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At the turn of the century, I was enamored with all the best-of lists floating around. Being particularly interested in music, I created a database to accumulate as many music-focused lists as I could find. I ended up aggregating hundreds of lists to make “definitive” lists of the best songs, albums, and acts of all time – and more. I created a website – DavesMusicDatabase.com – to gather and publish those lists.
This endeavor is based on the same concept. Gather and aggregate multiple lists focused on the best movies of all time. The anchor list is this one – The Top 100 Movies of All Time. It was created by aggregating more than 50 lists (see those lists here) along with box office figures (sources here), ratings (sources here), and awards (sources here).
Note to Members of the Film Fanatics Movie Club: This is a revised version of the 2019 list we use for our group. You can check out the original list on which our group is based here.
Here’s the list:
1. The Godfather (1972)
2. Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
3. Citizen Kane (1941)
4. Gone with the Wind (1939)
5. Casablanca (1942)
6. Schindler’s List (1993)
7. Psycho (1960)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
9. Pulp Fiction (1994)
10. Jaws (1975)
11. Vertigo (1958)
12. The Godfather Part II (1974)
13. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
14. Apocalypse Now (1979)
15. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
16. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
17. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
18. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
19. Titanic (1997)
20. Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
21. Taxi Driver (1976)
22. Some Like It Hot (1959)
23. Goodfellas (1990)
24. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
25. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
26. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
27. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
28. Chinatown (1974)
29. The Dark Knight (2008)
30. Rear Window (1954)
31. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
32. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
33. Raging Bull (1980)
34. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
35. The Seven Samurai (Schichinin no Samurai) (1954)
36. Forrest Gump (1994)
37. All About Eve (1950)
38. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
39. Double Indemnity (1944)
40. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
41. The Third Man (1949)
42. On the Waterfront (1954)
43. The Sound of Music (1965)
44. North by Northwest (1959)
45. Alien (1979)
46. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
47. 12 Angry Men (1957)
48. The Graduate (1967)
49. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
50. Annie Hall (1977)
51. City Lights (1931)
52. Back to the Future (1985)
53. Toy Story (1995)
54. Avatar (2009)
55. The Searchers (1956)
56. Blade Runner (1982)
57. Jurassic Park (1993)
58. The Apartment (1960)
59. Fargo (1996)
60. The Exorcist (1973)
61. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
62. Rocky (1976)
63. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
64. The Matrix (1999)
65. The Shining (1980)
66. Ben-Hur (1959)
67. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
68. King Kong (1933)
69. Metropolis (1927)
70. Modern Times (1936)
71. Touch of Evil (1958)
72. No Country for Old Men (2007)
73. Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) (2001)
74. West Side Story (1961)
75. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
76. Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette) (1948)
77. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
78. Gladiator (2000)
79. 8 ½ (Otto e Mezzo) (1963)
80. The Lion King (1994)
81. Pan’s Labyrinth (El Laberinto del Fauno) (2006)
82. Tokyo Story (Tôkyô Monogatari) (1953)
83. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
84. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
85. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
86. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
87. Inception (2010)
88. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
89. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
90. It Happened One Night (1934)
91. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
92. The Deer Hunter (1978)
93. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
94. Parasite (Gisaengchung) (2019)
95. American Beauty (1999)
96. Do the Right Thing (1989)
97. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
98. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
99. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
100. The Wild Bunch (1969)
Resources:
Originally posted 7/18/2019; last updated 3/4/2025. | 
I learned about you through your Music Database, which was one of my favorite websites, but now I have another favorite!
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Thanks for the great feedback.
DeleteEven though this is a movie database, there should also be lists for the top TV-Shows/Series.
ReplyDeleteNow I may have yet another website to start!
DeleteYou have one for Music, Movies, & Books. The only other one I can think of would be Games. Either way, these websites are definitely some of my favorites.
DeleteAround 75% of the movies on your top 100 movies list are also on my top 100 list, and most of the rest are on my second 100 movies list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls050184468
ReplyDelete(I used to list my top 100 in order of preference, but when I revised it recently I put it in chronological sequence. I decided that putting it in order of preference was too difficult.)
But here is my top 10:
1. The Godfather
2. Citizen Kane
3. Casablanca
4. Gone With The Wind
5. The Wizard Of Oz
6. Lawrence Of Arabia
7. The Godfather Part II
8. To Kill A Mockingbird
9. Star Wars
10. Psycho
P.S. These are the differences between our lists.
DeleteMine includes:
All Quiet On The Western Front
Duck Soup
Bride Of Frankenstein
A Night At The Opera
Bringing Up Baby
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
Stagecoach
Fantasia
The Grapes Of Wrath
Rebecca
The Maltese Falcon
Children Of Paradise
Red River
The Red Shoes
The African Queen
A Streetcar Named Desire
High Noon
Shane
Paths Of Glory
The Seventh Seal
The World Of Apu
La Dolce Vita
To Kill A Mockingbird
Nashville
The Shining
Fight Club
Mulholland Drive
Inception
Joker
Instead of:
The General *
Sunrise
Bicycle Thieves *
Tokyo Story *
The Night Of The Hunter *
Touch Of Evil *
8 1/2 *
Mary Poppins
My Fair Lady *
The Exorcist *
The Deer Hunter *
Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi
Back To The Future *
Beauty And The Beast
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Unforgiven *
Jurassic Park
The Lion King
L.A. Confidential *
Titanic *
Saving Private Ryan *
The Matrix *
Spirited Away *
LOTR: The Two Towers
LOTR: The Return Of The King *
The Dark Knight *
Avatar
The Avengers
Avengers: Endgame
(* = On my Second 100 list.
Many of these have been on my Top 100 in the past.
"Terminator 2" just missed my Second 100.)
Perhaps we could see a Top 1000 Movies?
ReplyDeleteGood to see this site being updated with new lists, hopefully we can see an update the Top 100 if it has changed
ReplyDeleteWhat about short films? I've been longing for an authoritative list for short films.
ReplyDeleteI have to say... It is odd to me how people can ever speak confidently of what's obviously, in essence, an American, male estimation of the greatest films ever as if it were a list of definitely the greatest films ever. I mean, they honestly think the rest of the world (with a few minor exceptions) has done pretty much nothing quality-film-wise?? I feel a little outraged, to be honest, and a little pittying.
ReplyDeleteI think Dave's lists do a better job than most at reaching outside american influence. Besides he has a whole list of the best foreign films, his incorporates box-office from around the world. I've liked Dave's lists because the feel like what any random person might say on the street, whereas other lists don't, and I don't think they use the amount of sources he does. (Most negate whole metric's like box-office or sales)
DeleteDave, do you have a list of best movies by genre? I looking for Comedies now but it would be good to have others like Sci Fi and Drama.
ReplyDeleteThere's a tab for genres (https://davesmoviedatabase.blogspot.com/p/genres.html).
DeleteThis list's ranking never changes with updates.
ReplyDelete