Where is list of 100 best movies of the 20th century?

[beacooker]

Back in 2000 or 2001, I remember that some organization released a list of the best movies of the 20th century. DH and I wanted to start going down the list and watching all these, but I can't seem to find the list on the Internet, or remember who it was who made up the list. Anyone know??

Thanks!

[MaryH]

I keep wanting to say it was AMC (American Movie Classics) but I checked their web site and can't find anything.

[SusanMac]

I know the list was published by the American Film Institute. They also did a list of the 100 best comedies. I clipped the list from the paper, although I'm sure they still have both lists on their website. It was an end-of-the-century list, like a lot of organizations did. I found it awesome. we were able to rent a lot of classics that otherwise might not have seen (we often get really tired of the standard, modern, predictable movies at the theater.)

I think there's a list of top foreign language movies, too. If you have info on that, I'd love it, too.

[SandyM]

I thought it was cnn.com, but I couldn't find it there.......

[Ms. Chevious]

SusanMac is right - it was AFI. It's listed on their site too:
http://www.afi.com/tv/movies.asp

100 GREATEST AMERICAN MOVIES OF ALL TIME
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)

[SusanMac]

So...the big question is....do you agree with their list?? DH and I have had fun trying to figure out why certain films were ranked where they were ranked.

Personally, we didn't think Citizen Kane was all that, although from a directing standpoint it was supposed to be pretty unique for its time. We also fell asleep during Lawrence of Arabia :-) Probably agree with the rest of the top 10, although was veeeery surprised to see Schindler's List there. I think maybe they felt that Speilberg needed a movie in the top 10, since he's probably become one of the, if not the, most influential American director of all time. Plus the topic is such a huge part of our history.

Which is your favorite from the list??

(If you couldn't tell, I love to analyze movies :-)

[aggie94]

I thought I was a real movie buff, but I clearly don't enjoy "the classics." I've only seen 20 movies of the 100 on this list and am disappointed with the fact that so few of them are post 1980 (only 14!). Quite honestly, I probably will never see most of the movies on this list. I'm not a fan of black & white films and I have trouble watching older films (pre-1960s, with the exception of some Hitchcock films that I've really enjoyed) - I think I just can't relate to the way they talk/act. It's very forced and unnatural, IMO. I know that makes me sound very closed-minded. Of the films I have seen on the list, most of them are films that I think truly are excellent.

[LaraW]

Eva, that's interesting that you don't like the "classics". I love them! DH and I started working our way through that list (we lost interest) but some that we both liked were The Philadelphia Story , Mr. Smith Goes To Washington , The Apartment , and Some Like it Hot . I could watch those over and over.

I guess the differences here is just what makes the world interesting, huh?

[SandyM]

I've actually seen 41 of the 100 listed, and of those 41, I've enjoyed 31.

My top four were 1965 or earlier (To Kill a Mockingbird, African Queen, Casablanca and The Sound of Music).

Fargo?? I know someone will dispute nearly every movie on this list, but I just don't get that one.......

[aggie94]

Lara,

Several years ago, DH & I went to rent a movie at a place like Blockbuster, where they keep the actual tapes behind the empty boxes, so you just grab what you want and check out with it. Except it wasn't Blockbuster, where they actually read back to you what you're getting to make sure it's what you wanted. We grabbed the tape behind the box of the movie we wanted, but it wasn't the right tape. I can't remember what we intended to rent, but we got home and we had "Breakfast at Tiffany's." We figured, "Hey, it's a classic - it's gotta be pretty good." So we popped it in. 15 minutes later, I didn't have to beg him to turn it off. We both hated it but maybe we didn't give it a fair shot.

On the same lines, one night in law school, a friend had a "girls' night out" slumber party at her house. She rented "An Affair to Remember" and I fell asleep 5 minutes into it.

I'm seriously considering giving some of the films on this list a second glance.

[Gilgamesh37]

Holy Cow, I've seen 61 out of the 100! Of course, it helped a lot that I took film classes in both high school and college, which is how I hit a lot of them probably--like, I'm sure I wouldn't have seen Stagecoach otherwise, because in general, Westerns just bore the pants off me.

These are just American films, though, right? (It was the AFI, after all) Pretty narrow-minded in a way--I mean, Fellini should be in there *someplace*

[LaraW]

Eva, I have had that happen to me too.

Sometimes I think it helps if there is a certain actor/actress you like who happens to be in a movie. I really like Jimmy Stewart, so I tend to like some of the Hitchcock movies he's in. I also really like Cary Grant (so, in The Philadelphia Story they BOTH are in it - how could I go wrong! )

Also, sometimes (particularly with older movies) it really helps if you know generally what it is about. Movies today move much faster than older movies, and I think that's why I get bored sometimes. And humor today is different than it used to be. Some things that were billed as being really funny were maybe really funny in 1939 but really are not that funny today.

Lara

[beejayw1]

Well, I'd take CITIZEN KANE off there, first of all. I understand that it is considered a great movie, but I couldn't get into it. (Also, as a side note, W. Randolph Hearst learned about the movie being filmed took it as a personal slam - which it was - and requested that it not be done. When they lampooned his mistress, Marion Davies, he got very angry and went after Orson Welles. Welles' career never really recovered from that. I am sorry for Welles, but I think he was asking for it.)

I'd also get rid of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, which I watched, prepared to think it the best thing ever. I found it terribly depressing. Poor guy, he has every dream he ever had dashed to the ground, and the ending didn't really help me. If someone had kicked Lionel Barrymore's character, then maybe it might have been salvageable, but I didn't like it.

I haven't seen some of these movies, but by all reports they are very good and deserve their places.

[HRJ]

I've seen 50 of the films on this list -- and there about a dozen more I'd like to see. I remember when it first came out,I got into some very heated arguments with my friends about some of the films on the list -- and I admit, I'm impossibly quirky when it comes to movies.

That being said, there are a few films that I think are significantly absent -- where's The Magnificent Seven? What about the early Tracy-Hepburn films, like Adam's Rib or Woman of the Year? How about the Clint Eastwood westerns, like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Or, for that matter, Breakfast at Tiffany's? (sorry, Eva!)

Some of my all-time favorites are on here -- The Graduate; Butch and Sundance; American Graffiti; Streetcar Named Desire; It Happened One Night.

It is true, regarding the older films, that they use a different visual language and different acting style than we're used to, and rely on a different frame of cultural reference -- some of them, I think, are timeless, and others just can't transcend it -- I think The Grapes of Wrath,, for example, is just as timely and moving today as when it was made. But Rebel Without a Cause -- which certainly was a significant film for its time and certainly belongs on the list -- has not aged well, and is pretty difficult to watch now.

I'm so glad Diana mentioned Citizen Kane and It's a Wonderful Life -- I usually get in trouble when I say I don't like these movies, particularly the allegedly heartwarming "Wonderful Life." I also disliked The Third Man -- don't know how many of you have seen it, but not only is it boring and confusing, but the entire musical score consists of zither music. Oy.

I'm also going to get in trouble when I say that I never liked ET, Rocky or Star Wars, but I understand that they're significant films and I think they should be on the list, regardless of my personal taste (Just don't make me ever watch them again).

I'll get in even more trouble when I say that I thought Forrest Gump doesn't belong on the list at all -- maybe, possibly, for the technical gimmicks involved, but I doubt it. Tootsie?Another gimmicky film, whose moral was that men are even better at being women than women are. Puh-leeze!

And GWTW? Now, I'm going to get tomatoes thrown at me big time. It's historically significant as a cultural artifact, but it's chock full of racism, and its biggest "love scene" is a rape. Regardless of whether that was OK in 1939, these elements are so central to the film that I can't get past them now.

Finally, Amadeus? I enjoyed it well enough, but one of the best films of the century??

I'll stop now.

Helene

P.S.-- Eva -- If you're so inclined, give Breakfast at Tiffany's another try, but definitely skip "An Affair to Remember" -- is is a film that might have been OK for its time, but should be left to RIP -- but, of course, most folks don't seem to agree with me on that one, either.

[boisewinesnob]

I have seen about 42 of these. I'd have to say my personal favorite from the list is Annie Hall, but I am biased because I love almost every Woody Allen movie. There are some on that list that I absolutely cannot stand! And some that I saw and liked but wonder how they made the top 100 of the century . I am usually the loner who hates some movie that everybody else loves, like Pulp Fiction. Oh, how I thought that movie sucked, and everybody raved about it. Oh well, different strokes.

Suzy

[beacooker]

Thank you, guys!!

Now I know what scared me off from the list when it first came out - Citizen Kane being #1, and Casablanca being #2. I didn't like either of those! I have seen 42 of the movies on the list, although I'm not sure that 'Unforgiven' counts, since I fell asleep about 20 minutes into it.

Aggie94, several years ago, I was watching tv one weekend night at about 1 am, just about to go to bed (I am not a night owl, I was up waaaaay past my bedtime), when Breakfast at Tiffany's came on. I got so hooked on it that I had to stay up and watch the rest, even though I was exhausted! It is funny how different movies affect people differently.