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AFI’s new top 100 movies of all time
Nearly ten years ago, the American Film Institute unveiled its list of the top 100 films of all time, as selected by a poll of filmmakers, critics and other such cinematic sorts. Last night the AFI revealed a new list, obviously allowing for the films released since then. It’s made for some very interesting changes.
Here is the old list from 1998, and the new list appears below with commentary. A title’s previous ranking appears in parentheses.
1 - (1) Citizen Kane, 1941.
I often hear people say they don’t “get” why this film always comes out on top in such lists. And I feel sorry for them. They’re missing out. I catch something new almost every time I see it.
2 - (3) The Godfather, 1972.
Quite understandable, but I much prefer Goodfellas.
3 - (2) Casablanca, 1942.
Only the premier example of golden age studio filmmaking that isn’t a musical. Puts Gone with the Wind to shame. (More on that in a minute.)
4 - (24) Raging Bull, 1980.
Takes a well-deserved leap up the chart. It is indeed Scorsese’s greatest.
5 - (10) Singin’ in the Rain, 1952.
Sheer bliss.
6 - (4) Gone With the Wind, 1939.
Probably the most massively overrated film of all time. Some undeniably great moments, but it falls flat after the intermission. Wouldn’t make my top 500, much less 100.
7 - (5) Lawrence of Arabia, 1962.
The epic to end all epics. I don’t care how big your TV is; if you’ve only watched it at home, you have not truly seen it.
8 - (9) Schindler’s List, 1993.
We agree it’s Spielberg’s best.
9 - (61) Vertigo, 1958.
We agree it’s Hitchcock’s best. Another well deserved leap up.
10 - (6) The Wizard of Oz, 1939.
I’ve been on the stage where part of this was filmed. And the studio tour guide barely even mentioned it, focusing instead on a Tony Danza TV law drama. Wha??
11 - (76) City Lights, 1931.
Features the most exquisitely happy ending of all time.
12 - (96) The Searchers, 1956.
Yet another well-deserved upgrade. My favorite Western is High Noon, but I’ve no complaints. It is John Ford and John Wayne’s crowning achievement.
13 - (13) Star Wars, 1977.
Like I said before, Empire may be better made, but this one endures, because that thrill of discovery can never be duplicated.
14 - (18) Psycho, 1960.
Got to see the master print of this courtesy of the late Janet Leigh. Amazing.
15 (22) 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968.
Kubrick’s best.
16 - (12) Sunset Blvd., 1950.
Billy Wilder’s best without cross-dressers.
17 - (7) The Graduate, 1967.
I understand the fondness for it, but it hasn’t aged that well.
18 - (new) The General, 1927.
Buster Keaton’s great work is the highest debut. Rather astounding it wasn’t on the list before.
19 - (8) On the Waterfront, 1954.
Takes a rather steep dive. My favorite Brando performance.
20 - (11) It’s a Wonderful Life, 1946.
Anybody who dismisses this as sentimental goo isn’t paying attention.
21 - (19) Chinatown, 1974.
The best color noir film. Maybe the best noir in any shade.
22 - (14) Some Like It Hot, 1959.
Never fails to slay me, even on the 47th viewing.
23 - (21) The Grapes of Wrath, 1940.
24 - (25) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 1982.
25 - (34) To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962.
26 - (29) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939.
Jimmy Stewart’s greatest performance.
27 - (33) High Noon, 1952.
28 - (16) All About Eve, 1950.
Every line just sparkles. And/or zings.
29 - (38) Double Indemnity, 1944.
Probably the best black and white noir.
30 - (28) Apocalypse Now, 1979.
Platoon is a more realistic and maybe better movie, but as a sensory experience, this film is hard to top.
31 - (23) The Maltese Falcon, 1941.
Well, it is among the greatest of detective dramas.
32 - (32) The Godfather Part II, 1974.
33 - (20) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975.
34 - (49) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937.
What a shame this is the only Disney movie on the list. It isn’t even the best movie made in Walt’s era. That’s Pinocchio.
35 - (31) Annie Hall, 1977.
Some people may prefer Crimes and Misdemeanors or Manhattan or Hannah and Her Sisters, but I’m fine with this being the Woody Allen representative.
36 - (13) The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957.
37 - (37) The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946.
The best homefront movie ever made; still amazingly effective 61 years later.
38 - (30) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948.
39 - (26) Dr. Strangelove, 1964.
Contains the funniest speech of all time: the president’s phone call to the Russian premier.
40 - (55) The Sound of Music, 1965.
Certainly lots of fun, but I’d trade this for Mary Poppins in a heartbeat.
41 - (43) King Kong, 1933.
42 - (27) Bonnie and Clyde, 1967.
43 - (36) Midnight Cowboy, 1969.
44 - (51) The Philadelphia Story, 1940.
45 - (69) Shane, 1953.
46 - (35) It Happened One Night, 1934.
The prototypical romantic comedy. This is the one that invented all the cliches.
47 - (45) A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951.
48 - (42) Rear Window, 1954.
My second-favorite Hitchcock, with my favorite female entrance of all time. Grace Kelly. Mmmmm.
49 - (new) Intolerance, 1916.
So this kicks off Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith’s other seminal film. Seems pollsters couldn’t get past the racism this time.
50 - (new) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001.
Interesting that they picked this particular title. I would have combined all three films into one entry.
Second half of the list follows, along with fall-offs from the first chart.
51 - (41) West Side Story, 1961.
52 - (47) Taxi Driver, 1976.
53 - (79) The Deer Hunter, 1978.
I’m surprised this moved up the chart - and that it made the list at all. Often very powerful, but it’s over-the-top scenes (Russian roulette, anyone?) sink it. There’s no WAY this is better than Platoon.
54 - (56) M-A-S-H, 1970.
55 - (40) North by Northwest, 1959.
56 - (48) Jaws, 1975.
57 - (78) Rocky, 1976.
Makes quite the leap up. Maybe Rocky Balboa helped?
58 - (74) The Gold Rush, 1925.
59 - (new) Nashville, 1975.
Why wasn’t Robert Altman’s crowning achievement on the list last time?
60 - (85) Duck Soup, 1933.
Night at the Opera is my favorite Marx, but this is a close second.
61 - (new) Sullivan’s Travels, 1941.
Another surprising omission from the previous list. This movie wonderfully exemplifies the healing powers of film.
62 - (77) American Graffiti, 1973.
63 - (new) Cabaret, 1972.
I prefer the stage musical.
64 - (66) Network, 1976.
If they ranked film’s by predictive powers, this would be number one. An amazing foreshadowing of the shallowing of TV.
65 - (17) The African Queen, 1951.
Makes an alarming plummet, but I think I know why: its lack of availability on DVD. Will someone free up the rights, please?
66 - (60) Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981.
My favorite of Spielberg’s popcorn pics.
67 - (new) Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , 1966.
I am, if I’m watching The Hours.
68 - (98) Unforgiven, 1992.
Seems Eastwood’s hot streak of late has improved this film’s placement - as well it should.
69 - (62) Tootsie, 1982.
One of at least four films on the list that mentions Ohio or an Ohio city, or was shot in Ohio. Can you name the others?
70 - (46) A Clockwork Orange, 1971.
71 - (new) Saving Private Ryan, 1998.
72 - (new) The Shawshank Redemption, 1994.
No surprise that this appears here, with the way its reputation has built over the years. And it’s interesting that it placed higher than the Oscar nominees from that same year: Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump.)
73 - (50) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969.
74 - (65) The Silence of the Lambs, 1991.
75 - (new) In the Heat of the Night, 1967.
76 - (71) Forrest Gump, 1994.
Guess the hipsters who say Pulp Fiction is better weren’t polled all that strongly.
77 - (new) All the President’s Men, 1976.
78 - (81) Modern Times, 1936.
79 - (80) The Wild Bunch, 1969.
80 - (93) The Apartment, 1960.
81 - (new) Spartacus, 1960.
Over Ben-Hur. Interesting. And I think I agree, actually.
82 - (new) Sunrise, 1927.
This has been on my DVR for awhile. Now I need to get cracking and watch it.
83 - (new) Titanic, 1997.
Sneer all you want, but I’ll take this over Gone With the Wind any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
84 - (88) Easy Rider, 1969.
85 - (new) A Night at the Opera, 1935.
So this wasn’t on the list before. Maybe it got squeezed out at the last second.
86 - (83) Platoon, 1986.
Should be much higher.
87 - (new) 12 Angry Men, 1957.
The best courtroom drama ever made.
88 - (97) Bringing Up Baby, 1938.
Gloriously silly. My favorite golden age comedy, after Some Like It Hot.
89 - (new) The Sixth Sense, 1999.
Has one of the great endings, though I’m not convinced it’s one of the top 100.
90 - Swing Time, 1936.
Astaire and Rogers finally make the list, where they jolly well belong.
91 - (new) Sophie’s Choice, 1982.
92 - (94) Goodfellas, 1990.
Should be much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much, much HIGHER.
93 - (70) The French Connection, 1971.
94 - (95) Pulp Fiction, 1994.
95 - (new) The Last Picture Show, 1971.
Another surprising no-show that is welcome here.
96 - (new) Do the Right Thing, 1989.
One of the best films of the 80s.
97 - (new) Blade Runner, 1982.
Maybe anticipation for the “Final Cut” edged it on.
98 - (100) Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942.
99 - (new) Toy Story, 1995.
I prefer the sequel, actually.
100 (72) Ben-Hur, 1959.
Off the List
Doctor Zhivago (39)
Surely the least great of David Lean’s acclaimed epics, but its disappearance after a farily high placement is alarming.
Birth of a Nation (44)
Replaced by Intolerance
From Here to Eternity (54)
Too bad. It still holds up quite well.
Amadeus (53)
Like the film a lot, but I don’t miss it on the list.
All Quiet on the Western Front (54)
The Third Man (57)
Oops. This needs to go back on. Its black and white photography, zither music and Orson Welles’ entrance demand it.
Or … was it disqualified because it’s British? And if so, why was it on the list before?
Fantasia (58)
Another oops. This still looks revolutionary now, even in our CG-obsessed age.
Rebel Without a Cause (59)
And still another oops. How can one not include the ultimate embodiment of teen angst?
Stagecoach (63)
Considering how the Searchers bounced up, this bounce-off is an eyebrow-raiser. It only put John Wayne on the map. And I strongly prefer it to Shane.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (64)
Spielberg says it’s the film that dates him the most. But I’d still keep it.
The Manchurian Candidate (67)
Pity. This one is a heartbreaking stunner. And another film I saw with Janet Leigh.
An American in Paris (68)
Great score, great big final marathon dance number, but on the whole, this has aged far less well than MGM musicals that aren’t on this list, like Meet Me in St. Louis or The Band Wagon.
Wuthering Heights (73)
Dances with Wolves (75)
Evidence that the wrong director got the Oscar back in 1991.
Giant (82)
No one likes James Dean anymore?
Fargo (84)
Even one of the Coens’ best isn’t great enough for this list. Some other time, guys.
Mutiny on the Bounty (86)
Frankenstein (87)
It’s not alive!!!!!!!
Patton (89)
George C. Scott wouldn’t mind, but James Berardinelli is probably mad.
The Jazz Singer (90)
A great milestone, but by all accounts, not a great movie.
My Fair Lady (91)
The most overrated musical ever gets the boot it deserves. Creaky, bloated, and dull, with a miscast Audrey Hepburn.
A Place in the Sun (92)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (99)
Now that you’ve made it all the way to the end, leave some comments and tell me what you think of the new AFI list - or of my takes on it. Did your favorites make the list or not?
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Lists
Comments
By Garry
June 21, 2007 5:24 PM | Link to this
Parenthood as the quintessential comedy of child-rearing. Field of Dreams as the ulimate in father-son relationships.Ordinary People. Terms of Endearment (female balance to Field of Dreams).By Sir Critic
June 21, 2007 4:51 PM | Link to this
You’ve got two right, Rob. Here’s a hint: one of the films specifically mentions Dayton towards the very beginning. The other film is also directed by Billy Wilder.By Allie D
June 21, 2007 11:37 AM | Link to this
It was a disappointment to see On the Waterfront moved down the way it was, but it is good to see two of Hitchcock’s best move up. The addition of Sullivan’s Travels was also fantastic. I am overjoyed too at Shawshank being on the list. Bladerunner was a surprise, mostly because I found the director’s cut to be better than the original release. Otherwise I agree with your sentiments. Goodfellas is much too low. Sixth Sense shouldn’t be on this list. It’s maybe good for a Top 200. I’d put another Lumet film on there. Perhaps Dog Day Afternoon.By Rob
June 21, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this
On the “movies that mention Ohio or an Ohio city, or were shot in Ohio” front I know Shawshank was shot in part in Mansfield so that’s 2 of the 4 down…By SRCputt
June 21, 2007 10:09 AM | Link to this
More predictable is the omission of most comedy films. While a couple of classics were added (A Night at the Opera, Sullivan’s Travels), I am seriously disappointed at the continued omission of Airplane! for best of lists.By SRCputt
June 21, 2007 10:05 AM | Link to this
My biggest disappointment is the omission of Fantasia. While other great achievements that weren’t great films like The Jazz Singer and The Birth of a Nation were dropped, Snow White was increased, when it isn’t close to the greatest Disney film.