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Films considered the greatest ever

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Note: This article does not include films that had the highest box office receipts. For this information see: List of highest-grossing films and List of highest-grossing films throughout history.

While there is no agreement upon the greatest film of all time, it is possible to list films considered the greatest ever by a sizable populace of the film-watching community in the English-speaking world. The criterion for inclusion in this article is that the film has been mentioned the "greatest" in a notable survey — be it a critics' poll, popular poll, or awards. Many of these sources focus on American films, but those considered the greatest within their respective countries are included at the end. None of these citations should be viewed as scientific measures of the film-watching world. All the surveys are flawed in one way or another. They are often influenced by vote-stacking or they survey a population with skewed demographics. Internet based surveys have a self-selecting audience of unknown participants. The methodology of some surveys may be questionable. Sometimes (like in the case of the American Film Institute) voters were asked to select films from a limited list of entries.

In polls of critics and filmmakers

Orson Welles' Citizen Kane has been consistently voted number one in the Sight and Sound poll of film critics in each of the last five polls starting with the 1962 poll (the survey is carried out once every ten years). A separate poll of established film directors in the same magazine, held for the first time in 1992, also has placed Citizen Kane at the top. Influential critic Roger Ebert says that "The Sight and Sound poll is generally considered the most authoritative of all 'best film' lists". The film was selected as number one in a Village Voice critics' poll, number one in a Time Out critics' poll in 1995 and listed as the greatest American film ever by the American Film Institute in 1998 and 2007.
La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game) by director Jean Renoir was named best film by the French film magazine Positif in 1991. It also holds the number two spot in the Village Voice poll. Along with The Battleship Potemkin, it is one of only two films to have appeared in every one of Sight and Sound's six decennial polls.
The Searchers is the film most often mentioned in a poll of the favorite films of directors by German language Steadycam magazine.^[1]
The Battleship Potemkin was voted best film ever by a panel of experts at the 1958 World's Fair.^[2]
Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves) was voted top film in a Sight & Sound magazine poll in 1952. Other than Citizen Kane, Bicycle Thieves is the only film to ever top the Sight and Sound poll.
Goodfellas was voted the greatest film of all time in 2005 by the editorial team of the magazine Total Film.^[3]
According to the filmsite They Shoot Pictures Top 1000 Films which collates votes from well over 1300 different film critics and filmakers, the top 10 films of all-time as of January 2007 are:

Rank	Film	Director	Year	Points
1	Citizen Kane	Orson Welles	1941	756.57
2	La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game)	Jean Renoir	1939	426.76
3	Vertigo	Alfred Hitchcock	1958	417.68
4	2001: A Space Odyssey	Stanley Kubrick	1968	324.36
5	8½	Federico Fellini	1963	313.40
6	Seven Samurai	Akira Kurosawa	1954	256.50
7	The Godfather	Francis Ford Coppola	1972	250.81
8	Tokyo Story	Yasujiro Ozu	1953	231.41
9	The Searchers	John Ford	1956	226.57
10	Singin' in the Rain	Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly	1952	223.38

Academy Awards

Ever since their inception in 1928, the Academy Awards (the Oscars) have been seen as the most significant of the film award ceremonies, though it should be noted that dominance is dependent upon the competition in film that year as well as a film's own merits. It should also be noted the awards tend to focus mainly on American films. The first film to dominate an Oscars ceremony was Frank Capra's It Happened One Night in 1935. It was the first film to win five awards. Moreover it won the "Oscar grand slam" by winning Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screenplay — a feat that has subsequently been repeated only twice, by One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1976 and by The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. In 1939, Gone with the Wind was nominated for 13 awards and two special citations. It won ten of the Awards to beat It Happened One Night's record. All About Eve (1950) broke the nominations record with 14, and won in six categories. Gone with the Wind's moment at the top lasted for twenty years, only to be beaten by the epic Ben-Hur, which went on to win 11 Oscars from 12 nominations in 1960. Ben-Hur's eleven Oscars remains the record. This achievement in turn has been equalled twice — by Titanic in 1997 with 11 awards from 14 nominations, and by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which won in all 11 of its nominated categories in 2003 in the greatest sweep in the history of the Academy Awards, despite not having been nominated in any of the four acting categories.

In audience polls

The Godfather has long stood on the top of the IMDb's list of the top 250 films. It was also voted number one by Entertainment Weekly readers, listed as number one in Entertainment Weekly's 1999 book about the top 100 films ^[4] and voted number one in a Time Out readers' poll in 1998. ^[5]
The Godfather Part II was voted best ever by TV Guide readers^[6] in 1998.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was voted the most popular film of all time by an audience poll for the Australian television special My Favourite Film. Its first film, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), was the pick of readers in a poll by Empire magazine in November 2004. The third film, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, was voted the best movie of all time by Movies.com's annual reader's poll in 2006 and in 2007. It is the only trilogy to have all 3 pictures in the Top 30 of the IMDb's list of top 250 films.
Casablanca (1942) is widely cited as the greatest film of all time and was voted as such by readers of the Los Angeles Daily News in 1997. It is also regarded the "best Hollywood movie of all time" by the influential Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. On April 7, 2006, the Writer's Guild of America declared Casablanca's screenplay the best ever written.
Star Wars (1977) was chosen by readers of Empire magazine in November 2001 and by voters in a Channel 4/FilmFour poll [7]. It was voted number one in the 2007 Empire "Greatest 100 Movies" poll.^[7]
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) was voted number 1 in Total Film's Top 100 Movies of All Time.^[8]
The Shawshank Redemption is the highest rated film on Yahoo! Movies by Yahoo! users and is listed second on the all-time greatest film list on the IMDb. It was voted the best film never to have won Best Picture in a 2005 BBC poll.^[9] In January 2006 Empire magazine readers named it the best film ever.
As of December 31, 2007, the following are the 10 films atop the IMDB's list of the top 250:

Rank	Film	Year	Rating
1	The Godfather	1972	9.1
2	The Shawshank Redemption	1994	9.1
3	The Godfather: Part II	1974	9.0
4	The Good, the Bad and the Ugly	1966	8.9
5	Pulp Fiction	1994	8.8
6	Schindler's List	1993	8.8
7	Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back	1980	8.8
8	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	1975	8.8
9	Casablanca	1942	8.8
10	Seven Samurai	1958	8.8

In particular genres

Action

Die Hard (1988) was voted greatest action movie of all time by both Entertainment Weekly and music channel MTV2.

Animation

Akira (1988) was chosen as the top anime ever by Anime Insider in fall 2001.
Tale of Tales (Сказка сказок) (1979): Yuriy Norshteyn's short film was voted by a large international jury to be the greatest animated film of all time at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympiad of Animation and the 2002 Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films.^[10]^[11]
Toy Story (1995) was voted #1 on the Top 100 Animated Features of All Time by the Online Film Critics Society (list published March 2003).^[12]
What's Opera, Doc? (1957), directed by Chuck Jones, was voted the greatest animated short of all time in animation historian Jerry Beck's 1994 poll of animators, film historians and directors.

Comedy

Some Like It Hot (1959) was listed Best American Film Comedy by the American Film Institute in June 2000.
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979) was voted the greatest comedy ever by viewers of Channel 4 in 2005.^[13] It also was rated #1 comedy of all time from a poll conducted by Total Film Magazine.
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) was voted #1 on the Bravo list of funniest movies of all time, and was #36 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs.

Concert

The Last Waltz (1978): Martin Scorsese's chronicling of The Band's farewell concert on Thanksgiving Day in 1976. Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune calls it "The greatest rock concert movie ever made -- and maybe the best rock movie, period." Terry Lawson of the Detroit Free Press comments that "This is one of the great movie experiences."^[14] The review at Total Film comments "In what is rightly considered the greatest concert film ever shot...."^[15] Rolling Stone dubbed it the greatest film about music ever made. All Movie Guide said that the film is "considered to be [one] of the best-looking and sounding rock films ever".^[16]
Stop Making Sense (1984): Film critic James Berardinelli wrote that Jonathan Demme's capturing of the Talking Heads in concert was "the best concert film to date when it first came out, and nothing in the past decade-and-a-half has come close to toppling it from that position." Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle had similar praise: "Has there ever been a live concert film as vibrant or as brilliantly realized? I don't think so."

Disaster

The Poseidon Adventure (1972) was voted best disaster movie in a poll commissioned by UCI cinemas in May 2004.^[17]

Documentary

Seven Up! (1964) was voted as the greatest ever documentary in a Channel 4 poll of the 50 Greatest Documentaries in 2005.
Bowling for Columbine (2002), Michael Moore's controversial documentary relating gun control and the culture of fear in the United States, heads the list of 20 all-time favorite non-fiction films selected by members of the International Documentary Association (IDA).^[18]

Epic

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was voted best epic by readers of Total Film in May 2004. In addition, Peter O'Toole's performance as T.E. Lawrence was ranked number one in Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.

High School/Teen Film

The Breakfast Club (1985) was included as number one on Entertainment Weekly's list of 50 best high school films of all time in 2006. ^[19]

Horror/Thriller

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974): Voted greatest horror movie of all time on Total Film's 50 Greatest Horror Movies of all Time^[20], Empire Magazine's 50 Greatest Horror Movies of All Time, and Premiere Magazine's Top 10 Horror Films of All Time.
Psycho (1960): The Alfred Hitchcock classic tops AFI’s list of the 100 most thrilling American films and Rotten Tomatoes list of the 50 greatest horror movies.
Halloween (1978): Voted best horror film of all time by readers of SFX magazine in June 2004, also listed on AFI's most thrilling films ever.
The Exorcist (1973): Voted scariest movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly and Movies.com, also listed on AFI's most thrilling films ever.
The Shining (1980): Voted scariest movie of all time by Channel 4. [8]
Jaws (1975): voted scariest movie moment by Bravo in 2004.

Independent Film

Reservoir Dogs (1992): Was listed as the number one film on a list by Empire Magazine of the '50 Greatest Independent Films'. ^[21]

Musical

Singin' in the Rain (1952) tops the American Film Institute's list of the 25 best American musicals of all time.^[22]
West Side Story (1961) was chosen as the best screen musical by readers of The Observer in a 2007 poll.^[23]
Grease (1978) was voted the greatest musical by viewers of Channel 4 in 2003.

Propaganda

Triumph of the Will (1935), Leni Riefenstahl's documentary film glorifying Adolf Hitler and the 1934 Nazi Party Convention, in Nuremberg is widely perceived, renowned, and reviled as the best propaganda film ever,^[24] although Riefenstahl asserted she intended it only as a documentary.

Romance

Casablanca (1942) is the top film on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions list, which ranks films in which there is "a romantic bond between two or more characters, whose actions and/or intentions provide the heart of the film’s narrative".

Science fiction

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) tops the Online Film Critics Society list of greatest science fiction films of all time.^[25] It is also the only science fiction film to make the Sight and Sound poll for ten best movies.
Blade Runner (1982) was voted the best science fiction film by a panel of scientists assembled by the British newspaper The Guardian in 2004.^[26]
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) topped a Rotten Tomatoes poll of the 100 best Science Fiction movies ever made. ^[27]
The Matrix (1999) was voted the greatest science fiction film of the last 25 years by Entertainment Weekly.

Superhero/Comic book adaptations

Batman Begins (2005) listed as #1 on IGN's list of the 'Best & Worst Comic-Book Movies'. ^[28]
Ghost World (2001) topped MSN Movies' list of the 'Top 10 Comic Book Movies' ^[29]
Spider-Man 2 (2004) was selected the number one comic-to-cinema adaption in a poll of critics at rottentomatoes.com.^[30] and was named as the greatest superhero movie ever made by film critic Roger Ebert.
X2: X-Men United (2003) was voted greatest comic book film of all time by Empire Magazine.^[31]

Sport

Bull Durham (1988) was number 1 on the Rotten Tomatoes countdown of the top sports movies. ^[32]
Rocky (1976) was listed as the number 1 sports movie of all time by MovieFone ^[33]

War

Saving Private Ryan (1998) was voted as the greatest war film in a 2005 Channel 4 poll of the 100 greatest war films.
Apocalypse Now (1979) was listed as the number 1 war film of all time by MovieFone and MSN Movies. ^[34]^[35]

Western

The Searchers (1956) was voted the greatest Western of all time by Entertainment Weekly. (See also: films acclaimed by critics and filmmakers above).

In particular countries

Argentina

See also: Cinema of Argentina

The Official Story (1985) was voted the top film of the 25 Top Best Argentina made movies. It also won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1985.

Australia

See also: Cinema of Australia

Mad Max (1979): voted the best Australian film ever by the Australian Film Institute. Nominated for four Australian Film Institute Awards.
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975): voted No. 1 of the Top 10 best-ever Australian films at 1995 centenary of Australian cinema.^[36]

Brazil

See also: Cinema of Brazil

According to IMDB users, City of God (2002) the best Brazilian film of all time. Brazilian critics, however, have selected Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964) as the best film of all several times, such as the 27th edition of film magazine Contracampo^[37] and a special issue of the magazine Bravo, entitled "100 essential films". The other Brazilian films included in Bravo's list are City of God, Pixote and Lavoura Arcaica, in that order.

Canada

See also: Cinema of Canada

Mon oncle Antoine: A poll of critics at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival and again at the 1993 and 2004 festivals named the greatest Canadian film of all time.
Jésus de Montréal: Ranked second on the All Time TIFF list since its release, and a winner of 12 Genie Awards.
Un Zoo la Nuit: Winner of the most Genie Awards with 13.

China

See also: Cinema of China

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

Cuba

See also: Cinema of Cuba

Memorias del Subdesarrollo This 1968 film was voted among the best 100 films of all time by Derek Malcolm at The Guardian It was the only Cuban film in the list.

Egypt

See also: Cinema of Egypt

The Yacoubian Building Winner of various awards and acclaimed by Cairo International Film Festival as the best Egyptian movie ever made.

Finland

See also: Cinema of Finland

The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas in Finnish), received seven "Jussi" (Finnish Oscar) statuettes.^[38]

France

See also: Cinema of France

Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) (1945/1946): Voted "Best French Film of the Century" in a poll of 600 French critics and professionals in the late 1990s.
La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game) (1939/1950): see films acclaimed by critics and filmmakers

Germany

See also: Cinema of Germany

F. W. Murnau's silent film Nosferatu is regarded by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog as the greatest German movie of all time.^[39]
M, Fritz Lang's 1931 classic crime film, is currently the highest rated German film in the IMDB top 250 films (rated by users). The 2007 Academy award winner for best foreign language film The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) is second followed by Downfall (Der Untergang), a 2004 German World War II epic which depicts the final days of the Third Reich in Adolf Hitler's bunker. Das Boot, a 1981 film retelling the story of Unterseeboot 96 during World War II, places fourth.

Iran

See also: Cinema of Iran

Bashu, the Little Stranger Voted "Best Iranian Film of all time" in November of 1999 by a Persian movie magazine "Picture world" poll of 150 Iranian critics and professionals.

India

See also: Cinema of India

See also: Lists of Indian films

Pather Panchali (1955) is the first film of director Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy (1955-1959). It appeared on Sight and Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll (ranked #9 in 1992) and the Village Voice 100 Best Films of the 20th Century Critics' Poll (ranked #13 in 2001). It was ranked the top Indian film in an Internet popularity poll conducted by the British Film Institute (BFI) in 2002.
Sholay (1975) was declared the "Film of the Millennium" by BBC India in 2005 .
The Apu Trilogy, Nayakan (1987) and Pyaasa (1957) are the only three Indian films listed in the "All-Time 100 Best Films", as rated by TIME magazine.

Ireland

The Commitments (1991) was voted the best Irish film of all time in a 2005 Jameson Whiskey poll of 10,000 Irish people, with My Left Foot coming second. 24

Italy

See also: Cinema of Italy

8½ – Director Federico Fellini's 1963 film about filmmaking was the highest rated Italian film in the 2002 Sight & Sound poll of the best films of all time.
Ladri di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) (See: In polls of critics and filmmakers section above.)
Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) (1966) is the highest-ranked non-American film on the IMDB Top 250, where it is listed as the 4th best film ever.

Japan

See also: Cinema of Japan

Rashomon (羅生門): This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa was the first Japanese film to gain world-wide acclaim. The highest-ranked Japanese film (#10) on the Village Voice list of 100 Best Films of the 20th Century. It was also the highest-ranked Japanese film on the Sight and Sound 2002 Directors' Top Ten Poll.
Tokyo Story (東京物語 Tokyo Monogatari), 1953. This film by Yasujiro Ozu about an aging couple as they journey from their rural village to visit their two married children in postwar Tokyo was declared the greatest film ever by Halliwell's Film Guide in 2005.^[40] It was also the highest-ranked Japanese film on the Sight and Sound 2002 Critics' Top Ten Poll.
Seven Samurai (七人の侍 Shichinin no samurai), 1954: Also by Kurosawa, this period adventure film is frequently cited as the greatest Japanese film ever; at #10, it is the highest ranked Japanese film in the IMDB Top 250 (as of March 2007).

South Korea

See also: Cinema of Korea

Obaltan (오발탄): Released in 1960. This film is widely regarded as the best South Korean film of all time. It also listed as No.1 in "The Best Korean Films" by Film 2.0 Magazine. ^[41]
Oldboy (올드보이): This 2003 South Korean film is the highest rated Korean language film on the IMDB top 250 list. It also won the Grand Prix of the jury at Cannes.

Mexico

Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) is the highest rated film in Spanish on IMDb. While this film is set in Spain and primarily features Spanish actors, it was written and produced in Mexico and is considered a Mexican film.
Herod's Law (La Ley De Herodes) is considered one of the greatest films in recent times in the cinema of Mexico.

The Netherlands

See also: Cinema of the Netherlands

Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier of Orange - 1977 - Paul Verhoeven): Voted best Dutch film ever made in a 2006 internet poll by online film magazine Filmwereld.nl.
Spoorloos (The Vanishing - 1988 - George Sluizer): One of the highest rated Dutch films on IMDb and the highest (and only) on the 1000 greatest films list of the They Shoot Pictures filmsite. ^[42]
Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight - 1973 - Paul Verhoeven): Voted best Dutch film of the 20th century at the 1999 Netherlands Film Festival.

New Zealand

See : Lord of the Rings in the Films acclaimed in audience polls section above. (note: this film was made with United States studio money)

Norway

See also: Cinema of Norway

Flåklypa Grand Prix (Pinchcliffe Grand Prix - 1975 - Ivo Caprino): The people's choice for "Best Norwegian Film of the Century" during the 2005 Bergen International Film Festival.^[43]
Ni Liv (Nine Lives - 1957 - Arne Skouen): The critics' choice for "Best Norwegian Film of the Century" during the 2005 Bergen International Film Festival.

The Philippines

See also: Cinema of the Philippines

Maynila: Sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag (Manila in the Claws of Neon): Cited in numerous film anthologies and critical polls.

Russia

See also: Cinema of Russia and Soviet Union

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

Sweden

See also: Cinema of Sweden

The Emigrants (Utvandrarna): Jan Troell's naturalist masterwork is often cited in Sweden as the greatest Swedish film of all-time.
Persona: Acclaimed director Ingmar Bergman's movie reached the highest position (#5 in 1972) of any Swedish film on any of Sight & Sound's lists of greatest films of all time.
The Seventh Seal, also directed by Ingmar Bergman, is the highest rated Swedish film on the IMDB.

Thailand

See also: Cinema of Thailand

Tropical Malady (Thai: สัตว์ประหลาด or Sud pralad), winner of a jury prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, is the first Thai film to win a prize at any of the "A festivals". It was also the first Thai film to be in the main competition at Cannes.^[44]

United Kingdom

See also: Cinema of the United Kingdom

Lawrence of Arabia: voted "best British film of all time" in August of 2004 by a London Sunday Telegraph poll of Britain's leading filmmakers. (See also: Epic above).
The Third Man: Voted best British film ever by members of the British Film Institute in 1999.
Get Carter (1971): Named best British film by Total Film in 2004.
Trainspotting: Named best British film by a Channel 4 poll in 2005.