American Movie
This page is devoted to an examination of American feature films, both as a consideration of those movies which can be regarded as somehow significant and as an appreciation of the value of movies as primary-source historical documents of twentieth-century American life and culture. An attempt has been made to compile a list which can in some sense encompass the entire American Movie Experience by developing, year-by-year, a long, thick, unbroken chain of cinematic storytelling (and the stories and storytellers behind those stories) into a larger, interconnected Story of American Film. This is not a “Best of” list or an attempt to present a “closed canon” (which I am in no respect qualified to do in any case). Rather, the composition has been informed primarily by a spirit of inclusivity, and is likely far from complete. I have made an effort to limit the list to a maximum of 5 to 10 feature-length films per year, and to be aware of each film’s general availability, for purely practical reasons.
1913
1914
The Squaw Man
1915
1916
1917
1918
The Whispering Chorus
1919
Male and Female
1920
The Mark of Zorro
Way Down East
Within Our Gates
1921
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The Kid
Little Lord Fauntleroy
The Marriage Circle
The Sheik
1922
Foolish Wives
Nanook of the North
Orphans of the Storm
Robin Hood
1923
The Covered Wagon
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Our Hospitality
Safety Last
The Ten Commandments
1924
Greed
The Iron Horse
Sherlock, Jr.
Thief of Bagdad
1925
The Big Parade
The Gold Rush
The Freshman
The Phantom of the Opera
Seven Chances
1926
Ben-Hur
The Black Pirate
The Son of the Sheik
Sparrows
1927
The General
The Jazz Singer
The Kid Brother
Sunrise
Wings
1928
The Crowd
The Docks of New York
The Last Command
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
The Wind
1929
The Broadway Melody
Hallelujah
The Virginian
1930
Abraham Lincoln
All Quiet on the Western Front
Animal Crackers
Little Caesar
1931
Cimarron
City Lights
Dracula
Frankenstein
The Public Enemy
1932
Freaks
Grand Hotel
Horse Feathers
I Am A Fugitive From a Chain Gang
Me and My Gal
Scarface
Shanghai Express
The Sign of the Cross
Tarzan, the Ape Man
Trouble in Paradise
1933
42nd Street
The Bitter Tea of General Yen
Cavalcade
Duck Soup
Footlight Parade
Gold Diggers of 1933
King Kong
Queen Christina
She Done Him Wrong
Sons of the Desert
1934
The Gay Divorcee
It Happened One Night
It’s a Gift
Of Human Bondage
The Thin Man
1935
Captain Blood
Les Miserables
Mutiny on the Bounty
A Night at the Opera
Top Hat
1936
Dodsworth
The Great Ziegfeld
Modern Times
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
My Man Godfrey
1937
The Awful Truth
The Life of Emil Zola
Lost Horizon
Make Way for Tomorrow
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Stage Door
1938
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Angels With Dirty Faces
Bringing Up Baby
Jezebel
You Can’t Take It With You
1939
Destry Rides Again
Gone With the Wind
Gunga Din
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Only Angels Have Wings
Stagecoach
The Wizard of Oz
The Women
1940
Fantasia
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Dictator
His Girl Friday
The Mortal Storm
The Philadelphia Story
Pinocchio
Rebecca
1941
Balls of Fire
Citizen Kane
Dumbo
How Green Was My Valley
High Sierra
The Lady Eve
The Maltese Falcon
Sergeant York
Sullivan’s Travels
The Wolf Man
1942
Bambi
The Major and the Minor
The Magnificent Ambersons
Mrs. Miniver
The Pride of the Yankees
To Be or Not to Be
Yankee Doodle Dandy
1943
Casablanca
The Ox-Bow Incident
Shadow of a Doubt
1944
Double Indemnity
Going My Way
Laura
Lifeboat
Meet Me in St. Louis
1945
The Lost Weekend
Mildred Pierce
Spellbound
They Were Expendable
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
1946
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Sleep
Gilda
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Killers
My Darling Clementine
Notorious
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Stranger
1947
The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer
Dark Passage
Gentleman’s Agreement
Miracle on 34th Street
Out of the Past
1948
Fort Apache
I Remember Mama
Key Largo
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Louisiana Story
The Paleface
Red River
Rope
The Search
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1949
Adam’s Rib
All the King’s Men
Gun Crazy
The Heiress
White Heat
1950
All About Eve
The Asphalt Jungle
Cinderella
Rio Grande
Sunset Boulevard
Winchester ’73
1951
The African Queen
An American in Paris
The Big Carnival
The Day the Earth Stood Still
A Place in the Sun
Strangers on a Train
A Streetcar Named Desire
1952
The Bad and the Beautiful
The Greatest Show on Earth
High Noon
The Quiet Man
Singin’ in the Rain
1953
The Big Heat
From Here to Eternity
I Confess
Pickup on South Street
Roman Holiday
Shane
1954
On the Waterfront
Rear Window
Salt of the Earth
Silver Lode
A Star is Born
1955
Artists and Models
Bad Day at Black Rock
East of Eden
Kiss Me Deadly
The Man from Laramie
The Man With the Golden Arm
Marty
The Night of the Hunter
Rebel Without a Cause
1956
Anastasia
Around the World in Eighty Days
The Bad Seed
Bigger Than Life
Forbidden Planet
Giant
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Killing
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Searchers
1957
12 Angry Men
A Face in the Crowd
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Paths of Glory
1958
The Defiant Ones
I Want to Live!
Touch of Evil
Vertigo
1959
Anatomy of a Murder
Ben-Hur
North by Northwest
Rio Bravo
Sleeping Beauty
Some Like It Hot
1960
The Apartment
One-Eyed Jacks
Psycho
Spartacus
1961
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The Hustler
Judgment at Nuremberg
West Side Story
1962
Dr. No
Lolita
The Manchurian Candidate
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Ride the High Country
To Kill a Mockingbird
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1963
America America
The Birds
Charade
The Great Escape
How the West Was Won
Hud
1964
Dr. Strangelove
Fail-Safe
Marnie
My Fair Lady
1965
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
The Pawnbroker
The Sound of Music
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold
1966
The Sand Pebbles
Seconds
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1967
Bonnie and Clyde
Cool Hand Luke
The Graduate
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
In the Heat of the Night
The Jungle Book
1968
2001: A Space Odyssey
Bullitt
Night of the Living Dead
Planet of the Apes
Rosemary’s Baby
1969
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Easy Rider
Midnight Cowboy
True Grit
The Wild Bunch
1970
Five Easy Pieces
Little Big Man
M*A*S*H
Patton
Woodstock
1971
Dirty Harry
Fiddler on the Roof
The French Connection
Harold and Maude
The Last Picture Show
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Shaft
1972
Cabaret
Deliverance
The Godfather
1973
American Graffiti
Badlands
The Exorcist
The Long Goodbye
Mean Streets
Serpico
Sleeper
The Sting
1974
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Blazing Saddles
Chinatown
The Conversation
The Godfather, Part II
1975
Dog Day Afternoon
Jaws
Nashville
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1976
All the President’s Men
The Front
Network
Rocky
Taxi Driver
1977
Annie Hall
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Killer of Sheep
Saturday Night Fever
Star Wars
1978
Dawn of the Dead
Days of Heaven
The Deer Hunter
Grease
Halloween
1979
Apocalypse Now
Kramer vs. Kramer
Manhattan
The Muppet Movie
Norma Rae
1980
Airplane!
The Empire Strikes Back
Friday the 13th
Ordinary People
Raging Bull
1981
Body Heat
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Reds
1982
Blade Runner
E.T.
Sophie’s Choice
Tootsie
1983
The Big Chill
A Christmas Story
Koyaanisqatsi
El Norte
Return of the Jedi
The Right Stuff
Risky Business
Scarface
Terms of Endearment
1984
Amadeus
Beverly Hills Cop
Blood Simple
Ghost Busters
The Natural
A Nightmare on Elm Street
The Terminator
This Is Spinal Tap
1985
Back to the Future
The Breakfast Club
Out of Africa
The Purple Rose of Cairo
1986
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Platoon
Salvador
Top Gun
1987
Broadcast News
Empire of the Sun
Full Metal Jacket
Good Morning, Vietnam
Housekeeping
Moonstruck
The Princess Bride
Raising Arizona
The Untouchables
Wall Street
1988
Die Hard
A Fish Called Wanda
Mississippi Burning
Rain Man
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
1989
Batman
Do the Right Thing
Driving Miss Daisy
The Little Mermaid
Say Anything
When Harry Met Sally
1990
Dances with Wolves
Edward Scissorhands
Goodfellas
Miller’s Crossing
Pretty Woman
1991
Beauty and the Beast
Boyz ‘N the Hood
JFK
The Silence of the Lambs
Thelma and Louise
1992
A Few Good Men
Glengarry Glen Ross
The Player
Reservoir Dogs
Unforgiven
1993
Groundhog Day
Jurassic Park
Philadelphia
Schindler’s List
Short Cuts
1994
Ed Wood
Forrest Gump
The Lion King
Natural Born Killers
Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption
1995
Braveheart
Clueless
Dead Man Walking
Se7en
Toy Story
1996
The English Patient
Fargo
Independence Day
Scream
1997
Boogie Nights
Good Will Hunting
The Ice Storm
L.A. Confidential
Titanic
1998
American History X
Dark City
Happiness
Pleasantville
Saving Private Ryan
Shakespeare in Love
The Thin Red Line
The Truman Show
1999
American Beauty
The Blair Witch Project
Fight Club
Magnolia
The Matrix
The Sixth Sense
Three Kings
2000
Gladiator
Memento
The Patriot
Requiem for a Dream
Traffic
2001
A Beautiful Mind
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Majestic
Moulin Rouge!
The Royal Tenenbaums
2002
Adaptation
Chicago
Road to Perdition
Spider-Man
The Two Towers
2003
Finding Nemo
House of Sand and Fog
Lost in Translation
The Return of the King
2004
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Finding Neverland
Garden State
Million Dollar Baby
The Passion of the Christ
2005
Brokeback Mountain
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
Junebug
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
2006
Borat
The Departed
Little Children
United 93
2007
The Assassination of Jesse James
Gone Baby Gone
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Zodiac
2008
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Shotgun Stories
WALL•E
2009
Avatar
Away We Go
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Hurt Locker
The Informant!
Inglourious Basterds
Watchmen
2010
127 Hours
The Fighter
Inception
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
Winter’s Bone
2011
Super 8
The Tree of Life
X-Men: First Class
Moviegoings 