31. THE MALTESE FALCON (1997 Rank: 23)
Warner Bros., 1941 PRINCIPAL CAST Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre
DIRECTOR John Huston
PRODUCERS Hal B. Wallis, Henry Blanke
SCREENWRITER John Huston Bogart’s Sam Spade is the detective whose partner is murdered. The cops are after him and he’s after the woman who hired his partner, which leads them to Greenstreet and Lorre, who are all after a priceless statuette. Bogart suggested the take on Shakespeare: “The, uh, stuff that dreams are made of.”
 32. THE GODFATHER, PART II (1997 Rank: 32)
Paramount, 1974 PRINCIPAL CAST Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire
DIRECTOR Francis Ford Coppola
PRODUCER Francis Ford Coppola
SCREENWRITERS Francis Ford Coppola, Mario Puzo This sequel to THE GODFATHER shows us the world of the Corleones before and after the events shown in the first film, with new godfather Michael struggling to bring his family into the modern age. In the film’s extended flashback sequences, DeNiro is the young Vito as he gains power in the New York City mafia.
 33. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1997 Rank: 20)
United Artists, 1975 PRINCIPAL CAST Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher
DIRECTOR Milos Forman
PRODUCERS Saul Zaentz, Michael Douglas
SCREENWRITERS Bo Goldman, Lawrence Hauben Nicholson is a troublemaker committed to a mental institution who sparks new life in the downtrodden inmates, living them purpose and self-worth. His war on the system is fought at every step by Fletcher’s Nurse Ratched.
 34. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1997 Rank: 49)
Disney, 1937 PRINCIPAL CAST Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Moroni Olsen, Harry Stockwell, Billy Gilbert (voices)DIRECTOR David Hand
PRODUCER Walt Disney
SCREENWRITERS Ted Sears, Richard Creedon, Otto Englander, Dick Richard, Earl Hurd, Merrill De Maris, Dorothy Ann Blank, Webb Smith Disney’s first full-length animated feature still resonates with audiences young and old as the beautiful young princess is saved from the wicked queen by the dwarfs who whistle while they work.
35. ANNIE HALL (1997 Rank: 31)
United Artists, 1977 PRINCIPAL CAST Woody Allen, Diane Keaton
DIRECTOR Woody Allen
PRODUCER Charles H. Joffe
SCREENWRITERS Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman Alvy Singer has more hang-ups than most neurotic New Yorkers. When he meets his polar opposite, the dingy Annie Hall (“La-di-da, la-di-da”), the die-hard city dweller winds up in a foreign country called Los Angeles! This comedy also launched a women’s fashion trend on Annie Hall’s “look.”
36. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1997 Rank: 13)
Columbia, 1957 PRINCIPAL CAST William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness, Sessue Hayakawa
DIRECTOR David Lean
PRODUCER Sam Spiegel
SCREENWRITERS Pierre Boulle (Carl Foreman, Michael Wilson) Guinness is the rigid British officer who refuses to bow to torture in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. Holden is an American who escapes from the camp, then must return to sabotage the bridge being constructed to perfection by POWs, now inspired by Guinness’ command! “Madness! Madness!”
 37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1997 Rank: 37)
RKO, 1946 PRINCIPAL CAST Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Teresa Wright, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell
DIRECTOR William Wyler
PRODUCER Samuel Goldwyn
SCREENWRITER Robert E. Sherwood Released immediately after the World War II, Wyler’s story of three men returning from war was the right film at the right time—mirroring the experiences of so many soldiers adjusting to a new life. Russell, a young vet who lost his hands, plays a man trying to figure out if he can pick up the pieces of his old life.
 38. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1997 Rank: 30)
Warner Bros., 1948 PRINCIPAL CAST Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt
DIRECTOR John Huston
PRODUCER Henry Blanke
SCREENWRITER John Huston Huston’s classic tale of greed is both an adventure and Western. Three mismatched prospectors rummage the hills of Tampico, Mexico, for that elusive pot of gold. Once they strike it rich, suspicion takes over and destroys their lives. The writer/director gave his father one of his best parts on film.
39. DR. STRANGELOVE (1997 Rank: 26)
Columbia, 1964 PRINCIPAL CAST Peter Sellers, George C. Scott
DIRECTOR Stanley Kubrick
PRODUCER Stanley Kubrick
SCREENWRITERS Peter George, Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern Kubrick’s black comedy focuses on an American president, played by Sellers in one of his three roles, who must contend with a Soviet nuclear attack on the United States and his own maniacal staff.
40. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1997 Rank: 55)
Twentieth Century-Fox, 1965 PRINCIPAL CAST Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Peggy Wood
DIRECTOR Robert Wise
PRODUCER Robert Wise
SCREENWRITER Ernest Lehman Andrews is Maria, a nun who becomes governess to the Von Trapp family in this film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical. Maria falls in love with the children and their handsome widowed father just as Austria is being annexed by the Nazis.
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