Return to AFI Land
Revisiting My Long-Lost American Film Institute Top 100 To-Do List
A long time ago, when streets were empty, supermarket shelves were bare, and nature seemed to be flourishing, there was a girl. Furloughed and alone, in a flat that wasn’t big…it wasn’t even “just right.” It was just small and cramped. It had a few bedrooms but no living room, a kitchen corner but no kitchen table (or chairs, for that matter).
She moved there at the dawn of her London life, when “I just need a bed to sleep in, a microwave, and a bathroom” were still acceptable criteria for apartment hunting. Little did she know she would soon find herself voluntarily locked in there. That Polly Pocket apartment was supposed to be a place she saw for only a few hours each day, mostly just to sleep and shower.
In the span of just a few days, the apartment went from a bustling base camp for 20-year-olds to a lonely flat occupied only by her, in an empty city that most of those who could had fled.
And when work was also put on pause, like most of her daily activities, she had to find something else to fill up her days and give her purpose. Thankfully, she had running, and The Regent’s Park was just nearby. Cleaning could take up some of her day, and so could cooking (without worrying too much about making a mess. After all, more dishes meant another half hour of something to do).
What else though? Like many others, she took a hard look at herself, exploring passions she could rekindle, like painting. She had more time to binge old and TV series (including new obsessions like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!). But she needed a plan, a goal, something to look forward to and keep her going.
That’s when she found the AFI Top 100 list!
In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, that girl is me during the first London lockdown in Spring 2020. I opened the website and wanted to check how many of the top 100 movies (the revised 10th Anniversary list, by the way) I had watched.
I’d seen fewer than 25%. What a disappointment!
Since then, I’ve watched many more and have made it a point to watch them all - which I have not yet done. As of June 2026, I’m at 43%. Still not amazing, but now I have the perfect place (and community) to keep track, hold myself accountable, and share my reviews along the way. Yay!
If you have recommendations on where I should start next, I’d love to hear them.
My current “next up” picks are:
Singin’ in the Rain
Apocalypse Now
The Apartment
Ranking as of June 29, 2026 - 43% watched
Citizen Kane (1941) ✅
The Godfather (1972) ✅
Casablanca (1942) ✅
Raging Bull (1980) ✅
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Gone with the Wind (1939) ✅
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Schindler’s List (1993) ✅
Vertigo (1958) ✅
The Wizard of Oz (1939) ✅
City Lights (1931)
The Searchers (1956)
Star Wars (1977) ✅
Psycho (1960) ✅
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) ✅
Sunset Blvd. (1950) ✅
The Graduate (1967) ✅
The General (1927)
On the Waterfront (1954)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) ✅
Chinatown (1974)
Some Like It Hot (1959) ✅
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) ✅
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) ✅
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
High Noon (1952)
All About Eve (1950) ✅
Double Indemnity (1944)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Godfather Part II (1974) ✅
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) ✅
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) ✅
Annie Hall (1977) ✅
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Dr. Strangelove (1964) ✅
The Sound of Music (1965) ✅
King Kong (1933)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
The Philadelphia Story (1940) ✅
Shane (1953)
It Happened One Night (1934)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) ✅
Rear Window (1954) ✅
Intolerance (1916)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) ✅
West Side Story (1961) ✅
Taxi Driver (1976) ✅
The Deer Hunter (1978)
MAS*H (1970)
North by Northwest (1959) ✅
Jaws (1975) ✅
Rocky (1976)
The Gold Rush (1925)
Nashville (1975)
Duck Soup (1933)
Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
American Graffiti (1973)
Cabaret (1972)
Network (1976)
The African Queen (1951)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) ✅
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Unforgiven (1992)
Tootsie (1982)
A Clockwork Orange (1971) ✅
Saving Private Ryan (1998) ✅
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) ✅
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) ✅
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Forrest Gump (1994) ✅
All the President’s Men (1976)
Modern Times (1936) ✅
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Apartment (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
Sunrise (1927)
Titanic (1997) ✅
Easy Rider (1969)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
Platoon (1986)
12 Angry Men (1957)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
The Sixth Sense (1999) ✅
Swing Time (1936)
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Goodfellas (1990)
The French Connection (1971)
Pulp Fiction (1994) ✅
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Blade Runner (1982)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Toy Story (1995) ✅
Ben-Hur (1959)
Che meraviglia,anche questa passione che ci accomuna❤️Dovresti scrivere un racconto
I can imagine that was a tough time, but you seem to have used it positively. Kudos to you.
OK...let's get to it...here are a few from that great list that come to mind:
- Rocky (1976): A great, cheesy sports movie. And as a runner, I think you could take something from those sports montage training scenes!
- Do the Right Thing (1989): With all the heat waves going on around Europe, this feels like a good time to watch this as it's set in a sweltering summer.