How Many of These 10 AFI Top 100 Films Have You Seen?

The American Film Institute first published its list of the 100 greatest American movies in 1998. It issued an updated version in 2007 for the tenth anniversary. The top ten of that revised list still works as a quick guide to classic Hollywood.

Count how many of these ten you’ve watched. The titles below follow their ranking on the 2007 edition, which many film fans still treat as the standard version.

1. Citizen Kane (1941)

Orson Welles directed, starred in and co-wrote this story of a newspaper tycoon. Herman Mankiewicz shared the screenplay credit. It sits at number one on the AFI’s 2007 list, just as it did in 1998.

Gregg Toland’s deep focus cinematography let foreground and background stay sharp in the same shot. The story is told through fragments of memory after the tycoon’s death. Many later films borrowed those techniques.

2. The Godfather (1972)

Francis Ford Coppola directed this adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel about the Corleone crime family. Marlon Brando played the aging patriarch and Al Pacino played the son who reluctantly takes over. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Puzo and Coppola shared the screenplay credit. The movie is as much a family drama as a crime story. Its sequel, The Godfather Part II, also appears on the AFI list.

3. Casablanca (1942)

Michael Curtiz directed this wartime romance set in Morocco. Humphrey Bogart plays a cynical nightclub owner and Ingrid Bergman plays the woman from his past. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

It was a studio production from Warner Bros. and had a famously turbulent script process. Even so, the finished film feels tight and confident. Its dialogue is among the most repeated in American cinema.

4. Raging Bull (1980)

Martin Scorsese directed this biography of boxer Jake LaMotta in stark black and white. Robert De Niro won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role. Thelma Schoonmaker won for editing.

The fight scenes are short, brutal and stylized rather than realistic in a sports movie way. Off the ring, the film focuses on jealousy and self-destruction. It ranked higher on the 2007 list than it had in 1998.

5. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen co-directed this musical about Hollywood’s shift from silent films to sound. Kelly starred alongside Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor. Its title number is one of the most recognizable dance sequences ever filmed.

The comedy works because it pokes fun at the industry’s own panic over talkies. O’Connor’s physical routine in Make ‘Em Laugh is a showstopper in its own right. It remains the highest ranked musical on the AFI list.

6. Gone with the Wind (1939)

Victor Fleming is the credited director of this sweeping Civil War epic. Vivien Leigh played Scarlett O’Hara and Clark Gable played Rhett Butler. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Hattie McDaniel won Best Supporting Actress, making her the first Black performer to win an Academy Award. The film’s romantic portrayal of the antebellum South has drawn criticism for decades. Viewers today often watch it with that context in mind.

7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

David Lean directed this epic about T. E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt during the First World War. Peter O’Toole starred in what was a breakout performance. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Its desert photography is the main draw, and it rewards the biggest screen you can find. The pacing is deliberate, and the running time is long. The film has been restored and re-released several times.

8. Schindler’s List (1993)

Steven Spielberg directed this drama about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved more than a thousand Jews during the Holocaust. Liam Neeson played Schindler, with Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes in key roles. The film was shot mostly in black and white and won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Spielberg approached the material with restraint, and many viewers find it heavy going. It’s often used in schools and educational settings as an entry point to the history. It’s the most recent film in the AFI top ten.

9. Vertigo (1958)

Alfred Hitchcock directed this psychological thriller starring James Stewart and Kim Novak. Stewart plays a retired detective who becomes obsessed with a woman he is hired to follow. It moved up considerably between the 1998 and 2007 AFI lists.

The film was not a major hit on release, but its reputation grew over time. It topped the 2012 Sight and Sound critics poll, taking the spot long held by Citizen Kane. San Francisco locations play a large part in its look.

10. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Victor Fleming is the credited director of this fantasy musical, though several directors worked on it at various points. Judy Garland starred as Dorothy, a Kansas girl swept away to a magical land. The switch from sepia tones to Technicolor remains one of the best known moments in film.

Over the years it became a fixture of television broadcasts and family viewing. Over the Rainbow won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It remains one of the most widely seen films on the list.