As a bit of a movie buff, but not a "cinephile", I have seen a lot of movies in my life. So when the British Film Institute came out with their list of top movies a few years ago, I took a gander. Since I was 40 years old and had watched a ton of movies in my lifetime, I figured I'd had to have seen a bunch of them already. I checked out of the top 50 list I'd only seen 14. 14!!!!! Shi!t. So the past few years I've been on a mission to watch them all
After a lot of time spent at the library (checking out the movies for free), or Netflix or Amazon or iTunes or Youtube, I've finally been able to see all of the top 100 movies on the BFI list. What a ride!! I'm so happy that I decided to do it, even though some of the movies were difficult, it really has enriched my life.
Here's the top 50 list, but if anyone wants the full list (more than 200 movies) in an Excel spreadsheet format, just PM me and I'll be happy to send mine to you.
British Film Institute1 Vertigo 1958 Hitchcock
2 Citizen Kane 1941 Wells
3 Tokyo Story 1953 Ozu
4 The Rules of the Game 1939 Renoir
5 Sunrise 1927 Murnau
6 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Kubrick
7 The Searchers 1956 Ford
8 Man with a Movie Camera 1929 Vertov
9 The Passion of Joan of Arc 1928 Dreyer
10 8½ 1963 Fellini
11 Battleship Potemkin 1925 Eisenstein
12 L'Atalante 1934 Vigo
13 Breathless 1960 Godard
14 Apocalypse Now 1979 Coppola
15 Late Spring 1949 Ozu
16 Au Hasard Balthazar 1966 Bresson
17 Seven Samurai 1954 Kurosawa
18 Persona 1966 Bergman
19 The Mirror 1975 Tarkovsky
20 Singin' in the Rain 1952 Donen & Kelly
21 L'Avventura 1960 Antonioni
22 The Godfather 1972 Coppola
23 Contempt 1963 Godard
24 Rashomon 1950 Kurosawa
25 Ordet 1955 Dreyer
26 In the Mood for Love 2000 Wong, Kar Wai
27 Andrei Rublev 1966 Tarkovsky
28 Mulholland Dr. 2001 Lynch
29 Stalker 1979 Tarkovsky
30 Shoah 1985 Lanzman
31 Taxi Driver 1976 Scorsese
32 The Godfather: Part II 1974 Coppola
33 Bicycle Thieves 1948 De Sica
34 Psycho 1960 Hitchcock
35 The General 1926 Keaton
36 Satantango 1994 Tarr
37 Metropolis 1927 Lang
38 Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles 1975 Akerman
39 La Dolce Vita 1960 Truffaut
40 The 400 Blows 1959 Truffaut
41 Pather Panchali 1955 Ray
42 Journey to Italy 1954 Rossellini
43 Pierrot le Fou 1965 Godard
44 Close-Up 1990 Kiarostami
45 Some Like It Hot 1959 Wilder
46 Playtime 1967 Tati
47 Gertrud 1964 Dreyer
48 Histoire(s) du cinéma: Toutes les histoires 1988 Godard
49 The Battle of Algiers 1966 Pontecorvo
50 City Lights 1931 Chaplin
American Film Institute1 CITIZEN KANE 1941
2 THE GODFATHER 1972
3 CASABLANCA 1942
4 RAGING BULL 1980
5 SINGIN' IN THE RAIN 1952
6 GONE WITH THE WIND 1939
7 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA 1962
8 SCHINDLER'S LIST 1993
9 VERTIGO 1958
10 THE WIZARD OF OZ 1939
11 CITY LIGHTS 1931
12 THE SEARCHERS 1956
13 STAR WARS 1977
14 PSYCHO 1960
15 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 1968
16 SUNSET BLVD. 1950
17 THE GRADUATE 1967
18 THE GENERAL 1927
19 ON THE WATERFRONT 1954
20 IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE 1946
21 CHINATOWN 1974
22 SOME LIKE IT HOT 1959
23 THE GRAPES OF WRATH 1940
24 E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL 1982
25 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 1962
26 MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON 1939
27 HIGH NOON 1952
28 ALL ABOUT EVE 1950
29 DOUBLE INDEMNITY 1944
30 APOCALYPSE NOW 1979
31 THE MALTESE FALCON 1941
32 THE GODFATHER PART II 1974
33 ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST 1975
34 SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS 1937
35 ANNIE HALL 1977
36 THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI 1957
37 THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES 1946
38 THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE 1948
39 DR. STRANGELOVE 1964
40 THE SOUND OF MUSIC 1965
41 KING KONG 1933
42 BONNIE AND CLYDE 1967
43 MIDNIGHT COWBOY 1969
44 THE PHILADELPHIA STORY 1940
45 SHANE 1953
46 IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT 1934
47 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE 1951
48 REAR WINDOW 1954
49 INTOLERANCE 1916
50 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID 1969
Filmsite Top 300 by DecadeThis is very interesting - it breaks the top 300 films (according to them) into decades instead of the usual "Best to Worst" rankings of other lists. I found this very useful:
http://www.filmsite.org/300films.htmlHere's a list of the 2 most recent decades they have:
The 1980's:Airplane! (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (tie)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Shining (1980)
Atlantic City (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Blade Runner (1982)
E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Poltergeist (1982)
The Road Warrior (1982)
Tootsie (1982)
The King of Comedy (1983)
Amadeus (1984)
The Terminator (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Brazil (1985)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Platoon (1986)
A Room With a View (1986)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Bull Durham (1988)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Field of Dreams (1989)
Glory (1989)
Henry V (1989) (tie)
When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
The 1990's:GoodFellas (1990)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
JFK (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
The Crying Game (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)
Groundhog Day (1993)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The Piano (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Babe (1995)
Toy Story (1995) (tie)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Fargo (1996)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Titanic (1997)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
American Beauty (1999)
The Matrix (1999)
Toy Story 2 (1999) (tie)