Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films by The Hollywood Reporter
"Who better to judge the best movies of all time than the people who make them? Studio chiefs, Oscar winners and TV royalty all were surveyed as THR publishes its first definitive entertainment-industry ranking of cinema's most superlative."
Weight: 80
Detractions
- Voted on by industry employee(s) (-20)
Films (100)
1. The Godfather
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola | Rated R | 175 min | 1972
The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
2. The Shawshank Redemption
Directed by Frank Darabont | Rated R | 142 min | 1994
Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.
3. Pulp Fiction
Directed by Quentin Tarantino | Rated R | 154 min | 1994
The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
4. The Godfather: Part II
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola | Rated R | 202 min | 1974
The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York is portrayed while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on his crime syndicate stretching from Lake Tahoe, Nevada to pre-revolution 1958 Cuba.
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
Directed by Stanley Kubrick | Rated G | 149 min | 1968
Humanity finds a mysterious, obviously artificial object buried beneath the Lunar surface and, with the intelligent computer H.A.L. 9000, sets off on a quest.
6. Casablanca
Directed by Michael Curtiz | Rated PG | 102 min | 1942
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
7. The Wizard of Oz
Directed by Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Mervyn LeRoy, Norman Taurog, King Vidor | 102 min | 1939
Dorothy Gale is swept away to a magical land in a tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard who can help her return home.
8. Citizen Kane
Directed by Orson Welles | 119 min | 1941
Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance.
9. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG | 115 min | 1982
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home-world.
10. Schindler's List
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated R | 195 min | 1993
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazi Germans.
11. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
Directed by George Lucas | Rated PG | 121 min | 1977
Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle-station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader.
12. Back to the Future
Directed by Robert Zemeckis | Rated PG | 116 min | 1985
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
13. Raiders of the Lost Ark
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG | 115 min | 1981
Archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis.
14. Forrest Gump
Directed by Robert Zemeckis | Rated PG-13 | 142 min | 1994
Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny Curran, eludes him.
15. Gone with the Wind
Directed by Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Rated G | 238 min | 1939
A manipulative Southern belle carries on a turbulent affair with a blockade runner during the American Civil War.
16. To Kill a Mockingbird
Directed by Robert Mulligan | 129 min | 1962
Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his kids against prejudice.
17. Apocalypse Now
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola | Rated R | 153 min | 1979
During the Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.
18. Annie Hall
Directed by Woody Allen | Rated PG | 93 min | 1977
Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditzy Annie Hall.
19. Goodfellas
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated R | 146 min | 1990
Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy.
20. It's a Wonderful Life
Directed by Frank Capra | Rated PG | 130 min | 1946
An angel helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed.
21. Chinatown
Directed by Roman Polanski | Rated R | 130 min | 1974
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption and murder.
22. The Silence of the Lambs
Directed by Jonathan Demme | Rated R | 118 min | 1991
A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.
23. Lawrence of Arabia
Directed by David Lean | Rated PG | 216 min | 1962
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
24. Jaws
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG | 124 min | 1975
When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and a grizzled fisherman set out to stop it.
25. The Sound of Music
Directed by Robert Wise | Rated G | 174 min | 1965
A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the children of a Naval officer widower.
26. Singin' in the Rain
Directed by Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | 103 min | 1952
A silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.
27. The Breakfast Club
Directed by John Hughes | Rated R | 97 min | 1985
Five high school students, all different stereotypes, meet in detention, where they pour their hearts out to each other, and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.
28. The Graduate
Directed by Mike Nichols | 106 min | 1967
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
29. Blade Runner
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated R | 117 min | 1982
A blade runner must pursue and try to terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
30. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Directed by Milos Forman | Rated R | 133 min | 1975
A criminal pleads insanity after getting into trouble again and once in the mental institution rebels against the oppressive nurse and rallies up the scared patients.
31. The Princess Bride
Directed by Rob Reiner | Rated PG | 98 min | 1987
While home sick in bed, a young boy's grandfather reads him a story called The Princess Bride.
32. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
Directed by Irvin Kershner | Rated PG | 124 min | 1980
After the rebels have been brutally overpowered by the Empire on their newly established base, Luke Skywalker takes advanced Jedi training with Master Yoda, while his friends are pursued by Darth Vader as part of his plan to capture Luke.
33. Fargo
Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Rated R | 98 min | 1996
Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
34. American Beauty
Directed by Sam Mendes | Rated R | 122 min | 1999
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
35. A Clockwork Orange
Directed by Stanley Kubrick | Rated X | 136 min | 1971
In future Britain, charismatic delinquent Alex DeLarge is jailed and volunteers for an experimental aversion therapy developed by the government in an effort to solve society's crime problem - but not all goes according to plan.
36. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Directed by John Hughes | Rated PG-13 | 103 min | 1986
A high school wise guy is determined to have a day off from school, despite what the principal thinks of that.
37. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Directed by Stanley Kubrick | Rated PG | 95 min | 1964
An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically try to stop.
38. When Harry Met Sally...
Directed by Rob Reiner | Rated R | 96 min | 1989
Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.
39. The Shining
Directed by Stanley Kubrick | Rated R | 146 min | 1980
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.
40. Fight Club
Directed by David Fincher | Rated R | 139 min | 1999
An insomniac office worker, looking for a way to change his life, crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker, forming an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more.
41. Psycho
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | Rated R | 109 min | 1960
A Phoenix secretary steals $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
42. Alien
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated R | 117 min | 1979
After a space merchant vessel perceives an unknown transmission as distress call, their landing on the source moon finds one of the crew attacked by a mysterious lifeform. Continuing their journey back to Earth with the attacked crew having recovered and the critter deceased, they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun.
43. Toy Story
Directed by John Lasseter | Rated G | 81 min | 1995
A cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's room.
44. The Matrix
Directed by Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Rated R | 136 min | 1999
A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.
45. Titanic
Directed by James Cameron | Rated PG-13 | 194 min | 1997
A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.
46. Saving Private Ryan
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated R | 169 min | 1998
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
47. Some Like It Hot
Directed by Billy Wilder | 120 min | 1959
When two musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.
48. The Usual Suspects
Directed by Bryan Singer | Rated R | 106 min | 1995
A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup.
49. Rear Window
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | 112 min | 1954
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbours from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
50. Jurassic Park
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG-13 | 127 min | 1993
During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok.
51. The Big Lebowski
Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Rated R | 117 min | 1998
"The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
52. All About Eve
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz | 138 min | 1950
An ingenue insinuates herself into the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends.
53. Good Will Hunting
Directed by Gus Van Sant | Rated R | 126 min | 1997
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
54. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Directed by George Roy Hill | Rated M | 110 min | 1969
Two Western bank/train robbers flee to Bolivia when the law gets too close.
55. Taxi Driver
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated R | 113 min | 1976
A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.
56. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Directed by Michel Gondry | Rated R | 108 min | 2004
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a procedure to have each other erased from their memories. But it is only through the process of loss that they discover what they had to begin with.
57. The Dark Knight
Directed by Christopher Nolan | Rated PG-13 | 152 min | 2008
When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, the caped crusader must come to terms with one of the greatest psychological tests of his ability to fight injustice.
58. Sunset Boulevard
Directed by Billy Wilder | 110 min | 1950
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
59. Thelma & Louise
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated R | 130 min | 1991
An Arkansas waitress and a housewife shoot a rapist and take off in a '66 Thunderbird.
60. Amélie
Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Rated R | 122 min | 2001
Amélie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.
61. West Side Story
Directed by Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise | 152 min | 1961
Two youngsters from rival New York City gangs fall in love, but tensions between their respective friends build toward tragedy.
62. North by Northwest
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | 136 min | 1959
A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.
63. Groundhog Day
Directed by Harold Ramis | Rated PG | 101 min | 1993
A weatherman finds himself living the same day over and over again.
64. Mary Poppins
Directed by Robert Stevenson | 139 min | 1964
A magic nanny comes to work for a cold banker's unhappy family.
65. Raging Bull
Directed by Martin Scorsese | Rated R | 129 min | 1980
An emotionally self-destructive boxer's journey through life, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring destroys his life outside it.
66. The Lion King
Directed by Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff | Rated G | 89 min | 1994
Lion cub and future king Simba searches for his identity. His eagerness to please others and penchant for testing his boundaries sometimes gets him into trouble.
67. Avatar
Directed by James Cameron | Rated PG-13 | 162 min | 2009
A paraplegic marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
68. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Directed by Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones | Rated PG | 91 min | 1975
King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.
69. Gladiator
Directed by Ridley Scott | Rated R | 155 min | 2000
When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by an emperor's corrupt son, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge.
70. Vertigo
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | Rated PG | 128 min | 1958
A San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
71. Almost Famous
Directed by Cameron Crowe | Rated R | 122 min | 2000
A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour.
72. Young Frankenstein
Directed by Mel Brooks | Rated PG | 106 min | 1974
An American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that he is not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.
73. All the President's Men
Directed by Alan J. Pakula | Rated PG | 138 min | 1976
"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
74. Blazing Saddles
Directed by Mel Brooks | Rated R | 93 min | 1974
To ruin a western town, a corrupt political boss appoints a black sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.
75. The Bridge on the River Kwai
Directed by David Lean | Rated PG | 161 min | 1957
After settling his differences with a Japanese PoW camp commander, a British colonel co-operates to oversee his men's construction of a railway bridge for their captors - while oblivious to a plan by the Allies to destroy it.
76. Brokeback Mountain
Directed by Ang Lee | Rated R | 134 min | 2005
The story of a forbidden and secretive relationship between two cowboys, and their lives over the years.
77. Ghostbusters
Directed by Ivan Reitman | Rated PG | 105 min | 1984
Three former parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service.
78. 12 Angry Men
Directed by Sidney Lumet | 96 min | 1957
A jury holdout attempts to prevent a miscarriage of justice by forcing his colleagues to reconsider the evidence.
79. WALL·E
Directed by Andrew Stanton | Rated G | 98 min | 2008
In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
80. On the Waterfront
Directed by Elia Kazan | 108 min | 1954
An ex-prize fighter turned longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses.
81. Amadeus
Directed by Milos Forman | Rated R | 160 min | 1984
The incredible story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri - now confined to an insane asylum.
82. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Directed by Peter Jackson | Rated PG-13 | 178 min | 2001
A meek Hobbit and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the One Ring and the Dark Lord Sauron.
83. Die Hard
Directed by John McTiernan | Rated R | 131 min | 1988
John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save his wife Holly Gennaro and several others that were taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
84. Inception
Directed by Christopher Nolan | Rated PG-13 | 148 min | 2010
A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.
85. Se7en
Directed by David Fincher | Rated R | 127 min | 1995
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.
86. Beauty and the Beast
Directed by Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise | Rated G | 84 min | 1991
Belle, whose father is imprisoned by the Beast, offers herself instead, unaware her captor to be an enchanted prince.
87. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Directed by Peter Jackson | Rated PG-13 | 201 min | 2003
Gandalf and Aragorn lead the World of Men against Sauron's army to draw his gaze from Frodo and Sam as they approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.
88. Slumdog Millionaire
Directed by Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan | Rated R | 120 min | 2008
A Mumbai teen reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
89. Braveheart
Directed by Mel Gibson | Rated R | 178 min | 1995
When his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English soldier who tried to rape her, William Wallace begins a revolt against King Edward I of England.
90. Memento
Directed by Christopher Nolan | Rated R | 113 min | 2000
A man juggles searching for his wife's murderer and keeping his short-term memory loss from being an obstacle.
91. Rocky
Directed by John G. Avildsen | Rated PG | 120 min | 1976
Rocky Balboa, a small-time boxer, gets a supremely rare chance to fight the heavy-weight champion, Apollo Creed, in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.
92. Up
Directed by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson | Rated PG | 96 min | 2009
Seventy-eight year old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his home equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway.
93. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Directed by Steven Spielberg | Rated PG | 137 min | 1977
After an encounter with U.F.O.s, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
94. The Deer Hunter
Directed by Michael Cimino | Rated R | 183 min | 1978
An in-depth examination of the ways in which the U.S. Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of people in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania.
95. Doctor Zhivago
Directed by David Lean | Rated PG-13 | 197 min | 1965
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during the First World War and then the October Revolution.
96. Pan's Labyrinth
Directed by Guillermo del Toro | Rated R | 118 min | 2006
In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
97. Airplane!
Directed by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Rated PG | 88 min | 1980
A man afraid to fly must ensure that a plane lands safely after the pilots become sick.
98. Reservoir Dogs
Directed by Quentin Tarantino | Rated R | 99 min | 1992
After a simple jewelry heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.
99. Bonnie and Clyde
Directed by Arthur Penn | 111 min | 1967
A somewhat romanticized account of the career of the notoriously violent bank robbing couple and their gang.
100. Seven Samurai
Directed by Akira Kurosawa | 207 min | 1954
A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.