I wanted to celebrate the American semiquincentennial in some way, but it was too hot to go out for fireworks, so I watched all twenty of my still-unseen movies on Jonathan Rosenbaum’s 1998 list of American movies, from his “List-o-Mania” response to the AFI 100 list. Rosenbaum’s lists and writings have been as important to my movie hobby as Cinema Scope has. Discovering this article online in 2000 or 2001 was especially eye-opening, realizing that you could just put Dead Man on a list of greatest films instead of Star Wars. Of course my reaction was to watch everything Rosenbaum says is good, and I’ve slowly chipped away at his top-1000 from the Essential Cinema book while also chipping away at a hundred lists from other sources, and catching up with films from favorite directors and stars and companies, trying to keep up with new releases and reissues, and so on. One of these days I’ll run out of good movies, but for now here’s my vaguely-tier-ranked roundup of Rosenbaum’s Alternate 100.

“Selecting America’s 100 greatest movies has to be an ongoing, perpetual activity of exploration and discovery — something that can only happen if we stop to consider what we still don’t know about the subject and try to set up some channels for educating ourselves.”

–
Dead Man (1995)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Eraserhead (1978)
The Killing (1956)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Sunrise (1927)

–
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Bigger Than Life (1956)
Freaks (1932)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Greed (1925)
The Lady From Shanghai (1948)
Love Streams (1984)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Point Blank (1967)
Rio Bravo (1959)
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Sherlock Jr. (1924)
The Steel Helmet (1951)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Woodstock (1970)

–
An Affair to Remember (1957)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
The Crowd (1928)
Foolish Wives (1922)
The General (1927)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
Judge Priest (1934)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
Park Row (1952)
The Seventh Victim (1943)
Stars in My Crown (1950)
To Sleep With Anger (1990)

–
Ace in the Hole (1951)
The Big Sky (1952)
The Black Cat (1934)
Christmas in July (1940)
The Docks of New York (1928)
Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1974)
11 x 14 (1976)
Force of Evil (1948)
Gilda (1946)
Housekeeping (1987)
Killer of Sheep (1978)
The Ladies’ Man (1961)
Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
Lonesome (1929)
Man’s Castle (1933)
The Naked Spur (1953)
Nanook of the North (1922)
The Nutty Professor (1963)
Panic in the Streets (1950)
The Phenix City Story (1955)
The Shooting (1967)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
The Tarnished Angels (1958)
That’s Entertainment! III (1994)
This Land Is Mine (1943)
Thunderbolt (1929)
Wanda (1971)
While the City Sleeps (1956)
Zabriskie Point (1970)

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Cat People (1942)
Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962)
Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (1933)
The Hustler (1961)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Laughter (1930)
Love Me Tonight (1932)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971)
Scarface (1932)
Scenes From Under Childhood (1967)
The Scenic Route (1978)
Shadows (1960)
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)

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Avanti! (1972)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Great Garrick (1937)
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Last Chants for a Slow Dance (1977)
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
My Son John (1952)
Real Life (1979)
Track of the Cat (1954)

–
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
Intolerance (1916)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Tom Tom the Piper’s Son (1969)
Try and Get Me! (1950)
The Wrong Man (1957)
Vinyl (1965)