LOS ANGELES (American Film
Institute press release) - The American Film
Institute (AFI) revealed the top movie songs of all time in AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Songs three-hour special television event hosted by John Travolta.
Having contributed to the list himself-his dance moves helped SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER'S Stayin' Alive disco its way into a Top 10 spot and he made his own way onto the final list with his performance of GREASE'S Summer Nights - Travolta was a natural representative for 100 years of American movie music.
In the venerated No 1 spot was Judy Garland's soulful and iconic rendition of Over the Rainbow from the beloved family classic, THE WIZARD OF OZ. Nabbing the rest of the top spots were classics of every kind-from timeless favorites of yesteryear to contemporary tunes-including As Time Goes By (CASABLANCA), Singin' In The Rain (SINGIN' IN THE RAIN), Moon River (BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S), White Christmas (HOLIDAY INN/WHITE CHRISTMAS), Mrs. Robinson (THE GRADUATE), When You Wish Upon a Star (PINOCCHIO), The Way We Were (THE WAY WE WERE), Stayin' Alive (SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER) and The Sound of Music (THE SOUND OF MUSIC).
AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Songs, the honorees are:
1 Over the Rainbow - WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
2 As Time Goes By - CASABLANCA (1942)
3 Singin' in the Rain - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
4 Moon River - BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961)
5 White Christmas - HOLIDAY INN (1942)
6 Mrs. Robinson - GRADUATE (1967)
7 When You Wish Upon A Star - PINOCCHIO (1940)
8 Way We Were - THE WAY WE WERE (1973)
9 Stayin' Alive - SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
10 Sound of Music - SOUND OF MUSIC(1965)
11 Man That Got Away - A STAR IS BORN (1954)
12 Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend - GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953)
13 People - FUNNY GIRL (1968)
14 My Heart Will Go On - TITANIC (1997)
15 Cheek to Cheek - TOP HAT (1935)
16 Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star is Born) - A STAR IS BORN (1976)
17 I Could Have Danced All Night - MY FAIR LADY (1964)
18 Cabaret - CABARET (1972)
19 Some Day My Prince Will Come - SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
20 Somewhere - WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
21 Jailhouse Rock - JAILHOUSE ROCK (1957)
22 Everybody's Talkin' - MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
23 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head - BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
24 Ol' Man River - SHOW BOAT (1936)
25 High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin) - HIGH NOON (1952)
26 Trolley Song - MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944)
27 Unchained Melody - GHOST (1990)
28 Some Enchanted Evening - SOUTH PACIFIC (1958)
29 Born To Be Wild - EASY RIDER (1969)
30 Stormy Weather - STORMY WEATHER (1943)
31 Theme from New York, New York - NEW YORK, NEW YORK (1977)
32 I Got Rhythm - AMERICAN IN PARIS, AN (1951)
33 Aquarius - HAIR (1979)
34 Let's Call the Whole Thing Off - SHALL WE DANCE (1937)
35 America - WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
36 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - MARY POPPINS (1964)
37 Swinging on a Star - GOING MY WAY (1944)
38 Theme from Shaft - SHAFT (1971)
39 Days of Wine and Roses - DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES (1963)
40 Fight the Power - DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)
41 New York, New York - ON THE TOWN (1949)
42 Luck Be A Lady - GUYS AND DOLLS (1955)
43 Way You Look Tonight - SWING TIME (1936)
44 Wind Beneath My Wings - BEACHES (1988)
45 That's Entertainment - BAND WAGON (1953)
46 Don't Rain On My Parade - FUNNY GIRL (1968)
47 Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah - SONG OF THE SOUTH (1947)
48 Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera) - THE MAN WHO KNEW (TOO MUCH) (1956)
49 Make 'Em Laugh - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
50 Rock Around the Clock - BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (1955)
51 Fame - FAME (1980)
52 Summertime - PORGY AND BESS (1959)
53 Goldfinger - GOLDFINGER (1964)
54 Shall We Dance - KING AND I (1956)
55 Flashdance... What a Feeling - FLASHDANCE (1983)
56 Thank Heaven for Little Girls - GIGI (1958)
57 Windmills of Your Mind THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968)
58 Gonna Fly Now - ROCKY (1976)
59 Tonight - WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
60 It Had to Be You - WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989)
61 Get Happy - SUMMER STOCK (1950)
62 Beauty and the Beast - BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)
63 Thanks for the Memory - BIG BROADCAST OF (1938, (1938)
64 My Favorite Things - SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
65 I Will Always Love You - BODYGUARD (1992)
66 Suicide is Painless - M*A*S*H (1970)
67 Nobody Does it Better - SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977)
68 Streets of Philadelphia - PHILADELPHIA (1993)
69 On the Good Ship Lollipop - BRIGHT EYES (1934)
70 Summer Nights - GREASE (1978)
71 Yankee Doodle Boy - YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
72 Good Morning - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)
73 Isn't it Romantic? - LOVE ME TONIGHT (1932)
74 Rainbow Connection - MUPPET MOVIE(1979)
75 Up Where We Belong - AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN (1982)
76 Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944)
77 Shadow of Your Smile - SANDPIPER(1965)
78 9 To 5 - 9 TO 5 (1980)
79 Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) - ARTHUR (1981)
80 Springtime for Hitler - PRODUCERS(1968)
81 I'm Easy - NASHVILLE (1975)
82 Ding Dong the Witch is Dead - WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
83 Rose - ROSE (1979)
84 Put the Blame on Mame - GILDA (1946)
85 Come What May - MOULIN ROUGE! (2001)
86 (I've Had) The Time of My Life - DIRTY DANCING (1987)
87 Buttons and Bows - PALEFACE (1948)
88 Do Re Mi - SOUND OF MUSIC(1965)
89 Puttin' on the Ritz - YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974)
90 Seems Like Old Times - ANNIE HALL (1977)
91 Let the River Run - WORKING GIRL (1988)
92 Long Ago and Far Away - COVER GIRL (1944)
93 Lose Yourself - 8 MILE (2002)
94 Ain't Too Proud to Beg - BIG CHILL(1983)
95 (We're Off on the) Road to Morocco - ROAD TO MOROCCO (1942)
96 Footloose - FOOTLOOSE (1984)
97 42nd Street - 42nd STREET (1933)
98 All That Jazz - CHICAGO (2002)
99 Hakuna Matata - LION KING (1994)
100 Old Time Rock and Roll - RISKY BUSINESS (1983)
The Criteria
The jurors were asked to consider the following criteria while making their selections:
* Feature-Length Fiction Film: The film must be in narrative format, typically more than 60 minutes in length.
* American Film: The film must be in the English language with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States.
* Song: Music and lyrics featured in an American film that set a tone or mood, define character, advance plot and/or express the film's themes in a manner that elevates the moving image art form. Songs may have been written and/or recorded specifically for the film or previously written and/or recorded and selected by the filmmaker to achieve the above goals.
* Cultural Impact: Songs that have captured the nation's heart, echoed beyond the walls of a movie theater, and ultimately stand in our collective memory of the film itself.
* Legacy: Songs that resonate across the century, enriching America's film heritage and captivating artists and audiences today.
The special is the seventh installment in AFI's centennial celebration of American cinema, following the six critically-acclaimed network specials-AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies, AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Stars, AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Laughs, AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Thrills, AFI'S 100 YEARS ... 100 Passions and AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes & Villains - which, each year, spark a national discussion of America's film history among movie lovers across the nation. Each year the AFI program has garnered the highest rating for its time slot.
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Songs: America's Greatest Movie Music is distributed by SFM Entertainment, LLC. Among the sponsors of this series are Pepsi, Sony, Johnson & Johnson, Best Buy, Napster, Citibank, General Motors, S.C. Johnson, Gillette, Anheuser-Busch, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and Colgate-Palmolive.
AFI is the preeminent organization dedicated to advancing and preserving the art of film, television and other forms of the moving image. AFI trains the next generation of filmmakers at its world-renowned Conservatory, provides film preservation leadership and explores new digital technologies in moviemaking.
AFI's New Media Ventures programs bring together the creative and digital communities, as it also seeks to develop a literacy program for the 21st century, helping young people learn to read and write screens of all sizes-cinema, television, computer and the Internet.
With AFI ON SCREEN, the institute is the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the US, with programs at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI FEST); the AFI National Film Theater at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC; and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.
A 49,000 square foot complex with three theatres - one historic, two new state-of-the-art stadium-style theatres - the AFI Silver exhibits film and video generally unavailable elsewhere in the region.
AFI's annual almanac for the 21st century, AFI AWARDS, honors the most outstanding motion pictures and television programs of the year.
AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies, 100 Stars, 100 Laughs, 100 Thrills, 100 Passions and 100 Heroes & Villains have ignited extraordinary public interest in classic American movies. During the past 31 years, AFI's Life Achievement Award has become the highest honor for a career in film.
More information about AFI can be found by visiting its Web site, located at https://www.AFI.com.
