Films considered the greatest ever

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While there is no agreement upon the greatest film of all time, many publications and organizations have tried to determine the films considered the greatest ever. The films mentioned in this article have all been mentioned in a notable survey — be it a critics' poll or popular poll. Many of these sources focus on American films or were polls of English-speaking film goers, but those considered the greatest within their respective countries are also included here.

None of these citations should be viewed as scientific measures of the film-watching world. All the surveys are flawed in one way or another. They are often influenced by vote stacking or they survey a population with skewed demographics. Internet-based surveys have a self-selecting audience of unknown participants. The methodology of some surveys may be questionable. Sometimes (as in the case of the American Film Institute) voters were asked to select films from a limited list of entries.

Contents 1 Polls of critics and filmmakers 2 Audience polls 3 Particular genres or media 3.1 Action 3.2 Animation 3.3 Comedy 3.4 Crime/Gangster 3.5 Disaster 3.6 Documentary 3.7 Epic 3.8 Fantasy 3.9 Horror 3.10 Musical 3.11 Propaganda 3.12 Romance 3.13 Science fiction 3.14 Mystery 3.15 Sport 3.16 War 3.17 Western 4 Countries 4.1 Australia 4.2 Belgium 4.3 Brazil 4.4 Canada 4.5 China 4.6 Denmark 4.7 Finland 4.8 France 4.9 India 4.10 Iran 4.11 Ireland 4.12 Israel 4.13 Italy 4.14 Japan 4.15 South Korea 4.16 Mexico 4.17 The Netherlands 4.18 New Zealand 4.19 Norway 4.20 The Philippines 4.21 Russia 4.22 Sweden 4.23 United Kingdom 4.24 United States 5 See also 6 Notes 7 External links

[edit] Polls of critics and filmmakers

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

• Since 1952, the film magazine Sight & Sound has conducted a decennial poll of the greatest films every ten years.^[1] Originally, Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) received the most votes. According to noted film critic Roger Ebert, the Sight & Sound poll is "generally considered the most authoritative of all 'best film' lists".^{[citation needed]}
• Orson Welles' Citizen Kane has been consistently voted number one in each of the last five Sight & Sound polls. A separate poll of established film directors, held for the first time in 1992, has also placed Citizen Kane at the top. ^[1]The film was selected as number one in a Village Voice and in a Time Out critics' poll and was listed as the greatest American film twice by the American Film Institute in 1998 and 2007.^{[citation needed]}
• La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game) by director Jean Renoir was named the greatest film by the French film magazine Positif in 1991. It also holds the second slot in the Village Voice poll and is one of only two movies to have appeared in every one of the Sight & Sound polls.^{[citation needed]}
• The Searchers is the film most often mentioned in a poll of the favorite films of directors by German language Steadycam magazine.^[2]
• The Brussels World’s Fair, organized in 1958, offered the occasion for the organization by thousands of critics and filmmakers from all over the world, of the first universal film poll in history.^[3]. These were the films chosen as most artistically fulfilled:

Rank	Film	Director	Year
1	Броненосец Потёмкин (The Battleship Potemkin)	Sergei Eisenstein	1925
2	The Gold Rush	Charles Chaplin	1925
3	Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)	Vittorio De Sica	1948
4	La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc)	Carl Theodor Dreyer	1928
5	La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion)	Jean Renoir	1937
6	Greed	Erich von Stroheim	1924
7	Intolerance: Love's Struggle Through the Ages	D. W. Griffith	1916
8	Мать (Mother)	Vsevolod Pudovkin	1926
9	Citizen Kane	Orson Welles	1941
10	Земля (Earth)	Alexander Dovzhenko	1930

[edit] Audience polls

• The Shawshank Redemption, as of November 8, 2008, holds the top spot on the Internet Movie Database's top 250 films.^[4] It was voted the best film never to have won Best Picture in a 2005 BBC poll.^[5] In January 2006 Empire magazine readers named it the best film ever.^{[citation needed]}
• The Dark Knight holds the top spot at Yahoo! Movies as of October 9th, 2008,^[6] and also is in fourth place on the IMDB list.^[4]
• Casablanca (1942) is widely cited as the greatest film of all time and was voted as such by readers of the Los Angeles Daily News in 1997. It is also regarded the "best Hollywood movie of all time" by the influential Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. On April 7, 2006, the Writers' Guild of America declared Casablanca's screenplay the best ever written.
• Gone with the Wind was ranked as the greatest film of all time in a poll surveyed by Harris Interactive between January 15 and 22, 2008. Star Wars came in second place and Casablanca in third.
• The Godfather was voted number one by Entertainment Weekly's readers^[7] and voted as number one in a Time Out readers' poll in 1998.^[8] The film was also voted as the "Greatest Movie of All Time" in September 2008 by 10,000 readers of Empire magazine, 150 people from the movie business and 50 film critics.^[9] As of August 25th, 2008, it currently holds number 2 on the IMDb list.^[4]
• The Godfather Part II was voted best movie ever by TV Guide readers^[10] in 1998 and is in third place on the IMDb list.^[4]
• Cross of Iron (1977) was voted the greatest film of all time by Cinemag.^{[citation needed]}
• Schindler's List was voted the best film ever made by the German film magazine Cinema.^[11]
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy was voted the most popular film of all time by an audience poll for the Australian television special My Favourite Film and by a poll casted by 120,000 German voters for the TV special "Die besten Filme aller Zeiten".^[12] Its first film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), was the pick of readers in a poll by Empire magazine in November 2004. The third film, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was voted the best movie of all time by Yahoo movies and Movies.com's annual reader's poll in 2006 and 2007. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is also the all-time top rated movie by boxofficemojo's user grades.^[13]
• Star Wars (1977) was chosen by readers of Empire magazine in November 2001 and by voters in a Channel 4/FilmFour poll ^[14]. It was voted number one in the 2007 Empire "Greatest 100 Movies" poll..^[15]
• Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) was voted number one in Total Film's Top 100 Movies of All Time and number one in the 2006 Empire "Greatest Movies Ever" special.^[16]

[edit] Particular genres or media

[edit] Action

• Die Hard (1988) was voted greatest action movie of all time by both Entertainment Weekly and music channel MTV2 and the best disaster movie by Channel 4.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Animation

• Toy Story 2 (1999) topped a Rotten Tomatoes poll of the 50 best animated movies ever made.^[17]
• Toy Story (1995) was voted #1 on the Top 100 Animated Features of All Time by the Online Film Critics Society (list published March 2003).^[18]
• Akira (1988) was chosen as the top anime ever by Anime Insider in fall 2001.^{[citation needed]}
• Tale of Tales (Сказка сказок) (1979): Yuriy Norshteyn's short film was voted by a large international jury to be the greatest animated film of all time at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympiad of Animation and the 2002 Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films.^[19][20]
• What's Opera, Doc? (1957), directed by Chuck Jones, was voted the greatest animated short of all time in animation historian Jerry Beck's 1994 poll of animators, film historians and directors.^[21]
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), was selected as the best American animated movie ever by the American Film Institute during their Ten Top Ten. ^[22]

[edit] Comedy

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) A 2004 poll by UK arm of Amazon and the Internet Movie Database named Monty Python and the Holy Grail as the best British comedy picture of all time^{[citation needed]}
• Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) was voted the greatest comedy ever in polls conducted by Total Film magazine in 2000, ^[23] the British TV networks Channel 4 in 2006 ^[24] and Channel Five in 2007 ^[25], and The Guardian newspaper in 2007. ^[26]
• National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) was voted #1 on the Bravo list of funniest movies of all time.^{[citation needed]}
• Some Like It Hot (1959) was listed Best American Film Comedy by the American Film Institute in June 2000.^{[citation needed]}
• City Lights (1931) was selected as the best American romantic comedy by the American Film Institute during their "Ten top Ten".^[22]

[edit] Crime/Gangster

• The Godfather (1972) was selected as the best gangster movie by the American Film Institute during their Ten Top Ten.^[22]

[edit] Disaster

• The Poseidon Adventure (1972) was voted best disaster movie in a poll commissioned by UCI cinemas in May 2004.^[27]

[edit] Documentary

• Bowling for Columbine (2002), Michael Moore's controversial documentary relating gun control and the culture of fear in the United States, heads the list of 20 all-time favorite non-fiction films selected by members of the International Documentary Association (IDA).^[28]
• Seven Up! (1964) was voted as the greatest ever documentary in a Channel 4 poll of the 50 Greatest Documentaries in 2005.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Epic

• Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was voted best epic by readers of Total Film in May 2004. It was selected as the number one epic movie during the American Film Institute during their Ten Top Ten.^[22]

[edit] Fantasy

• The Wizard of Oz (1939) was selected as the best fantasy movie by the American Film Institute during their Ten Top Ten.^[22]

[edit] Horror

• The Exorcist (1973): Voted scariest movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly and Movies.com.^{[citation needed]}
• Psycho (1960): The Alfred Hitchcock classic tops AFI’s list of the 100 most thrilling American films and Rotten Tomatoes list of the 50 greatest horror movies.^{[citation needed]}
• Halloween (1978): Voted Best Horror by AMC's online poll

[edit] Musical

• Singin' in the Rain (1952) tops the American Film Institute's list of the 25 best American musicals of all time.^[29]
• West Side Story (1961) was chosen as the best screen musical by readers of The Observer in a 2007 poll.^[30]

[edit] Propaganda

• Triumph of the Will (1935), Leni Riefenstahl's documentary film glorifying Adolf Hitler and the 1934 Nazi Party Convention, in Nuremberg is widely perceived, renowned and acknowledged as the best propaganda film ever,^[31] although Riefenstahl asserted she intended it only as a documentary.

[edit] Romance

• Casablanca (1942) is the top film on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions list.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Science fiction

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) tops the Online Film Critics Society list of greatest science fiction films of all time.^[32] It is also the only science fiction film to make the Sight and Sound poll for ten best movies and was selected as the best ever Sci-Fi film by the American Film Institute during their Ten Top Ten.^[22]
• Blade Runner (1982) was voted the best science fiction film by a panel of scientists assembled by the British newspaper The Guardian in 2004.^[33]
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) topped a Rotten Tomatoes poll of the 100 best Science Fiction movies ever made.^[34]

[edit] Mystery

• Vertigo was selected as the best mystery by the American Film Institute during their Ten Top Ten.^[22]

[edit] Sport

• Murderball (2005) was number 1 on the Rotten Tomatoes countdown of the top sports movies.^[35]
• Raging Bull (1980) was selected as the best ever sports film by the American Film Institute during their 10 Top 10.^[22]

[edit] War

• Saving Private Ryan (1998) was voted as the greatest war film in a 2008 Channel 4 poll of the 100 greatest war films.^[36]
• Cross of Iron (1977) by Sam Peckinpah was voted greatest war film of all time by Sightsense magazine in 1983 for its portrayal of Germans and the battles on the Eastern Front in 1943.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Western

• The Searchers was selected as the number one western by the American Film Institute during their Ten Top Ten.^[22] (See also: films acclaimed by critics and filmmakers above).

[edit] Countries

[edit] Australia

See also: Cinema of Australia

• Mad Max (1979): voted the best Australian film ever by the Australian Film Institute. Nominated for four Australian Film Institute Awards.^{[citation needed]}
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975): voted No. 1 of the Top 10 best-ever Australian films at 1995 centenary of Australian cinema.^[37]

[edit] Belgium

See also: Cinema of Belgium

• Man Bites Dog (1992): voted the best Belgian film on Moviemeter.nl, followed by Le Couperet, The Memory of a Killer, Toto the Hero and Ben X.^{[citation needed]}
• Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles: voted the best Belgian film on the They Shoot Pictures site (no. 142 in the Top 250).^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Brazil

See also: Cinema of Brazil

• City of God (2002) is the highest rated Brazilian film according to IMDb users. Brazilian critics, however, have selected Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964) as the best film of all several times, such as the 27th edition of Brazilian film magazine Contracampo.^[38]

[edit] Canada

See also: Cinema of Canada

• Jésus de Montréal: Ranked second on the All Time TIFF and in a reader's poll conducted by Playback (magazine) list since its release, and a winner of 12 Genie Awards.
• Mon oncle Antoine: A poll of critics at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and again at the 1993 and 2004 festivals named the greatest Canadian film of all time and 8th in Playback (magazine)'s reader's poll.
• The Sweet Hereafter: Voted the best Canadian film ever by readers of Playback (magazine).^[39]
• Wavelength (1967 film): the only Canadian film on the Village Voice's "100 Best Films of the 20th Century" ranking at #85^[40].

[edit] China

See also: Cinema of China

• Spring in a Small Town (小城之春): This 1948 film was voted the best Chinese film ever made by Hong Kong Film Awards Association in 2005. A Better Tomorrow (英雄本色) (1986) came in second.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Denmark

See also: Cinema of Denmark

• Day of Wrath (Vredens dag) Carl Th. Dreyer's harrowing tale of adultery and repression is often cited in Denmark as the greatest Danish film of all time.^[41]

• Flickering Lights (Blinkende lygter) the 2000 comedy about small-time gangsters was voted the Best Danish Film in a 2007 poll by Ekstra Bladet newspaper. Thomas Vinterberg's The Celebration (Festen) was the runner-up.^[42]

[edit] Finland

See also: Cinema of Finland

• The Unknown Soldier (1955) was voted the best Finnish movie in an Internet poll by Helsingin Sanomat in 2007.^[43]
• Talvisota (The Winter War, 1989): is the highest user rated Finnish film on the IMDb having received more than 1000 votes (8.2/10 (2,654 votes) on August 3, 2008.^[44]

[edit] France

See also: Cinema of France

• Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) (1945/1946): Voted "Best French Film of the Century" in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals in the late 1990s.^{[citation needed]}
• La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game) (1939/1950): see films acclaimed by critics and filmmakers
• Amélie (2001) is currently the highest ranked French film on IMDb's Top 250.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] India

See also: Cinema of India

See also: Lists of Indian films

• Pather Panchali (1955) is the first film of director Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955-1959). It appeared on Sight and Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll (ranked #9 in 1992) and the Village Voice 100 Best Films of the 20th Century Critics' Poll (ranked #13 in 2001). It was ranked the top Indian film in an Internet popularity poll conducted by the British Film Institute (BFI) in 2002.^{[citation needed]}
• Sholay (1975) In 1999 BBC declared it the "Film of The Millennium"^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Iran

See also: Cinema of Iran

• Bashu, the Little Stranger Voted "Best Iranian Film of all time" in November of 1999 by a Persian movie magazine "Picture world" poll of 150 Iranian critics and professionals.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Ireland

• The Commitments (1991) was voted the best Irish film of all time in a 2004 Jameson Whiskey poll of 10,000 Irish people, with My Left Foot coming second. 24

[edit] Israel

See also: Cinema of Israel

• Giv'at Halfon Eina Ona (1976) was voted "Favorite Israeli Film of all time" in a 2004 poll by Ynet, the web site of a popular Israeli newspaper. The film got 25,000 votes.^[45]

[edit] Italy

See also: Cinema of Italy

• 8½ – Director Federico Fellini's 1963 film about filmmaking was the highest rated Italian film in the 2002 Sight & Sound poll of the best films of all time.^{[citation needed]}
• Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) (See: In polls of critics and filmmakers section above.)
• Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) (1966) is the highest-ranked non-American film on the IMDb Top 250, where it currently (July 2008) is listed as the 5th best film ever.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Japan

See also: Cinema of Japan

• Rashomon (羅生門): This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa was the first Japanese film to gain world-wide acclaim. The highest-ranked Japanese film (#10) on the Village Voice list of 100 Best Films of the 20th Century. It was also the highest-ranked Japanese film on the Sight and Sound 2002 Directors' Top Ten Poll.
• Seven Samurai (七人の侍 Shichinin no samurai), 1954: Also by Kurosawa, this period adventure film is frequently cited as the greatest Japanese film ever; at #12, it is the highest ranked Japanese film in the IMDb Top 250 (as of July 2008). It tied Rashomon on the Sight & Sound poll.^{[citation needed]}
• Tokyo Story (東京物語 Tokyo Monogatari), 1953 was declared the greatest film ever by Halliwell's Film Guide in 2005.^[46] It was also the highest-ranked Japanese film on the Sight and Sound 2002 Critics' Top Ten Poll.

[edit] South Korea

See also: Cinema of Korea

• Obaltan (오발탄): Released in 1960. This film is widely regarded as the best South Korean film of all time.^{[citation needed]}
• Oldboy (올드보이): This 2003 South Korean film is the highest rated Korean language film on the IMDb top 250 list. It also won the Grand Prix of the jury at Cannes.

[edit] Mexico

See also: Cinema of Mexico

• El callejón de los milagros (Miracle Alley) is the most awarded film in Mexican history with 49 international awards.[3]^{[citation needed]}
• Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) is the highest rated film in Spanish on IMDb. While this film is set in Spain and primarily features Spanish actors, it was written and produced in Mexico and is considered a Mexican film.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Netherlands

See also: Cinema of the Netherlands

• Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier of Orange - 1977 - Paul Verhoeven): Voted best Dutch film ever made in a 2006 Internet poll by online film magazine Filmwereld.nl.^{[citation needed]}
• Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight - 1973 - Paul Verhoeven): Voted best Dutch film of the 20th century at the 1999 Netherlands Film Festival.^{[citation needed]}
• Zwartboek (Black Book - 2006 - Paul Verhoeven): Voted best Dutch film ever at the 2008 Netherlands Film Festival.^[47]

[edit] New Zealand

See also: Cinema of New Zealand

See : Lord of the Rings in the Films acclaimed in audience polls section above.

[edit] Norway

See also: Cinema of Norway

• Flåklypa Grand Prix (Pinchcliffe Grand Prix - 1975 - Ivo Caprino): The people's choice for "Best Norwegian Film of the Century" during the 2005 Bergen International Film Festival.^[48]
• Ni Liv (Nine Lives - 1957 - Arne Skouen): The critics' choice for "Best Norwegian Film of the Century" during the 2005 Bergen International Film Festival.^[48]

[edit] The Philippines

See also: Cinema of the Philippines

• Maynila: Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Neon): Cited in numerous film anthologies and critical polls.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Russia

See also: Cinema of Russia and Soviet Union

• Броненосец Потёмкин (Battleship Potemkin): see Films acclaimed by critics and filmakers above.

[edit] Sweden

See also: Cinema of Sweden

• The Emigrants (Utvandrarna): Jan Troell's naturalist masterwork is often cited in Sweden as the greatest Swedish film of all-time.^{[citation needed]}
• Persona: Acclaimed director Ingmar Bergman's movie reached the highest position (#5 in 1972) of any Swedish film on any of Sight & Sound's lists of greatest films of all time.^{[citation needed]}
• The Seventh Seal, (Sjunde Inseglet,) also directed by Ingmar Bergman, is the highest rated Swedish film on the IMDb top 250 list.^{[citation needed]}
• The Man on the Roof, (Mannen på Taket,) by Bo Widerberg is by some critics considered the best Swedish movie ever.^{[citation needed]}
• ''Docking the Boat, (Att Angöra en Brygga,) directed by Tage Danielsson is often considered the best swedish comedy film.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] United Kingdom

See also: Cinema of the United Kingdom

• Brief Encounter: Was the highest rated British film in the Channel 4 poll of 100 greatest movies, at No 14.
• The Third Man: Voted best British film ever by members of the British Film Institute in 1999.^[49]
• Lawrence of Arabia: voted "best British film of all time" in August of 2004 by a London Sunday Telegraph poll of Britain's leading filmmakers.^[50] (See also: Epic above).
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail was voted the best British picture of all time by a 2004 poll by the UK arm of Amazon and Internet Movie Database.^[51]
• Get Carter (1971): Named best British film by Total Film in 2004.^[52]

[edit] United States

See also: Cinema of the United States and National Film Registry

Since 1998, the American Film Institute has assembled juries of film community leaders and polled them for a series of top 100 lists. Two of the lists from the series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies from 1998 and AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) from 2007, identified Citizen Kane as the best American film ever. In other years, AFI's jury members selected Some Like It Hot the greatest American comedy, Psycho as the most thrilling American movie, Casablanca as the greatest American love story, Singin' in the Rain as the greatest American film musical, and It's a Wonderful Life as the most inspiring American film.^[53]

• See also: Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Star Wars, and The Shawshank Redemption in the Films acclaimed in audience polls section above.

[edit] See also

• List of highest-grossing films
• List of film-related topics
• Films considered the worst ever
• List of films preserved in the United States National Film Registry
• AFI 100 Years... series

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies
• BFI List of top 100 British movies
• IMDb Top 250
• Channel 4 poll: 100 Greatest Films
• Sight and Sound magazine best films of all time polls
• Village Voice 100 Best films of the 20th century list (from Archive.org)