2023-11-30 AFI Top 100 List

Intro

The American Film Institute has a list, AFI's 100 Years... 100 American Movies, of the 100 greatest American movies of all time. The list was most recently updated in 2007. Alex and I been going through the whole list and watching each, skipping just a couple due to having seen them plenty of times before and not needing to watch them again. Linking my thoughts on each. We're going from 100 to 1.

The List

Number Year Movie Link
1 1941 Citizen Kane Citizen Kane (1941)#Review
2 1942 Casablanca Casablanca (1942)#Review
3 1972 The Godfather The Godfather (1972)#Review
4 1980 Raging Bull Raging Bull (1980)#Review
5 1952 Singin In the Rain Singin In the Rain (1952)#Review
6 1939 Gone With the Wind Gone With the Wind (1939)#Review
7 1962 Lawrence of Arabia Lawrence of Arabia (1962)#Review
8 1993 Schindler’s List Schindler’s List (1993)#Review
9 1958 Vertigo Vertigo (1958)#Review
10 1939 The Wizard of Oz Skipped
11 1931 City Lights City Lights (1931)#Review
12 1956 The Searchers The Searchers (1956)#Review
13 1977 Star Wars: A New Hope Skipped
14 1960 Psycho Psycho (1960)#Review
15 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey 2001 A Space Odyssey (1968)#Review
16 1950 Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard (1950)#Review
17 1967 The Graduate The Graduate (1967)#Review
18 1926 The General The General (1926)#Review
19 1954 On the Waterfront On the Waterfront (1954)#Review
20 1946 It’s a Wonderful Life It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)#Review
21 1974 Chinatown Chinatown (1974)#Review
22 1959 Some Like It Hot Some Like It Hot (1959)#Review
23 1940 The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath (1940)#Review
24 1982 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)#Review
25 1962 To Kill a Mockingbird To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)#Review
26 1939 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)#Review
27 1952 High Noon High Noon (1952)#Review
28 1950 All About Eve All About Eve (1950)#Review
29 1944 Double Indemnity Double Indemnity (1944)#Review
30 1979 Apocalypse Now Apocalypse Now (1979)#Review
31 1941 The Maltese Falcon The Maltese Falcon (1941)#Review
32 1974 The Godfather Part II The Godfather Part II (1974)#Review
33 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Skipped
34 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)#Review
35 1977 Annie Hall Annie Hall (1977)#Review
36 1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)#Review
37 1946 The Best Years of Our Lives The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)#Review
38 1948 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)#Review
39 1964 Dr. Strangelove Dr. Strangelove (1964)#Review
40 1965 The Sound of Music The Sound of Music (1965)#Review
41 1933 King Kong King Kong (1933)#Review
42 1967 Bonnie and Clyde Bonnie and Clyde (1967)#Review
43 1969 Midnight Cowboy Midnight Cowboy (1969)#Review
44 1940 The Philadelphia Story The Philadelphia Story (1940)#Review
45 1953 Shane Shane (1953)#Review
46 1934 It Happened One Night It Happened One Night (1934)#Review
47 1951 A Streetcar Named Desire A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)#Review
48 1954 Rear Window Rear Window (1954)#Review
49 1916 Intolerance Intolerance (1916)#Review
50 2001 Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings Lord of the Rings (2001-2003)#Review
51 1961 West Side Story West Side Story (1961)#Review
52 1976 Taxi Driver Taxi Driver (1976)#Review
53 1978 The Deer Hunter The Deer Hunter (1978)#Review
54 1970 M*A*S*H MASH (1970)#Review
55 1959 North By Northwest North By Northwest (1959)#Review
56 1975 Jaws Jaws (1975)#Review
57 1976 Rocky Rocky (1976)#Review
58 1925 The Gold Rush The Gold Rush (1925)#Review
59 1975 Nashville Nashville (1975)#Review
60 1933 Duck Soup Duck Soup (1933)#Review
61 1941 Sullivan's Travels Sullivan's Travels (1941)#Review
62 1973 American Graffiti American Graffiti (1973)#Review
63 1972 Cabaret Cabaret (1972)#Review
64 1976 Network Network (1976)#Review
65 1952 The African Queen The African Queen (1952)#Review
66 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)#Review
67 1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)#Review
68 1992 Unforgiven Unforgiven (1992)#Review
69 1982 Tootsie Tootsie (1982)#Review
70 1971 A Clockwork Orange A Clockwork Orange (1971)#Review
71 1998 Saving Private Ryan Saving Private Ryan (1998)#Review
72 1994 The Shawshank Redemption The Shawshank Redemption (1994)#Review
73 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)#Review
74 1991 The Silence of the Lambs Skipped
75 1967 In the Heat of the Night In the Heat of the Night (1967)
76 1994 Forrest Gump Skipped
77 1976 All the President's Men All the President's Men (1976)#Review
78 1936 Modern Times Modern Times (1936)#Review
79 1969 The Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch (1969)#Review
80 1960 The Apartment The Apartment (1960)#Review
81 1960 Spartacus Spartacus (1960)#Review
82 1927 Sunrise Sunrise (1927)#Review
83 1997 Titanic Skipped
84 1969 Easy Rider Easy Rider (1969)#Review
85 1935 A Night at the Opera A Night at the Opera (1935)#Review
86 1986 Platoon Platoon (1986)#Review
87 1957 12 Angry Men 12 Angry Men (1957)#Review
88 1938 Bringing Up Baby Bringing Up Baby (1938)#Review
89 1999 The Sixth Sense The Sixth Sense (1999)#Review
90 1936 Swing Time Swing Time (1936)#Review
91 1982 Sophie’s Choice Sophie's Choice (1982)#Review
92 1990 Goodfellas Goodfellas (1990)#Review
93 1971 The French Connection The French Connection (1971)#Review
94 1994 Pulp Fiction Pulp Fiction (1994)#Review
95 1971 The Last Picture Show The Last Picture Show (1971)#Review
96 1989 Do the Right Thing Do the Right Thing (1989)#Review
97 1982 Blade Runner Blade Runner (1982)#Review
98 1942 Yankee Doodle Dandy Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)#Review
99 1995 Toy Story Skipped
100 1959 Ben-Hur Ben-Hur (1959)#Review

Additions

Making note of any movies I feel are missing. I would say generally the two areas I'm thinking of are either films that came after the cutoff date of the previous list that I thing could have easily ended up on the list if it was done later. Or films that work as representatives of some genre or style that I don't think the list gives enough love to.