MOVIES
Critical Response - AFI
100 Years... 100 Cheers
This list features movies that have been rated as most inspiring by the American Film Institute.
RANK | FILMS | DIRECTOR | YEAR |
1 | It's a Wonderful Life | Frank Capra | 1946 |
2 | To Kill a Mockingbird | Robert Mulligan | 1962 |
3 | Schindler's List | Steven Spielberg | 1993 |
4 | Rocky | John G. Avildsen | 1976 |
5 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | Frank Capra | 1939 |
6 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Steven Spielberg | 1982 |
7 | The Grapes of Wrath | John Ford | 1940 |
8 | Breaking Away | Peter Yates | 1979 |
9 | Miracle on 34th Street | George Seaton | 1947 |
10 | Saving Private Ryan | Steven Spielberg | 1998 |
11 | The Best Years of Our Lives | William Wyler | 1946 |
12 | Apollo 13 | Ron Howard | 1995 |
13 | Hoosiers | David Anspaugh | 1986 |
14 | The Bridge on the River Kwai | David Lean | 1957 |
15 | The Miracle Worker | Arthur Penn | 1962 |
16 | Norma Rae | Martin Ritt | 1979 |
17 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | Miloš Forman | 1975 |
18 | The Diary of Anne Frank | George Stevens | 1959 |
19 | The Right Stuff | Philip Kaufman | 1983 |
20 | Philadelphia | Jonathan Demme | 1993 |
21 | In the Heat of the Night | Norman Jewison | 1967 |
22 | The Pride of the Yankees | Sam Wood | 1942 |
23 | The Shawshank Redemption | Frank Darabont | 1994 |
24 | National Velvet | Clarence Brown | 1944 |
25 | Sullivan's Travels | Preston Sturges | 1941 |
26 | The Wizard of Oz | Victor Fleming | 1939 |
27 | High Noon | Fred Zinnemann | 1952 |
28 | Field of Dreams | Phil Alden Robinson | 1989 |
29 | Gandhi | Richard Attenborough | 1982 |
30 | Lawrence of Arabia | David Lean | 1962 |
31 | Glory | Edward Zwick | 1989 |
32 | Casablanca | Michael Curtiz | 1942 |
33 | City Lights | Charlie Chaplin | 1931 |
34 | All the President's Men | Alan J. Pakula | 1976 |
35 | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | Stanley Kramer | 1967 |
36 | On the Waterfront | Elia Kazan | 1954 |
37 | Forrest Gump | Robert Zemeckis | 1994 |
38 | Pinocchio | Ben Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske | 1940 |
39 | Star Wars | George Lucas | 1977 |
40 | Mrs. Miniver | William Wyler | 1942 |
41 | The Sound of Music | Robert Wise | 1965 |
42 | 12 Angry Men | Sidney Lumet | 1957 |
43 | Gone with the Wind | Victor Fleming | 1939 |
44 | Spartacus | Stanley Kubrick | 1960 |
45 | On Golden Pond | Mark Rydell | 1981 |
46 | Lilies of the Field | Ralph Nelson | 1963 |
47 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | Stanley Kubrick | 1968 |
48 | The African Queen | John Huston | 1951 |
49 | Meet John Doe | Frank Capra | 1941 |
50 | Seabiscuit | Gary Ross | 2003 |
51 | The Color Purple | Steven Spielberg | 1985 |
52 | Dead Poets Society | Peter Weir | 1989 |
53 | Shane | George Stevens | 1953 |
54 | Rudy | David Anspaugh | 1993 |
55 | The Defiant Ones | Stanley Kramer | 1958 |
56 | Ben-Hur | William Wyler | 1959 |
57 | Sergeant York | Howard Hawks | 1941 |
58 | Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Steven Spielberg | 1977 |
59 | Dances with Wolves | Kevin Costner | 1990 |
60 | The Killing Fields | Roland Joffé | 1984 |
61 | Sounder | Martin Ritt | 1972 |
62 | Braveheart | Mel Gibson | 1995 |
63 | Rain Man | Barry Levinson | 1988 |
64 | The Black Stallion | Carroll Ballard | 1979 |
65 | A Raisin in the Sun | Daniel Petrie | 1961 |
66 | Silkwood | Mike Nichols | 1983 |
67 | The Day the Earth Stood Still | Robert Wise | 1951 |
68 | An Officer and a Gentleman | Taylor Hackford | 1982 |
69 | The Spirit of St. Louis | Billy Wilder | 1957 |
70 | Coal Miner's Daughter | Michael Apted | 1980 |
71 | Cool Hand Luke | Stuart Rosenberg | 1967 |
72 | Dark Victory | Edmund Goulding | 1939 |
73 | Erin Brockovich | Steven Soderbergh | 2000 |
74 | Gunga Din | George Stevens | 1939 |
75 | The Verdict | Sidney Lumet | 1982 |
76 | Birdman of Alcatraz | John Frankenheimer | 1962 |
77 | Driving Miss Daisy | Bruce Beresford | 1989 |
78 | Thelma & Louise | Ridley Scott | 1991 |
79 | The Ten Commandments | Cecil B. DeMille | 1956 |
80 | Babe | Chris Noonan | 1995 |
81 | Boys Town | Norman Taurog | 1938 |
82 | Fiddler on the Roof | Norman Jewison | 1971 |
83 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Frank Capra | 1936 |
84 | Serpico | Sidney Lumet | 1973 |
85 | What's Love Got to Do with It | Brian Gibson | 1993 |
86 | Stand and Deliver | Ramón Menéndez | 1988 |
87 | Working Girl | Mike Nichols | 1988 |
88 | Yankee Doodle Dandy | Michael Curtiz | 1942 |
89 | Harold and Maude | Hal Ashby | 1971 |
90 | Hotel Rwanda | Terry George | 2004 |
91 | The Paper Chase | James Bridges | 1973 |
92 | Fame | Alan Parker | 1980 |
93 | A Beautiful Mind | Ron Howard | 2001 |
94 | Captains Courageous | Victor Fleming | 1937 |
95 | Places in the Heart | Robert Benton | 1984 |
96 | Searching for Bobby Fischer | Steven Zaillian | 1993 |
97 | Madame Curie | Mervyn LeRoy | 1943 |
98 | The Karate Kid | John G. Avildsen | 1984 |
99 | Ray | Taylor Hackford | 2004 |
100 | Chariots of Fire | Hugh Hudson | 1981 |
References
