AFI Salutes Films That Thrill, Chill

Calling all movie buffs. Grab a bowl of popcorn and hunker down tonight at 8 for “AFI’s 100 Years . . . 100 Thrills,” a three-hour CBS special counting down the top adrenaline-pumping films of all time.

Harrison Ford, whose name has been synonymous with action in the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” trilogies as well as “Witness,” “Air Force One” and “Patriot Games,” will host the 8-11 p.m. telecast, the fourth in a series of AFI specials whose occasionally confounding results have sparked their share of day-after conversations around the water cooler.

The three previous specials won their time periods in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Linda Blair, Sandra Bullock, Jamie Lee Curtis, William Friedkin, Tippi Hedren, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and Steven Spielberg are among the celebrities interviewed.

Last year, AFI distributed a ballot with 400 nominated films (Ford’s name appeared in 11 of them) to a jury of 1,800 leaders of the film community, including directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, cinematographers, visual effects artists, critics, historians and film executives.

The list had titles ranging in alphabetical order from “The Adventures of Robin Hood” to “The Wrong Man.” In addition to movies on the ballot, jurors could submit up to five write-in votes. One of the criteria was that these films should possess thrills that “enlivened and enriched America’s film heritage while continuing to inspire contemporary artists and audiences.”