Top Ten Films

Below are my Top Ten Film lists from the silent era to the present. Because I haven’t seen enough silent films to make yearly top ten lists, I have lumped the entire period together. Also included is a top ten list of “early talkies,” using a somewhat arbitrary time span from 1927-1930. Beginning with 1931 I have included my top ten lists on a year-by-year basis.

In addition to the top ten lists, I have included four other categories: Runners-Up, for other top ten worthy films that barely missed the cut; Other Noteworthy Releases, for lesser but still good films; Overrated, for films whose reputations are inflated; and Guilty Pleasures, for admittedly bad and/or disreputable films I nevertheless enjoyed.

Recent additions: The Housemaid (1960), The Mob (1951), The Chase (1946)


Silent Films:

Sherlock Jr. (1924)
The General (1926)
Our Hospitality (1923)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
The Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Seven Chances (1925)
The Unknown (1927)
Greed (1924)
My Grandmother (1929)
The Circus (1928)

Runners-Up: The Kid (1921) The Last Command (1928), Nosferatu (1922), Pandora’s Box (1929), The Wind (1928)

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), Arsenal (1928), Asphalt (1929), The Bat (1926), Battleship Potemkin (1925), Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927), The Birth of a Nation (1914), The Black Pirate (1926), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Cameraman (1928), College (1927), A Cottage at Dartmoor (1929), The Crowd (1928), The Docks of New York (1928), The End of St. Petersburg (1927), The Freshman (1925), Grass (1925), The House on Trubnaya Square (1928), Intolerance (1916), The Italian Straw Hat (1928), Lady Windemere’s Fan (1925), The Last Performance (1927), The Marriage Circle (1924), Menilmontant (1926), Metropolis (1927), Mother (1926), My Best Girl (1927), Nanook of the North (1922), Napoleon (1927), October (1928), People on Sunday (1929), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Piccadilly (1929), Seven Footprints to Satan (1929), Show People (1928), Spring Fever (1927), Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928), The Student Prince in Old Heidelberg (1927), The Three-Sided Mirror (1927), Variety (1925), When the Clouds Roll By (1919)

Overrated: The Big Parade, Diary of a Lost Girl, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, For Heaven’s Sake, The Gold Rush, Hearts of the World, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Kid Brother, Kriemhild’s Revenge, The Love of Jeanne Ney, The Man Who Laughs, Moana, Orphans of the Storm, Safety Last, Seventh Heaven, Siegfried, The Strong Man, Sunrise, The Thief of Baghdad, Les Vampires, Way Down East

Guilty Pleasures: The Fair Co-Ed (1927), Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922), Our Dancing Daughters (1928), Street Angel (1928), True Heart Susie (1919)

Notable shorts: Ballet mécanique (1924), Easy Street (1917), The Electric House (1922), Jumping Beans (1922), Ménilmontant (1926), One Week (1920), Spiritual Constructions (1927), There It Is (1928), The Town Rat and the Country Rat (1927), Un Chien Andalou (1929)
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Picture-41

Early Talkies:

Westfront 1918 (1930)
L’Age D’or (1930)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Blackmail (1929)
The Blue Angel (1930)
Applause (1929)
The Love Parade (1929)
Little Caesar (1930)
Hell’s Angels (1930)
The Royal Family of Broadway (1930)

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Big House (1930), The Cocoanuts (1929), The Dawn Patrol (1930), The Devil to Pay! (1930), Murder (1930)

Overrated: Anna Christie (1930), The Blood of a Poet (1930), The Broadway Melody (1929), Hallelujah (1929), The Jazz Singer (1927), Min and Bill (1930), Under the Roofs of Paris

Guilty Pleasures: Madame Satan

Notable shorts: Pups is Pups, The Skeleton Dance, The Three-Sided Mirror

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M

1931

M
Maedchen in Uniform
The Murderer Dimitri Karamazov
City Streets
Monkey Business
Platinum Blond
The Public Enemy
Kameradschaft
Waterloo Bridge
La Chienne

Runner-Up: The Threepenny Opera

Other Noteworthy Releases: City Lights, Dishonored, Frankenstein, The Front Page, Guilty Hands, Lonely Wives, The Mad Genius, Marius, Night Nurse, Svengali

Overrated: Cimarron, A Nous La Liberte, Le Million, Tabu

Guilty Pleasures: The Champ, Dracula, Flying High
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vampyr-gerard

1932

Scarface
I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
Vampyr
Horse Feathers
Million Dollar Legs
Trouble in Paradise
Red Dust
Jewel Robbery
One Hour With You
Red-Headed Woman

Runners-Up: Downstairs, Freaks, Guilty as Hell, Hot Saturday, Island of Lost Souls, I Was Born, But…, Law and Order, White Zombie, Wooden Crosses

Other Noteworthy Releases: American Madness, Arsène Lupin, Beast and the City, Blonde Venus, Boudu Saved From Drowning, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Love Me Tonight, Make Me a Star, The Music Box, The Old Dark House, The Phantom of Crestwood, Rome Express, Silver Dollar, Skyscraper Souls, Three on a Match, Union Depot, Virtue, What Price Hollywood?

Overrated: Grand Hotel, The Most Dangerous Game, Movie Crazy, One-Way Passage

Guilty Pleasures: The Mask of Fu Manchu, The Mummy, Tarzan, the Ape Man

Notable shorts: Betty Boop M.D., L’idée, Minnie the Moocher, The Music Box, Santa’s Workshop

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kong

1933

Duck Soup
King Kong
Blood Money
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
Zoo in Budapest
Footlight Parade
The Story of Temple Drake
Bombshell
The Kennel Murder Case
Queen Christina

Runner-Ups: Dinner at Eight, 42nd St.

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Counselor-at-Law, Employees’ Entrance, Every-Night Dreams, Female, The Invisible Man, Lady Killer, Midnight Mary, The Private Life of Henry V111, The Prizefighter and the Lady, Topaze

Overrated: Cavalcade, Design for Living, Flying Down to Rio, Lady for a Day, Little Women, Sons of the Desert, Zero for Conduct

Guilty Pleasures: I’m No Angel, Man’s Castle, Picture Snatcher, She Done Him Wrong

Notable shorts: Lullaby Land, The Old Man of the Mountain, The Three Little Pigs
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scarlet1_758_426_81_s_c1

1934

It Happened One Night
It’s a Gift
The Lost Patrol
The Scarlet Empress
Tarzan and His Mate
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Goddess
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Of Human Bondage
The Black Cat

Runners-Up: L’Atalante, Les Miserables

Other Noteworthy Releases: Bulldog Jack, Dames, Finishing School, Little Man, What Now?, The Merry Widow, The Mysterious Mr. X, The Thin Man, Twentieth Century

Overrated: The Gay Divorcee, Man of Aran

Guilty Pleasures: Cleopatra, Crime Without Passion, Murder on the Blackboard

Notable shorts: A Dream Walking
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The-Bride-of-Frankenstein-006

1935

Bride of Frankenstein
The Man on the Flying Trapeze
The Whole Town’s Talking
A Night at the Opera
Captain Blood
The 39 Steps
Alice Adams
The Raven
Top Hat
A Tale of Two Cities

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Folies Bergère de Paris, If Only You Could Cook,  Mutiny on the Bounty, Sylvia Scarlet,

Overrated: Anna Karenina, David Copperfield, The Informer, The Little Colonel, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Roberta, Ruggles of Red Gap

Guilty Pleasures: Dante’s Inferno, The Girl from 10th Avenue, Mad Love

Notable shorts: For Better of Worser, Music Land
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moderntimes1

1936

Swing Time
Modern Times
The Story of a Cheat
Sabotage
Sisters of the Gion
Libeled Lady
Desire
My Man Godfrey
Osaka Elegy
Craig’s Wife

Runners-Up: The Crime of Monsieur Lange, These Three

Other Noteworthy Releases: After the Thin Man, Bullets or Ballots, Cesar, Ceiling Zero, Dodsworth, Show Boat

Overrated: A Day in the Country, Follow the Fleet, Fury, The Great Ziegfeld, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The Petrified Forest

Guilty Pleasure: The Devil-Doll

Notable shorts: Brotherly Love
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snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-1937-001-play-some-music

1937

Pepe Le Moko
Grand Illusion
Make Way For Tomorrow
Nothing Sacred
The Awful Truth
Stage Door
Oh, Mr. Porter!
You Only Live Once
Confession
A Star is Born

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Bizarre, Bizarre, It’s Love I’m After, Marked Women, The Prisoner of Zenda, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, They Won’t Forget

Overrated: Camille, Captains Courageous, A Day at the Races, Dead End, The Life of Emile Zola, Lost Horizon, Shall We Dance, Topper, Young and Innocent

Guilty Pleasures: None

Notable shorts: The Old Mill
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hood

1938

Bringing Up Baby
Pygmalion
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Baker’s Wife
The Lady Vanishes
Blockheads
The Beachcomber
Angels With Dirty Faces
Port of Shadows
The Rage of Paris

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Algiers, Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife, Jezebel, Olympia, They Drive by Night

Overrated: Alexander Nevsky, La Bete Humaine, Boy’s Town, Holiday, Three Comrades, You Can’t Take it With You

Guilty Pleasures: Gold Mine in the Sky

Notable shorts: Let’s Celebrake, Porky in Wackyland
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PFW+Wizard+of+Oz+brochure

1939

The Wizard of Oz
Destry Rides Again
Only Angels Have Wings
Stagecoach
Le Jour Se Leve
The Roaring Twenties
Midnight
The Rules of the Game
Q Planes
The Man in the Iron Mask

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Bachelor Mother, Beau Geste, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Of Mice and Men, The Saint Strikes Back, Young Mr. Lincoln

Overrated: Dark Victory, Drums Along the Mohawk, Gone With the Wind, Gunga Din, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, The Women, Wuthering Heights

Guilty Pleasures: Babes in Arms, The Cat and the Canary, The Man They Could Not Hang, Union Pacific
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Bank

1940

The Shop Around the Corner
His Girl Friday
Gaslight
Christmas in July
The Bank Dick
Pride and Prejudice
Rebecca
Fantasia
The Sea Hawk
The Stars Look Down

Runner-Up: The Grapes of Wrath

Other Noteworthy Releases: Dark Command, The Great McGinty, The Letter, Pinocchio, The Thief of Baghdad

Overrated: The Long Voyage Home, Mortal Storm, The Philadelphia Story

Guilty Pleasure: My Little Chickadee
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wolf-man-1941-crop-1200x740

1941

Citizen Kane
The Maltese Falcon
Sullivan’s Travels
The Little Foxes
The Sea Wolf
The Lady Eve
Suspicion
High Sierra
Ball of Fire
The Face Behind the Mask

Runners-Up: Confessions of Boston Blackie

Other Noteworthy Releases: Among the Living, Meet Boston Blackie, The Wolf Man

Overrated: Here Comes Mr. Jordan, How Green Was My Valley, King’s Row, Meet John Doe, Sergeant York

Guilty Pleasures: Buck Privates, Hellzapoppin’

Notable shorts: Superman, Rhapsody in Rivets
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house_themagnificentambersons

1942

Casablanca
The Palm Beach Story
Gentleman Jim
The Magnificent Ambersons
To Be or Not To Be
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Cat People
Went the Day Well?
Holiday Inn
Larceny, Inc.

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Glass Key, I Married a Witch, There Was a Father, This Gun for Hire

Overrated: Bambi, In Which We Serve, Mrs. Miniver, Now Voyager, The Pride of the Yankees

Guilty Pleasure: Pardon My Sarong

Notable shorts: Der Fuehrer’s Face

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Shadow-Cotten-Are-They-590px

1943

Shadow of a Doubt
Le Corbeau
The Seventh Victim
I Walked With a Zombie
The Leopard Man
Heaven Can Wait
Sahara
The Ox-Bow Incident
Five Graves to Cairo
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Meanest Man in the World, Victory Through Air Power

Overrated: Bataan, Cabin in the Sky, Day of Wrath, The Human Comedy, Stormy Weather

Guilty Pleasures: Calling Dr. Death, The Mad Ghoul
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drum

1944

Double Indemnity
The Suspect
Torment
The Woman in the Window
The Curse of the Cat People
Laura
Lifeboat
Phantom Lady
To Have and Have Not
Meet Me in St. Louis

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: A Canterbury Tale, The Memphis Belle, Murder, My Sweet, On Approval

Overrated: Arsenic and Old Lace, Going My Way, Hail the Conquering Hero, Ivan the Terrible, Part 1, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, Since You Went Away, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

Guilty Pleasure: Cobra Woman
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Drowning Leave Her to Heaven

1945

The Body Snatcher
The Spiral Staircase
Hangover Square
Objective Burma!
Leave Her to Heaven
Murder, He Says
Scarlet Street
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
Open City
Dead of Night

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Dillinger, The House on 92nd St., My Name is Julia Ross, A Walk in the Sun

Overrated: Brief Encounter, Children of Paradise, The Lost Weekend, Spellbound, They Were Expendable, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Guilty Pleasure: It’s in the Bag, Mildred Pierce, Road to Utopia
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NW HOUNDED 2

1946

The Big Sleep
My Darling Clementine
Notorious
Great Expectations
Beauty and the Beast
Deception
Black Angel
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Chase
Crack-Up

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Blue Dahlia, Decoy, Diary of a Chambermaid, Green For Danger, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Matter of Life and Death, Paisa, The Verdict

Overrated: Gilda, Ivan the Terrible, Part 2, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Razor’s Edge, The Yearling

Guilty Pleasures: The Beast With Five Fingers, Duel in the Sun, Specter of the Rose, To Each His Own

Notable shorts: Northwest Hounded Police, Solid Serenade
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Black-Narcissus-Horror

1947

Quai des Orfevres
T-Men
Monsieur Verdoux
Pursued
Out of the Past
The Red House
Ramrod
Panique
Odd Man Out
Black Narcissus

Runner-Up: Brighton Rock, It Always Rains on Sunday, The Lady From Shanghai, The Record of a Tenement Gentleman

Other Noteworthy Releases: Crossfire, Dreams That Money Can Buy, Nightmare Alley, Possessed, The Unsuspected

Overrated: Gentleman’s Agreement, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Miracle on 34th Street

Guilty Pleasures: Fear in the Night, Ivy, Road to Rio

Notable shorts: The Cat Concerto
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we-dont-need-no-stinkin-badges

1948

Oliver Twist
Red River
Unfaithfully Yours
Call North Side 777
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Letter From an Unknown Woman
The Red Shoes
The Big Clock
He Walked by Night
So This is New York

Runner-Up: Bicycle Thieves, Bill and Coo, Corridor of Mirrors, Thunderhoof

Other Noteworthy Releases: Adventures of Don Juan, The Fallen Idol, Hollow Triumph, The Pirate, Station West, The Street With No Name, La Terra Trema, To the Ends of the Earth

Overrated: Force of Evil, Fort Apache, Key Largo,

Guilty Pleasures: Eyes of Texas

Notable Shorts: Foghorn Leghorn
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Screen-Shot-2014-01-28-at-5_53_04-PM

1949

The Third Man
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Gun Crazy
White Heat
The Set-Up
The Queen of Spades
Whiskey Galore
Border Incident
Intruder in the Dust
Reign of Terror

Runners-Up: The Heiress, Late Spring, The Rocking Horse Winner, Thieves’ Highway

Other Noteworthy Releases: Adam’s Rib, Caught, Criss Cross, The Hidden Room, A Letter to Three Wives, Madame Bovary, The Reckless Moment, The Small Back Room

Overrated: Jour de Fete, On the Town, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Sands of Iwo Jima, Twelve O’clock High

Guilty Pleasures: None

Notable Shorts: Begone Dull Care, High Diving Hare, Song of the Prairie
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untitled

1950

Sunset Blvd.
The Asphalt Jungle
In a Lonely Place
Night and the City
Winchester ‘73
Los Olvidados
All About Eve
Panic in the Streets
Armored Car Robbery
So Long at the Fair

Runner-Up: The Breaking Point, Woman on the Run

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Furies, The Gunfighter, Walk Softly, Stranger

Overrated: Cinderella, Harvey, Orpheus, La Ronde, Rashomon, Rio Grande

Guilty Pleasure: None

Notable shorts: Un Chant d’amour

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ace

1951

Strangers on a Train
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Thing From Another World
The Mob
Early Summer
His Kind of Woman
Cry Danger
He Ran All the Way
Ace in the Hole
Kind Lady

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: The African Queen, An American in Paris, The Lemon Drop Kid, The Man in the White Suit, The Prowler

Overrated: The Day the Earth Stood Still, Diary of a Country Priest, A Place in the Sun

Guilty Pleasure: When Worlds Collide

Notable shorts: Gerald McBoing-Boing
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Ikiru

1952

Singin’ in the Rain
Ikiru
Sudden Fear
The Marrying Kind
The Life of Oharu
Son of Paleface
Five Fingers
The Bad and the Beautiful
Angel Face
Talk About a Stranger

Runners-Up: The Card

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Big Sky, Casque d’or, Othello, Pat and Mike

Overrated: Forbidden Games, The Greatest Show on Earth, High Noon, The Quiet Man, Umberto D

Guilty Pleasure: Don’t Bother to Knock

Notable shorts: The Flying Cat, A Phantasy
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1-mars-mania-art0-gtdkg1kt-1duck-dodgers

1953

Pickup on South Street
El
Tokyo Story
The Naked Spur
I Vitelloni
The Big Heat
The Wages of Fear
Stalag 17
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
The Man Between

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Bigamist, 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, A Geisha, Genevieve, Julius Caesar, Little Fugitive, Shane

Overrated: The Band Wagon, From Here to Eternity, Mr. Hulot’s Holiday

Guilty Pleasures: Donovan’s Brain, Four Sided Triangle, The War of the Worlds

Notable Shorts: Bully for Bugs, Don’t Give Up the Sheep, Duck Amuck, Duck Dodgers in the 241/2 Century
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rearwindow8

1954

Rear Window
Seven Samurai
A Star is Born
Johnny Guitar
Them!
Touchez Pas Au Grisbi
On the Waterfront
Crime Wave
Hobson’s Choice
Sansho the Bailiff

Runners-Up: The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Creature From the Black Lagoon, Dial M For Murder, It Should Happen to You, Late Chrysanthemums, Pushover

Overrated: The Caine Mutiny, Carmen Jones, Salt of the Earth, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, La Strada, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Guilty Pleasure: Godzilla
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the-night-of-the-hunter-19551

1955

The Ladykillers
Smiles of a Summer Night
Kiss Me Deadly
The Night of the Hunter
Rififi
The Big Combo
Diabolique
Dementia
The Man From Laramie
Shack Out on 101

Runner-Up: Night and Fog

Other Noteworthy Releases: The African Lion, Le Amiche, Bob Le Flambeur, The Court Jester, Footsteps in the Fog, It’s Always Fair Weather, Pather Panchali, Phenix City Story, Tight Spot, The Trouble With Harry

Overrated: The Blackboard Jungle, Death of a Cyclist, East of Eden, The Long Gray Line, Marty, Mister Roberts, Oklahoma, Ordet, Princess Yang Kwei Fei, Rebel Without a Cause, The Seven Year Itch

Guilty Pleasure: Tarantula

Notable shorts: Night and Fog, One Froggy Evening
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The-Seventh-Seal_Le_Septieme_Sceau_Det_sjunde_inseglet_ingmar_bergman_jeu_avec_la_mort

1956

The Killing
The Harder They Fall
Patterns
Bigger Than Life
There’s Always Tomorrow
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Written on the Wind
The Green Man
Street of Shame
A Man Escaped

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Aparajito, Baby Doll, The Bad Seed, The Killer is Loose, A Kiss Before Dying, Lust for Life, The Seventh Seal

Overrated: Around the World in Eighty Days, The Burmese Harp, Giant, The Searchers, The Ten Commandments

Guilty Pleasures: Forbidden Planet, The Girl Can’t Help It, Hollywood or Bust

Notable shorts: Toute la mémoire du monde

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12-angry-men1

1957

Sweet Smell of Success
Paths of Glory
12 Angry Men
The Incredible Shrinking Man
The Tall T
Forty Guns
A Face in the Crowd
The Bridge on the River Kwai
3:10 to Yuma
Nightfall

Runners-Up: Funny Face, Plunder Road

Other Noteworthy Releases: Kanal, The Smallest Show on Earth, Wild Strawberries, Your Past is Showing

Overrated: An Affair to Remember, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Lower Depths, Nights of Cabiria, Throne of Blood

Guilty Pleasures: Daughter of Dr. Jekyll, Old Yeller, 20 Million Miles to Earth

Notable shorts: Three Little Bops, What’s Opera, Doc?
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aterrorinatexastownsterlinghaydenterrorinatexastown-7deathterror

1958

Touch of Evil
Vertigo
Nowhere to Go
Buchanan Rides Alone
Curse of the Demon
Terror in a Texas Town
A Night to Remember
I Want to Live!
I Married a Monster From Outer Space
The Lineup

Runners-Up: Cop Killer, Home Before Dark, The Magician

Other Noteworthy Releases: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Fabulous World of Jules Verne, The Hidden Fortress, Murder by Contract, The Snorkel

Overrated: The Defiant Ones, Gigi, Man of the West, Mon Oncle, The Tarnished Angels

Guilty Pleasure: King Creole, The Vikings

Notable shorts: Blackbird, Glass
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PILLOWTALK3

1959

North by Northwest
Rio Bravo
Some Like it Hot
Eyes Without a Face
Fires on the Plains
Compulsion
Ride Lonesome
The Four Hundred Blows
A Bucket of Blood
Anatomy of a Murder

Runners-Up: Les Cousins

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Bridge, Day of the Outlaw, Floating Weeds, General Della Rovere, I’m All Right, Jack, Pickpocket, Tiger Bay, Warlock, Face of Fire

Overrated: Ben-Hur, Hiroshima, Mon Amour, On the Beach

Guilty Pleasure: Pillow Talk
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psycho

1960

Psycho
Shoot the Piano Player
The Apartment
Le Trou
Les Bonnes Femmes
The League of Gentlemen
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
Peeping Tom
The Housemaid
Rocco and His Brothers

Runners-Up: The Big Risk, Black Sunday, Breathless, The Criminal, The Little Shop of Horrors, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Village of the Damned

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Bellboy, The Flesh and the Fiends, Home From the Hill, Never Take Candy from a Stranger, The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, The Virgin Spring, Wild River

Overrated: L’Avventura, La Dolce Vita

Guilty Pleasures: Horror Hotel
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101-dalmatians-disneyscreencaps_com-5461

1961

The Innocents
Yojimbo
Divorce Italian Style
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
The Hustler
Scream of Fear
A Woman is a Woman
Il Posto
Blast of Silence
Viridiana

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: A Cold Wind in August, The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, The Last Sunset, One-Eyed Jacks, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Underworld U.S.A.

Overrated: Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Judgment at Nuremberg, Last Year at Marienbad, A Raisin in the Sun, Splendor in the Grass, West Side Story

Guilty Pleasures: Creature from the Haunted Sea, Homicidal
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the-man-who-shot-liberty-valance-30

1962

The Manchurian Candidate
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Hara-kiri
Knife in the Water
Lolita
Cape Fear
The Trial
The Music Man
The Exterminating Angel
Kurotokage

Runners-Up: My Name is Ivan, Ride the High Country, Sanjuro

Other Noteworthy Releases: An Autumn Afternoon, Billy Budd, Birdman of Alcatraz, Burn, Witch, Burn, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Le Doulos, Eva, The Miracle Worker, Salvatore Giuliano, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Overrated: Days of Wine and Roses, L’Eclisse, Jules et Jim, Lawrence of Arabia, La Notte, Mafioso, To Kill a Mockingbird

Guilty Pleasure: The Brainiac, Hatari!

Notable shorts: La jetée, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

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the-nutty-professor-still

1963

Hud
The Great Escape
The Haunting
High and Low
Shock Corridor
The Nutty Professor
From Russia With Love
The Birds
The Whip and the Body
Station Six – Sahara

Runners-Up: An Actor’s Revenge, Bay of Angels, This Sporting Life

Other Noteworthy Releases: Billy Liar, The Fire Within, Jason and the Argonauts, The Leather Boys, The Organizer

Overrated: Contempt, 81/2, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Leopard, Muriel, The Pink Panther, The Servant, Tom Jones

Guilty Pleasure: The Girl Hunters, Paranoiac
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imagesKW62EIJ8

1964

Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Woman in the Dunes
Onibaba
The Train
Devil Doll
A Fistful of Dollars
A Hard Day’s Night
Séance on a Wet Afternoon
The Umbrella’s Of Cherbourg
Goldfinger

Runners-Up: Rio Conchos

Other Noteworthy Releases: Fail Safe, The Fifth Horseman is Fear, I Am Cuba, Nothing But a Man, One Potato, Two Potato, Pale Flower, Point of Order, Seduced and Abandoned, Seven Days in May, A Shot in the Dark, The Soft Skin, The Strangler, That Man in Rio, Murder Most Foul

Overrated: The Americanization of Emily, Band of Outsiders, Dog Star Man, Gertrud, The Gospel According to Matthew, Kwaidan, Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors

Guilty Pleasures: Lemonade Joe, The Night Walker, Viva Las Vegas
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agamewithstones

1965

Repulsion
For a Few Dollars More
The Flight of the Phoenix
Pierrot Le Fou
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Ride in the Whirlwind
The Ipcress File
Fists in the Pocket
The Nanny
The Knack, and How to Get It

Runners-Up: The Collector, It Happened Here, King Rat

Other Noteworthy Releases: Alphaville, The Bedford Incident, The Naked Kiss, Night Caller From Outer Space, Sands of the Kalahari, Simon of the Desert, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, A Study in Terror, Tokyo Olympiad

Overrated: Cat Ballou, Darling, Doctor Zhivago, The Saragossa Manuscript, The Shop on Main Street, The Sound of Music

Guilty Pleasures: Dark Intruder, Hush, Hush…Sweet Charlotte, The Loved One, The Skull

Notable shorts: A Game of Stones
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maxresdefault

1966

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Persona
The Battle of Algiers
Young Torless
El Dorado
Cul-De Sac
The Pornographers
Red Angel
Come Drink with Me
Masculine-Feminine

Runners-Up: La Guerre Est Finie, Violence at Noon

Other Noteworthy Releases: Closely Watched Trains, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Hunger, Made in U.S.A., The Professionals, Seconds, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Overrated: Au Hasard Bathalzar, Blowup, Fantastic Voyage, King of Hearts, A Man For All Seasons

Guilty Pleasure: Incubus

Notable shorts: Lapis
________________________________________
untitled

1967

Bonnie and Clyde
The Graduate
Branded to Kill
The Shooting
Bedazzled
In Cold Blood
Point Blank
Samurai Rebellion
The Producers
Danger Route

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Belle de Jour, Don’t Look Back, The Jungle Book, Mouchette, Titicut Follies

Overrated: Barefoot in the Park, Cool Hand Luke, The Fireman’s Ball, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, Marat/Sade, Two for the Road, Weekend

Guilty Pleasure: None
________________________________________
oncewest1000x400

1968

Once Upon a Time in the West
2001: A Space Odyssey
Night of the Living Dead
Rosemary’s Baby
Kuroneko
Pretty Poison
Shame
Stolen Kisses
Bullitt
Vixen

Runners-Up: Mandabi, Salesman

Other Noteworthy Releases: High School, If…, The Lion in Winter, The Night They Raided Minsky’s, No Way to Treat a Lady, The Odd Couple, Planet of the Apes, Spider Baby, Yellow Submarine, The Witchfinder General

Overrated: Funny Girl, Memories of Underdevelopment, Petulia

Guilty Pleasures: Girl on a Motorcycle, The Great Silence, Head

Notable shorts: The Flat, The Dove

________________________________________
easyrider-splsh

1969

A Touch of Zen
The Wild Bunch
Take the Money and Run
La Femme Infidele
This Man Must Die
A Very Curious Girl
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
Mississippi Mermaid
Midnight Cowboy
Army of Shadows

Runners-Up: The Cremator

Other Noteworthy Releases: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Burn!, Boy, The Cow, Easy Rider, Goyôkin, The Magic Christian, Medium Cool

Overrated: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Fellini Satyricon, Women in Love, Z

Guilty Pleasure: Blind Beast

Notable shorts: Bambi Meets Godzilla
________________________________________
five-easy-pieces-chicken-salad

1970

Le Boucher
Five Easy Pieces
Loving
Hi, Mom!
Where’s Poppa?
The Honeymoon Killers
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Start the Revolution Without Me
Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx
Goin’ Down the Road

Runners-Up: Kes, The Spider’s Strategem

Other Noteworthy Releases: Bloody Mama, Le Cercle Rouge, Colossus: The Forbin Project, Cotton Comes to Harlem, I Never Sang for My Father, Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, Little Big Man, Monte Walsh, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, A Severed Head, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, Wanda, Woodstock

Overrated: El Topo, Love Story, M*A*S*H, Patton, Performance

Guilty Pleasure: Scream and Scream Again, Trash

Notable shorts:

________________________________________
dirty-harry

1971

McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Dirty Harry
Duck, You Sucker
The Last Picture Show
The French Connection
Deep End
Macbeth
Two-Lane Blacktop
Bananas
Get Carter

Runners-Up: The Andromeda Strain, A Clockwork Orange

Other Noteworthy Releases: Born to Win, Claire’s Knee, Daughters of Darkness, The Hellstrom Chronicle, The House That Screamed, Minnie and Moskovitz, La Salamandre, Taking Off, 10 Rillington Place, Wanda, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Overrated: Andrei Rublev, Fiddler on the Roof, Walkabout

Guilty Pleasures: The Projectionist, The Telephone Book, Twins of Evil, What’s the Matter with Helen?
________________________________________
The Godfather

1972

The Godfather
Deliverance
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Play it Again, Sam
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Frenzy
Lone Wolf and Cub 2: Baby Cart at the River Styx
Prime Cut
The Candidate
The Heartbreak Kid

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Bad Company, Bone, Cabaret, Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues, Deathdream, The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, Marjoe, The Other, Tomorrow, Wedding in White, What’s Up, Doc?, Winter Soldier

Overrated: Fellini Roma, The King of Marvin Gardens, Solaris, Sounder

Guilty Pleasures: The Big Bird Cage, Cut-Throats Nine, Female Convict “Scorpion” – Jailhouse 41, The Folks at Red Wolf Inn
________________________________________
Robin HardyÕs THE WICKER MAN (1973). Courtesy: Rialto Pictures/ Studiocanal

1973

Badlands
The Long Goodbye
Mean Streets
American Graffiti
The Wicker Man
Sleeper
Don’t Look Now
The Last Detail
The Day of the Jackal
Emperor of the North

Runners-Up: Distant Thunder, The Exorcist

Other Noteworthy Releases: Blume in Love, Dillinger, Enter the Dragon, The Harder They Come, Last Tango in Paris, My Name is Nobody, Serpico, Sisters, Slither, The Spirit of the Beehive, Touki Bouki

Overrated: Amacord, The Mother and the Whore, O Lucky Man, Paper Moon, The Way We Were

Guilty Pleasures: The Baby, The Student Teachers
________________________________________
female

1974

Chinatown
The Godfather II
The Conversation
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Young Frankenstein
The Sugarland Express
Thieves Like Us
The Parallax View
Female Trouble

Runners-Up: Lacombe, Lucien, Phantom of the Paradise

Other Noteworthy Releases: Alice in the Cities, Andy Warhol’s Dracula, Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, The Phantom of Liberty

Overrated: Blazing Saddles, Celine and Julie Go Boating

Guilty Pleasures: Caged Heat, It’s Alive, The Working Girls
________________________________________
Jaws (1975) Roy Scheider Credit: Universal Pictures/Courtesy Neal Peters Collection

1975

Jaws
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Love and Death
Dog Day Afternoon
Smile
Nashville
Black Christmas
The Man Who Would Be King
Fox and His Friends
Xala

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Deep Red, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven, Night Moves, Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins, The Story of Adele H

Overrated: Barry Lyndon, The Mirror, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Guilty Pleasures: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shockwaves
________________________________________
talkin

1976

Taxi Driver
All the President’s Men
Rocky
Chinese Roulette
The Devil’s Playground
Mikey and Nicky
Carrie
In the Realm of the Senses
The Omen
The Outlaw Josey Wales

Runners-Up: Cria

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Bad News Bears, Car Wash, Obsession, The Shootist, The Tenant, Who Can Kill a Child?

Overrated: Assault on Precinct 13, Network

Guilty Pleasures: The Big Bus, Blue Sunshine, Freaky Friday, The Massacre at Central High, Squirm, Thundercrack!

Notable shorts: C’était un rendez-vous
________________________________________
saturday-night-fever-holding

1977

Annie Hall
Eraserhead
Citizens Band
Star Wars
The Late Show
Padre Padrone
The Spy Who Loved Me
That Obscure Object of Desire
Allegro Non Troppo
Between the Lines

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Alice, Sweet Alice, The Ascent, The Duellists, The Last Wave, Man of Marble, The Stationmaster’s Wife

Overrated: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Providence

Guilty Pleasures: Andy Warhol’s Bad, Demon Seed, House, Kentucky Fried Movie, Saturday Night Fever
________________________________________
Killer of Sheep1

1978

Halloween
Straight Time
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
The Silent Partner
The Deer Hunter
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
Dawn of the Dead
Martin
Fingers
The Buddy Holly Story

Runners-Up: Killer of Sheep

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Big Fix, Big Wednesday, Blue Collar, Coma, The Driver, Grease, Rockers, Violette

Overrated: Animal House, Coming Home, Days of Heaven, Midnight Express, The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Guilty Pleasure: Up in Smoke
________________________________________
alien-1979-screen-3

1979

Manhattan
Breaking Away
Alien
Apocalypse Now
The Wanderers
Gal Young ‘Un
Life of Brian
That Sinking Feeling
Kramer vs. Kramer
Norma Rae

Runners-Up: The China Syndrome, Vengeance is Mine

Other Noteworthy Releases: Breaker Morant, El Super, J-Men Forever!, Mad Max, Murder by Decree, Real Life

Overrated: All That Jazz, Being There, The Marriage of Maria Braun, Stalker, The Tin Drum

Guilty Pleasures: Beneath the Valley of the Ultravixens, The Brood
________________________________________
airplane

1980

Raging Bull
The Empire Strikes Back
Melvin and Howard
The Elephant Man
Atlantic City
Sitting Ducks
The Shining
The Long Riders
Coal Miner’s Daughter
Stardust Memories

Runners-Up: Airplane!

Other Noteworthy Releases: Berlin Alexanderplatz, The Falls, The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, Out of the Blue, The Plumber

Overrated: The Big Red One, Kagemusha, The Long Good Friday, Ordinary People

Guilty Pleasure: Caddyshack, Inferno
________________________________________
ms-45

1981

Modern Romance
Prince of the City
The Road Warrior
Cutter’s Way
Ms. 45
Blow Out
Thief
Blind Chance
Gregory’s Girl
Body Heat

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: An American Werewolf in London, The Aviator’s Wife, Das Boot, Diva, Do You Remember Dolly Bell, Eijanaika, Knightriders, Lonely Hearts, Raiders of the Lost Arc, Road Games, Soldier Girls

Overrated: Chariots of Fire, On Golden Pond, Reds

Guilty Pleasure: Shock Treatment

Notable shorts: Tango
________________________________________
FastTimesPizza

1982

Blade Runner
Smithereens
The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time
Tootsie
Diner
Eating Raoul
Moonlighting
La Balance
Danton
Yol

Runners-Up: Fanny and Alexander

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Atomic Café, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 48 Hrs., Lola, The Verdict

Overrated: Fitzcarraldo, Gandhi, Missing, Poltergeist, Sophie’s Choice

Guilty Pleasure: Basket Case, Rocky 3, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Notable shorts: Dimensions of Dialogue
________________________________________
ralphie-a=33

1983

The Ballad of Narayama
The King of Comedy
A Christmas Story
Local Hero
Zelig
Reuben, Reuben
Last Night at the Alamo
Testament
Under Fire
Never Cry Wolf

Runners-Up: The Family Game, Lianna, Silkwood

Other Noteworthy Releases: L’Argent, Cujo, The Dark Crystal, The Dead Zone, Twice Upon a Time, The Wall

Overrated: The Big Chill, Koyaanisqatsi, The Makioka Sisters, The Right Stuff, Terms of Endearment

Guilty Pleasures: National Lampoon’s Vacation, Risky Business, Slayground
________________________________________
america

1984

Once Upon a Time in America
This is Spinal Tap
Blood Simple
The Terminator
Broadway Danny Rose
Stranger Than Paradise
Love Streams
Comfort and Joy
Choose Me
The Hit

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Birdy, The Company of Wolves, The Element of Crime, Heartbreakers, The Karate Kid, Repo Man, A Soldier’s Story, Stop Making Sense, Streetwise

Overrated: Amadeus, Beverly Hills Cop, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Killing Fields, Paris, Texas, A Passage to India

Guilty Pleasure: Angel
________________________________________
vagabond

1985

Come and See
Brazil
The Purple Rose of Cairo
After Hours
Vagabond
Lost in America
Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
When Father Was Away on Business
Tampopo
Dance With a Stranger

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Letter to Breshnev, Mask, My Beautiful Launderette, My Life as a Dog, Ran, To Live and Die in L.A.,  28 Up, A Zed and Two Noughts

Overrated: Back to the Future, Cocoon, The Color Purple, Out of Africa, Witness

Guilty Pleasure: Better Off Dead, Jagged Edge, Re-Animator, Trancers
________________________________________
Picture 5

1986

Blue Velvet
Hannah and Her Sisters
Manhunter
Something Wild
The Fly
Jean de Florette
Salvador
Stand by Me
Platoon
In a Glass Cage

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Manon of the Spring, Sid and Nancy

Overrated: Aliens, Children of a Lesser God, The Color of Money, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,
Sherman’s March

Guilty Pleasure: None
________________________________________
robocop-reboot-sony-distributor

1987

Raising Arizona
Evil Dead II
Broadcast News
Full Metal Jacket
House of Games
Housekeeping
The Untouchables
Near Dark
Barfly
The Stepfather

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Au Revoir Les Enfants, Boyfriends and Girlfriends, The Dead, Family Viewing, Hellraiser, Hope and Glory, Moonstruck, Radio Days, RoboCop, Wish You Were Here

Overrated: Fatal Attraction, The Last Emperor, Wings of Desire

Guilty Pleasure: Lethal Weapon

Notable Shorts: Your Face
________________________________________
rabbit

1988

The Thin Blue Line
Dangerous Liaisons
A Fish Called Wanda
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
A Short Film about Killing
Story of Women
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Midnight Run
The Vanishing
Eight Men Out

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Accidental Tourist, Big, Chocolate, Distant Voices, Still Lives, Drowning by Numbers, Mississippi Burning, My Neighbor Tortoro, Rain Man, A Short Film about Love

Overrated: Akira, Cinema Paradiso, Grave of the Fireflies, Landscape in the Mist, The Last Temptation of Christ, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Guilty Pleasure: Child’s Play, The Naked Gun
________________________________________
crime

1989

Crimes and Misdemeanors
Do the Right Thing
Monsieur Hire
Drugstore Cowboy
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
True Love
Say Anything
Roger and Me
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
How to Get Ahead in Advertising

Runners-Up: Queen of Hearts

Other Noteworthy Releases: Casualties of War, Chameleon Street, Dead Calm, For All Mankind, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Leningrad Cowboys Go America, Miracle Mile, My Left Foot, The Plot Against Harry, Time of the Gypsies, Speaking Parts, When Harry Met Sally

Overrated: Batman, Born on the Fourth of July, Dead Poet’s Society, Driving Miss Daisy, Field of Dreams, Glory, Heathers, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Killer, The War of the Roses

Guilty Pleasure:
________________________________________
good

1990

GoodFellas
Miller’s Crossing
An Angel at My Table
Metropolitan
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Miami Blues
Wild at Heart
Edward Scissorhands
Reversal of Fortune
Jacob’s Ladder

Runners-Up: The Match Factory Girl, The Nasty Girl

Other Noteworthy Releases: Darkman, La Femme Nikita, Misery, Mountains of the Moon

Overrated: Avalon, Dances With Wolves, The Grifters, Henry & June, Pretty Woman

Guilty Pleasure: Die Hard 2
________________________________________
JFK-1991-Jay-O_-Sanders-Kevin-Costner-pic-1

1991

Raise the Red Lantern
Barton Fink
Close-Up
Slacker
Life is Sweet
Rambling Rose
JFK
The Silence of the Lambs
Beauty and the Beast
Thelma and Louise

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Boyz n the Hood, Defending Your Life, Proof, Truly, Madly, Deeply

Overrated: The Double Life of Veronique, La Belle noiseuse, Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Guilty Pleasure: The Comfort of Strangers
________________________________________
reservoir-dogs-06

1992

Reservoir Dogs
The Player
Husbands and Wives
Brother’s Keeper
Lorenzo’s Oil
Bitter Moon
Dead Alive
The Tune
One False Move
Bob Roberts

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Army of Darkness, Baraka, The Crying Game, El Mariachi, Glengarry Glen Ross, Laws of Gravity, Leolo, Midnight Clear

Overrated: Howard’s End, Unforgiven

Guilty Pleasure: Basic Instinct

Notable shorts: Food
________________________________________
dazed1

1993

Groundhog Day
Red Rock West
Dazed and Confused
Schindler’s List
This Boy’s Life
The Snapper
King of the Hill
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Short Cuts
Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Cronos, In the Name of the Father, A Perfect World

Overrated: The Age of Innocence, Blue, The Joy Luck Club, Jurassic Park, The Remains of the Day

Guilty Pleasure: The Bride with White Hair

Notable shorts: The Wrong Trousers
________________________________________
chan-drunken-master

1994

Pulp Fiction
Ed Wood
Fresh
Heavenly Creatures
Hoop Dreams
Once Were Warriors
Little Odessa
White
Leon – The Professional
Quiz Show

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: Cobb, Crumb, Death and the Maiden, Priest, Lamerica, The Shawshank Redemption

Overrated: Ashes of Time, Forrest Gump, Red

Guilty Pleasure: Drunken Master 2
________________________________________
wallace-gromit-in-a-close-shave

1995

Heat
Rob Roy
Toy Story
Before Sunrise
La Ceremonie
Living in Oblivion
Seven
The Usual Suspects
Cyclo
Angels and Insects

Runners-Up: Dead Man Walking, The White Balloon

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Battle Over Citizen Kane, Leaving Las Vegas, Richard 111, Sense and Sensibility, Strange Days, 301/302, To Die For

Overrated: Antonia’s Line, Apollo 13, Braveheart, The City of Lost Children, Get Shorty, Safe

Guilty Pleasure: None

Notable shorts: A Close Shave
________________________________________
0HoldOn_Microcosmos

1996

Bottle Rocket
Fargo
Microcosmos
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Citizen Ruth
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Flirting With Disaster
Secrets and Lies
La Promesse
Brassed Off

Runners-Up: The Funeral, Un Air de Famille

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Cable Guy, Deep Crimson, Freeway, Hard Core Logo, The Last Big Thing, Looking for Richard, Pusher, Scream, Swingers, Tin Cup

Overrated: Breaking the Waves, The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, Jerry Maguire, The People Vs. Larry Flint

Guilty Pleasures: The Craft, Kingpin
________________________________________
in_the_company_of_men1

1997

Jackie Brown
Boogie Nights
In the Company of Men
The Sweet Hereafter
Deconstructing Harry
Funny Games
The Ice Storm
L.A. Confidential
Donnie Brasco
The Full Monty

Runners-Up: None

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Boxer, Career Girls, Chasing Amy, The Hanging Garden, Henry Fool, Men in Black, Princess Mononoke, She’s So Lovely, Ulee’s Gold, Wild Man Blues

Overrated: As Good as it Gets, Face/Off, The Game, Life is Beautiful, Titanic,

Guilty Pleasure: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Bean, Mimic

________________________________________
ThreeShot03

1998

Happiness
Rushmore
The Opposite of Sex
The Last Days of Disco
The Big Lebowski
Buffalo ‘66
Gods and Monsters
The Celebration
Out of Sight
A Simple Plan

Runners-Up: Affliction, Slums of Beverly Hills

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Dreamlife of Angels, The General, Praise, Return to Paradise, Slam, Waking Ned Devine, Your Friends and Neighbors

Overrated: Bulworth, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, Pleasantville, Primary Colors, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love, The Thin Red Line, The Truman Show

Guilty Pleasure: Blade, Wild Things, There’s Something About Mary
________________________________________
imagesMKQG25KL

1999

Election
Being John Malcovich
Magnolia
Sweet and Lowdown
The Iron Giant
Eyes Wide Shut
The Straight Story
The Blair Witch Project
Topsy-Turvy
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Runners-Up: Boys Don’t Cry, Toy Story 2

Other Noteworthy Releases: American Movie, Audition, East is East, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Limbo, Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr., My Neighbors the Yamadas

Overrated: American Beauty, Fight Club, The Green Mile, The Sixth Sense

Guilty Pleasure: Arlington Road, For Love of the Game
________________________________________
crouching-tiger-hidden-dragon-wo-hu-cang-long-2000-fight-sequence-movie-still

2000

Memento
You Can Count on Me
Requiem for a Dream
Chicken Run
Amores Perros
In the Mood for Love
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The Circle
The Claim
High Fidelity

Runners-Up: Dark Days, Paradise Lost: Revelations

Other Noteworthy Releases: American Psycho, Billy Elliot, Chopper, Chuck and Buck, Croupier, The Emperor’s New Groove, Human Resources, My Dog Skip, Panic, Thirteen Days, Two Family House, Waking the Dead

Overrated: Almost Famous, Castaway, The Contender, Dancer in the Dark, Gladiator, Snatch, Traffic, Yi-Yi

Guilty Pleasure: Space Cowboys

Notable Shorts: At the Ends of the Earth, Rejected
________________________________________
normal_winged_migration_02_536

2001

Mulholland Dr.
Spirited Away
Ghost World
Devils on the Doorstep
The Piano Teacher
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Bully
No Man’s Land
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Little Otik

Runners-Up: Donnie Darko, Gosford Park, Late Marriage, Nowhere in Africa, Sexy Beast, Winged Migration

Other Noteworthy Releases: Ginger Snaps, The Man Who Wasn’t There, The Pledge, Session 9

Overrated: Amelie, A Beautiful Mind, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Werckmeister Harmonies

Guilty Pleasure: Bridget Jones’ Diary, The Fast and the Furious, A Knight’s Tale
________________________________________
1398955828000-000

2002

The Magdalene Sisters
The Son
Bus 174
Dirty Pretty Things
About Schmidt
Punch Drunk Love
The Quiet American
25th Hour
Lilya-4-Ever
Far from Heaven

Runners-Up: The Man without a Past

Other Noteworthy Releases: After the Life, All or Nothing, Catch Me If You Can, The Child I Never Was, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Kid Stays in the Picture, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Millennium Actress, One-Hour Photo, On the Run, The Pianist, Secretary, 28 Days Later

Overrated: Adaptation, Chicago, Gangs of New York, Hero, The Hours, Irreversible, Spider-Man

Guilty Pleasure: The Transporter
________________________________________
two sisters

2003

Capturing the Friedmans
Touching the Void
Intermission
Kill Bill Vol. 1
A Tale of Two Sisters
The Forest for the Trees
Save the Green Planet!
Memories of Murder
School of Rock
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Runners-Up: American Splendor, Raja

Other Noteworthy Releases: Bright Leaves, Dead End, Dogville, Elephant, The Five Obstructions, Good Bye, Lenin, Marooned in Iraq, The Secret Lives of Dentists, Spellbound, 21 Grams, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Overrated: The Best of Youth, In America, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Lost in Translation, Mystic River, Oldboy

Guilty Pleasures: Bad Santa, A Mighty Wind, Old School
________________________________________
-e0859b4f-9efa-47c8-87dd-d7dc4d9c4dc5_600

2004

Before Sunset
Sideways
Open Water
Shaun of the Dead
Red Lights
Maria Full of Grace
Kill Bill Vol. 2
The Incredibles
Kung Fu Hustle
Birth

Runners-Up: Darwin’s Nightmare, Vera Drake

Other Noteworthy Releases: Downfall, Goodbye, Dragon Inn, I Heart Huckabees, Mountain Patrol:Kekexili

Overrated: The Aviator, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Garden State, Hotel Rwanda, Million Dollar Baby, Moolaade, Ray

Guilty Pleasure: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
________________________________________
Grizzly-Man-2

2005

Grizzly Man
Cache
A History of Violence
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Election
Match Point
The Matador
Lemming
Lunacy

Runners-Up: L’Enfant, Nine Lives, Syriana

Other Noteworthy Releases: Capote, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Munich, Murderball, Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic, The Squid and the Whale, Walk the Line

Overrated: Batman Begins, Brokeback Mountain, Cinderella Man, The Constant Gardener, Crash, Hustle and Flow, March of the Penguins, The New World, Sin City, V for Vendetta

Guilty Pleasure: Fever Pitch, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
________________________________________
borat

2006

The Lives of Others
Exiled
United 93
Borat
Babel
Offside
Woman on the Beach
The Boss of it All
The Departed
Volver

Runners-Up: Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

Other Noteworthy Releases: Black Book, Casino Royale, Deliver Us from Evil, Half Nelson, The Host, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen, The Painted Veil, Pan’s Labyrinth, A Prairie Home Companion, The Prestige, A Scanner Darkly, Severance, SherryBaby, Sleeping Dogs Lie, Still Life, Stranger Than Fiction, Tell No One, This is England

Overrated: Blood Diamond, Children of Men, Dreamgirls, Flags of Our Father, Old Joy, 300

Guilty Pleasures: Air Guitar Nation, Beerfest, Crank, Slither
________________________________________
cointoss

2007

No Country for Old Men
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
There Will Be Blood
Ratatouille
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Once
Zodiac
Planet Terror
You, the Living

Runners-Up: Days and Clouds, The Edge of Heaven, La Vie En Rose, Secret Sunshine

Other Noteworthy Releases: Away From Her, Cassandra’s Dream, Death Proof, Grindhouse, Joshua, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Knocked Up, The Man from Earth, Michael Clayton, My Kid Could Paint That, Waitress, Year of the Dog

Overrated: Atonement, Juno, In the Valley of Elah, Persepolis, Silent Light

Guilty Pleasure: Transformers
________________________________________
winn

2008

The Wrestler
Let the Right One In
Cloverfield
WALL•E
Hunger
The Hurt Locker
The Bank Job
Bigger Stronger Faster*
Vicky Christina Barcelona
My Winnipeg

Runners-Up: The Dark Knight, Fish Tank, Gomorra, In Bruges, JCVD, Julia, Momma’s Man, Summer Hours, Synecdoche, New York

Other Noteworthy Releases: Appaloosa, Boy A, Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country, CJ7, The Class, Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son From His Father, Encounters at the End of the World, The Fall, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Frost/Nixon, Frownland, Funny Games, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, Iron Man, Letting Go of God, Pineapple Express, Rachel Getting Married, Redbelt, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Sita Sings the Blues, Stuck, Timecrimes, Two Lovers, Wendy and Lucy

Overrated: Chop Shop, A Christmas Tale, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Flight of the Red Balloon, Gran Torino, I’ve Loved You So Long, Man on Wire, Paranoid Park, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionaire, The Visitor, Waltz with Bashir

Guilty Pleasures: Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Marley and Me

Notable shorts: Presto!
________________________________________
coraline05

2009

Inglourious Basterds
Mother
Enter the Void
Up
A Serious Man
In the Loop
Coraline
The Informant!
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Everyone Else

Runners-Up: An Education, A Prophet, Food, Inc., Humpday, Life During Wartime, Moon, Police, Adjective, Red Riding 1974, Red Riding 1980, Tulpan

Other Noteworthy Releases: Ajami, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans, Black Dynamite, Bright Star, Broken Embraces, Brüno, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, District 9, Dogtooth, Fish Story, Funny People, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale, The Hangover, The House of the Devil, Mary and Max, Me and Orson Welles, The Merry Gentleman, Paranormal Activity, Passing Strange, Rapt, Second Skin, The Secret in Their Eyes, Star Trek, Sweetgrass, Tyson, Valhalla Rising, Watchmen, The White Ribbon, World’s Greatest Dad

Overrated: Avatar, The Blind Side, Drag Me to Hell, (500) Days of Summer, Invictus, Julie & Julia, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, Princess and the Frog, Sin Nombre, Up in the Air, Where the Wild Things Are

Guilty Pleasures: It’s Complicated

Notable shorts: Alma, Partly Cloudy

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exitthroughthegiftshopBANKSYINTERVIEW

2010

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Social Network
Four Lions
Beyond the Black Rainbow
Black Swan
Monsters
Greenberg
Let Me In
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Another Year

Runners-Up: Blue Valentine, Inception, Submarine, Toy Story 3

Other Noteworthy Releases: Alice in Wonderland, The American, Armadillo, Carlos, Casino Jack and the United States of Money, Cold Fish, Cyrus, Daddy Longlegs, Despicable Me, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, A Film Unfinished, Frozen, The Ghost Writer, The Housemaid, How to Train Your Dragon, I’m Still Here, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Kick-Ass, Leap Year, Of Gods and Men, Putty Hill, Restropo, Rubber, Senna, The Silence, Super, Tamara Drewe, Tangled, The Town, The Trotsky, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger

Overrated: 127 Hours, The Fighter, I Am Love, The Illusionist, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, Shutter Island, Splice, Tiny Furniture, True Grit, Waiting for ‘Superman’, Winter’s Bone

Guilty Pleasures: The Last Exorcism, Machete

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untitled

2011

Drive
Margaret
A Separation
Hanna
Rango
The Guard
Warrior
Weekend
The Snowtown Murders
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Runners-Up: 50/50, The Deep Blue Sea, Elena, Killer Joe, One Life

Other Noteworthy Releases: Alyce Kills, Attack the Block, Bellflower, Bernie, Bobby Fischer Against the World, The Cabin in the Woods, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, Dark Horse, Goodbye First Love, Haywire, How to Die in Oregon, Kill List, The Last Lions, Melancholia, Midnight in Paris, Miss Bala, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, The Raid: Redemption, Sleep Tight, Tabloid, Terri, Whore’s Glory, Winnie the Pooh, You’re Next, Your Sister’s Sister

Overrated: The Artist, A Dangerous Method, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, The Interrupters, Moneyball, Shame, Take Shelter, The Tree of Life

Guilty Pleasures: Cedar Rapids, Paranormal Activity 3, Real Steel

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holy-motors

2012

Holy Motors
It’s Such a Beautiful Day
The Master
Spring Breakers
Sightseers
Killing Them Slowly
The Comedy
The Imposter
Django Unchained
Seven Psychopaths

Runners-Up: Amour, Berberian Sound Studio, Beyond the Hills, Frankenweenie, Nancy, Please, Pitch Perfect, Ruby Sparks, Searching for Sugar Man, Skyfall, Wreck-It Ralph

Other Noteworthy Releases: The Act of Killing, Arbitrage, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – The Egg of the King, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 2 – The Battle for Doldrey, Bestiaire, Beyond the Hills, Birders: The Central Park Effect, The Bitter Buddha, Compliance, The Dictator, Drug War, Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal, Gimme the Loot, A Hijacking, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, How to Survive a Plague, The Hunt, In the House, It’s a Disaster, The Jeffrey Dahmer Files, The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh, Laurence Anyways, Magic Mike, Maniac, Moonrise Kingdom, Much Ado About Nothing, No, Post Tenebras Lux, Resolution, Room 237, 7 Boxes, Simon Killer, Sun Don’t Shine, Ted, Wolf Children, Wrong, Zero Dark Thirty, Zero Killed

Overrated: Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook, To the Wonder

Guilty Pleasures: The Final Member, Passion, Pieta, Would You Rather
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slave

2013

Before Midnight
Under the Skin
American Hustle
12 Years a Slave
The Past
Blue Jasmine
Begin Again
Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Stranger by the Lake

Runners-Up: The Double, Inside Llewyn Davis, Let the Fire Burn, Only God Forgives

Other Noteworthy Releases: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2, Berserk: The Golden Age Arc 2 – Descent, Bethlehem, Big Bad Wolves, Birth of the Living Dead, Blackfish, Blue Caprice, Blue Ruin, Borgman, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Coherence, Crystal Fairy, The Dirties, The Dog, Drinking Buddies, Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me, Finding Vivian Maier, The Ghosts in Our Machine, Gloria, Gravity, The Great Beauty, Ilo Ilo, In a World…, Jodorowsky’s Dune, Joe, Love Eternal, The Missing Picture, Nebraska, Particle Fever, Proxy, The Selfish Giant, The Spectacular Now, 20 Feet from Stardom, The Unknown Known, We Are the Best!

Overrated: All is Lost, Blue Is the Warmest Color, Escape from Tomorrow, Frozen, The Grandmaster, Her, Ida, The Immigrant, Like Father, Like Son, Only Lovers Left Alive, Snowpiercer, Stray Dogs, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Upstream Color, The Wind Rises, The Wolf of Wall Street, The World’s End

Guilty Pleasures: Cheap Thrills, Grand Piano, Moebius, Rush, Why Don’t You Play in Hell?

6 Responses to “Top Ten Films”

  1. Hello Mat,

    Fixing the Oscars 1966 showed me an unexpected affinity with your choices. Then I decided to check your yearly top 10s here and I like them a lot, you have good taste!

    Cheers.

  2. Thank you! I love doing “Fixing the Oscars” because I always discover interesting new films. I had never heard of Red Angel before, but now it’s on my 1966 Top Ten list. Unfortunately, I was not able to see The Hunt, which is on several ballots, including yours.

  3. For 1981, you list “Blow Out” in your top 10 and then proceed to include it in your “Other Worthwhile Releases.” How can you trust a man who can’t even trust his own list?

  4. Mark,

    Nice catch! I will correct that immediately. And, yes, I did get the reference to Once Upon a Time in the West.

  5. Have you ever seen the 1970 film, “The Go Between?” If so, I’d like to hear your opinion.

  6. I sense an immense dislike for Fellini here.