By Benjamin Hathaway & Matt Mahler
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It's impossible, right? Listing the greatest films ever made is a recipe for failure that subjects us to hostile comments, rolling eyes, and a whole lot of missed opportunities. A 'Best Of' list is a limiting and exclusionary enterprise by definition, fencing off an often arbitrary selection of titles at the expense of literally thousands of others. What is the point of this? Why subject ourselves to the abuse? Well, that's just what we do. Anyone who loves art of any kind, who deals with it professionally, who chooses how to navigate it, or who makes opinions about it — all these people have a 'Best Of' list of some kind. What else do you call museum curation? What do you call your Blu-ray collection? What is a music playlist if not a 'Best Of?'
We are all creating miniature 'Best Of' lists every day, whether it's the specific selection of websites you visit or apps you use, the distinct brands you purchase, the same foods you seek out at grocery stores, or the restaurants you visit. We are curators of taste, all of us, and we collect and remember what we enjoy. A cinematic 'Best Of' list is not very different. It's a collection of 'great' films that are easily enjoyable, endlessly enlightening, aesthetically exquisite, or emotionally significant.
The critic's job, however, is to bridge the objective and the subjective, so that others can walk this bridge and access things they otherwise may never have. Of course, everything is subjective with art, so there are no right answers here (and most of the ludicrous comments below will complain about how these aren't "the best" films of all time). That's all well and good. It's by definition.
However, there is something objective involved here. What makes something one of "the best" in its field, especially when there isn't hard data to qualify it, as in sports? Well, in cinema, as in most art, it depends on a variety of factors.
- How important is the film to the culture at large?
- How much did it innovate and advance the medium?
- How influential has it been?
- Did it capture and reflect history in a wholly unique way?
- Does it express something about the human condition that practically nothing else has in the same way?
- Is it utterly perfect from all technical perspectives?
- Is it more entertaining and entrancing than any other two hours you could spend?
- Does it change the actual way in which you perceive the world?
And still, we will miss so much in making this list, and you will not be satisfied. It's just too much. But, as Samuel Beckett wrote, "I can't go on. I'll go on."
50 All That Jazz (1979)
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All That Jazz
R
Drama Music Musical- Release Date
- December 20, 1979
- Runtime
- 123 Minutes
- Director
- Bob Fosse
- Writers
- Robert Alan Aurthur, Bob Fosse
Cast
-
Roy Scheider
Joe Gideon
-
Jessica Lange
Angelique
-
Ann Reinking
Kate Jagger
-
Leland Palmer
Audrey Paris
While the 1950s was likely the greatest decade for the movie musical (and several of them, such as The Band Wagon, Singin' in the Rain, Seven Brides for Seven Bothers, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, could easily be included here or in a top 100), it was Bob Fosse's pair of 1970s musicals, Cabaret and All That Jazz, which are arguably the two greatest of all time. The latter is one of the more artful, provocative, and haunting films of the '70s, and just happens to have some of the best musical numbers in cinematic history.
A Gorgeous Classic
All That Jazz was the only film that Fosse wrote, choreographed, and directed, and it's very purposeful. This is his damning, intimate autobiography told through hazy flashbacks, sudden jump cuts, allegorical figures, and bursts of brilliant music. The film focuses on an avatar for the legendary choreographer and director behind Chicago, Pal Joey, and many other classics, as he struggles with his health, his addictions, and his artistry. Featuring Roy Scheider's greatest performance as the suave but damaged Fosse stand-in along with an incredible Jessica Lange as the Angel of Death, All That Jazz gets to the obsessive core of choreography and the reckless passion of an auteur. Stream All That Jazz on Tubi.
49 Lost in Translation (2003)
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Lost in Translation
R
Drama Comedy- Release Date
- October 3, 2003
- Runtime
- 102 minutes
- Director
- Sofia Coppola
- Writers
- Sofia Coppola
Cast
-
Fumihiro Hayashi
-
Bill Murray
-
Anna Faris
-
Giovanni Ribisi
In Lost in Translation, Bill Murray gives one of his best performances (and certainly one that would define each subsequent performance of his) as an aging star who gets a sweet deal to do a whiskey ad in Tokyo. Meanwhile, Scarlett Johansson plays the new wife of a hotshot photographer who is stuck traipsing about the swanky hotel with nothing to do. The two meet and develop a fond spark of friendship over the course of a few days, finding a bit of solace in the midst of their existential ennui.
As Moving as It is Visually Captivating
Sofia Coppola's second feature is yet another stylish, lonesome success. It takes the hazy, quietly humorous, but emotionally penetrating qualities of The Virgin Suicides and condenses them into a smaller, more successful story of two sad strangers in a giant neon town. Coppola captures modern Tokyo with an alien perspective, depicting its pretty hi-tech glow as if it's a different planet, and the absolutely ethereal soundtrack and score from Brian Reitzell and My Bloody Valentine's genius architect, Kevin Shields, combine to make a stylish but minimalist buddy dramedy of the highest order. The key to its greatness is just that, though — this is platonic and not sexual. If it were the latter, the film would still be a great aesthetic accomplishment, but have a more sinister edge. Rent Lost in Translation on Amazon Video.
48 The Thing (1982)
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The Thing
R
Horror
Sci-Fi
Mystery- Release Date
- June 25, 1982
- Runtime
- 109 minutes
- Director
- John Carpenter
- Writers
- Bill Lancaster
- Prequel(s)
- The Thing
Cast
-
T.K. Carter
-
David Clennon
-
Keith David
-
Kurt Russell
While most people may consider Halloween (or even the brilliant They Live) to be John Carpenter's best film, there is something unforgettably unsettling and boundary-pushing about The Thing which keeps us coming back to it. Maybe it's the astoundingly imaginative practical effects that follow a shape-shifting alien entity as it transforms from person to dog to person. Maybe it's the ominous score from Carpenter and the great Ennio Morricone, or the perfect supporting cast of character actors like David Clennon and Wilford Brimley. Maybe it's the face off between main stars Kurt Russell and Keith David. Or maybe it's the fact that this one film has three of the most iconic scenes in horror history (the blood test, the transformation of dogs, and the defibrillator).
A Jarring Classic
Actually, almost every scene feels iconic in The Thing even today, thanks in no small part to the unique Antarctic setting, which serves as the perfect claustrophobic location for a body-snatching monster narrative. The film pushed body horror and tension to its mainstream extreme at the time, but it's hardly been matched more than 40 years later. It's also arguably the greatest remake of all time, loosely taken from the 1951 film written by Charles Lederer, Howard Hawks, and Ben Hecht from the John Campbell story "Who Goes There?" Rent The Thing on Amazon Video.
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2
47 His Girl Friday (1940)
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His Girl Friday
NR
Comedy Drama Romance- Release Date
- January 18, 1940
- Runtime
- 92 minutes
- Director
- Howard Hawks
- Writers
- Ben Hecht
- Producers
- Jed Harris
Cast
-
Cary Grant
Walter Burns
-
Rosalind Russell
Hildy Johnson
-
Ralph Bellamy
Bruce Baldwin
-
Gene Lockhart
Sheriff Hartwell
His Girl Friday is the story of a divorced couple working at the same newspaper, with the ex-husband scheming to get back with his ex-wife, is a delightful, relentless, and timeless riot, and remains one of the first truly modern comedies. Howard Hawks was one of the best directors to capture sparkling dialogue, whether in comedies or great film noir (his The Big Sleep could possibly be swapped out here), and this film might be the greatest evidence of that.
Top-Tier Howard Hawks
Did we just mention Charles Lederer, Hawks, and Ben Hecht? Weirdly enough, those individuals responsible for 1951's The Thing from Another World had teamed up several times for incredible films, with perhaps their most important and delightful being His Girl Friday. The loose adaptation of The Front Page reinvented the comedy thanks to its bold gender politics and extremely fast-talking wit. Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell throw dialogue back and forth like they're playing catch. Stream His Girl Friday on Prime Video.
46 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
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The Silence of the Lambs
R
Drama CrimeHorror
Thriller- Release Date
- February 14, 1991
- Runtime
- 118 minutes
- Director
- Jonathan Demme
Cast
-
Scott Glenn
-
Jodie Foster
-
Anthony Hopkins
-
Ted Levine
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
RENT
BUY
The Silence of the Lambs is incredibly frightening if only for its realism. Nothing in the film (or the novel that inspired it) is too far-fetched compared to what happens in reality, which makes it scarier than most supernatural films. Jonathan Demme's direction is suffocatingly tight, and the tense script has every perfect line of dialogue brought to life by comparably solid performances from Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald, and Scott Glenn. The Silence of the Lambs can be an unbearable viewing experience... right when it wants to be.
One of the Thriller Genre's Absolute Best
Demme has put more of his personality into other, almost equally brilliant films (Something Wild, Stop Making Sense, Rachel Getting Married), but it's safe to say that no other Demme film has had everything and everyone working in tandem at their highest capacity. Foster and Hopkins are perfect, Howard Shore creates his most underrated score, Tak Fujimoto creates majesty and terror in even the most banal things, and Ted Tally's script is a tight, efficient machine. It's not the most original choice, but it's hard to deny just how perfect and well-designed The Silence of the Lambs really is. Stream The Silence of the Lambs on DIRECTV.
45 Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
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Cléo from 5 to 7
Not Rated
Comedy Drama Romance- Release Date
- April 11, 1962
- Runtime
- 1hr 30min
- Director
- Agnès Varda
- Writers
- Agnès Varda
Cast
-
Corinne Marchand
-
Antoine Bourseiller
-
Dominique Davray
-
Dorothée Blanck
The endlessly endearing and inventive French filmmaker Agnès Varda had one of the greatest careers in film history (gorgeously packaged in a recent Criterion Collection box set), but it's probably her second feature film, Cléo from 5 to 7, that's her best. Granted, she spent six decades making incredible films, from masterpieces like Le Bonheur and Vagabond to iconoclastic and perfect little documentaries like The Gleaners and I and The Beaches of Agnès. So it seems a little reductive to choose only her second film here, but consider it an invitation to a broader filmography. It's also just that good.
Perhaps Varda's Very Best
In the French New Wave classic, Varda films everything in real time as a famous young singer awaits the results of a medical exam which could confirm that she has a serious kind of cancer. She spends her time reflecting on the past, going to a fortune-teller, listening and playing music, and contemplating the meaning and function of her existence in this tight, perfect little movie that has inspired filmmakers and women for 60 years. Stream Cléo from 5 to 7 on Max.
44 Hard Boiled (1992)
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Hard Boiled
R
Action Thriller Crime
5 /5
- Release Date
- April 16, 1992
- Runtime
- 126 Minutes
- Director
- John Woo
- Writers
- John Woo, Gordon Chan, Barry Wong
Cast
-
Chow Yun-Fat
Insp. 'Tequila' Yuen
-
Tony Leung Chiu-wai
Alan
Hard Boiled is a 1992 Hong Kong action film directed by John Woo, starring Chow Yun-fat as Inspector "Tequila" Yuen. The film follows Tequila's efforts to take down the city's most notorious arms-smuggling ring while forming an uneasy alliance with an undercover policeman. Known for its elaborate action sequences, Hard Boiled showcases Woo's signature style of choreographed gunfights and intense standoffs.
The action genre isn't often celebrated in lists of the absolute greatest films ever made, but some of them deserve to be, certainly if John Woo's name is attached. If anyone has brought pure balletic grace and visual poetry to action cinema, it's Woo. While some may say the apotheosis of his style is on full display in The Killer (or even the eccentric and wonderful Face/Off), we like to think that there is no greater pure action film than Hard Boiled. Everything about it is perfect, from the charming performances, courtesy of two greats (Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung), to the complicated plot, visual motifs, and stunning set piece that concludes the film.
Woo at the Top of his Game
Woo follows his usual themes of doubles and redemption in this story of a cranky police sergeant and a cop who's been undercover for way too long who cross paths and take down a criminal empire. These two are wonderful characters with great chemistry, two antisocial men bound by an invisible morality, and Hard Boiled also has possibly Woo's greatest villains as well, Johnny Wong and Mad Dog. Each shootout and action set piece is downright genius, leading to the massive shoot 'em up conclusion set inside a hospital as gunfire ricochets from floor to floor. It's possibly the best final 30 minutes of any action movie in history. Rent Hard Boiled on Amazon Video.
43 Before Sunrise (1995)
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Before Sunrise
R
Drama Romance- Release Date
- January 27, 1995
- Runtime
- 101 minutes
- Director
- Richard Linklater
- Writers
- Richard Linklater, Kim Krizan
Cast
-
Ethan Hawke
-
Julie Delpy
-
Andrea Eckert
-
Hanno Pöschl
- Main Genre
- Drama
Before Sunrise follows Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as the former convinces the latter to get off their train at Vienna and spend the day with him. They're both entrancing and endlessly watchable here, co-writing the film with Linklater as they would on the two sequels. The most romantic and simple of the three, Before Sunrise aimlessly follows them throughout the European city as night falls, and lets us in on their conversation and burgeoning attraction. It's extremely romantic, but also reflective of the very best of Gen X, and introduces us to two of the greatest characters in film history.
A Classic Individual Film and the Beginning of a Classic Trilogy
Richard Linklater has created what one may call a career of intellectual curiosity. From his early days (and one of the greatest indie films ever made, Slacker), Linklater has focused on the intelligence of outsiders, the philosophizers on the margins, those who see the brain as the sexiest human organ. His films are more dialogue-heavy than most great directors, but never boring or identical as a result. Perhaps the greatest example of this is the trailblazing romance film, Before Sunrise, which spawned one of the most beloved and possibly the smartest movie trilogy ever made. Rent Before Sunrise on Amazon Video.
42 The Red Shoes (1948)
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The Red Shoes
NR
Drama Romance- Release Date
- September 6, 1948
- Runtime
- 133 minutes
- Director
- Emeric Pressburger
Cast
-
Anton Walbrook
Boris Lermontov
-
Moira Shearer
Victoria Page
-
Marius Goring
Julian Craster
-
Léonide Massine
Grischa Ljubov
The Red Shoes, which combines fantasy, romance, and drama in typical Powell and Pressburger fashion, focuses on the highly demanding world of ballet, and one particular ballerina who is forced to choose between her professional and her personal life, her art and her lover. Loosely adapted from the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Red Shoes is bursting with Technicolor glory, using every cinematic technique at Powell and Pressburger's disposal to paint one of the most gorgeous films ever made.
A Visually Stunning Masterpiece
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were titans of British cinema, two names that defined a generation of film in England. The Powell and Pressburger films of the '40s and '50s are some of the greatest ever made, and again, we could easily mention other films, such as the quaint and quiet gem I Know Where I'm Going!, the masterful thriller Peeping Tom, or the gorgeous religious classic, Black Narcissus. What a run of films! It's The Red Shoes, though, that stuns and haunts in equal measure more than possibly any other.
Furthermore, the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff could go down in history for this one picture alone; even Martin Scorsese has called it the most beautiful color film ever made, alongside Jean Renoir's The River. Along with its visual beauty, the film hits hard with its themes of obsession, the madness of creation, and the loneliness of perfection. Stream The Red Shoes on Max.
41 Dawn of the Dead (1978)
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Dawn of the Dead
18+
Horror
Action- Release Date
- May 24, 1979
- Runtime
- 127 minutes
- Director
- George Romero
- Writers
- George A. Romero
- Producers
- Claudio Argento, Richard P. Rubinstein
Cast
-
Sarah Polley
Stephen "Flyboy" Andrews
-
Ving Rhames
Peter Washington
-
Mekhi Phifer
Roger "Trooper" DeMarco
-
Jake Weber
Francine "Fran" Parker
- Main Genre
- Horror
Dawn of the Dead, of course, largely takes place in a shopping mall where characters from two key segments of the American system (the mainstream media and the militarized police) barricade themselves from the zombie apocalypse taking place outdoors. Dawn of the Dead is downright fun in its obvious bashing of mindless materialism and its exploration of pure post-apocalyptic hedonism, all within the bright pastels of 1970s mall culture. The conclusion is utterly harrowing, but few films merit the genuine fist-pumping excitement and relief of its ending.
A Fast-Paced Classic About Slow-Moving Creatures
It's honestly a toss-up between Night of the Living Dead and George Romero's perfect sequel, Dawn of the Dead. The former redefined horror movies and basically invented the modern zombie; its ending is a haunting reminder of the civil rights era, and its black-and-white photography is infinitely disturbing. But there is something more wicked in Dawn of the Dead. It's nastier in its bright-red gore and bitter misanthropy; it's funnier in its social commentary; it's truly special in its setting and downright Marxist critique of bourgeois consumerism. It's also, weirdly, a little more hopeful. Stream Dawn of the Dead on Netflix.
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