I am not a movie expert. I am a simple guy trying to learn to appreciate great movies. To accomplish this, I have made it my goal to acquire and watch the highest quality films that I can. So of course, the question comes up, "What are the greatest movies?" I began to answer this first by trying to acquire the movies selected by the American Film Institute for their Top 100 list. I soon discovered that this list, important as it is, is fairly limited in its scope. I then turned to the amazing website by Tom Dirks, which contains many "best of" lists. Using these lists, I have compiled what I hope to be a good guide for myself as I work to collect some of the greatest films of the world.
The following list represents my attempt to discover a consensus of the world's greatest films. My method was simple: using eleven "best of" lists, I tallied which films showed up the most often, and ranked them. I disregarded any rankings on individual lists. I was more concerned with a film having a presence, rather than assigning points for being at the top of any particular list, and I deliberately avoided any lists that were compiled by viewer votes.
My reasoning for the above method is that by using many lists I can reduce the bias of individual critics or lists, and come up with a more objective list. The list is certainly biased more toward English-language films. I am willing to accept that at this point in my movie journey. Movies are grouped by the number of lists on which they appeared and then ranked according to the AFI list. Films not appearing on the AFI list come at the end of each grouping. The eleven lists from which this list is derived can be found at the bottom. Any suggestions or feedback about this list would be most welcome at mrsenger@hotmail.com.
Numbers in parentheses indicate their ranking on the AFI Top 100 list.
If you like this list, you might also enjoy my compiled list of great books.
Films appearing on:
10 Lists
Citizen Kane (1)
The Godfather
All About Eve (16)
2001: A Space Odyssey (22)
9 Lists
Casablanca (2)
Gone With the Wind (4)
The Wizard of Oz (6)
Schindler's List (9)
Singin' in the Rain (10)
It's a Wonderful Life (11)
The Godfather, Part II (32)
Vertigo (61)
The Searchers (96)
8 Lists
Lawrence of Arabia (5)
On the Waterfront (8)
Sunset Boulevard (12)
Psycho (18)
Chinatown (19)
Raging Bull (24)
Annie Hall (31)
Double Indemnity (38)
North by Northwest (40)
Sunrise
7 Lists
Some Like it Hot (14)
Star Wars
(15)
Dr. Strangelove (26)
The Best Years of Our Lives (37)
The Third Man (57)
The Gold Rush (74)
City Lights (76)
The Wild Bunch (80)
Modern Times (81)
Duck Soup (85)
Intolerance
The Lady Eve
Touch of Evil
6 Lists
The Graduate (7)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (13)
The Maltese Falcon (23)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (25)
Bonnie and Clyde (27)
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (30)
West Side Story (41)
King Kong (43)
Taxi Driver (47)
Snow White & the Seven Dwarves (49)
The Philadelphia Story (51)
The General
The Seventh Seal
5 Lists
The Grapes of Wrath (21)
Apocalypse Now (28)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (29)
High Noon (33)
It Happened One Night (35)
Midnight Cowboy (36)
Rear Window (42)
The Birth of a Nation (44)
Stagecoach (63)
Ben-Hur (72)
Bringing Up Baby (97)
8 ½
Battleship Potemkin
Bride of Frankenstein
Greed
The Night of the Hunter
Notorious
Seven Samurai
The
"A" List: The National Society of Film Critics' 100 Essential Films
AFI 100 Years...100 Movies
20th Century Best Picture
Winners Ranked by Artistic Merit
Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest
Movies of All Time
Leonard Maltin's 100 Must-See
Films of the 20th Century
Movieline Magazine's 100 Best
Movies Ever Made
Time Out's Centenary Top 100
Films
Tom Dirks 100 Greatest Films
Video Detective's Top 100 Films
Vatican Best Film List
Village Voice's 100 Best Films
of the 20th Century
Please visit Tom Dirks' website--it contains a wealth of information for any viewer of film.
A few notes of interest:
Sunrise is the non-AFI film that appeared on the most lists, and is the highest ranked silent film
Dr. Zhivago is the highest-ranked film on the
AFI list (#39) that was not on any other list
The Searchers is the western that appeared on the most lists
Schindler's List is the most recent film on the list