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the 301 Best Films of All Time

Not ranked these are most certainly the top films of all time.

I tried to make a list of 100, but it was dificult at best, and it left out so many great films I just kept going until I started getting to where I couldn't think of any more films to add to the list. I then tried to stop at 200, then 250, then 300 and finaly added just one more film to make it 301!

There are many reasons for being on the list & in some cases it becomes more than just the quality of the film itself. Steamboat Willie is the introduction of one of the most enduring film characters in history (Mickey Mouse) and achieves it's presence here with that addition to being an excellent film cartoon. The Jazz Singer, A Wild Hare, Frankenstein & a number of other films are boosted by similar events. Of course every film on the list is a wonderful film on it's own.

I could not possibly rank them in order but in my opinion, the single best film of all time has got to be William Wyler's epic gladiator flic "Ben Hur" with Charlton Heston in the title role and the film has the best film sequence of all time with the legendary Chariot Race.

See also this list sorted by Director and also see Best Film Sequences, Best Film Scenes, 20 Best Films Ranked, 10 Most Important Films

	FILM	YEAR	RANK	NOTE	DIRECTOR
1	2001 A Space Odyssey	1968			Stanley Kubrick
2	42nd Street	1934			Lloyd Bacon
3	Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein	1948			Charles Barton
4	Adventures of Robin Hood	1938			Michael Curtiz, William Keighly
5	African Queen, the	1951			John Huston
6	Alien	1979		best sci-fi/horror film of all time, icon status	Ridley Scott
7	Aliens	1986			James Cameron
8	All About Eve	1950			Joseph Mankiewicz
9	All Quiet on the Western Front	1930			Lewis Milestone
10	An American in Paris	1951			Vincente Minnelli
11	Angels With Dirty Faces	1938			Michael Curtiz
12	Apartment, the	1959			Billy Wilder
13	Apocalypse Now	1979			Francis Ford Coppola
14	Asphalt Jungle, the	1950			John Huston
15	Atlantic City	1980			Louis Malle
16	Babes in Toyland	1934		aka March of the Wooden Soldiers	Gus Meins, Charles H. Rogers
17	Bad and the Beautiful, The	1952			Vincente Minelli
18	Bank Dick, the	1940			Edward Cline (actually W.C.Fields)
19	Battleship Potemkin	1925			Sergei Eisenstein
20	Beau Geste	1939			William Wellman
21	Ben Hur	1959		THE best film of all time…. icon status	William Wyler
22	Best Years of Our Lives, the	1946			William Wyler
23	Big Heat, the	1953			Fritz Lang
24	Big Parade, the	1925			King Vidor
25	Big Sleep, the	1946		definitive noir detective, icon status	Howard Hawks
26	Birdman of Alcatraz	1962			John Frankenheimer
27	Birds, the	1963			Alfred Hitchcock
28	Birth of A Nation, the	1915		1st full length movie, icon status	David Wark Griffth
29	Black Cat, the	1934		ignored erotic horror classic	Edgar G. Ulmer
30	Black Pirate, the	1926			Albert Parker
31	Blue Angel, the	1930			Josef von Sternberg
32	Born Yesterday	1950			George Cukor
33	Braveheart	1995			Mel Gibson
34	Brazil	1985			Terry Gilliam
35	Bride of Frankenstein	1935		best horror film of all time … icon status	James Whale
36	Bridge on the River Kwai, the	1957			David Lean
37	Broken Blossoms	1919			David Wark Griffth
38	Brute Force	1947			Jules Dassin
39	Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid	1969			George Roy Hill
40	Caine Mutiny	1954			Edward Dmytryk
41	Cape Fear	1962			J. Lee Thomson
42	Casablanca	1942		icon status	Michael Curtiz
43	Champ, the	1931			King Vidor
44	Champion	1949			Mark Robson
45	Cheat, the	1916			Cecil B. DeMille
46	Chinatown	1974			Roman Polanski
47	Circus, the	1928			Charles Chaplin
48	Citizen Kane	1941		icon status	Orson Welles
49	City Lights	1931			Charles Chaplin
50	Cleopatra	1934			Cecil B. DeMille
51	Clockwork Orange, a	1971			Stanley Kubrick
52	Color Purple	1983			Steven Spielberg
53	Cool Hand Luke	1967			Stuart Rosenberg
54	Crowd, the	1928			King Vidor
55	D.O.A.	1950			Rudolph Mate
56	Dances With Wolves	1990			Kevin Costner
57	Dark Passage	1947			Delmer Davies
58	Dawn Patrol, the	1927			Howard Hawks
59	Day at the Races, a	1937			Sam Wood
60	Day the Earth Stood Still, the	1951		Best SF movie ever?	Robert Wise
61	Dead End	1937			William Wyler
62	Defiant Ones, the	1958			Stanley Kramer
63	Desperate Hours, the	1956			William Wyler
64	Detective Story	1951			William Wyler
65	Detour	1945		definitive Film Noir, icon status	Edgar G. Ulmer
66	Double Indemnity	1944			Billy Wilder
67	Double Life, a	1947			George Cukor
68	Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler	1922			Fritz Lang
69	Dr. No	1962		intro of the true "spy", icon status	Terrence Young
70	Dr. Strangelove	1964			Stanley Kubrick
71	Dracula	1931		icon status	Tod Browning
72	Duck Soup	1933			Leo McCarey
73	Duellists, the	1976		fabulous period piece	Ridley Scott
74	Dumbo	1941			Walt Disney -Ben Sharpstein
75	Easy Rider	1969		icon status	Dennis Hopper
76	Elmer Gantry	1960			Richard Brooks
77	Empire Strikes Back, the	1981			Irvin Kershner
78	Exorcist, the	1974			William Friedkin
79	Eyes Wide Shut	1999			Stanley Kubrick
80	Fantasia	1940			Walt Disney & more
81	Fargo	1996			Coen Brothers
82	Five Easy Pieces	1971			Bob Rafelson
83	Flash Gordon (serials)	1936			Frederick Stephani
84	Forbidden Planet	1956			Fred M. Wilcox
85	Forrest Gump	1994			Robert Zemeckis
86	Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The	1921			Rex Ingram
87	Frankenstein	1931		icon status	James Whale
88	French Connection, the	1975			William Friedkin
89	From Here to Eternity	1954			Fred Zinneman
90	Fury	1936			Fritz Lang
91	Gaucho, the	1928			F. Richard Jones
92	General Died At Dawn, the	1936			Lewis Milestone
93	General, the	1927			Buster Keaton
94	Gentlemen Prefer Blondes	1952	Marilyn at her best		Howard Hawks
95	Gertie the Dinosaur	1914			Winsor McCay
96	Giant	1956			George Stevens
97	Godfather II, the	1976			Francis Ford Coppola
98	Godfather, the	1972		icon status	Francis Ford Coppola
99	Godzilla, King of the Monsters	1956			Ishiro Honda, Terry Morse
100	Gold Rush, the	1925			Charles Chaplin
101	Goldfinger	1964			Guy Hamilton
102	Gone With the Wind	1939		icon status	Victor Fleming
103	Good, the Bad & the Ugly, the	1967			Sergio Leone
104	Grand Illusion	1938			Jean Renoir
105	Grapes of Wrath, the	1940			John Ford
106	Great Dictator, the	1940			Charles Chaplin
107	Great Escape, the	1963			John Sturges
108	Great Train Robbery, the	1903		frst popular film with a complete story & characters	Edwin S. Porter
109	Greed	1925			Eric von Stroheim
110	Green Mile, the	1999			Frank Darabont
111	Gulliver's Travels	1939			Dave Fleisher
112	Gunfight at OK Corral	1957			John Sturges
113	Gunfighter, the	1950			Henry King
114	Gunga Din	1939			George Stevens
115	Guns of Navarone	1961			J. Lee Thompson
116	Guys & Dolls	1955			Joseph Mankiewicz
117	Hello Dolly	1969			Gene Kelly
118	High Noon	1952		icon status	Fred Zinneman
119	High Sierra	1941			Raoul Walsh
120	Hombre	1967			Martin Ritt
121	How the West Was Won	1962			John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, Richard Thorpe
122	Hunchback of Notre Dame, the	1939			William Dieterle
123	Hunchback of Notre Dame, the	1923			Wallace Worsely
124	Hustler, the	1961			Robert Rossen
125	I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang	1931			Mervyn LeRoy
126	I Walk Alone	1947			Byron Haskin
127	If I Were King	1938			Frank Lloyd
128	In a Lonely Place	1950			Nicholas Ray
129	In the Heat of the Night	1967			Norman Jewison
130	Informer, the	1935			John Ford
131	Inherit the Wind	1960			Stanley Kramer
132	Interview With the Vampire	1999			Neil Jordan
133	Intolerance	1916			David Wark Griffith
134	It Happened One Night	1934			Frank Capra
135	It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World	1963			Stanley Kramer
136	It's A Wonderful Life	1946		icon status	Frank Capra
137	Jaws	1975		icon status	Steven Spielberg
138	Jazz Singer, the	1927		first talkie film, icon status	Alan Crosland
139	Jerimiah Johnson	1972			Sidney Pollack
140	Joyless Street, the	1925			G. W. Pabst
141	Judgement at Nuremburg	1960			Stanley Kramer
142	Kabinett des Doktor Caligari, Das	1919		the penultimate bad dream	Robert Wiene
143	Key Largo	1948			John Huston
144	Killers, the	1946			Robert Siodmak
145	King Kong	1933		best animated movie ever, icon status	Merian C. Cooper, Ernest Schoedsack
146	Kiss Me Deadly	1956			Robert Aldrich
147	Kiss of Death	1947			Henry Hathaway
148	Kiss, the	1896		first popular film	William Heise
149	Knife in the Water	1962			Roman Polanski
150	La Belle et la Bette	1946		beauty & the beast, fantastic	Jean Cocteau
151	La Dolce Vita	1960			Federico Fellini
152	La Strada	1954			Federico Fellini
153	Last Laugh, the	1925			F. W. Murnau
154	Last Waltz, the	1978			Martin Scorcese
155	Lawrence of Arabia	1961			David Lean
156	Leaving Las Vegas	1994			Mike Figgis
157	Lifeboat	1944			Alfred Hitchcock
158	Little Caesar	1931		icon status	Mervyn LeRoy
159	Lodger, the	1926			Alfred Hitchcock
160	Lost Horizon	1937			Frank Capra
161	Lost Patrol, the	1935			John Ford
162	Lost Weekend, the	1945			Billy Wilder
163	Lost World, the	1925		1st feature animated film, intro of dinosaurs to film	Harry Hoyt
164	M	1931		ultra classic crime noir film	Fritz Lang
165	*MASH**	1970			Robert Altman
166	Magnificent Seven, the	1962		icon status	John Sturges
167	Maltese Falcon, the	1941		icon status	John Huston
168	Man From Planet X, the	1951		top alien visitation film noir	Edgar G. Ulmer
169	Man in the White Suit	1951			Alexander Mackendrick
170	Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the	1962			John Ford
171	Manchurian Candidate, the	1962		the Ultimate cold war film	John Frankenheimer
172	Mark of Zorro	1923			Fred Niblo
173	Matrix, the	1999			Wachowski Brothers
174	Metropolis	1926		1st top SF film, icon status	Fritz Lang
175	Midnight Cowboy	1969			John Schlesinger
176	Midsummer Night's Dream, a	1935		a forgotten classic	Max Reinhardt
177	Mister Roberts	1955			John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy, Joshua Logan
178	Modern Times	1936			Charles Chaplin
179	Mr. Deeds Goes to Town	1936			Frank Capra
180	Mr. Smith Goes to Washington	1939			Frank Capra
181	Mummy, the	1932			Karl Freund
182	Murder My Sweet	1944		a top noir thriller	Edward Dmytryk
183	Mutiny on the Bounty	1935			Frank Lloyd
184	My Darling Clemintine	1946			John Ford
185	Natural Born Killers	1994			Oliver Stone
186	Natural, the	1984		how can anyone forget the final home run?	Barry Levinson
187	Nevada Smith	1966			Henry Hathaway
188	Nibelungen: Siegfried, Die	1924			Fritz Lang
189	Night at the Opera, A	1935			Sam Wood
190	Night of the Hunter	1955			Charles Laughton
191	North by Northwest	1959			Alfred Hitchcock
192	Nosferatu	1922		best vampire film	F. W. Murnau
193	Nosferatu	1979		incredible mise-en-scene remake	Werner Herzog
194	Nothing Sacred	1937			William Wellman
195	Odd Couple, the	1968		icon status	George Saks
196	Oklahoma	1955			Fred Zinneman
197	Olympiad	1937			Leni Riefenstahl
198	On the Beach	1959			Stanley Kramer
199	On the Waterfront	1954			Elia Kazan
200	Once Upon A Time in America	1984			Sergio Leone
201	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	1975			Milos Forman
202	Orpheus	1950			Jean Cocteau
203	Out of the Past	1947			Jacques Tourneur
204	Paths of Glory	1957			Stanley Kubrick
205	Perils of Pauline, the	1914		first popular serial	Louis J. Gasnier, Donald MacKenzie
206	Petrified Forest	1936			Archie Mayo
207	Phantom of the Opera, the	1925			Rupert Julian
208	Philadelphia Story, the	1940			George Cukor
209	Pink Panther, the	1963			Blake Edwards
210	Pinocchio	1940			Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen
211	Place in the Sun, a	1951			George Stevens
212	Platoon	1986			Oliver Stone
213	Predator	1987			John McTiernan
214	Pride of the Yankees	1942			Sam Wood
215	Prisoner of Zenda, the	1937		after Robin Hood (1938), the next best swashbuckler	John Cromwell
216	Psycho	1961		oh that shower scene	Alfred Hitchcock
217	Public Enemy, the	1931		best mobster film	William Wellman
218	Pulp Fiction	1994			Quentin Tarantino
219	Raging Bull	1980		best boxing film	Martin Scorcese
220	Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981			Steven Spielberg
221	Ran	1985			Akira Kurasawa
222	Rashomon	1950			Akira Kurasawa
223	Rebel Without A Cause	1955		ultimate teen coming of age film	Nicholas Ray
224	Red Shoes, the	1948		a forgotten classic	Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
225	Road Warrior, the	1981			George Miller II
226	Roaring Twenties, the	1939			Raoul Walsh
227	Robin Hood	1922			Alan Dwan
228	Romeo & Juliet	1936		ultimate love story	George Cukor
229	Runaway Train	1985		written by Akira Kurasawa	Andrei Konchalovsky
230	Safety Last	1923			Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
231	Sahara	1943			Zoltan Korda
232	Samson & Delilah	1949			Cecil B. DeMille
233	Sand Pebbles, the	1966			Robert Wise
234	Saving Private Ryan	1998			Steven Spielberg
235	Scarlet Street	1945			Fritz Lang
236	Searchers, the	1956			John Ford
237	Sergeant York	1941			Howard Hawks
238	Seven Samaurai, the	1956		icon status, interesting how the literal translation is the Magnificent Seven !	Akira Kurasawa
239	Seventh Seal, the	1957			Ingmar Bergman
240	Shane	1953		icon status	George Stevens
241	Shawshank Redemption, the	1994			Frank Darabont
242	She Wore A Yellow Ribbon	1948			John Ford
243	Sheik, the	1921			George Melford
244	Singin' in the Rain	1953			Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
245	Sixth Sense, the	1999			M. Night Shyamalan
246	Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs	1937		1st feature length cartoon, icon status	David Hand
247	Some Like It Hot	1959		icon status	Billy Wilder
248	Sound of Music, the	1965			Robert Wise
249	Spartacus	1960		icon status	Stanley Kubrick
250	Spellbound	1945			Alfred Hitchcock
251	Spione (Spies)	1928		highly underated thriller	Fritz Lang
252	Stagecoach	1939		icon status	John Ford
253	Stalag 17	1953			Billy Wilder
254	Star Trek, Wrath of Khan	1982			Nicholas Meyer
255	Star Wars	1977		icon status	George Lucas
256	Steamboat Willie	1928		1st Mickey Mouse, icon status	Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks
257	Sting, the	1973			George Roy Hill
258	Story of G.I.Joe, the	1945		best GI film ever	William Wellman
259	Stranger, the	1946			Orson Welles
260	Strangers on a Train	1950			Alfred Hitchcock
261	Streetcar Named Desire, a	1951			Elia Kazan
262	Sunrise	1927			F. W. Murnau
263	Sunset Boulevard	1950		ultra classic hollywood story	Billy Wilder
264	Tarzan, the Ape Man	1932		it's Tarzan !! icon status	W. S. Van Dyke
265	Taxi Driver	1976			Martin Scorcese
266	Ten Commandments, the	1956			Cecil B. DeMille
267	Terminator II	1992			Bruno Mattei
268	Terminator, the	1984		unforgetable SF, icon status	James Cameron
269	Testament des Dr. Mabuse, Das	1933		Fritz Lang's final episode	Fritz Lang
270	Thief of Bagdad, the	1940			Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger
271	Thief of Bagdad, the	1924			Raoul Walsh
272	Thin Man, the	1934			W. S. Van Dyke
273	Thing, the	1982			John Carpenter
274	Things to Come	1936			William Cameron Menzies
275	Third Man, the	1947			Carol Reed
276	Three Musketeers, the	1921			Fred Niblo
277	Time Machine, the	1962			George Pal
278	To Kill a Mockingbird	1962			Robert Mulligan
279	Top Hat	1935			Mark Sandrich
280	Touch of Evil	1958		classic, dig the three & a half minute opening camera shot.	Orson Welles
281	Tramp, the	1915		icon status	Charles Chaplin
282	Treasure of the Sierra Madre, the	1948			John Huston
283	True Grit	1969		quintisential western, icon status	Henry Hathaway
284	Twelve O'Clock High	1949			Henry King
285	Unforgiven	1992		quintisential western	Clint Eastwood
286	Usual Suspects, the	1995			Bryan Singer
287	Viva Zapata	1952			Elia Kazan
288	Voyage dans la lune, Le	1902		1st SF film, revolutionary processes	George Melies
289	War of the Worlds	1953		unforgetable SF	George Pal
290	Way Down East	1920			David Wark Griffith
291	West Side Story	1961		best musical film ever	Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
292	What Dreams May Come	1998			Vincent Ward
293	White Heat	1949		top mobster film	Raoul Walsh
294	Wild Bunch, the	1969		quintisential viloence film	Sam Peckinpah
295	Wild Hare, a	1940		1st Bugs Bunny	Tex Avery
296	Wings	1927			William Wellman
297	Wizard of Oz, the	1939			Victor Fleming (also King Vidor, Richard Thorpe)
298	Wolf Man, the	1941		icon status	George Wagner
299	Woodstock	1970		quintissential rock & roll film, Robert Scorcese was an editor on this film	Michael Wadleigh
300	Yankee Doodle Dandy	1942			Michael Curtiz
301	Yojimbo	1961			Akira Kurasawa

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