What are the greatest movies of all time? Well, not so long ago AFI published a list, and so did Time. For funsies, here are the movies of each list and I’ve bolded the titles that I have seen.
A few notes about the lists first. Time lumped movies that were part of a series together as one entry, while AFI split them up. Time did not, however, hesitate to list only one or two movies from a series if they didn’t think the others belonged on the list. (Note the absence of Godfather III from both lists.) Time did not bother to rank the movies against each other. (The list is alphabetical.) AFI only included American movies to the year 1996, Time’s list goes to the present and includes foreign films.
Some glaring omissions are the Marx Brothers A Night at the Opera, Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, Star Wars instead of The Empire Strikes Back, and Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet. I daresay you could think of a few others.
EDIT: Corrected the second list as noted in the comments.
SECOND EDIT: My lovely (and observant) wife noted that since she has seen me watching my own copy of Ben-Hur, I should probably include that below as well.
Time Magazine
1. Aguirre: the Wrath of God (1972)
2. The Apu Trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959)
3. The Awful Truth (1937)
4. Baby Face (1933)
5. Bande à part (1964)
6. Barry Lyndon (1975)
7. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
8. Blade Runner (1982)
9. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
10. Brazil (1985)
11. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
12. Camille (1936)
13. Casablanca (1942)
14. Charade (1963)
15. Children of Paradise (1945)
16. Chinatown (1974)
17. Chungking Express (1994)
18. Citizen Kane (1941)
19. City Lights (1931)
20. City of God (2002)
21. Closely Watched Trains (1966)
22. The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)
23. The Crowd (1928)
24. Day for Night (1973)
25. The Decalogue (1989)
26. Detour (1945)
27. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
28. Dodsworth (1936)
29. Double Indemnity (1944)
30. Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
31. Drunken Master II (1994)
32. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
33. 8 1/2 (1963)
34. The 400 Blows (1959)
35. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
36. Finding Nemo (2003)
37. The Fly (1986)
38. The Godfather, Parts I and II (1972, 1974)
39. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
40. Goodfellas (1990)
41. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
42. His Girl Friday (1940)
43 Ikiru (1952)
44. In A Lonely Place (1950)
45. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
46. It’s A Gift (1934)
47. It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
48. Kandahar (2001)
49. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
50. King Kong (1933)
51. The Lady Eve (1941)
52. The Last Command (1928)
53. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
54. Léolo (1992)
55. The Lord of the Rings (2001-03)
56. The Man With a Camera (1929)
57. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
58. Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
59. Metropolis (1927)
60. Miller’s Crossing (1990)
61. Mon oncle d’Amérique (1980)
62. Mouchette (1967)
63. Nayakan (1987)
64. Ninotchka (1939)
65. Notorious (1946)
66. Olympia, Parts 1 and 2 (1938)
67. On the Waterfront (1954)
68. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
69. Out of the Past (1947)
70. Persona (1966)
71. Pinocchio (1940)
72. Psycho (1960)
73. Pulp Fiction (1994)
74. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
75. Pyaasa (1957)
76. Raging Bull (1980)
77. Schindler’s List (1993)
78. The Searchers (1956)
79. Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
80. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
81. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
82. The Singing Detective (1986)
83. Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
84. Some Like It Hot (1959)
85. Star Wars (1977)
86. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
87. Sunrise (1927)
88. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
89. Swing Time (1936)
90. Talk to Her (2002)
91. Taxi Driver (1976)
92. Tokyo Story (1953)
93. A Touch of Zen (1971)
94. Ugetsu (1953)
95. Ulysses’ Gaze (1995)
96. Umberto D (1952)
97. Unforgiven (1992)
98. White Heat (1949)
99. Wings of Desire (1987)
100. Yojimbo (1961)
AFI
1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)
2. CASABLANCA (1942)
3. THE GODFATHER (1972)
4. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
5. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
6. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
7. THE GRADUATE (1967)
8. ON THE WATERFRONT (1954)
9. SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)
10. SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (1952)
11. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
12. SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
13. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957)
14. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)
15. STAR WARS (1977)
16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
17. THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)
18. PSYCHO (1960)
19. CHINATOWN (1974)
20. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (1975)
21. THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)
22. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
23. THE MALTESE FALCON (1941)
24. RAGING BULL (1980)
25. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982)
26. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)
27. BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
28. APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
29. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)
30. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE (1948)
31. ANNIE HALL (1977)
32. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
33. HIGH NOON (1952)
34. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)
35. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
36. MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
37. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)
38. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
39. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
40. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)
41. WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
42. REAR WINDOW (1954)
43. KING KONG (1933)
44. THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
45. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)
46. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
47. TAXI DRIVER (1976)
48. JAWS (1975)
49. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937)
50. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)
51. THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
52. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953)
53. AMADEUS (1984)
54. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930)
55. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
57. THE THIRD MAN (1949)
58. FANTASIA (1940)
59. REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955)
60. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
61. VERTIGO (1958)
62. TOOTSIE (1982)
63. STAGECOACH (1939)
64. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977)
65. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
66. NETWORK (1976)
67. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
68. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951)
69. SHANE (1953)
70. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
71. FORREST GUMP (1994)
72. BEN-HUR (1959)
73. WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)
74. THE GOLD RUSH (1925)
75. DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990)
76. CITY LIGHTS (1931)
77. AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973)
78. ROCKY (1976)
79. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)
80. THE WILD BUNCH (1969)
81. MODERN TIMES (1936)
82. GIANT (1956)
83. PLATOON (1986)
84. FARGO (1996)
85. DUCK SOUP (1933)
86. MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935)
87. FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
88. EASY RIDER (1969)
89. PATTON (1970)
90. THE JAZZ SINGER (1927)
91. MY FAIR LADY (1964)
92. A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951)
93. THE APARTMENT (1960)
94. GOODFELLAS (1990)
95. PULP FICTION (1994)
96. THE SEARCHERS (1956)
97. BRINGING UP BABY (1938)
98. UNFORGIVEN (1992)
99. GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER (1967)
100. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
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