A conversation with a friend last night provoked me to find this list this morning. You see, my friend, has an endearing habit of referring almost all our conversations to “classic” movies because that is what he loves. I unfortunately have the attention span of a goldfish and as a result do not last much longer than 30 mins in front of a TV, preventing me from watching a lot of movies. So, I often have to say, “nope, never seen it” in which he usually scoffs and then I ask him to sing a Boys II Men song and he can’t so we call it even.
Anyway- So I went to the AFI website to look for the latest list of the “Top 100 Movies of All Time” and I plan on filling up my Netflix queue today with the ones I think are worth me sitting still for. ;0)
Let me know what you think about the list . Is it missing something? Is there a movie on here that is really overrated and shouldn’t be on here at all?
The American Film Institute’s 2007 list of the top-100 American movies:
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. I saw this at age 14 and cried like a baby. I won’t ruin it for anyone that has not seen it *cough* my sister*cough* but the red coat killed me.
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. All I can say is that I watched this movie one week before one of the “craziest” months of my life. Impeccable timing.
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. AND I can sing all the words to every song…
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. I watched this one in three sittings but I loved it….It’s very dark and twisted but I can see why it’s on this list. Elizabeth Taylor is a trip in this movie, might have been some ironic foreshadowing for how she would end up later in life…#I’mJustSayin
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. 10/14/2010
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. – So I own this movie, but have yet to watch it….go figure
95. The Last Picture Show, 1971. 10/16/2010 This movie was weird and a little disturbing…
96. Do the Right Thing, 1989. 10/16/2010
97. Blade Runner, 1982.
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy, 1942.
99. Toy Story, 1995.
100. Ben-Hur, 1959.
22 out of 100….better get watchin…you bring the popcorn =o)
Update: SO I found out that there are two different AFI lists…one from 1997 and one from 2007. The movies listed below are the ones that fell off the 1997 list.
- Doctor Zhivago
- Birth of a Nation
- From Here To Eternity 10/16/2010 – Cried like a baby, but fun to see a young Frank Sinatra in this one.
- Amadeus
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- The Third Man -10/23/2010 I loved this movie and I think it’s a shame it’s no longer on the list of top 100. Big thank you for BriGuy letting me borrow it from his collection.
- Fantasia
- Rebel Without a Cause 10/26/2010 Wowsers James Dean is BEAUTIFUL!! This was really sad movie, but the special effects made me laugh. I Googled James Dean also and found out some thing about him that I never knew. For instance, he died in a car crash and he was bi-sexual…who would have thunk it?!?
- Stagecoach
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- The Manchurian Candidate
- An American in Paris
- Wuthering Heights
- Dances With Wolves
- Giant
- Fargo
- Mutiny on the Bounty
- Frankenstein
- Patton
- The Jazz Singer
- My Fair Lady On of my best friends gave me this movie for Christmas one year and it is def. a staple in my life for when I feel like dancing around my apartment…wait what? I mean sitting on the couch quietly.
- A Place in the Sun
- Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner 10/16/2010 This has been my favorite so far. I LOVED IT!!! I wanted to watch it again as soon as it ended. Things I have ended up watching because of this list:
- East of Eden-10/26/2010- Another James Dean flick based on the John Steinbeck novel. He is not as sexy in this one, but a great movie none the less.
- Paper Moon 10/24/2010 I really liked this movie. The relationship between the little girl and her “maybe” father
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Absolute MUST sees (& some of my all time favorite films) are both Godfathers (2 of the best movies ever made), Saving Private Ryan (some scenes are tough to watch, but it’s an incredible film), Rear Window (Hitchcock’s best film IMHO), Singing in the Rain (love, love. LOOOOOOOOVE this movie & sing along with it every time I watch it), Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (next time I say “let’s go some place like Bolivia”, let’s GO someplace like Bolivia!), & Annie Hall (Woody Allen at his best). And seriously? You OWN Pulp Fiction but have never watched it? FOR SHAME!!! That should be the 1st one you watch. It’s a GREAT film!
Thanks Erin! I am on it…I am starting tonight with Singing in the Rain – I need something light hearted =o)
You should see Willow
It’s not on this list…or any other list probably, but it’s a childhood classic!
I own a bunch of these and you’re coming over to watch them or I’ll come over and make you watch them or you can borrow them and I’ll check in with your roommate. It’s on!
Some other movies you should watch that aren’t on the list, but are absolutely AWESOME:
Young Frankenstein (Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr & Peter Boyl = comedy GOLD!)
Monty Python & the Holy Grail (no explanation needed)
The Fifth Element (sci-fi cult classic with Bruce Willis, Mila Jovovich, Gary Oldman & Chris Tucker. Watch this & you’ll totally get all my tweets about the moon that say “Biiiiiiiiiiiiig badda moon!”)
Drop Dead Gorgeous (hilarious film about beauty pagent w/ Kirsty Allley & Kirsten Dunst)
Field of Dreams (I’m not a baseball fan, but this is a wonderful movie. I still get goosebumps whenever I hear James Earl Jones’ speech.)
Why isn’t Princess Bride on this list??? Greatest movie of ALL TIME!!!! See Annie Hall next that movie made me a Woody Allan (sic) fan? He directed that right???
Yes he did direct that and it is def. next on my list as soon as I get through Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf. Elizabeth Taylor is a trip is this movie.
As for Princess Bride I think that is a def. an 70s/80s baby thing, most kids born after that have never even heard of it. I agree that it has a great cult following though and many great one-liners. Hmm maybe you should appeal to the AFI. =o)~
To Kill A Mockingbird is a fantastic movie that is 100% up your alley! You’ll love it! So good!
I applaud you for doing this. I don’t think I’d have the patience to sit through all of them, even if I knew they were classics and “great”.