AFI 100 Years... 100 Movies
100 - Ben-Hur
Charlton Heston plays Judah Ben-Hur, a proud Jew who runs afoul of boyhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd) in this classic that boasts an unforgettable chariot race scene and earned 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Heston) and Best Director (William Wyler). Condemned to life as a slave, Judah swears vengeance, escapes, then crosses paths with a gentle prophet named Jesus.
Action · Not Rated · 222 minutes · 1959 · Watched: 08/19/2007
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99 - Toy Story
It's tough being a toy. One day, you're at the top of the heap; the next, you're down in the dumps -- literally. Cowboy-toy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) feels threatened when space ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) arrives. But they're both lost when the family moves -- and finding their way home is only half the adventure. Director John Lasseter won a special Academy Award for this 3-D "compu-toon."
Family · G · 81 minutes · 1995 · Watched: 08/24/2007
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98 - Yankee Doodle Dandy
James Cagney won the Best Actor Oscar for his lively portrayal of "Mr. Broadway," George M. Cohan, in this lavish screen biography that highlights Cagney in some of his finest song-and-dance routines. Cohan, a playwright, entertainer, composer and patriot, made his mark on the vaudeville stage and penned countless memorable tunes, including "Over There," "It's a Grand Old Flag," "Give My Regards to Broadway" and the film's rousing title number.
Musical · Not Rated · 126 minutes · 1942 · Watched: 10/08/2007
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97 - Blade Runner
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is called out of retirement to snuff a quartet of "replicants" -- androids consigned to slave labor on remote planets. They've escaped to Earth seeking their creator and a way to extend their short life spans. Director Ridley Scott's reedited version comes with a different ending and the omission of Ford's narration, giving the film a different tone.
Sci-Fi · R · 116 minutes · 1982 · Watched: 11/02/2007
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96 - Do the Right Thing
Spike Lee directs and stars in this controversial film that traces a sweltering summer day in the life of one of New York's toughest neighborhoods. The stellar cast includes Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nunn, Rosie Perez and John Turturro. This powerful portrait of urban racial tensions -- which ultimately boil over into a climactic riot -- earned popular and critical praise.
Drama · R · 120 minutes · 1989 · Watched: 11/10/2007
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95 - The Last Picture Show
There's not much to do in the windswept Texas hamlet of Anarene, where the town's only cinema is about to close forever. High-school seniors Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) lust after incorrigible flirt Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd) while trying to chart their uncertain futures. When Duane heads for Korea after joining the service and Jacy gets shipped off to college, Sonny is left behind in Anarene -- a ghost town in the making.
Drama · R · 126 minutes · 1971 · Watched: 11/30/2007
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94 - Pulp Fiction
Fast-food-loving hit man Vince Vega (John Travolta), his philosophical partner Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), a drug-addled gangster's moll (Uma Thurman) and a washed-up boxer (Bruce Willis) converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time. Director and co-writer Quentin Tarantino uses whip-smart dialogue to propel the most audacious and imitated movie of the 1990s.
Drama · R · 149 minutes · 1994 · Watched: 12/25/2007
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93 - The French Connection
Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman), a foul-mouthed, violent narcotics detective, pursues a suave French drug dealer (Fernando Rey) through New York City with Captain Ahab-like zeal. Director William Friedkin took the provocative stance that both the narcs and the smugglers use similar thuggish ends to get what they need. This thrilling Best Picture Oscar winner (based on a true story) is famous for its riveting car-vs.-elevated-train chase.
Action · R · 104 minutes · 1971 · Watched: 01/06/2008
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92 - GoodFellas
Murderers often come with smiles -- and problems of their own. Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro chew plenty of scenery, but the real focus of director Martin Scorsese's mob opus is Ray Liotta as real-world Irish-Italian mobster Henry Hill, a gangster who dreamed of making it to the top but landed in the witness protection program instead. Nominated for six Oscars (including Best Picture), the film's only win was Pesci's Best Supporting Actor statue.
Drama · R · 145 minutes · 1990 · Watched: 02/03/2008
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91 - Sophie's Choice
Aspiring author Stingo (Peter MacNicol) shares a Brooklyn boarding house with winsome Polish emigre Sophie (Meryl Streep) and her mercurial lover, Nathan (Kevin Kline) -- a union unsettled by Nathan's violent behavior and Sophie's disturbing recollections of her wartime experience. Stingo discovers that Sophie is a fraud, though, when her accounts of her stint at a Nazi concentration camp unravel, laying bare the real source of her torment.
Drama · R · 151 minutes · 1982 · Watched: 02/16/2008
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90 - Swing Time
Many claim that this is the best of the 10 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies, and Time Magazine named it one of its All-Time 100 Movies. In this classic musical, Astaire plays Lucky, a gambler who misses his wedding to a young socialite and must come up with $25,000 for another chance at her hand. He ends up meeting the lovely Penny, a dance instructor, and soon forgets about his old flame. Songs include "The Way You Look Tonight."
Musical · Not Rated · 104 minutes · 1936 · Watched: 03/02/2008
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89 - The Sixth Sense
Some kids have imaginary friends. Cole (Haley Joel Osment) does them one better: He lives in a world beyond imagination, filled with ghosts and madness. Bruce Willis is the empathic child psychiatrist who tries to heal the child, only to find that the poltergeists are not of this world and the problem may be his own. Tightly wound and filled with twists, M. Night Shyamalan's terrifying thriller will chill you.
Suspense · PG-13 · 106 minutes · 1999 · Watched: 04/06/2008
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88 - Bringing Up Baby
Love blooms for a hapless scientist and an unstoppable heiress in Howard Hawks's classic screwball comedy. Out to win the heart of paleontologist David (Cary Grant), heiress Susan (Katharine Hepburn) lures him to her home. The hilarity begins when Susan's dog steals David's prize dinosaur bone and her pet leopard, Baby, is mistaken for a zoo escapee. One madcap adventure follows another as they try to save Baby -- and ultimately fall in love.
Comedy · Not Rated · 102 minutes · 1938 · Watched: 04/20/2008
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87 - 12 Angry Men
A guilty verdict means death -- but the jury's not about to let that spoil their day. Twelve men must decide the fate of an 18-year-old boy accused of fatally stabbing his father. Only one (Henry Fonda) wants to take the time to coolly deliberate the case. Sidney Lumet (Network) made his directorial debut in this fiery drama that illuminates all the petty impediments on the path to justice.
Drama · Not Rated · 96 minutes · 1957 · Watched: 04/25/2008
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86 - Platoon
A young, untested soldier (Charlie Sheen) steps off a troop transport in Vietnam and quickly learns that the first casualty of war is innocence. Writer-director Oliver Stone put himself on the Hollywood map (and won several Academy Awards) with this autobiographical account of his own tumultuous tour of duty in Vietnam. Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe excel as battle-hardened sergeants who offer Sheen starkly differing role models.
Drama · R · 120 minutes · 1986 · Watched: 05/11/2008
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85 - A Night at the Opera
The Marx Brothers -- Groucho, Harpo and Chico -- wreak havoc in the opera house in one of their biggest hits. Penned by Morrie Ryskind and George S. Kaufman, the film contains perhaps the greatest comic bit the Marxes ever pulled off: the crowded stateroom scene. Kitty Carlisle and Allan Jones are charming as the singing romantic leads whom the Marxes help transform into big-time opera stars.
Comedy · Not Rated · 92 minutes · 1935 · Watched: 05/17/2008
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84 - Easy Rider
On the way to becoming the ultimate 1960s counterculture film, Dennis Hopper's antiestablishment road movie (his directorial debut) garnered widespread critical acclaim. Flush with cash from a cocaine sale and looking for the "real America," motorcycle mavericks Billy (Hopper) and Wyatt (Peter Fonda) are joined by boozy American Civil Liberties Union lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson, in an Oscar-nominated performance) as they hit the road.
Drama · R · 95 minutes · 1969 · Watched: 05/24/2008
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83 - Titanic
Winner of 11 Oscars, director James Cameron's effects-filled blockbuster weds the historical tale of the doomed ocean liner with a fictional romance between two of the ship's ill-fated passengers -- putting a human face on a tragedy of epic proportions. Society girl Rose Dewitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and penniless artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) struggle to survive both the sinking ship and the wrath of Rose's wealthy fiance (Billy Zane).
Drama · PG-13 · 194 minutes · 1997 · Watched: 05/24/2008
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82 - Sunrise
Director F.W. Murnau's emotional odyssey stars George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor as a country couple whose marriage is threatened when O'Brien falls prey to cosmopolitan temptress Margaret Livingston's feminine wiles. Imbued with an intoxicating ambiance in style and substance, the lyrical silent film -- which is, by turns, quixotic, blissful, sensual and terrifying -- chalked up Academy Awards for Best Actress (Gaynor) and Best Cinematography.
Drama · Not Rated · 95 minutes · 1927 · Watched: 05/26/2008
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81 - Spartacus
Stanley Kubrick directed this epic saga based on ancient historical events when a vagabond slave-army led by an ex-gladiator, Spartacus (Kirk Douglas), threatened the very sovereignty of Rome. This film has everything, including a wonderfully funny (and Oscar-winning) performance from Peter Ustinov as the cowardly owner of a gladiator school. Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons and Tony Curtis round out a superb cast.
Action · PG-13 · 196 minutes · 1960 · Watched: 06/01/2008
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