Leave it to the Brits to compile a list of the best American films of all-time. BBC Culture has published a list of what it calls “The 100 Greatest American Films“, as selected by 62 international film critics in order to “get a global perspective on American film.” As BBC Culture notes, the critics polled represent a combination of broadcasters, book authors and reviewers at various newspapers and magazines across the world. As for what makes an American film? “Any movie that received funding from a U.S. source,” BBC Culture’s publication states, which is to say the terminology was quite loose, but the list contains a majority of the staples you’d expect to see.
Citizen Kane — what else? — comes in at #1, and in typical fashion The Godfather follows at #2. Vertigo, which in 2012 topped Sight & Sound‘s list of the greatest films of all-time, comes in at #3 on BBC Culture’s list. Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey, John Ford‘s The Searchers and F.W. Murnau‘s Sunrise come in at #4, #5 and #6, respectively. Just after that, in the #7 slot, is where the first of my own personal favorites Singin’ in the Rain finds its home.
As for the rest of BBC Culture’s top 10, Alfred Hitchcock makes another appearance with Psycho at #8 (yawn), Casabalanca here’s-looking-at-you-kids its way to #9 (now we’re talkin’!) and The Godfather Part II closes things out at #10. The Godfather Part III is nowhere to be found, but two installments in the top 10 is pretty impressive, certainly better than any other franchise performed on this list.
A few other notable selections, at least in terms of movies I really love, include North by Northwest at #13, Charlie Chaplin‘s The Gold Rush and City Lights sitting back-to-back at #17 and #18, respectively, and a Martin Scorsese double-bill of Taxi Driver and Goodfellas rounding out the top 20. Annie Hall rests at #23, Some Like It Hot at #30, Jaws at #38, Back to the Future at #56 — too low, you guys, too low — and Chaplin’s Modern Times wound up at #67. For all you fans of The Dark Knight, don’t worry, it’s on there: all the way down at #96.
I’m a bit shocked to see not a single David Fincher film made the list, but then I’m what you might call a Fincher fanboy, so if I were to put together a list like this you’d probably see me make a personal plug for Zodiac, far and away his best film in my opinion. Also notably excluded: The Shawshank Redemption, a movie that sits atop the IMDb Top 250 and is heavily regarded across the internet as one of the greatest films of all-time.
Alas, it couldn’t find a spot in the top 100 here, though three other films from 1994 — Pulp Fiction (#28), Forrest Gump (#74) and The Lion King (#86) — did. Speaking of injustices, 12 Angry Men isn’t anywhere on this list either, so if ever there were a time to quote Network‘s “mad as hell” line, this would be it.
In truth, a list like this is bound to leave off any number of great films, but as Brad wrote when Vertigo finally triumphed and topped the Sight & Sound poll, I’d be curious to know how each critic polled for BBC Culture’s list put together their own nominations. Per BBC Culture, “Critics were encouraged to submit lists of the 10 films they feel, on an emotional level, are the greatest in American cinema – not necessarily the most important, just the best.” That still leaves the door pretty wide open, and ultimately the questions become, what makes a film great? and what makes a film “the best”? If anyone out there is looking for ideas for an Honors or Master’s thesis, I think I just found one for you — you’re welcome.
Go ahead and peep through the list below, and as you do, take note of what falls where and let us know what you think. What’s missing? What do you consider the greatest films of all-time? Better yet, what are your favorites? Read the list and then take to the comments below!
- Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951)
- 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
- Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)
- Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
- The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
- Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
- 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
- Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)
- The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
- E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
- Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
- In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)
- West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
- The Lion King (Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, 1994)
- Night of the Living Dead (George A Romero, 1968)
- Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972)
- Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
- Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991)
- Meet Me in St Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
- The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
- Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
- Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
- The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
- Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
- Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
- The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg, 1941)
- Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
- The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953)
- Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982)
- Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)
- Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
- Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)
- The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman, 1983)
- Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
- Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984)
- The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
- Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
- Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (MiloÅ¡ Forman, 1975)
- The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
- Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)
- Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
- The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
- Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
- Grey Gardens (Albert and David Maysles, Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer, 1975)
- The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
- Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
- His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
- Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
- A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951)
- Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
- Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
- Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls, 1948)
- Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
- Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
- Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, 1943)
- The Birth of a Nation (D.W. Griffith, 1915)
- Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
- Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959)
- Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
- Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
- The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
- The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
- The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
- A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974)
- Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
- Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
- Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
- Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
- Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett, 1978)
- Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
- The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
- Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
- Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924)
- Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
- Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
- Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
- City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
- The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin, 1925)
- McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
- Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
- North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
- Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
- The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
- The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
- Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
- Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
- Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
- Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
- The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
- Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
- The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
- Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
