AFI's 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time, 26 - 50

26. 
    

    Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939 Washington's youngest senator exposes corruption in high places, almost at the cost of his career. ( back to top )

27. 
    

    High Noon, 1952 The classic tale of a lawman who stands alone to defend a town of cowardly citizens against a gang of revenge-seeking criminals. In the greatest showdown in the history of cinema, the lawman stands to lose not only the town but his new wife. ( back to top )

28. 
    

    All About Eve, 1950 Comedy showing the rise to fame of a ruthless and ambitious young actress. ( back to top )

29. 
    

    Double Indemnity, 1944 An insurance man and a suburban wife conspire to trick her husband into signing a policy that pays double for accidental death-- then push him from a train. It's an almost perfect crime. ( back to top )

30. 
    

    Apocalypse Now, 1979 A United States Army officer/trained assassin is sent into the depths of a southeast Asian jungle to seek out a renegade colonel and terminate his command during the Vietnam War. ( back to top )

31. 
    

    The Maltese Falcon, 1941 After the death of his partner, private eye Sam Spade is dragged into a quest for a priceless statuette. ( back to top )

32. 
    

    The Godfather Part II, 1974 The saga of the Corleone family's rise to power in the criminal world continues in this sequel to The Godfather. As Michael Corleone rises to leadership of the family, flashbacks revealing the early years of Don Vito are interspersed with the continuing story of the embattled family. ( back to top )

33. 
    

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1975 The story of a man whose rebelliousness pits him against the head nurse of a mental ward and the full spectrum of institutional repression. ( back to top )

34. 
    

    Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937 Fairy tale story of Snow White and the adventures she has with the seven dwarfs, the prince, and the evil queen. ( back to top )

35. 
    

    Annie Hall, 1977 Woody Allen's semiautobiographical portrait of his amorous, but ultimately mismatched, relationship with co-star Diane Keaton. Allen uses satire and comedy to portray this "nervous romance" for modern times. ( back to top )

36. 
    

    The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957 British soldiers captured by the Japanese during World War II are forced to construct a strategic railroad bridge which a commando team is instructed by the British High Command to destroy. ( back to top )

37. 
    

    The Best Years of Our Lives, 1946 Recounts the problems faced by three returning veterans after WWII as they attempt to pick up the threads of their lives. ( back to top )

38. 
    

    The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948 Two down-and-out Americans in Mexico meet a grizzled old prospector who piques their interest with stories of his gold-mining experiences. The Americans gather a stake and set off with the old prospector in search of fortune, but greed and suspicion surround their venture in a terrifying way. ( back to top )

39. 
    

    Dr. Strangelove, 1964 A satire in which the U.S. president and his military advisors struggle ineptly to avert a holocaust after a psychotic Air Force general launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union because he fears that the Russians are poisoning the water supply in the United States. ( back to top )

40. 
    

    The Sound of Music, 1965 Julie Andrews lights up the screen as Maria, the spirited young woman who leaves the convent to become a governess to the seven young children of Captain von Trapp, an autocratic widower whose strict household rules leave no room for music or merriment. ( back to top )

41. 
    

    King Kong, 1933 Adventure story of the giant ape King Kong, discovered on Skull Island, his voyage to New York and his fatal attraction to a young woman, leading to death and destruction as he pursues her. ( back to top )

42. 
    

    Bonnie and Clyde, 1967 A mixture of comedy and brutal violence, this film is based on the exploits of the notorious American outlaws of the 1930's, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. ( back to top )

43. 
    

    Midnight Cowboy, 1969 A Texas "cowboy" takes a bus to New York in search of lonely, rich women who will pay for his sexual services, but spends a hard winter helping a con man. ( back to top )

44. 
    

    The Philadelphia Story, 1940 A sophisticated romantic comedy about a rich, spoiled socialite who learns some things about who she is and what she really wants on the eve of her second marriage. ( back to top )

45. 
    

    Shane, 1953 A drifter and retired gunfighter assists a homestead family terrorized by an aging cattleman and his hired gun. ( back to top )

46. 
    

    It Happened One Night, 1934 A rich young woman marries an idle playboy against her father's will. Her father holds her captive on his yacht but she escapes and, while on her way to New York, becomes entangled with an unemployed news reporter. ( back to top )

47. 
    

    A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951 The story of a repressed widow who visits her sister in New Orleans and is abused and eventually driven mad by her brother-in-law. ( back to top )

48. 
    

    Rear Window, 1954 As a photographer with a broken leg, James Stewart takes up the fine art of spying on his Greenwich Village neighbors during a summer heat wave. Things really begin to get hot when he suspects a salesman may have murdered his nagging wife and buried the body in a flower garden. ( back to top )

49. 
    

    Intolerance, 1916 Interweaves four stories from Babylonian times to the twentieth century to show humanity's inhumanity and intolerance through the ages. ( back to top )

50. 
    

    The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 2001 In this first of a trilogy, young Hobbit Frodo and his companions begin a perilous journey across Middle Earth to cast the One Ring of the Dark Lord Sauron into the fires from which it was forged. ( back to top )

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