The 75 Best Movies of All Time, Ranked

Movies encompass the length and breadth of the human experience, making any Best Of list hopelessly subjective. Comparing The Silence of the Lambs to Fantasia to determine which is "better" actively insults both movies. Similarly, scholarly lists — like the British Film Institute's once-a-decade model, which sets the pace on this front — tend to overlook "base" genres like horror and comedy, which often prove more influential. If a reader isn't already inclined to seek arthouse fare like The 400 Blows or The Passion of Joan of Arc, their inclusion in a given list means very little.

Influential films, however, can be measured a little more objectively, as well as encompass popular movies that find the sweet spot between art and commerce. While it can be difficult to separate the true game-changers from the flashes in the pan, time has a way of revealing. Below is a list of the greatest films — subjective, as every list is — measured by their artistic accomplishments and lasting impact on the medium.

Updated on August 15, 2025, by Guillermo Kurten: The medium boasts almost countless widely beloved and deeply impactful movies, many for different reasons. The context of the time also has contributing factors to a movie's resonance in pop culture, like the rejuvenated acclaim of Ridley Scott's then-overlooked Blade Runner. But whether it's more introspective affairs like Scott's cyberpunk epic and Martin Scorsese's dark character profile in Taxi Driver, or spectacular blockbusters like Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, these movies all earn their recognition.

75 Magnolia Feels Like Waking Up from a Dream

It's Paul Thomas Anderson's Most Existential Movie

Magnolia is a magnificent mosaic of interconnected characters over one rainy day in the San Fernando Valley. The movie stands out for its exceptional ensemble cast, featuring notable names like Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Jason Robards, who portray complex characters struggling to deal with loss, love, and the sense of foreboding that existence never ceases to produce.

With subtle elements of speculative fiction in the way it deals with serendipity and the absurdity of life, Magnolia is a moving examination of mortality. Every person is a collection of instants. Every little gesture impacts the lives of each individual uniquely. In Magnolia, every character faces different struggles and challenges, yet they all live within the same story. The scene where frogs begin falling from the sky effectively conveys this ideal. No matter where the characters are or what they are doing, every single one of them is looking at the same sky in awe.

74 The Dark Knight Is One of the Most Significant Superhero Movies

Christopher Nolan's Batman Movie Broke New Ground for the Genre

While Christopher Nolan’s second Batman movie certainly isn’t the first well-received superhero movie, it’s arguably the first to make waves outside the genre’s space to this degree. The Dark Knight followed up on the renewed goodwill from Batman Begins with one of the most acclaimed superhero movies to date, combining the inherent fantasy of the nocturnal vigilante with a Heat-like crime thriller. After the titular hero and Jim Gordon continue their campaign to dismantle the organized crime circles that suffocate Gotham, the wildly chaotic Joker appears to put the city in a new stranglehold.

The Dark Knight is among the few superhero movies that compelled audiences who might be otherwise uninterested in the genre to take it seriously. It portrays Batman’s mythos in a way that feels reminiscent of the character’s darker comic book incarnations, but with a sense of realism that greatly appealed to the broader movie-going audience at the time. Likewise, Heath Ledger’s depiction of the Joker made for a generational live-action supervillain, playing the character with an unsettling and unpredictable menace that played off Christian Bale’s Dark Knight masterfully.

73 East of Eden Features James Dean's Most Powerful Performance

A Heavy-Hitting Tale of Family, Loss, and War All at Once

East of Eden is a powerful retelling of the tragic tale of Cain and Abel, adapted to pre-World War I America. It centers on Cal Trask, a lonely and troubled boy who lives under the shadow of his sharp-witted and charismatic brother. Brushed aside by his father, he decides to go looking for his estranged mother, unearthing distressing secrets.

James Dean is usually associated with Rebel Without A Cause, but East of Eden delivers his most intimate performance. The tender way in which Dean interacts with the scenarios around him and his distinctive mannerisms are crucial to the film's ultimate purpose: to regard Cain with sympathy in this tragic allegory. East of Eden is a moving tale about war and generational trauma, and one of the best films of the 20th century.

72 Die Hard Is a Genre-Defining Action Movie

This Bruce Willis Vehicle Spawned Countless Rip-offs

Movie fans often dismiss the action genre as shallow and flimsy, indifferent to relevant matters or artistic depth. However, classics like Die Hard are here to prove that action movies can be abundantly thought-provoking and emotionally impactful. The film follows an NYPD cop visiting his estranged wife in an attempt to reconcile with her. Events take a dark turn when a dangerous group of terrorists swarms the building they are in.

Die Hard can be defined in many ways: a Christmas movie, a love story, a Christian allegory and a lone wolf's search for redemption. There's no right or wrong interpretation and the movie succeeds in being many things simultaneously. On top of that, it manages to stimulate the audience for over two hours with awe-inspiring action sequences and tension build-up. No other action movie comes close to it when thinking that "they don't make movies like these anymore."

71 The Big Lebowski Introduces a Legendary Set of Characters

The Dude Remains a Classic Cinematic Figure

Even those who haven't watched The Big Lebowski might be familiar with Jeff Bridges "The Dude" and his charming conflict-averse philosophy. In the film Jeffrey' The Dude, ' Lebowski's idea of a perfect life is always to make the least of every situation. However, he's swept into a bizarre conspiracy when dangerous men mistake him for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a disabled millionaire.

It's as fascinating as it is ironic how the Dude seems to attract trouble wherever he goes despite his perpetually unconcerned nature. The Big Lebowski delivers a rampage of iconic one-liners and a chaotic plot that gets increasingly harder to predict. It's the funniest Coen brothers movie and one of the best movies of all time.

70 Frankenstein & The Bride of Frankenstein Are Foundational Horror

The Two Films Set the Pace for Universal’s Horror Cycle

Separating James Whale's Frankenstein from his sequel The Bride of Frankenstein is a little like trying to separate The Lord of the Rings into three separate movies. While they're more or less self-contained narratives, Whale links them closely, both story-wise and thematically, while expanding on the ideas from the original in the sequel. It establishes a comprehensive narrative for Colin Clive's Henry Frankenstein and the monster he creates, setting the path for the entire horror genre.

Their combined influence is hard to overestimate. Boris Karloff's monster remains the definitive take on the character, surpassing even Mary Shelley's original incarnation in the public's eye. Whale tips his cap to Shelley in the second film, having Elsa Lanchester appear as the author before her vaunted cameo as the Bride. Her story has been remade countless times, but never with the lasting impression as these two, to which the entire horror genre owes a debt.

• 

  Like

  Frankenstein

  Passed

  Sci-Fi

  Drama

  Horror

  Release Date

  November 21, 1931

  Runtime

  70 Minutes

  Director

  James Whale

  Writers

  John L. Balderston, Mary Shelley, Peggy Webling, Garrett Fort, Francis Edward Faragoh, Richard Schayer

  Cast

  See All

  • 
    Colin Clive
  • 
    Mae Clarke

  Dr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.

  Powered by

  

  Expand Collapse
• 

  Like

  Follow

  Followed

  The Bride of Frankenstein

  NR

  Horror

  Science Fiction

  Release Date

  April 20, 1935

  Runtime

  75 minutes

  Director

  James Whale

  Writers

  Mary Shelley, William Hurlbut, John L. Balderston, Josef Berne, Lawrence G. Blochman, Robert Florey, Edmund Pearson, William Hurlbut

  Cast

  See All

  • 
    Boris Karloff

    The Monster
  • 
    Colin Clive

    Henry Frankenstein
  • 
    Valerie Hobson

    Elizabeth
  • 
    Ernest Thesiger

    Doctor Pretorius

  • 
  • 

  Where to watch

  Close

  WHERE TO WATCH

  RENT

  • 
  • 

  BUY

  • 
  • 

  Mary Shelley reveals the main characters of her novel survived, and Dr. Frankenstein builds his monster a mate.

  Powered by

  

  Expand Collapse

69 The 400 Blows Exemplifies The French New Wave

Francois Truffaut Creates an Achingly Sympathetic Everychild

The French New Wave changed cinema forever, but its emphasis on form and artifice can leave even the most passionate admirer a little cold. Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows is the opposite, telling a deeply affecting story of a rebellious young boy struggling against the world around him. The director intended it as semi-autobiographical, with his protagonist Anthoine Doinel matching several key details in his life.

As with other films of the French New Wave, The 400 Blows deliberately plays with audience expectations, defying Hollywood's technique of establishing an organic world and forcing the viewer to engage more directly with the film itself. Truffaut uses improvised dialogue and guerrilla filmmaking techniques typical of the movement. His secret weapon is Doinel, a rebel without a cause who seeks respite from unspoken crimes the rest of the world assumes he has committed. Truffaut returned to the character three more times in various sequels, but none were as affecting as the first.

68 Monty Python and the Holy Grail Is the Troupe’s Masterpiece

The Comedy Team Broke into Movies with a Genre Classic

Among the plethora of targets skewered in Monty Python and the Holy Grail are actual Arthurian texts, written in eras when alliteration and embellishment were the norm. Cutting off an arm becomes an incidental detail, for instance, and castles full of virgins take no account of how boring life will get waiting for a knight to come to rescue them. The mad geniuses of Monty Python took the genre and simply noted the absurdity of it all. In the process, they created one of the greatest comedies of all time.

Of course, it isn't limited to jabs at dusty old works of literature. As is par for the course for the troupe, they aim for anything that can get a laugh, using the quest for the Holy Grail as the thin veneer of a narrative. That includes such priceless moments as the Killer Rabbit, Tim the Enchanter and the only foolproof way to spot a witch. None of it has aged as day, and while the team's resume is full of similar classics, this one may be the best thing they ever did.

67 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Brought Wuxia to the World

Ang Lee’s Groundbreaking Fantasy-Romance Proves His Versatility

Critics and fans hail Ang Lee as a brilliant filmmaker partly because of his ability to work in different genres easily. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon represents the highlight of his distinguished career, which he made as an homage to the wuxia movies of his youth. A magic sword is the catalyst for two sets of lovers, one torn apart by duty, the other drawn together through fate. Lee emphasizes their respective states' passion and tragedy in a fairy-tale universe where magic exists, and honor is everything.

The film became an international sensation, featuring career-best performances from Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat and making Zhang Ziyi a star. It also introduced millions of people across the world to the wuxia genre and launched a revival that included the likes of Hero and House of Flying Daggers. The film itself is an evergreen and ideal introduction to Lee and wuxia alike.

66 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Created a Genre

Feature-Length Animation Didn’t Exist Before It Came Along

Walt Disney risked his entire company when he released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The idea of a feature-length cartoon sounded like an expensive boondoggle, and while Disney had thrived for decades on his creative animated shorts, an 83-minute piece was ambitious even for him. He was famously forced to mortgage his house to pay for the costs of the film and secured a loan from Bank of America to complete the picture by showing an executive a rough cut of the film.

The "boondoggle" paid off in a way that no other film could match until the arrival of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope in 1977. The story of a lost princess and the little men who come to her aid became a phenomenon. It remains a singular work of art, and it has launched Disney to the preeminent ranks of animators and created an entire genre from scratch. The inferior live-action remake proves that the first film captures lightning in a bottle, a unique moment in cinema history that spawned a massive show-biz dynasty.