AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)

AFI’s 100 Years...100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition was the 2007 updated version of 100 Years… 100 Movies. The original list was first unveiled in 1998.

Announced on January 18, 2007, this 10th installment of the American Film Institute's (AFI) Emmy Award-winning AFI 100 Years... series counted down the 100 greatest American movies of all time in a three-hour television event. Aired June 20, 2007 on CBS, it was hosted by Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman. The program considered classic favorites and newly eligible films released from 1996 to 2006. AFI will undertake broadcasting a program like this every 10 years to mark changing cultural perspectives.

AFI distributed a ballot with 400 nominated movies to a jury of over 1,500 leadersfrom the creative community, including film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, cinematographers), critics and historians.

Criteria

AFI asks jurors to consider the following criteria in their selection process:

*Feature-length: Narrative format typically over 60 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, television, and digital media.
*Major Award Winner: Recognition from competitive events including awards from peer groups, critics, guilds and major film festivals.
*Popularity Over Time: This includes success at the box office, television and cable airings, and DVD/VHS sales and rentals.
*Historical Significance: A film's mark on the history of the moving image through visionary narrative devices, technical innovation or other groundbreaking achievements.
*Cultural Impact: A film's mark on American society in matters of style and substance.

The List

1998 List And 2007 List Comparison

*Of the films that remained on the list, 36 improved their ranking and 38 saw their ranking decline.

*Three films maintained the same positions as ten years ago: "Citizen Kane", "The Godfather Part II" and "The Best Years of Our Lives".

*The oldest film to be dropped was D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" (1915), from #44. Coincidentally, the oldest film to be added to the new list was Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916), ranked at #49.

*The highest-ranking film that fell from the previous list was "Doctor Zhivago" (1965), from #39; the highest-ranking debut on the new list was "The General" (1927), at #18.

*The films that improved their standings by the most dramatic leaps were "The Searchers" (+84), "City Lights" (+65), "Vertigo" (+52), "Unforgiven" (+30), and "The Deer Hunter" (+26).

*"The African Queen" suffered the largest rankings tumble, dropping 48 slots to #65.

*"Raging Bull" (#4) and "Vertigo" (#9) made their Top 10 debuts in the new list, ousting "The Graduate" (formerly #7) and "On the Waterfront" (formerly #8).

*Two pairs of films switched each other in rank: "North by Northwest" and "The Sound of Music" (fifteen positions between #40 and #55); and "Casablanca" and "The Godfather" (one position between #2 and #3).

*"Duck Soup", featuring the Marx Brothers, was replaced at #85 by another film starring the Marx Brothers -- "A Night at the Opera". "Duck Soup" itself remained on the list, moving up 25 positions to #60.

*"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (#99) was replaced by another Sidney Poitier film, "In the Heat of the Night", at #75.

*73 of the films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and 30 won the award, including "Sunrise" (1927) which won the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Production (a now defunct category that was given only in the first ceremony). The Original list has 75 Academy Awards Best Picture nominees and 33 winners.

*Considering that the Oscars are a yearly competition, and have been going on for less than the 100 years the AFI list is composed of, 75% of the ones to make the cut were nominated for best picture. 8-9 out of the top ten were nominated as well, depending on which list.

*8 of the top 10 films were nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture, of which 5 won the award. In the original list, 9 out of the top 10 were Best Picture nominees, and 6 were winners.

List breakdown

*Steven Spielberg is the most represented director with five films: "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", "Jaws", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List". Spielberg was the most represented director on AFI’s original list—also with five films. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was replaced by "Saving Private Ryan" as the fifth entry. Directors Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and Billy Wilder each have four films on the list. Frank Capra, Charles Chaplin, Francis Ford Coppola, John Huston, and Martin Scorsese each have three.

*James Stewart is the most represented leading actor with five films: ("Vertigo", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", "The Philadelphia Story" and "Rear Window").

*Robert De Niro appears in five films; he leads in four ("Raging Bull", "Taxi Driver", "The Deer Hunter" and "Goodfellas") and supports in one ("The Godfather Part II").

*Harrison Ford appears in six films, although one ("E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial") his role is a deleted scene. He has a lead role in "", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Blade Runner", but only a supporting role in "Apocalypse Now" and "American Graffiti".

*Robert Duvall appears in six of the represented films, but all of them in varying degrees of support. The films are "To Kill a Mockingbird", "M*A*S*H", "The Godfather", "The Godfather Part II", "Network", and "Apocalypse Now".

*Faye Dunaway (starred in "Chinatown", "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Network") and Katharine Hepburn (starred in "The Philadelphia Story", "The African Queen" and "Bringing Up Baby") are the most represented leading actresses with three films each. Diane Keaton appears in three films, she leads in one ("Annie Hall") and supports in two ("The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II").

*The 1970s is the most represented decade with 20 entries.

*Three years tie for most represented year, each with four films: 1982 ("E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", "Tootsie", "Blade Runner", "Sophie's Choice"); 1976 ("Network", "Taxi Driver", "Rocky", "All the President's Men"); 1969 ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", "Midnight Cowboy", "Easy Rider", "The Wild Bunch").

*The earliest film represented is "Intolerance" (1916) and the most recent is "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001).

*Six silent films are featured on the list—and three are new additions: "The General" (#18), "Intolerance" (#49) and "Sunrise" (#82). Charles Chaplin's "City Lights," "The Gold Rush," and "Modern Times" round out the list at #11, #58, and #78, respectively.

*Of the films released between 1997-2006, four were added to AFI list: "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (#50), "Saving Private Ryan" (#71), "Titanic" (#83), and "The Sixth Sense" (#89); of these, only "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" is from the 2000s.

*There are two animated films on the list: "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (#34) and "Toy Story" (#99).

*There are six musicals on the list: "Cabaret", "Singin' in the Rain", "The Sound of Music", "Swing Time", "West Side Story", and "The Wizard of Oz".

*There are also six westerns on the list: "The Searchers" (#12), "High Noon" (#27), "Shane" (#45), "Unforgiven" (#68), "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (#73), and "The Wild Bunch" (#79).

*"Star Wars" (#13), "2001: A Space Odyssey" (#15), "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (#24), "A Clockwork Orange" (#70), and "Blade Runner" (#97) round out the five science-fiction films on the list.

*The eighteen comedies on the list are as follows: "City Lights" (#11), "The Graduate" (#17), "The General" (#18), "Some Like It Hot" (#22), "Annie Hall" (#36), "Dr. Strangelove" (#39), "The Philadelphia Story" (#44), "It Happened One Night" (#46), "M*A*S*H" (#54), "The Gold Rush" (#58), "Duck Soup" (#60), "Sullivan's Travels" (#61), "American Graffiti" (#62), "Tootsie" (#69), "Modern Times" (#78), "The Apartment" (#80), "A Night at the Opera" (#85), and "Bringing Up Baby" (#88)

*On the 2007 list, "The Apartment" (#80) and "Spartacus (#81)" are the only back-to-back movies from the same year (in this case 1960).

About the 400 nominees

*Henry Fonda and James Stewart were the most represented male actors, with 10 films. Cary Grant had nine, while Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson had eight.
*Katharine Hepburn was the top actress, with seven films. Lillian Gish and Bette Davis each had five.
*1939 and 1942 were represented by 11 films each.
*Alfred Hitchcock and William Wyler directed 10 films each. Steven Spielberg and Howard Hawks are next, with eight films each, with Billy Wilder and George Stevens following with seven.
*Ernest Lehman was the screenwriter for six films.
*The ballot included entries that range from D. W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation" and Cecil B. DeMille’s "The Cheat" from 1915, to "Crash", "Brokeback Mountain", and "Good Night, and Good Luck.", all from 2005.
*About 10 percent of the ballot (43 films) were newly eligible since the original AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies as they came from the last 10 years.

See also:
Films considered the greatest ever
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies

References

* [http://www.afi.com/ AFI website]
* [http://www.afi.com/Docs/about/press/2007/100movies07.pdf news release]
* [http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/100Movies.pdf?docID=301 AFI's official PDF of the 1998 and 2007 rankings (registration required)]
* [http://connect.afi.com/site/DocServer/Movies_ballot_06.pdf?docID=141 AFI's 400-title ballot (registration required)]
* [http://www.afi.com/drop/07facts.pdf Interesting facts about the list]
* [http://sophomorecritic.blogspot.com/2007/08/interview-with-rep-from-afi.html Movie blogger sophomorecritic's interview with a representative from the AFI]