TSPDT

Dear film and list lovers, welcome to the 19th version of the 1,000 Greatest Films.

I trust your film-viewing has been rewarding over the past year, and that you have seen or re-seen many worthwhile films. With this in mind, I am hopeful that the newly updated 1,000 Greatest Films and beyond can further deepen your viewing experiences. That's what this thing is really all about.

This year's edition could be considered as the 'calm after the storm.' Despite being reasonably productive behind the scenes (721 more lists were added to the brew), this has ended up being a far more subdued update compared to last year's. After 2023's plentiful changes to the 1,000 Greatest Films listing (91 in total, due mostly to the Sight & Sound poll), this year has seen much less movement. This year's edition encompasses just twelve changes to the 1,000 Greatest Films. Only four films appear for the first time (After Hours, Miguel Gomes' Tabu, Shaun of the Dead and I Am Twenty), whilst the remaining eight are re-entries. The top-ten has remained exactly the same. The top-100 is 99% unchanged, with just one masterpiece (Sátántangó) replacing another (To Be or Not to Be).

In terms of sources, the number of best-of/all-time individual lists, used to compile the 1,000 Greatest Films, now tallies 9,664. The number of miscellaneous lists used (genre-based, decade-based, country-based, etc.) now sits at 6,351. That equals 16,015 unique lists in total.

In summary, here is an abbreviated breakdown of the 9,664 individual best-of/all-time ballots used (these are classified as A-Lists here), or if you like, from where I have begged, borrowed and stolen:

Sight & Sound 1952-2022 (4,100 ballots)
Rotten Tomatoes 2003-2023 (243 ballots) UPDATED
Senses of Cinema 2000-2007 (201 ballots)
Filmes do Chico 2005-2017 (194 ballots)
Kino Muzeum’s 2015 poll (183 ballots)
A.Frame 2020-2023 (147 ballots) NEW
Nickel Odeon 1994-1998 (136 ballots)
Positif’s 1991 & 2019 polls (132 ballots)
Time Out's 1995 poll (128 ballots)
La Cinetek 2014-2023 (123 ballots) UPDATED
Cinephilia's 2012 poll (121 ballots) UPDATED
Kinema Junpo 1989-2009 (113 ballots)
Your Movie Database (YMDB) Critics Corner 2002-2005 (102 ballots)
El Mundo's 1995 poll (100 ballots) UPDATED
PBS Independent Lens 2005-2008 (83 ballots)
Film-Magazine's (Iran) 2009 poll (82 ballots)
John Kobal Presents the Top 100 Movies [Book] (1988) (81 ballots)
Le CiNéMa Club 2015-2023 (79 ballots) UPDATED
Steadycam's 2007 poll (79 ballots)
Facets 2003-2008 (76 ballots)
Empire 1989-2020 (75 ballots)
The Cinematheque's Top 10 Project 2005-2009 (74 ballots)
One-Line Review's 2009 poll (69 ballots)
El Pais 2009-2010 (60 ballots)
HKCinema 2011-2022 (58 ballots)
Cut Insight 2012-2018 (53 ballots) UPDATED
Cinematheque Belgique's 1952 poll (54 ballots)
Cinema Review's 2002 poll (51 ballots)
Faróis do Cinema 2010-2015 (51 ballots)
Libre Journal du Cinéma's 2009 poll (50 ballots)
IONCINEMA.com 2009-2020 (50 ballots)
Plus 2,516 more ballots from a variety of other sources.

TSPDT’s Top 10 Greatest Films
1. Citizen Kane (1)
2. Vertigo (2)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (3)
4. Tokyo Story (4)
5. The Rules of the Game (5)
6. The Godfather (6)
7. 8½ (7)
8. Sunrise (8)
9. The Searchers (9)
10. The Seven Samurai (10)

Listed below are the biggest climbers and sliders in this year’s edition:

Top Climbers within the 1,000
Paper Moon (1973), 841 to 738 (up 103)
My Own Private Idaho (1991), 725 to 640 (up 85)
Caro diario (1993), 975 to 897 (up 78)
Y tu mamá también (2001), 823 to 747 (up 76)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), 974 to 898 (up 76)

Highest Entrants into the 1,000
After Hours (1985), ranked 876
The Ice Storm (1997), ranked 942
Tabu (2012), ranked 949
Shaun of the Dead (2004), ranked 963
Summer with Monika (1953), ranked 966

Biggest Sliders within the 1,000
Russian Ark (2002), 497 to 548 (down 51)
Othello (1951), 916 to 961 (down 45)
Il Grido (1957), 681 to 725 (down 44)
Triumph of the Will (1935), 697 to 740 (down 43)
Arabian Nights (1974), 950 to 992 (down 42)

Biggest Sliders from the 1,000
The Long Farewell (1971), formerly ranked 932
Mother India (1957), formerly ranked 936
Not Reconciled (1965), formerly ranked 949
Elevator to the Gallows (1958), formerly ranked 963
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), formerly ranked 978

Narrowed down from a starting list of 23,907 films, this is quite possibly the most definitive guide to the most-acclaimed movies of all-time. At the very least it is a rather spiffy place for all budding/established film buffs to commence/enhance their cinematic experiences. So what are you waiting for? Start that checklist now!

The Starting List, with full rankings, can be viewed here (as an online sortable table) or via the traditional EXCEL spreadsheet (also very sortable, of course). If you're viewing the spreadsheet, please note that I only began allocating rankings to every film in 2015, therefore full rankings are unavailable for the 2006-2014 editions.

Thank you to everyone that has contributed lists and/or lent their support towards this venture over the years. A special mention to Anastasis Stamelou, in particular, for all his many list submissions.

You Can Help… If you have access to any additional film lists from critics and/or filmmakers that you think I may have missed (that is, those not mentioned here), then of course I’d love to see them. Please send all lists to bill@theyshootpictures.com. And, as always, I would love to read any feedback (good, bad, or otherwise) you have on this ongoing project. And, yes, if you see any mistakes (and there will be!), please let me know.

Begin browsing the 1,000 Greatest Films by alphabetical order, descending ranking order, ascending ranking order or chronological order.