- There is a 10-year moratorium on all new films so you will not yet find films from 2009-now on this list
| 1. The Searchers- Ford |
| 2. Apocalypse Now- F. Coppola |
| 3. 2001: A Space Odyssey- Kubrick |
| 4. Raging Bull- Scorsese |
| 5. Citizen Kane- Welles |
| 6. Blade Runner – R. Scott |
| 7. Vertigo- Hitchcock |
| 8. The Passion of Joan of Arc- Dreyer |
| 9. Stalker – Tarkovsky |
| 10. Tokyo Story- Ozu |
| 11. 8 1/2 – Fellini |
| 12. The Godfather – F. Coppola |
| 13. In the Mood for Love – Kar-Wai Wong |
| 14. Bicycle Thieves- De Sica |
| 15. La Dolce Vita- Fellini |
| 16. Lawrence of Arabia- Lean |
| 17. Seven Samurai- Kurosawa |
| 18. Sunrise- Murnau |
| 19. Jules and Jim- Truffaut |
| 20. Breathless- Godard |
| 21. Breaking the Waves – von Trier |
| 22. Goodfellas – Scorsese |
| 23. Rashoman- Kurosawa |
| 24. The Godfather Part II – F. Coppola |
| 25. Intolerance- Griffith |
| 26. Nostalgia – Tarkovsky |
| 27. The Rules of the Game- Renoir |
| 28. Battleship Potemkin- Eisenstein |
| 29. Touch of Evil- Welles |
| 30. Pulp Fiction – Tarantino |
| 31. The Magnificent Ambersons- Welles |
| 32. Taxi Driver- Scorsese |
| 33. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover – Greenaway |
| 34. Persona- Bergman |
| 35. Psycho- Hitchcock |
| 36. I Am Cuba- Kalatozov |
| 37. Children of Men – Cuaron |
| 38. Gertrud- Dreyer |
| 39. A Clockwork Orange- Kubrick |
| 40. Red Desert- Antonioni |
| 41. Aguirre, the Wrath of God – Herzog |
| 42. The Third Man- Reed |
| 43. The Thin Red Line- Malick |
| 44. There Will Be Blood – P. T. Anderson |
| 45. The Earrings of Madame De… – Ophuls |
| 46. Manhattan- Allen |
| 47. Days of Heaven – Malick |
| 48. Blue Velvet – Lynch |
| 49. Do the Right Thing – S. Lee |
| 50. Magnolia – P.T. Anderson |
| 51. City Lights- Chaplin |
| 52. M- Lang |
| 53. The 400 Blows- Truffaut |
| 54. Metropolis- Lang |
| 55. Nosferatu- Murnau |
| 56. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari- Wiene |
| 57. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly- Leone |
| 58. The End of Summer- Ozu |
| 59. The Seventh Seal- Bergman |
| 60. The Shining – Kubrick |
| 61. Nashville – Altman |
| 62. Cries and Whispers – Bergman |
| 63. Casablanca- Curtiz |
| 64. The Pornographers – Imamura |
| 65. The Wild Bunch- Peckinpah |
| 66. Once Upton a Time in the West – Leone |
| 67. Werckmeister Harmonies – Tarr |
| 68. Brazil – Gilliam |
| 69. Mulholland Drive – Lynch |
| 70. Pierrot le Fou – Godard |
| 71. The Trial- Welles |
| 72. Gone With the Wind- Fleming |
| 73. Shoot the Piano Player – Truffaut |
| 74. Stagecoach- Ford |
| 75. L’Avventura – Antonioni |
| 76. The Blue Angel- von Sternberg |
| 77. Heat- M. Mann |
| 78. Punch-Drunk Love – P.T. Anderson |
| 79. Rear Window- Hitchcock |
| 80. Early Summer- Ozu |
| 81. The Graduate- M. Nichols |
| 82. Juliet of the Spirits- Fellini |
| 83. A Man Escaped- Bresson |
| 84. It’s a Wonderful Life- Capra |
| 85. Lola Montes- Ophuls |
| 86. Annie Hall- Allen |
| 87. Dekalog – Kieslowski |
| 88. The Conformist – Bertolucci |
| 89. Paths of Glory- Kubrick |
| 90. Lost in Translation – S. Coppola |
| 91. JFK – Stone |
| 92. The Wizard of Oz- Fleming |
| 93. Viridiana- Bunuel |
| 94. The Passenger – Antonioni |
| 95. Barry Lyndon- Kubrick |
| 96. Chinatown- Polanski |
| 97. Fitzcarraldo – Herzog |
| 98. Boogie Nights – P.T. Anderson |
| 99. The Grand Illusion- Renoir |
| 100. The Big Sleep- Hawks |
| 101. The Birth of a Nation- Griffith |
| 102. Singin’ in the Rain- Donen, Kelly |
| 103. North By Northwest- Hitchcock |
| 104. The Royal Tenenbaums – W. Anderson |
| 105. Notorious- Hitchcock |
| 106. Rome, Open City- Rossellini |
| 107. Dead Man – Jarmusch |
| 108. Chungking Express – Kar-Wai Wong |
| 109. Bringing Up Baby- Hawks |
| 110. Suspiria- Argento |
| 111. Rio Bravo- Hawks |
| 112. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – Dominik |
| 113. Jaws- Spielberg |
| 114. Rosemary’s Baby- Polanski |
| 115. La Strada – Fellini |
| 116. Fargo – Coen |
| 117. Late Spring- Ozu |
| 118. The General- Keaton |
| 119. Umberto D- De Sica |
| 120. L’Eclisse- Antonioni |
| 121. A Woman Under the Influence – Cassavetes |
| 122. Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid – Peckinpah |
| 123. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie- Bunuel |
| 124. Fanny and Alexander – Bergman |
| 125. Dead Ringers – Cronenberg |
| 126. The Conversation- F. Coppola |
| 127. Raiders of the Lost Ark – Spielberg |
| 128. Syndromes and a Century – Weerasethakul |
| 129. Amarcord – Fellini |
| 130. Mean Streets- Scorsese |
| 131. Cool Hand Luke- Rosenberg |
| 132. Pickpocket- Bresson |
| 133. Rocco and His Brothers- Visconti |
| 134. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg- Demy |
| 135. White Heat- Walsh |
| 136. Wild Strawberries- Bergman |
| 137. Modern Times- Chaplin |
| 138. Sunset Boulevard – Wilder |
| 139. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp- Powell & Pressburger |
| 140. Written on the Wind- Sirk |
| 141. Black Narcissus- Powell & Pressburger |
| 142. Eyes Wide Shut – Kubrick |
| 143. Contempt- Godard |
| 144. Le Plaisir- Ophuls |
| 145. The Cranes Are Flying- Kalatozov |
| 146. Intentions of Murder – Imamura |
| 147. The Scarlett Express- von Sternberg |
| 148. The Music Room- S. Ray |
| 149. Hannah and Her Sisters- Allen |
| 150. Once Upon a Time in America – Leone |
| 151. Rumble Fish – F. Coppola |
| 152. Fight Club – Fincher |
| 153. The Big Lebowski – Coen |
| 154. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid- Roy Hill |
| 155. Back to the Future – Zemeckis |
| 156. A Zed & Two Noughts – Greenaway |
| 157. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest- Forman |
| 158. Double Indemnity- Wilder |
| 159. Star Wars- Lucas |
| 160. Schindler’s List – Spielberg |
| 161. Before Sunset – Linklater |
| 162. Performance – Roeg |
| 163. Don’t Look Now – Roeg |
| 164. Kings of the Road – Wenders |
| 165. Blue – Kieslowski |
| 166. Andrei Rublev- Tarkovsky |
| 167. Amadeus – Forman |
| 168. The Sacrifice – Tarkovsky |
| 169. Repulsion- Polanski |
| 170. The Empire Strikes Back – Kershner |
| 171. Red River- Hawks |
| 172. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre- Huston |
| 173. Cache – Haneke |
| 174. The Bridge on the River Kwai- Lean |
| 175. Strangers on a Train- Hitchcock |
| 176. Kill Bill – Tarantino |
| 177. Johnny Guitar- N. Ray |
| 178. Malcolm X – S. Lee |
| 179. Zodiac – Fincher |
| 180. Alien- R. Scott |
| 181. The Lord of the Rings – Jackson |
| 182. Y Tu Mama Tambien – Cuaron |
| 183. Ran – Kurosawa |
| 184. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters – Schrader |
| 185. It Happened One Night- Capra |
| 186. Dancer in the Dark – von Trier |
| 187. Dr. Strangelove- Kubrick |
| 188. Crimes and Misdemeanors – Allen |
| 189. Blow Out – De Palma |
| 190. Midnight Cowboy- Schlesinger |
| 191. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance- Ford |
| 192. Broken Flowers – Jarmusch |
| 193. The New World – Malick |
| 194. The Exorcist- Friedkin |
| 195. My Darling Clementine- Ford |
| 196. The Piano – Campion |
| 197. Out of the Past- Tourneur |
| 198. Red – Kieslowski |
| 199. Germany Year Zero- Rossellini |
| 200. No Country For Old Men – Coen |
| 201. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – Spielberg |
| 202. Network- Lumet |
| 203. Bonnie and Clyde- Penn |
| 204. The Gold Rush- Chaplin |
| 205. Sherlock Jr. Keaton |
| 206. High Noon- Zinnemann |
| 207. The French Connection- Friedkin |
| 208. The Silence of the Lambs – Demme |
| 209. Raise the Red Lantern – Yimou Zhang |
| 210. Dog Day Afternoon – Lumet |
| 211. McCabe & Mrs. Miller- Altman |
| 212. Aliens – Cameron |
| 213. Veronika Voss – Fassbinder |
| 214. Love Me Tonight- Mamoulian |
| 215. Morocco- von Sternberg |
| 216. Rushmore – W. Anderson |
| 217. Unforgiven – Eastwood |
| 218. Seven – Fincher |
| 219. Los Olvidados- Bunuel |
| 220. The Manchurian Candidate- Frankenheimer |
| 221. Diabolique- Clouzot |
| 222. The Apartment- Wilder |
| 223. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Gondry |
| 224. Down by Law – Jarmusch |
| 225. The Grapes of Wrath- Ford |
| 226. The Bride of Frankenstein- Whale |
| 227. The Deer Hunter – Cimino |
| 228. Harold and Maude- Ashby |
| 229. Requiem for a Dream – Aronofsky |
| 230. L.A. Confidential – Hanson |
| 231. Crash – Cronenberg |
| 232. The Crime of Monsieur Lange- Renoir |
| 233. Solaris- Tarkovsky |
| 234. The Dark Knight – Nolan |
| 235. Saving Private Ryan – Spielberg |
| 236. Lost Highway – Lynch |
| 237. The Mirror- Tarkovsky |
| 238. The Maltese Falcon- Huston |
| 239. On the Waterfront- Kazan |
| 240. La Bête Humaine- Renoir |
| 241. Talk to Her – Almodovar |
| 242. 25th Hour – S. Lee |
| 243. My Fair Lady- Cukor |
| 244. Pinocchio- Sharpsteen |
| 245. Greed- von Stroheim |
| 246. The Hill- Lumet |
| 247. MASH- Altman |
| 248. Moulin Rouge! – Luhrmann |
| 249. The Quiet Man- Ford |
| 250. Letter from an Unknown Woman- Ophuls |
| 251. Doctor Zhivago- Lean |
| 252. Weekend- Godard |
| 253. Blow-Up – Antonioni |
| 254. Winter Light- Bergman |
| 255. Strike- Eisenstein |
| 256. Great Expectations- Lean |
| 257. La Chienne- Renoir |
| 258. Casino – Scorsese |
| 259. The Parallax View – Pakula |
| 260. The Sweet Smell of Success – Mackendrick |
| 261. Groundhog Day – Ramis |
| 262. Wild at Heart – Lynch |
| 263. Million Dollar Baby – Eastwood |
| 264. Badlands- Malick |
| 265. Some Like It Hot- Wilder |
| 266. The Last Laugh- Murnau |
| 267. La Notte- Antonioni |
| 268. Foolish Wives- von Stroheim |
| 269. Le Million- Clair |
| 270. His Girl Friday- Hawks |
| 271. Diner – Levinson |
| 272. A Matter of Life and Death- Powell & Pressburger |
| 273. Yojimbo- Kurosawa |
| 274. L’Atalante – Vigo |
| 275. Throne of Blood- Kurosawa |
| 276. Mon Oncle- Tati |
| 277. Floating Weeds- Ozu |
| 278. West Side Story- Wise |
| 279. The Leopard- Visconti |
| 280. The Virgin Spring- Bergman |
| 281. Pan’s Labyrinth – del Toro |
| 282. Barton Fink – Coen |
| 283. Le Samourai- Melville |
| 284. Playtime- Tati |
| 285. Reservoir Dogs – Tarantino |
| 286. An Autumn Afternoon- Ozu |
| 287. The Last of the Mohicans – M. Mann |
| 288. The Exterminating Angel- Bunuel |
| 289. The Night of the Hunter – Laughton |
| 290. A Hen in the Wind- Ozu |
| 291. Cleo from 5 to 7 – Varda |
| 292. Five Easy Pieces – Rafelson |
| 293. The Shawshank Redemption – Darabont |
| 294. American Beauty – Mendes |
| 295. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days – Mungiu |
| 296. Rope- Hitchcock |
| 297. Cabaret – Fosse |
| 298. Carnal Knowledge – M. Nichols |
| 299. Journey to Italy- Rossellini |
| 300. A History of Violence – Cronenberg |
| 301. The Fountain – Aronofsky |
| 302. Mabuse: The Gambler – Lang |
| 303. Sansho the Bailiff – Mizoguchi |
| 304. Anatomy of a Murder- Preminger |
| 305. Shadow of a Doubt- Hitchcock |
| 306. The 47 Ronin- Mizoguchi |
| 307. 1900 – Bertolucci |
| 308. Atonement – J. Wright |
| 309. All About Eve- Mankiewicz |
| 310. Mystic River – Eastwood |
| 311. Traffic – Soderbergh |
| 312. The Lady From Shanghai- Welles |
| 313. Memento – Nolan |
| 314. Out of Sight – Soderbergh |
| 315. Miller’s Crossing – Coen |
| 316. The Man Who Fell to Earth- Roeg |
| 317. La Ronde- Ophuls |
| 318. Elevator to the Gallows – Malle |
| 319. Kes- Loach |
| 320. Letter Never Sent- Kalatozov |
| 321. The Last Tango in Paris- Bertolucci |
| 322. There Was a Father- Ozu |
| 323. The Man with the Golden Arm- Preminger |
| 324. Pather Panchali- S. Ray |
| 325. Aparajito- S. Ray |
| 326. Halloween- Carpenter |
| 327. All the President’s Men- Pakula |
| 328. Blood Simple – Coen |
| 329. The Nights of the Cabiria- Fellini |
| 330. All that Heaven Allows- Sirk |
| 331. La Pointe Courte – Varda |
| 332. The Departed – Scorsese |
| 333. American Psycho – Harron |
| 334. Paisan- Rossellini |
| 335. Charulata- S. Ray |
| 336. A Fistful of Dollars- Leone |
| 337. The Son – Dardenne |
| 338. 2046 – Kar-Wai Wong |
| 339. L’enfant – Dardenne |
| 340. Full Metal Jacket – Kubrick |
| 341. Army of Shadows – Melville |
| 342. The Birds- Hitchcock |
| 343. Ordet- Dreyer |
| 344. The 39 Steps- Hitchcock |
| 345. A Story of Floating Weeds- Ozu |
| 346. Beauty and the Beast- Cocteau |
| 347. Ivan the Terrible Part II- Eisenstein |
| 348. Twelve Monkeys – Gilliam |
| 349. Carrie – De Palma |
| 350. To Have and Have Not- Hawks |
| 351. Ivan the Terrible Part I- Eisenstein |
| 352. For a Few Dollars More- Leone |
| 353. Le Bonheur – Varda |
| 354. October- Eisenstein |
| 355. Jurassic Park – Spielberg |
| 356. Terminator 2: Judgement Day – Cameron |
| 357. The Crowd- Vidor |
| 358. The Road Warrior – G. Miller |
| 359. I Vitelloni- Fellini |
| 360. Pickup on South Street- Fuller |
| 361. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie- Cassavetes |
| 362. The Big Parade- Vidor |
| 363. Marie Antoinette – S. Coppola |
| 364. Naked Lunch – Cronenberg |
| 365. The Wind- Sjöström |
| 366. The World of Apu- S. Ray |
| 367. Bob le Flambeur- Melville |
| 368. Duck Soup- McCarey |
| 369. Trouble in Paradise- Lubitsch |
| 370. Hunger – McQueen |
| 371. Gosford Park – Altman |
| 372. The Circus- Chaplin |
| 373. The English Patient – Minghella |
| 374. Vampyr- Dreyer |
| 375. Ossessione – Visconti |
| 376. Shane- Stevens |
| 377. Chimes at Midnight- Welles |
| 378. The Fly – Cronenberg |
| 379. One from the Heart – F. Coppola |
| 380. The Celebration – Vinterberg |
| 381. Day of Wrath- Dreyer |
| 382. El- Bunuel |
| 383. Stranger Than Paradise – Jarmusch |
| 384. The Long Goodbye- Altman |
| 385. Lady Snowblood – Fujita |
| 386. King Kong- Cooper |
| 387. The Lion King – Allers & Minkoff |
| 388. Peeping Tom- Powell |
| 389. Satan’s Tango – Tarr |
| 390. Ugetsu- Mizoguchi |
| 391. The Silence- Bergman |
| 392. Amores Perros – Iñárritu |
| 393. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – A. Lee |
| 394. Mr. Hulot’s Holiday- Tati |
| 395. The Talented Mr. Ripley – Minghella |
| 396. Fort Apache- Ford |
| 397. The Red Shoes- Powell & Pressburger |
| 398. The Lady Eve- P. Sturges |
| 399. Trainspotting – Boyle |
| 400. Two Women – De Sica |
| 401. Meet Me in St. Louis- Minnelli |
| 402. Easy Rider- Hopper |
| 403. The Age of Innocence – Scorsese |
| 404. Ivan’s Childhood- Tarkovsky |
| 405. A Star is Born- Cukor |
| 406. The Life of Oharu- Mizoguchi |
| 407. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors – Parajanov |
| 408. Naked- Leigh |
| 409. Husbands and Wives – Allen |
| 410. A.I. Artificial Intelligence – Spielberg |
| 411. Broadway Danny Rose – Allen |
| 412. Spirited Away – Miyazaki |
| 413. Scenes From a Marriage – Bergman |
| 414. How Green Was My Valley- Ford |
| 415. Day for Night- Truffaut |
| 416. Shoeshine- De Sica |
| 417. Lola- Demy |
| 418. The Piano Teacher – Haneke |
| 419. Sullivan’s Travels- P. Sturges |
| 420. The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum – Mizoguchi |
| 421. The 3 Penny Opera- Pabst |
| 422. Dazed and Confused – Linklater |
| 423. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me – Lynch |
| 424. All that Jazz- Fosse |
| 425. The Insider – M. Mann |
| 426. The Elephant Man – Lynch |
| 427. The Marriage of Maria Braun – Fassbinder |
| 428. My Night at Maud’s – Rohmer |
| 429. Code Unknown – Haneke |
| 430. The Philadelphia Story- Cukor |
| 431. The Wild Child- – Truffaut |
| 432. The Last Picture Show – Bogdanovich |
| 433. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul – Fassbinder |
| 434. The Thing – Carpenter |
| 435. A Streetcar Named Desire- Kazan |
| 436. Detective Story- Wyler |
| 437. Ben-Hur- Wyler |
| 438. Othello- Welles |
| 439. The Darjeeling Limited – W. Anderson |
| 440. The Shop Around the Corner- Lubitsch |
| 441. Detour- Ulmer |
| 442. The Best Years of our Lives- Wyler |
| 443. Imitation of Life- Sirk |
| 444. Videodrome – Cronenberg |
| 445. Belle De Jour- Bunuel |
| 446. Safe – Haynes |
| 447. Distant Voices, Still Lives – Davies |
| 448. Die Hard – McTiernan |
| 449. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington- Capra |
| 450. The Battle of Algiers- Pontecorvo |
| 451. Wall-E – Stanton |
| 452. The Usual Suspects – Singer |
| 453. Ikiru- Kurosawa |
| 454. The Big Heat- Lang |
| 455. Gun Crazy- Lewis |
| 456. Lola – Fassbinder |
| 457. Mystery Train – Jarmusch |
| 458. The Palm Beach Story- P. Sturges |
| 459. My Dinner with Andre – Malle |
| 460. The Terminator – Cameron |
| 461. In a Lonely Place- N. Ray |
| 462. Vengeance is Mine – Imamura |
| 463. Berlin Alexanderplatz – Fassbinder |
| 464. Rebel Without a Cause- N. Ray |
| 465. Two English Girls – Truffaut |
| 466. Titanic – Cameron |
| 467. Pigs and Battleships – Imamura |
| 468. Gunga Din- Stevens |
| 469. Dawn of the Dead – Romero |
| 470. The Hustler- Rossen |
| 471. Accatone – Pasolini |
| 472. Purple Noon- Clement |
| 473. The Reckless Moment- Ophuls |
| 474. The Miracle of Morgan Creek- P. Sturges |
| 475. Being John Malkovich – Jonze |
| 476. O Brother, Where Art Thou? – Coen |
| 477. Henry V- Olivier |
| 478. Laura- Preminger |
| 479. Amelie – Jeunet |
| 480. Fallen Angel- Preminger |
| 481. The Roaring Twenties- Walsh |
| 482. Brief Encounter- Lean |
| 483. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – M. Nichols |
| 484. Children of Paradise- Carne |
| 485. Scarlet Street- Lang |
| 486. Destiny- Lang |
| 487. Tom Jones- Richardson |
| 488. Stardust Memories – Allen |
| 489. Scarface – De Palma |
| 490. The Outlaw Josey Wales – Eastwood |
| 491. Dick Tracy – Beatty |
| 492. La Haine – Kassovitz |
| 493. Taste of Cherry – Kiarostami |
| 494. Days of Being Wild – Kar-Wai Wong |
| 495. Eraserhead – Lynch |
| 496. Election- Payne |
| 497. The Player – Altman |
| 498. The Hurt Locker – Bigelow |
| 499. The Bourne Ultimatum – Greengrass |
| 500. Nosferatu the Vampyre – Herzog |
- DIRECTORS WITH MULTIPLE FILMS
10- Hitchcock
9- Bergman, Ozu
8- Kubrick, Ford
7- Fellini, Scorsese, Tarkovsky, Welles, Spielberg, Allen, Coen, Lynch
6- F. Coppola, Antonioni, Hawks, Kurosawa, Ophuls, Truffaut, Bunuel, Lang, Altman, Cronenberg
5- Renoir, Leone, Dreyer, Lean, Eisenstein, Powell, Jarmusch, S. Ray, Mizoguchi, Fassbinder
4- P.T. Anderson, Godard, Malick, Chaplin, Wilder, Rossellini, De Sica, Kar-Wai Wong, Imamura, Eastwood, Preminger, P. Sturges
3- Murnau, Polanski, Herzog, von Sternberg, Fincher, Kieslowski, S. Lee, Tarantino, Kalatozov, Roeg, Lumet, Bertolucci, Capra, W. Anderson, Visconti, M. Mann, M. Nichols, Sirk, Tati, Varda, Melville, Haneke, De Palma, N. Ray, , Cukor, Wyler
2- Griffith, R. Scott, Peckinpah, Greenaway, von Trier, Bresson, Cuaron, Keaton, Forman, Friedkin, Huston, Gilliam, S. Coppola, Tarr, Cassavetes, von Stroheim, Aronofsky, Nolan, Demy, Linklater, Pakula, Fleming, Walsh, Soderbergh, Kazan, Dardenne, Vidor, Fosse, Carpenter, Minghella, Malle, Lubitsch, Stevens
This is a fantastic collection, and I haven’t even watched some of them. Great Job for getting this done though. Now for the complaining bit: No love for Kramer vs Kramer, it’s my favorite film and a magnificent one at it. Frenzy, Rainman, Bram Stoker Dracula, Rainman , An affair to remember and Oldboy should be there as well. So could Prestige and the Machinist.
thanks AP. Let me ask you this is- Kramer vs. Kramer your “favorite” film or the one you think is the best? Or both? I like all the films you mention here, all of them in the archives (i need to see “the machinst” again because that one isn’t) but the closest one to this list would be “oldboy”. I’m excited to revisit that one.
Kramer vs Kramer is one of my favorite films, it won’t be near the Top of my list but I will make space for it in the Top 100. And Justice for all is another film that comes to mind, so does 12 Angry men which I believe is Lumets best work. I guess, I just have a thing for courtroom dramas.
Another interesting bit is that Spielberg top film is Jaws which comes in at 113. Not that I have much to disagree, but I still find it quite remarkable.
Thanks again AP– courtroom drama– i love them, too even if my top 500 doesn’t make much room for them. I think mainly it’s because the best directors don’t typically work in that sub-genre– Preminger’s “Anatomy of a Murder” is here and i think it’s the best… Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory” has sections that are like a courtroom drama i guess
Spielberg. I’m guessing you find it interesting because there isn’t one in the top 100? or that it’s because I selected “jaws” as the best? It may take me awhile to get to him but i do have 5 of his films in the top 235 which i think is the sign of a very remarkable filmmaker. For years i was convinced “Raiders” was the best– but i’m pretty confident “Jaws” is his best now
first off i love movies and really enjoy your whole website. but i must say that i disagree with your sentiment that actors arent artists. forgive me if im wrong on your beliefs. actors are artists . i also reject director as auteur theory unless in films such as 2001 i feel actors are more central and i love directors dont get me wrong im an aspiring actor .
@m — Thanks for the comment and am happy to hear you love movies and my website here. You’re entitled to your opinion of course but you are incorrect if you don’t believe in the director as auteur theory. There are exceptions of course but those exceptions are not the rule. Acting is an element of what makes a great piece of cinema– much like film score or lighting– it can be exceptional, weak, or yes, indeed, artistic— but the director using those individual elements to create. Look no further than 2018’s “Roma” from Cuaron. He takes a non-professional actor as his lead and gives us a great work of art, a solid performance, and the best film of the year.
Where is the stranger? Orson Welles is the greatest artist involved in film, and this picture is equal to Citizen Kane. He is the best actor ever and secondarily the best director ever
@M – thanks again here for visiting the site and the comment– I love Welles (he’s a far better director than actor) but “The Stranger” is equal to “Citizen Kane”? That’s not correct.
Well sorry. I don’t know if it is equal. But definitely a masterpiece. Kane has a better story and my third favorite acted scene of all time (first is Ian Mckellen tomorrow soliloquy from Macbeth and second James Stewart praying in wonderful life). The scene is where kane is begging susan not to go and the acting, the eyes, the saddness, is,just plain brilliant acting. But noir is my favorite genre. These are both two of the greatest movies ever. Also kane has a better story and better cinematography but I like the music in stranger better and I also love the story, along with edward g Robinson’s character, and acting, as the noir detective type. Thank you for answering, i love this website
Raging Bull should be at least three places higher. The montage in the movie, with the freeze frames of the fights and the color weddings for de niro and pesci, the pool fight with moriarty is the greatest moment in the history of the artform of cinema, maybe in art history
@M- thanks for the comment here on “Raging Bull”– I’m a big admirer of the film. The critical consensus has “Taxi Driver” slightly higher and if you just talk to people who aren’t film buffs the consensus for Scorsese is pretty easily “Goodfellas”– but I’ve always thought “Raging Bull” was, ever so slightly, Scorsese’s best work (though all three are fabulous films)– so it’s nice to hear from someone who agrees.
my top 50
1) raging bull
2) wizard of oz
3)terminator
4)pulp fiction
5)2001
6) steve jobs
7) Up
8)annie hall
9)citizen kane
10)its a wonderful life
11) the kid
12)the departed
13)carrie
14)no country
15)x men days of the future past
16)star wars episode IV
17)the searchers
18)revenge of the sith
19)chinatown
20) raiders of the lost ark
21)godfather
22)fistful of dollars
23)moonstruck
24)roma
25)logan
26)schindlers list
27)dr strangelove
28)blue velvet
29)mulan
30)purple rose of cairo
31)punch drunk love
32)an astronomers dream (1989)
33)magnificent ambersons
34)blakkklansman
35)halloween (1978)
36)return of the jedi
37)empire strikes back
38)sixth sense
39)gone with the wind
40)indescretion of an american wife
41)aviator
42)cape fear
43)yellow submarine
44)dhobi ghot
45)terminator 2:judgement day
46) toy story 3
47)grave of the fireflies
48)passion of joan of arc
49)metropolis
50)gattaca
@ M Thanks for sharing your top 50— I’ll pick one i have a problem with and on I admire— I’m very happy to see your inclusion of Leone’s “A Fistful of Dollars” — I think he continues to be an underrated filmmaker and I find it baffling that this film continues to be left off the critics’ consensus top 1000 http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_all1000films_table.php …. my problem film here is “X-Men: Days of Future Past”– I saw it twice, thought it was fine, but have 45 films ranked ahead of it…. from 2014. haha.
I love days of the future past. I used to watch it every day. I don’t think it is near the same visual experience as kubrick or hitchcock. But it is personal for myself, and has great acting.
Great list but i find a problem with 10 year moratorium. If you talk about including Tokyo story by Ozu in top 10 of all time for not only its message on humanity but also the mise en scenes which anyone would want hanging up on their walls. Then what about Roma. I love ozu and Tokyo story but i believe roma has a better narrative, acting, and when it comes to cinematography, camera movements and photography in the definition roma would be a clear top 10 of all time films. It’s not in mine, because there are movies I’ve grown up with, or are more personal to me or I like their narrative better but Roma is strong candidate for best visual experience ever (after the Sistine chapel perhaps) and I don’t think it needs to wait a decade for these accolades thrown upon it. Thanks (also speaking of visual, gone with the wind should be higher)
@ Bobby– thanks for the comment and feedback on the moratorium– it’s a solid point. I don’t have a really good answer for you and i adore “Roma”– I guess I’d just say i prefer to let the newer films breath a little and see them, 2-3 times and unpack them for awhile. I do have a spot for more recent films: http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/03/27/the-best-films-of-the-decade-thus-far-2010-2018/ and best directors, actors and actresses in the world right now http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/02/15/best-directors-in-the-world-2019/ here http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/02/17/best-actors-in-the-world-2019/ and here http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/02/18/best-actresses-in-the-world-2019/ .
I guess I’d just say i’m not in a rush. I take the top 500 very seriously and sort of like making films wait their turn. Don’t you think you’d be better at doing a top 10 of 1998 or 2008 than you would a top 10 of 2018? Anyways, I certainly do.
Great list as always! One day I hope to garner up the courage to create a top 500 films list, but I’ll need to watch more movies first. I figured I’d share my top 10. I’ve remade it recently, and since it’s a top 10 and there are just so many great movies, I kind of broke some of it into categories.
10. The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998)
9. PlayTime (Tati, 1967)
8. Sunrise (Murnau, 1927)
7. Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
6. Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)
5. Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
4. Tokyo Story (Ozu, 1953)
3. The Mirror (Tarkovsky, 1975)
2. Persona (Bergman, 1966)
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968)
I very badly wanted to include both Kieslowski’s ‘Dekalog’ and Lanzmann’s ‘Shoah’ on my list, but for the soul reason that I didn’t feel like taking any of my current 10 off, I decided I just wouldn’t count them because neither technically could as “films”, and instead a TV Miniseries and a Documentary respectfully.
Edit: I initially had explanations for each film I added on the list, which I consider to be pretty important when looking at the specific films I chose, but I think it the website wasn’t letting me post it because it was too long.
Edit #2: Citizen Kane should be #3, moving The Mirror to #4 and Tokyo Story to #5
@ Leo — spectacular list.. thanks for sharing. I love the inclusion of “Apocalypse Now” and “2001”- which are my #2 and #3. I can’t quite get on board with “Playtime” and “The Mirror” but many cinema enthusiasts share your opinion of them so perhaps there’s work for me to do here on both.
Thanks! That could be true on “PlayTime” and “The Mirror”, but I could also see why you wouldn’t get behind them. They seem to be pretty polarizing films by nature. I’ve showed plenty of friends “PlayTime” and very few of them respond to it in the same way I do.
For what it’s worth Leo, I find Playtime to be a perfect film and one of the greatest achievements in the history of cinematic mise-en-scene… perhaps THE greatest.
And the turn in the final act as the alienated dystopia gradually transforms into an exuberant bacchanal, has such an ineffable quality… it achieves transcendence.
Couldn’t agree more, my friend
1. Andrei Rublev (1966)
2. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
3. Three Colors : Red (1994)
4. Stalker (1979)
5. Rear Window (1954)
6. There Will Be Blood (2007)
7. 12 Angry Men (1957)
8. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
9. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
10. Touch of Evil (1958)
11. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
12. No Country for Old Men (2007)
13. Red Beard (1965)
14. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
15. F for Fake (1973)
16. The Apartment (1960)
17. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
18. Paths of Glory (1957)
19. Unforgiven (1992)
20. Psycho (1960)
21. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
22. La Haine (1995)
23. Her (2013)
24. American History X (1998)
25. Pulp Fiction (1994)
26. Taxi Driver (1976)
27. Scenes from a Marriage (1974)
28. Double Indemnity (1944)
29. Seven Samurai (1954)
30. Vertigo (1958)
31. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
32. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
33. The Tree of Life (2011)
34. Persona (1966)
35. Three Colors : Blue (1993)
36. Solaris (1972)
37. The Godfather (1972)
38. The Godfather : Part 2 (1974)
39. Eraserhead (1977)
40. Synecdoche, New York (2008)
41. Ikiru (1952)
42. Chinatown (1974)
43. Citizen Kane (1941)
44. A Serious Man (2009)
45. Phantom Thread (2017)
46. Barry Lyndon (1975)
47. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
48. Three Colors : White (1994)
49. Mystic River (2003)
50. Oldboy (2003)
@Packson– thanks for sharing your list. Really impressive! I’ll pick one i like and one i don’t…. I’m not sure about “Phantom Thread” yet- i need to see it again– but its your #2 rated PT Anderson, right? Boy— I can’t go there yet-.have it 5th. One I do love is “Mystic River”. it isn’t quite in my top 50 but i think it’s very underrated by most cinephiles so i’m happy to see it here.
@Drake
I feel like “Phantom thread” is one of the best executed films ever with two main actors shinning in very demanding roles. When you have an idea like this, margin for error is almost non existent when it comes to writting, directing, acting..and i feel like everybody delievered. I appreciate the level of skill needed to make a film like this.
As for the ranking among PTA’s films, i have it over “Magnolia” and “Punch-drunk Love”. “The Master” is a good film, but, in my humble opinion, not as good as you have it on this website. I will never understand the appeal of Scorsese-type films so “Boogie Nights” is not my cup of tea.
Btw this website is unbelievable and although i disagree on some of these rankings (give my man Kieslowski some respect lol), it’s really impressive to make a database like this and demands great respect. As a young cinephile, i get really inspired by all of the knowledge displayed here. Hope my English was good enough.
@Packson . Your English is better than mine. Thank you again for the comment and for the kind works regarding the website. I look forward to seeing “Phantom Thread” again– the third visit for “The Master” was key for me. I think it has a lot more in common, artistically, with “There Will Be Blood” than many give it credit for.
As for Kieslowski– doing his page http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/05/22/the-42nd-best-director-of-all-time-krzysztof-kieslowski/ was eye-opening. I had forgotten (it’s been awhile) how stunning the imagery was. I look forward to working his way through his entire body of work in the next 3-6 months.
Vanilla Sky. I feel it could be the greatest film in the artform’s history. It might not be Tokyo Story with the mise en scene (though the mise en is great) or have Citizen Kane’s influence (cult classic status though). But I can’t can’t say it isn’t visual mastery. Penelope Cruz, jason lee, kurt russell, everyone else all great in the movie. The acting from Cruise is expressionist, like Falconetti, and the script is very good. It is like Magnolia in its soundtrack, and the use of good vibrations by the beach boys is second only to clockwork orange (singin in the rain). The reason this is maybe the greatest though is not those. Crowe as an auteuer decided to make a film about the transendence of love, it even transcends reality. And also about the dangers of wealth and naturalization. I’m surprised it isn’t in top 300 at the very least, except this isn’t a must see or a highly recommended, its an absolute masterpiece.
@Reynolds — thanks for visiting the site and the comment. I think “Vanilla Sky” is superb and you have a passionate defense of it here. I’ve seen the film 20 times and when i was first studying cinema i thought it was a masterpiece as well. It isn’t. Crowe just isn’t a visual master (though i love some stand-alone scenes like surrealistic scene of Cruise running down an empty Times Square) and I think you’d have an uphill battle that would have to be based more on personal taste and feelings than objective artistic criticism and evaluation if you were trying to argue he’s an artist on the same level as Ozu, Welles or Kubrick. I’d be interested to see if you still feel this way after studying film more and continue to watch some of the other films on my top 500. I love the “Good Vibrations” comment though- that is a fantastic scene and use of music. Thanks again.
Ok I always change up my top 10 list because I just love so many films so I decided I’ll do it this way, put films together that I feel tie with each other, are equal, for example raging bull and taxi driver, i have a bunch of films in these ties and im still missing films i love like fistful of dollars and sixth sense. and of course the whole first six star wars films would be up there.
1. The Wizard Of Oz- Fleming/ Breaking Bad (television series)- Gilligan
2. Raging Bull/ Taxi Driver- Scorsese
3. Searchers- Ford/ Star Wars (1977)- Lucas/ Annie Hall- Allen/ Revenge Of The Sith- Lucas
4. Once Upon A Time In America- Leone/ Schindler’s List- Spielberg/ The Kid- Chaplin/ Where To Invade Next- Moore/ Citizen Kane- Welles/Godfather- Coppola/ Gone With The Wind-Fleming
5. Pulp Fiction- Tarantino/ Raiders Of The Lost Ark- Spielberg/ Grave Of The Fireflies- Takahata/ Joker- Phillips/ Terminator- Cameron
6. Vanilla Sky- Crowe/ O Brother Where Art Thou- Coen Brothers/ Do The Right Thing- Lee/ Apocylypse Now- Coppola
7. Cloud Atlas- Wachowski/ Return Of The King- Jackson/ Carrie- DePalma/ The Stand- Garris (TV Miniseries)
8. Clockwork Orange- Kubrick/ Blue Velvet-Lynch/ Chinatown- Polanski/ 2001- Kubrick/ Ad Astra- Grey/ Up- Docter/ Dr. Strangelove- Kubrick/ metropolis-lang
9. Meyerowitz Adventures- Baumbach/ Punch-Drunk Love/ Passion Of Joan Of Arc- Dreyer/ Roma- Cuaron/ Silence Of The Lambs
10.Broken Blossoms- Griffith/ Steve Jobs- Boyle/ Logan- Mangold/ 8 Mile- Hanson/ Days Of The Future Past- Singer/ Halloween- Carpenter/ Purple Rose Of Cairo/ Yellow Submarine- dunning/ 81/2- fellini/ vertigo- hitchcock
so that was a lot. i want to see if i can narrow it down, absolutely no ties (gonna be very hard) and i started putting films tied with higher films to give space that i dont like as much as some others, like i like steve jobs better than joker but i dont know if either is in my top 10. here goes, and i wont include breaking bad even though it to me is equal slightly less or better than oz. anyways since these are only ten ill put reasons
1. The Wizard Of Oz- a beautiful film about love friendship and childhood acted to perfection great songs amazing screenplay directing, straight up genius, judy garland gives the best performance on celluloid
2.taxi driver/raging bull- ok this is the only tie on this list but these two films are brilliant all around acting music directing editing screenplay and meditations on lonliness, raging bull i think has the greatest last ten minutes aand beginning in history
3. once upon a time in america- in my opinion de niros best performance the music narrative and direction mise en scene are about as good as it gets a meditation
4. searchers- an absolute masterpiece,music, the direction and story, the story the story the story, MOSE freaking HARPER, and mainly perhaps, john wayne in an alltime great performance and hunter’s characters are the most interesting relationship in film history, and the ending as well
5. pulp fiction- the script as good as mainly willis travolta jackson and thurman as well as everyone else is
6. cloud atlas- not as entertaining as star wars or visual as 2001 but the narrative is as human as ive seen and this masterpiece is super ambitious
7. blue velvet- the story and juxtaposition
8. annie hall- great comedic woody allen performance and screenplay keaton is great but she is not why its top ten
9. meyerowitz stories- dialogue, best of hoffman sandler stiller thompson and everyone else in it, narrative genius
10.steve jobs- a shakespearean film which to me gets all the reasons for praise another sorkin script, social network got except an extra layer, that it was about a father and his love for his daughter, a modern masterpiece
@M– thank you for sharing both lists. There’s a good mixture of older works and more recent 2010’s decade stuff. Having said that- I’m not sure you have the right films from the 2010’s decade. Cloud Atlas, Steve Jobs and The Meyerowitz Story. The rest of your films are 7-8 are widely considered classics and in the canon (and very high on my list). The newer ones you won’t find on many of the decade’s list of the best cinema from those critics. Why do you think that is? I’m not saying the critics (or I) am always right— I’m just observing that the older ones you agree with them— and the newer ones you don’t. Any idea why?
i think cloud atlas because it is super ambitious and has something to say about humanity, how big life is, and how there is much repetition and suffering in life, but through the struggle can come a beautiful overture. same reason for meyerowitz, i liked formal touches like the title cards and the script was great, actors were very good, natural dialogue. but to me the best part of meyerowitz was the sense of family, how sandler and stiller wrecked the old man’s car when they found out he violated their sister. steve jobs i thought had a lot of humanity in it as well, as he was a prick but when it came down to his daughter in the end he showed he cared.i do like style over substance films, but my absolute favorite i think the things like acting, and scripts, directing, cinematography, possibly music, it should be formally very good, but i am definitely gonna go with a film with a good lesson on humanity. also iam an actor myself so to me well acted films like meyerowitz and fassbender in steve jobs, or the ensemble of cloud atlas are much appreciated by me.
@M. You are passionate about your picks– as you should be. Thanks for giving me some insight into why you are so high on these three films specifically.
An amazing ranking bro. I would like to know when you will update your count until 2019.
@Richi– thank you for the comment and for visiting the site. So in February — that’s when I’ll do a page for 2019 with my top 10, best performances of the year, etc. I won’t be updating this page for awhile- a year or two and I always wait 10 years to include new films in the top 500. For example, I’ll probably update this page in 2021 and will include films from 2010 and earlier.