America's Best Movies by the AFI (Top 100), Part 3 [51.-75.]

A list by Fix

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 1,500 leaders from the American film community." The 400 Nominated Films were feature-length fictional movies produced between 1912 and 1996 "with the goal of amassing a capsule of the first 100 years of American cinema, across decades and across genres."

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: arts movies AFI top 100 movies of all time

• 51. The Philadelphia Story (1940) Director: George Cukor; Stars: Katharine Hepburn; Cary Grant; James Stewart Hepburn reprises her stage role as a haughty heiress who is about to wed a pompous self-made man. Reporter Stewart help
• 52. From Here to Eternity (1953) Director: Fred Zinnemann; Stars: Montgomery Clift; Burt Lancaster; Deborah Kerr; Frank Sinatra; Donna Reed The image of waves crashing over the passionately embracing Kerr and Lancaster is one of t
• 53. Amadeus (1984) Director: Milos Forman; Stars: F. Murray Abraham; Tom Hulce; Elizabeth Berridge Abraham's Salieri declares war against the heavens for speaking through the genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, played by Hulce
• 54. All Quiet On The Western Front (1930) Director: Lewis Milestone; Stars: Lew Ayres; Louis Wolheim; John Wray; Slim Summerville This anti-war drama, based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel, follows the lives of a group of fresh-fa
• 55. The Sound of Music (1965) Director: Robert Wise; Stars: Julie Andrews; Christopher Plummer; Eleanor Parker Andrews is Maria, a nun who becomes governess to the von Trapp family in this film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hamme
• 56. M*A*S*H (1970) Director: Robert Altman; Stars: Donald Sutherland; Elliott Gould; Sally Kellerman; Robert Duvall Sutherland's Hawkeye, Gould's Trapper and Kellerman's Hotlips push the boundaries of irreverence in this bawdy
• 57. The Third Man (1949) Director: Carol Reed; Stars: Joseph Cotten; Orson Welles; Alida Valli; Trevor Howard Zither music, a giant ferris wheel and a spectacular late-in-the film appearance by Welles as the mysterious "Harr
• 58. Fantasia (1941) Director: James Algar, Ben Sharpsteen, Walt Disney and others; Stars: Deems Taylor (narrator); Leopold Stokowski (himself) and the Philadelphia Orchestra Disney's groundbreaking union of classical music and ani
• 59. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Director: Nicholas Ray; Stars: James Dean; Natalie Wood; Sal Mineo; Jim Backus Dean's defining role as a tortured high-school student also seemed to define a generation of 1950s teenagers who felt
• 60. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Director: Steven Spielberg; Stars: Harrison Ford; Karen Allen Ford is Indiana Jones, an archeologist with a flair for dramatic situations that follow him from the Amazon, through Egypt and on to
• 61. Vertigo (1958) Director: Alfred Hitchcock; Stars: James Stewart; Kim Novak; Barbara Bel Geddes San Francisco police detective Stewart's fear of heights and boredom in retirement makes him the foil in an elaborate murder plot.
• 62. Tootsie (1982) Director: Sidney Pollack; Stars: Dustin Hoffman; Jessica Lange; Dabney Coleman; Teri Garr Hoffman stars in this comedy about a temperamental out-of-work actor who puts on a dress and lands the role of a lif
• 63. Stagecoach (1939) Director: John Ford; Stars: John Wayne; Claire Trevor; Andy Devine; John Carradine; Thomas Mitchell Wayne was propelled to stardom in this film as a vengeance-seeking fugitive whose outlook on life is transfo
• 64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Director: Steven Spielberg; Stars: Richard Dreyfuss; Francois Truffaut; Teri Garr Dreyfuss is a man obsessed in Spielberg's science fiction fantasy that celebrates the possibility of f
• 65. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Director: Jonathan Demme; Stars: Jodie Foster; Scott Glenn; Anthony Hopkins "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti" hisses Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant seria
• 66. Network (1976) Director: Sidney Lumet; Stars: Peter Finch; Faye Dunaway; William Holden; Robert Duvall Finch is the news anchor on the brink of madness, Dunaway the aggressive producer on the climb and Holden the network head
• 67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Director: John Frankenheimer; Stars: Frank Sinatra; Laurence Harvey; Angela Lansbury; Janet Leigh Sinatra, a brain-washed, former POW from the Korean War, suspects that a fellow soldier, hailed
• 68. An American In Paris (1951) Director: Vincente Minnelli; Stars: Gene Kelly; Leslie Caron; Oscar Levant; Nina Foch A Gershwin score and the dancing of Kelly and Caron are at the center of this fluid, visually beautiful love sto
• 69. Shane (1953) Director: George Stevens; Stars: Alan Ladd; Jean Arthur; Van Heflin; Jack Palance Former gunslinger Ladd helps a family of settlers defend themselves against some murdering cattlemen in this landmark Western. Ladd
• 70. The French Connection (1971) Director: William Friedkin; Stars: Gene Hackman; Fernando Rey; Roy Scheider Hackman stars as "Popeye" Doyle, a brash New York City detective who uncovers a heroin-smuggling operation. The
• 71. Forrest Gump (1994) Director: Robert Zemeckis; Stars: Tom Hanks; Robin Wright; Gary Sinise; Sally Field Hanks is Forrest Gump, who despite being mentally challenged, tries hard, is honest and places his trust in luck. He t
• 72. Ben-Hur (1959) Director: William Wyler; Stars: Charlton Heston; Jack Hawkins; Stephen Boyd This epic remake of the 1926 film features Heston as the title character, a wealthy Jew whose former childhood friend, a Roman, causes
• 73. Wuthering Heights (1939) Director: William Wyler; Stars: Merle Oberon; Laurence Olivier; Flora Robson Olivier stars as the brooding master of Wuthering Heights who roams the English moors in search of his lost love, played by
• 74. The Gold Rush (1925) Director: Charlie Chaplin; Stars: Charlie Chaplin; Georgia Hale; Mack Swain; Tom Murray In one of his most famous films, lone Alaskan prospector Chaplin attempts to stave off hunger by dining on his shoe,
• 75. Dances With Wolves (1990) Director: Kevin Costner; Stars: Kevin Costner; Mary McDonnell; Graham Greene Costner directs and stars in this epic vision of the old West, where a disillusioned soldier leaves the Civil War and s