Top 10 Movies of All Time

[Udaman]

We have a thread on the top 10 movies of the decade...how about your top 10 of all time. Mine would be

10. It's a Wonderful Life
9. Glory
8. Dead Poet's Society
7. Ben Hur
6. E.T.
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Patton
3. Star Wars
2. The Godfather
1. Cinema Paradiso

(closely out of the top 10 would be Rocky, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, A Fish Called Wanda, Pulp Fiction, Pricilla - Queen of the Desert, Annie Hall and Titanic)

[Kimist]

"All time" opens a lot of doors and perspectives.

One would think Godfather II, GWTW, and Casablanca should be worthy of serious consideration. Bridge on the River Kwai, The Graduate (!), and Jaws are not far behind.

Then you toss in visual treats such as Lawrence of Arabia, or the directorial skills shown by Alfred Hitchcock (Notorious and Psycho as examples) who could present a great story that required you to pay attention.

And for any number of reasons, I also like Shawshank Redemption and A Beautiful Mind. Schindler's List is definitely there, but I find it difficult to watch. Sophie's Choice produces similar feelings. Greatest? Well, hard to say....

k

[davekay1971]

Big question, and I'm very limited by not having watched a ton of older movies. But of the ones I've seen...

Raiders of the Lost Ark - to me, a perfect popcorn action movie, stuffed full of iconic moments, incredibly rewatchable.

Godfather II - I give the edge to Godfather II over the original thanks to DeNiro's performance as the young Vito Corleone.

Jaws - Every moment on the boat is note perfect. "We're gonna need a bigger boat." Great, great line.

Glory - My favorite moment - Matthew Broderick standing on the beach before the final battle, and he absolutely knows he's going to die, and you can see how sad and scared he is at that thought, but there is no doubt he's going to lead his men into battle. The definition of courage, and an acting moment I never would have thought Ferris Beuller could deliver.

Unforgiven - Freeman, Eastwood, Hackman, and Harris are all perfect in their roles. Great story, perfect ending.

Alien - Ridley Scott creates a phenomenal atmosphere of suspense. Captain Dallas in the airshafts was a perfect scene.

Blade Runner (Director's Cut) - The movie had flaws (Decker's basically rape of Sean Young's character being the biggest in my mind...never was sure how to take that scene, but I didn't like it at all), but without the voiceovers and with the dark, foreboding ending, a great movie that steps into the top 10 for redefining sci-fi.

Drunken Master II - Jackie Chan's masterpiece. A very funny movie with some of the best fight sequences you will ever see.

The Incredibles - Could easily have put Wall-E, Up, or Finding Nemo in this place, but I'll give a slight edge to The Incredibles and volunteer it as my one cartoon representative (yes, over the Disney classics even). There's a profound real-life message in this movie, as with Pixar's other best offerings, that you won't find in Snow White or Cinderella, as great as those movies are.

The Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa was the inspiration for countless Western movies, and this was his best work.

Honorable Mention: Saving Private Ryan, Heat, Fist of Legend, The Lord of the Rings, Die Hard, The Princess Bride, Goodfellas, Schindler's List, The Mission, The Dark Knight

[ArkieDukie]

My all time faves would include:

Forrest Gump
Back to the Future
Gone With the Wind

I have always liked BTTF because of the clever details like having the name of the mall change from the beginning of the movie (Twin Pines Mall) to the end of the movie (Lone Pine Mall). There are so many little hidden details that you can almost find something new every time you watch it.

"Raiders" was loads of fun as well.

[darthur]

This could change on any given day, but here's my list (based mostly on how much I enjoy watching them today, not on how influential/important they were):

Godfather/Godfather 2 (like other people so far, I prefer 2)
Casablanca
The Sixth Sense
The Sting
The Incredibles
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Lord of the Rings trilogy
The Big Lebowski
A Fish Called Wanda
Chinatown

As I mentioned in the other thread, if I am allowed to include TV, The Wire makes this list for me easily, and would perhaps even occupy the #1 spot.

[bird]

The Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa was the inspiration for countless Western movies, and this was his best work.


Dang, you stole my sleeper best movie ever.

The Seven Samurai hits strongly on multiple levels -- action-adventure, photography, philosophy, symbolism, tragedy, comedy, romance, character development, acting, directing, even music, and a perfect ending. It's a movie that makes you think. It even, at least to a degree, fails to play to my wife's critcism of the Japanese movies I tend to watch: everybody does not die (maybe not even a majority, depending on how you count).

Other movies that really stick with you, and work at multiple levels: Scheindler's List, Patton, Jaws, The Godfather, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters. Ben Hur gets a nod for the single best scene in movie-making -- the chariot race.

[snowdenscold]

I think my top 10 would be (in no particular order)

Lord of the Rings (sorry I'm counting trilogies)
Indiana Jones
Star Wars (original)
Casablanca
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
LA Confidential
Gosford Park
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Office Space
Shawshank Redemption

Honorable Mentions:
Love Actually (deal with it haha)
Gattaca
Good Will Hunting
Back to the Future
The Village
Usual Suspects
The Red Violin


I have like 10 more honorable mentions but I had to draw the line somewhere...

[RainingThrees]

City of God has to be in there. A thread like this has so many choices that it boggles my brain trying to come up with even a top 20.

[roywhite]

Honorable Mentions:
Love Actually (deal with it haha)


Thank you; I've found a fellow traveler!

Love Actually has become my favorite Christmas-time movie. I've seen it once this season so far, and will go for viewing #2 on Christmas Eve. Never fails to bring a few tears and several laughs.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

It's difficult to imagine a Best Films list without at least one Peter Sellers movie. While many of the Pink Panther movies might be popular choices, I think his best film is "Being There."

On the surface, it's a comedy and is loaded many laughs, humorous lines and scenes, but there are layers of meaning and symbolism to be explored. I've used it in teaching those aspiring to be teachers or principals, but could imagine it being used in an MBA program or public policy program. It's quite a treatise on how people believe what they want to and how easily many can be influenced by something or someone they don't understand and won't admit they don't understand.

For those interested in such details, it was filmed at the Biltmore House as was The Swan, a popular Grace Kelly movie.

[Deslok]

The category of best Peter Sellers films begins and ends with Dr. Strangelove. While Being there is a good movie, I wouldn't give it much thought to putting it in a top 10, but I'd think long and hard about including Dr. Strangelove. Off the top of my head I might go something like:

Lawrence of Arabia
Casablanca
12 Angry Men
The Godfather(don't make me pick between I and II)
Some Like It Hot
On The Waterfront
Raging Bull
Schindler's List
Dr. Strangelove
Star Wars(though ESB was a better movie, I'd put this on for the awe inspiring thrill that I'm not sure has ever been duplicated)

[johnb]

10 movies I'd rewatch indefinitely? I can keep it to 9:

1. All About Eve (or Double Indemnity, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, etc.)
2. Godfather I or II (or Apocalypse Now or Blade Runner)
3. Bourne Series or Fight Club
4. Groundhog Day or Sullivan's Travels or Big Lebowski
5. Manhattan or Annie Hall
6. Rushmore or Royal Tenenbaums or Broken Flowers
7. Saving Private Ryan or Silence of the Lambs or Schindler's List
8. Taxi Driver or Pulp Fiction
9. Wizard of Oz or Casablanca

[rasputin]

I'm older than many of you, but not as old as this list would suggest:

10 Modern Times
9 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
8 Grand Hotel
7 Double Indemnity
6 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
5 Psycho
4 Chinatown
3 Gone With The Wind
2 Citizen Kane
1 Casablanca

I'm surprised at the lack of love for Hitchcock, film noir, and westerns on others' lists. I recognize that my # 9 may be a personal quirk.

[moonpie23]

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest HAS to be in there...

[Welcome2DaSlopes]

The Lion King.


CLASSIC

[Kimist]

It's difficult to imagine a Best Films list without at least one Peter Sellers movie. While many of the Pink Panther movies might be popular choices, I think his best film is "Being There."

On the surface, it's a comedy and is loaded many laughs, humorous lines and scenes, but there are layers of meaning and symbolism to be explored. I've used it in teaching those aspiring to be teachers or principals, but could imagine it being used in an MBA program or public policy program. It's quite a treatise on how people believe what they want to and how easily many can be influenced by something or someone they don't understand and won't admit they don't understand.

For those interested in such details, it was filmed at the Biltmore House as was The Swan, a popular Grace Kelly movie.

Ah yes - "Is there a Chance?"

I agree - an entertaining movie with much deeper meaning if you choose to delve into it. The Biltmore Estate scenery just added to the enjoyment.

k

[brevity]

I'm surprised at the lack of love for Hitchcock, film noir, and westerns on others' lists.

I'm abstaining from making a list here, as I don't think in base 10, but Rebecca and Rope would both be up there. As would The Usual Suspects, which is modern noir.

[davekay1971]

I'm surprised at the lack of love for Hitchcock, film noir, and westerns on others' lists. I recognize that my # 9 may be a personal quirk.


I felt a bit like an ignorant savage not having any Hitchcock on my list, and freely admit that is simply a failing of my viewing habits over the years. The only Hitchcock I've seen is The Birds, which was excellent. Can one make a top 10 list never having seen Psycho or North by Northwest? Only if one qualifies by freely admitting that there's plenty of great stuff I haven't seen yet!

As for Noir, I muddled around with the idea of Devil in a Blue Dress, a nice bit of modern film noir...Don Cheadle's performance made him instantly one of my favorite actors. LA Confidential also deserves a nod.

[Deslok]

To me, Hitchcock drops a litter of films in the top 100, but none in the top 10. A fabulous director who produced more good work than just about anyone, but just lacking that slight extra to make it an OMG that's one of the best films ever.

[Cavlaw]

Blade Runner (Director's Cut) - The movie had flaws (Decker's basically rape of Sean Young's character being the biggest in my mind...never was sure how to take that scene, but I didn't like it at all), but without the voiceovers and with the dark, foreboding ending, a great movie that steps into the top 10 for redefining sci-fi.

I never got into Blade Runner, perhaps because I saw it after reading the Philip K. Dick novel on which it is based, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The movie is a pale shadow of the novel, which may have ruined my potential enjoyment of it had the order of my experiences been reversed.

[darthur]

I never got into Blade Runner, perhaps because I saw it after reading the Philip K. Dick novel on which it is based, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The movie is a pale shadow of the novel, which may have ruined my potential enjoyment of it had the order of my experiences been reversed.

I actually read the book after seeing the movie, and liked the movie better. The book certainly covered more ground, but the extra stuff didn't really do that much for me.

As for Hitchcock, I believe he deserves more credit for being consistent and being first than for being best. I would say The Fugitive, The Bourne Identity, and Memento all do similar things to what Hitchcock does, and all do it at just as well. Of course, I also think a couple of his classics like Psycho and Vertigo have aged pretty badly, so probably a lot of people disagree here will disagree with my assessment.

[jimbonelson]

no one has mentioned braveheart yet, one of my all time favorite movies

[rasputin]

I felt a bit like an ignorant savage not having any Hitchcock on my list, and freely admit that is simply a failing of my viewing habits over the years. The only Hitchcock I've seen is The Birds, which was excellent. Can one make a top 10 list never having seen Psycho or North by Northwest? Only if one qualifies by freely admitting that there's plenty of great stuff I haven't seen yet!

As for Noir, I muddled around with the idea of Devil in a Blue Dress, a nice bit of modern film noir...Don Cheadle's performance made him instantly one of my favorite actors. LA Confidential also deserves a nod.

You're self-deprived! Here's rasputin's personal Hitchcock Top 10 list, in chronological order. Although it's just my list, except as noted, these are all generally regarded as at or near the top for Hitch. If you thought The Birds was excellent, you're in for a real treat, because IMO that one is a minor classic, one not worthy of this list.

1. The 39 Steps (1935). One of many where the protagonist is simultaneously being chased by the authorities, who think he's committed a crime, and by the "real" bad guys.
2. The Lady Vanishes (1938). Like # 1, it's a spy thriller. Young lady befriends older lady at a chalet prior to their getting on the train the next day. The older one vanishes, and not only can't she be found, but everybody insists she was never there. This premise was homaged in a recent Jodie Foster film, I think.
3. Rebecca (1940). Hitch's first "American" film, although it's set in Monte Carlo and England; it won Best Picture (but not Director). We never see the character of Rebecca, who is Laurence Olivier's late wife; he marries Joan Fontaine and they return to his mansion, where she is constantly haunted by the lingering presence of her predecessor. A stunning acting performance by Dame Judith Anderson as one of the servants who was ridiculously devoted to Rebecca.
4. Shadow of a Doubt (1943). Some people wouldn't list this one here, but it's near the top of my list and was reported to be the director's personal favorite. Young woman (named Charlie) worships her namesake Uncle Charlie, who comes for a visit and she sees another side of him.
5. Notorious (1946). This is another spy movie, starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, and featuring superb supporting actors, especially Claude Rains as a most sympathetic villain.
6. Strangers on a Train (1951). Ne'er-do-well rich guy who hates his father meets famous tennis player on a train and proposes that they swap murders.
7. Rear Window (1954). Jimmy Stewart is a professional photographer apartment-bound because of a broken leg, and whiles away his time peering with binoculars into the apartment building across the way. Oh, and Grace Kelly never looked better.
8. Vertigo (1958). This one is harder to describe; Stewart again, with Kim Novak this time as the blonde. You could say that San Francisco is the real star here.
9. North By Northwest (1959). Another incarnation of the simultaneous chase (see # 1). There are two scenes from this movie that are absolutely immortal, those being the end sequence at Mount Rushmore, and the crop-dusting scene.
10. Psycho (1960). This one everybody knows.

One other thing about Hitchcock's movies, especially the later ones on this list, is the music. Bernard Herrmann did the music scores for many of these, and the music in Vertigo and Psycho is especially effective.

[Rich]

I thought those reading this post would be interested in watching this -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594Oxq4c0XA. How many of these films can you name?

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

[ncexnyc]

I thought those reading this post would be interested in watching this -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594Oxq4c0XA. How many of these films can you name?

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

I got 74, several movies had more than one quote, with Casablanca having the most. Here are the movies I was able to ID:
Casablanca
Tresure of the Sierra Madre
Sunset Boulevard
Citizen Kane
All About Eve
Dracula
Animal House
Top Gun
Titanic
Dr No
Jerry MacGuire
King Kong
Gone With The Wind
Goldfinger
Silence of the Lambs
Apocalypse Now
Forest Gump
Caddyshack
The Godfather
Wall Street
Lord of the Rings
Field of Dreams
The Shining
Dirty Dancing
A Street Car Named Desire
The Sixth Sense
Airplane
2001: A Space Odessy
Taxi Driver
The Graduate
On The Waterfront
Terminator 2
Dirty Harry
Dr Strangelove
Apollo 13
Jaws
Wizard of Oz
Chinatown
Terminator
Poltergeist
Scarface
Rocky
Casablanca
Annie Hall
The Jolson Story
Network
Little Caeser
Casablanca
The Empire Strikes Back
Midnight Cowboy
ET
Knute Rockne: All American
The Maltese Falcon
The Godfather 2
Psycho
To Have and Have Not
The Graduate
Dirty Harry
A Few Good Men
Casablanca
The Wizard of Oz
Planet of the Apes
A League of Our Own
In The Heat of The Night
Bonnie & Clyde
On Golden Pond
It's A Wonderful Life
Jerry MacGuire
Love Story
Casablanca
White Heat
Shane
Frankenstein
Pride of the Yankees
Casablanca

Casablanca definitely had the most quotes in this piece. With such memorable lines, it's no wonder that it has so many fans even after all these years.