I was bored so I made a top 100 "essential American movies of the 20th century", still some big gaps in there, but I thought it would be interesting
The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)
Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
The General (Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton, 1926)
3 Bad Men (John Ford, 1926)
Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
Scarface (Howard Hawks & Richard Rosson, 1932)
Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932)
King Kong (Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1933)
It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934)
Ceiling Zero (Howard Hawks, 1936)
Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks, 1939)
Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming et al., 1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford, 1939)
His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940)
Fantasia (Disney, 1940)
Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)
Sullivan’s Travels (Preston Sturges, 1941)
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943)
At Land (Maya Deren, 1944)
Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944)
It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)
Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947)
The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947)
Fort Apache (John Ford, 1948)
Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)
In A Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)
Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950)
Winchester ’73 (Anthony Mann, 1950)
An American In Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951)
Bend of the River (Anthony Mann, 1952)
The Big Sky (Howard Hawks, 1952)
Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1952)
Duck Amuck (Chuck Jones, 1953)
The Naked Spur (Anthony Mann, 1953)
Pickup on South Street (Samuel Fuller, 1953)
Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
The Trouble with Harry (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1956)
The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957)
Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957)
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
Elmer Gantry (Richard Brooks, 1960)
Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
Hatari! (Howard Hawks, 1962)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962)
Scorpio Rising (Kenneth Anger, 1964)
El Dorado (Howard Hawks, 1966)
7 Women (John Ford, 1966)
The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
Badlands (Terence Malick, 1973)
The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)
The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah, 1974)
Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
Nashville (Robert Altman, 1975)
Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977)
Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981)
Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme, 1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)
Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
Miller's Crossing (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 1990)
Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven, 1990)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch, 1992)
Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995)
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995)
Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)
Lost Highway (David Lynch, 1997)
The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, 1998)
Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)
The Straight Story (David Lynch, 1999)