AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies

The first of the AFI 100 Years... series of cinematic milestones, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies is a list of the 100 best American movies, as determined by the American Film Institute from a poll of more than 1,500 artists and leaders in the film industry. The list was unveiled in 1998.

It was released in video in two versions: a 145-minute version, which aired on CBS, and a 460-minute version available only on video. It was hosted by Jodie Foster, among others.

An updated version of the list, billed as a 10th Anniversary edition, aired on CBS on June 20, 2007, and was hosted by Morgan Freeman.

Criteria

Films were judged according to the following criteria.

# "Feature-length": Narrative format, at least 40 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.
# "Major Award Winner": Recognition from competitive events including awards from organizations in the film community and major film festivals.
# "Popularity Over Time": Including figures for box office adjusted for inflation, television broadcasts and syndication, and home video sales and rentals.
# "Historical Significance": A film's mark on the history of the moving image through technical innovation, visionary narrative devices or other groundbreaking achievements.
# "Cultural Impact": A film's mark on American society in matters of style and substance.

1998 List

2007 List comparison

On June 20, 2007, a new list was released by AFI to update for the new generation of films.

Twenty-three films were removed from the original list:

39. "Doctor Zhivago" (1965)
44. "The Birth of a Nation" (1915)
52. "From Here to Eternity" (1953)
53. "Amadeus" (1984)
54. "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930)
57. "The Third Man" (1949)
58. "Fantasia" (1940)
59. "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955)
63. " Stagecoach" (1939)
64. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977)
67. "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
68. "An American in Paris" (1951)
73. "Wuthering Heights" (1939)
75. "Dances with Wolves" (1990)
82. "Giant" (1956)
84. "Fargo" (1996)
86. "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935)
87. "Frankenstein" (1931)
89. "Patton" (1970)
90. "The Jazz Singer" (1927)
91. "My Fair Lady" (1964)
92. "A Place in the Sun" (1951)
99. "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967)

Four films released between 1997-2006 were added:

50. (2001)
71. "Saving Private Ryan" (1998)
83. "Titanic" (1997)
89. "The Sixth Sense" (1999)

Nineteen films made between 1916-1995 were also added:

18. "The General" (1927)
49. "Intolerance" (1916)
59. "Nashville" (1975)
61. "Sullivan's Travels" (1941)
63. "Cabaret" (1972)
67. "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" (1966)
72. "The Shawshank Redemption" (1994)
75. "In the Heat of the Night" (1967)
77. "All the President's Men" (1976)
81. "Spartacus" (1960)
82. "Sunrise" (1927)
85. "A Night at the Opera" (1935)
87. "12 Angry Men" (1957)
90. "Swing Time" (1936)
91. "Sophie's Choice" (1982)
95. "The Last Picture Show" (1971)
96. "Do the Right Thing" (1989)
97. "Blade Runner" (1982)
99. "Toy Story" (1995)

Criticisms

As with the Academy Awards, the list of those who vote and the final vote tally is not released to the public.

On June 26, 1998, the "Chicago Reader" published an article by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum which offers a detailed response to the movies in the AFI list and includes an alternate list of 100 American movies that Rosenbaum felt had been overlooked by the AFI.cite news | last=Rosenbaum | first =Jonathan | title= List-o-Mania: Or, How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love American Movies | url= http://www.chicagoreader.com/movies/100best.html | Publisher=Chicago Reader | date =June 26, 1998 | accessdate= 2008-06-03] Rosenbaum chose to present this alternative list alphabetically since to rank them according to merit would be "tantamount to ranking oranges over apples or declaring cherries superior to grapes." The AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list includes five titles from Rosenbaum's list, and the accompanying promotional poster lists the titles in alphabetical order.

Among other criticisms were that: more than half of the films were from years between 1950 to 1979 leaving the silent era and "modern era" virtually ignoredFact|date=October 2008, and there are no films by female or black directors represented on the list. Critic Mick LaSalle accused the AFI of promoting "moronic consensus."cite web | title=List of Top 100 Films a "Scandal" | url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/entertainment/115896.stm/ | Publisher=BBC News | date =June 23, 1998 | accessdate= 2008-05-20]

References

ee also

* BFI Top 100 British films
* Films considered the greatest ever

External links

* [http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/movies.aspx AFI list of movies]
* [http://www.filmsite.org/afi100films.html Filmsite.org article]
* [http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/1998/082098/film1.html Montreal Mirror editorial]
* [http://www.sfment.com/dev/programs/view/17 SFM Entertainment page on the special; includes video clip]