Explained List: My AFI Top 100

In May 2018, the podcast “Unspooled” suggested taking the AFI Top 100 and making your own list. I can’t resist making a list, so I started with the ones I had seen at the time. The original AFI list came out in 1997, and I made it the center of my film education. In 2007, the AFI updated the list, removing and replacing 23 films in the process. 

On October 3, 2024, six years after I originally posted this list, I finally watched all 100 of the 2007 list.

On August 27, 2025, roughly 28 years after the list came out, I watched the last of the films removed from the original 1997 list.

So here it is, my personal ranking of all 123 movies that have ever been included in the AFI Top 100. The ones left off the 2007 list are asterisked. I’m sure I’ll continue adjusting this list the more I think about it, but here it is.

1) THE GODFATHER PART II 2) LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 3) CITIZEN KANE 4) THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION 5) THE GODFATHER 6) 12 ANGRY MEN 7) MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON 8) THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI 9) DR. STRANGELOVE 10) The Third Man*	11) THE APARTMENT 12) Fargo* 13) THE GENERAL 14) STAR WARS 15) DUCK SOUP 16) NORTH BY NORTHWEST 17) DOUBLE INDEMNITY 18) LOTR: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING 19) CHINATOWN 20) THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
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21) THE WIZARD OF OZ 22) REAR WINDOW 23) A CLOCKWORK ORANGE 24) BRINGING UP BABY 25) CASABLANCA 26) GOODFELLAS 27) ON THE WATERFRONT 28) PSYCHO 29) THE SOUND OF MUSIC 30) IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT	31) TAXI DRIVER 32) THE GRADUATE 33) DO THE RIGHT THING 34) PULP FICTION 35) MODERN TIMES 36) BONNIE AND CLYDE 37) SCHINDLER'S LIST 38) Rebel Without a Cause* 39) THE MALTESE FALCON 40) RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
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41) BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID 42) Wuthering Heights* 43) SPARTACUS 44) The Manchurian Candidate* 45) HIGH NOON 46) CITY LIGHTS 47) ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST 48) NETWORK 49) THE AFRICAN QUEEN 50) Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner*	51) JAWS 52) Stagecoach* 53) RAGING BULL 54) VERTIGO 55) 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 56) TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE 57) WEST SIDE STORY 58) All Quiet on the Western Front* 59) ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN 60) UNFORGIVEN
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61) Doctor Zhivago* 62) SAVING PRIVATE RYAN 63) THE GRAPES OF WRATH 64) CABARET 65) SINGIN' IN THE RAIN 66) TOY STORY 67) Mutiny on the Bounty* 68) E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL 69) THE GOLD RUSH 70) SUNSET BOULEVARD	71) Patton* 72) A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE 73) M*A*S*H 74) SOME LIKE IT HOT 75) WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? 76) TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 77) FORREST GUMP 78) Giant* 79) ANNIE HALL 80) ROCKY
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81) Close Encounters of the Third Kind* 82) APOCALYPSE NOW 83) BEN-HUR 84) YANKEE DOODLE DANDY 85) SWING TIME 86) A NIGHT AT THE OPERA 87) THE FRENCH CONNECTION 88) My Fair Lady* 89) IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT 90) Fantasia*	91) TOOTSIE 92) ALL ABOUT EVE 93) PLATOON 94) AMERICAN GRAFFITI 95) TITANIC 96) THE WILD BUNCH 97) KING KONG 98) THE PHILADELPHIA STORY 99) SUNRISE 100) Frankenstein*
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101) EASY RIDER 102) THE SIXTH SENSE 103) Amadeus* 104) An American in Paris* 105) SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS 106) SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS 107) A Place in the Sun* 108) THE LAST PICTURE SHOW 109) IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE 110) BLADE RUNNER	111) SHANE 112) From Here to Eternity* 113) SOPHIE’S CHOICE 114) THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES 115) NASHVILLE 116) GONE WITH THE WIND 117) THE SEARCHERS 118) MIDNIGHT COWBOY 119) THE DEER HUNTER 120) The Jazz Singer*
121) INTOLERANCE 122) Dances With Wolves* 123) The Birth of a Nation*