The Greatest American Movies

Blame Jonathan Rosenbaum. Everytime that old wizard posts anything on facebook I can't help but steal his ideas. This time it was a poll of his ten favourite American movies, and like his greatest living director list, it got me thinking. So I asked just about every badass cinephile I knew for the same list, not because I needed to know the greatest American movie, but because I wanted to hear the ways we agree and disagree. It was fascinating to hear everyone's answer. American had to mean something in particular in this case, so I narrowed the field to "American money." That included Hitchcock and Lang and the like, but cut out UK co-productions like Alien and Barry Lyndon, which I've included as phantom choices for those who couldn't live without them. I'm not a monster after all. Anyway, I hope you have fun perusing them. Feel free to post your own choices in the comments. I could go on for days about what I wanted to include but couldn't, as all of these guys could, I'm sure. Forgive us what we left behind. 

Damian Arlyn

City Lights
Pinocchio 
Citizen Kane
Psycho
Apocalypse Now
Manhattan
Die Hard
Unforgiven
Schindler's List
The Tree of Life


Noah Aust

Minnie & Moskowitz/A Woman Under The Influence
Synecdoche NY
Mulholland Dr.
Blade Runner
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Tree of Life
A Night At The Opera
The Wizard of Oz
12 Monkeys
The Conversation



Blake Backlash

Psycho
Letter From An Unknown Woman
Touch of Evil
Phantom of the Paradise
A Serious Man
Quiz Show
Carnival of Souls
Starship Troopers
The Parallax View
Blazing Saddles




Miriam Bale

"It's insane not to include Lewis, Ray, Lubitsch, & Hawks, the four greatest American directors. But with them, it's too difficult to choose one.”

Mean Streets
Magnificent Ambersons
Love Streams
Vertigo
A New Leaf
I Walked With A Zombie
Meet Me in St. Louis
Objective Burma!
Daughters of the Dust
Rushmore




Eric Barroso

Johnny Guitar
The Magnificent Ambersons
Thief
His Girl Friday/Only Angels Have Wings
Park Row
Mothlight
Sherlock, Jr.
Scorpio Rising
Fury
Night of the Hunter


Theodora Blasko

The Tree of Life
Pulp Fiction
Bringing Up Baby
The Royal Tenenbaums
All That Jazz
Rosemary’s Baby
No Country for Old Men
Zodiac 
Annie Hall 
Boogie Nights




Danny Bowes

Citizen Kane
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Singin' in the Rain
2001: A Space Odyssey
Vertigo
Blade Runner ('07 cut)
The Grapes of Wrath
Goodfellas
The Godfather
Network




Charles Bramesco

Boogie Nights
All About Eve
Dr. Strangelove
Sherlock Jr.
Taxi Driver
Vertigo
Lost Highway
Barton Fink
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm
Nashville


David Cairns

2001: A Space Odyssey
Rear Window
Out of the Past
Citizen Kane
The General
Paper Moon
Raging Bull
Harold & Maude
He Who Gets Slapped
The Apartment


Forrest Cardamenis

Meshes of the Afternoon
Dog Star Man
Killer of Sheep
Mulholland Dr.
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Tree of Life
Johnny Guitar
Meek's Cutoff
Safe
Do The Right Thing


Monica Castillo

Night of the Hunter
Singin' In The Rain
His Girl Friday
The Thing
Do The Right Thing
Annie Hall
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Our Hospitality
Jaws
Rosemary's Baby



Jaime N. Christley

Greed
Make Way For Tomorrow
Only Angels Have Wings
His Girl Friday
The Magnificent Ambersons
Vertigo
The Ladies Man
Blade Runner
White Dog
Schindler’s List




Sam Cohen

Thief
True Grit
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Badlands
Dead Man
All That Jazz
Spring Breakers
Manhattan
Blue Velvet
The Last Picture Show



Jake Cole

Monsieur Verdoux
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Bigger Than Life
A.I.
Opening Night
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Rio Bravo
Nashville
The King of Comedy
The Magnificent Ambersons


Olivia Collette

Moonstruck
Some Like It Hot
Alien
The Royal Tenenbaums
Pleasantville
Citizen Kane
Koyaanisqatsi
Lost In Translation
The Shining
L.A. Story



Adam Cook

Notorious
Age of Innocence
The Long Voyage Home
An American In Paris
Blackout
Love Streams
Heat
City Lights
Unforgiven
The Big Heat


Max Covill

2001: A Space Odyssey
The Godfather
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Vertigo
Singin' In The Rain
Jaws
Badlands
Double Indemnity
Taxi Driver
City Lights



Fernando F. Croce

The Naked Kiss
Badlands
The Reckless Moment
Johnny Guitar
The Bowery
City Girl
Take Me To Town
The Patsy
Duel In The Sun
To Sleep With Anger



Greg Cwik

Apocalypse Now
Batman Returns
The Godfather
Goodfellas
Jaws
Mulholland Drive
Point Blank
Rosemary's Baby
There Will Be Blood
Vertigo
Phantom 11. Alien



Brian Darr

Intolerance
Docks of New York
Angel
King-Size Canary
The End
The Far Country
Hold Me While I'm Naked
Carrie
To Sleep With Anger
The Company




Abhimanyu Das

McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Apocalypse Now
Pulp Fiction
Blue Velvet
Blade Runner
Chinatown
Rear Window
RoboCop
Die Hard
The Godfather Part II


Diana Drumm

It Happened One Night
Gone with the Wind
Sunset Boulevard
Vertigo
Annie Hall
Badlands
Network
Dead Man
Closer
Laura
Phantom 11. 12 Years a Slave




Paul Duane

The Unknown 
Only Angels Have Wings
The Thing
Taxi Driver
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Detour 
Gun Crazy
The Producers
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia
Rio Bravo


Tim Earle

Network
Citizen Kane
Fargo
Do the Right Thing
Saving Private Ryan
Goodfellas
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Team America, World Police
Fight Club
Synecdoche, New York


Tom Elrod

The Crowd
Modern Times
Fantasia
The Magnificent Ambersons
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The Searchers
The Long Goodbye
E.T.
Ishtar
The Last Temptation of Christ





Alex Engquist

The Big Parade
Meshes of the Afternoon
The Magnificent Ambersons
Imitation of Life
Only Angels Have Wings
Window Water Baby Moving
Wanda
Nashville
Love Streams
Do The Right Thing
A.I.


Autumn Faust

Resident Evil Extinction
The Blair Witch Project
A.I.
Inland Empire
Apocalypse Now
Spring Breakers
Meshes of the Afternoon
Do The Right Thing
The Evil Dead 2
The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eye



Veronika Ferdman

Limelight
Johnny Guitar
Wild at Heart
The Tree of Life
The Tarnished Angels
Heat
The Moderns
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Puce Moment





Kenji Fujishima

Vertigo

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Dawn of the Dead

The Crowd

The Conversation 

Killer of Sheep

Love Streams

Window Water Baby Moving

Mean Streets

Barry Lyndon

Felipe Furtado

Hatari!

Walden: Diaries, Notes & Sketches
Broken Blossoms
Wagon Master
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Make Way for Tomorrow
Two-Lane Blacktop
Hallejulah
Force of Evil
My Hustler

Jim Gabriel

The Crowd

Citizen Kane

Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

Meet Me In St. Louis

Bigger Than Life

The Wild Bunch

Nashville

All That Jazz

The Dante Quartet

The Tree of Life

CM Gardner

The Magnificent Ambersons

Only Angels Have Wings

Head

Female Trouble

Killer of Sheep

California Split

Nashville

The King of Comedy

Duck Amuck

Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

Sean Gilman

Fort Apache
Ruggles of Red Gap
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Night of the Hunter
Slacker
Two Lane Blacktop
Do The Right Thing
The New World
Dead Man
High School

Robert Greene

Welfare/The Store

Love Streams

Salesman

3 Women

Frownland

Manhattan Murder Mystery/Stardust Memories

Imitation of Life

Miami Vice

Portrait of Jason

As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty

Tina Hassania

Love Streams
Do The Right Thing
The Shining
To Be Or Not To Be
Meshes of the Afternoon
Badlands
His Girl Friday
Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans
You've Got Mail
The Big Lebowski


Roderick Heath

Foolish Wives
The Seventh Victim
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome/Lucifer Rising
Hell To Eternity
The Hustler
Confessions of an Opium Eater
Marnie
The Color Purple
Kundun



Tony G. Huang

They Live By Night
Notorious
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
The Shop Around The Corner
The Last Detail
Rebel Without A Cause
Wind Across The Everglades
To Have and Have Not
Citizen Kane
Days of Heaven

Tucker Johnson

Apocalypse Now

Citizen Kane

There Will Be Blood

The Godfather

Jaws

Dr. Strangelove

Sweet Smell of Success

Pulp Fiction

Fargo

Zodiac

Alan Jones

"As an English-speaking Canadian, I largely absorbed American culture and entertainment as my own while I grew up. But the older I get, the more alien America seems to me, the more I realize that American myths are not my myths, and the more I realize that America (like any other place in the world) is a weird, special place with its own culture and idiosyncrasies, as well as its own demons. So that might be why my favourite "American films" tend to treat America as a strange and unique place rather than succumbing to the horseshit concept of American exceptionalism or attempting to universalize the American experience. To be honest, there are probably American productions I prefer to some of the movies below, but to me the words "American film" suggest a certain preoccupation with "America," so that's how I've written this list (sorry, Hitch!). Also, I like movies about teens."

Apocalypse Now
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Beach Blanket Bingo
The Breakfast Club
Chinatown
Do the Right Thing
Once Upon a Time in America
The Last Picture Show
Rebel Without a Cause
The Straight Story

Dan Khan

Dr. Strangelove

Casablanca

The Lady From Shanghai

Killing of a Chinese Bookie

Pulp Fiction

The Searchers

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Tree of Life

Bringing Up Baby

Down By Law

Danny King

Chilly Scenes of Winter
Cop
Fat City
Heaven’s Gate
Keane
Losing Ground
My Son John
The New Centurions
Pride of the Marines
Two Lovers


Ryland Walker Knight

The Awful Truth
His Girl Friday
The Birds
Wanda
Two-Lane Blacktop
A New Leaf
Bless Their Little Hearts
Love Streams
Inland Empire
The Master


Zach Lewis

Dr. Strangelove
Young Mr. Lincoln
North on Evers
Sunrise
The Black Book
Kiss Me Deadly
The Clock
The Addiction
Nothing But A Man
The Lusty Men




Mark Lukenbill

Two Lane Blacktop
Killer of Sheep
All that Heaven Allows
Sullivan's Travels
Paper Moon
The Night of the Hunter
The Long Goodbye
Mikey and Nicky
Elephant
Two Lovers


Noah Adrian Lyons

Sunset Blvd
Mulholland Dr.
Citizen Kane
2001: A Space Odyssey
Psycho
Meshes of the Afternoon
Do the Right Thing
Annie Hall
Taxi Driver
Lost in Translation




Lucas Mangum

Alien/Clockwork Orange
American Beauty
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
O, Brother Where Art Thou?
Big Trouble In Little China
Jaws
Terminator 2
Blade Runner



Calum Marsh

To Be or Not to Be
Ruggles of Red Gap
The Thin Man
The Palm Beach Story
Ball of Fire
Bitter Victory
Los Angeles Plays Itself
The Sweet Smell of Success
California Split
Ms. 45
Phantom 11: Barry Lyndon


Jake Mulligan

The Age of Innocence
The Best Years of Our Lives
Blow Out
It's Always Fair Weather
Jungle Fever
Monkey Business
Patty Hearst
Rolling Thunder
Unfaithfully Yours
You Only Live Once


Vikram Murthi

Double Indemnity
Night of the Hunter
Taxi Driver
2001: A Space Odyssey
Chinatown
Blue Collar
Something Wild
Blue Velvet
Pulp Fiction
Zodiac



Nick Newman

City Girl
You Only Live Once
Bigger Than Life
Rio Bravo
Nothing But a Man
Zapruder Film of the Kennedy Assassination
Days of Heaven
After Hours
Pulp Fiction
Inland Empire


Max B. O'Connell

Raging Bull
Vertigo
Manhattan
E.T.
Citizen Kane
On The Waterfront
There Will Be Blood
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Lady Eve
City Lights




John M. Oursler

Imitation of Life
King of Comedy
Nashville
The Exorcist
Opening Night
Safe
Mulholland Dr.
Cabaret
The Master
All About Eve



Michael Pattison

The French Connection
Singin' In The Rain
Deseret
Chinatown
North By Northwest
Rope
Southern Comfort
Blue Velvet
Die Hard
Heat


Cain Rodriguez

"I made this list to be representative of the American cinematic culture/landscape so I limited this list to American-directed films. These are films I love but not necessarily my favorites, this is a list I would give to someone who wanted to understand American culture"

The Godfather
12 Angry Men
All The President's Men
The Killing
Days of Heaven
Die Hard
Raising Arizona
Boogie Nights
Halloween



Bill Ryan

Targets
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
The Exorcist
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Glengarry Glen Ross
Some Came Running
A Serious Man
In Harm's Way
This is Spinal Tap
The Shooting


Kristen Sales

The General
Young Mr. Lincoln
Citizen Kane
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Imitation of Life
The Wild Bunch
The Godfather
Nashville
Days of Heaven
Do The Right Thing


Michael Sicinski

Mothlight
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
2001: A Space Odyssey
Vertigo
What The Water Said Nos. 4-6
Imitation of Life
Kiss Me Deadly
Do The Right Thing
Side/Walk/Shuttle
Killer of Sheep




Michelle Siracusa

3:10 To Yuma
The New World
Sorcerer
Near Dark
Moonrise Kingdom
Hugo
The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Rosemary's Baby
West Side Story
Wall*E


Andrew Skelton

The Gold Rush
My Darling Clementine
Only Angels Have Wings
Fury
In A Lonely Place
The Heartbreak Kid
Targets
Pickup on South Street
Singin' in the Rain
Safe



Justine A. Smith

Catch-22
The Awful Truth
Laura
Lost Highway
Eyes Wide Shut
Cluny Brown
Baby Doll
Some Like It Hot
The Searchers
Window Water Baby Moving




Colin Stacy

City Lights
Trouble in Paradise
The Apartment 
The Birds
His Girl Friday
Chinatown
Grey Gardens
Killer of Sheep
Eraserhead
Boogie Nights



Andreas Stoehr

The Big Parade 
The Scarlet Empress 
Bride of Frankenstein 
Meshes of the Afternoon 
Johnny Guitar 
All That Heaven Allows 
All My Life 
Nashville 
RoboCop 
Mulholland Dr. 




Tanner Tafelski

Bad Lieutenant 
How Green Was My Valley 
Notorious 
Dead Man 
The Thin Red Line 
Eraserhead 
3:10 to Yuma 
Naked Lunch 
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie 
Landscape Suicide




Scout Tafoya

The New World
Punishment Park
Man In The Wilderness/The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Leviathan
Killer of Sheep
Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia
Dawn of the Dead
Morocco
Love Streams
North By Northwest




Brian Tallerico

The Gold Rush
Fargo
Jaws
Zodiac
Night of the Hunter
The Searchers
Singin' in the Rain
Touch of Evil
The Tree of Life
Vertigo




Irina Trocan

The Long Goodbye
Anatomy of a Murder
High School
Rio Bravo
Sunset Boulevard
High Plains Drifter
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Design for Living
Stemple Pass
David Holzman’s Diary
Phantom 11. Barry Lyndon


Kyle Turner

Bringing Up Baby
Angels in America
Clue
Stranger Than Fiction
Paper Moon
The Silence of the Lambs
Mildred Pierce 
Design for Living
Fantasia
Frances Ha




Sean Van Deuren

My Dinner With Andre
Frances Ha
Badlands
Zodiac
Hannah and Her Sisters
All The President’s Men
Eyes Wide Shut
Singing In The Rain
Raging Bull
Punch-Drunk Love



Neil Young

American Graffiti 
Punch-Drunk Love
The Fog
Nashville
Casting A Glance
The Long Goodbye
Don't Look Back
The Elephant Man
Badlands
The Game