AFI's 100 Best Films


Introduction

The following list was created by a poll sponsored by the American Film Institute. The results below are controversial, but it's hard to argue with many of the titles. You can buy and in most cases rent or even buy used copies of these films. Most titles are available in both NTSC and PAL. You can also read most of the scripts of these films at Drew's Script-O-Rama.

While you should see all of the films on this list, we believe that as filmmakers there are many films not found on the AFI list that are important for filmmakers to study. Take a look at our list of films for filmmakers and drop us an email with a film title or two which you think is a MUST SEE for filmmakers.

The AFI 100

      1. Citizen Kane - 1941
      2. Casablanca - 1942
      3. The Godfather - 1972
      4. Gone With the Wind - 1939
      5. Lawrence of Arabia - 1962
      6. The Wizard of Oz - 1939
      7. The Graduate - 1967
      8. On the Waterfront - 1954
      9. Schindler's List - 1993
    10. Singin' in the Rain - 1952
    11. It's a Wonderful Life - 1946
    12. Sunset Boulevard - 1950
    13. The Bridge on the River Kwai - 1957
    14. Some Like it Hot - 1959
    15. Star Wars - 1977
    16. All About Eve - 1950
    17. The African Queen - 1951
    18. Psycho - 1960
    19. Chinatown - 1974
    20. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 1975
    21. The Grapes of Wrath - 1940
    22. 2001: A Space Odyssey - 1968
    23. The Maltese Falcon - 1941
    24. Raging Bull - 1980
    25. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - 1982
    26. Dr. Strangelove - 1964
    27. Bonnie and Clyde - 1967
    28. Apocalypse Now - 1979
    29. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - 1939
    30. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - 1948
    31. Annie Hall - 1977
    32. The Godfather Part II - 1974
    33. High Noon - 1952
    34. To Kill a Mockingbird - 1962
    35. It Happened One Night - 1934
    36. Midnight Cowboy - 1969
    37. The Best Years of Our Lives - 1946
    38. Double Indemnity - 1944
    39. Doctor Zhivago - 1965
    40. North by Northwest - 1959
    41. West Side Story - 1961
    42. Rear Window - 1954
    43. King Kong - 1933
    44. The Birth of a Nation - 1915
    45. A Streetcar Named Desire - 1951
    46. A Clockwork Orange - 1971
    47. Taxi Driver - 1976
    48. Jaws - 1975
    49. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - 1937
    50. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - 1969
    51. The Philadelphia Story - 1940
    52. From Here to Eternity - 1953
    53. Amadeus - 1984
    54. All Quiet on the Western Front - 1930
    55. The Sound of Music - 1965
    56. M*A*S*H - 1970
    57. The Third Man - 1949
    58. Fantasia - 1940
    59. Rebel Without a Cause - 1955
    60. Raiders of the Lost Ark - 1981
    61. Vertigo - 1958
    62. Tootsie - 1982
    63. Stagecoach - 1939
    64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - 1977
    65. The Silence of the Lambs - 1991
    66. Network - 1976
    67. The Manchurian Candidate - 1962
    68. An American in Paris - 1951
    69. Shane - 1953
    70. The French Connection - 1971
    71. Forrest Gump - 1994
    72. Ben-Hur - 1959
    73. Wuthering Heights - 1939
    74. The Gold Rush - 1925
    75. Dances with Wolves - 1990
    76. City Lights - 1931
    77. American Graffiti - 1973
    78. Rocky - 1976
    79. The Deer Hunter - 1978
    80. The Wild Bunch - 1969
    81. Modern Times - 1936
    82. Giant - 1956
    83. Platoon - 1986
    84. Fargo - 1996
    85. Duck Soup - 1933
    86. Mutiny on the Bounty - 1935
    87. Frankenstein - 1931
    88. Easy Rider - 1969
    89. Patton - 1970
    90. The Jazz Singer - 1927
    91. My Fair Lady - 1964
    92. A Place in the Sun - 1951
    93. The Apartment - 1960
    94. Goodfellas - 1990
    95. Pulp Fiction - 1994
    96. The Searchers - 1956
    97. Bringing up Baby - 1938
    98. Unforgiven - 1992
    99. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - 1967
    100. Yankee Doodle Dandy - 1942