As we stare down the final days of December, year-end lists are popping up more and more frequently.  While the IMDb Top 250 used to be a fair guidepost for some of the best films of all time, its ratings have skewed more towards newer releases in the past few years (is Inception really the 14th greatest film of all time?).  Well the fine folks at the Alamo Drafthouse have taken it upon themselves to compile an ultimate Top 100 list using the personal Top 100s of the theater chain’s six-person national programming team.  The result is an eclectic mix of titles, ranging from Raiders of the Lost Ark to The Apartment to Alien to City Lights to Ed Wood to Mean Girls.

Select titles from the list will start screening at Drafthouses across the country in January, but for those of you that don’t live near an Alamo Drafthouse, consider picking a few titles from this list and programming a movie marathon of your own with your friends.  Hit the jump to read the full press release, followed by the Alamo 100 list.

alamo 100

Here’s the press release:

Austin, TX - Friday, December 13, 2013 - Alamo Drafthouse unveils its first ever list of top 100 films, the "Alamo 100," as chosen by the theater's film programmers. Beginning in January 2014 all Alamo Drafthouse locations will exhibit films throughout the year from their list of essentials.

"In preparing my own list, I imagined that I was on a desert island (a really improbable desert island equipped with a TV, DVD player and electricity) and could only have 100 movies to rewatch for the rest of my life," says Alamo CEO and founder Tim League. "There are plenty of lists out there that rank based on popularity or cinematic importance.  We wanted the Alamo 100 list to get to the heart of why we really love movies."

A quick glance at the Alamo 100 reveals the incredible diversity of taste on the national programming team, which consists of Tim League, RJ LaForce, Greg MacLennan, Sarah Pitre, Tommy Swenson, and Joe Ziemba.

"We're incredibly proud of the fact that our passions encompass 1960s French films and modern day rom coms, Kubrick masterpieces and epic action flicks, obscure trash-horror and feel-good classics, says Lead Programmer Sarah Pitre. "There is simply no classification that can contain our devotion to the silver screen."

In order to generate the Alamo 100, each programmer was given the Herculean task of paring down his or her own list to just 100 favorites. These titles were then compiled and ranked based on two factors: 1) Their rank on each programmer's list, and 2) The number of times the title appeared on more than one list.

"The results are an eclectic mix of shoe-ins and surprises," explains Pitre. "And we hope that this wildly divergent collection leads to many conversations within the Alamocommunity.

The Alamo 100 launches this January at Alamo theaters nationwide with seven titles that capture the spirit of this list: BRAZIL (1985), CITY LIGHTS (1931), THE GOONIES (1985), MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL (1975), RAGING BULL (1980), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), and SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984) - with many more screening throughout the year.

Free collectible button pins themed to each title will be available while supplies last at every Alamo 100 screening.

back-to-the-future-drew-struzan-poster

To further explore the Alamo 100, visit the official website.  The full list follows below:

10 Things I Hate About You

2001: A Space Odyssey

400 Blows, The

Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The

Alien

Apartment, The

Apocalypse Now

Back to the Future

Beaches of Agnes

Best Years of Our Lives, The

Big

Big Trouble in Little China

Black Lizard

Blade Runner

Bottle Rocket

Brazil

Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, The

Carnival of Souls

Casablanca

Christmas Story, A

City Lights

Clockwork Orange, A

Clueless

Daisies

Danger: Diabolik

Dark Knight, The

Dazed and Confused

Delicatessen

Dirty Harry

Double Indemnity

Dr. Strangelove

Duck Soup

E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial

Ed Wood

Empire Strikes Back, The

Escape From New York

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Evil Dead 2

Fantastic Mr. Fox, The

For A Few Dollars More

General, The

Ghostbusters

Godfather II, The

Godfather, The

Gold Rush, The

Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The

Goonies, The

Hannah And Her Sisters

Hausu

Home Alone

Joe vs the Volcano

Johnny Guitar

Jules and Jim

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains

Leon: The Professional

Lord of the Rings, The

Love Actually

Mean Girls

Modern Times

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Napoleon

Night of the Hunter, The

Night To Dismember, A

Ninotchka

Notorious

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

Plan 9 From Outer Space

Playtime

Pride & Prejudice

Princess Bride, The

Pulp Fiction

Raging Bull

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raising Arizona

Road Warrior, The

Robocop

Royal Tennenbaums, The

Rushmore

Singin’ in the Rain

Sixteen Candles

Some Like it Hot

Sons Of The Desert

Star Wars: A New Hope

Step Up 2: The Streets

Streets of Fire

Succubus

Testament of Dr. Mabuse

Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The

Tommy Boy

UHF

Uncle Buck

Vampires, Les

Vertigo

Waiting for Guffman

Warriors, The

Wayne’s World

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Woman Is A Woman, A aka Une Femme Est Une Femme

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