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 1997 to 2005.
AFI will conduct the poll every ten years to include new releases.
AFI asked jurors to consider the following criteria in their selection process:
Feature length: Narrative format typically over 60 minutes long.
American film: English language, with significant creative and/or financial production from the United States. (A number of films on the list were British-made but financed by American studios; these include Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and A Clockwork Orange.)
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: 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 following films from the 1998 list were left off the 2007 list:
39. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
44. The Birth of a Nation (1915)
52. From Here to Eternity (1953)
53. Amadeus (1984)
54. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
57. The Third Man (1949)
58. Fantasia (1940)
59. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
63. Stagecoach (1939)
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
68. An American in Paris (1951)
73. Wuthering Heights (1939)
75. Dances with Wolves (1990)
82. Giant (1956)
84. Fargo (1996)
86. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
87. Frankenstein (1931)
89. Patton (1970)
90. The Jazz Singer (1927)
91. My Fair Lady (1964)
92. A Place in the Sun (1951)
99. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
5 films
Steven Spielberg
4 films
Alfred Hitchcock
Stanley Kubrick
Billy Wilder
3 films
Frank Capra
Charlie Chaplin
Francis Ford Coppola
John Huston
Martin Scorsese
2 films
Robert Altman
Michael Curtiz
Victor Fleming
John Ford
Elia Kazan
David Lean
George Lucas
Sidney Lumet
Mike Nichols
Alan J. Pakula
George Stevens
Robert Wise
William Wyler
Of the films that remained on the list, 36 improved their ranking, 38 saw their ranking decline, and three kept their positions: Citizen Kane, The Godfather Part II and The Best Years of Our Lives.
Steven Spielberg has the most films of any director on the list with five films. The original version of the list also contained five films by Spielberg, with four films carrying over to the new list and Close Encounters of the Third Kind being replaced by Saving Private Ryan. Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock tie for second place with four films each making the list.
The oldest film to be dropped was D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915), from #44. The oldest film to be added was Griffith's Intolerance (1916) (#49).
The newest film removed is Fargo (1996), the newest-added The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), which is also the only film on the list released after 1999.
The highest-ranked addition was The General at #18. The highest-ranked removal was Doctor Zhivago (#39).
The Searchers rose the most, going from #96 to #12. The greatest drop without complete removal was suffered by The African Queen, which went from #17 to #65.
Duck Soup, featuring the Marx Brothers, moved up 25 positions to #60. It was replaced at #85 by another film starring the Marx Brothers, A Night at the Opera.
73 of the films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and 28 won, including Sunrise (1927) which won the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Production (an award that was only presented at the first ceremony). The original list has 75 Academy Awards Best Picture nominees and 33 winners.
In the 2007 list, eight of the top ten films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, with five winning. In the original list, nine out of the top ten were nominees, and six won.
Two animated films appear on each list. In 1998, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ranked at #49, and Fantasia at #58. Snow White moved up to #34 in 2007, Fantasia was dropped, and Toy Story was added at #99.
