The Alternative American Film List

[Cold Bishop]

1.) Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
2.) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
3.) Once Upon A Time In America (Sergio Leone, 1984)
4.) Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)
5.) The Last Command (Josef Von Sternberg, 1928)
6.) A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957)
7.) Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah, 1974)
8.) Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955)
9.) Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)
10.) Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
11.) Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950)
12.) The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
13.) The Scarlet Empress (Josef von Sternberg, 1934)
14.) The Roaring Twenties (Raoul Walsh, 1939)
15.) Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957)
16.) Faces (John Cassavetes, 1968)
17.) Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944)
18.) The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973)
19.) Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975)
20.) Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
21.) Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)
22.) Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)
23.) Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter (Frank Tashlin, 1957)
24.) In A Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)
25.) The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson, 1943)
26.) All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)
27.) The Man Who Laughs (Paul Leni, 1928)
28.) Written on the Wind (Douglas Sirk, 1956)
29.) Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)
30.) Moonrise (Frank Borzage, 1948)
31.) Trouble in Paradise (Ernest Lubitsch, 1992)
32.) Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
33.) Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, 1948)
34.) The King of Marvin Gardens (Bob Rafaelson, 1972)
35.) Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997)
36.) Bigger Than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956)
37.) Dawn of the Dead (George Romero, 1978)
38.) Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara, 1992)
39.) Zabriskie Point (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1970)
40.) Body & Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947)
41.) California Split (Robert Altman, 1974)
42.) The Hired Hand (Peter Fonda, 1971)
43.) Point Blank (John Boorman, 1967)
44.) Seconds (John Frankenheimer, 1966)
45.) Fat City (John Huston, 1972)
46.) Sorcerer (William Friedkin, 1977)
47.) My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991)
48.) Fingers (James Toback, 1978)
49.) RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)
50.) Pennies from Heaven (Herbert Ross, 1981)


This is my list... and I ain't happy with it. Don't be suprised if I pull some last minute changes (if realized omission really ends up bothering me). Basically, after about the 20 mark (and probably before that), it becomes a free for all in a more or less arbitrary order, and I'm sure the farther down you get on the list, the more interchangeable my picks could be with dozen of other films. I also do feel I left out a few multiple choices from a single director to make things more interesting. Of course, an American list can always use more Hitchcock, Altman, Cassavetes, Ray, Preminger etc. but it works better this way. Certainly the "watch these movies right now if you haven't yet" second half will be of more interest to people than the "my taste is superior to yours" first half. And isn't the main reason we all like these lists is to see the ranked titles that we haven't seen yet.

I've noticed a suprising lack of Ford, Hawks, Lang, Borzage, Wilder, Mann, Cukor, Minnelli, Capra, etc. and I can say is I really need to watch/rewatch a lot of there films, since I'm sure my opinion would change of them. Certainly my taste has changed since I first watched these films long ago (not to mention a good deal of the filmmakers I find more interesting works have been unavailable on DVD). As a consequence, I do feel there could have been more Westerns and Musicals, since what is American cinema without the two genres; Both Funny Face and The Band Wagon were films that were nudged off the list, sadly, but that's how it goes. And don't get me started on silents, which if I have seen more of, would probably have change the entire first half of my list.

[jonp72]

Here are the final results for the Alternative AFI list with the total number of points for each film. To make my list comparable to the AFI, I have published a list with 100 films instead of the usual 50. Please note that, as a result of a four-way tie for 100th place, the final list includes 103 films.

• 1. The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton) 443
  2. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles) 387
  3. The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola) 374
  4. Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles) 339
  5. My Darling Clementine (1946, John Ford) 291
  6. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman) 287
  7. His Girl Friday (1940, Howard Hawks) 279
  8. Out of the Past (1947, Jacques Tourneur) 248
  9. Kiss Me Deadly (1955, Robert Aldrich) 242
  10. Days of Heaven (1978, Terrence Malick) 233
  11. The Long Goodbye (1973, Robert Altman) 223
  12. Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch) 217
  13. Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick) 214
  14. Ace in the Hole (1951, Billy Wilder) 211
  15. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976, John Cassavetes) 210
  16. Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock) 207
  17. All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk) 198
  18. The Lady Eve (1941, Preston Sturges) 193
  19. A Woman Under the Influence (1974, John Cassavetes) 190
  20. Mulholland Dr. (2001, David Lynch) 185
  21. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962, John Ford) 184 (tie)
  21. Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch) 184 (tie)
  23. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948, Max Ophuls) 177
  24. Rio Bravo (1959, Howard Hawks) 175
  25. Shock Corridor (1963, Samuel Fuller) 174
  26. Dead Man (1995, Jim Jarmusch) 171 (tie)
  26. The Roaring Twenties (1939, Raoul Walsh) 171 (tie)
  28. Sweet Smell of Success (1957, Alexander Mackendrick) 164
  29. Only Angels Have Wings (1939, Howard Hawks) 157
  30. The Shop Around the Corner (1940, Ernst Lubitsch) 152
  31. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Vincente Minnelli) 150 (tie)
  31. Point Blank (1967, John Boorman) 150 (tie)
  33. The Thin Blue Line (1988, Errol Morris) 149
  34. Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet) 147 (tie)
  34. Killer of Sheep (1977, Charles Burnett) 147 (tie)
  36. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974, Sam Peckinpah) 146
  37. The Band Wagon (1953, Vincente Minnelli) 143
  38. In a Lonely Place (1950, Nicholas Ray) 133 (tie)
  38. Man of the West (1958, Anthony Mann) 133 (tie)
  38. Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton) 133 (tie)
  41. The Scarlet Empress (1934, Josef von Sternberg) 131
  42. Shadow of a Doubt (1943, Alfred Hitchcock) 124
  43. Some Came Running (1958, Vincente Minnelli) 123 (tie)
  43. The Killing (1956, Stanley Kubrick) 123 (tie)
  45. Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray) 121
  46. The Awful Truth (1937, Leo McCarey) 120
  47. Imitation of Life (1959, Douglas Sirk) 118
  48. Cockfighter (1974, Monte Hellman) 117
  49. Badlands (1973, Terrence Malick) 116 (tie)
  49. Casino (1995, Martin Scorsese) 116 (tie)
  51. Safe (1995, Todd Haynes) 114 (tie)
  51. Seconds (1966, John Frankenheimer) 114 (tie)
  53. Rosemary's Baby (1968, Roman Polanski) 112
  54. Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch) 111
  55. The Big Sleep (1946, Howard Hawks) 110
  56. Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese) 109
  57. Greed (1924, Erich von Stroheim) 107
  58. The Birds (1963, Alfred Hitchcock) 106
  59. 3 Women (1977, Robert Altman) 104
  60. Dazed and Confused (1993, Richard Linklater) 102 (tie)
  60. Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock) 102 (tie)
  62. The New World (2005, Terrence Malick) 100
  63. Down By Law (1986, Jim Jarmusch) 97 (tie)
  63. Faces (1968, John Cassavetes) 97 (tie)
  65. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson) 95
  66. The Lusty Men (1952, Nicholas Ray) 94
  66. Baby Doll (1956, Elia Kazan) 93
  68. Gun Crazy (1950, Joseph H. Lewis) 92 (tie)
  68. The King of Comedy (1983, Martin Scorsese) 92 (tie)
  70. Holiday (1938, George Cukor) 90
  71. Anatomy of a Murder (1959, Otto Preminger) 88
  72. Hail the Conquering Hero (1944, Preston Sturges) 87
  73. Gilda (1946, Charles Vidor) 86
  74. Love Streams (1984, John Cassavetes) 85
  75. Manhattan (1979, Woody Allen) 84
  76. Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch) 83
  77. The Crowd (1928, King Vidor) 82
  78. Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch) 78 (tie)
  78. The Cameraman (1928, Edward Sedgwick/Buster Keaton) 78 (tie)
  80. A Face in the Crowd (1957, Elia Kazan) 77
  81. Grey Gardens (1975, Ellen Hovde/Albert Maysles/David Maysles/Muffie Meyer) 76 (tie)
  81. Harold and Maude (1971, Hal Ashby) 76 (tie)
  81. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973, Sam Peckinpah) 76 (tie)
  84. Medium Cool (1969, Haskell Wexler) 74 (tie)
  84. The Thin Red Line (1998, Terrence Malick) 74 (tie)
  86. Thieves' Highway (1949, Jules Dassin) 73
  87. Seven Men From Now (1956, Budd Boetticher) 72 (tie)
  87. Stranger Than Paradise (1984, Jim Jarmusch) 72 (tie)
  89. Blonde Venus (1932, Josef von Sternberg) 71 (tie)
  89. Freaks (1932, Tod Browning) 71 (tie)
  89. Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh) 71 (tie)
  89. Shadows (1959, John Cassavetes) 71 (tie)
  93. They Were Expendable (1945, John Ford) 67
  94. All That Jazz (1979, Bob Fosse) 65 (tie)
  94. Punch-Drunk Love (2002, Paul Thomas Anderson) 65 (tie)
  96. Catch-22 (1970, Mike Nichols) 64
  97. Dumbo (1941, Ben Sharpsteen) 63 (tie)
  97. Love and Death (1975, Woody Allen) 63 (tie)
  97. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957, Frank Tashlin) 63 (tie)
  100. Jackie Brown (1997, Quentin Tarantino) 62 (tie)
  100. Pickup on South Street (1953, Samuel Fuller) 62 (tie)
  100. The Leopard Man (1943, Jacques Tourneur) 62 (tie)
  100. The Wind (1928, Victor Sjostrom) 62 (tie)

[domino harvey]

I fared better than I thought-- 11/50 made the cut.

[zedz]

Not too shabby. I find The Conversation and Days of Heaven wildly overrated, but the AFI should be acutely embarrassed that they've so far overlookeed the remainder of the top ten (and much of the rest of the list).

As usual, I'm most interested in hearing people proselytize on behalf of their overlooked gems (especially since there don't seem to be that many surprises on the master list) - will there be darling defending this time around?

[denti alligator]

Nice list! I can't complain (again), having not participated (again), but it's too bad Gun Crazy didn't rank higher.

I guess I ought to finally watch my copy of McCabe & Mrs. Miller.

[Floyd]

I really like this list but I do agree with zedz in that both The Conversation and Days of Heaven are overrated. I am happy to see The Cameraman and Medium Cool on a list though. Unfortunately a real lack of documentary film as usual but I did try with my list.

[GringoTex]

*chest bumps zedz over the high Cockfighter ranking*

[Via_Chicago]

A little surprised that over half (28 titles) of my original 50 made the final list. But I'm a little disappointed that few of my darlings actually made it on there. In order:

Hell's Hinges (Thomas Ince) - This brilliant silent Western not only lays down the moral rules for nearly all subsequent Westerns, but it also delivers unto us a true Western mythology. Here, William S. Hart plays an amoral local thug who converts and is effectively pacified by the sister of a local preacher. However, in a sublime twist, said preacher is himself taken in by the clutches of a local hussy, reduced to a shadow of his former self, and in a drunken rage burns down his own church before getting himself killed. Tragic, brilliant, and filmed with remarkable poignancy and style by Ince.

Reign of Terror (Anthony Mann) - I've already written at length about this film on these boards, but Mann's Reign of Terror is my favorite of his films, even surpassing his remarkable Westerns. Not only is this an intelligent historical film that succeeds in spite of the scriptwriting forces that conspired against it, but it's also a rip-roaring adventure with so many twists, turns, and otherwise bizarre elements that it's nigh impossible not to love. How this has film has failed to garner critical recognition and notice is beyond me.

White Dog - My favorite Fuller film is also his most controversial. This sucker-punch to the gut may have some of the hokiest dialogue in Fuller's entire canon (and that says a lot), but Fuller remarkably makes it all work. It's emotional finale is truly devastating.

The Mortal Storm - This and other of Borzage's MGM films have been mocked on this board by lubitsch (the poster, not the man), and yet, they have a quality and an intellectual and emotional resonance all their own, apart from their supposed "flat lighting" (a rather facile criticism of a film if I've ever read one). This is the best of those films, a beautifully composed film that manages to haunt the viewer long after it's over, especially after its extremely moving finale in which Robert Stack's Nazi trainee visits his old home and in its emptiness notes the passing of his loved ones: his step-father, step-sister, and her lover (Jimmy Stewart).

The Heiress - AFI has at least given prominent place to Wyler's recognized masterpiece The Best Years of Our Lives. However, this 1949 masterpiece, based on a short story by Henry James, succeeds just as brilliantly. The acting is brilliant of course, but it's Wyler's precise filmmaking that sends this film into a realm all its own.

The Blue Bird - Maurice Tourneur (Jacques's dad) was one of the great directors of American silents (despite being a Frenchman). This 1918 film, which has been remade a number of times, is, for me anyway, his masterpiece. It's one of the purest, most beautiful portrayals of childhood innocence and imagination that I know of. While Tourneur made many other great films (my favorite of which might perhaps be his moralizing gangster picture Alias, Jimmy Valentine), this one never fails to move me.

Make Way For Tomorrow - In 1937, Leo McCarey did something that few directors can claim, he made two supreme masterpieces in one year. McCarey believed this to be the better of the two and I'm inclined to agree. Make Way For Tomorrow is without a doubt the most honestly felt American film ever made about aging and the elderly. Somehow, McCarey manages to make us sympathize with his elderly leads, but he refuses to condemn their children for their perceived calousness. It's finale alone is worth it. A worthy precursor to Ozu's magnificent Tokyo Story.

The Seventh Victim - This is my favorite of the Lewton films, despite my loving nearly all of them (especially also I Walked With a Zombie and Cat People). This film though has qualities that are just so difficult to express: the beautiful photography, Kim Hunter's girlish innocence, the upper-class, bourgeois characteristics of the Satanists, the strange nightmare logic, and so much more. This film is, to use a tired cliche, the stuff that dreams are made of.

Well, those are my biggest darlings (from my top twenty), perhaps if I'm feeling up to it, I'll finish out my list later.

[zedz]

*chest bumps zedz over the high Cockfighter ranking*

It's probably the only time the film's going to make the top 50 of anything. There must have been a third or fourth supporter as well who deserve a blooding.

[denti alligator]

I'm curious to know why you (two) think The Conversation is overrated. It's a film that only gets better every time I view it, and I think it's easily Coppola's best.

[zedz]

I'm curious to know why you (two) think The Conversation is overrated. It's a film that only gets better every time I view it, and I think it's easily Coppola's best.

There's surely a more appropriate thread, but briefly, I think Pakula did the whole paranoia thing much more effectively at the same time, and he seems to be as underrated as Coppola is over-. Give me The Parallax View any day.

The Conversation's got some great, stylish sequences, but it tips over into gimmickry too often (the toilet scene being the most obvious example) and the twist on which the entire film hinges just doesn't work. The two line readings are completely different, and the elements which create the difference - timing and emphasis - are the two elements that were most likely to be captured in the recording (it's far more likely that Caul would pick up the rhythm and intonation of the conversation and not the specific words than the other way around). The whole conceit sounds like it was a 'brilliant idea' during the scriptwriting phase that nobody was brave enough to remove for the sake of plausibility because it was too hard, or too cool, or something. It just seems lazy, and the smug hipness of that decision bleeds into the rest of the film for me, though you might be right that it's Coppola's best film. (ducks)

[domino harvey]

Give me The Parallax View any day.

Hey, I voted for it.
This "Alternative" List is about of the same quality as the real one.

[zedz]

Twenty-seven darlings, dead ducks and lost causes:

3. Sherman's March (Ross McElwee, 1986) - My two other favourite comedies (The General and Bringing Up Baby) made it to the AFI list, through some miraculous lapse of bad taste, but like them this is much more than just a comedy. I loved it at first sight, and now that I've seen it enough times for it to soak into my DNA I'm amazed that it still delights and surprises. Charleen Swansea is one of the great characters in American movies, and here she's in delightful comic mode, but the whole thing at times resembles a found screwball comedy. My usual refrain is that documentaries and experimental films get short shrift in these exercises, and that's certainly true here. I was delighted to see that my number 7, The Thin Blue Line, has at least / at last been acknowledged as the great American movie it surely is, and McElwee's sprawling comic epic tackles the same period in recent history from a completely different tack.

6. Force of Evil (Abraham Polonsky, 1948) - Not just the best film noir in blank verse, but for my money the best film noir, period (I don't count Night of the Hunter). Ferociously unsentimental. I was genuinely surprised this didn't make the final list.

8. Peter Ibbetson (Henry Hathaway, 1935) - Cocteau's only American film? There's no way to describe this without it sounding silly, and I suppose it is silly, but it's also the strangest, most magical Hollywood film before Night of the Hunter. Whoever it was on this board that introduced me to this film (Gordon?), I am indebted to you. Should I break my back, I'll visit you in my dreams.

9. The Hired Hand (Peter Fonda, 1971) - It's got all the visual beauty of Days of Heaven, but a hell of a lot more substance. Actually, I think that visually this outdoes Malick's film in terms of originality and lack of syrup, and performance for performance (Fonda vs Gere, Bloom vs Adams, Oates vs Shepard) it blows Days of Heaven out of the water.

10. He Who Gets Slapped (Victor Sjostrom, 1924) - Pulpy material utterly transformed by one of the most visionary directors of the silent period. Nice to see The Wind sneak in there, but I prefer this.

11. Sink or Swim (Su Friedrich, 1990) - A lost cause, I know: experimental, documentary and directed by a woman to boot, but I checked it out again recently and it's definitely this good. Su explores her relationship with her father in reverse alphabetical order, with her typical rigour and wit.

13. Top Hat (Mark Sandrich, 1935) - The only excuse for this film not being on our list is it being on the AFI's. It's not, so what the fuck is wrong with you all?

15. T-Men (Anthony Mann, 1947) - Mann still gets no respect, despite the grudging inclusion of Man of the West at number 38 (which is almost insultingly low - in what Bizarro World is Dead Man a better western?) It seems like pseudo-noir is more fashionable than the real thing, and it doesn't come any realer than this.

17. Dog Star Man (Stan Brakhage, 1964) - Well, at least poor old Shut-Out Stan is in good company.

18. Curse of the Cat People (Robert Wise, 1944) - I can understand that the Lewton vote would be split, and I acknowledge that this is an idiosyncratic choice, but it was a bit puzzling to see The Leopard Man make the grade ahead of anything else, as I'd always pegged it as one of the weaker of the bunch. Oh well, at least one of them got acknowledged.

19. Crime Wave (Andre De Toth, 1954) - Nouvelle vague avant la lettre. Brutally efficient filmmaking.

20. The Shooting (Monte Hellman, 1965) - Five slim placings ahead of Cockfighter for me, and one of the greatest revisionist westerns, even though I've never seen it unmangled.

24. Lonesome (Pal Fejos, 1928) - Among the best of the city films, well ahead of The Crowd, in my estimation, and approaching the neighbourhood of Sunrise.

27. The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino, 1953) - Simply ferocious, even though the film seems to be running on fumes it's far more gripping than 99% of films with respectable budgets.

31. The Man from Laramie (Anthony Mann, 1955) - See above. Mann was the most represented filmmaker on my list. Leaving his work off a list of great American films is like leaving off Ford: there's no excuse.

32. Buffalo 66 (Vincent Gallo, 1998) - Just loved the look and feel of this film the first time I saw it, arriving from the twee wastes of American indies in the late nineties as if from a 1970s timewarp. And you had to respect the folly / audacity of a guy who tried to single-handedly engineer a Yes revival right then and there. While the film's running, it almost seems possible. It probably helps that the extent of my Vincent Gallo baggage at the time was “that guy from Nenette et Boni.â€

[Dylan]

though you might be right that it's Coppola's best film. (ducks)

Eh, no need to duck, you also dislike Fellini

I really, really like this new list, although I'm more than a little shocked that only two Woody Allen films made it, and only in the last quarter of the list (and the popularity of Love & Death surprises me, as great as I myself find it to be). I didn't submit a list because the list I ultimately compiled seemed so incomplete (I need to see way more Preminger, Kazan, Ford, Wyler, Wilder, Ray, Peckinpah, Lumet, von Sternberg, Sirk, Mulligan, Fuller, Richard Brooks, Mann, Altman, Cassavetes, among so many others, before I could take such a list seriously...and There Will Be Blood should be on there, too).

[zedz]

though you might be right that it's Coppola's best film. (ducks)

Eh, no need to duck, you also dislike Fellini

Or maybe I should just adopt a permanent crouching position (and talk in a Donald Duck quack).

[GringoTex]

5 Vera Cruz Robert Aldrich
One thing that this excercise made me realize is that the Gringo in Mexico subgenre must be my favorite. Six films made my list that fit the bill. While the Western was undergoing a transformation from national identity to psychology, Aldrich dropped this postmodern bombshell in which the nattional myths of two different countries eat each other.

12 Young Mr. Lincoln John Ford
I'm surprised this didn't make it considering the Criterion release. My favorite Pre-War Ford and the one film Eisenstein said he wished he would have made- probably because Ford blurred the line between propaganda and the transcendent like no filmmaker before or since. It's a creation myth.

13 Tabu: A Story of the South Seas F.W. Murnau
I'm shocked this didn't make the list. Was it eligible?

15 The Steel Helmet Samuel Fuller
The less Fuller had to work with, the better his films.

17 Morocco Josef von Sternberg
My favorite Sternberg is also his most tender.

19 Written on the Wind Douglas Sirk
The traditional reading of Sirk is that he disguised subversion with melodrama. There's nothing disguised here. It's Sirk's In a Year with 13 Moons.

20 Winchester '73 Anthony Mann
I love all Manns- this is the one I go back to most often.

23 3:10 to Yuma Delmer Daves


25 Kiss of Death Henry Hathaway
May be THE most underrated film noir. Hathaway's known for his "documentary" approach, but it's his Lynchian rendition of the American family stereotype in this film that makes it great.

27 Fallen Angel Otto Preminger
My favorite Preminger: hard, lonely, and without any pretension whatsoever.

28 The Right Stuff Philip Kaufman
I've liked all of Kaufman's films at one time or another, but this is the only one I like right now. It wears its patriotism and cynicism on each sleeve with equal gusto.

31 The Shooting Monte Hellman
See zedz's comments.

33 Carmen Jones Otto Preminger
Godard procliamed A Woman is a Woman as a "neorealist musical" but Preminger beat him to it.

34 How Green Was My Valley John Ford
Shocked this didn't make the list. Almost robbed by Citizen Kane for Best Picture Oscar.

36 Bigger Than Life Nicholas Ray
Will easily make the next list once it's released on Region 1 dvd. A family melodrama that makes Rebel Without a Cause look very very tame.

37 Force of Evil Abraham Polonsky
Occupies that strange twighlight zone between gangster genre and film noir, which may be why it's so overlooked. Lots of Marxist academics consider this the only truly politically subversive film to come out of Hollywood.

38 The Outlaw Josey Wales Clint Eastwood
39 Under the Volcano John Huston
40 Once Upon a Time in Mexico Robert Rodriguez
42 Poto and Cabengo Jean-Pierre Gorin
43 In the Bedroom Todd Field
44 Robinson Crusoe Luis Buñuel
45 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story Todd Haynes
46 The Far Country Anthony Mann
47 My Son John Leo McCarey
48 Terror in a Texas Town Joseph H. Lewis
49 The Age of Innocence Martin Scorsese
50 Man on Fire Tony Scott

I'll finish the rest later...[/b]

[domino harvey]

50 Man on Fire Tony Scott

Justification please

[tryavna]

Hell's Hinges (Thomas Ince)

Reign of Terror (Anthony Mann)

The Mortal Storm

The Heiress - However, this 1949 masterpiece, based on a short story by Henry James

The Blue Bird

The Seventh Victim

These are some pretty kick-ass choices, imo, Via_Chicago. We must have some pretty similar tastes regarding classic Hollywood cinema.

BTW, just to enter pedantic mode, The Heiress is based on James' Washington Square, which is a novel (a short novel by James' standards, but still a novel). Or to be more precise, it's a filmization of a Broadway play that was based on James' novel. Regardless, it's a brilliant movie -- and actually more satisfying James' original.

[Zachary]

This list turned out really well. I wish I could have participated.

love

• 1. The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton) 443
  3. The Conversation (1974, Francis Ford Coppola) 374
  5. My Darling Clementine (1946, John Ford) 291
  6. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971, Robert Altman) 287
  7. His Girl Friday (1940, Howard Hawks) 279
  8. Out of the Past (1947, Jacques Tourneur) 248
  9. Kiss Me Deadly (1955, Robert Aldrich) 242
  17. All That Heaven Allows (1955, Douglas Sirk) 198
  18. The Lady Eve (1941, Preston Sturges) 193
  21. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962, John Ford) 184 (tie)
  24. Rio Bravo (1959, Howard Hawks) 175
  25. Shock Corridor (1963, Samuel Fuller) 174
  30. The Shop Around the Corner (1940, Ernst Lubitsch) 152
  31. Point Blank (1967, John Boorman) 150 (tie)
  38. In a Lonely Place (1950, Nicholas Ray) 133 (tie)
  38. Man of the West (1958, Anthony Mann) 133 (tie)
  38. Sherlock Jr. (1924, Buster Keaton) 133 (tie)
  45. Johnny Guitar (1954, Nicholas Ray) 121
  48. Cockfighter (1974, Monte Hellman) 117
  49. Badlands (1973, Terrence Malick) 116 (tie)
  51. Seconds (1966, John Frankenheimer) 114 (tie)
  55. The Big Sleep (1946, Howard Hawks) 110
  57. Greed (1924, Erich von Stroheim) 107
  59. 3 Women (1977, Robert Altman) 104
  63. Faces (1968, John Cassavetes) 97 (tie)
  68. Gun Crazy (1950, Joseph H. Lewis) 92 (tie)
  71. Anatomy of a Murder (1959, Otto Preminger) 88
  74. Love Streams (1984, John Cassavetes) 85
  81. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973, Sam Peckinpah) 76 (tie)
  87. Seven Men From Now (1956, Budd Boetticher) 72 (tie)
  89. Freaks (1932, Tod Browning) 71 (tie)
  89. Pursued (1947, Raoul Walsh) 71 (tie)
  97. Dumbo (1941, Ben Sharpsteen) 63 (tie)
  97. Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957, Frank Tashlin) 63 (tie)
  100. Pickup on South Street (1953, Samuel Fuller) 62 (tie)
  100. The Leopard Man (1943, Jacques Tourneur) 62 (tie)

the rest I've seen

• 10. Days of Heaven (1978, Terrence Malick) 233
  12. Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch) 217
  15. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976, John Cassavetes) 210
  19. A Woman Under the Influence (1974, John Cassavetes) 190
  20. Mulholland Dr. (2001, David Lynch) 185
  26. Dead Man (1995, Jim Jarmusch) 171 (tie)
  36. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974, Sam Peckinpah) 146
  54. Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch) 111
  58. The Birds (1963, Alfred Hitchcock) 106
  60. Dazed and Confused (1993, Richard Linklater) 102 (tie)
  62. The New World (2005, Terrence Malick) 100
  63. Down By Law (1986, Jim Jarmusch) 97 (tie)
  65. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001, Wes Anderson) 95
  72. Hail the Conquering Hero (1944, Preston Sturges) 87
  76. Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch) 83
  78. Lost Highway (1997, David Lynch) 78 (tie)
  81. Harold and Maude (1971, Hal Ashby) 76 (tie)
  89. Shadows (1959, John Cassavetes) 71 (tie)
  94. Punch-Drunk Love (2002, Paul Thomas Anderson) 65 (tie)
  100. Jackie Brown (1997, Quentin Tarantino) 62 (tie)

ones I really want to see

• 2. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles) 387
  4. Touch of Evil (1958, Orson Welles) 339
  11. The Long Goodbye (1973, Robert Altman) 223
  13. Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick) 214
  14. Ace in the Hole (1951, Billy Wilder) 211
  21. Trouble in Paradise (1932, Ernst Lubitsch) 184 (tie)
  23. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948, Max Ophuls) 177
  26. The Roaring Twenties (1939, Raoul Walsh) 171 (tie)
  29. Only Angels Have Wings (1939, Howard Hawks) 157
  31. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, Vincente Minnelli) 150 (tie)
  34. Dog Day Afternoon (1975, Sidney Lumet) 147 (tie)
  34. Killer of Sheep (1977, Charles Burnett) 147 (tie)
  37. The Band Wagon (1953, Vincente Minnelli) 143
  41. The Scarlet Empress (1934, Josef von Sternberg) 131
  42. Shadow of a Doubt (1943, Alfred Hitchcock) 124
  43. Some Came Running (1958, Vincente Minnelli) 123 (tie)
  47. Imitation of Life (1959, Douglas Sirk) 118
  51. Safe (1995, Todd Haynes) 114 (tie)
  53. Rosemary's Baby (1968, Roman Polanski) 112
  56. Mean Streets (1973, Martin Scorsese) 109
  66. The Lusty Men (1952, Nicholas Ray) 94
  66. Baby Doll (1956, Elia Kazan) 93
  68. The King of Comedy (1983, Martin Scorsese) 92 (tie)
  77. The Crowd (1928, King Vidor) 82
  78. The Cameraman (1928, Edward Sedgwick/Buster Keaton) 78 (tie)
  80. A Face in the Crowd (1957, Elia Kazan) 77
  86. Thieves' Highway (1949, Jules Dassin) 73
  89. Blonde Venus (1932, Josef von Sternberg) 71 (tie)
  93. They Were Expendable (1945, John Ford) 67
  94. All That Jazz (1979, Bob Fosse) 65 (tie)
  100. The Wind (1928, Victor Sjostrom) 62 (tie)

ones with which I am unfamiliar or am in no hurry to see

• 16. Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock) 207
  28. Sweet Smell of Success (1957, Alexander Mackendrick) 164
  33. The Thin Blue Line (1988, Errol Morris) 149
  43. The Killing (1956, Stanley Kubrick) 123 (tie)
  46. The Awful Truth (1937, Leo McCarey) 120
  49. Casino (1995, Martin Scorsese) 116 (tie)
  60. Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock) 102 (tie)
  70. Holiday (1938, George Cukor) 90
  73. Gilda (1946, Charles Vidor) 86
  75. Manhattan (1979, Woody Allen) 84
  81. Grey Gardens (1975, Ellen Hovde/Albert Maysles/David Maysles/Muffie Meyer) 76 (tie)
  84. Medium Cool (1969, Haskell Wexler) 74 (tie)
  84. The Thin Red Line (1998, Terrence Malick) 74 (tie)
  87. Stranger Than Paradise (1984, Jim Jarmusch) 72 (tie)
  96. Catch-22 (1970, Mike Nichols) 64
  97. Love and Death (1975, Woody Allen) 63 (tie)

I wish Mann and Boetticher could have been more represented than all the typical canon fodder, but it's still infinitely better than the AFI list.

[Cold Bishop]

ones with which I am unfamiliar or am in no hurry to see

You should rethink that attitude. Each of those films are worth seeing. Sweet Smell... especially.

[Vic Pardo]

This list turned out really well. I wish I could have participated.

ones with which I am unfamiliar or am in no hurry to see

• 16. Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock) 207
  28. Sweet Smell of Success (1957, Alexander Mackendrick) 164
  33. The Thin Blue Line (1988, Errol Morris) 149
  43. The Killing (1956, Stanley Kubrick) 123 (tie)
  46. The Awful Truth (1937, Leo McCarey) 120
  49. Casino (1995, Martin Scorsese) 116 (tie)
  60. Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock) 102 (tie)
  70. Holiday (1938, George Cukor) 90
  73. Gilda (1946, Charles Vidor) 86
  75. Manhattan (1979, Woody Allen) 84
  81. Grey Gardens (1975, Ellen Hovde/Albert Maysles/David Maysles/Muffie Meyer) 76 (tie)
  84. Medium Cool (1969, Haskell Wexler) 74 (tie)
  84. The Thin Red Line (1998, Terrence Malick) 74 (tie)
  87. Stranger Than Paradise (1984, Jim Jarmusch) 72 (tie)
  96. Catch-22 (1970, Mike Nichols) 64
  97. Love and Death (1975, Woody Allen) 63 (tie)

I

I bolded the ones I'd most recommend. NOTORIOUS and REBECCA are two of Hitchcock's very best, but I only realized this as I got older. They're real grown-up movies, while NORTH BY NORTHWEST, PSYCHO, REAR WINDOW, et al are better when you're younger.
(I still consider SHADOW OF A DOUBT his best movie.)

[Juan Meyer]

The Mortal Storm - This and other of Borzage's MGM films have been mocked on this board by lubitsch (the poster, not the man), and yet, they have a quality and an intellectual and emotional resonance all their own, apart from their supposed "flat lighting" (a rather facile criticism of a film if I've ever read one). This is the best of those films, a beautifully composed film that manages to haunt the viewer long after it's over, especially after its extremely moving finale in which Robert Stack's Nazi trainee visits his old home and in its emptiness notes the passing of his loved ones: his step-father, step-sister, and her lover (Jimmy Stewart).

Agree with you there about Borzage. Unfortunately, I have not seen The Mortal Storm, but I have seen both Three Comrades and Man's Castle. The first is the more well known, though along with most of Borzage's ouvre, it seems to resist officially sanctioned "classic" status; it's actually quite a serious treatment of the rise of Nazism and now available in through the Warner Archives. The second, Man's Castle, I saw years ago, but it was a really unique Depression drama, with Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young living in a tent in some park; the Spencer Tracy character was quite brutish by today's standards, and Loretta Young quite submissive, but it was a realistic depiction in a poetic manner.

I still have to see "History is Made at Night", which is only available in second rate DVD versions.
Frank Borzage cries for a rediscovery, and "Three Comrades" could also definitely make the grade in the 100 Best List.

[Vic Pardo]

Since I missed participating, here's my two bits:

There’s 48 on the original AFI lists that I would include in my own top 100, plus 28 from the Alternate 100 list, so, by my peculiar math, that leaves me with 24 to add:

SCARFACE (1932)
THE BANK DICK (1940)
HIGH SIERRA (1941)
MEET JOHN DOE (1941)
BAMBI (1942)
PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948)
RED RIVER (1948)
FORT APACHE (1948)
ON THE TOWN (1949)
WHITE HEAT (1949)
VERA CRUZ (1954)
BEND OF THE RIVER (1952)
THE FAR COUNTRY (1954)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956)
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960)
EL CID (1961)
THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)
IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963)
THE DIRTY DOZEN (1967)
PLANET OF THE APES (1968)
JFK (1991)
TRESPASS (1992)
FACE/OFF (1997)
KILL BILL, VOL. 1 (2003)

[zedz]

Did White Heat really not make any previous list? Shame on whoever.

[Juan Meyer]

Agree about White Heat there, with its spectacular Cagney performance and finale. Probably fell through the cracks because its director (Raoul Walsh) is not part of the canon.

Strangers on a Train, the Highsmith/Hitchcok meeting I also think is missing, as well as two major works by Hal Ashby, The Last Detail and Shampoo.