Screen Source presents:
AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies by Decade
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 Claude Rains (second from left), Humphrey Bogart (center) and Ingrid Bergman (right) starred in "Casablanca," which finished No. 2 on the AFI's list of the greatest American films. (Associated Press) |
The American Film Institute's 100 Greatest American Movies were selected by a panel of 1,500 leaders from across the American film community as the best films produced during the first 100 years of American filmmaking. They were asked to pick 100 of their favorite entries from a list of 400 films, while attempting to include a variety of genres as well as decades. The list features 74 Best Picture nominees and 32 Oscar winners.
This following list includes the 100 movies categorized by decades,
the number of films from that period, the highest ranked title during
that time, and the number of Oscar winners for Best Picture. View the
main story.
| Years | Number of Films |
Top Rank / Title (Year) | Oscars |
| 1915-27 | 3 | 44. "Birth of a Nation" (1915) | 0 |
| 1930-39 | 15 | 4. "Gone With the Wind"* (1939) | 3 |
| 1940-49 | 12 | 1. "Citizen Kane" (1941) | 2 |
| 1950-59 | 20 | 8. "On the Waterfront"* (1954) | 6 |
| 1960-69 | 18 | 5. "Lawrence of Arabia"* (1962) | 6 |
| 1970-79 | 18 | 3. "The Godfather"* (1972) | 8 |
| 1980-89 | 6 | 24. "Raging Bull" (1980) | 2 |
| 1990-96 | 8 | 9. "Schindler's List"* (1993) | 5 |
* = won Oscar as Best Picture
Created June 23, 1998
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