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100 Favorite Films of All Time

 A RAW Note: For a different type of ranking, see my and Siskel & Ebert's Top 10 by year as well as current ratings. As of 9/16/00, I finished viewing the American Film Institute's Top 100 Movies of All Time, a respectable list that balances artistic innovation with mainstream sensibilities. Most of them were utterly amazing, unequivocal masterpieces, and about half of them became instant favorites. Here is my personal Top 100.

  1. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick (1968)





  2. Waking Life - Richard Linklater (2001)





  3. Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese (1976)





  4. A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick (1971)






  5. The Godfather Saga - Francis Ford Coppola (1972, 1974, 1990)





  6. Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
  7. The Bridge on the River Kwai - David Lean (1957)
  8. Persona - Ingmar Bergman (1966)
  9. Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino (1994)
  10. In the Mood for Love / Fa yeung nin wa - Wong Kar-Wai (2000)
  11. Mulholland Dr. - David Lynch (2001)
  12. Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola (1979, Redux - 2001)
  13. Raging Bull - Martin Scorsese (1980)
  14. Bowling For Columbine - Michael Moore (2002)
  15. Hidden / Caché - Michael Haneke (2005)
  16. My Life to Live / Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux - Jean-Luc Godard (1962)
  17. Citizen Kane - Orson Welles (1941)
  18. Blade Runner - Ridley Scott (1982)
  19. 8 1/2 - Federico Fellini (1963)
  20. Nanking - Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman (2007)
  21. Requiem For a Dream - Darren Aronofsky (2000)
  22. Un Chien Andalou - Luis Bunuel (1928)
  23. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring / Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom - Ki-duk Kim (2003)
  24. Schindler's List - Steven Spielberg (1993)
  25. Sicko - Michael Moore (2007)
  26. The Corporation - Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott (2003)
  27. Gone With the Wind - Victor Fleming (1939)
  28. Casablanca - Michael Curtiz (1942)
  29. On the Waterfront - Elia Kazan (1954)
  30. The Elephant Man - David Lynch (1980)
  31. Ikiru / To Live - Akira Kurosawa (1952)
  32. Eraserhead - David Lynch (1977)
  33. The Believer - Henry Bean (2001)
  34. Tokyo monogatari / Tokyo Story - Yasujiro Ozu (1953)
  35. North By Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock (1959)
  36. Before Sunset/Before Sunrise - Richard Linklater (2004, 1995)
  37. Trois Couleurs: Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge / Three Colors: Blue, White, and Red - Krzysztof Kieslowski (1993, 1994)
  38. JFK - Oliver Stone (1991)
  39. Indiana Jones Saga - Steven Spielberg (1981, 1989, 1984)
  40. Star Wars Saga - George Lucas (1977, 1980, 2005, 1983, 1999, 2002)
  41. Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean (1962)
  42. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - Frank Capra (1939)
  43. It's a Wonderful Life - Frank Capra (1946)
  44. The Battleship Potemkin - Sergei Eisenstein (1925)
  45. Amadeus - Milos Forman (1984)
  46. The Manchurian Candidate - John Frankenheimer (1962)
  47. Hiroshima Mon Amour - Alain Resnais (1959)
  48. Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) - Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid
  49. Boyz N Da Hood - John Singleton (1991)
  50. I Stand Alone / Seul contre tous - Gaspar Noe (1998)
  51. The Truman Show - Peter Weir (1998)
  52. Platoon - Oliver Stone (1986)
  53. The Ice Storm - Ang Lee (1997)
  54. The King of Comedy - Martin Scorsese (1983)
  55. Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder (1944)
  56. A Christmas Story - Bob Clark (1983)
  57. City Lights - Charles Chaplin (1931)
  58. Hero / Ying xiong - Zhang Yimou (2003)
  59. Sunset Boulevard - Billy Wilder (1950)
  60. The Matrix - Andy and Larry Wachowski (1999)
  61. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston (1948)
  62. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly / Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il - Sergio Leone (1967)
  63. Chinatown - Roman Polanski (1974)
  64. Short Cuts - Robert Altman (1993)
  65. Shine - Scott Hicks (1996)
  66. The Graduate - Mike Nichols (1967)
  67. L'Avventura - Michelangelo Antonioni (1960)
  68. Children of Heaven / Bacheha-Ye aseman - Majid Majidi (1998)
  69. The Terminator Series - James Cameron (1984, 1991)
  70. Happiness - Todd Solondz (1998)
  71. The Wizard of Oz - Victor Fleming (1939)
  72. Network - Sidney Lumet (1976)
  73. The Celebration / Festen - Thomas Vinterberg (1998)
  74. The Trial - Orson Welles (1962)
  75. The Maltese Falcon - John Huston (1941)
  76. Enter the Dragon - Robert Clouse (1973)
  77. Tootsie - Sydney Pollack (1982)
  78. Aguirre, The Wrath of God / Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes - Werner Herzog (1977)
  79. In Cold Blood - Richard Brooks (1967)
  80. Annie Hall - Woody Allen (1977)
  81. The Son / Le Fils - Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (2002)
  82. Midnight Cowboy - John Schlesinger (1969)
  83. Leaving Las Vegas - Mike Figgis (1995)
  84. Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder (1959)
  85. The Shining - Stanley Kubrick (1980)
  86. Being John Malkovich - Spike Jonze (1999)
  87. Cries and Whispers - Ingmar Bergman (1973)
  88. The Mother and The Whore / La Maman et la putain - Jean Eustache (1973)
  89. There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
  90. No Country For Old Men - Joel and Ethan Coen (2007)
  91. Dog Day Afternoon - Sidney Lumet (1975)
  92. Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Tarintino (1992)
  93. Harold and Maude - Hal Ashby (1971)
  94. Back to the Future - Robert Zemickis (1985)
  95. Planet of the Apes - Franklin J. Schaffner (1968)
  96. Cinema Paradiso - Giuseppe Tornatore (1988)
  97. Marty - Delbert Mann (1955)
  98. Easy Rider - Dennis Hopper (1969)
  99. Solaris / Solyaris - Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
  100. Singin' in the Rain - Gene Kelly (1952)
Honorable Mention: Paper Moon - Peter Bogdanovich (1973)

Links

My Favorte Movie Resource: Top 10s Galore
BFI: Sight and Sound, AFI: Official Page | Top 100 Films | Top 100 (Text)
Academy Awards: Oscars Official Page | Winners/Nominees | Winners/Nominees (6 Categories) , Golden Globes: Home | Coverage

Lists: Siskel & Ebert Top 10 Lists from 1969 (also RAW too) | Ebert on the Chicago Sun-Times | IMDB | CinePad 100 Best Movies | Reel.com: The Best Place to Buy Movies | 100 Most Influential People in Film History | An Interesting Public's Top 100 Movies, Actors, Actresses, Directors | Box-Office Top 100 American Films | Village Voice | Rotten Tomatoes | A RAW Tribute to Homer Simpson: The Greatest Television Character of All Time | A RAW Tribute to the Longest Lasting Series: The James Bond Series

Film: Glossary
Theatre: Directing Terms | Dictionary




Favorite Directors

  1. Stanley Kubrick
  2. David Lynch
  3. Wong Kar-Wai
  4. Ingmar Bergman
  5. Yasujiro Ozu
  6. Sergio Leone
  7. Martin Scorsese
  8. Zhang Yimou
  9. Akira Kurosawa
  10. Richard Linklater
  11. Jean-Luc Godard
  12. Federico Fellini
  13. Michael Moore
  14. Francis Ford Coppola
  15. Gaspar Noe
  16. Billy Wilder
  17. Orson Welles
  18. Alfred Hitchcock
  19. Charles Chaplin
  20. Darren Aronofsky
  21. Woody Allen
  22. Luis Bunuel
  23. Robert Altman
  24. Paul Thomas Anderson
  25. Quentin Tarantino
  26. Errol Morris
  27. Pedro Almodovar
  28. Jim Jarmusch
  29. Krzysztof Kieslowski
  30. Alejandro González Iñárritu
  31. Michael Haneke
  32. Ang Lee
  33. Steven Spielberg
  34. Oliver Stone
  35. Kevin Smith
  36. Satyajit Ray
  37. David Lean
  38. Maya Deren
  39. Lars von Trier
  40. Dario Argento
  41. Christopher Guest
  42. Spike Lee
  43. Frank Capra
  44. Hayao Miyazaki
  45. Werner Herzog
  46. Danny Boyle
  47. Francois Truffaut
  48. Deepa Mehta
  49. Todd Solondz
  50. Robert Bresson
  51. Sergei Eisenstein
  52. David Cronenberg
  53. The Dardenne Brothers
  54. Andrei Tarkovsky
  55. Aleksandr Sokurov
  56. Mike Leigh
  57. Edgar Wright
  58. Sidney Lumet
  59. Roman Polanski
  60. Elia Kazan
  61. Paul Greengrass
  62. Terry Zwigoff
  63. The Coen Brothers
  64. Michelangelo Antonioni
  65. Peter Weir
  66. Alexander Payne
  67. Peter Bogdanovich
  68. Mel Brooks
  69. Alain Resnais
  70. Ridley Scott







Favorite Actors

  1. Robert De Niro
  2. Marlon Brando
  3. Al Pacino
  4. Humphrey Bogart
  5. Dustin Hoffman
  6. James Stewart
  7. Tony Leung Chiu Wai
  8. Ben Kingsley
  9. Robert Duvall
  10. Samuel L. Jackson
  11. Jim Carrey
  12. Russell Crowe
  13. Philip Seymour Hoffman
  14. Christopher Walken
  15. Will Ferrell
  16. Daniel Day-Lewis
  17. Javier Bardem
  18. Billy Bob Thornton
  19. Sean Connery
  20. Geoffrey Rush
  21. Jack Nicholson
  22. John Malkovich
  23. Bruce Lee
  24. Gene Hackman
  25. Michael Caine
  26. Alec Guinness
  27. Ryan Gosling
  28. Jamie Foxx
  29. Tommy Lee Jones
  30. Ed Harris
  31. Edward Norton
  32. Morgan Freeman
  33. Willem Dafoe
  34. Josh Brolin
  35. Sean Penn






Favorite Actresses

  1. Charlize Theron
  2. Katharine Hepburn
  3. Naomi Watts
  4. Audrey Hepburn
  5. Vivien Leigh
  6. Amy Adams
  7. Michelle Williams
  8. Zhang Ziyi
  9. Ingrid Bergman
  10. Ellen Burstyn
  11. Marisa Tomei
  12. Scarlett Johansson
  13. Alison Lohman
  14. Diane Keaton
  15. Monica Bellucci
  16. Helen Hunt
  17. Janet Leigh
  18. Jodie Foster
  19. Meryl Streep
  20. Kate Winslet
  21. Cate Blanchett
  22. Julianne Moore
  23. Michelle Pfeiffer
  24. Julie Christie
  25. Judi Dench
  26. Kelly MacDonald
  27. Rachel McAdams
  28. Radha Mitchell
  29. Natalie Portman
  30. Kim Basinger


 





Favorite Characters

  1. Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver)
  2. Alex DeLarge (Malcolm MacDowell in A Clockwork Orange)
  3. Michael Corleone (Al Pacino in The Godfather Saga)
  4. Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando in The Godfather)
  5. Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction)
  6. Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet)
  7. Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront)
  8. Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood)
  9. Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men)
  10. Joey Norton (Richie Andrusco in Little Fugitive)
  11. Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron in Monster)
  12. Samuel Spade (Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon)
  13. Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now)
  14. Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall in The Godfather Parts I and II)
  15. Jake La Motta (Robert De Niro in Raging Bull)
  16. David Helfgott (Geoffrey Rush in Shine)
  17. Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade)
  18. Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro in The King of Comedy)
  19. Don Logan (Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast)
  20. The Lieutenant (Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant)
  21. Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon)
  22. Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan)
  23. Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights)
  24. Harmonica (Charles Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West)
  25. Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot)
  26. Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci in Goodfellas)
  27. HAL 9000 (Douglas Rain in 2001: A Space Odyssey)
  28. Pvt. Gomer Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket)
  29. James Conway (Robert De Niro in Goodfellas)
  30. Winston "The Wolf" Wolfe (Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction)
  31. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs)
  32. Joey La Motta (Joe Pesci in Raging Bull)
  33. T-1000 (Robert Patrick in Terminator 2)
  34. T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, Terminator 2)
  35. Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey in The Truman Show)
  36. Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For a Dream)
  37. Chazz Reinhold (Will Ferrell in Wedding Crashers)
  38. The Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood in The Dollars Trilogy: Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly)
  39. Jen (Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
  40. Aaron Stampler/Roy (Edward Norton in Primal Fear)
  41. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson in The Shining)
  42. Fredo Corleone (John Cazale in The Godfather Parts I and II)
  43. John Doe (Kevin Spacey in Seven)
  44. Mitch Leary/John Booth/James Carney (John Malkovich in In the Line of Fire)
  45. The Joker (Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Jack Nicholson in Batman)
  46. Jefferson Smith (James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
  47. Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro in Mean Streets)
  48. Max Cady (Robert De Niro in Cape Fear)
  49. Dr. Evil/Austin Powers (Mike Myers in The Austin Powers Series)
  50. Djay (Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow)
  51. Arnie Grape (Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape)
  52. Milton Waddams (Stephen Root in Office Space)
  53. Beavis and Butt-head (Mike Judge in Beavis and Butt-head Do America)
  54. Mickey and Mallory Knox (Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers)
  55. Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen (Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb in Sid and Nancy)





Favorite Movie Composers

  1. Ennio Morricone
  2. Bernard Herrmann
  3. Philip Glass
  4. John Williams
  5. Nino Rota
  6. Glover Gill
  7. Angelo Badalamenti
  8. Clint Mansell
  9. Leonard Bernstein
  10. Maurice Jarre
  11. Alan Silvestri
  12. Max Steiner
  13. Hans Zimmer
  14. Lalo Schifrin
  15. Danny Elfman




Favorite Movie Music Themes

This ranking reflects how I feel about the combined experience of the movie AND its theme. It does not reflect how I would rank the piece as a piece BY ITSELF.
  1. Blade Runner - Vangelis
  2. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Ennio Morricone
  3. Suspiria - The Goblins
  4. Waking Life - Glover Gill
  5. A Clockwork Orange (Main Theme/Symphony No. 9 in d minor) - Walter Carlos/Beethoven
  6. Shine (The "Rach 3" - Piano Concerto No. 3 in d minor) - Rachmaninoff
  7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Also Sprach Zarathustra) - Richard Strauss
  8. Taxi Driver - Bernard Herrmann
  9. Au Hasard Balthazar (Piano Sonata No. 20) - Schubert
  10. Vertigo - Bernard Herrmann
  11. Pink Floyd: The Wall - Roger Waters
  12. Brief Encounter (The "Rach 2" - Piano Concerto No. 2 in c minor) - Rachmaninoff
  13. JFK - John Williams
  14. Mulholland Dr. - Angelo Badalamenti
  15. Un Chien Andalou - Richard Wagner
  16. Once Upon a Time in the West - Ennio Morricone
  17. Once Upon a Time in America - Ennio Morricone
  18. The Elephant Man (Adagio) - Barber/John Morris
  19. The Godfather - Nino Rota
  20. Requiem For a Dream - Clint Mansell
  21. Juliet of the Spirits - Nino Rota
  22. Barry Lyndon (Piano Trio Op. 100) - Schubert
  23. 8 1/2 - Nino Rota
  24. Kill Bill Vol. 1 - Tomoyasu Hotei
  25. Deep Red / Profondo Rosso - The Goblins
  26. The Fog of War - Philip Glass
  27. Trois Couleurs: Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge / Three Colors: Blue, White, and Red - Zbigniew Preisner
  28. Platoon (Adagio) - Barber
  29. Solaris / Solyaris (Choral Prelude in F minor) - Bach
  30. Fistful of Dollars - Ennio Morricone
  31. Gone With the Wind - Max Steiner
  32. Goodfellas - Derek & The Dominos
  33. Raging Bull (Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana) - Pietro Mascagni
  34. The Battleship Potemkin (Symphony No. 5, etc.) - Shostakovich
  35. Double Indemnity - Miklos Rozsa
  36. North by Northwest - Bernard Herrmann
  37. Schindler's List - John Williams
  38. Cinema Paradiso - Andrea and Ennio Morricone
  39. Millions - John Murphy
  40. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - John Williams
  41. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - John Williams
  42. Metropolis
  43. Raiders of the Lost Ark - John Williams
  44. Back to the Future - Alan Silvestri
  45. For a Few Dollars More - Ennio Morricone
  46. My Life to Live - Michel Legrand
  47. Pi - Clint Mansell
  48. Tokyo Story - Kojun Saitô
  49. The Apu Trilogy - Ravi Shankar
  50. The Red Violin - John Corigliano
  51. Eyes Wide Shut (Waltz No. 2 from Jazz Suite) - Shostakovich
  52. Singin' in the Rain - Gene Kelly
  53. The Bridge on the River Kwai - Malcolm Arnold
  54. Forrest Gump - Alan Silvestri
  55. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope - John Williams
  56. Glory - James Horner
  57. James Bond Series - Monty Norman
  58. E.T. - John Williams
  59. Dancer in the Dark - Bjork, Lars von Trier, Sjon Sigurdsson
  60. Lawrence of Arabia - Maurice Jarre
  61. Psycho - Bernard Herrmann
  62. The Matrix - Don Davis
  63. The Sixth Sense - James Newton Howard
  64. American in Paris - George Gershwin
  65. Mission: Impossible - Danny Elfman/Lalo Schifrin
  66. Casablanca - Max Steiner/Doolie Wilson
  67. The Terminator - Brad Fiedel
  68. Apocalypse Now (The End) - The Doors
  69. Dances with Wolves
  70. Amadeus (Symphony No. 25) - Mozart
  71. The Rock - Nick Glennie-Smith/Hans Zimmer
  72. M*A*S*H (Suicide is Painless)
  73. Doctor Zhivago - Maurice Jarre
  74. The Apartment
  75. Midnight Cowboy - John Barry
  76. Close Encounters of the Third Kind - John Williams
  77. Pulp Fiction - Dick Dale And His Del-Tones
  78. He Got Game (Appalachian Spring) - Aaron Copland
  79. You Only Live Twice - Nancy Sinatra
  80. West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein
  81. The Hours - Philip Glass
  82. Citizen Kane - Bernard Herrmann
  83. Chungking Express - Frankie Chan
  84. Once - Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová
  85. Seven - Nine Inch Nails
  86. Natural Born Killers - Nine Inch Nails
  87. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - John Williams
  88. Lunes al sol, Los / Mondays in the Sun - Lucio Godoy
  89. Total Recall - Jerry Goldsmith
  90. The Third Man - Anton Karas
  91. In the Mood for Love / Fa yeung nin wa - Shigeru Umebayashi
  92. Hiroshima Mon Amour - Georges Delerue
  93. The Odd Couple
  94. Rear Window - Lalo Schifrin
  95. Easy Rider (Born to be Wild)
  96. The Graduate - Simon & Garfunkel
  97. Bonnie and Clyde
  98. The Deer Hunter (Cavatina) - Stanley Meyers
  99. A Streetcar Named Desire
  100. Goldfinger - Shirley Bassey



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