From the BBC:
In recognition of the astounding influence of the US on what remains the most popular art-form worldwide, BBC Culture has polled 62 international film critics to determine the 100 greatest American films of all time… Some of the critics we invited to participate are film reviewers at newspapers or magazines, others are broadcasters and some write books…
Each critic who participated submitted a list of 10 films, with their pick for the greatest film receiving 10 points and their number 10 pick receiving one point. The points were added up to produce the final list. Critics were encouraged to submit lists of the 10 films they feel, on an emotional level, are the greatest in American cinema – not necessarily the most important, just the best.
1) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
2) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
3) Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
4) 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
5) The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
6) Sunrise (FW Murnau, 1927)
7) Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
8) Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
9) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
10) The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
11) The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)
12) Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
13) North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
14) Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
15) The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
16) McCabe & Mrs Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
17) The Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin, 1925)
18) City Lights (Charlie Chaplin, 1931)
19) Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
20) Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
21) Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
22) Greed (Erich von Stroheim, 1924)
23) Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
24) The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
25) Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
26) Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett, 1978)
27) Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
28) Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
29) Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
30) Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
31) A Woman Under the Influence (John Cassavetes, 1974)
32) The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
33) The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
34) The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
35) Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
36) Star Wars (George Lucas, 1977)
37) Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959)
38) Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
39) The Birth of a Nation (DW Griffith, 1915)
40) Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, 1943)
41) Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
42) Dr Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
43) Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls, 1948)
44) Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, 1924)
45) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
46) It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
47) Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964)
48) A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951)
49) Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978)
50) His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
51) Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
52) The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
53) Grey Gardens (Albert and David Maysles, Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer, 1975)
54) Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
55) The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
56) Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
57) Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)
58) The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940)
59) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975)
60) Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)
61) Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
62) The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
63) Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984)
64) Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954)
65) The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman, 1983)
66) Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)
67) Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
68) Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)
69) Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982)
70) The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953)
71) Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
72) The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg, 1941)
73) Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
74) Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
75) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, 1977)
76) The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
77) Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
78) Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
79) The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
80) Meet Me in St Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944)
81) Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991)
82) Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
83) Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938)
84) Deliverance (John Boorman, 1972)
85) Night of the Living Dead (George A Romero, 1968)
86) The Lion King (Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, 1994)
87) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004)
88) West Side Story (Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, 1961)
89) In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)
90) Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
91) ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
92) The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
93) Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)
94) 25th Hour (Spike Lee, 2002)
95) Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
96) The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
97) Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
98) Heaven’s Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)
99) 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013)
100) Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951)
