Combustible Celluloid
 

The Top 100 American Films

Jonathan Rosenbaum

An alternate to the American Film Institute Top 100, published June, 1998.

  • Ace in the Hole (The Big Carnival) (1951, Billy Wilder)
  • Affair to Remember, An (1957, Leo McCarey)
  • Anatomy of a Murder (1959, Otto Preminger)
  • Avanti! (1972, Billy Wilder)
  • Barefoot Contessa, The (1954, Joseph L. Mankiewicz)
  • Big Sky, The (1952, Howard Hawks)
  • Bigger Than Life (1956, Nicholas Ray)
  • Black Cat, The (1934, Edgar G. Ulmer)
  • Bride of Frankenstein (1935, James Whale)
  • Broken Blossoms (1919, D.W. Griffith)
  • Cat People (1942, Jacques Tourneur)
  • Christmas in July (1940, Preston Sturges)
  • Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962, Albert Zugsmith)
  • Crowd, The (1928, King Vidor)
  • Dead Man (1995, Jim Jarmusch)
  • Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee)
  • Docks of New York, The (1928, Josef von Sternberg)
  • Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1974, Thom Andersen)
  • 11 x 14 (1976, James Benning)
  • Eraserhead (1978, David Lynch)
  • Foolish Wives (1922, Erich von Stroheim)
  • Force of Evil (1948, Abraham Polonsky)
  • Freaks (1932, Tod Browning)
  • General, The (1927, Buster Keaton)
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953, Howard Hawks)
  • Gilda (1946, Charles Vidor)
  • Great Garrick, The (1937, James Whale)
  • Greed (1925, Erich Von Stroheim)
  • Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933, Lewis Milestone)
  • Heartbreak Kid, The (1972, Elaine May)
  • Housekeeping (1987, Bill Forsyth)
  • Hustler, The (1961, Robert Rossen)
  • Intolerance (1916, D.W. Griffith)
  • Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray)
  • Judge Priest (1934, John Ford)
  • Killer of Sheep (1978, Charles Burnett)
  • Killing of a Chinese Bookie, The (1976, John Cassavettes)
  • Killing, The (1956, Stanley Kubrick)
  • Kiss Me Deadly (1955, Robert Aldrich)
  • Ladies' Man, The (1961, Jerry Lewis)
  • Lady From Shanghai, The (1948, Orson Welles)
  • Last Chants for a Slow Dance (1977, Jon Jost)
  • Laughter (1930, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast)
  • Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948, Max Ophuls)
  • Lonesome (1929, Paul Fejos)
  • Love Me Tonight (1932, Rouben Mamoulian)
  • Love Streams (1984, John Cassavetes)
  • Magnificent Ambersons, The (1942, Orson Welles)
  • Make Way for Tomorrow (1937, Leo McCarey)
  • Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The (1962, John Ford)
  • Man's Castle (1933, Frank Borzage)
  • McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman)
  • Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Vincente Minnelli)
  • Mikey and Nicky (1976, Elaine May)
  • Monsieur Verdoux (1947, Charles Chaplin)
  • My Son John (1952, Leo McCarey)
  • Naked Spur, The (1953, Anthony Mann)
  • Nanook of the North (1922, Robert J. Flaherty)
  • Night of the Hunter, The (1955, Charles Laughton)
  • Nutty Professor, The (1963, Jerry Lewis)
  • Palm Beach Story, The (1942, Preston Sturges)
  • Panic in the Streets (1950, Elia Kazan)
  • Park Row (1952, Samuel Fuller)
  • Phenix City Story, The (1955, Phil Karlson)
  • Point Blank (1967, John Boorman)
  • Real Life (1979, Albert Brooks)
  • Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971, Jonas Mekas)
  • Rio Bravo (1959, Howard Hawks)
  • Scarface (1932, Howard Hawks)
  • Scarlet Empress, The (1934, Josef von Sternberg)
  • Scarlet Street (1945, Fritz Lang)
  • Scenes From Under Childhood (1970, Stan Brakhage)
  • Scenic Route, The (1978, Mark Rappaport)
  • Seventh Victim, The (1943, Mark Robson)
  • Shadows (1960, John Cassavettes)
  • Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton)
  • Shooting, The (1967, Monte Hellman)
  • Shop Around the Corner, The (1940, Ernst Lubitsch)
  • Sound of Fury, The / Try and Get Me! (1950, Cy Endfield)
  • Stars in My Crown (1950, Jacques Tourneur)
  • Steel Helmet, The (1951, Samuel Fuller)
  • Stranger Than Paradise (1984, Jim Jarmusch)
  • Strawberry Blonde, The (1941, Raoul Walsh)
  • Sunrise (1927, F.W. Murnau)
  • Sylvia Scarlett (1935, George Cukor)
  • Tarnished Angels, The (1958, Douglas Sirk)
  • That's Entertainment! III (1994, Bud Friedgen & Michael J. Sheridan)
  • This Land Is Mine (1943, Jean Renoir)
  • Thunderbolt (1929, Josef von Sternberg)
  • To Sleep With Anger (1990, Charles Burnett)
  • Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (1969, Ken Jacobs)
  • Track of the Cat (1954, William A. Wellman)
  • Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch)
  • Vinyl (1965, Andy Warhol)
  • Wanda (1971, Barbara Loden)
  • While the City Sleeps (1956, Fritz Lang)
  • Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957, Frank Tashlin)
  • Woodstock (1970, Michael Wadleigh)
  • Wrong Man, The (1957, Alfred Hitchcock)
  • Zabriskie Point (1969, Michaelangelo Antonioni)

See the original list at the Chicago Reader

Hulu
TASCHEN
Movies Unlimtied
300x250