"Lists are subjective and almost always widely criticized, argued, and debated — which is the whole point.
This is especially true for movie lists.
Nevertheless, the top 100 movie list released by the BBC back in 2015 is one of the most derided in recent memory.
The BBC polled 62 international film critics and asked them to choose the 100 greatest American films of all time.
About half the list is little different from the one compiled and updated by the American Film Institute every decade.
The other half is full of surprises.
There is no right or wrong answer to listing your favorite films.
It is all subjective.
Regardless, it is still a shock to see 62 film critics choose a bunch of films everyone has written off as, at best, marginal: Spike Lee’s forgettable 25th Hour (2002) at #94; Michael Cimino’s infamous 1980 debacle Heaven’s Gate at #98; Hitchcock’s swing-and-a-miss Marnie at #47, etc.
You can see the full list here.
The BBC’s surprising omissions, however, are too many to list.
Rather than argue with the BBC, I decided to come up with a list of the greatest American films ever made.
It was impossible, though, for me to corral only 100.
My list ended up being 165 titles long, and even that required a painful pruning process that left out nearly 200 titles that deserve better.
Once all 165 choices have been revealed, I will go ahead and release the full accounting of the 300-plus titles originally considered.
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