America Plays Itself

By: Black Irish

As with Rosenbaum’s list, this is my own alternative top 100 American films to contrast with the AFI’s. This isn’t intended to be a statement as the best American films or most significant but a mix of films which I feel are neglected or otherwise underappreciated. I know most won’t agree with some or even many of the inclusions, which is why I want to emphasize this is a personal list and that everyone is free to create their own [or for any nation for that matter] should they feel like it.

The list is alphabetical and no films will be included under, roughly, thirty minutes.

(21/100)

Latest Addition(s):
- Alexander the Last (Joe Swanberg, 2009)
- Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995)
- Quiet City (Aaron Katz, 2007)
- Vanya on 42nd Street (Louis Malle, 1994)

• 01
  Alexander the Last
  Joe Swanberg
• 02
  Arsenic and Old Lace
  Frank Capra
• 03
  Before Sunrise
  Richard Linklater
• 04
  A Christmas Story
  Bob Clark
• 05
  The Civil War
  Ken Burns
• 06
  Crime and Punishment
  Josef von Sternberg
• 07
  Funny Ha Ha
  Andrew Bujalski
• 08
  Go West
  Buster Keaton
• 09
  Intruder in the Dust
  Clarence Brown
• 10
  The Long Voyage Home
  John Ford
• 11
  The Magnificent Ambersons
  Orson Welles
• 12
  Marriage Material
  Joe Swanberg
• 13
  Nights and Weekends
  Greta Gerwig
• 14
  The Ox-Bow Incident
  William A. Wellman
• 15
  Power and the Land
  Joris Ivens
• 16
  Quiet City
  Aaron Katz
• 17
  The Reckless Moment
  Max Ophüls
• 18
  The Spanish Earth
  Joris Ivens
• 19
  Suspicion
  Alfred Hitchcock
• 20
  Vanya on 42nd Street
  Louis Malle
• 21
  The Young One
  Luis Buñuel