So. You ready to take the best 100 movie challenge?
This has been a random procrastination activity of mine for quite some time, and now I’m ready to share my list with the world. I have spent way, way too much time thinking about this.
Behold… my 100 favorite movies of all time!
But this isn’t all! It would be great if we could all share our own list for the Top 100, because I love looking at these lists. If you create your 100 and post it in the comments section I’ll add the links to this post.
- Casablanca
- The Godfather
- City of God
- The Godfather Part II
- Citizen Kane
- The Up Series
- The Empire Strikes Back
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Rushmore
- Jules and Jim
- Schindler’s List
- The Shawshank Redemption
- Star Wars
- The Battle of Algiers
- Vertigo
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
- Trouble in Paradise
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- The Warriors
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Rebecca
- The Usual Suspects
- Children of Men
- Sunset Boulevard
- Giant
- Lawrence of Arabia
- The Wizard of Oz
- The Best Years of Our Lives
- Dog Day Afternoon
- Raging Bull
- Clockers
- The Manchurian Candidate
- Before Sunrise
- Goodfellas
- Groundhog Day
- The 25th Hour
- Manhattan
- E.T.
- Hoop Dreams
- Back to the Future
- The Bridge on the River Kwai
- The Last Picture Show
- Before Sunset
- Stagecoach
- The Big Lebowski
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- Gone With the Wind
- Office Space
- Into the Wild
- Ghost Dog
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- The Graduate
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- Yojimbo
- Pulp Fiction
- Chinatown
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- Edward Scissorhands
- North By Northwest
- Duck Soup
- Saturday Night Fever
- The Truman Show
- Playtime
- Pinocchio
- A Hard Day’s Night
- Le Samourai
- The Double Life of Veronique
- The Big Sleep
- Stray Dog
- The Philadelphia Story
- Charade
- Midnight Cowboy
- The Lives of Others
- True Grit
- Do the Right Thing
- Elf
- Rebel Without a Cause
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- Singin’ in the Rain
- Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
- From Here to Eternity
- Apocalypse Now
- Coming to America
- Breathless
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Funny Face
- Serpico
- Frankenstein
- Hud
- Wings of Desire
- Dr. Zhivago
- His Girl Friday
- Patton
- Mildred Pierce
- Run Lola Run
- Suspicion
- Point Blank
- This is Spinal Tap
- Anchorman
T.L. Bodine
Cathy Central
Deconstruction of the Fables
A Frugal Heart
Naja Tau
Lori
Maya Prasad
Dawn
Mary
Quills and Ink Stains
Stela Pasic
Coffee and Dragons
Bryan Russell
Ted Cross
in principio erat verbum
Jenna St. Hilaire
Literary Lily Cate
Ls Hawker
Deborah Brasket
Catherine Baldau
Tatiana Dleif
Catherine Ryan Howard
Karen Peterson
Margo Berendsen
Magdafied
Jimmetta Carpenter
Christy Luis
Vanessa Barger
Kip Wilson Rechea
Michael Nye
Dawn Treader
Celluloid Heroes and Stuff
Pieces of Me
ladyknightthebrave
Lauren Kinney
Lost on a Bicycle
Photo: Colusa Theatre (my hometown). Source.
Awesome list, especially for classics like "Duck Soup" and "Serpico."
And you do mean the original "Willy Wonka," right?
maine character-
Yeah, original Willy Wonka and original True Grit (though I liked both of the remakes, actually)
I honestly want to know how long it took you to think of 100 movies and then put them in order of preference.
No Titanic? DX And Les Misérables or Harry Potter? To be honest, if I made this list, it would be more of a "Try and remember 100 movies you've watched." That'd be tough enough 😀 I wouldn't be able to remember all those hehe 😀
SC-
Didn't care for Titanic, haven't seen Les Miserables, and I really liked HP Azkaban but not enough for top 100
Wow–this list. So these aren't the greatest movies of all time, but your favorite. I love that Rushmore is so high. We definitely have some in common, on the other hand–Achorman! It's super funny, but, I don't know, top 100? Hmmm. Trouble in Paradise–yes! Damnit, I'm going to try it. It will be so hard.
That's one eclectic list of movies – some of them I've never heard of before.
I don't think I could ever put a list this long together, but my number one movie of all time is The Princess Bride. It has to be one of the most quotable films ever made.
Wow, I have no idea if I can even think of 100 movies, let alone list my faves.
Yes – I must agree with Josin. I must subtract some points for not including The Princess Bride
Some of your faves I like too, like Edward Scissorhands, but it's missing Dune, and Easy Rider, and some scifi greats.
Thanks for sharing your choices.
D.G.
Wasn't a fan of Dune, Easy Rider a liked a lot but I think just outside of my Top 100. Definitely some sci fis that I considered like the Day the Earth Stood Still, The Incredible Shrinking Man and Blade Runner, but just not quite top 100.
Love the list, but one is missing…"The motorcycle diaries."
You just know someone is going to suggest a movie and you're going to say, "I forgot about that one!" and have to revise your list. 😉
Elf? Sigh. Nathan. Nathan. Nathan.
My list would include Vicky Christina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris, Snatch, Gangs of New York, Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn version) and Amelie. Very interesting list of yours, are they in a specific order?
This was harder than it looks. I didn't go back through to impose any order, so these are in the order I thought of them more than a precise ranking.
I learned some things about myself putting this thing together, lol 🙂
https://tlbodine.blogspot.com/2013/01/100-favorite-movies-of-all-time.html
I got to #1 and stopped reading. Casablanca is absolutely my favoritest movie of all time. (I know "favoritest" is not a word.) The rest of the list is silence.
The Third Man and Casablanca top my list, as well as Wings of Desire, N by NW, and Captains Courageous
Here's my 100. Hardly any gangster/mob movies. Chosen mostly for story arc. Splash number 1. No apologies.
cathycentral.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/my-top-100-films-as-of-january-2013
I'm always really tempted to make these, but I fear I haven't seen enough classical movies to really know where my tastes are.
(Besides if I did, they'd probably list more than half of Quentin Tarantino's career)
If I make a list (oh, time suck, thy name is Blogger) mine would show a love for animated stuff like Up, The Incredibles, and Despicable Me.
CD Coffelt lurks at Spirit Called
One of my many favorites that begs mentioning:
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
"Gentlemen you can't fight in here, this is the War Room."
I was glad to see:
The 25th Hour
Wings of Desire
The Bridge on the River Kwai.
You might also like:
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.
My top 100. Thx for sharing, Nathan. https://rsbrzoska.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/my-personal-top-100-movies/
Les Mis rocks! You get about an inch away from Anne Hathaway's makeupless face while she's singing- channeling the spirit of Judy Garland, and there's all these raw waves of emotion radiating from the screen…! *sob!* It's really something worth watching! I can't imagine what experiences Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman had to draw from in order to express such transparent emotional power in those performances- totally earned those Oscar nominations!
Since I'm already juiced up about film, here's my list in no particular order!
Sunset Boulevard
The Asphalt Jungle
Casablanca
Alien
The Dark Knight
The Matrix
The Last Unicorn
A Streetcar Named Desire
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Ong Bak the Thai Warrior
Fist of Fury
Don't Bother to Knock
The Apartment
The Heiress
A Star is Born (Barbra Streisand)
White Heat
The Aviator
Scarface (1932)
Citizen Kane
Pan's Labarynth
Inception
Pulp Fiction
12 Angry Men
All About Eve
Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
Psycho (original)
Black Swan
Ip Man
Jurassic Park
Arsenic and Old Lace
Bringing Up Baby
Yellow Submarine
Rocky
Predator
The Legend of Drunken Master
Snake in the Eagle's Shadow
The Maltese Falcon
Boys Don't Cry
Monster
Milk
Gia
Gone With the Wind
Misery
Fatal Attraction
The Big Street
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Some Like It Hot
Edward Scissorhands
The Simpsons Movie
Top Hat
The Gay Divorcee
Those are only about fifty. *shrug* (By the way, Elf was pretty dang awesome!)
Hmmm…give me some time, and I might manage it. Whenever I try to make lists, my memory flies right out the window and I can't remember all the movies I've seen, let alone the ones I liked best!
Since everybody must have one "You forgot this one!" moment…The Treasure of the Sierra Madre! Some of the finest foreshadowing I've ever seen in book or film.
I'm actually impressed that I've seen 16 of those movies. I'm usually not that familiar with movies I "should have" seen and get looks from my friends that say "What's wrong with you?! Why haven't you seen this?!" when we talk about movies.
Thanks for making me feel a little more relevant, Nate.
🙂
OK, here she is!
https://afrugalheart.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/top-100-all-time-favorite-movies-i-think-because-nathan-bransford-said-so/
What a fun post! Here are mine in no particular order:
1. Boondock Saints
2. Dead Man
3. Benny and Joon
4. Rear Window
5. Phoebe in Wonderland
6. Edward Scissorhands
7. Groundhog Day
8. Lars and the Real Girl
9. La fée (The Fairy)
10. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
11. Monsieur Lazhar
12. Beasts of the Southern Wild
13. To Kill a Mockingbird
14. Brigadoon
15. The Wizard of Oz
16. Star Wars: A New Hope
17. Fargo
18. Airplane!
19. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
20. Garden State
21. Chicago
22. Gone With the Wind
23. The Cider House Rules
24. The Sting
25. Deliverance
26. The Dirty Dozen
27. My Cousin Vinny
28. Steel Magnolias
29. Duel (the original with Dennis Weaver)
30. Moonstruck
31. My Left Foot
32. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
33. The Fast Runner
34. You Kill Me
35. The Sound of Music
36. The Grapes of Wrath
37. The Philadelphia Story
38. It's a Wonderful Life
39. Jaws
40. Jean de Florette
41. The Fastest Indian
42. Ransom
43. Braveheart
44. Dance With Me (Japanese version)
45. Tootsie
46. Forrest Gump
47. The Miracle Worker
48. Mister Smith Goes to Washington
49. Oklahoma!
50. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
51. Il Postino
52. Rabbit Proof Fence
53. Saving Private Ryan
54. The Quiet Man
55. Rain Man
56. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
57. Office Space
58. The Seven Year Itch
59. Big
60. Elf
61. On the Town
62. Shrek
63. Austin Powers
64. South Pacific
65. Thelma & Louise
66. Toy Story
67. When Harry Met Sally
68. The Princess Bride
69. Raiders of the Lost Ark
70. Field of Dreams
71. The Natural
72. Some Like It Hot
73. As Good As It Gets
74. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
75. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
76. Harvey
77. Last of the Mohicans
78. Catch Me if You Can
79. Jurassic Park
80. Breakfast at Tiffany's
81. The Lion King
82. Back to the Future
83. Dead Poets Society
84. Apollo 13
85. Rocky
86. Kill Bill
87. Sleepless in Seattle
88. The Lord of the Rings
89. The Godfather
90. Dirty Dancing
91. The Longest Day
92. Pirates of the Caribbean
93. Ed Wood
94. Cinderella Man
95. Boys Don't Cry
96. Million Dollar Baby
97. The Sixth Sense
98. Gladiator
99. The Gold Rush
100. Wild Strawberries
Great list! Here's mine:
https://www.mayaprasad.com/2013/01/top-100-movie-challenge.html
Fun project, Nathan! I would have to add (near the top):
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Princess Bride
I'm definitely going to have to make my own list. You've got my brain working now!
This was a lot harder than I thought!
Check out my list at:
https://kristyfgillespie.wordpress.com/
Well, it's not quite 100, but it's a start: https://chicywit.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/these-are-a-few-of-my-favorite-things/
Ok Nathan, these are not in perfect order. The first ones are at the top, but then it becomes less specific. There a quite a few that would then make my 150 favorite… Thanks for the challenge!
Dawn at Tales From the Motherland- https://talesfromthemotherland.me/
1. Dances With Wolves
2. Stand By Me
3. Princess Bride
4. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
5. Gladiator
6. The Wizard of Oz
7. Singing in the Rain
8. It’s A Wonderful Life
9. Star Wars
10. The Empire Strikes Back
11. Return of the Jedi
12. Lawrence of Arabia
13. The Godfather
14. Sophie’s Choice
15. Intouchables
16. Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close
17. The Artist
18. Beasts of the Southern Wild
19. Pulp Fiction
20. Hook
21. Schinderler’s List
22. The Piano
23. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
24. Titanic
25. The Way We Were
26. True Grit (the original)
27. To Kill a Mockingbird
28. Philadelphia Story
29. Dr. Zhivago
30. Last of the Mohicans
31. 500 Days of Summer
32. The Christmas Story
33. Fellowship of the Ring
34. The Two Towers
35. Return of the King
36. The Shawshank Redemption
37. ET
38. The Bridge on the River Kwai
39. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
40. The Sound of Music
41. Mary Poppins
42. Little Mermaid
43. Forest Gump
44. The Deer Hunter
45. Platoon
46. 12 Angry Men
47. Breakfast at Tiffanys
48. Simon Birch
49. Big Fish
50. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
51. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragons
52. American Beauty
53. The Snowman
54. Jurassic Park
55. Rear Window
56. Life is Beautiful
57. Toy Story
58. Amadeus
59. Cinema Paradiso
60. Braveheart
61. The Apartment
62. Midnight Express
63. Cool Hand Luke
64. Lion King
65. Full Metal Jacket
66. The King’s Speech
67. The Departed
68. Fargo
69. Good Will Hunting
70. Into the Wild
71. Life of Pi
72. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf
73. The Ten Commandments
74. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original)
75. In the Name of the Father
76. The Harry Potter series, for sentimental reasons
77. Harold and Maude
78. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
79. Gone with the Wind
80. The Usual Suspects
81. The Pianist
82. Au Revoir Les Enfants
83. Beauty and the Beast (Disney)
84. Gallipoli
85. Dead Man Walking
86. Deliverance
87. The English Patient
88. Fanny and Alexander
89. Monty Python
90. Gandhi
91. In The Bedroom
92. Jean De Florette
93. The Killing Fields
94. Argo
95. Little Big Man
96. Midnight Cowboy
97. Like Water for Chocolate
98. The Assassination of Jesse James (by the Coward Robert Ford)
99. Taxi Driver
100. Lincoln
It IS a fun post as another poster commented. Thanks, Nathan! But this lists confirms we have nothing in common what-so-ever. Just as well we're not planning to date. *g* I can still admire from afar. 😉
I am totally going to do this challenge!
Awesome list, Nathan! I'll try to get around to this. My mother was an actress and my father a stage manager, so film is a big love for me.
Cool to see Clockers on your list, too. Have you read much Richard Price? I really truly enjoyed Lush Life, and if you haven't read it, I think you'd enjoy it's portrayal of New York.
And I could do a list, but I could never put it in order. How can I compare my love for The Empire Strikes Back with my love for The Fellowship of the Ring? Apples and Oranges viewed through rose tinted glasses.
Exactly! And what's considered the best? One that makes you feel sad, happy,disgusted or angry? Or something that you'd watch over and over?
Really hard on a hardcore movie fan like myself! So many films, so many genres:
1. The Big Lebowski
2. Fargo
3. No country for old men
4.When Harry Met Sally
5. Casino
6.Saving Private Ryan
7. Sixteen Candles
8.500 Days of Summer
9. Sense and Sensibility
10.Platoon
11. Raising Arizona
12. The Thing(Kurt Russell)
13.Jaws
14. The Godfather
15. Inglorious Basterds
16. The Color Purple
17. Django Unchained
18. The Departed
19. City of God
20. Pan's Labyrinth
21. The Wizard of Oz
22. Lord of the Rings
23. The Shawshank Redemption
24. Schindlers List
25. Raiders of the Lost Ark
26.The Terminator
27. Memento
28.American Beauty
29.The Shining
30. Alien
31. Aliens
32. Up
33. Braveheart
34. Gran Torino
35. Snatch
36. Sin City
37.Good Will Hunting
38. Vacation
39. Pulp Fiction
40. Psycho
41. Gone Baby Gone
42.As Good As It Gets
43. The Help
44. Se7en
45. Shaun of the Dead
46. Reservoir Dogs
47. Boys Don't Cry
48. Star Wars
49. Heathers
50.Better Off Dead
51. Carrie
52. Gone With the Wind
53. Empire Strikes Back
54. Return of the Jedi
55. Kill Bill : Vol. 1
56. Kill Bill: Vol. 11
57. Terms of Endearment
58. Jurassic Park
59. Moonrise Kingdom
60. The Royal Tenenbaums
61. Zombieland
62. 28 Days Later
63. Fatal Attraction
64. Jagged Edge
65. Dances With Wolves
66. Thelma and Louise
67. Boogie Nights
68. The Hunger Games
69. Juno
70. The Bourne Identity
71. American History X
72. Gremlins
73. The Descent
74. Rushmore
75. True Romance
76. Wall-e
77. True Grit
78. Unforgiven
79. There's Something About Mary
80. Dumb and Dumber
81. Ghostbusters
82. Groundhog Day
83. What About Bob?
84. Stand By Me
85. Mrs. Doubtfire
86. Dawn of the Dead
87. Home Alone
88. Uncle Buck
89. Last of the Mohicans
90. City Slickers
91. Meet the Parents
92. The Accused
93. Silence of the Lambs
94. Weird Science
95. A Time To Kill
96. Rosemary's Baby
97. Dangerous Liaisons
98. Tootsie
99. Office Space
100. A Fish Called Wanda
Sling Blade! How could I forget Sling Blade? Talk about great story and characters. I can't eat fries without busting out with my pitiful Carl imitation.
I agree with most people's lists, and I'm happy to see ET and Jaws in there, but sorry not to see The Green Mile, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Here's my list: https://rainydayscribbles.blogspot.ca/2013/01/100-favorite-movies-challenge.html
I'm sure there are a ton of other movies that could have been on this list but are being shunned by my memory at the moment. I definitely did not spend as long as you did thinking of this list. I also am curious about how long it took you to think of the movies and order them.
Wonderful topic to post about, Nathan! I wrote one about my top ten songs, and I can think about my top ten movies, but top 100 … ?? Wow, that's hard. But you've got me thinking. Which I like.
1. 2012
2. A Time To Kill
3. A Walk in The Clouds
4. Air Force One
5. American Beauty
6. Analyze This
7. Armaggedon
8. As Good As It Gets
9. Avatar
10. Cast Away
11. Close encounters of the Third Kind
12. Cocktail
13. Coming to America
14. Contact
15. Dances With Wolves
16. Day After Tomorrow
17. Daylight
18. Deep Impact
19. Demolition Man
20. Devil's Advocate
21. Die Hard With A Vengeance
22. Dirty Dancing
23. Don't Mess with the Zohan
24. Elizabeth
25. Erin Brokovich
26. Face Off
27. Fallen
28. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
29. Forrest Gump
30. French Kiss
31. Gattaca
32. Ghost
33. Gladiator
34. Good Will Hunting
35. Goonies
36. Hotel Rwanda
37. I am Legend
38. I, Robot
39. Independence Day
40. Interview With the Vampire
41. Jerry Maquire
42. Kill Bill Vol. 1
43. Kill Bill Vol. 2
44. Kramer vs. Kramer
45. Leon, The Professional
46. Little Man Tate
47. Love Actually
48. Men in Black I
49. Men in Black II
50. Mickey Blue Eyes
51. Minority Report
52. Mission to Mars
53. Mr.Holland's Opus
54. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
55. My Stepmother is an Alien
56. Nell
57. Nick of Time
58. Notting Hill
59. Overboard
60. Panic Room
61. Phone Booth
62. Poseidon
63. Pretty Woman
64. Prince Coming to America
65. Pulp Fiction
66. Scent of A Woman
67. Schidler's List
68. Seven
69. Shrek
70. Something's Gotta Give
71. Speed
72. Stargate
73. Taken
74. The Accused
75. The American President
76. The Birdcage
77. The Bodyguard
78. The Edge
79. The Exorcist
80. The Fifth Element
81. The Game
82. The Green Mile
83. The Long Kiss Goodnight
84. The Mirror Has Two Faces
85. The Scorpion King
86. The Shawshank Redemption
87. The Silence of the Lambs
88. The Sixth Sense
89. The Terminator II, Judgment Day
90. The Truth About Cats and Dogs
91. The Usual Suspects
92. District 9
93. Titanic
94. Total Recall
95. True Lies
96. Walk the Line
97. War of the Worlds
98. What Women Want
99. Working Gril
100. True Romance
I love Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind! And Willy Wonka! Okay, I agree that despite popular opinion, The Godfather is better than part 2, but I also feel (despite popular opinion), Star Wars deserves to come before Empire on your list. Sorry.
Vertigo, Mr Bransford. Vertigo!
Oh crap Vertigo. Arggh;alsdjf;akljsdf
Okay updated.
Well, it wasn't easy, but after wracking my brain for the last day, here's what I've got for my top 100: https://coffeeanddragons.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/my-top-100-favorite-movies/
Thanks for this challenge, Nathan! That was a lot of fun. 🙂