American Film Institute AFI
Top 100 Film List

The American Film Institute is a group formed in 1967 which cares for and promotes movies. This group cares for vintage films and helps to promote high quality filmmaking. As the twentieth century came to an end, they decided to have their members vote on the top 100 movies created up until that point.

Once that list was announced, it became the quest of many people to watch those movies and see just what it was about them that made them great! Knowing those movies is like knowing the plots of famous novels. Having that background knowledge can be important to understanding other movies or even just conversations, since so many people know them and refer to them.

My father and I both decided we wanted to watch the movies. He is retired so he zipped through them quite quickly and is already finished. I'm still working my way through them. I'd probably seen all of them at one point or another in my life, but I wanted to watch them fresh for the purpose of writing these reviews.

Feel free to print out this page to create your own personal checklist! Click on any movie to read my full review of it.

RankMovieYearReviewed
1.Citizen Kane1941*
2.Casablanca1942*
3.The Godfather1972*
4.Gone With the Wind1939*
5.Lawrence of Arabia1962*
6.The Wizard of Oz1939*
7.The Graduate1967*
8.On the Waterfront1954*
9.Schindler's List1993*
10.Singin' in the Rain1952*
11.It's a Wonderful Life1946*
12.Sunset Boulevard1950*
13.The Bridge on the River Kwai1957*
14.Some Like it Hot1959*
15.Star Wars1977*
16.All About Eve1950*
17.The African Queen1951*
18.Psycho1960*
19.Chinatown1974*
20.One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest1975*
21.The Grapes of Wrath1940*
22.2001: A Space Odyssey1968*
23.The Maltese Falcon1941*
24.Raging Bull1980*
25.E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial1982*
26.Dr. Strangelove1964*
27.Bonnie and Clyde1967*
28.Apocalypse Now1979*
29.Mr. Smith Goes to Washington1939*
30.The Treasure of the Sierra Madre1948*
31.Annie Hall1977*
32.The Godfather Part II1974*
33.High Noon1952*
34.To Kill a Mockingbird1962*
35.It Happened One Night1934*
36.Midnight Cowboy1969*
37.The Best Years of Our Lives1946*
38.Double Indemnity1944*
39.Doctor Zhivago1965*
40.North by Northwest1959*
41.West Side Story1961*
42.Rear Window1954*
43.King Kong1933*
44.The Birth of a Nation1915*
45.A Streetcar Named Desire1951*
46.A Clockwork Orange1971*
47.Taxi Driver1976*
48.Jaws1975*
49.Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs1937*
50.Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid1969*
51.The Philadelphia Story1940*
52.From Here to Eternity1953*
53.Amadeus1984*
54.All Quiet on the Western Front1930*
55.The Sound of Music1965*
56.M*A*S*H1970*
57.The Third Man1949*
58.Fantasia1940*
59.Rebel Without a Cause1955*
60.Raiders of the Lost Ark1981*
61.Vertigo1958*
62.Tootsie1982*
63.Stagecoach1939*
64.Close Encounters of the Third Kind1977*
65.The Silence of the Lambs1991*
66.Network1976*
67.The Manchurian Candidate1962*
68.An American in Paris1951*
69.Shane1953*
70.The French Connection1971*
71.Forrest Gump1994*
72.Ben-Hur1959*
73.Wuthering Heights1939*
74.The Gold Rush1925*
75.Dances With Wolves1990*
76.City Lights1931*
77.American Graffiti1973*
78.Rocky1976*
79.The Deer Hunter1978*
80.The Wild Bunch1969*
81.Modern Times1936*
82.Giant1956*
83.Platoon1986*
84.Fargo1996*
85.Duck Soup1933*
86.Mutiny on the Bounty1935*
87.Frankenstein1931*
88.Easy Rider1969*
89.Patton1970*
90.The Jazz Singer1927*
91.My Fair Lady1964*
92.A Place in the Sun1951*
93.The Apartment1960*
94.Goodfellas1990*
95.Pulp Fiction1994*
96.The Searchers1956*
97.Bringing Up Baby1938*
98.Unforgiven1992*
99.Guess Who's Coming to Dinner1967*
100.Yankee Doodle Dandy1942*


Total Reviewed: 100

I have several favorites on this list. I adore Casablanca. I grew up with Star Wars so that's a classic. I'm a film noir fan so The Maltese Falcon is also high on my list.

Original AFI Top 100
AFI Top 100 Film Listing
Male vs Female Actors in the AFI Top 100
The Bechdel Test in the AFI Top 100

10th Anniversary of the AFI Top 100
AFI Top 100 Film Listing 10th Anniversary
Male vs Female Actors in the AFI Top 100 10th Anniversary
The Bechdel Test in the AFI Top 100 10th Anniversary