American Film Institute’s
100 Years . . . 100 Laughs
The American Film Institute (AFI) celebrated the centennial of cinema by airing a number of television specials, each honoring a different aspect of excellence in American film. On June 13, 2000 AFI broadcast a program entitled “100 Years . . . 100 Laughs—America’s Funniest Movies.”
To determine the winners, AFI invited more than 1,500 leaders from across the American film community—screenwriters, directors, actors, producers, cinematographers, editors, executives, film historians and critics, among them—to choose from a list of nominated films compiled by AFI. The selected films (and their ranking) are listed below.
The
symbol appears next to those films which also received an Academy Award nomination (although this was not a requirement for inclusion on the list). Click on the name of one of those films to display more information about it. You can also click on the IMDb link to to open a new browser window or tabshowing information about the film from the Internet Movie Database. Or, click on a title in the column on the right to display the winners from another AFI program.
For more information, you can follow this link to the American Film Institute’s website.
| 1. | Some Like It Hot (1959) IMDb |
| 2. | Tootsie (1982) IMDb |
| 3. | Dr. Strangelove (1964) IMDb |
| 4. | Annie Hall (1977) IMDb |
 | 5. | Duck Soup (1933) IMDb |
| 6. | Blazing Saddles (1974) IMDb |
| 7. | M*A*S*H (1970) IMDb |
| 8. | It Happened One Night (1934) IMDb |
| 9. | The Graduate (1967) IMDb |
| 10. | Airplane! (1980) IMDb |
| 11. | The Producers (1968) IMDb |
| 12. | A Night at the Opera (1935) IMDb |
| 13. | Young Frankenstein (1974) IMDb |
| 14. | Bringing Up Baby (1938) IMDb |
| 15. | The Philadelphia Story (1940) IMDb |
| 16. | Singin’ in the Rain (1952) IMDb |
| 17. | The Odd Couple (1968) IMDb |
| 18. | The General (1927) IMDb |
| 19. | His Girl Friday (1940) IMDb |
| 20. | The Apartment (1960) IMDb |
| 21. | A Fish Called Wanda (1988) IMDb |
| 22. | Adam’s Rib (1949) IMDb |
| 23. | When Harry Met Sally . . . (1989) IMDb |
| 24. | Born Yesterday (1950) IMDb |
| 25. | The Gold Rush (1925) IMDb |
| 26. | Being There (1979) IMDb |
| 27. | There’s Something About Mary (1998) IMDb |
| 28. | Ghostbusters (1984) IMDb |
| 29. | This Is Spinal Tap (1984) IMDb |
| 30. | Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) IMDb |
| 31. | Raising Arizona (1987) IMDb |
| 32. | The Thin Man (1934) IMDb |
| 33. | Modern Times (1936) IMDb |
| 34. | Groundhog Day (1993) IMDb |
| 35. | Harvey (1950) IMDb |
| 36. | National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) IMDb |
| 37. | The Great Dictator (1940) IMDb |
| 38. | City Lights (1931) IMDb |
| 39. | Sullivan’s Travels (1941) IMDb |
| 40. | It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) IMDb |
| 41. | Moonstruck (1987) IMDb |
| 42. | Big (1988) IMDb |
| 43. | American Graffiti (1973) IMDb |
| 44. | My Man Godfrey (1936) IMDb |
| 45. | Harold and Maude (1972) IMDb |
| 46. | Manhattan (1979) IMDb |
| 47. | Shampoo (1975) IMDb |
| 48. | A Shot in the Dark (1964) IMDb |
| 49. | To Be or Not to Be (1942) IMDb |
| 50. | Cat Ballou (1965) IMDb |
| 51. | The Seven Year Itch (1955) IMDb |
| 52. | Ninotchka (1939) IMDb |
| 53. | Arthur (1981) IMDb |
| 54. | The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) IMDb |
| 55. | The Lady Eve (1941) IMDb |
| 56. | Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) IMDb |
| 57. | Diner (1982) IMDb |
| 58. | It’s a Gift (1934) IMDb |
| 59. | A Day at the Races (1937) IMDb |
| 60. | Topper (1937) IMDb |
| 61. | What’s Up, Doc? (1972) IMDb |
| 62. | Sherlock, Jr. (1924) IMDb |
| 63. | Beverly Hills Cop (1984) IMDb |
| 64. | Broadcast News (1987) IMDb |
| 65. | Horse Feathers (1932) IMDb |
| 66. | Take the Money and Run (1969) IMDb |
| 67. | Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) IMDb |
| 68. | The Awful Truth (1937) IMDb |
| 69. | Bananas (1971) IMDb |
| 70. | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) IMDb |
| 71. | Caddyshack (1980) IMDb |
| 72. | Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) IMDb |
| 73. | Monkey Business (1931) IMDb |
| 74. | 9 to 5 (1980) IMDb |
| 75. | She Done Him Wrong (1933) IMDb |
| 76. | Victor/Victoria (1982) IMDb |
| 77. | The Palm Beach Story (1942) IMDb |
| 78. | Road to Morocco (1942) IMDb |
| 79. | The Freshman (1925) IMDb |
| 80. | Sleeper (1973) IMDb |
| 81. | The Navigator (1924) IMDb |
| 82. | Private Benjamin (1980) IMDb |
| 83. | Father of the Bride (1950) IMDb |
| 84. | Lost in America (1985) IMDb |
| 85. | Dinner at Eight (1933) IMDb |
| 86. | City Slickers (1991) IMDb |
| 87. | Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) IMDb |
| 88. | Beetlejuice (1988) IMDb |
| 89. | The Jerk (1979) IMDb |
| 90. | Woman of the Year (1942) IMDb |
| 91. | The Heartbreak Kid (1972) IMDb |
| 92. | Ball of Fire (1941) IMDb |
| 93. | Fargo (1996) IMDb |
| 94. | Auntie Mame (1958) IMDb |
| 95. | Silver Streak (1976) IMDb |
| 96. | Sons of the Desert (1933) IMDb |
| 97. | Bull Durham (1988) IMDb |
| 98. | The Court Jester (1956) IMDb |
| 99. | The Nutty Professor (1963) IMDb |
| 100. | Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) IMDb |