Top 10 Greatest Films of All Time

Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 psychological thriller starring James Stewart and Kim Novak was a box office disappointment on release but was voted the greatest film of all time in the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, ending Citizen Kane's 50-year reign. The "Dolly zoom" (the "Vertigo effect") camera technique, invented for this film, has since appeared in hundreds of films including Jaws, Goodfellas, and Lord of the Rings. Bernard Herrmann's score is ranked among the most influential in film history.

Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science fiction epic, produced with NASA's consultation, pioneered practical special effects that remained unsurpassed until the digital era and was achieved without CGI on a budget of $10.5 million. It was ranked the greatest film ever made in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll (tied) and inspired George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Ridley Scott's careers in science fiction. HAL 9000 is rated the 13th greatest villain in American cinema history by the American Film Institute.

Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 crime epic earned $245 million globally on a $6.5 million budget and won three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is ranked the second greatest American film by the AFI (after Citizen Kane) and the #2 rated film on IMDb with 1.9 million votes. The phrase "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" is ranked the second most famous movie quote in cinema history.

Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 masterpiece about an elderly couple visiting their adult children in Tokyo is considered the greatest Japanese film ever made and regularly tops critics' lists of the most humanist films in cinema history. Shot entirely at eye-level from a seated position (the "tatami shot"), it pioneered a distinctive visual grammar that influenced directors from Wim Wenders to Sofia Coppola. The Sight & Sound poll ranked it the third greatest film of all time in 2022.

Jean Renoir's 1939 social satire about the French bourgeoisie was initially banned by the French government as demoralising and commercially cut after hostile audience reactions, before being reconstructed in 1959 and recognised as a supreme masterwork. It ranked #1 in the Sight & Sound poll for two consecutive decades (1962 and 1972) before being displaced by Citizen Kane. The film's ensemble staging and fluid camera movement directly influenced Robert Altman's career and the French New Wave.

F.W. Murnau's 1927 silent film earned three Academy Awards at the inaugural 1929 ceremony including a special "Artistic Quality of Production" award never given again. It is the highest-rated silent film on the Sight & Sound poll and is credited with perfecting camera mobility through seamless tracking shots over a decade before sound equipment allowed it easily. Roger Ebert called it "one of the most beautiful films ever made."

Steven Spielberg's 1993 Holocaust drama, filmed in black-and-white on a budget of $22 million, won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director and earned $321.2 million worldwide. The USC Shoah Foundation, established by Spielberg following production, has recorded testimonies from over 58,000 Holocaust survivors. It is listed on Time magazine's 100 greatest films and is often cited as the film that proved Spielberg's status as a serious dramatist.

Vittorio De Sica's 1948 Italian neorealist film, shot entirely on location in Rome using non-professional actors, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film. Roger Ebert ranked it among his Great Movies and called it "the best film of the Italian neorealism movement." Its influence on cinema verite, social realist filmmaking, and the French New Wave is immeasurable.

Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam War epic, adapted from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, ran $30 million over its original budget during a notoriously troubled production documented in the film Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and two Academy Awards, and was restored as the 202-minute Apocalypse Now Final Cut in 2019. Ranked the 28th greatest American film by the AFI and widely considered the definitive artistic statement on American involvement in Vietnam.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 psychological thriller starring James Stewart and Kim Novak was a box office disappointment on release but was voted the greatest film of all time in the 2012 Sight & Sound poll, ending Citizen Kane's 50-year reign. The "Dolly zoom" (the "Vertigo effect") camera technique, invented for this film, has since appeared in hundreds of films including Jaws, Goodfellas, and Lord of the Rings. Bernard Herrmann's score is ranked among the most influential in film history.

Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science fiction epic, produced with NASA's consultation, pioneered practical special effects that remained unsurpassed until the digital era and was achieved without CGI on a budget of $10.5 million. It was ranked the greatest film ever made in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll (tied) and inspired George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Ridley Scott's careers in science fiction. HAL 9000 is rated the 13th greatest villain in American cinema history by the American Film Institute.

Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 crime epic earned $245 million globally on a $6.5 million budget and won three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay. It is ranked the second greatest American film by the AFI (after Citizen Kane) and the #2 rated film on IMDb with 1.9 million votes. The phrase "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse" is ranked the second most famous movie quote in cinema history.

Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 masterpiece about an elderly couple visiting their adult children in Tokyo is considered the greatest Japanese film ever made and regularly tops critics' lists of the most humanist films in cinema history. Shot entirely at eye-level from a seated position (the "tatami shot"), it pioneered a distinctive visual grammar that influenced directors from Wim Wenders to Sofia Coppola. The Sight & Sound poll ranked it the third greatest film of all time in 2022.

Jean Renoir's 1939 social satire about the French bourgeoisie was initially banned by the French government as demoralising and commercially cut after hostile audience reactions, before being reconstructed in 1959 and recognised as a supreme masterwork. It ranked #1 in the Sight & Sound poll for two consecutive decades (1962 and 1972) before being displaced by Citizen Kane. The film's ensemble staging and fluid camera movement directly influenced Robert Altman's career and the French New Wave.

F.W. Murnau's 1927 silent film earned three Academy Awards at the inaugural 1929 ceremony including a special "Artistic Quality of Production" award never given again. It is the highest-rated silent film on the Sight & Sound poll and is credited with perfecting camera mobility through seamless tracking shots over a decade before sound equipment allowed it easily. Roger Ebert called it "one of the most beautiful films ever made."

Steven Spielberg's 1993 Holocaust drama, filmed in black-and-white on a budget of $22 million, won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director and earned $321.2 million worldwide. The USC Shoah Foundation, established by Spielberg following production, has recorded testimonies from over 58,000 Holocaust survivors. It is listed on Time magazine's 100 greatest films and is often cited as the film that proved Spielberg's status as a serious dramatist.

Vittorio De Sica's 1948 Italian neorealist film, shot entirely on location in Rome using non-professional actors, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film. Roger Ebert ranked it among his Great Movies and called it "the best film of the Italian neorealism movement." Its influence on cinema verite, social realist filmmaking, and the French New Wave is immeasurable.

Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam War epic, adapted from Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, ran $30 million over its original budget during a notoriously troubled production documented in the film Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and two Academy Awards, and was restored as the 202-minute Apocalypse Now Final Cut in 2019. Ranked the 28th greatest American film by the AFI and widely considered the definitive artistic statement on American involvement in Vietnam.