This is the Top 100 Movies in our database. Several years back, we came up with an idea to create a mathematical equation that would create a numerical score for each movie. The first thing we had to come up with were factors for the equation. So we thought….if we were producing a movie what would we like to see our movie accomplish. The first thing we would want, would be for the movie to be successful at the box office. Secondly, we would like the critics and movie goers to enjoy our movie. And finally we would like our movie to receive award recognition through Golden Globe® and Oscar® ceremonies. So let’s look at the breakdown of the variables in the equation.
1. Box office results. We figure that box office is the most important factor, so it received the highest percentage (30%) of the equation. The ceiling was $200 million in adjusted box office dollars. Any movie that crossed $200 million maxed out the points in the category.
2. Critics and audience reception. We felt that critical reception was the second most important factor so it received the second highest percentage 45%) of the equation. So where do I find critics/audience reception? We use at least 6 different sources: RottenTomatoes, IMDB, Yahoo Movies, Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin and Fandango. Put them all together and I get an average with 100% being the highest score possible.
3. Award Recognition. The final part of the equation is worth 25%. A movie gets points for Golden Globe® and Oscar® nominations and wins. The Golden Globes get 5% while the Oscars® get 13% of the equation. The last 7% goes to amount of Oscar® nominations and amount of Oscar® wins.
So far we have done Ultimate Movie Ranking Scores on 26,478 movies. Granted that is only a small percentage of films that were ever made but we have done all the big blockbusters and Oscar® winners. So the following table lists the current Top 100 movies that PERFORMED the best in ALL THREE CATEGORIES. In other words we are not saying these are the best movies just the ones that STATISTICALLY PERFORMED THE BEST.
Top 100 Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Top 100 Movies by co-stars of the movies
- Sort Top 100 Movies by director or directors of the movies
- Sort Top 100 Movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort Top 100 Movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations and how many Oscar® wins each Top 100 movie received.
- Sort Top 100 Movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the sort and search buttons to make this table very interactive. For example if you want to see the 4 Marlon Brando movies to make the list…just type in Brando in the search box and up they pop.
Rank | Movie (Year) | Star of Movie | Director of Movie | Domestic B.O. Adjusted (mils.) | Critic Audience Rating | Oscar Nom / Win | UMR Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Godfather (1972) | Marlon Brando & Al Pacino & James Caan | Francis Ford Coppola | $686.30 | 94.5% | 11 / 03 | 96.22 | |
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) | Jack Nicholson | Milos Forman | $448.20 | 92.5% | 09 / 05 | 96.07 | |
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) | Peter O''Toole & Anthony Quinn | David Lean | $482.00 | 91.5% | 10 / 07 | 96.00 | |
Schindler's List (1993) | Liam Neeson & Steven Spielberg | Steven Spielberg | $195.60 | 94.3% | 12 / 07 | 95.85 | |
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) | Orlando Bloom | Peter Jackson | $527.10 | 91.0% | 11 / 11 | 95.77 | |
The Godfather: Part II (1974) | Al Pacino & Robert DeNiro & Robert Duvall | Francis Ford Coppola | $214.30 | 94.0% | 11 / 06 | 95.31 | |
Casablanca (1942) | Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman | Michael Curtiz | $344.30 | 94.3% | 08 / 03 | 95.30 | |
Gone with the Wind (1939) | Vivien Leigh & Clark Gable | Victor Fleming | $1758.30 | 90.0% | 13 / 08 | 95.30 | |
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) | Myrna Loy & William Wyler | William Wyler | $569.60 | 86.0% | 08 / 07 | 95.28 | |
Ben-Hur (1959) | Charlton Heston | William Wyler | $852.00 | 88.7% | 12 / 11 | 94.67 | |
On the Waterfront (1954) | Marlon Brando | Elia Kazan | $219.90 | 88.0% | 12 / 08 | 94.36 | |
Rebecca (1940) | Laurence Olivier & Joan Fontaine | Alfred Hitchcock | $258.10 | 87.0% | 11 / 02 | 94.13 | |
The Apartment (1960) | Jack Lemmon & Shirley MacLaine | Billy Wilder | $232.10 | 87.5% | 10 / 05 | 94.12 | |
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) | William Holden | David Lean | $473.40 | 88.0% | 08 / 07 | 93.56 | |
It Happened One Night (1934) | Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert | Frank Capra | $190.70 | 91.0% | 05 / 05 | 92.33 | |
Unforgiven (1992) | Clint Eastwood & Gene Hackman | Clint Eastwood | $205.50 | 89.5% | 09 / 04 | 92.19 | |
My Fair Lady (1964) | Audrey Hepburn | George Cukor | $521.20 | 83.0% | 12 / 08 | 92.01 | |
Patton (1970) | George C. Scottt | Francis Ford Coppola | $335.80 | 86.5% | 10 / 07 | 91.79 | |
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) | Anthony Hopkins & Jodie Foster | Jonathan Demme | $261.80 | 89.0% | 07 / 05 | 91.76 | |
Gladiator (2000) | Russell Crowe | Ridley Scott | $293.60 | 82.0% | 12 / 05 | 91.70 | |
The Sound of Music (1965) | Julie Andrews | Robert Wise | $1235.60 | 82.3% | 10 / 05 | 91.70 | |
The French Connection (1971) | Gene Hackman & Roy Scheider | William Friedkin | $264.10 | 84.0% | 08 / 05 | 91.68 | |
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) | Harrison Ford | George Lucas | $1549.90 | 91.7% | 10 / 06 | 91.58 | |
American Beauty (1999) | Kevin Spacey | Sam Mendes | $216.70 | 85.0% | 08 / 05 | 91.48 | |
The Lost Weekend (1945) | Ray Milland | Billy Wilder | $234.60 | 85.5% | 07 / 04 | 91.38 | |
How Green Was My Valley (1941) | Maureen O'Hara | John Ford | $291.40 | 81.5% | 10 / 05 | 91.30 | |
Platoon (1986) | Charlie Sheen | Oliver Stone | $314.80 | 84.0% | 08 / 04 | 91.08 | |
Mrs. Miniver (1942) | William Wyler | William Wyler | $344.70 | 81.0% | 12 / 06 | 91.07 | |
Terms of Endearment (1983) | Jack Nicholson & Shirley MacLaine | James L. Brooks | $290.20 | 81.7% | 11 / 05 | 90.88 | |
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) | Dustin Hoffman & Meryl Streep | Robert Benton | $356.90 | 81.0% | 09 / 05 | 90.67 | |
West Side Story (1961) | Natalie Wood | Robert Wise | $486.30 | 80.0% | 11 / 10 | 90.60 | |
Rain Man (1988) | Dustin Hoffman & Tom Cruise | Barry Levinson | $354.50 | 84.0% | 08 / 04 | 90.58 | |
A Man for All Seasons (1966) | Orson Welles | Fred Zinnemann | $244.30 | 81.5% | 08 / 06 | 90.50 | |
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) | Charles Laughton & Clark Gable | Frank Lloyd | $286.50 | 86.0% | 08 / 01 | 90.22 | |
A Beautiful Mind (2001) | Russell Crowe & Ron Howard | Ron Howard | $254.80 | 82.7% | 08 / 04 | 89.95 | |
Dances with Wolves (1990) | Kevin Costner | Kevin Costner | $367.10 | 80.0% | 12 / 07 | 89.93 | |
Saving Private Ryan (1998) | Tom Hanks & Matt Damon & Steven Spielberg | Steven Spielberg | $389.20 | 88.0% | 11 / 05 | 89.86 | |
Forrest Gump (1994) | Tom Hanks | Robert Zemeckis | $681.20 | 78.0% | 13 / 06 | 89.66 | |
Going My Way (1944) | Bing Crosby | Leo McCarey | $552.40 | 77.0% | 10 / 07 | 89.19 | |
Titanic (1997) | Kate Winslet & Leonardo DiCaprio & Ja | James Cameron & Steven Spielberg | $1103.40 | 77.0% | 14 / 11 | 89.19 | |
The Sting (1973) | Robert Redford & Paul Newman & George Ro | George Roy Hill | $776.40 | 87.5% | 10 / 03 | 89.17 | |
Rocky (1976) | Sylvester Stallone | John G. Avildsen | $478.20 | 79.3% | 10 / 03 | 89.09 | |
Amadeus (1984) | F. Murray Abraham | Milos Forman | $173.50 | 86.5% | 11 / 08 | 88.85 | |
Oliver! (1968) | Oliver Reed | Carol Reed | $308.90 | 76.0% | 11 / 05 | 88.72 | |
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) | Dev Patel | Danny Boyle | $165.90 | 88.5% | 10 / 08 | 88.68 | |
An American in Paris (1951) | Gene Kelly | Vincente Minnelli | $202.90 | 77.5% | 08 / 06 | 88.62 | |
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) | Orlando Bloom | Peter Jackson | $467.60 | 90.0% | 13 / 04 | 88.33 | |
Driving Miss Daisy (1989) | Morgan Freeman | Bruce Beresford | $226.30 | 76.5% | 09 / 04 | 87.96 | |
Chicago (2002) | Richard Gere | Rob Marshall | $248.10 | 76.0% | 13 / 06 | 87.84 | |
All About Eve (1950) | Bette Davis & Marilyn Monroe | Joseph L. Mankiewicz | $155.60 | 92.7% | 14 / 06 | 87.80 | |
Toy Story 3 (2010) | Tom Hanks | Lee Unkrich | $443.40 | 91.7% | 05 / 02 | 87.78 | |
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) | Lew Ayres | Lewis Milestone | $194.50 | 84.5% | 04 / 02 | 87.66 | |
From Here to Eternity (1953) | Burt Lancaster & Montgomery Clift | Fred Zinnemann | $519.40 | 81.5% | 13 / 08 | 87.55 | |
Midnight Cowboy (1969) | Dustin Hoffman | John Schlesinger | $347.70 | 82.5% | 07 / 03 | 87.51 | |
Apocalypse Now (1979) | Martin Sheen & Marlon Brando | Francis Ford Coppola | $335.50 | 92.3% | 08 / 02 | 87.43 | |
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) | James Stewart | Frank Capra | $289.00 | 91.0% | 11 / 01 | 87.37 | |
Doctor Zhivago (1965) | Omar Sharif | David Lean | $1079.00 | 82.5% | 10 / 05 | 87.28 | |
The Deer Hunter (1978) | Robert DeNiro & Christopher Walken & | Michael Cimino | $176.50 | 85.5% | 09 / 05 | 87.27 | |
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) | Gregory Peck & Robert Duvall | Robert Mulligan | $256.90 | 90.3% | 08 / 03 | 87.09 | |
Inception (2010) | Leonardo DiCaprio & Michael Caine | Christopher Nolan | $312.60 | 88.5% | 08 / 04 | 86.83 | |
Pulp Fiction (1994) | Bruce Willis & Samuel L. Jackson | Quentin Tarantino | $223.00 | 93.0% | 07 / 01 | 86.74 | |
The Departed (2006) | Jack Nicholson & Leonardo DiCaprio | Martin Scorsese | $169.60 | 87.0% | 05 / 04 | 86.73 | |
Annie Hall (1977) | Woody Allen & Christopher Walken | Woody Allen | $184.90 | 86.0% | 05 / 04 | 86.61 | |
The Philadelphia Story (1940) | James Stewart & Katharine Hepburn | George Cukor | $215.10 | 91.0% | 06 / 02 | 86.37 | |
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) | Drew Barrymore | Steven Spielberg | $1220.60 | 82.7% | 09 / 04 | 86.35 | |
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) | Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor | Mike Nichols | $214.60 | 84.5% | 13 / 05 | 86.34 | |
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) | Harrison Ford | Steven Spielberg | $770.70 | 91.3% | 08 / 04 | 86.28 | |
Gentleman's Agreement (1947) | Gregory Peck & John Garfield | Elia Kazan | $240.20 | 75.0% | 08 / 03 | 86.25 | |
In the Heat of the Night (1967) | Sidney Poitier & Warren Oates | Norman Jewison | $167.20 | 84.0% | 07 / 05 | 86.20 | |
Ordinary People (1980) | Robert Redford | Robert Redford | $177.60 | 82.5% | 06 / 04 | 86.11 | |
Wings (1928) | Gary Cooper | William A. Weldman | $314.10 | 81.0% | 02 / 02 | 86.07 | |
Jaws (1975) | Roy Scheider | Steven Spielberg | $1114.40 | 91.5% | 04 / 03 | 86.03 | |
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) | Marlon Brando & Vivien Leigh | Elia Kazan | $231.20 | 85.0% | 12 / 04 | 85.98 | |
Avatar (2009) | Zoe Saldana | James Cameron & Steven Spielberg | $842.70 | 82.3% | 09 / 03 | 85.60 | |
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) | Paul Newman & Robert Redford | George Roy Hill | $613.50 | 86.5% | 07 / 04 | 85.49 | |
The Exorcist (1973) | Linda Blair | William Friedkin | $919.20 | 82.5% | 10 / 02 | 85.48 | |
The Martian (2015) | Matt Damon & Jessica Chastain | Ridley Scott | $228.30 | 87.5% | 07 / 00 | 85.42 | |
Cabaret (1972) | Liza Minnelli | Bob Fosse | $304.30 | 82.5% | 10 / 08 | 85.41 | |
Around the World in 80 Days (1956) | Shirley MacLaine & David Niven | Michael Anderson | $561.90 | 70.5% | 08 / 05 | 85.34 | |
Gravity (2013) | George Clooney & Sandra Bullock | Alfonso Cuarón | $284.20 | 82.0% | 10 / 07 | 85.17 | |
The Last Picture Show (1971) | Jeff Bridges | Peter Bogdanovich | $203.00 | 87.5% | 08 / 02 | 85.15 | |
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) | Henry Fonda & John Ford | John Ford | $215.10 | 87.5% | 07 / 02 | 85.12 | |
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) | Orlando Bloom | Peter Jackson | $493.90 | 89.0% | 06 / 02 | 85.06 | |
Tom Jones (1963) | Albert Finney | Tony Richardson | $478.10 | 69.5% | 10 / 04 | 85.06 | |
The Lion in Winter (1968) | Peter O''Toole & Katharine Hepburn | Anthony Harvey | $184.00 | 88.0% | 07 / 03 | 84.98 | |
Shakespeare in Lovie (1998) | Gwyneth Paltrow & Ben Affleck | John Madden | $180.30 | 76.0% | 13 / 07 | 84.88 | |
Fiddler on the Roof (1971) | Topol | Norman Jewison | $414.90 | 81.5% | 08 / 03 | 84.80 | |
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) | James Cagney | Michael Curtiz | $392.00 | 84.5% | 08 / 03 | 84.71 | |
Mary Poppins (1964) | Julie Andrews | Robert Stevenson | $887.80 | 81.0% | 13 / 05 | 84.70 | |
On Golden Pond (1981) | Henry Fonda & Katharine Hepburn | Mark Rydell | $361.70 | 79.5% | 10 / 03 | 84.66 | |
Giant (1956) | James Dean & Rock Hudson & Elizabeth Taylo | George Stevens | $481.70 | 86.0% | 10 / 01 | 84.65 | |
Beauty and the Beast (1991) | Robbie Benson | Kirk Wise | $396.20 | 85.5% | 06 / 02 | 84.61 | |
The Graduate (1967) | Dustin Hoffman | Mike Nichols | $767.90 | 84.5% | 07 / 01 | 84.61 | |
The Great Dictator (1940) | Charles Chaplin | Charles Chaplin | $301.10 | 90.7% | 05 / 00 | 84.61 | |
Gigi (1958) | Leslie Caron | Vincente Minnelli | $293.90 | 68.0% | 09 / 09 | 84.56 | |
Apollo 13 (1995) | Tom Hanks | Ron Howard | $333.50 | 85.3% | 09 / 02 | 84.54 | |
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) | Gene Hackman | Arthur Penn | $397.10 | 84.5% | 10 / 02 | 84.54 | |
All the President's Men (1976) | Dustin Hoffman & Robert Redford | Alan J. Pakula | $359.80 | 83.5% | 08 / 04 | 84.47 | |
The Wizard of Oz (1939) | Judy Garland | Victor Fleming | $225.40 | 86.5% | 06 / 02 | 84.26 | |
Tootsie (1982) | Dustin Hoffman & Bill Murray | Sydney Pollack | $496.60 | 81.0% | 10 / 01 | 84.17 |
Our Top 100 Movie Snubs?
To make our Top 100 Movies list….a movie had to do well in three categories…box office glory, critical acclaim and award recognition. Let’s look at some movies that did do well in all three categories.1941’s Citizen Kane is considered one of the greatest films of all time. Citizen Kane got great reviews and picked up some major Oscar® nominations but was a flop at the box office. It’s poor showing at the box office puts Citizen Kane as the 898th best movie in our database.
1958’s Vertigo has great reviews….did below average for a Hitchcock movie at the box office and only picked up 2 minor Oscar® nominations…winning none…..that puts Vertigo in 877th place in our database. That is better than 20,000 movies in our database which is pretty good….just not good enough to crack the Top 250. If you want to see a movie page that gives these movies some love…check out our Top 100 Best Reviewed Movies.
Just making a boat load of money at the box office does not give you a spot in the Top 100. Let’s look at the biggest worldwide hit of 2014. Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) made almost a quarter of a billion in North America and crossed the billion dollar mark in worldwide gross. Yet critics destroyed the movie and nobody older than 12 liked the movie. It’s critical rating is so low that it keeps Transformers: Age of Extinction from even cracking the Top 1000.
And finally let’s quickly look at the other end of our database. 26,478 movies ranked….some movie has to be at the bottom of the rankings. For awhile Nicolas Cage and his Deadfall (1993) movie held that honor. Well 2014 gave us a new worst ranked movie. Coming in with less 3 million in box office gross, some of the worst reviews of all time and the winner of the 2014 Razzie® Award as worst movie of the year….Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas. With a UMR Score of 5.56 Kirk’s movie is ranked as the 26,478th movie in my database.
For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
So many good movies on this list which suggests that at least some of the Academy voters, film critics and cinema goers get it right!
‘The Apartment’, ‘Dances with Wolves’, ‘The Sting’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Titanic’ ‘My Fair Lady’ and ‘Ben-Hur’ are all in my own list of top 100 films, (though I think ‘Titanic’ is in imminent danger of sinking out of the list next time I revise it!) and many many other movies in your top 50 and top 100 are classics without a doubt.
I mentioned in a comment on the other half of the list, that the continued appeal of a movie over many decades could also be a kind of retrospective sign of quality, but also I wonder which do you think have been the most influential of these movies? I would suggest a blockbuster special effects action movie like ‘Star Wars’ has had an enormous impact on the style of so many films made subsequently, but I wonder which others have changed the film industry in a similarly significant way?
Hey Greensleeves Pages…thanks for the compliment and the comment. I think you are correct about how much of a lasting impact a movie has could be another category…just not sure how to include that without me being too subjective…currently all I do is go and find the numbers and the equation does the work.
I think a movies like Citizen Kane and Star Wars and changed the way movies were made, and should get some credit for that…but once again that would a very subjective category as well….I could argue that Die Hard was a game changing movie as well….but even I would not argue Die Hard needs to be on this list.
I am sure Steve is glad to see his Ben-Hur getting some more notice….thanks for checking out my two part series.
Just a quick comment before lunch regarding Steve’s last comment – I agree that in a list of *Best* films of all time, a lot of films are not properly appreciated at the time they come out, sometimes like with C.K. because no one wanted the movie made. That includes both money made and awards given.
Interesting thought – If I were to go through every film I *have* seen (no, I won’t too many) and list the movies based on best made, regardless of whether I watch the movie multiple times -Rear Window would not be my top movie. It wouldn’t be in my top ten. That is despite Rear window being my favourite film of all time.
I would put Gone with the Wind at number 1.
I would put Citizen Kane at number 2.
But I love this list.
Hey Flora…well this Best list is purely statistically based…..my personal list would indeed include movies like North by Northwest, Citizen Kane, Rear Window, and Blade Runner. Having read many Top Movie lists…they never seem to really give you a reason a movie finished 1st or 40th…at least this formula provides the reason why a movie ranked where it did….this system is set up for the perfect movie on a financial side, critical side and award side. Which I feel the producers of The Godfather were very happy when they made the movie and got the results it got….while the producers of Citizen Kane probably look back on it’s release and try to think about what they would have done differently to achieve better results. Basically lists are made for disagreements….so I feel this list has accomplished that goal….lol.
Oh, no criticism.
There is no way Citizen Kane could ever do well when it was released. Hearst was convinced the film was about him and made sure that it got as bad publicity as possible. Film people in turn did well to diss it as Hearst held over them revealing that they were homosexual. also, this was the era of Hitler and many were Jewish. They didn’t want to make a newspaper magnete ticked off. who knows what he could have written
By the way, there was only one studio run by non-Jews: Warner Brothers. That is why they could afford to film a bunch of social and political feature films during the rise of Hitler and Nazism before Hitler turned his attention to US. The other movie moguls constantly told them not to do this as Hitler might get mad, but Warners were Christian and the studio wasn’t going to back down.
Hey Flora…thanks for the information on Warner Brothers…it is always amazing to me that more people did not stand up to Germany and Hitler back then…so I am always glad to read about people that did….thank for the comment.
Hey Flora…..without a doubt Hearst was able to make it very difficult for the movie to have box office success…with Hearst pulling any references to RKO and its films from his newspapers. I know that the New York Film Critics awarded Citizen Kane the best picture of the year…but the Hollywood crowd seemed to rebel against Citizen Kane. But I do give RKO credit for still getting the movie out there….I never understood why it took them 50 years to finally re-release the movie.
I have only seen about 10% of this list. I don’t know why but I guess just because everyone else thinks it’s a classic, doesn’t mean I’ll watch. I will give credit for this being a diverse list and maybe I’ll start watching more of them. Cool page!
Thank you very much Alecia for checking out part two of this hub. 10% is still pretty impressive when you consider that there are so many classic movies on the list. I would highly recommend the Top 10 for sure….as they all truly great films.
Excellent work Brucerson! Another fascinating list of films to rummage thru.
The Godfather no.1. No problem with that at all it’s as near perfect a movie can be! There are film buffs who prefer the sequel, I’m not one of them. The first is the best but Part.II is very good too.
Hey my favourite film is in the moviescore top 10, so relieved! And thanks for the link. Cheers Bruce. 🙂
I enjoyed the statistics you’ve added on each film, very useful, the comments on the top 10 are great too.
Number 20 had me rubbing my eyes I thought I had accidentally opened another hub. Nice one.
I’ve seen 45 of the top 50 and have 36 of them on DVD and Blu-ray.
Other top faves I’m happy to see listed up there are Casablanca, Lawrence, Kwai, Gone With the Wind, Star Wars and Return of the King.
My only quibble this time is seeing Driving Miss Daisy (ugh!) ranked above Star Wars, Schindlers List, Saving Private Ryan, ET, On the Waterfront – it’s an anomaly, the film doesn’t even deserve to be in the top 50 and above much better films, winning the Golden Globe and Oscar does not make it a better film than those ranked below it, IMO.
Sorry to get all serious at the end there but overall it’s a great list of mostly great films, well done amigo.
Hey Steve…thanks for checking out part two. I agree that Godfather 1 is better than Godfather 2….but it seems that as time passes G2 seems to be catching up to G1…at least in my opinion. 45 is pretty impressive. Glad you are happy with most of the movies…except for Driving Miss Daisy. I agree it seems out of place but I do know many people like my wife that think Miss Daisy and Fried Green Tomatoes are two of the best movies ever made….as for me….once was enough for both films.
I think the Top Ten is a pretty impressive list, which includes your favorite film, but I think any list is going to have some items that people do not agree with…so do you see a movie that should have made the Top 100? Thanks as always for your support.
Bruce you’ve done an amazing job with these moviescore pages, they are packed with statistics.
These are the top 100 moviescoring movies by your scoring method but what it isn’t is the top 100 Greatest Movies which is another thing entirely. Case in point is the one film missing from the 100, the one generally considered to be the greatest film ever made – Citizen Kane.
Kane is mentioned in the previous movie page along with Shawshank Redemption another highly regarded film. I think it’s not even in the top 500 from what you wrote?
So basically what we have here is a variation of the top 100 most successful films (in adjusted dollars) but only if they also won the top awards. So out goes Avatar, Harry Potters, Pirates etc.
Still fascinating and interesting and it makes for great discussion. 🙂
Hey Steve…you make some very good points. Citizen Kane is considered one of the best ever….but I imagine more people have seen Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol in the last 6 weeks than the people that have seen Citizen Kane in the last 73 years….which I think fairly hurts Citizen Kane’s score.
So yes….to make the list it needs box office, awards and audience and critical love…..Citizen Kane only has audience and critical love….as it bombed at the box office and was almost shut out at the Oscars…9 nominations 1 win. Where as a movie like Ben-Hur(I know unfair using your favorite movie) can argue that it has it all…..box office glory, record amount of Oscar wins, and critic and audience love….thus it is in the Top 10 surrounding by movies with the same results…..it is a tough club to get into…but Ben is there. Thanks as always for your comments.
Bruce, Not that surprised by the No 1 movie but was surprised by some of the results – didn’t expect The French Connection to be as high as it was, though it is an excellent movie.
Great to see the Best Years of Our Lives so high up the list, I think it’s a great film and I am still surprised that it has not been remade for our era given recent ‘wars’ (or whatever they’re called now).
David Lean directed 2 of the top 10 and William Wyler also directed 2,which is a sign of their skill and success at awards ceremonies.
Hey Jools99….French Connection was one of the first blockbusters that the Oscar voters decided to recognize rather than avoid. In my system that is the perfect way to score high….huge box office and Oscar winning picture.
Best Years of Our Lives is almost a forgotten film…I was looking at some old Variety magazines….and even as late as 1954…..it was the second biggest movie ever…and still stayed in the Top Ten well into the 1960s. And you are correct when you mention it is surprising that it has not been remade.
I think David Lean would make an excellent hub subject…I think James Cameron is following his work schedule…make a great movie every 7 or so years. Wyler was also outstanding…and his record 12 Oscar nominations for Best Director prove that point…thanks for checking out my Top 100 movie list.