Friday, December 31, 1999

British Film Institute “100 Favorite British Films of the 20th Century”

British Film Institute:

100 Favorite British Films of the 20th Century

In 1999, the British Film Institute sent a selection booklet to 1000 people in the film industry throughout the U.K. More than 25,700 votes were cast, covering 820 different films. Voters were asked to choose up to 100 films that were “culturally British.” Here is the top 100.

1. The Third Man (1949)
2. Brief Encounter (1946)
3. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
4. The 39 Steps (1935)
5. Great Expectations (1946)
6. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
7. Kes (1969)
8. Don’t Look Now (1973)
9. The Red Shoes (1948)
10. Trainspotting (1996)

11. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
12. If… (1968)
13. The Lady Killers (1955)
14. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
15. Brighton Rock (1947)
16. Get Carter (1971)
17. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
18. Henry V (1944)
19. Chariots of Fire (1981)
20. A Matter of Life and Death (aka “Stairway to Heaven”) (1946)

21. The Long Good Friday (1980)
22. The Servant (1963)
23. Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
24. Whisky Galore! (1949)
25. The Full Monty (1997)
26. The Crying Game (1992)
27. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
28. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
29. Withnail and I (1987)
30. Gregory’s Girl (1980)

31. Zulu (1964)
32. Room at the Top (1958)
33. Alfie (1966)
34. Gandhi (1982)
35. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
36. The Italian Job (1969)
37. Local Hero (1983)
38. The Commitments (1991)
39. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
40. Secrets & Lies (1995)

41. Dr. No (1962)
42. The Madness of King George (1994)
43. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
44. Black Narcissus (1947)
45. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
46. Oliver Twist (1948)
47. I’m All Right Jack (1959)
48. Performance (1970)
49. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
50. My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

51. Tom Jones (1963)
52. This Sporting Life (1967)
53. My Left Foot (1989)
54. Brazil (1985)
55. The English Patient (1996)
56. A Taste of Honey (1961)
57. The Go-Between (1970)
58. The Man in the White Suit (1951)
59. The Ipcress File (1965)
60. Blow-Up (1966)

61. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1995)
62. Sense and Sensibility (1995)
63. Passport to Pimlico (1949)
64. The Remains of the Day (1993)
65. Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971)
66. The Railway Children (1970)
67. Mona Lisa (1986)
68. The Dam Busters (1955)
69. Hamlet (1948)
70. Goldfinger (1964)

71. Elizabeth (1998)
72. Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
73. A Room with a View (1985)
74. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
75. The Cruel Sea (1952)
76. Billy Liar (1963)
77. Oliver! (1968)
78. Peeping Tom (1960)
79. Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)
80. The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982)

81. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
82. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
83. Darling (1965)
84. Educating Rita (1983)
85. Brassed Off (1996)
86. Genevieve (1953)
87. Women in Love (1969)
88. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
89. Fires Were Started (1943)
90. Hope and Glory (1987)

91. My Name Is Joe (1998)
92. In Which We Serve (1942)
93. Caravaggio (1986)
94. The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954)
95. Life Is Sweet (1990)
96. The Wicker Man (1973)
97. Nil by Mouth (1997)
98. Small Faces (1995)
99. Carry on Up the Khymber (1968)
100. The Killing Fields (1984)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
FilmSite.org (1999). British Film Institute’s “100 Favorite British Films of the 20th Century”
Wikipedia.org (1999). British Film Institute’s “Top 100 Films”

Originally posted 8/6/2019; last updated 5/30/2023.

Top Movies of the 1990s

This page offers lists of the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by two different metrics. The first list is based on box office and the second is based on critics’ picks.

Box Office:

Top 25 of the 1990s

These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by adjusted worldwide box office gross. The first number indicates dollars made in millions. See sources for box office figures here.

1) 5192.10: Titanic (1997)
2) 2860.20: Jurassic Park (1993)
3) 2384.50: The Lion King (1994)
4) 2344.40: Star Wars – Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
5) 2173.00: Independence Day (1996)

6) 1924.90: Forrest Gump (1994)
7) 1583.70: Jurassic Park II: The Lost World (1997)
8) 1557.70: The Sixth Sense (1999)
9) 1508.80: Men in Black (1997)
10) 1450.90: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

11) 1427.10: Aladdin (1992)
12) 1404.70: Ghost (1990)
13) 1387.20: Armageddon (1998)
14) 1312.40: Twister (1996)
15) 1287.20: Pretty Woman (1990)

16) 1249.60: Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
17) 1216.70: Mission: Impossible (1996)
18) 1202.20: Saving Private Ryan (1998)
19) 1186.10: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
20) 1180.60: Dances with Wolves (1990)

21) 1163.50: The Bodyguard (1992)
22) 1117.00: Toy Story 2 (1999)
23) 1091.10: True Lies (1994)
24) 1089.90: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
25) 1076.30: The Matrix (1999)

Critics’ Picks:

Top 25 of the 1990s

These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by a combination of the movies’ ratings points and awards points.

1) Schindler’s List (1993)
2) Saving Private Ryan (1998)
3) Fargo (1996)
4) Pulp Fiction (1994)
5) American Beauty (1999)

6) L.A. Confidential (1997)
7) Goodfellas (1990)
8) The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9) Forrest Gump (1994)
10) Titanic (1997)

11) Dances with Wolves (1990)
12) Unforgiven (1992)
13) Toy Story (1995)
14) Apollo 13 (1995)
15) The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

16) Jurassic Park (1993)
17) Shakespeare in Love (1998)
18) Beauty and the Beast (1991)
19) The Matrix (1999)
20) The Sixth Sense (1999)

21) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
22) Good Will Hunting (1997)
23) The Lion King (1994)
24) The English Patient (1996)
25) Hoop Dreams (1994)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Eras
Dave’s Movie Database: Movies of the Year
Dave’s Movie Database: Box Office
Dave’s Movie Database: Awards Page
Dave’s Movie Database: Ratings Page

Originally posted 3/8/2025.

Thursday, December 30, 1999

Rolling Stone “100 Years, 100 Maverick Movies”

Rolling Stone:

100 Years, 100 Maverick Movies

As the website explained, the movies on this list “had to embody that rock spirit of artful defiance. Each director had to be limited to only one movie – otherwise you could just list the collected works of Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, John Ford, Billy Wilder and Martin Scorsese and end it…Don’t look for the biggest cash cow (Titanic), the winner of the most Oscars (Ben-Hur) or film-school staples like Battleship Potemkin.” Here’s the list.

1. The Godfather (1972) / The Godfather Part II (1974) / The Godfather Part III (1990)
2. Vertigo (1958)
3. The Searchers (1956)
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
5. Citizen Kane (1941)
6. Raging Bull (1980)
7. Chinatown (1974)
8. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
9. Blue Velvet (1986)
10. Pulp Fiction (1994)

11. King Kong (1933)
12. The Manchurian Candidate (1961)
13. Fargo (1996)
14. All About Eve (1950)
15. Do the Right Thing (1989)
16. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
17. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
18. Some Like It Hot (1959)
19. Nashville (1975)
20. The Wizard of Oz (1939)

21. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
22. Brazil (1985)
23. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
24. Badlands (1973)
25. Don’t Look Now (1973)
26. Gone with the Wind (1939)
27. Casablanca (1942)
28. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
29. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
30. On the Waterfront (1954)

31. Jaws (1975)
32. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
33. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
34. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
35. Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
36. Ed Wood (1994)
37. Faces (1968)
38. Annie Hall (1977)
39. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
40. Straw Dogs (1971)

41. The Third Man (1949)
42. All the President’s Men (1976)
43. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
44. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
45. Written on the Wind (1956)
46. Swing Time (1936)
47. The Red Shoes (1948)
48. Network (1976)
49. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
50. The Graduate (1967)

51. M – Eine Stadt Sucht Einen Mörder (1931)
52. Zero for Conduct (1933)
53. The Rules of the Game (La Règle du Jeu) (1939)
54. Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis) (1945)
55. The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di Biciclette) (1947)
56. The Earrings of Madame De… (1953)
57. Tokyo Story (Tôkyô Monogatari) (1953)
58. The Seven Samurai (Schichinin no Samurai) (1954)
59. The Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali (1955)
60. Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) (1959)

61. The 400 Hundred Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) (1959)
62. The Sweet Life (La Dolce Vita) (1960)
63. Viridana (1961)
64. Persona (aka “Masks”) (1966)
65. The Conformist (Il Conformista) (1971)
66. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes) (1972)
67. Seven Beauties (1976)
68. Wings of Desire (Der Himmel uber Berlin) (1988)
69. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
70. The Killer (Dip Huet Seung Hung) (1989)

71. City Lights (1931)
72. Cabaret (1972)
73. Quiz Show (1994)
74. A Night at the Opera (1935)
75. The Producers (1967)
76. Lost in America (1985)
77. The Terminator (1984)
78. White Heat (1949)
79. His Girl Friday (1940)
80. Out of the Past (1947)

81. The Piano (1993)
82. Blow-Up (1966)
83. Blow Out (1981)
84. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
85. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
86. Ninotchka (1939)
87. Diner (1982)
88. To Sleep with Anger (1990)
89. Unforgiven (1992)
90. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

91. Lone Star (1996)
92. The Naked Kiss (1964)
93. The Crying Game (1992)
94. Broadcast News (1987)
95. Dead Ringers (1988)
96. My Little Chickadee (1940)
97. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
98. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
99. Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
100. Freaks (1932)

Resources:

Dave’s Movie Database: Movie Lists
Rolling Stone (12/30/1999). “100 Years, 100 Maverick Movies”

Last updated 5/31/2023.