National Film Registry

The National Film Registry is a department of the United States Library of Congress designed to preserve American-made films that are "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant". In other words, the films that end up in the NFR are the ones that deserve to live forever according to the US government. This is among the highest honors a movie can receive, much higher than even the Academy Awards (and, believe it or not, less politically meddled with).

Twenty-five movies are selected each year for the Registry. To qualify, an entry must be at least ten years old. Members of the public are allowed to suggest up to 50 titles per year for inclusion. Anyone interested in suggesting some worthy titles can do so here.

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Films in the Registry:

• 1989, the first twenty-five entries
  • Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
  • Nanook of the North (1922)
  • The General (1927)
  • Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
  • The Crowd (1928)
  • Modern Times (1936)
  • Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  • Gone with the Wind (1939)
  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
  • The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  • The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
  • Citizen Kane (1941)
  • The Maltese Falcon (1941)
  • Casablanca (1942)
  • The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
  • Sunset Boulevard (1950)
  • High Noon (1952)
  • Singin in The Rain (1952)
  • On the Waterfront (1954)
  • The Searchers (1956)
  • Vertigo (1958)
  • Some Like It Hot (1959)
  • Dr. Strangelove (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) (1964)
  • The Learning Tree (1969)
  • Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
• 1990
  • The Great Train Robbery (1903)
  • The Freshman (1925)
  • All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
  • Love Me Tonight (1932)
  • Duck Soup (1933)
  • Top Hat (1935)
  • Dodsworth (1936)
  • Bringing Up Baby (1938)
  • The River (1938)
  • Ninotchka (1939)
  • Fantasia (1940)
  • How Green Was My Valley (1941)
  • Sullivans Travels (1941)
  • Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
  • It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
  • Red River (1948)
  • The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
  • All About Eve (1950)
  • Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
  • Primary (1960)
  • The Godfather (1972)
  • A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
  • Harlan County USA (1976)
  • Killer of Sheep (1977)
  • Raging Bull (1980)
• 1991
  • Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
  • The Italian (1915)
  • The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917)
  • Greed (1924)
  • Sherlock Jr (1924)
  • City Lights (1931)
  • Frankenstein (1931)
  • I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
  • Trouble in Paradise (1932)
  • King Kong (1933)
  • The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
  • Tevye (1939)
  • The Blood Of Jesus (1941)
  • The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
  • Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
  • The Battle Of San Pietro (1945)
  • My Darling Clementine (1946)
  • Out Of The Past (1947)
  • A Place In The Sun (1951)
  • Gigi (1958)
  • Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
  • David Holzmans Diary (1968)
  • High School (1969)
  • Chinatown (1974)
• 1992, the year which brought the total to 100
  • The Birth of a Nation (1915)
  • Within Our Gates (1920)
  • The Big Parade (1925)
  • The Gold Rush (1925)
  • Big Business (1929)
  • Morocco (1930)
  • Footlight Parade (1933)
  • The Bank Dick (1940)
  • Double Indemnity (1944)
  • Detour (1945)
  • Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948)
  • Adams Rib (1949)
  • Carmen Jones (1954)
  • Salt Of The Earth (1954)
  • The Night of the Hunter (1955)
  • Paths of Glory (1957)
  • What's Opera Doc (1957)
  • Psycho (1960)
  • Ride the High Country (1962)
  • Dog Star Man (1964)
  • Castro Street (1966)
  • Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
  • Salesman (1969)
  • Nashville (1975)
  • Annie Hall (1977)
• 1993
  • The Cheat (1915)
  • Where Are My Children (1916)
  • The Black Pirate (1926)
  • The Wind (1928)
  • It Happened One Night (1934)
  • A Night at the Opera (1935)
  • March Of Time Inside Nazi Germany (1938)
  • His Girl Friday (1940)
  • Cat People (1942)
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
  • Lassie Come Home (1943)
  • An American in Paris (1951)
  • Magical Maestro (1952)
  • Eaux D Artifice (1953)
  • Shane (1953)
  • Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
  • Touch of Evil (1958)
  • Shadows (1959)
  • Nothing But A Man (1964)
  • Point Of Order (1964)
  • Badlands (1973)
  • The Godfather Part II (1974)
  • One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
  • Chulas Fronteras (1976)
  • Blade Runner (1982)
• 1994
  • A Corner in Wheat (1909)
  • The Exploits Of Elaine (1914)
  • Hells Hinges (1916)
  • Safety Last]] (1923)
  • Tabu (1931)
  • Freaks (1932)
  • Scarface (1932)
  • Snow White (1933)
  • Pinocchio (1940)
  • The Lady Eve (1941)
  • Meet Me in St Louis (1944)
  • Force Of Evil (1948)
  • Louisiana Story (1948)
  • The African Queen (1951)
  • Marty (1955)
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  • A Movie (1958)
  • The Apartment (1960)
  • The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
  • The Cool World (1963)
  • Zapruder Film (1963)
  • Midnight Cowboy (1969)
  • Hospital (1970)
  • Taxi Driver (1976)
  • ET the Extraterrestrial (1982)
• 1995
  • Blacksmith Scene (1893)
  • Rip Van Winkle (1896)
  • Fatty's Tintype Tangle (1915)
  • The Last of the Mohicans (1920)
  • The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse (1921)
  • Manhatta (1921)
  • Seventh Heaven (1927)
  • Fury (1936)
  • The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
  • Stagecoach (1939)
  • The Philadelphia Story (1940)
  • Jammin The Blues (1944)
  • The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
  • Gerald McBoing-Boing (1951)
  • The Band Wagon (1953)
  • All That Heaven Allows (1955)
  • North by Northwest (1959)
  • To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
  • The Hospital (1971)
  • Cabaret (1972)
  • American Graffiti (1973)
  • The Conversation (1974)
  • To Fly (1976)
  • Chan Is Missing (1982)
  • El Norte (1983)
• 1996
  • Broken Blossoms (1919)
  • The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
  • The Jazz Singer (1927)
  • The Forgotten Frontier (1931)
  • She Done Him Wrong (1933)
  • Flash Gordon Serial (1936)
  • Show Boat (1936)
  • The Awful Truth (1937)
  • Destry Rides Again (1939)
  • Verbena Tragica (1939)
  • Road to Morocco (1942)
  • To Be or Not to Be (1942)
  • Topaz (1943–1945)
  • Mildred Pierce (1945)
  • The Heiress (1949)
  • Pull My Daisy (1959)
  • Shock Corridor (1963)
  • The Graduate (1967)
  • The Producers (1968)
  • Mash (1970)
  • Woodstock (1970)
  • Frank Film (1973)
  • The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
  • The Deer Hunter (1978)
  • The Life And Times Of Rosie The Riveter (1980)
• 1997
  • Broken Blossoms (1919)
  • Cops (1922)
  • Ben-Hur (1925)
  • Grass (1925)
  • The Life And Death Of 9413: A Hollywood Extra (1927)
  • Wings (1927)
  • The Music Box (1932)
  • The Thin Man (1932)
  • Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937)
  • Republic Steel Strike Newsreel Footage (1937)
  • The Great Dictator (1940)
  • Knute Rockne, All American (1940)
  • Tulips Shall Grow (1942)
  • The Big Sleep (1946)
  • Motion Painting No. 1 (1947)
  • Little Fugitive (1953)
  • The Naked Spur (1953)
  • Rear Window (1954)
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
  • The Hustler (1961)
  • West Side Story (1961)
  • How The West Was Won (1962)
  • Czechoslovakia 1968 (1969)
  • Harold and Maude (1971)
  • Mean Streets (1973)
  • Return Of The Secaucus 7 (1980)
• 1998
  • Westinghouse Works, 1904 (1904)
  • From The Manager To The Cross (1912)
  • The Immigrant (1917)
  • Sky High (1922)
  • The Lost World (1925)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
  • Pass The Gravy (1928)
  • Steamboat Willie (1928)
  • The Public Enemy (1931)
  • 42nd Street (1933)
  • Little Miss Marker (1934)
  • Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  • The City (1939)
  • Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapses (1940)
  • The Ox-Bow Incidnet (1943)
  • Gun Crazy (1949)
  • Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
  • The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
  • Modesta (1956)
  • Dead Birds (1964)
  • Don't Look Back (1967)
  • Easy Rider (1969)
  • The Last Picture Show (1971)
  • Powers Of Ten (1978)
  • Tootsie (1982)
• 1999
  • The Kiss (1896)
  • In The Land Of The Head Hunters (1914)
  • Civilization (1916)
  • The Docks Of New York (1928)
  • Lambchops (1929)
  • The Emperor Jones (1933)
  • Master Hands (1936)
  • My Man Godfrey (1936)
  • The Plow That Broke The Plains (1936)
  • Trance And Dance In Bali (1936-1939)
  • Gunga Din (1939)
  • The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
  • Woman Of The Year (1942)
  • Laura (1944)
  • A Streetcar Named Desire (1952)
  • Duck Amuck (1953)
  • Roman Holiday (1953)
  • Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
  • The Ten Commandments (1956)
  • Jazz On A Summer Day (1959)
  • Night of the Living Dead (1968)
  • The Wild Bunch (1969)
  • King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
  • Do the Right Thing (1989)
• 2000
  • President Mckinley Inauguration Footage (1901)
  • The Land Beyond The Sunset (1912)
  • Regeneration (1915)
  • Salome (1923)
  • Peter Pan (1924)
  • Edgar Allan Poe The Fall Of The House Of Usher]] (1928)
  • Little Caesar (1930)
  • Dracula (1931)
  • Emperor Jones (1933)
  • The Life Of Emile Zola (1937)
  • Love Finds And Hardy (1938)
  • Porky in Wackyland (1938)
  • Why We Fight (1943-1945)
  • The Living Desert (1953)
  • A Star Is Born (1954)
  • The Tall T (1957)
  • Intermission: Let's All Go To The Lobby (1957)
  • Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)
  • Five Essay Pieces (1970)
  • Multiple Sidosis (1970)
  • Shaft (1971)
  • Network (1976)
  • Apocalypse Now (1979)
  • Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
  • Sherman's March (1986)
  • Goodfellas (1990)
• 2001
  • The Evidence Of The Film (1913)
  • Miss Lulu Bett (1922)
  • It (1927)
  • Rose Hobart (1936)
  • Cologne: From the Diary of Ray and Esther (1939)
  • Marian Anderson: The Lincoln Memorial Concert (1939)
  • Jam Session (1942)
  • Stormy Weather (1943)
  • Memphis Belle (1944)
  • The Miracle Of Morgan's Creek (1944)
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
  • All the King's Men (1949)
  • The Thing from Another World (1951)
  • The Tell-Tale Heart (1953)
  • The House In The Middle (1954)
  • America, America (1963)
  • The Sound of Music (1965)
  • Planet of the Apes (1968)
  • Serene Velocity (1970)
  • Jaws (1975)
  • Animal House (1978)
  • All That Jazz (1979)
  • Manhattan (1979)
  • Hoosiers (1986)
  • The Thin Blue Line (1988)
• 2002
  • Star Theater (1901)
  • Wild And Wooly (1917)
  • Lady Windermere's Fan (1925)
  • Theodore Case Sound Test: Gus Visser and His Singing Duck (1925)
  • From Stump To Ship (1930)
  • Punch Drunks (1934)
  • Melody Ranch (1940)
  • The Pearl (1948)
  • The Bad and The Beautiful (1952)
  • This Is Cinerama (1952)
  • All My Babies (1953)
  • From Here to Eternity (1953)
  • Sabrina (1954)
  • Wild River (1960)
  • The Endless Summer (1966)
  • Through Navajo Eyes (1966)
  • In the Heat of the Night (1967)
  • Why Man Creates (1968)
  • Fuji (1974)
  • Alien (1979)
  • The Black Stallion (1979)
  • Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
  • This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
  • Beauty and the Beast (1991)
  • Boyz N the Hood (1991)
• 2003
  • Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894-1895)
  • Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909)
  • Matrimony's Speed Limit (1913)
  • The Chechahcos (1924)
  • Son Of The Sheik (1926)
  • Jenkins Orphanage Band (Fox Movietone News) (1928)
  • Show People (1928)
  • The Wedding March (1928)
  • Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
  • Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
  • Naughty Marietta (1935)
  • Young Mister Lincoln (1939)
  • National Velvet (1944)
  • White Heat (1949)
  • One Froggy Evening (1956)
  • The Hunters (1957)
  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  • Medium Cool (1969)
  • Film Portrait (1970)
  • Patton (1970)
  • (nostalgia) (1971)
  • Young Frankenstein (1974)
  • Atlantic City (1980)
  • Tin Toy (1988)
• 2004
  • Lady Helen's Escapade (1909)
  • The Blue Bird (1918)
  • Clash Of The Wolves (1925)
  • There It Is (1928)
  • Pups Is Pups (1930)
  • A Bronx Meeting (1931)
  • Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor (1936)
  • Swing Time (1936)
  • Kanapolis, NC (1941)
  • Going My Way (1946)
  • D.O.A. (1950)
  • Duck And Cover (1951)
  • Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
  • The Court Jester (1956)
  • Jailhouse Rock (1957)
  • Ben-Hur (1959)
  • The Nutty Professor (1963)
  • Empire (1964)
  • Off On (1968)
  • Enter the Dragon (1973)
  • Antoria: A Portrait Of A Woman (1974)
  • Eraserhead (1977)
  • Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (1980)
  • Daughters Of The Dust (1991)
  • Unforgiven (1992)
  • Schindler's List (1993)
• 2005
  • San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, April 18, 1906 (1906)
  • Jeffries-Johnson World's Championship Boxing Contest (1910)
  • The Making Of An American (1920)
  • Hands Up! (1926)
  • The Cameraman (1928)
  • Power Of The Press (1928)
  • H 2 O (1929)
  • Baby Face (1933)
  • Imitation Of Life (1934)
  • Commander Keeper Church, Beaufort, South Carolina (May 1940) (1940)
  • Mom And Dad (1944)
  • Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
  • Giant (1956)
  • House Of Usher (1960)
  • A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
  • The Music Man (1962)
  • A Time For Burning (1966)
  • Cool Hand Luke (1967)
  • The French Connection (1972)
  • The Sting (1973)
  • The Buffalo Creek Flood An Act of Man (1975)
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
  • Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
  • Hoop Dreams (1994)
  • Toy Story (1995)
• 2006
  • Traffic In Souls (1913)
  • Tess Of The Storm Country (1914)
  • Cry Of The Quon Gwon (1916-1917)
  • Flesh and the Devil (1927)
  • The Last Command (1928)
  • Applause (1929)
  • St. Louis Blues (1929)
  • The Big Trail (1930)
  • Red Dust (1932)
  • Daughter Of Shanghai (1937)
  • Early Abstractions (1939-1956)
  • Siege (1940)
  • Notorious (1946)
  • In The Street (1948)
  • A Time Out Of War (1954)
  • Think Of Me As A First Person (1960-1975)
  • The TAMI Show (1964)
  • Reminiscences Of A Journey To Lithuania (1971-1972)
  • Blazing Saddles (1974)
  • Rocky (1976)
  • Halloween (1978)
  • Drums Of Winter (1988)
  • Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
  • Groundhog Day (1993)
  • Fargo (1996)
• 2007
  • Tol'able David (1921)
  • Mighty Like A Mouse (1926)
  • The Strong Man (1926)
  • The Sex Life of the Polyp (1928)
  • Grand Hotel (1932)
  • Three Little Pigs (1933)
  • Our Day (1938)
  • The Woman (1939)
  • Wuthering Heights (1939)
  • Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
  • Now Voyager (1942)
  • The House I Live In (1945)
  • The Naked City (1948)
  • In A Lonely Place (1950)
  • Oklahoma (1955)
  • A Glimpse Of The Garden (1957)
  • 12 Angry Men (1957)
  • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
  • Bullitt (1968)
  • Tom, Tom, The Pipers Son (1969-1971)
  • Peege (1972)
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
  • Days of Heaven (1978)
  • Back to The Future (1985)
  • Dances with Wolves (1990)
• 2008
  • White Fawn's Devotion (1910)
  • The Perils Of Pauline (1914)
  • One Week (1920)
  • Foolish Wives (1922)
  • So's Your Old Man (1926)
  • Hallelujah! (1929)
  • The Invisible Man (1933)
  • Sergeant York (1941)
  • George Stevens World War II Footage (1943-1946)
  • The Killers (1946)
  • The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
  • Johnny Guitar (1954)
  • Disneyland Dream (1956)
  • A Face In The Crowd (1957)
  • On The Bowery (1957)
  • The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
  • Flower Drum Song (1961)
  • The March (1964)
  • The Pawnbroker (1965)
  • In Cold Blood (1967)
  • Deliverance (1972)
  • No Lies (1973)
  • Free Radicals (1979)
  • The Terminator (1984)
  • Water And Power (1989)
• 2009
  • Little Nemo (1911)
  • Marbel's Blunder (1914)
  • Heroes All (1920)
  • Stark Love (1927)
  • The Revenge Of Pancho Villa (1930-1936)
  • A Study In Red (1932)
  • Jezebel (1938)
  • Under Western Stars (1938)
  • The Mark of Zorro (1940)
  • Mrs. Miniver (1942)
  • The Story Of G.I. Joe (1945)
  • The Lead Shoes (1949)
  • The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
  • Pillow Talk (1959)
  • The Exiles (1961)
  • The Jungle (1967)
  • Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
  • Hot Dogs For Gauguin (1972)
  • Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
  • Quasi At The Quackadero (1975)
  • The Muppet Movie (1979)
  • Thriller (1983)
  • Precious Images (1986)
  • The Red Book (1994)
  • Scratch And Crow (1995)
• 2010
  • Newark Athlete (1891)
  • A Trip Down Market Street (1906)
  • Preservation of the Sign Language (1913)
  • The Bargain (1914)
  • Lonesome (1928)
  • The Front Page (1931)
  • It's A Gift (1934)
  • Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
  • Tarantella (1940)
  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
  • Let There Be Light (1946)
  • Cry Of Jazz (1959)
  • The Pink Panther (1963)
  • Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
  • I Am Joaquin (1969)
  • Our Lady Of The Sphere (1969)
  • McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
  • The Exorcist (1973)
  • All the President's Men (1976)
  • Grey Gardens (1976)
  • Saturday Night Fever (1977)
  • Airplane! (1980)
  • The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  • Malcolm X (1992)
  • Study Of A River (1996)
• 2011
  • A Cure for Pokeritis (1912)
  • The Cry of the Children (1912)
  • The Kid (1921)
  • The Iron Horse (1924)
  • Nicholas Brothers’ Home Movies (1930s-'40s)
  • Twentieth Century (1934)
  • Bambi (1942)
  • The Negro Soldier (1944)
  • The Lost Weekend (1945)
  • The Big Heat (1953)
  • War of the Worlds (1953)
  • Porgy and Bess (1959)
  • Allures (1961)
  • Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)
  • Faces (1968)
  • Growing Up Female (1971)
  • A Computer Animated Hand (1972)
  • Hester Street (1975)
  • I, an Actress (1977)
  • Norma Rae (1979)
  • Fake Fruit Factory (1986)
  • Stand and Deliver (1988)
  • The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  • El Mariachi (1992)
  • Forrest Gump (1994)
• 2020
  • Suspence (1913)
  • Kid Auto Races at Vence (1914)
  • Bread (1918)
  • The Battle of the Century (1927)
  • With Car and Camera Around the World (1929)
  • Cabin in the Sky (1943)
  • Outrage (1950)
  • The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
  • Lilies in the Field (1963)
  • A Clockwork Orange (1971)
  • Sweet Sweetback's Baadsssss Song (1971)
  • Wattsax (1973)
  • Grease (1978)
  • The Blues Brothers (1980)
  • Illusions (1982)
  • Losing Ground (1982)
  • The Joy Luck club (1993)
  • The Ground Series (1993-2001)
  • Bena Vista Social Club (1999)
  • Shrek (2001)
  • Mauna Kea: Temple Under Segue (2006)
  • The Dark Knight (2008)
  • The Hunt Locker (2008)
  • Freedom Riders (2010)