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American Film Institute’s
100 Years . . . 100 Cheers

The American Film Institute (AFI) celebrated the centennial of cinema by airing a number of television specials, each honoring a different aspect of excellence in American film. On June 14, 2006 AFI broadcast a program entitled “100 Years . . . 100 Cheers—America’s Most Inspiring Movies.”

To determine the winners, AFI invited more than 1,500 leaders from across the American film community—screenwriters, directors, actors, producers, cinematographers, editors, executives, film historians and critics, among them—to choose from a list of nominated films compiled by AFI. The selected films (and their ranking) are listed below.

TheOscar Nominated marker symbol appears next to those films which also received an Academy Award nomination (although this was not a requirement for inclusion on the list). Click on the name of one of those films to display more information about it. You can also click on the IMDb link to to open a new browser window or tabshowing information about the film from the Internet Movie Database. Or, click on a title in the column on the right to display the winners from another AFI program.

For more information, you can follow this link to the American Film Institute’s website.

Oscar Nominated marker1.It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker2.To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker3.Schindler’s List (1993)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker4.Rocky (1976)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker5.Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker6.E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker7.The Grapes of Wrath (1940)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker8.Breaking Away (1979)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker9.Miracle on 34th Street (1947)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker10.Saving Private Ryan (1998)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker11.The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker12.Apollo 13 (1995)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker13.Hoosiers (1986)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker14.The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker15.The Miracle Worker (1962)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker16.Norma Rae (1979)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker17.One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker18.The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker19.The Right Stuff (1983)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker20.Philadelphia (1993)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker21.In the Heat of the Night (1967)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker22.The Pride of the Yankees (1942)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker23.The Shawshank Redemption (1994)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker24.National Velvet (1945)   IMDb
25.Sullivan’s Travels (1941)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker26.The Wizard of Oz (1939)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker27.High Noon (1952)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker28.Field of Dreams (1989)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker29.Gandhi (1982)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker30.Lawrence of Arabia (1962)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker31.Glory (1989)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker32.Casablanca (1943)   IMDb
33.City Lights (1931)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker34.All the President’s Men (1976)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker35.Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker36.On the Waterfront (1954)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker37.Forrest Gump (1994)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker38.Pinocchio (1940)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker39.Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker40.Mrs. Miniver (1942)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker41.The Sound of Music (1965)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker42.12 Angry Men (1957)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker43.Gone with the Wind (1939)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker44.Spartacus (1960)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker45.On Golden Pond (1981)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker46.Lilies of the Field (1963)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker47.2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker48.The African Queen (1951)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker49.Meet John Doe (1941)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker50.Seabiscuit (2003)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker51.The Color Purple (1985)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker52.Dead Poets Society (1989)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker53.Shane (1953)   IMDb
54.Rudy (1993)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker55.The Defiant Ones (1958)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker56.Ben-Hur (1959)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker57.Sergeant York (1941)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker58.Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker59.Dances with Wolves (1990)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker60.The Killing Fields (1984)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker61.Sounder (1972)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker62.Braveheart (1995)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker63.Rain Man (1988)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker64.The Black Stallion (1979)   IMDb
65.A Raisin in the Sun (1961)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker66.Silkwood (1983)   IMDb
67.The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker68.An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker69.The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker70.Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker71.Cool Hand Luke (1967)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker72.Dark Victory (1939)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker73.Erin Brockovich (2000)   IMDb
74.Gunga Din (1939)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker75.The Verdict (1982)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker76.Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker77.Driving Miss Daisy (1989)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker78.Thelma & Louise (1991)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker79.The Ten Commandments (1956)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker80.Babe (1995)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker81.Boys Town (1938)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker82.Fiddler on the Roof (1971)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker83.Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker84.Serpico (1973)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker85.What’s Love Got to Do With It (1993)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker86.Stand and Deliver (1988)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker87.Working Girl (1988)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker88.Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)   IMDb
89.Harold and Maude (1972)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker90.Hotel Rwanda (2004)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker91.The Paper Chase (1973)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker92.Fame (1980)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker93.A Beautiful Mind (2001)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker94.Captains Courageous (1937)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker95.Places in the Heart (1984)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker96.Searching for Bobby Fisher (1993)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker97.Madame Currie (1943)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker98.The Karate Kid (1984)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker99.Ray (2004)   IMDb
Oscar Nominated marker100.Chariots of Fire (1981)   IMDb