| I consider this list a companion to my "So you'd like to... see the list AFI doesn't want you to see?" When AFI came out with their much-publicized "100 Greatest American Movies of All Time" list, critics and film afficianados (aka, cine-geeks) were up in arms. In classic "Comic Book Guy" fashion, they came up with lists upon lists of gripes -- most of them, admittedly, rather legitimate. One of their main issues was that the AFI list overlooked all kinds of extremely important and well-deserving films in favor of popular fare. So, out of curiosity I went searching for a more definitive list that would expose these "hidden gems." After many, many minutes of searching, I stumbled upon a site called "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?" This site compiles well-respected critic's and director's lists from all over the world to make a super-list of foreign and domestic films. (Copy/paste the above URL for a slightly better explanation.) The following list -- the top 100 American films missed by the AFI -- is based on the TSPDT super-list. These films are in rank order, as ranked by the most well-respected critics and directors in the world. So basically, this list is not my personal opinion, but a consensus opinion by people who've studied film and know the medium much better than I do. Um, whatever that's worth to you. I personally think it's pretty interesting. Anyways, enjoy! 1-10 1. 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans' (1927, F.W. Murnau, US) 2. 'Touch of Evil (Restored to Orson Welles' Vision)' (1958, Orson Welles, US) 3. 'The General' (1927, Buster Keaton, US) 4. 'Intolerance (1916) (Silent) (B&W)' (1916, D.W. Griffith, US) 5. 'The Night of the Hunter' (1955, Charles Laughton, US) 6. 'The Magnificent Ambersons' (1942, Orson Welles, US) 7. 'Nashville' (1975, Robert Altman, US) 8. 'Rio Bravo' (1959, Howard Hawks, US) 9. 'Greed' (1925, Erich von Stroheim, US) 10. 'Blade Runner (The Director's Cut)' (1982, Ridley Scott, US) 11-20 11. 'Sherlock, Jr.' (1924, Buster Keaton, US) 12. 'Notorious - Criterion Collection' (1946, Alfred Hitchcock, US) 13. 'My Darling Clementine' (1946, John Ford, US) 14. 'Blue Velvet (Special Edition)' (1986, David Lynch, US) 15. 'Once Upon a Time in the West' (1968, Sergio Leone, US-Italy) 16. 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' (1962, John Ford, US) 17. 'His Girl Friday' (1940, Howard Hawks, US) 18. 'Letter from an Unknown Woman' (1948, Max Ophüls, US) 19. 'The Lady Eve - Criterion Collection' (1941, Preston Sturges, US) 20. 'Mean Streets (Special Edition)' (1973, Martin Scorsese, US) 21-30 21. 'Broken Blossoms' (1919, D.W. Griffith, US) 22. 'A Woman Under the Influence' (1974, John Cassavetes, US) 23. 'Red River' (1948, Howard Hawks, US) 24. 'McCabe & Mrs. Miller' (1971, Robert Altman, US) 25. 'Once Upon a Time in America (Two-Disc Special Edition)' (1984, Sergio Leone, US) 26. 'Out of the Past' (1947, Jacques Tourneur, US) 27. 'To Be or Not to Be' (1942, Ernst Lubitsch, US) 28. 'Sweet Smell of Success' (1957, Alexander Mackendrick, US) 29. 'Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition)' (1945, Vincente Minnelli, US) 30. 'Trouble in Paradise - Criterion Collection' (1932, Ernst Lubitsch, US) 31-40 31. 'Crowd / Movie' (1928, King Vidor, US) 32. 'Manhattan' (1979, Woody Allen, US) 33. 'Sullivan's Travels - Criterion Collection' (1941, Preston Sturges, US) 34. 'The Palm Beach Story' (1942, Preston Sturges, US) 35. 'Crimes and Misdemeanors' (1989, Woody Allen, US) 36. 'The Shop Around the Corner' (1940, Ernst Lubitsch, US) 37. 'Monsieur Verdoux' (1947, Charles Chaplin, US) 38. 'Badlands' (1973, Terrence Malick, US) 39. 'The Conversation' (1974, Francis Ford Coppola, US) 40. 'Nanook of the North - Criterion Collection' (1922, Robert J. Flaherty, US) 41-50 41. 'Paths of Glory' (1957, Stanley Kubrick, US) 42. 'Days of Heaven' (1978, Terrence Malick, US) 43. 'Do The Right Thing - Criterion Collection' (1989, Spike Lee, US) 44. 'The Shining' (1980, Stanley Kubrick, US) 45. 'The Exorcist (The Version You've Never Seen)' (1973, William Friedkin, US) 46. 'The Band Wagon (Two-Disc Special Edition)' (1953, Vincente Minnelli, US) 47. 'All That Heaven Allows - Criterion Collection' (1950, Douglas Sirk, US) 48. 'Written on the Wind - Criterion Collection' (1956, Douglas Sirk, US) 49. 'Marnie' (1964, Alfred Hitchcock, US) 50. 'The Awful Truth' (1937, Leo McCarey, US) To view search results about AFI, click here | 
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