Jonathan Rosenbaum - Alternative 100 Top American Films

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Jonathan Rosenbaum says "Just about everyone I’ve spoken to about the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest American movies, presented on a stultifyingly vacuous three-hour CBS special last week, has been depressed about it—partly because the list was so lackluster and partly because the show failed to offer an interesting justification for any of the titles…

Let me hasten to add that if I were drawing up my own list of the 100 greatest American movies, roughly a quarter of the AFI’s list would be on it. But it seems more useful to offer an alternative list of 100 features rather than an unwieldy composite of the 25 or so AFI titles I can live with and 75 others. I’ve also decided to list my choices alphabetically rather than impose an order based on merit, since that would be tantamount to ranking oranges over apples or declaring cherries superior to grapes."

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  1. 51.
    Man's Castle (1933)
    by Frank Borzage

    Drag me to re-order


  2. 52.
    McCabe & Mrs. Miller
    by Robert Altman

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  3. 53.
    Meet Me In St. Louis (Two-Disc Special Edition)
    by Vincente Minnelli

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  4. 54.
    Mikey & Nicky
    by Elaine May

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  5. 55.
    Monsieur Verdoux
    by Charles Chaplin

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  6. 56.
    My Son John (1952)
    by Leo McCarey

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  7. 57.
    ?
    The Naked Spur
    by Anthony Mann

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  8. 58.
    Nanook of the North - Criterion Collection
    by Robert J. Flaherty

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  9. 59.
    The Night of the Hunter
    by Charles Laughton

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  10. 60.
    The Nutty Professor

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  11. 61.
    ?
    The Palm Beach Story

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  12. 62.
    Panic in the Streets

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  13. 63.
    Park Row
    by Samuel Fuller (1952)

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  14. 64.
    The Phenix City Story
    by Phil Karlson

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  15. 65.
    Point Blank
    by John Boorman

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  16. 66.
    Real Life

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  17. 67.
    Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania
    by Jonas Mekas

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  18. 68.
    Rio Bravo
    by Howard Hawks

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  19. 69.
    Scarface (1932)
    by Howard Hawks (dir.)

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  20. 70.
    The Scarlet Empress - Criterion Collection
    by Josef von Sternberg

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  21. 71.
    Scarlet Street
    by Fritz Lang

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  22. 72.
    ?
    Scenes From Under Childhood
    by Stan Brakhage

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  23. 73.
    Scenic Route
    by Mark Rappaport

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  24. 74.
    ?
    The Seventh Victim
    by Mark Robson

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  25. 75.
    Shadows

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  26. 76.
    Our Hospitality/Sherlock, Jr.
    by Buster Keaton

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  27. 77.
    The Shooting
    by Monte Hellman

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  28. 78.
    The Shop Around the Corner
    by Ernst Lubitsch

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  29. 79.
    Try & Get Me / Movie
    by Cy Endfield

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  30. 80.
    Stars in My Crown
    by Jacques Tourneur

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  31. 81.
    ?
    Steel Helmet
    by Samuel Fuller

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  32. 82.
    Stranger Than Paradise
    by Jim Jarmusch

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  33. 83.
    The Strawberry Blonde
    by Raoul Walsh

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  34. 84.
    Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
    by F.W. Murnau

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  35. 85.
    Sylvia Scarlett
    by George Cukor

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  36. 86.
    Tarnished Angels / Movie
    by Douglas Sirk

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  37. 87.
    That's Entertainment III
    by Michael J. Sheridan

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  38. 88.
    ?
    Thunderbolt (1929)
    by Josef von Sternberg

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  39. 89.
    To Sleep With Anger / Movie
    by Charles Burnett

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  40. 90.
    Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
    by Ken Jacobs

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  41. 91.
    Track of the Cat
    by William A. Wellman

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  42. 93.
    This Land Is Mine
    by Jean Renoir

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  43. 94.
    ?
    Vinyl (1965)
    by Andy Warhol

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  44. 95.
    Wanda
    by Barbara Loden

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  45. 96.
    While the City Sleeps (1956)
    by Fritz Lang

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  46. 97.
    Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
    by Frank Tashlin

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  47. 98.
    Woodstock - 3 Days of Peace & Music (The Director's Cut)
    by Michael Wadleigh

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  48. 99.
    The Wrong Man

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  49. 100.
    Zabriskie Point
    by Michelangelo Antonioni

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Created by Robot Co-op on Nov 30, 2005.
 

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