The Third 100 Greatest Films of the 20th Century

Filmsite's Third 100 Greatest Films (of the 20th Century)

Major motion picture history is continually evolving, even more so than merely growing. Not only are new films being constantly added, but older ones gain recognition and overdue respect - with greater perspective that is afforded by the passage of time, the growing reputation of its stars and directors, as well as the ever-expanding home viewing market. This suggested list of the Third 100 Greatest Films provides a more comprehensive collection, with many selections that could easily be interchanged with the original lists: the 100 Greatest Films or Another 100 Greatest Films .

These films were chosen using the same Selection Criteria that was employed for the previous 200 selections. The views of distinguished critics, other polls, awards recognitions, and other criteria have been considered to produce this compilation. Arguably, there is reasonable consensus by most film historians, critics and reviewers that these selections are among cinema's most critically-acclaimed, significant "must-see" films (of predominantly Hollywood-American production). A compiled, chronological listing of all film choices is indexed at 300 Greatest Films. (A few ties have been noted there.)

As before, these choices were limited to English-language, theatrically-distributed, narrative feature films. That means foreign-language films, documentaries, TV movies and mini-series, and short films were not considered. Emphasis in these selections is purposely directed toward earlier, more classic Hollywood/American films (and other English-language films) than more recent films, although some recent films (and British films) are included. All of these choices are influential films with a singular vision - they provide a diverse palette of movie memories and experiences.

In this third list of 100 films, the choices were made more difficult than before because there were no truly obvious choices, such as Citizen Kane (1941) , Casablanca (1942) , or All About Eve (1950) .

• Many of the film selections here were earlier candidates that just missed selection in the top 200, such as Marty (1955) or Being There (1979)
• Others were in the second tier of films of noted directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder (1954) and The Birds (1963) , Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951) , Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956) and Spartacus (1960) , Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) , Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1982), or Charlie Chaplin's The Kid (1921) and The Great Dictator (1940)
• Some were under-appreciated recent classics (or cult films) whose inclusion might be surprising, such as A Fish Called Wanda (1988), Groundhog Day (1993), and The Big Lebowski (1998)
• Others were pioneering films, such as A Hard Day's Night (1964), Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), and The Matrix (1999)
• Some have been indelibly imprinted in the moviegoing public's memory as definitive films, such as Spartacus (1960), Goldfinger (1964) , Rocky (1976) , and Airplane! (1980)
• A few were small-yet-important independent film efforts, such as Blow-Up (1966) and Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• Some remain merely quiet, classic films that have often been unfairly forgotten when the subject of "the best films ever made" arises, such as Amadeus (1984) and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
• And others were major, epic Academy Award-winning films, such as Giant (1956) , Titanic (1997), and Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Hopefully, for now, this list will inspire debate over inclusions and exclusions, which is always the aim of any list -- to renew interest and passion in cinema. The lists (and links to reviews) provide your own private film studies course or a crash course in cinema literacy. Comparative analysis and criticism provide the rationale for having many Other Greatest Film Lists available for viewing on this site, such as AFI's 100 Greatest American Films .