July 9, 2001
100 Most Spine Tingling Thrillers Featured in Films & Recordings Department at Main Library Downtown
The American Film Institute (AFI) recently named its “100 Years, 100 Thrills” list of the most spine tingling films in the English language. The Main Library’s Films & Recordings Department has nearly all of the films, which can be borrowed with a Library card for two days.
Department Manager Robert Hudzik said that of the 100 films named by the Institute, the Films & Recordings Department has 99 in its collection, on DVD or videocassette. “Many of our branches also have copies for checkout,” said Mr. Hudzik.
The American Film Institute is a national organization dedicated to advancing and preserving the art of film, television, and other forms of moving image. AFI historians compiled a ballet of 400 titles, with final votes cast by 1,800 filmmakers, special effects experts, scholars, and critics.
Most of the films are from the past 30 years, with only a few from the 1920s and 1930s. The oldest film is a silent Harold Lloyd classic, Safety Last, while the newest is 199’s The Matrix
For additional information call the Films & Recordings Department at 369-6924.
1. Psycho (1960)*
2. Jaws (1975)*
3. The Exorcist (1973)
4. North By Northwest (1959)*
5. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)*
6. Alien (1979)
7. The Birds (1963)
8. The French Connection (1971)*
9. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
10. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)*
11. The Godfather (1972)*
12. King Kong (1933)*
13. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)*
14. Rear Window (1954)*
15. Deliverance (1972)
16. Chinatown (1974)*
17. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)*
18. Vertigo (1958)*
19. The Great Escape (1963)
20. High Noon (1952)*
21. A Clockwork Orange (1971)*
22. Taxi Driver (1976)*
23. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)*
24. Double Indemnity (1944)*
25. Titanic (1997)
26. The Maltese Falcon (1941)*
27. Star Wars (1977)*
28. Fatal Attraction (1987)
29. The Shining (1980)
30. The Deer Hunter (1978)*
31. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)*
32. Strangers on a Train (1951)
33. The Fugitive (1993)
34. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
35. Jurassic Park (1993)
36. Bullitt (1968)
37. Casablanca (1942)*
38. Notorious (1946)
39. Die Hard (1988)
40. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)*
41. Dirty Harry (1971)
42. The Terminator (1984)
43. The Wizard of Oz (1939)*
44. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)*
45. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
46. Carrie (1976)
47. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
48. Dial M for Murder (1954)
49. Ben-Hur (1959)*
50. Marathon Man (1976)
51. Raging Bull (1980)*
52. Rocky (1976)*
53. Pulp Fiction (1994)*
54. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)*
55. Wait Until Dark (1967)
56. Frankenstein (1931)*
57. All the President's Men (1976)
58. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)*
59. Planet of the Apes (1968)
60. The Sixth Sense (1999)
61. Cape Fear (1962)
62. Spartacus (1960)
63. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
64. Touch of Evil (1958)
65. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
66. The Matrix (1999)
67. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)*
68. Halloween (1978)
69. The Wild Bunch (1969)*
70. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
71. Goldfinger (1964)
72. Platoon (1986)*
73. Laura (1944)
74. Blade Runner (1982)
75. The Third Man (1949)*
76. Thelma & Louise (1991)
77. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
78. Gaslight (1944)
79. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
80. Rebecca (1940)
81. The Omen (1976)
82. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
83. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
84. Poltergeist (1982)
85. Dracula (1931)
86. The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
87. The Thing From Another World (1951)
88. 12 Angry Men (1957)
89. The Guns of Navarone (1961)
90. The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
91. Braveheart (1995)
92. Body Heat (1981)
93. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
94. The China Syndrome (1979)
95. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
96. Blue Velvet (1986)
97. Safety Last (1923)
98. Blood Simple (1984)
99. Speed (1994)
100. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
* Also on the AFI list of top 100 films.