New List of The 100 Best Movies from the American Film Institute

June 21, 2007

On January 18, 2007, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced that the 10th installment of their Emmy Award-winning AFI 100 Years... series would be the updated version of 100 Years… 100 Movies. The original list was first unveiled in 1998.

AFI’s 100 Years...100 Movies—10th Anniversary Edition counted down the 100 greatest American movies of all time in a three-hour television event on CBS on June 20 and was hosted by Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman. The program considered classic favorites and newly eligible films released from 1996 to 2006. AFI will undertake broadcasting a program like this every 10 years to mark changing cultural perspectives.

AFI distributed a ballot with 400 nominated movies to a jury of over 1,500 leaders from the creative community, including film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, cinematographers), critics and historians.

Criteria
AFI asks jurors to consider the following criteria in their selection process:

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.

The List
Original 1998 List ...followed by the new... 10th Anniversary 2007

1. Citizen Kane (1941) Citizen Kane (1941)

2. Casablanca (1942) The Godfather (1972)

3. The Godfather (1972) Casablanca (1942)

4. Gone with the Wind (1939) Raging Bull (1980)

5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Singin' in the Rain (1952)

6. The Wizard of Oz (1939) Gone With the Wind (1939)

7. The Graduate (1967) Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

8. On the Waterfront (1954) Schindler's List (1993)

9. Schindler's List (1993) Vertigo (1958)

10. Singin' in the Rain (1952) The Wizard of Oz (1939)

11. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) City Lights (1931)

12. Sunset Boulevard (1950) The Searchers (1956)

13. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Star Wars (1977)

14. Some Like It Hot (1959) Psycho (1960)

15. Star Wars (1977) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

16. All About Eve (1950) Sunset Boulevard (1950)

17. The African Queen (1951) The Graduate (1967)

18. Psycho (1960) The General (1927)

19. Chinatown(1974) On the Waterfront (1954)

20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

21. The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Chinatown (1974)

22. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Some Like It Hot (1959)

23. The Maltese Falcon (1941) The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

24. Raging Bull (1980) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

25. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

26. Dr. Strangelove (1964) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

27. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) High Noon (1952)

28. Apocalypse Now (1979) All About Eve (1950)

29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Double Indemnity (1944)

30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) Apocalypse Now (1979)

31. Annie Hall (1977) The Maltese Falcon (1941)

32. The Godfather Part II (1974) The Godfather Part II (1974)

33. High Noon (1952) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

34. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

35. It Happened One Night (1934) Annie Hall (1977)

36. Midnight Cowboy (1969) The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

37. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

38. Double Indemnity (1944) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

39. Doctor Zhivago (1965) Dr. Strangelove (1964)

40. North by Northwest (1959) The Sound of Music (1965)

41. West Side Story (1961) King Kong (1933)

42. Rear Window (1954) Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

43. King Kong (1933) Midnight Cowboy (1969)

44. The Birth of a Nation (1915) The Philadelphia Story (1940)

45. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Shane (1953)

46. A Clockwork Orange (1971) It Happened One Night (1934)

47. Taxi Driver (1976) A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

48. Jaws (1975) Rear Window (1954)

49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) Intolerance (1916)

50. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

51. The Philadelphia Story (1940) West Side Story (1961)

52. From Here to Eternity (1953) Taxi Driver (1976)

53. Amadeus (1984) The Deer Hunter (1978) +36 54. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) M*A*S*H (1970)

55. The Sound of Music (1965) North by Northwest (1959)

56. M*A*S*H (1970) Jaws (1975)

57. The Third Man (1949) Rocky (1976)

58. Fantasia (1940) The Gold Rush (1925)

59. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Nashville (1975)

60. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Duck Soup (1933)

61. Vertigo (1958) Sullivan's Travels (1941)

62. Tootsie (1982) American Graffiti (1973)

63. Stagecoach (1939) Cabaret (1972)

64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Network (1976)

65. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) The African Queen (1951)

66. Network (1976) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

68. An American in Paris (1951) Unforgiven (1992)

69. Shane (1953) Tootsie (1982)

70. The French Connection (1971) A Clockwork Orange (1971)

71. Forrest Gump (1994) Saving Private Ryan (1998)

72. Ben-Hur (1959) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

73. Wuthering Heights (1939) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

74. The Gold Rush (1925) The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

75. Dances with Wolves (1990) In the Heat of the Night (1967)

76. City Lights (1931) Forrest Gump (1994)

77. American Graffiti (1973) All The President's Men (1976)

78. Rocky (1976) Modern Times (1936)

79. The Deer Hunter (1978) The Wild Bunch (1969)

80. The Wild Bunch (1969) The Apartment (1960)

81. Modern Times (1936) Spartacus (1960)

82. Giant (1956) Sunrise (1927)

83. Platoon (1986) Titanic (1997)

84. Fargo (1996) Easy Rider (1969)

85. Duck Soup (1933) A Night at the Opera (1935)

86. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) Platoon (1986)

87. Frankenstein (1931) 12 Angry Men (1957)

88. Easy Rider (1969) Bringing Up Baby (1938)

89. Patton (1970) The Sixth Sense (1999)

90. The Jazz Singer (1927) Swing Time (1936)

91. My Fair Lady (1964) Sophie's Choice (1982)

92. A Place in the Sun (1951) Goodfellas (1990)

93. The Apartment (1960) The French Connection (1971)

94. Goodfellas (1990) Pulp Fiction (1994)

95. Pulp Fiction (1994) The Last Picture Show (1971)

96. The Searchers (1956) Do the Right Thing (1989)

97. Bringing Up Baby (1938) Blade Runner (1982)

98. Unforgiven (1992) Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

99. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) Toy Story (1995)

100. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) Ben-Hur (1959)

Changes from the previous list

Twenty-three films from 1998's list were replaced:

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) (54)

Amadeus (1984) (53)

An American in Paris (1951) (68)

The Birth of a Nation (1915) (44)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (64)

Dances with Wolves (1990) (75)

Doctor Zhivago (1965) (39)

Fantasia (1940) (58)

Fargo (1996) (84)

Frankenstein (1931) (87)

From Here to Eternity (1953) (52)

Giant (1956) (82)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) (99)

The Jazz Singer (1927) (90)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962) (67)

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) (86)

My Fair Lady (1964) (91)

Patton (1970) (89)

A Place in the Sun (1951) (92)

Rebel Without a Cause (1955) (59)

Stagecoach (1939) (63)

The Third Man (1949) (57)

Wuthering Heights (1939) (73)

The highest-ranking film that fell from the previous list was Doctor Zhivago (1965), from #39; the highest-ranking debut on the new list was The General (1927), at #18.

The films that improved their standings by the most dramatic leaps were The Searchers (+84), City Lights (+65), Vertigo (+52), The Deer Hunter (+36) and Unforgiven (+30).

Raging Bull (#4) and Vertigo (#9) made their Top 10 debuts in the new list, ousting The Graduate (formerly #7) and On the Waterfront (formerly #8).

The African Queen suffered the largest rankings tumble, dropping 48 slots to #65.

The earliest film to be dropped was D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), from #44. Perhaps ironically, the earliest film to be added to the list was Griffith's Intolerance (1916), which appears close by at #49.

Of the films released between 1997-2006, four were added to AFI list: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (#50), Saving Private Ryan (#71), Titanic (#83), and The Sixth Sense (#89); of these, only The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is from the 2000s.

About the 400 nominees
Henry Fonda and James Stewart are the most represented male actors, with 10 films. Cary Grant has nine, while Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson have eight.

Katharine Hepburn is the top female actor, with seven films. Lillian Gish and Bette Davis each have five. 1939 and 1942 saw the release of 11 films each.

Alfred Hitchcock and William Wyler directed 10 films each. Steven Spielberg and Howard Hawks are next, with eight films each, with Billy Wilder and George Stevens following with seven.

Ernest Lehman was the screenwriter for six films.

The ballot includes entries that range from D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and Cecil B. DeMille’s The Cheat from 1915, to Crash, Brokeback Mountain, and Good Night, and Good Luck., all from 2005. About 11 percent of the ballot (44 films) comes from the last 10 years, newly eligible since the original AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies.