The Simpsons vs AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies • Episode 50 Special
Adam and Nate celebrate their 50th episode by breaking down AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies list through the lens of The Simpsons. If we reorder these 100 movies by how many times they were referenced on The Simpsons, can we create a different canon of American film?
Also in this episode:
What are the canonical films that The Simpsons never parodied in the classic years?
The time capsule that is the “100 Years… 100 Movies” TV special
Does The Simpsons parody movies because they’re influential, or are these movies influential because they’re parodied on The Simpsons?
Trivia and favorite moments from the last three years of the podcast
Next time, film critic Norm Wilner joins the podcast to kick off our spooky season with I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and “Treehouse of Horror X” (S11E4).
For more Simpsons movie parody content, follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network.
A New List: AFI’s 100 Movies on The Simpsons
Inspired by Adam’s love of the AFI TV specials and Nate’s love for the early days of the Unspooled podcast, we conducted an experiment using the 1998 edition of AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies list:
We took AFI’s 100 canonical American films and reordered them based on the total number of confirmed references each film has in the first 13 seasons of The Simpsons.*
Comparing the lists side by side, you can see which films moved up or down the most, as well as which ones were never referenced by The Simpsons at all. What do you think this Simpsonized list of the AFI 100 says about the canon of American film? Which list do you think got the canon right?
AFI’s 100 Movies on The Simpsons
The Wizard of Oz (1939) +5
Star Wars (1977) +13
Psycho (1960) +15
Frankenstein (1931) +83
Citizen Kane (1941) -4
Jaws (1975) +42
The Godfather (1972) -4
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) +14
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) +2
The Godfather: Part II (1974) +22
King Kong (1933) +32
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) +48
Gone with the Wind (1939) -10
Dr. Strangelove (1964) +11
The Graduate (1967) -9
Apocalypse Now (1979) +11
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) +7
North by Northwest (1959) +21
Ben-Hur (1959) +52
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) +7
A Clockwork Orange (1971) +25
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) +43
The French Connection (1971) +47
Vertigo (1958) +37
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) +24
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) +38
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) +32
Pulp Fiction (1994) +67
Casablanca (1942) -27
The Maltese Falcon (1941) -7
Patton (1970) +58
Singin' in the Rain (1952) -22
Goodfellas (1990) +61
Rocky (1976) +44
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) +10
American Graffiti (1973) +41
The Sound of Music (1965) +18
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) -8
Fantasia (1940) +19
The Gold Rush (1925) +34
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) -12
From Here to Eternity (1953) +10
Raging Bull (1980) -19
Forrest Gump (1994) +26
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) +6
My Fair Lady (1964) +44
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) -41
Chinatown (1974) -29
West Side Story (1961) -9
Midnight Cowboy (1969) -13
The Deer Hunter (1978) +27
High Noon (1952) -18
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) -32
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) -27
Dances with Wolves (1990) +20
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) -22
Tootsie (1982) +5
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) +7
Taxi Driver (1976) -12
Rear Window (1954) -16
Schindler's List (1993) -52
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) +34
The Wild Bunch (1969) +16
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) +34
Double Indemnity (1944) -24
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) -9
M*A*S*H (1970) OFF
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) OFF
Easy Rider (1969) OFF
Annie Hall (1977) OFF
The Third Man (1949) OFF
Fargo (1996) OFF
On the Waterfront (1954) OFF
Sunset Boulevard (1950) OFF
Some Like It Hot (1959) OFF
All About Eve (1950) OFF
The African Queen (1951) OFF
It Happened One Night (1934) OFF
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) OFF
Dr. Zhivago (1965) OFF
The Birth of a Nation (1915) OFF
The Philadelphia Story (1940) OFF
Amadeus (1984) OFF
Stagecoach (1939) OFF
Network (1976) OFF
An American in Paris (1951) OFF
Shane (1953) OFF
Wuthering Heights (1939) OFF
City Lights (1931) OFF
Modern Times (1936) OFF
Giant (1956) OFF
Platoon (1986) OFF
Duck Soup (1933) OFF
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) OFF
The Jazz Singer (1927) OFF
A Place in the Sun (1951) OFF
The Apartment (1960) OFF
The Searchers (1956) OFF
Bringing Up Baby (1938) OFF
Unforgiven (1992) OFF
AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies (1998)
Citizen Kane (1941) -4
Casablanca (1942) -27
The Godfather (1972) -4
Gone with the Wind (1939) -10
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) -41
The Wizard of Oz (1939) +5
The Graduate (1967) -9
On the Waterfront (1954) OFF
Schindler's List (1993) -52
Singin' in the Rain (1952) -22
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) +2
Sunset Boulevard (1950) OFF
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) OFF
Some Like It Hot (1959) OFF
Star Wars (1977) +13
All About Eve (1950) OFF
The African Queen (1951) OFF
Psycho (1960) +15
Chinatown (1974) -29
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) +7
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) -32
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) +14
The Maltese Falcon (1941) -7
Raging Bull (1980) -19
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) +7
Dr. Strangelove (1964) +11
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) -27
Apocalypse Now (1979) +11
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) -12
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) -8
Annie Hall (1977) OFF
The Godfather: Part II (1974) +22
High Noon (1952) -18
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) -22
It Happened One Night (1934) OFF
Midnight Cowboy (1969) -13
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) OFF
Double Indemnity (1944) -24
Dr. Zhivago (1965) OFF
North by Northwest (1959) +21
West Side Story (1961) -9
Rear Window (1954) -16
King Kong (1933) +32
The Birth of a Nation (1915) OFF
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) +10
A Clockwork Orange (1971) +25
Taxi Driver (1976) -12
Jaws (1975) +42
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) +24
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) +6
The Philadelphia Story (1940) OFF
From Here to Eternity (1953) +10
Amadeus (1984) OFF
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) -9
The Sound of Music (1965) +18
M*A*S*H (1970) OFF
The Third Man (1949) OFF
Fantasia (1940) +19
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) +32
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) +48
Vertigo (1958) +37
Tootsie (1982) +5
Stagecoach (1939) OFF
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) +38
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) +43
Network (1976) OFF
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) +7
An American in Paris (1951) OFF
Shane (1953) OFF
The French Connection (1971) +47
Forrest Gump (1994) +26
Ben-Hur (1959) +52
Wuthering Heights (1939) OFF
The Gold Rush (1925) +34
Dances with Wolves (1990) +20
City Lights (1931) OFF
American Graffiti (1973) +41
Rocky (1976) +44
The Deer Hunter (1978) +27
The Wild Bunch (1969) +16
Modern Times (1936) OFF
Giant (1956) OFF
Platoon (1986) OFF
Fargo (1996) OFF
Duck Soup (1933) OFF
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) OFF
Frankenstein (1931) +83
Easy Rider (1969) OFF
Patton (1970) +58
The Jazz Singer (1927) OFF
My Fair Lady (1964) +44
A Place in the Sun (1951) OFF
The Apartment (1960) OFF
Goodfellas (1990) +61
Pulp Fiction (1994) +67
The Searchers (1956) OFF
Bringing Up Baby (1938) OFF
Unforgiven (1992) OFF
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) +34
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) +34
*In any case where a movie has the same number of total references, we broke the tie by giving more points for major references. For the films that were never referenced, we put them at the bottom of the list in the order they originally appears on the AFI 100.
