweight champ Apollo Creed wants to fight an "unknown," Rocky gets his shot in the ring and at love. "Yo, Adrian!"
8.
Schindler's List (1993)
The film is based on the true, complex, and often puzzling story of Oskar Schindler, the Sudeten German industrialist who saved hundreds of Jews from the gas chambers during the Holocaust. "This list is an absolute good. The list is life."
58.
The Gold Rush (1925)
In one of his most famous films, lone Alaskan prospector Chaplin attempts to stave off hunger by dining on his shoe, much to the consternation of cabin mate Swain, who imagines that Charlie is a giant chicken.
9.
Vertigo (1958)
Stewart's fear of heights, Novak's woman of mystery, Bernard Herrmann's haunting score, and the city of San Francisco provide Hitchcock with a great love story and sexual obsession on a grand psychological level.
59.
Nashville (1975)
A grab bag of over twenty characters from politics and country-western music collide as the United States celebrates the Bicentennial in the capital of country music. Altman casts his director's eye on the overlapping stories, from a populist candidate to a music songbird on the verge of collapse, which ultimately end in a dramatic climax.
10.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Garland's Dorothy Gale is transported from her black-and-white Kansas home to the colorful land of Oz via tornado. From here she journeys down the Yellow Brick Road and is helped by a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion on their way to see the Wizard. The Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg score is highlighted by Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
60.
Duck Soup (1933)
The Brothers Marx defend Freedonia, with their own brand of anarchy and satire in this antiwar comedy that's a combination of Gilbert and Sullivan and vaudeville. Groucho and Harpo had perfected their "mirror gag" on stage and brought it to Depression-era audiences sorely in need of a laugh.
11.
City Lights (1931)
This silent masterpiece was released three years after the start of talkies. In this Chaplin classic, the Little Tramp falls hopelessly in love with a blind flower seller, risking everything to gain money for her much-needed operation.
61.
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Hugely successful film director John L. Sullivan wants to make a picture that means something, "A true canvas of human suffering." What he learns on his journey, as he becomes the architect of his own story is: "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan."
12.
The Searchers (1956)
Ford's landmark saga is a quest to find a child abducted by Comanches right after the Civil War. Wayne, an Indian-hating ex-soldier, wages an internal battle while devoting years to searching for his niece, abducted during an Indian raid.
62.
American Graffiti (1973)
One night in the life of some high school grads becomes a turning point on the road to adulthood. Lucas' breakthrough film featured an ensemble cast of future stars and a non-stop soundtrack of 1950s and '60s hits.
13.
Star Wars (1977)
A landmark science fiction fantasy about a young man, Luke Skywalker, who finds his calling as a Jedi warrior and with the help of "droids" and an outlaw named Han Solo embarks on a mission to rescue a princess and save the galaxy from the Dark Side. "May the force be with you."
63.
Cabaret (1972)
"Willkommen" to 1930s Berlin and the Kit Kat Club, where mischievous emcee Grey holds court and American entertainer Sally Bowles, played by Minnelli, lives life in divine decadence as the Nazis rise in power.
14.
Psycho (1960)
Leigh is on the lam with stolen money and makes the mistake of checking into the Bates Motel, run by Perkins...and his mother. Hitchcock's horror film is best remembered for the shower scene and Bernard Herrmann's chilling score.
64.
Network (1976)
Low ratings make for angry shareholders and veteran news anchorman Howard Beale takes the fall. But his rant, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," suddenly changes the picture and the lives of everyone at fourth-place UBS.
15.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Kubrick's science fiction epic puts mankind in context between ape and space voyager. The film created a stir for its special effects, the computer HAL, and the debate about the meaning of the film's final sequence.
65.
The African Queen (1951)
Hepburn's a spinster who's spent her life saving souls for God and Bogart's a Godless soul in need of saving. Stuck onboard The African Queen at the outbreak of World War I, they ride the rapids, outsmart the Germans and find true love on location in the middle of Africa.
16.
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Struggling writer Holden hides out from car repossessors in the ancient mansion of aging silent star Swanson ("I am big. It's the pictures that got small."). He sees a lucrative break for himself when she wants to make a return to the screen, but he is unaware of the price he will have to pay.
66.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Lucas and Spielberg's cliff hanging, action-adventure, propels archaeologist Indiana Jones across five continents in a race against the Nazis to find the Ark of the Covenant.
17.
The Graduate (1967)
Benjamin Braddock is confused and alienated, stuck in a fishbowl like so many of his peers. It only gets worse when he sinks into an affair with Mrs. Robinson and falls in love with her daughter, Elaine. If only he had followed the advice of his father's friend, and gone into "Plastics." Simon and Garfunkel's songs spoke to a whole new generation of filmgoers.
67.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Edward Albee's grueling play about marriage and deception features Taylor and Burton as battling spouses Martha and George who spend one Saturday night pouring out bitterness and recriminations when they invite a younger couple over for a drink.
18.
The General (1927)
Keaton's must retrieve his train from Union soldiers during the Civil War. What he doesn't know is that his girlfriend Annabelle is aboard. It's a race against time, but Keaton saves the day, ending in one of the silent era's most iconic images, Keaton seated on the moving wheels of The General.
68.
Unforgiven (1992)
Eastwood directs and stars as a formerly notorious gunslinger forced to return to his murderous ways after his wife dies and his family needs money. The film was noted for challenging the morality of Western stereotypes created by American film.
19.
On the Waterfront (1954)
Brando, a longshoreman who "coulda been a contender," rebels against his brother and corruption on the New York City docks in this powerful story that mirrors the political climate of the early 1950s.
69.
Tootsie (1982)
Hoffman stars in this comedy about a temperamental out-of-work actor who puts on a dress and lands the role of a lifetime in a TV soap opera. Love interest Lange and her lonely father make situations even more complicated in this gender-bending love story.
20.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
This holiday classic features a complex performance by Stewart as a suicidal man redeemed by friendship and the recognition that each man's life touches many others. Remember—every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.
70.
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Alex and his "droogs" terrorize the back alleys of London in this dark satire based on Anthony Burgess' stunning novel. After his capture and incarceration, an experimental aversion therapy seems to have "cured" Alex for good, but not in the expected manner, as it includes Beethoven's "gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh!"
21.
Chinatown (1974)
An evocative score is the backdrop for 1930s Los Angeles. Nicholson is a private eye investigating the murder of Dunaway's husband. But that's just the tip of Towne's unforgettable screenplay, where water rights, land deals and corruption clash with the unbearable secrets between a father and daughter on a lonely street in Chinatown. "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."
71.
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
All of Private James Ryan's brothers have been killed in the line of duty. A unit of war-weary soldiers is forced to risk their lives to find the young man and bring him home. The film was a realistic and uncompromising account of the war often romanticized by Hollywood.
22.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
A couple of guys on the run from the mob dress in drag and join an all-girl band. But when they meet Monroe's Sugar 'Kane' Kowalczyk, ("Look how she moves! It's like Jell-O on springs!"), they're a couple of goners. "Well, nobody's perfect."
72.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Banker Robbins is wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in a harsh Maine prison, which drips with corruption. His intelligence helps him gain the respect of his fellow inmates, including Freeman's entrepreneurial "Red," while secretly devising a plan to escape.
23.
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
This moving Depression-era social drama based on John Steinbeck's novel follows the hopeful migration of workers from the Oklahoma dust bowl through their subsequent disillusionment upon reaching California. Fonda's haunting last words to his mother, "Wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there," embody his family's enduring spirit.
73.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The chemistry of Newman and Redford redefined the buddy movie. Goldman's script follows Butch and Sundance as they rob banks from the Old West all the way to Bolivia, making heroes out of anti-heroes. The movie's key song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" is a fun counterpart to the actual plight of our friends.
24.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Elliot is a young boy from a broken home who discovers an extra-terrestrial creature that has been stranded on earth—light years from home. Together they form a universal friendship, and Elliot helps E.T. "phone home."
74.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
"I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti," hisses Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant serial killer engaged by Foster's FBI agent in an effort to capture another killer on the loose.
25.
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
Foote adapted Harper Lee's award-winning novel into one of Peck's most memorable movies. Seen through the eyes of his young daughter, Atticus Finch defends an innocent black man accused of rape in a racially divided Alabama town during the Depression.
75.
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Poitier is Virgil Tibbs, the Philadelphia detective drawn into a Mississippi murder case no one knows how to handle. Quincy Jones' evocative jazz score punctuates the heat and bigotry, but it is Poitier's "They call me Mister Tibbs!" and the slap heard 'round the world that made audiences cheer.
26.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Appointed to the US Senate because the power brokers believe they've got a hayseed on their hands, Jefferson Smith surprises everyone with his honesty and gravitas. Framed by the political machine that cleverly twists the truth, Smith almost waves a white flag, but Clarissa Saunders gives him a fast lesson in civics. Filibuster!!!
76.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest will tell his story to anyone who will listen. Mentally challenged, he seems to be at the right place at the right time meeting everyone from JFK to Elvis to John Lennon and doesn't understand his good fortune. Breakthroughs in technology allowed Zemekis to digitally alter history to fit the world of Forrest Gump.
27.
High Noon (1952)
On his wedding day, Cooper is forced to face an old enemy alone as the people of his town turn their backs on him. His Quaker bride Kelly ultimately comes to his aid as the clock ticks toward noon and the inevitable shootout.
77.
All the President's Men (1976)
Both a taut political thriller and detective story, Redford and Hoffman are Woodward and Bernstein, the two novice Washington Post reporters who uncovered the Watergate break-in and cover-up.
28.
All About Eve (1950)
Vanity almost gets the best of aging actress Davis when a ruthless young hopeful worms her way into all aspects of her life. Mankiewicz's biting script of ambition and betrayal in the New York theatre gave Davis her best role in years and some of her most memorable lines: "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night!"
78.
Modern Times (1936)
Chaplin speaks! And ends the silent era with this film about a little man working on an assembly line, who is literally caught in the hub of an industrialized society, and after several trips to the hospital and jail, ultimately finds happiness with a kindred soul.
29.
Double Indemnity (1944)
Wilder's searing adaptation of James M. Cain's novel of duplicity and murder gave "nice guy" MacMurray a shot at film noir. He is the insurance agent seduced by Stanwyck into murdering her husband so that she can file an accident claim.
79.
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Aging outlaws and relentless bounty hunters converge at the US-Mexico border in 1913. Slow-motion action violence became Peckinpah's calling card after the success of this Western masterpiece.
30.
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Coppola and Milius based their script loosely on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Search and destroy; terminate with extreme prejudice—this is Sheen's mission. But it is the insanity of the Vietnam war ("I love the smell of napalm in the morning...") that really blows his mind. By the time he reaches renegade Green Beret Brando, his crew is dead, and he has nearly become the man he was sent to kill.
80.
The Apartment (1960)
Wilder's wry take on corporate America skewers the climb through the bedroom to the boardroom. Lemmon is a career-climbing executive who offers his boss' the use of his apartment for an extra-marital fling. His foolproof plan falls apart when he falls in love with his boss's girlfriend. "That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise!"
31.
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Bogart's Sam Spade is the detective whose partner is murdered. The cops are after him and he's after the woman who hired his partner, which leads them to Greenstreet and Lorre, who are all after a priceless statuette. Bogart suggested the take on Shakespeare: “The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of."
81.
Spartacus (1960)
Kubrick's historic epic stars Douglas in the title role of the slave who leads a rebellion for freedom against the rulers of the Roman Empire. "I am Spartacus!"
32.
The Godfather Part II (1974)
This sequel to The Godfather (1972) shows us the world of the Corleones before and after the events shown in the first film, with new godfather Michael struggling to bring his family into the modern age. In the film's extended flashback sequences, De Niro is the young Vito as he gains power in the New York City mafia.
82.
Sunrise (1927)
Murnau's shattering film of redemption and forgiveness is told in a simple story of a married farmer, lured to the big city by a "wicked woman. " A cavalcade of urban images and horrific storms almost destroy the farmer when he thinks his wife is lost at sea in this expressionistic masterpiece.
33.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Nicholson is a troublemaker committed to a mental institution who sparks new life in the downtrodden inmates, giving them purpose and self-worth. His war on the system is fought at every step by Fletcher's Nurse Ratched.
83.
Titanic (1997)
Cameron's fictionalized account of the "ship of dreams" was both a grand love story and a monumental visual effects undertaking. "I'm king of the world!"
34.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Disney's first full-length animated feature still resonates with audiences young and old as the beautiful young princess is saved from the wicked queen by the dwarfs who whistle while they work.
84.
Easy Rider (1969)
Fonda and Hopper, better known as Captain America and Wyatt, hit the road on their choppers to find an America bitterly divided by the Vietnam war. On the way they pick up Nicholson, who gets turned on and tuned in. The original independent film was an anthem for the 1960s'cultural dialogue on freedom, individualism and patriotism.
35.
Annie Hall (1977)
Alvy Singer has more hang-ups than most neurotic New Yorkers. When he meets his polar opposite, the dingy Annie Hall ("La-di-da, la-di-da"), the die-hard city dweller winds up in a foreign country called Los Angeles! This comedy also launched a women's fashion trend on Annie Hall's "look."
85.
A Night at the Opera (1935)
The Marx Brothers take on opera and give a drubbing to anyone who gets in their way. Some of the team's most famous comic moments are from this film: rearranging the bedroom furniture, Chico and Groucho tearing up the contract, and the overstuffed stateroom scene, where 15 people crowd inside!
36.
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Guinness is the rigid British officer who refuses to bow to torture in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. Holden is an American who escapes from the camp, then must return to sabotage the bridge being constructed to perfection by POWs, now inspired by Guinness' command! "Madness! Madness!"
86.
Platoon (1986)
Based on Stone's own experiences as a grunt in Vietnam, Sheen is a young man from a privileged background who suddenly finds himself stuck between two officers with opposing ideas of right and wrong in a war filled with uncertainties. The conflict within a conflict results in the massacre of a village.
37.
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Released immediately after the World War II, Wyler's story of three men returning from war was the right film at the right time—mirroring the experiences of so many soldiers adjusting to a new life. Russell, a young vet who lost his hands, plays a man trying to figure out if he can pick up the pieces of his old life.
87.
12 Angry Men (1957)
In a jury room, Fonda methodically faces class and racial prejudices, and convinces eleven other jurors to change their verdict from guilty to not guilty, thus enabling an innocent young man to go free.
38.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Huston's classic tale of greed is both an adventure and Western. Three mismatched prospectors rummage the hills of Tampico, Mexico, for that elusive pot of gold. Once they strike it rich, suspicion takes over and destroys their lives. The writer/director gave his father one of his best parts on film.
88.
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Hepburn's heiress is mad for Grant's uptight paleontologist. The plot and characters define screwball comedy, not the least of which involves a pet leopard who can be soothed by listening to "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby."
39.
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Kubrick's black comedy focuses on an American president, played by Sellers in one of his three roles, who must contend with a Soviet nuclear attack on the United States and his own maniacal staff, including Scott's memorable General Turgidson. "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."
89.
The Sixth Sense (1999)
"I see dead people." That's what young Cole Sears claims. At first, psychologist Malcolm Crowe thinks the boy is seeing things. Little by little he begins to understand.
40.
The Sound of Music (1965)
Andrews is Maria, a nun who becomes governess to the Von Trapp family in this film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical. Maria falls in love with the children and their handsome widowed father just as Austria is being annexed by the Nazis. The film's songs include the title song, Do-Re-Mi and Climb Every Mountain.
90.
Swing Time (1936)
Prospective groom Astaire misses his wedding and must prove that he is marriage material. He heads to NYC, where he dances his heart out with Rogers to the songs of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. Every song advances the plot and the courtship of two hoofers looking for A Fine Romance.
41.
King Kong (1933)
With a mixture of live action, animation, and special effects, this film follows the plight of a giant ape whose love for the beautiful Wray leads to his death, as he topples from the Empire State Building. But it wasn't the airplanes that killed the mighty Kong— "It was beauty killed the beast."
91.
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Streep is a Polish immigrant living in Brooklyn with her flamboyant lover, played by Kline, and their Southern writer friend, Stingo. The more Sophie reflects on her painful life, the more she is haunted by her years in a concentration camp and the unthinkable decision she was forced to make.
42.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
"We rob banks!" Dunaway and Beatty star in this story of real-life 1930s bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, a film that mixed romance, adventure, glamour, comedy and violence in a way never seen before.
92.
GoodFellas (1990)
This gangster film for modern day is based on the true story of Henry Hill, played by Liotta, who dreamed as a kid of becoming a member of the glamorous mob who ran his New York City neighborhood. De Niro and Pesci are members of the family he ascends to, until he breaks the code and eventually falls from grace.
43.
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Voight is Joe Buck, a country boy who arrives in New York City to make his fortune as a hustler. As he struggles to maintain a living, he meets Hoffman's Ratzo Rizzo, and the two friends work together to find a better life. "I'm walkin' here!"
93.
The French Connection (1971)
Hackman's Popeye Doyle is based on a NYC cop who busted a heroin-smuggling operation with a French connection. His character is in sharp contrast with that of his nemesis, the elegant and dapper Alain Charnier. They play a game of cat and mouse all over the Big Apple, culminating in one of the most gripping car chases on film.
44.
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Sophisticated and screwball all at once, Hepburn's cool, icy heiress really belongs with Grant, her ex. It takes tabloid newsman Stewart to bring out the fires buried deep inside her. This is a comedy of manners and class distinction. "The prettiest sight in this fine, pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges."
94.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Tarantino's tale of violence, corruption and redemption broke new ground with his non-linear story of two hit men who live by a strict moral code. They intersect the lives of a boxer, a crime boss, his drug-using wife, a couple of small-time crooks and of course—the Gimp!
45.
Shane (1953)
Told through the eyes of a young boy, Shane is a former gunslinger who appears out of nowhere and helps a group of settlers defend themselves against the cattlemen who want their land.
95.
The Last Picture Show (1971)
The closing of a movie theatre in a small Texas town during the 1950s marks the changes that face a group of young people coming of age.
46.
It Happened One Night (1934)
This battle of the sexes love story between a runaway heiress who shows her legs to hitch a ride and an unemployed newspaperman who separates their beds at night with a blanket known as the "walls of Jericho," was an unqualified success and still provides inspiration for many comedies.
96.
Do the Right Thing (1989)
It's a sweltering summer day in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, and Sal's Famous Pizzeria becomes a lightning rod for racial tensions. The much-discussed close to the film presents different views on the conflict with quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.
47.
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Recreating the role that made him a star on Broadway, Brando is Stanley Kowalski, the blue-collared brute married to the sister of a neurotic, fragile, aging Southern belle named Blanche, who has always depended on the kindness of strangers.
97.
Blade Runner (1982)
The dark, rainy opening shot of Los Angeles in 2019 sets the stage for Scott's futuristic thriller, where "replicants," a powerful human-like species, have mutinied in an attempt to prolong their lifespans. Ford is the Blade Runner cop called on to hunt them down.
48.
Rear Window (1954)
When a broken leg forces photographer Stewart to become wheelchair-bound in his New York City apartment, he amuses himself by spying on his neighbors and soon becomes obsessed when he thinks he has witnessed a murder. Kelly, as his fashion-model girlfriend, helps with amateur detective work.
98.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Cagney sings and dances his way through the patriotic songs George M. Cohan composed in the early years of American vaudeville and musical theatre. Songs like Over There, It's A Grand Old Flag and Yankee Doodle Dandy inspired generations when the world was at war.
49.
Intolerance (1916)
Griffith's monumental exploration of intolerance is told through four different but parallel stories from ancient Babylon, to the time of Christ in Judea, to Paris in 1572, to social reformers in contemporary America. A milestone in filmmaking, each story was tinted in a different color.
99.
Toy Story (1995)
Groundbreaking computer animation creates the world of Woody, a toy cowboy who suddenly finds himself as the second-favorite toy. Replaced by the newer and very high tech, but doltish, Buzz Lightyear, Woody gets accused of killing Buzz by tossing him out the window. It's a race to get him back. "To infinity and beyond!"
50.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Jackson's masterful fantasy epic based on Tolkien's beloved novel, is the beginning chapter of Frodo's strange and mighty odyssey to the Cracks of Doom to destroy the ring. "There is only one Lord of the Ring, only one who can bend it to his will. And he does not share power."
100.
Ben-Hur (1959)
This is a tale of two friends on the opposite side of politics and power, who come face to face in the film's explosive chariot race. Heston, the young Jewish Prince, seeks revenge for himself and his family, only to find forgiveness and redemption when he tries to help Jesus Christ, the man who once saved him.

AMERICA's 100 GREATEST MOVIES
10th Anniversary - 4 parts


Facts About the 10th Anniversary List of 100 Greatest American Movies in 2007:

Of the films that remained on the list, 36 improved their ranking and 38 saw their ranking decline.

Raging Bull (1980) (# 4) and Vertigo (1958) (# 9) made their top 10 debuts in the new list, replacing The Graduate (1967) (formerly # 7 in 1998) and On the Waterfront (1954) (formerly # 8 in 1998).

Five of the top 10 films in the 2007 list won Academy Awards for Best Picture and all but two ( Vertigo (1958) and Singin' in the Rain (1952)) were nominated.

The 1970s was the most represented decade with 20 entries.

Three years tied for most represented year, each with four films:

Director Steven Spielberg had the most films on the list with five:

Directors Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Billy Wilder each had four films on the list.

James Stewart and Robert De Niro were the most represented actors in a starring role, each with five films in the top 100.

Faye Dunaway, Katharine Hepburn and Diane Keaton were the most represented leading female actors with three films each.

The most represented genre in the top 100 list was comedy films, with 17 films.

The following genre types were also included in the top 100 for 2007:

Commentary on the 2007 List of 100 Greatest American Films:

Classics that did not make the list at all included (to name just a few):

A number of the films that were dropped from the 2007 list shouldn't have been:

There were a notable number of appropriate additions, however:

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