I Hear America Singing

By: Jerry Johnson

100 films that express America. Immigrant directors abound.

According to my count, John Ford and Jacques Tourneur are its greatest chroniclers, with Leo McCarey running a close second.

Note- this not a list of greatest American films. Vertigo, for example, would be on that list. But Vertigo does not express America…it’s all about Hitchcock.

• 01
  Broken Blossoms
  D.W. Griffith
• 02
  Foolish Wives
  Erich von Stroheim
• 03
  Sherlock Jr.
  Buster Keaton
• 04
  The Gold Rush
  Charlie Chaplin
• 05
  Sunrise
  F.W. Murnau
• 06
  Street Angel
  Frank Borzage
• 07
  The Docks of New York
  Josef von Sternberg
• 08
  The Love Parade
  Ernst Lubitsch
• 09
  Applause
  Rouben Mamoulian
• 10
  The Smiling Lieutenant
  Ernst Lubitsch
• 11
  Trouble in Paradise
  Ernst Lubitsch
• 12
  Steamboat Round the Bend
  John Ford
• 13
  Ruggles of Red Gap
  Leo McCarey
• 14
  Make Way for Tomorrow
  Leo McCarey
• 15
  The Awful Truth
  Leo McCarey
• 16
  Only Angels Have Wings
  Howard Hawks
• 17
  Young Mr. Lincoln
  John Ford
• 18
  The Shop Around the Corner
  Ernst Lubitsch
• 19
  His Girl Friday
  Howard Hawks
• 20
  The Lady Eve
  Preston Sturges
• 21
  The Leopard Man
  Jacques Tourneur
• 22
  Fallen Angel
  Otto Preminger
• 23
  Canyon Passage
  Jacques Tourneur
• 24
  My Darling Clementine
  John Ford
• 25
  The Best Years of Our Lives
  William Wyler
• 26
  T-Men
  Anthony Mann
• 27
  Kiss of Death
  Henry Hathaway
• 28
  The Lady from Shanghai
  Orson Welles
• 29
  Paisan
  Roberto Rossellini
• 30
  Force of Evil
  Abraham Polonsky
• 31
  Rope
  Alfred Hitchcock
• 32
  Thieves' Highway
  Jules Dassin
• 33
  They Live by Night
  Nicholas Ray
• 34
  Criss Cross
  Robert Siodmak
• 35
  I Shot Jesse James
  Samuel Fuller
• 36
  Winchester '73
  Anthony Mann
• 37
  The Flame and the Arrow
  Jacques Tourneur
• 38
  Wagon Master
  John Ford
• 39
  Gun Crazy
  Joseph H. Lewis
• 40
  The Bullfighter and the Lady
  Budd Boetticher
• 41
  The Steel Helmet
  Samuel Fuller
• 42
  My Son John
  Leo McCarey
• 43
  The Lusty Men
  Nicholas Ray
• 44
  The Sun Shines Bright
  John Ford
• 45
  Rear Window
  Alfred Hitchcock
• 46
  Johnny Guitar
  Nicholas Ray
• 47
  Carmen Jones
  Otto Preminger
• 48
  Vera Cruz
  Robert Aldrich
• 49
  The Night of the Hunter
  Charles Laughton
• 50
  Moonfleet
  Fritz Lang
• 51
  Stranger on Horseback
  Jacques Tourneur
• 52
  The Big Combo
  Joseph H. Lewis
• 53
  Kiss Me Deadly
  Robert Aldrich
• 54
  Written on the Wind
  Douglas Sirk
• 55
  The Tall T
  Budd Boetticher
• 56
  3:10 to Yuma
  Delmer Daves
• 57
  The Tarnished Angels
  Douglas Sirk
• 58
  Nightfall
  Jacques Tourneur
• 59
  The Lineup
  Don Siegel
• 60
  Terror in a Texas Town
  Joseph H. Lewis
• 61
  Some Came Running
  Vincente Minnelli
• 62
  North by Northwest
  Alfred Hitchcock
• 63
  The Misfits
  John Huston
• 64
  Tales of Terror
  Roger Corman
• 65
  The Killers
  Don Siegel
• 66
  The Swimmer
  Frank Perry
• 67
  The Wild Bunch
  Sam Peckinpah
• 68
  Two-Lane Blacktop
  Monte Hellman
• 69
  Junior Bonner
  Sam Peckinpah
• 70
  Payday
  Daryl Duke
• 71
  Dillinger
  John Milius
• 72
  The Long Goodbye
  Robert Altman
• 73
  A Woman Under the Influence
  John Cassavetes
• 74
  Cockfighter
  Monte Hellman
• 75
  Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
  Sam Peckinpah
• 76
  The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  Tobe Hooper
• 77
  The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
  John Cassavetes
• 78
  3 Women
  Robert Altman
• 79
  Cutter's Way
  Ivan Passer
• 80
  They All Laughed
  Peter Bogdanovich
• 81
  The King of Comedy
  Martin Scorsese
• 82
  The Right Stuff
  Philip Kaufman
• 83
  Songwriter
  Alan Rudolph
• 84
  Under the Volcano
  John Huston
• 85
  Something Wild
  Jonathan Demme
• 86
  Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
  Todd Haynes
• 87
  To Sleep with Anger
  Charles Burnett
• 88
  Texasville
  Peter Bogdanovich
• 89
  One False Move
  Carl Franklin
• 90
  A Perfect World
  Clint Eastwood
• 91
  The Age of Innocence
  Martin Scorsese
• 92
  Dazed and Confused
  Richard Linklater
• 93
  Casino
  Martin Scorsese
• 94
  A.I. Artificial Intelligence
  Steven Spielberg
• 95
  In the Bedroom
  Todd Field
• 96
  Elephant
  Gus Van Sant
• 97
  Once Upon a Time in Mexico
  Robert Rodriguez
• 98
  Mysterious Skin
  Gregg Araki
• 99
  The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
  Tommy Lee Jones