American Cinema (1995)

Name: American Cinema
Genre: Documentary
Rating: 7.7
Cast: John Lithgow

Documentary

13 episode series created by PBS to commemorate 100 years of movie-going. The history of Hollywood and filmmaking comes alive in this spectacular celebration of movie magic. It's a mesmerizing, epic analysis that combines rare archival film, key scenes from immortal movies, interviews with leading filmmakers and commentary from noted film scholars and critics. As seen on PBS, this series is the definitive chronicle of the American cinema, from its beginning to today. Includes interviews with Robert Altman, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Spike Lee, George Lucas, Sidney Lumet, Julia Roberts, Martin Scorsese, Gene Siskel, Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Quentin Tarantino, and many more.

IMDb rating: 7.7 (260 votes)
Episode average: 7.7 matches the IMDb rating
Seasons: 1
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 1 season indexed

Cast

John Lithgow Self - Host

Seasons

Season 1 (1995)

7.69 avg 10 episodes 8.2 → 8.7 60 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Hollywood Style	8.2	13
2	The Studio System	8.0	13
3	The Star	2.0	132
4	The Western	8.3	8
5	Romantic Comedy	8.2	9
6	The Combat Film	8.6	7
7	Film Noir	7.8	54
8	Film in the Television Age	8.2	16
9	The Film School Generation	8.9	8
10	The Edge of Hollywood	8.7	11