100 best films of all times
Fans of Cinema of all age, experiencing crisis of a choice of film for each day, now can sigh with simplification, and safely fill up videos of a collection with excellent tapes. The American Film Institute has named one hundred best films of all times in ten various genres – from westerns and melodramas up to comedies and cartoon films.
Four pictures by Alfred Hitchcock have come in gold one hundred best films of all times and on three tapes by Stanley Kubrick and Stephen Spielberg.
Ten best films in ten genres
10th anniversary list of the greatest American movies of all time
10 best movies
1 Animation:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Photo (c) JeffChristiansen
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in the United Kingdom) is a 1937 American film based on the eponymous European fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full length animated feature to be produced by Walt Disney, and the first color feature-length animated film with optical sound in movie history.
Walt Disney's Snow White premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater on December 21, 1937, and the film was released to theaters by RKO Radio Pictures on February 4, 1938. The story was adapted by storyboard artists Dorothy Ann Blank, Richard Creedon, Merrill De Maris, Otto Englander, Earl Hurd, Dick Rickard, Ted Sears and Webb Smith from the German fairy tale Snow White by the Brothers Grimm. David Hand was the supervising director, while William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, and Ben Sharpsteen directed the film's individual sequences.
Snow White was one of only two animated films to rank in the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time in 1997 (the other being Disney's Fantasia), ranking number 49. It achieved a higher ranking (34) in the list's 2007 update, this time being the only traditionally animated film on the list. The following year AFI would name the film as the the greatest animated film of all time
In 1989, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
2 Romantic comedy:
City Lights Charlie Chaplin
Photo (c) Matti Mattila
City Lights is a 1931 English language film written by, directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin also composed the musical score which comprised the majority of the film's sound, since there is no dialogue in the picture.
The Circus, released in 1928, was Chaplin's last film to debut before motion pictures with sound (known as "talkies" at the time) took over. Since The Circus, sound pictures quickly took over as the industry standard. It was not uncommon for silent actors to oppose the arrival of talking pictures. Had Chaplin been anybody else, he probably would not have been able to shoot City Lights as a silent film, but because of his power in Hollywood, and because he had complete artistic and financial control over his work, he was able to make this film silent (except for music, sound effects, and some unintelligible sounds that mock speech). Dialogue is presented with title cards.
Charlie Chaplin was known for being a perfectionist; he was famous for doing many more takes than other directors at the time. At one point he actually fired Virginia Cherrill and began re-filming with Georgia Hale, Chaplin's co-star in The Gold Rush. This proved too expensive, even for his budget, and so he later re-hired Cherrill and was able to finish City Lights. (Approximately seven minutes of test footage of Hale survives and is included on the DVD release; excerpts were first seen in the documentary Unknown Chaplin along with an unused opening sequence from the film.) By the time the film was completed, silent films were unpopular. However, it was one of the great financial and artistic successes of Chaplin's career, and remained his own personal favorite of all his films. He was especially fond of the last scene.
3 Western:
The Searchers (film) John Ford
Photo (c) Navin75
The Searchers is a 1956 epic Western film directed by John Ford, which tells the story of Ethan Edwards, a bitter, middle-aged loner and Civil War veteran played by John Wayne, who spends years looking for his abducted niece.
While a modest commercial success upon its 1956 release, The Searchers received no Academy Award nominations and was certainly not regarded by then-contemporary reviewers as a potential classic. In recent years, however, the film's prestige has risen and it is now widely acknowledged as one of the best westerns ever made, being named the Greatest Western of all time by the American Film Institute in 2008. It also placed 12th on the American Film Institute's 2007 list of the top 100 greatest movies of all time.
In 1989, the United States National Film Registry's first year of selecting films for preservation, The Searchers was one of the twenty-five films to be deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Now a highly influential film, it has inspired other Westerns as well as dramas, science fiction, and even Bollywood films.
4 Sports drama:
Raging Bull by Martin Scorsese
Photo (c) El Informador Digital
Raging Bull is a 1980 film directed by Martin Scorsese, adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from the memoir Raging Bull: My Story. It stars Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, a temperamental and paranoid but tenacious boxer who alienates himself from his friends and family. Also featured in the film are Joe Pesci as Joey, La Motta's brother and manager, and Cathy Moriarty as his abused wife. The film features supporting roles from Nicholas Colasanto (who would eventually play the character "Coach" on the TV sitcom Cheers), Theresa Saldana, and Frank Vincent, who has starred in many films directed by Martin Scorsese. After receiving mixed initial reviews, it went on to garner a high critical reputation and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made, along with the pair's other famed collaboration from that era, Taxi Driver (1976). It is one of three films that has been named to the National Film Registry in its first year of eligibility.
5 Thriller:
Vertigo (film) Alfred Hitchcock
Photo (c) DanieVDM
Vertigo (1958) is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The film tells the story of a retired policeman who falls in love with a mysterious woman he has been hired to follow. Although it received mixed reviews on its first release, it has since gained in esteem and is frequently listed among the greatest films ever made. It is widely regarded as the middle installment in a gripping Hitchcock trilogy about voyeurism, starting with Rear Window (1954) and ending with Psycho (1960).
6 Fantasy film:
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film) by Victor Fleming 
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film mainly directed by Victor Fleming and based on the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The film features Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Jack Haley as the Tin Man, Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion, Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch of the North, Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Frank Morgan as the Wizard.
The film, set in what is most likely late nineteenth-century Kansas, follows schoolgirl Dorothy Gale who lives on a farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but dreams of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow." After being struck unconscious during a tornado, by a piece of broken window. Dorothy dreams that she, her dog Toto, and the farmhouse are transported to the magical Land of Oz. There, the Good Witch of the North advises Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road to Emerald City and meet the Wizard of Oz, who can return her to Kansas. During her journey, she meets a Scarecrow, Tin Man and a Cowardly Lion, who join her, hoping to receive what they lack themselves (a brain, a heart and courage, respectively), all of this is done while also trying to advoid the many plots of the Wicked Witch of the West, in her attempt to get the ruby slippers that Dorothy received from the squashed Wicked Witch of the East.
Initially, The Wizard of Oz was not considered a commercial success in relation to what was then considered its enormous budget, although it made a small profit and received largely favorable reviews. What impact it had upon release was reportedly responsible for the release of two other fantasy films in Technicolor the following year - The Blue Bird and The Thief of Bagdad. Its songs became widely popular, with "Over the Rainbow" receiving the Oscar for Best Song of the Year, and the film itself garnering several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
The film received much more attention after frequent television screenings and has since become one of the most beloved films of all time. It is often ranked among the top ten best movies of all-time in various critics' and popular polls, and has provided many indelible quotes to the American cultural consciousness. Its signature song, "Over the Rainbow," sung by Judy Garland, has been voted the greatest movie song of all time by the American Film Institute.
7 Science fiction film:
2001: A Space Odyssey (film) Stanley Kubrick
Photo (c) slagheap2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. The film deals with thematic elements of human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life, and is notable for its scientific realism, pioneering special effects, ambiguous and often surreal imagery, sound in place of traditional narrative techniques, and minimal use of dialogue.
Despite receiving mixed reviews upon release, 2001: A Space Odyssey is today recognized by critics and audiences as one of the greatest films ever made; the 2002 Sight & Sound poll of critics ranked it among the top ten films of all time. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and received one for visual effects. In 1991, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry.
8 The Gangster drama:
The Godfather Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Picture (c) labnolThe Godfather is a 1972 film based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and an uncredited Robert Towne. It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall and Diane Keaton, and features Richard Castellano, Abe Vigoda and Sterling Hayden. The story spans ten years from 1945 to 1955 and chronicles the Italian-American Corleone crime family.
The Godfather received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In addition, it is ranked as the second greatest film in American cinematic history, behind Citizen Kane on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list by the American Film Institute. It is also ranked 1 on Internet Movie Database's Top 250 list, as well as 1 on Metacritic's top 100 list and in the top 10 on Rotten Tomatoes' all-time best list.
Two sequels followed The Godfather: The Godfather Part II in 1974, and The Godfather Part III in 1990.
9 the Judicial drama:
To Kill a Mockingbird (film) Directed by Robert Mulligan
Picture (c) Bryan SutterTo Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 film directed by Robert Mulligan and based on the novel of the same name by Harper Lee. The film stars Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch. In 2007, it was ranked twenty-fifth on the American Film Institute's 10th anniversary list of the greatest American movies of all time. Today, the film is in the public domain because of missing copyright indication.
The character of Atticus in this movie has been deemed the 1 greatest hero of American film, as rated by the American Film Institute. It is also Robert Duvall's big screen debut, as the misunderstood recluse Boo Radley. The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning three. In 1995, To Kill a Mockingbird was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Phillip Alford, who played the role of Jem, did not initially want to audition for the part. However, when his mother informed him that he would miss a half day of school, he quickly changed his mind. Additionally, he became upset during the filming of the scene at the breakfast table, when Mary Badham, who played Scout, had trouble performing the scene properly. By way of retaliating, during the scene where Jem rolls Scout in a tire, he intentionally rolled the tire toward an equipment truck.
According to Kim Hamilton, who played the part of Helen Robinson in the movie, Gregory Peck was the consummate gentleman. She recalled a scene where her character collapses after hearing the news of her husband's death, and Peck, as Atticus, picks her up and carries her into the house. "He was such a gentleman," she says. "I never forgot that."
10 the Epopee:
Lawrence of Arabia (film) Directed by David Lean
Photo (c) ameruneLawrence of Arabia is a 1962 epic film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Austrian Sam Spiegel (through his British company, Horizon Pictures), from a script by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson (Lean and Spiegel had recently completed the acclaimed film The Bridge on the River Kwai). The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential films in the history of filmmaking. The dramatic score by Maurice Jarre, and Super Panavision 70 cinematography by Freddie Young, are also hugely acclaimed.
The film depicts Lawrence's experiences in Arabia during World War I, in particular his attacks on Aqaba and Damascus and his involvement in the Arab National Council. Its themes include Lawrence's emotional struggles with violence in war (especially the conflicts between Arab tribes and the slaughter of the Turkish army), his personal identity ("Who are you?" is a recurring line throughout the film), and his divided allegiance between his native Britain and its army, and his newfound comrades within the Arabian desert tribes. The film is unusual in having no women in speaking roles.
