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1 2 3
Citizen Kane
ORSON WELLES (1)

1941 | 119m | BW | USA | Drama, Period Film
"Far and away the most surprising and cinematically exciting motion picture to have been seen here in many a moon. As a matter of fact, it comes close to being the most sensational film ever made in Hollywood." - Bosley Crowther
Selected by Ken Russell, Ridley Scott, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, John Walker.
Amazon Bright Lights Film Journal Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Vertigo
ALFRED HITCHCOCK (3)

1958 | 128m | Col | USA | Romantic Mystery, Psychological Thriller
"Of all Hitchcock's films the one nearest to perfection. Indeed, its profundity is inseparable from the perfection of form: it is a perfect organism, each character, each sequence, each image, illuminating each other." - Robin Wood, Hitchcock's Film's Revisited, 1989
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Robin Buss, Amy Taubin, Stig Bjorkman, Catherine Breillat.
Amazon Images Journal Bright Lights Film Journal
The Rules of the Game
JEAN RENOIR (2)

1939 | 113m | BW | France | Comedy Drama, Comedy of Manners
"How brilliantly Renoir focuses the confusion! The rather fusty luxury of the chateau, the constant mindless slaughter of wild animals, the minuets of adultery and seduction, the gavottes of mutual hatred or mistrust..." - Basil Wright, 1972
Selected by Carrie Rickey, Carlos Diegues, David Robinson, Yvonne Rainer, Thomas Elsaesser.
Amazon The Criterion Collection The A.V. Club

4 5 6
2001: A Space Odyssey
STANLEY KUBRICK (4)

1968 | 139m | Col | UK | Science Fiction, Psychological Sci-Fi
"A parable of a future toward which metaphysical dread and mordant amusement trip side by side...I have never seen the death of the mind rendered more profoundly or poetically...." - Andrew Sarris
Selected by Bennett Miller, Tony Scott, Chris Hegedus, Michel Chion, Alex Cox.
Amazon kubrick2001.com Roger Ebert's Great Movies
8½
FEDERICO FELLINI (5)

1963 | 135m | BW | Italy | Satire, Psychological Drama
"A film only an exceptional personality like Fellini could have considered...the film fresco is majestic, fascinating and complex." - Il Messagero
Selected by David Ehrenstein, John Walker, Martin Scorsese, István Szabó, F. Gary Gray.
Amazon Strictly Film School Derek Malcolm's Century of Films
The Godfather
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA (7)

1972 | 175m | Col | USA | Gangster Film, Crime Drama
"One of the most brutal and moving chronicles of American life ever designed within the limits of popular entertainment." - Vincent Canby, New York Times
Selected by Robin Buss, Bobby Farrelly, Ty Burr, Molly Haskell, Carl Franklin.
Amazon Roger Ebert's Great Movies metacritic

7 8 9
The Searchers
JOHN FORD (9)

1956 | 119m | Col | USA | Western, Revisionist Western
"The best western ever made...Wayne was never better than as as the tormented, potentially murderous Ethan, and John Ford stages heartbreaking moments in the action-packed plot." - Empire, 1994
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Martin Scorsese, Joe Dante, Barry Norman, Bill Rothman.
Amazon Roger Ebert's Great Movies Images Journal
The Seven Samurai
AKIRA KUROSAWA (6)

1954 | 200m | BW | Japan | Samurai Film, Drama
"It is as sheer narrative, rich in incisiveness and sharp observation, that it makes its strongest impact...It provides a fascinating display of talent, and places its director in the forefront of creative film-makers of his generation." - Gavin Lambert, Sight & Sound
Selected by Ridley Scott, John Walker, Antoine Fuqua, John Sayles, Philip Kaufman.
Amazon Bright Lights Film Journal Senses of Cinema
Tokyo Story
YASUJIRO OZU (

1953 | 134m | BW | Japan | Drama, Family Drama
"There is treasure for everyone in Tokyo Story...a film that encompasses so much of the viewer's life, that you are convinced that you have been in the presence of someone who you knew very well." - Stanley Kauffman
Selected by Paul Schrader, Robin Buss, Geoff Andrew, Karel Reisz, Aki Kaurismäki.
Amazon Derek Malcolm's Century of Films Strictly Film School

10 11 12
Sunrise
F.W. MURNAU (11)

1927 | 110m | BW | USA | Melodrama, Romantic Drama
"The best foreign film ever made in the United States...Released in the last year of silent film (1927), it remains one of the pinnacle achievements of that lost art." - Dave Kehr
Selected by Andrew Sarris, Carrie Rickey, Carlos Diegues, Gavin Smith, Vincent Ward.
Amazon Village Voice Strictly Film School
Singin' in the Rain
STANLEY DONEN & GENE KELLY (10)

1952 | 102m | Col | USA | Musical, Showbiz Comedy
"The greatest musical ever made...also one of the few musicals where the screenplay...is as entertaining as the numbers themselves." - NFT Bulletin, 1975
Selected by Nick James, Chris Hegedus, Irene Bignardi, Barry Norman, Bryan Forbes.
Amazon The Village Voice Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Battleship Potemkin
SERGEI EISENSTEIN (12)

1925 | 65m | BW | Russia | Historical Film, Political Drama
"A dynamic early motion picture masterpiece that is a thrilling experience. One of the world's great films." - Judith Christ
Selected by Robin Buss, Michael Mann, Ronald Neame, Roger Corman, Joel Schumacher.
Amazon Senses of Cinema Film as Art

13 14 15
Lawrence of Arabia
DAVID LEAN (13)

1962 | 216m | Col | UK | Epic, British Empire Film
"Here is an epic with intellect behind it, an unforgettable display of action staged with artistry. A momentous story told with moral force...A revolutionary film in possessing an epic hero whom it doesn't hero-worship." - Alexander Walker, Evening Standard
Selected by Ridley Scott, Martin Campbell, John Walker, Andrew Stanton, Roger Michell.
Amazon Screen Online Washington Post
L'Atalante
JEAN VIGO (16)

1934 | 89m | BW | France | Drama, Romance
"The singular talent - for once I think I may say genius - of the film lies in its translation into visual images of the mysterious and terrible and piteous undertones of even the simplest human life." - Dilys Powell, 1943
Selected by Geoff Andrew, Jim Jarmusch, Michel Ciment, Gilles Jacob, Aki Kaurismäki.
Amazon Slant Magazine Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Bicycle Thieves
VITTORIO DE SICA (17)

1948 | 90m | BW | Italy | Family Drama, Urban Drama
"Vittorio De Sica's neo-realist masterpiece, about an impoverished young Roman's search for his stolen bicycle...One of the movies that shatters you, if you see it at a young, idealistic age." - Michael Wilmington
Selected by Robin Buss, Albert Maysles, Philip Kaufman, Charles Burnett, Guy Hamilton.
Amazon Strictly Film School Roger Ebert's Great Movies

16 17 18
The Passion of Joan of Arc
CARL DREYER (14)

1928 | 77m | BW | France | Historical Film, Biography
"One of the greatest of all movies...Falconetti's Joan may be the finest performance ever recorded on film." - Pauline Kael
Selected by Bruce Beresford, Michael Mann, Jean-Michel Frodon, Gavin Smith, Donald Richie.
Amazon Bright Lights Film Journal Strictly Film School
The Godfather Part II
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA (18)

1974 | 200m | Col | USA | Gangster Film, Crime Drama
"The daring of Part II is that it enlarges the scope and deepens the meaning of the first film...It's an epic vision of the corruption of America." - Pauline Kael, New Yorker
Selected by Carrie Rickey, Alan Parker, Jonathan Glazer, Ann Hui, David Siegel.
Amazon Chicago Reader Pop Matters
Raging Bull
MARTIN SCORSESE (19)

1980 | 128m | BW | USA | Biography, Sports Drama
"Raging Bull is the most painful and heartrending portrait of jealousy in the cinema. It's the best film I've seen about the low self-esteem, sexual inadequacy and fear that lead some men to abuse women." - Roger Ebert
Selected by John Walker, Scott Hicks, Gillian Armstrong, Joe Dante, Karel Reisz.
Amazon Roger Ebert's Great Movies Derek Malcolm's Century of Films

19 20 21
Rashomon
AKIRA KUROSAWA (15)

1950 | 88m | BW | Japan | Drama, Samurai Film
"The film is much less formally daring than its literary source, but its virtues are still plentiful: Kurosawa's visual style at its most muscular, rhythmically nuanced editing, and excellent performances." - Tony Rayns, Time Out
Selected by Dennis Hopper, Carrie Rickey, Dusan Makavajev, Andrey Plakhov, Barry Norman.
Amazon The Criterion Collection Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Casablanca
MICHAEL CURTIZ (25)

1942 | 102m | BW | USA | Drama, War Romance
"The director's one enduring masterpiece is, of course, Casablanca, the happiest of happy accidents, and the most decisive exception to the auteur theory." - Andrew Sarris, The American Cinema, 1968
Selected by Michel Chion, Richard Lester, Sydney Pollack, George A. Romero, Norman Jewison.
Amazon Roger Ebert's Great Movies The A.V. Club
City Lights
CHARLES CHAPLIN (21)

1931 | 86m | BW | USA | Comedy Drama, Romance
"Every second of City Lights provides something to engage the attention. Not a gesture is superfluous, and the fountain of laughter and tears bubbles continuously." - A. Jympson Harman
Selected by Paul Schrader, Carlos Diegues, Irene Bignardi, Bernardo Bertolucci, Joe Dante.
Amazon CultureDose Roger Ebert's Great Movies

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Touch of Evil
ORSON WELLES (22)

1958 | 108m | BW | USA | Film Noir, Psychological Thriller
"A terrifying, Goyaesque vision of corruption, and probably the most original thriller ever made." - Peter Bogdanovich, 1975
Selected by Philip Kaufman, Derek Malcolm, Bernardo Bertolucci, George A. Romero, Jonathan Romney.
Amazon Derek Malcolm's Century of Films Chicago Reader
See Also: 250 Quintessential Noir Films
The Third Man
CAROL REED (20)

1949 | 104m | BW | UK | Mystery, Psychological Thriller
"Just enough Orson Welles to please, not saturate...With the aid of exceptional camerawork and carefully paced direction, the suspense of the film is well-nigh physically overpowering." - Fortnight
Selected by John Sayles, Alan Parker, Paul Morrissey, Guy Hamilton, David Denby.
Amazon Bright Lights Film Journal Chicago Reader
See Also: 250 Quintessential Noir Films
La Dolce vita
FEDERICO FELLINI (23)

1960 | 175m | BW | Italy | Comedy Drama, Media Satire
"An awesome picture, licentious in content but moral and vastly sophisticated in its attitude and what it says." - Bosley Crowther
Selected by Neil LaBute, Paul Verhoeven, Alan Rudolph, Alexander Walker, Cameron Crowe.
Amazon Striclty Film School Boston Globe

25
Les Enfants du paradis
MARCEL CARNÉ (24)

1945 | 195m | BW | France | Period Film, Romantic Drama
"Close to perfection of its kind and I very much like its kind - the highest kind of slum-glamour romanticism about theater people and criminals, done with strong poetic feeling..." - James Agee, Nation