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  The 1,000 Greatest Films The Top 250 (1-25)  
  • The 1,000 Greatest Films Home  • The Top 250 Films  • The Top 100 Directors  • Full List by Ranking  • Full List by Title  • Full List by Director  • Full List by Year  • Full List by Country • Alternative Titles  
  The Top 250 Films: • 1-25  • 26-50   • 51-75   • 76-100  • 101-150  • 151-200  • 201-250  
     
   
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  • Here is the supposed cream of the crop. Based on our calculations, these are the 250 most critically acclaimed films of all-time. If you've only seen a handful of these, then you better get cracking! Or then again, please yourself.  
  • Alongside each director's name is the position each film held prior to our December 2007 update. For each film, we've also included a list of 5 well-known critics and/or filmmakers that have included it in their best-film-of-all-time lists.  
  • Follow the above links to view the full list of 1,000 films either by ranking, title, by director, by year or by country.   
     
 
 1    2    3
Citizen Kane
ORSON WELLES (1)
1941 | 119m | BW | USA | Drama, Period Film
"Far and away  the most surprising and cinematically exciting motion picture to have been seen here in many a moon. As a matter of fact, it comes close to being the most sensational film ever made in Hollywood." - Bosley Crowther 
Selected by Ken Russell, Ridley Scott, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, John Walker.
Amazon  Bright Lights Film Journal  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
 
Vertigo
ALFRED HITCHCOCK (3)
1958 | 128m | Col | USA | Romantic Mystery, Psychological Thriller
"Of all Hitchcock's films the one nearest to perfection. Indeed, its profundity is inseparable from the perfection of form: it is a perfect organism, each character, each sequence, each image, illuminating each other." - Robin Wood, Hitchcock's Film's Revisited, 1989
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Robin Buss, Amy Taubin, Stig Bjorkman, Catherine Breillat.
Amazon  Images Journal  Bright Lights Film Journal
 
The Rules of the Game
JEAN RENOIR (2)
1939 | 113m | BW | France | Comedy Drama, Comedy of Manners
"How brilliantly Renoir focuses the confusion! The rather fusty luxury of the chateau, the constant mindless slaughter of wild animals, the minuets of adultery and seduction, the gavottes of mutual hatred or mistrust..." - Basil Wright, 1972
Selected by Carrie Rickey, Carlos Diegues, David Robinson, Yvonne Rainer, Thomas Elsaesser.
Amazon  The Criterion Collection  The A.V. Club
         
         
 
         
         
 4    5    6
2001: A Space Odyssey
STANLEY KUBRICK (4)
1968 | 139m | Col | UK | Science Fiction, Psychological Sci-Fi
"A parable of a future toward which metaphysical dread and mordant amusement trip side by side...I have never seen the death of the mind rendered more profoundly or poetically...." - Andrew Sarris
Selected by Bennett Miller, Tony Scott, Chris Hegedus, Michel Chion, Alex Cox.
Amazon  kubrick2001.com  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
 
FEDERICO FELLINI (5)
1963 | 135m | BW | Italy | Satire, Psychological Drama
"A film only an exceptional personality like Fellini could have considered...the film fresco is majestic, fascinating and complex." - Il Messagero
Selected by David Ehrenstein, John Walker, Martin Scorsese, Istvαn Szabσ, F. Gary Gray.
Amazon  Strictly Film School  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films
 
The Godfather
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA (7)
1972 | 175m | Col | USA | Gangster Film, Crime Drama
"One of the most brutal and moving chronicles of American life ever designed within the limits of popular entertainment." - Vincent Canby, New York Times
Selected by Robin Buss, Bobby Farrelly, Ty Burr, Molly Haskell, Carl Franklin.
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  metacritic
          
 7    8    9
The Searchers
JOHN FORD (9)
1956 | 119m | Col | USA | Western, Revisionist Western
"The best western ever made...Wayne was never better than as as the tormented, potentially murderous Ethan, and John Ford stages heartbreaking moments in the action-packed plot." - Empire, 1994
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, Barry Norman, Bill Rothman.
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Images Journal
 
The Seven Samurai
AKIRA KUROSAWA (6)
1954 | 200m | BW | Japan | Samurai Film, Drama
"It is as sheer narrative, rich in incisiveness and sharp observation, that it makes its strongest impact...It provides a fascinating display of talent, and places its director in the forefront of creative film-makers of his generation." - Gavin Lambert, Sight & Sound
Selected by Ridley Scott, John Walker, Antoine Fuqua, John Sayles, Philip Kaufman.
Amazon  Bright Lights Film Journal  Senses of Cinema
 
Tokyo Story
YASUJIRO OZU (8)
1953 | 134m | BW | Japan | Drama, Family Drama
"There is treasure for everyone in Tokyo Story...a film that encompasses so much of the viewer's life, that you are convinced that you have been in the presence of someone who you knew very well." - Stanley Kauffman
Selected by Paul Schrader, Robin Buss, Geoff Andrew, Karel Reisz, Aki Kaurismδki.
Amazon  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films  Strictly Film School
         
 10    11    12
Sunrise
F.W. MURNAU (11)
1927 | 110m | BW | USA | Melodrama, Romantic Drama
"The best foreign film ever made in the United States...Released in the last year of silent film (1927), it remains one of the pinnacle achievements of that lost art." - Dave Kehr
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Carrie Rickey, Carlos Diegues, Gavin Smith, Vincent Ward.
Amazon  Village Voice  Strictly Film School
 
Singin' in the Rain
STANLEY DONEN & GENE KELLY (10)
1952 | 102m | Col | USA | Musical, Showbiz Comedy
"The greatest musical ever made...also one of the few musicals where the screenplay...is as entertaining as the numbers themselves." - NFT Bulletin, 1975
Selected by Nick James, Chris Hegedus, Irene Bignardi, Barry Norman, Bryan Forbes.
Amazon  The Village Voice  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
 
Battleship Potemkin
SERGEI EISENSTEIN (12)
1925 | 65m | BW | Russia | Historical Film, Political Drama
"A dynamic early motion picture masterpiece that is a thrilling experience. One of the world's great films." - Judith Christ
Selected by Robin Buss, Michael Mann, Ronald Neame, Roger Corman, Joel Schumacher.
Amazon  Senses of Cinema  Film as Art
         
 13    14    15
Lawrence of Arabia
DAVID LEAN (13)
1962 | 216m | Col | UK | Epic, British Empire Film
"Here is an epic with intellect behind it, an unforgettable display of action staged with artistry. A momentous story told with moral force...A revolutionary film in possessing an epic hero whom it doesn't hero-worship." - Alexander Walker, Evening Standard
Selected by Ridley Scott, Martin Campbell, John Walker, Andrew Stanton, Roger Michell.
Amazon  Screen Online  Washington Post
 
L'Atalante
JEAN VIGO (16)
1934 | 89m | BW | France | Drama, Romance
"The singular talent - for once I think I may say genius - of the film lies in its translation into visual images of the mysterious and terrible and piteous undertones of even the simplest human life." - Dilys Powell, 1943
Selected by Geoff Andrew, Jim Jarmusch, Michel Ciment, Gilles Jacob, Aki Kaurismδki.
Amazon  Slant Magazine  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
 
Bicycle Thieves
VITTORIO DE SICA (17)
1948 | 90m | BW | Italy | Family Drama, Urban Drama
"Vittorio De Sica's neo-realist masterpiece, about an impoverished young Roman's search for his stolen bicycle...One of the movies that shatters you, if you see it at a young, idealistic age." - Michael Wilmington
Selected by Robin Buss, Albert Maysles, Philip Kaufman, Charles Burnett, Guy Hamilton.
Amazon  Strictly Film School  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
          
 16    17    18
The Passion of Joan of Arc
CARL DREYER (14)
1928 | 77m | BW | France | Historical Film, Biography
"One of the greatest of all movies...Falconetti's Joan may be the finest performance ever recorded on film." - Pauline Kael
Selected by Bruce Beresford, Michael Mann, Jean-Michel Frodon, Gavin Smith, Donald Richie.
Amazon  Bright Lights Film Journal  Strictly Film School
 
The Godfather Part II
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA (18)
1974 | 200m | Col | USA | Gangster Film, Crime Drama
"The daring of Part II is that it enlarges the scope and deepens the meaning of the first film...It's an epic vision of the corruption of America." - Pauline Kael, New Yorker
Selected by Carrie Rickey, Alan Parker, Jonathan Glazer, Ann Hui, David Siegel.
Amazon  Chicago Reader  Pop Matters
 
Raging Bull
MARTIN SCORSESE (19)
1980 | 128m | BW | USA | Biography, Sports Drama
"Raging Bull is the most painful and heartrending portrait of jealousy in the cinema. It's the best film I've seen about the low self-esteem, sexual inadequacy and fear that lead some men to abuse women." - Roger Ebert
Selected by John Walker, Scott Hicks, Gillian Armstrong, Joe Dante, Karel Reisz.
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films
         
 19    20    21
Rashomon
AKIRA KUROSAWA (15)
1950 | 88m | BW | Japan | Drama, Samurai Film
"The film is much less formally daring than its literary source, but its virtues are still plentiful: Kurosawa's visual style at its most muscular, rhythmically nuanced editing, and excellent performances." - Tony Rayns, Time Out
Selected by Dennis Hopper, Carrie Rickey, Dusan Makavajev, Andrey Plakhov, Barry Norman.
Amazon  The Criterion Collection  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
 
Casablanca
MICHAEL CURTIZ (25)
1942 | 102m | BW | USA | Drama, War Romance
"The director's one enduring masterpiece is, of course, Casablanca, the happiest of happy accidents, and the most decisive exception to the auteur theory." - Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema, 1968
Selected by Michel Chion, Richard Lester, Sydney Pollack, George A. Romero, Norman Jewison.
Amazon  Roger Ebert's Great Movies  The A.V. Club
 
City Lights
CHARLES CHAPLIN (21)
1931 | 86m | BW | USA | Comedy Drama, Romance
"Every second of City Lights provides something to engage the attention. Not a gesture is superfluous, and the fountain of laughter and tears bubbles continuously." - A. Jympson Harman 
Selected by Paul Schrader, Carlos Diegues, Irene Bignardi, Bernardo Bertolucci, Joe Dante.
Amazon  CultureDose  Roger Ebert's Great Movies
           
 22    23    24
Touch of Evil
ORSON WELLES (22)
1958 | 108m | BW | USA | Film Noir, Psychological Thriller
"A terrifying, Goyaesque vision of corruption, and probably the most original thriller ever made." - Peter Bogdanovich, 1975
Selected by Philip Kaufman, Derek Malcolm, Bernardo Bertolucci, George A. Romero, Jonathan Romney.
Amazon  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films  Chicago Reader
See Also: 250 Quintessential Noir Films
 
The Third Man
CAROL REED (20)
1949 | 104m | BW | UK | Mystery, Psychological Thriller
"Just enough Orson Welles to please, not saturate...With the aid of exceptional camerawork and carefully paced direction, the suspense of the film is well-nigh physically overpowering." - Fortnight
Selected by John Sayles, Alan Parker, Paul Morrissey, Guy Hamilton, David Denby.
Amazon  Bright Lights Film Journal  Chicago Reader
See Also: 250 Quintessential Noir Films
 
La Dolce vita
FEDERICO FELLINI (23)
1960 | 175m | BW | Italy | Comedy Drama, Media Satire
"An awesome picture, licentious in content but moral and vastly sophisticated in its attitude and what it says." - Bosley Crowther
Selected by Neil LaBute, Paul Verhoeven, Alan Rudolph, Alexander Walker, Cameron Crowe.
Amazon  Striclty Film School  Boston Globe
          
 25        
Les Enfants du paradis
MARCEL CARNΙ (24)
1945 | 195m | BW | France | Period Film, Romantic Drama
"Close to perfection of its kind and I very much like its kind - the highest kind of slum-glamour romanticism about theater people and criminals, done with strong poetic feeling..." - James Agee, Nation
Selected by Kevin Thomas, Lewis Gilbert, Peter Cowie, Milos Forman, Joe Dante.
Amazon  Derek Malcolm's Century of Films  Senses of Cinema
 

 

• To 26-50

 
     
     
  • The 1,000 Greatest Films Home  • The Top 250 Films  • The Top 100 Directors  • Full List by Ranking  • Full List by Title  • Full List by Director  • Full List by Year  • Full List by Country • Alternative Titles  
  The Top 250  Films: • 1-25  • 26-50   • 51-75   • 76-100  • 101-150  • 151-200  • 201-250  
     

 

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"A film is a petrified fountain of thought." - Jean Cocteau   "If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed." - Stanley Kubrick