Favorites of All Time: [Films] [Directors] [Actors] [Actresses] [Characters] [Composers] [Themes]
Other: [Links] [Front] [Home]


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 - Kim Ki-duk (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 Midnight/Before Sunset/Before Sunrise - Richard Linklater (2013, 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 the Hood - John Singleton (1991)
  50. I Stand Alone / Seul contre tous - Gaspar Noe (1998)
  51. The Truman Show - Peter Weir (1998)
  52. Last Year at Marienbad / L'Année derničre ŕ Marienbad - Alain Resnais (1961)
  53. Sophie's Choice - Alan J. Pakula (1982)
  54. The Ice Storm - Ang Lee (1997)
  55. The King of Comedy - Martin Scorsese (1983)
  56. Double Indemnity - Billy Wilder (1944)
  57. A Christmas Story - Bob Clark (1983)
  58. City Lights - Charles Chaplin (1931)
  59. Hero / Ying xiong - Zhang Yimou (2003)
  60. Sunset Boulevard - Billy Wilder (1950)
  61. Inception - Christopher Nolan (2010)
  62. The Matrix - Andy and Larry Wachowski (1999)
  63. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston (1948)
  64. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly / Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il - Sergio Leone (1967)
  65. Chinatown - Roman Polanski (1974)
  66. Short Cuts - Robert Altman (1993)
  67. Shine - Scott Hicks (1996)
  68. The Graduate - Mike Nichols (1967)
  69. L'Avventura - Michelangelo Antonioni (1960)
  70. Children of Heaven / Bacheha-Ye aseman - Majid Majidi (1998)
  71. The Terminator Series - James Cameron (1984, 1991)
  72. Happiness - Todd Solondz (1998)
  73. The Wizard of Oz - Victor Fleming (1939)
  74. Network - Sidney Lumet (1976)
  75. The Celebration / Festen - Thomas Vinterberg (1998)
  76. The Trial - Orson Welles (1962)
  77. The Maltese Falcon - John Huston (1941)
  78. Enter the Dragon - Robert Clouse (1973)
  79. Tootsie - Sydney Pollack (1982)
  80. Aguirre, The Wrath of God / Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes - Werner Herzog (1977)
  81. In Cold Blood - Richard Brooks (1967)
  82. Annie Hall - Woody Allen (1977)
  83. The Son / Le Fils - Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (2002)
  84. Midnight Cowboy - John Schlesinger (1969)
  85. Leaving Las Vegas - Mike Figgis (1995)
  86. Some Like It Hot - Billy Wilder (1959)
  87. The Shining - Stanley Kubrick (1980)
  88. Being John Malkovich - Spike Jonze (1999)
  89. Cries and Whispers - Ingmar Bergman (1973)
  90. The Mother and The Whore / La Maman et la putain - Jean Eustache (1973)
  91. There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
  92. No Country For Old Men - Joel and Ethan Coen (2007)
  93. Dog Day Afternoon - Sidney Lumet (1975)
  94. Reservoir Dogs - Quentin Tarintino (1992)
  95. Harold and Maude - Hal Ashby (1971)
  96. Back to the Future - Robert Zemickis (1985)
  97. Planet of the Apes - Franklin J. Schaffner (1968)
  98. Easy Rider - Dennis Hopper (1969)
  99. Sátántangó - Tarr Béla (1994)
  100. Solaris / Solyaris - Andrei Tarkovsky (1972)
Honorable Mentions: Singin' in the Rain - Gene Kelly (1952), 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 1967 (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. Ingmar Bergman
  3. Orson Welles
  4. Charles Chaplin
  5. Yasujiro Ozu
  6. David Lynch
  7. Wong Kar-Wai
  8. Sergio Leone
  9. Martin Scorsese
  10. Akira Kurosawa
  11. Quentin Tarantino
  12. Richard Linklater
  13. Jean-Luc Godard
  14. Federico Fellini
  15. Michael Moore
  16. Francis Ford Coppola
  17. Billy Wilder
  18. Alfred Hitchcock
  19. Darren Aronofsky
  20. The Dardenne Brothers
  21. Gaspar Noe
  22. Michael Haneke
  23. Woody Allen
  24. Robert Altman
  25. Paul Thomas Anderson
  26. Errol Morris
  27. Pedro Almodovar
  28. Jim Jarmusch
  29. Krzysztof Kieslowski
  30. Satyajit Ray
  31. Alejandro González Ińárritu
  32. Zhang Yimou
  33. Luis Bunuel
  34. David Lean
  35. Maya Deren
  36. Lars von Trier
  37. Hayao Miyazaki
  38. Werner Herzog
  39. Robert Bresson
  40. Sergei Eisenstein
  41. Andrei Tarkovsky
  42. Tarr Béla
  43. Aleksandr Sokurov
  44. Kim Ki-duk
  45. Ang Lee
  46. Steven Spielberg
  47. Oliver Stone
  48. Kevin Smith
  49. Dario Argento
  50. Christopher Guest
  51. Spike Lee
  52. Frank Capra
  53. Danny Boyle
  54. Francois Truffaut
  55. Deepa Mehta
  56. Todd Solondz
  57. David Cronenberg
  58. Mike Leigh
  59. Edgar Wright
  60. Tim Burton
  61. Roman Polanski
  62. Chris Marker
  63. Christopher Nolan
  64. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
  65. Elia Kazan
  66. Andrea Arnold
  67. Terry Zwigoff
  68. Michelangelo Antonioni
  69. Peter Weir
  70. Hou Hsiao-Hsien
  71. Peter Bogdanovich
  72. Alain Resnais
  73. The Coen Brothers
  74. Sidney Lumet
  75. Claire Denis







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. Ricky Gervais
  12. Jim Carrey
  13. Russell Crowe
  14. Philip Seymour Hoffman
  15. Nicolas Cage
  16. Christopher Walken
  17. Will Ferrell
  18. Daniel Day-Lewis
  19. Javier Bardem
  20. Ryan Gosling
  21. Billy Bob Thornton
  22. Geoffrey Rush
  23. Jack Nicholson
  24. John Malkovich
  25. Bruce Lee
  26. Gene Hackman
  27. Michael Caine
  28. Alec Guinness
  29. Tommy Lee Jones
  30. Ed Harris
  31. Morgan Freeman
  32. Willem Dafoe
  33. Josh Brolin
  34. Sean Penn
  35. Michael Shannon






Favorite Actresses

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


 





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. Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds)
  17. David Helfgott (Geoffrey Rush in Shine)
  18. Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade)
  19. Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro in The King of Comedy)
  20. Don Logan (Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast)
  21. The Lieutenant (Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant)
  22. Addie Loggins (Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon)
  23. Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan)
  24. Heathcliff (Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights)
  25. Harmonica (Charles Bronson in Once Upon a Time in the West)
  26. Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot)
  27. Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci in Goodfellas)
  28. HAL 9000 (Douglas Rain in 2001: A Space Odyssey)
  29. Pvt. Gomer Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio in Full Metal Jacket)
  30. James Conway (Robert De Niro in Goodfellas)
  31. Winston "The Wolf" Wolfe (Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction)
  32. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter (Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs)
  33. Joey La Motta (Joe Pesci in Raging Bull)
  34. T-1000 (Robert Patrick in Terminator 2)
  35. T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, Terminator 2)
  36. Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey in The Truman Show)
  37. Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn in Requiem For a Dream)
  38. Chazz Reinhold (Will Ferrell in Wedding Crashers)
  39. 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)
  40. Jen (Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
  41. Aaron Stampler/Roy (Edward Norton in Primal Fear)
  42. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson in The Shining)
  43. Fredo Corleone (John Cazale in The Godfather Parts I and II)
  44. John Doe (Kevin Spacey in Seven)
  45. Mitch Leary/John Booth/James Carney (John Malkovich in In the Line of Fire)
  46. The Joker (Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Jack Nicholson in Batman)
  47. Jefferson Smith (James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
  48. Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro in Mean Streets)
  49. Max Cady (Robert De Niro in Cape Fear)
  50. Dr. Evil/Austin Powers (Mike Myers in The Austin Powers Series)
  51. Djay (Terrence Howard in Hustle and Flow)
  52. Arnie Grape (Leonardo DiCaprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape)
  53. Milton Waddams (Stephen Root in Office Space)
  54. Beavis and Butt-head (Mike Judge in Beavis and Butt-head Do America)
  55. Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges in True Grit)





Favorite Movie Composers

  1. Ennio Morricone
  2. Bernard Herrmann
  3. Philip Glass
  4. John Williams
  5. Nino Rota
  6. Vangelis
  7. Glover Gill
  8. Angelo Badalamenti
  9. Clint Mansell
  10. Leonard Bernstein
  11. Maurice Jarre
  12. Alan Silvestri
  13. A. R. Rahman
  14. Alexandre Desplat
  15. Max Steiner
  16. Hans Zimmer
  17. James Horner
  18. Lalo Schifrin
  19. Danny Elfman
  20. Johnny Jewel




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