MSN.com's 100 Best Movies of All Time

MSN.com's 100 Best Movies of All Time's icon

Created by Panunzio.

Favorited 2 times, disliked 0 times, added to 2 watchlists.

Whether we watch them at drive-in theatres (yes, they do still exist) or multiplexes, or on our TV sets, laptops, or smartphones, movies are a part of our life. They divert and entertain us, make us laugh or cry (or both), get us thinking, inspire us, and sometimes are so powerful that they leave us simply drained.

What makes a good movie? It’s largely a matter of personal taste, of course. The history of cinema is full of examples of critically acclaimed films that do little at the box office (“Brazil,” “The King of Comedy”) and, conversely, smash hits that the critics mostly disliked (“The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” “The Da Vinci Code”).

Movies that score well with both audiences and reviewers — and there are many — tend to have a few basic characteristics in common: a strong, coherent storyline; richly drawn -- and well-acted -- characters; well-done cinematography and (if applicable) special effects; and a satisfying ending.

The movies on this list share those virtues to a greater or lesser extent. They cover a wide range, spanning cinema history from 1921 to 2018. They include silent films and technologically dazzling blockbusters. Many feature famous performers of the past and present, as well as some of the film world’s most acclaimed directors — Charlie Chaplin, Frank Capra, George Cukor, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Sam Peckinpah, and Francis Ford Coppola.

Some of these movies will be familiar to almost anyone — “Citizen Kane,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Star Wars” (now retitled “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope”). Others are more obscure, but well worth discovering.

Taken as a whole, this list provides a vivid illustration of why movies are so important to us.

List added January 2019

Remove ads

Filter

  1. 1 new

    The Godfather Part II

    1974, in 32 top lists Check
  2. 2 new

    The Godfather

    1972, in 42 top lists Check
  3. 3 new

    Sherlock Jr.

    1924, in 24 top lists Check
  4. 4 new

    12 Angry Men

    1957, in 30 top lists Check
  5. 5 new

    Schindler's List

    1993, in 35 top lists Check
  6. 6 new

    Citizen Kane

    1941, in 39 top lists Check
  7. 7 new

    Casablanca

    1942, in 39 top lists Check
  8. 8 new

    Sunset Blvd.

    1950 — a.k.a. Sunset Boulevard, in 35 top lists Check
  9. 9 new

    Pulp Fiction

    1994, in 38 top lists Check
  10. 10 new

    City Lights

    1931, in 34 top lists Check
  11. 11 new

    Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

    2018, in 21 top lists Check
  12. 12 new

    Goodfellas

    1990, in 31 top lists Check
  13. 13 new

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

    1975, in 35 top lists Check
  14. 14 new

    The Third Man

    1949, in 37 top lists Check
  15. 15 new

    Kes

    1969, in 11 top lists Check
  16. 16 new

    All About Eve

    1950, in 25 top lists Check
  17. 17 new

    Modern Times

    1936, in 30 top lists Check
  18. 18 new

    Chinatown

    1974, in 31 top lists Check
  19. 19 new

    The Dark Knight

    2008, in 27 top lists Check
  20. 20 new

    Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop...

    1964, in 37 top lists Check
  21. 21 new

    Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo

    1966 — a.k.a. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in 28 top lists Check
  22. 22 new

    The Shawshank Redemption

    1994, in 24 top lists Check
  23. 23 new

    The Bridge on the River Kwai

    1957, in 32 top lists Check
  24. 24 new

    On the Waterfront

    1954, in 32 top lists Check
  25. 25 new

    Lawrence of Arabia

    1962, in 40 top lists Check
  26. 26 new

    Psycho

    1960, in 39 top lists Check
  27. 27 new

    Raiders of the Lost Ark

    1981 — a.k.a. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, in 29 top lists Check
  28. 28 new

    Rear Window

    1954, in 31 top lists Check
  29. 29 new

    The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

    1948, in 25 top lists Check
  30. 30 new

    Paths of Glory

    1957, in 26 top lists Check
  31. 31 new

    Taxi Driver

    1976, in 34 top lists Check
  32. 32 new

    Double Indemnity

    1944, in 37 top lists Check
  33. 33 new

    North by Northwest

    1959, in 30 top lists Check
  34. 34 new

    The Great Dictator

    1940, in 25 top lists Check
  35. 35 new

    Kind Hearts and Coronets

    1949, in 20 top lists Check
  36. 36 new

    The General

    1926, in 33 top lists Check
  37. 37 new

    The Red Shoes

    1948, in 27 top lists Check
  38. 38 new

    Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

    1980, in 25 top lists Check
  39. 39 new

    Toy Story 3

    2010, in 16 top lists Check
  40. 40 new

    Singin' in the Rain

    1952, in 37 top lists Check
  41. 41 new

    Apocalypse Now

    1979, in 37 top lists Check
  42. 42 new

    Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

    1927 — a.k.a. Sunrise, in 36 top lists Check
  43. 43 new

    Inside Out

    2015, in 18 top lists Check
  44. 44 new

    It's a Wonderful Life

    1946, in 33 top lists Check
  45. 45 new

    The Last Picture Show

    1971, in 21 top lists Check
  46. 46 new

    The Maltese Falcon

    1941, in 27 top lists Check
  47. 47 new

    The Night of the Hunter

    1955, in 35 top lists Check
  48. 48 new

    Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes

    1972 — a.k.a. Aguirre, the Wrath of God, in 18 top lists Check
  49. 49 new

    Some Like It Hot

    1959, in 35 top lists Check
  50. 50 new

    Whiplash

    2014, in 14 top lists Check
Remove ads
Show all 100 movies

Last updated on Mar 24, 2019; source