# AFI's most thrilling American films of all time

The top of AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills (2001): the American films that most raised the heart rate of the critics, historians and filmmakers who voted.

- 92 votes · 12 items
- Oct 26, 2020 · Mitchell King
- https://even.best/en/l/1889/afi-s-most-thrilling-american-films-of-all-time

## Top 12

1. **Jaws (1975)** (12 · ▲12 ▼0) — Spielberg's shark and John Williams' two notes.
2. **Psycho (1960)** (10 · ▲10 ▼0) — Number one: Hitchcock and the shower scene.
3. **The Exorcist (1973)** (8 · ▲8 ▼0) — William Friedkin's possession film.
4. **Rosemary's Baby (1968)** (7 · ▲8 ▼1) — Roman Polanski's paranoid pregnancy.
5. **Alien (1979)** (6 · ▲8 ▼2) — Ridley Scott's haunted house in space.
6. **The French Connection (1971)** (6 · ▲7 ▼1) — Popeye Doyle and the car chase under the elevated train.
7. **The Birds (1963)** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Hitchcock again: birds attack Bodega Bay.
8. **Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)** (5 · ▲6 ▼1) — Indiana Jones and the rolling boulder.
9. **North by Northwest (1959)** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Cary Grant chased by a crop duster.
10. **The Silence of the Lambs (1991)** (3 · ▲5 ▼2) — Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter.
11. **Deliverance (1972)** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — A canoe trip that goes terribly wrong.
12. **Vertigo (1958)** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — James Stewart's obsession in San Francisco.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.