American Film Institute - 20 greatest American films of all time.

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American Film Institute - 20 greatest American films of all time.

The American Film Institute in Los Angeles, California, in mid-June 1998 commemorated the extraordinary first 100 years of American movies by making a "definitive selection of the 100 greatest American movies of all time, as determined by more than of 1,500 film artists, critics and historians from the American film community."

Here is the 2007 - 10th Anniversary Edition updated version of the list:

1.       Citizen Kane (1941)

Welles broke all the rules and invented some new ones with his searing story of a newspaper publisher with an uncanny resemblance to William Randolph Hearst.

2.       The Godfather (1972)

Brando is Don Vito Corleone, the sympathetic head of a New York crime family, whose business it is to make offers people can't refuse. His son Michael's true nature is revealed at the end, when a christening is intercut with a bloodbath that cements his new position within the family.

3.       Casablanca (1942)

Bogart is jaded idealist Rick Blaine, an American nightclub owner in French Morocco who sacrifices the love of a lifetime to join the world's fight against the Nazis. "Here's looking at you, kid."

4.       Raging Bull (1980)

De Niro is Jake LaMotta, the middleweight boxing champ whose opponents in the ring are no match for the demons he fights in his personal life. The film is often noted for Thelma Schoonmaker's achievement in editing.

5.       Singin' in the Rain (1952)

This musical set in Hollywood during the conversion from silent to sound films has Kelly singing, dancing and splashing in puddles. Reynolds and O'Connor lend support in some of the most delightful song and dance numbers ever filmed.

6.       Gone with the Wind (1939)

Selznick poured his heart and soul into the filming of Margaret Mitchell's bestseller about the Old South, the Civil War and Reconstruction. The burning of Atlanta was a high-water mark for screen excitement, as well as Rhett Butler's delivery of Hollywood's first four-letter word, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn!"

7.       Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

During World War I, young English officer T. E. Lawrence comes to believe he can give Arabia back to the Arabs. The movie made O'Toole a star and introduced Sharif to an international audience.

8.       Schindler's List (1993)

The film is based on the true, complex, and often puzzling story of Oskar Schindler, the Sudeten German industrialist who saved hundreds of Jews from the gas chambers during the Holocaust. "This list is an absolute good. The list is life."

9.       Vertigo (1958)

Stewart's fear of heights, Novak's woman of mystery, Bernard Herrmann's haunting score, and the city of San Francisco provide Hitchcock with a great love story and sexual obsession on a grand psychological level.

10.   The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Garland's Dorothy Gale is transported from her black-and-white Kansas home to the colourful land of Oz via tornado. From here she journeys down the Yellow Brick Road and is helped by a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion on their way to see the Wizard. The Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg score is highlighted by Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

11.   City Lights (1931)

This silent masterpiece was released three years after the start of talkies. In this Chaplin classic, the Little Tramp falls hopelessly in love with a blind flower seller, risking everything to gain money for her much-needed operation.

12.   The Searchers (1956)

Ford's landmark saga is a quest to find a child abducted by Comanche’s right after the Civil War. Wayne, an Indian-hating ex-soldier, wages an internal battle while devoting years to searching for his niece, abducted during an Indian raid.

13.   Star Wars (1977)

A landmark science fiction fantasy about a young man, Luke Skywalker, who finds his calling as a Jedi warrior and with the help of "droids" and an outlaw named Han Solo embarks on a mission to rescue a princess and save the galaxy from the Dark Side. "May the force be with you."

14.   Psycho (1960)

Leigh is on the lam with stolen money and makes the mistake of checking into the Bates Motel, run by Perkins...and his mother. Hitchcock's horror film is best remembered for the shower scene and Bernard Herrmann's chilling score.

15.   2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Kubrick's science fiction epic puts mankind in context between ape and space voyager. The film created a stir for its special effects, the computer HAL, and the debate about the meaning of the film's final sequence.

16.   Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Struggling writer Holden hides out from car repossesses in the ancient mansion of aging silent star Swanson ("I am big. It's the pictures that got small."). He sees a lucrative break for himself when she wants to make a return to the screen, but he is unaware of the price he will have to pay.

17.   The Graduate (1967)

Benjamin Braddock is confused and alienated, stuck in a fishbowl like so many of his peers. It only gets worse when he sinks into an affair with Mrs. Robinson and falls in love with her daughter, Elaine. If only he had followed the advice of his father's friend, and gone into "Plastics." Simon and Garfunkel's songs spoke to a whole new generation of filmgoers.

18.   The General (1927)

Keaton's must retrieve his train from Union soldiers during the Civil War. What he doesn't know is that his girlfriend Annabelle is aboard. It's a race against time, but Keaton saves the day, ending in one of the silent era's most iconic images, Keaton seated on the moving wheels of The General.

19.   On the Waterfront (1954)

Brando, a longshoreman who "coulda been a contender," rebels against his brother and corruption on the New York City docks in this powerful story that mirrors the political climate of the early 1950s.

20.   It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

This holiday classic features a complex performance by Stewart as a suicidal man redeemed by friendship and the recognition that each man's life touches many others. Remember—every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.