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 who chose from a list of 400 nominated movies. The 100-best list was unveiled in 1998.
Presentation Broadcast on CBS
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (Clips Countdown) - America's Greatest Movies of the 20th Century. Top 100 American Films as selected by AFI (1998).
A 145-minute presentation of the 100 films aired on CBS on June 16, 1998.
Presentation Broadcast on TNT
A 460-minute version aired as a 10-part series on TNT, narrated by James Woods and hosted by American talents as follows:
- Against the Grain episode was hosted by Richard Gere.
- Against the Law episode was hosted by Richard Gere.
- Family Portraits episode was hosted by Sally Field.
- In Search of... episode was hosted by Jodie Foster.
- Love Crazy episode was hosted by Sally Field.
- War & Peace episode was hosted by Richard Gere.
- The Wilder Shores of Love episode was hosted by Sally Field.
- The Antiheroes episode was hosted by Jodie Foster.
- Out of Control episode was hosted by Richard Gere.
- Fantastic Flights episode was hosted by Jodie Foster.
Presentation Broadcast on TNT UK
Another version of the same 460-minute program was produced by Monique De Villiers and John Heyman from A World Production company to British television and market featuring different interviews and each segment being hosted by British talents in the following order:
- Michael Caine hosted and narrated episode "Against the Grain"
- Ray Winstone hosted and narrated "Beyond the Law"
- Emily Watson hosted and narrated "Family Portraits"
- Richard Harris hosted and narrated "In Search of..."
- Joely Richardson hosted and narrated episode "Love Crazy"
- Jeremy Irons hosted and narrated episode "War and Peace"
- Liam Neeson hosted and narrated episode "The Wilder Shores of Love"
- Judi Dench hosted and narrated episode "The Anti-Heroes"
- Jude Law hosted and narrated episode "Out of Control"
- Helena Bonham Carter hosted and narrated "Fantastic Flights"
10th Anniversary Broadcast
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 60 minutes long.
- American film: English language, with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States. (Certain films, notably The Bridge on the River Kwai, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Lawrence of Arabia, were British-made but funded and distributed by American studios. The Lord of the Rings was New Zealand-made with American funding)
- 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.
List
2007 update notes
Twenty-three films from the original top 100 films list were removed in 2007:
Four films released between 1996 and 2006 were added:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Titanic (1997)
- The Sixth Sense (1999)
Nineteen films made before 1996 were also added:
Criticisms
As with awards, the list of those who vote and the final vote tally are not released to the public, nor the criteria for how the 400 nominated films have been selected.
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, as well as criticism of the AFI's appropriation of British films, such as Lawrence of Arabia and The Third Man. Rosenbaum also produced an alternative list of 100 American movies that he felt had been overlooked by the AFI. 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.
See also
- BFI Top 100 British films
- Films considered the greatest ever
References
External links
- AFI 100 Years...100 Movies (1998 edition)
- AFI 100 Years...100 Movies (2007 edition)
- List of the 400 nominated movies (1998 edition)
- List of the 400 nominated movies (2007 edition)
- Filmsite.org article
- Montreal Mirror editorial
- SFM Entertainment page on the special; includes video clip