The American Film Institute, if it’s on schedule, should put out a new Top 100 list of American films this summer; they did so for the first time in 1997, and then did it again in 2007. I like the AFI lists. I’m not ashamed to admit that reading an special edition of Newsweek on the ’97 list introduced me to movies like McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Freaks, and The Night of the Hunter way earlier than I would have found them on my own. No matter how much one likes it, though, it’s obvious the AFI Top 100 has some big problems. For one thing, the list has never been especially American. I have pretty broad ideas about what makes an American movie; I believe that A History of Violence and The Third Man can both reasonably be argued as American. But what’s American about Lawrence of Arabia other than the Yankee dollars putting up production? That matters from a literal standpoint, but artistically there’s nothing about any of the David Lean movies on that list or the Lord of the Rings movies, say, which really qualify them as American besides the production studios. For another, the list is too obviously commercial. Jonathan Rosenbaum, for instance, has argued that the AFI Top 100 is essentially a way to sell DVDs. And most importantly, there’s something icky about making a serious, foundational ranking of an art form. As a guy with a blog, I feel okay doing it. It’s fun and it helps me expand my horizons a little bit. When the AFI does it, it feels a little less cute and a little prescriptive.
All this is to say that I got to thinking a couple months ago that I wanted to make my own top 100 list of American movies. I didn’t want to do the thing just part of the way, so I made a point to research and take notes and of course, watch a whole bunch of movies. I have a top 100 which reflects me as a viewer (which I also like to think is reasonably good), but before I reveal that later this summer, I’d like to crowdsource my efforts a little.
You can follow this link, which will take you to a Google form on the other side. It’ll ask you for your first name, your age, and then to go ahead and pick about 100 movies out of a list of about 450. (I’ve culled that from a master list of about 850 films.) Google, as far as I know, won’t keep track for you. That’s okay. The goal here isn’t necessarily for you to pick 100 films and only 100, but to give a sense of what your best American movies are.
At the bottom, you’ll have two short pieces to fill out. The first will ask for nominations for movies that I don’t include. The second will ask you to give your top five American movies as a potential tiebreaker, should it come down to that. (I have no idea if it will! Wouldn’t that be exciting?)
If you like the poll, feel free to share the link with others who you think might enjoy it. I had some fun (and a little stress) putting it together, so I hope those feelings greet you as well as you help me make a very little bit of film history. The window for this poll will close in late September.
You can also read up on my Top 100 American films. Here’s a running set of links to that project:
- Nashville
- 2- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- 3- Vertigo
- 4- Citizen Kane
- 5- Apocalypse Now
- 6- The Searchers
- 7- Sunset Boulevard
- 8- Rear Window
- 9- Casablanca
- 10- Pulp Fiction
- 11- Do the Right Thing
- 12- The Godfather
- 13- City Lights
- 14- There Will Be Blood
- 15- Safe
- 16- Fargo
- 17- Blade Runner
- 18- Mulholland Dr.
- 19- Taxi Driver
- 20- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
- 21- Raging Bull
- 22- The Night of the Hunter
- 23- Toy Story
- 24- Star Wars
- 25- Some Like It Hot
- 26- Short Cuts
- 27- Double Indemnity
- 28- The Apartment
- 29- Psycho
- 30- The Godfather Part II
- 31- The Exorcist
- 32- The Wild Bunch
- 33- Goodfellas
- 34- Network
- 35- Singin’ in the Rain
- 36- The Magnificent Ambersons
- 37- It’s a Wonderful Life
- 38- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- 39- Sullivan’s Travels
- 40- The General
- 41- McCabe & Mrs. Miller
- 42- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- 43- Duck Soup
- 44- Dr. Strangelove
- 45- Gone with the Wind
- 46- A Woman Under the Influence
- 47- All That Heaven Allows
- 48- The Gold Rush
- 49- The Shining
- 50- No Country for Old Men
- 51- The Wizard of Oz
- 52- Malcolm X
- 53- Greed
- 54- The Third Man
- 55- Intolerance
- 56-The Shop Around the Corner
- 57- Make Way for Tomorrow
- 58- WALL-E
- 59- Annie Hall
- 60- Chinatown
- 61- Sherlock, Jr.
- 62- Anatomy of a Murder
- 63- The Lady Eve
- 64- Only Angels Have Wings
- 65- Bringing Up Baby
- 66- Brokeback Mountain
- 67- Barry Lyndon
- 68- Far from Heaven
- 69- Bonnie and Clyde
- 70- North by Northwest
- 71- Jurassic Park
- 72- The Right Stuff
- 73- Notorious
- 74- Days of Heaven
- 75- A Streetcar Named Desire
- 76- United 93
- 77- The Last Picture Show
- 78- Paths of Glory
- 79- Johnny Guitar
- 80- High Noon
- 81- Boogie Nights
- 82- The Maltese Falcon
- 83- The Conversation
- 84- Cabaret
- 85- The New World
- 86- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
- 87- The Last Temptation of Christ
- 88- Killer of Sheep
- 89- Amadeus
- 90- Paris, Texas
- 91- The Age of Innocence
- 92- Broadcast News
- 93- The Social Network
- 94- The Princess Bride
- 95- Alien
- 96- Coming Home
- 97- Imitation of Life
- 98- Sweet Smell of Success
- 99- Back to the Future
- 100- The Best Years of Our Lives
Un Certain Regard – some movies of note which failed to crack the top 100 (which should not be construed as 101-125)
Seeing Things Secondhand 
[…] narrative fiction feature films, from my perspective. For an introduction to the project, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] – We’re back! Go here to take a survey about the greatest American […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
[…] an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility […]
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[…] it’s as wonky as any research done primarily through a Google Form would be. When I did my top 100 American movies earlier in the year, I simultaneously ran a poll asking people what their opinions were. 450 […]
[…] it’s as wonky as any research done primarily through a Google Form would be. When I did my top 100 American movies earlier in the year, I simultaneously ran a poll asking people what their opinions were. 450 […]
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[…] my own take on the matter in the spirit of another anniversary project I did two years ago for the AFI Top 100. The trouble is that defining what an American movie is is far less difficult than defining what a […]
[…] done in reviewing movies or in compiling lists like these. It was an absolutely huge part of my top 100 American movies list from two summers ago and a fairy important step in the top 100 movies of the British Isles […]
[…] intentions and only a tyro’s understanding of, hem hem, cinema, decided he wanted to create a list of the top 100 American movies which would be better than the American Film Institute’s. While recognizing that he did not […]
[…] only list project on this site which tried to speak for a consensus as well as myself. That was the Better than AFI’s Top 100, which is still my favorite project I’ve ever done, but which I’ve been distancing […]