ALTERNATE ESSENTIALS OF AMERICAN CINEMA -- Introduction

ALTERNATE ESSENTIALS of AMERICAN CINEMA
by A2P Cinema

The recent 10th Anniversary of the AFI 100 Greatest Films has inspired me to revisit some of the many classics of American cinema. In doing so, I generated this list of ‘Alternate Essentials’, which are films that did not make the AFI list, but are to me essential films of American history. Many of these films are well known, some less then others, but ultimately each of these films are vital masterworks of American film.

This ‘alternate’ list is just that, an alternate list of films that did not make the AFI’s 100 Greatest Films, but should still be considered required viewing. These are not the ONLY essential films of American film, but rather a select few that were forgotten by the AFI list.

Obviously there are some films missing from this list (some of which I probably have yet to see), but here are A2P Cinema’s ‘ALTERNATE ESSENTIALS OF AMERICAN CINEMA’ (listed in reverse chronological order):