Special Report

The 30 Most Inspirational Movies of the Last 100 Years

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Ever since the first movies were made more than a century ago, they have given people something to cheer about. Many films go even further, inspiring viewers to make a difference. Oftentimes, depending on what movie they see, people leave a theatre feeling more hopeful for the future.

Using information generated by the American Film Institute, 24/7 Tempo has picked the 30 most inspirational movies of the past 100 years.

Though this is a list of the most inspiring movies released over a century, the top films cover a period of about 60 years — from 1939 to 1998. Most of the movies are dramas, but quite a few are comedies that inspire people to never give up.

Unlike happy comedies, some inspirational films, however, don’t have a happy ending. That is not surprising considering that good films often forge an emotional connection between the viewer and the characters, making it all the more impactful when tragedy strikes. These are the saddest movies of all time.

Click here to see the 30 most inspirational movies of the last 100 years

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

30. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
> RT critics score: 93% (122 votes)
> RT audience score: 93% (75,221 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.3/10 (279,577 votes)
> Directed by: David Lean
> Starring: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn

David Lean’s sprawling epic is about the charismatic British officer who helped rally the Arabs against the Ottoman Empire in World War I. Lean, who had already distinguished himself with films like “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” captivated audiences with his mesmerizing desert scenes.

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29. Mahatma Gandhi- 20th Century Prophet (1953)
> RT critics score: N/A
> RT audience score: N/A
> IMDb rating: N/A
> Directed by: Stanley Neal
> Starring: Quentin Reynolds, Mohandas K. Gandhi (archive footage)

The only documentary on this list, “Mahatma Gandhi- 20th Century Prophet” tells the story of Gandhi, an anti-colonial and anti-violence nationalist who became one of the most influential people of the 20th century. Most of the film is archive footage of Gandhi.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

28. Field of Dreams (1989)
> RT critics score: 87% (63 votes)
> RT audience score: 86% (193,036 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.5/10 (114,412 votes)
> Directed by: Phil Alden Robinson
> Starring: Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta

Kevin Costner returned to the national pastime in this sports fantasy about a struggling Iowa farmer who carves a baseball diamond out of his cornfield. Soon afterward, the 1919 Chicago White Sox, infamous for rigging the World Series, showed up at the field. The film is known for the quote “If you build it, he will come.”

Courtesy of United Artists

27. High Noon (1952)
> RT critics score: 97% (58 votes)
> RT audience score: 89% (25,494 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.0/10 (100,814 votes)
> Directed by: Fred Zinnemann
> Starring: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell

Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly lead the cast of Fred Zinnemann’s 1952 classic “High Noon.” Cooper plays Marshal Will Kane, the one man who will stand up to a vicious outlaw despite his new bride’s pleas to lay low. Some sources claim the film’s plot and characters reflected screenwriter Carl Foreman’s experiences with the House Committee on Un-American Activities and his eventual blacklisting in the Hollywood community. Before he died in 1997, Zinnemann disputed this assertion.

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Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

26. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
> RT critics score: 99% (145 votes)
> RT audience score: 89% (876,535 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.0/10 (379,669 votes)
> Directed by: Victor Fleming
> Starring: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolge

From its music to its pioneering visuals, “The Wizard of Oz” — about a girl trying to come home and help her new friends in the Land of Oz — is among the most iconic movies ever. Victor Fleming directed the bulk of the film before he was reassigned to direct “Gone With the Wind,” which would ultimately win Best Picture at the Academy Awards over fellow nominee “The Wizard of Oz.” “Oz” did win two Oscars related to music, including Best Original Song for “Over the Rainbow.”

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

25. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
> RT critics score: 100% (35 votes)
> RT audience score: 89% (8,614 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.9/10 (25,353 votes)
> Directed by: Preston Sturges
> Starring: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick

The movie follows a Hollywood director who goes on to live as a homeless person in order to gain real life experience for a movie, but lands himself in a lot of trouble. Screenwriter and director Preston Sturges said he wrote the film in response to the preachy tone of other comedies, “which seemed to have abandoned the fun in favor of the message.” It’s been said that Sturges was influenced by actor John Garfield’s adventures as a hobo, hitchhiking and riding freight trains across the country for a short spell in the 1930s.

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Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

24. National Velvet (1944)
> RT critics score: 100% (27 votes)
> RT audience score: 78% (9,941 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.3/10 (6,789 votes)
> Directed by: Clarence Brown
> Starring: Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Crisp

“National Velvet” is the story of a 12-year-old British girl named Velvet Brown (Elizabeth Taylor) who tries to tame her firebrand horse and enter it into one of the major horse races of the year, with help from her family and a former jockey. Rotten Tomatoes hailed the film as “a timeless family-friendly tearjerker,” with each critic that reviewed the film giving it positive marks.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

23. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
> RT critics score: 91% (77 votes)
> RT audience score: 98% (887,061 votes)
> IMDb rating: 9.3/10 (2,465,993 votes)
> Directed by: Frank Darabont
> Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton

“The Shawshank Redemption” tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne who is given two life sentences for murder in the oppressive Shawshank State Penitentiary. The drama was a hit upon its release and received seven Oscar nominations in 1995, including one for Best Picture. The movie — much of which takes place within a prison — was primarily filmed in Ohio, specifically in the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield.

Courtesy of RKO Radio Pictures

22. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
> RT critics score: 94% (32 votes)
> RT audience score: 89% (6,847 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.7/10 (10,495 votes)
> Directed by: Sam Wood
> Starring: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth

Gary Cooper starred as Lou Gehrig, the New York Yankees Hall of Fame first baseman whose career was cut short by the neuromuscular disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The Oscar-winning movie is a tribute to the courage Gehrig displayed in the face of the crippling disease.

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Courtesy of United Artists

21. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
> RT critics score: 95% (55 votes)
> RT audience score: 92% (23,226 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.9/10 (70,935 votes)
> Directed by: Norman Jewison
> Starring: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates

This crime drama stars Sidney Poitier as a black police detective assigned to investigate the murder of a Northern industrialist who planned to bring factory employment to a Southern town. The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture.

Courtesy of TriStar Pictures

20. Philadelphia (1993)
> RT critics score: 81% (57 votes)
> RT audience score: 89% (183,439 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.7/10 (232,142 votes)
> Directed by: Jonathan Demme
> Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Roberta Maxwell

Jonathan Demme’s “Philadelphia” was the first major Hollywood movie to tackle the topic of AIDS. The film tells the story of lawyer Andrew Beckett, who believes he has been fired from his law firm because he has been diagnosed with the disease and takes his case to court. He ultimately wins a judgment, but dies soon afterwards. Exceptional performances by Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington help to make “Philadelphia” one of the most moving films of the early 1990s.

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Courtesy of Warner Bros.

19. The Right Stuff (1983)
> RT critics score: 96% (51 votes)
> RT audience score: 90% (22,982 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.8/10 (59,492 votes)
> Directed by: Philip Kaufman
> Starring: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris

Based on Tom Wolfe’s book of the same name, “The Right Stuff” recounts the true story of test pilots such as Chuck Yeager and Gordon Cooper as they break the sound barrier. The 193-minute film has been critically praised since its release, despite not doing well at the box office in 1983.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

18. The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)
> RT critics score: 79% (19 votes)
> RT audience score: 77% (27,964 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.4/10 (12,447 votes)
> Directed by: George Stevens
> Starring: Millie Perkins, Shelley Winters, Joseph Schildkraut

“The Diary of Anne Frank” is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, which itself is based on the diary of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl who was forced to live in hiding in Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II.

Courtesy of United Artists

17. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
> RT critics score: 94% (83 votes)
> RT audience score: 96% (279,963 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.7/10 (954,449 votes)
> Directed by: Milos Forman
> Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman

One of Jack Nicholson’s most acclaimed roles is also among his most emotionally moving. Dealing with themes such as power, control, and conformity, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” follows Randle McMurphy — played by Nicholson — as he is sent to a state mental hospital. There he attempts to bring joy and recklessness to the other patients, much to the dismay of the authoritarian Nurse Ratched.

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Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

16. Norma Rae (1979)
> RT critics score: 89% (28 votes)
> RT audience score: 79% (7,199 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.3/10 (11,112 votes)
> Directed by: Martin Ritt
> Starring: Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Ron Leibman

“Norma Rae” follows the story of a young single mother who works in a textile factory. She becomes the force behind the push to unionize the mill’s workers, against the will of her family, finance, and many of her colleagues.

Courtesy of United Artists

15. The Miracle Worker (1962)
> RT critics score: 96% (26 votes)
> RT audience score: 88% (5000+ votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.1/10 (18,110 votes)
> Directed by: Arthur Penn
> Starring: Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke, Victor Jory

Aruthur Penn’s 1962 film “The Miracle Worker” tells the true story of Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), the blind tutor who helped Helen Keller learn to communicate using sign language. Bancroft won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1963 for her performance, and Patty Duke also won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Keller.

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Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

14. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
> RT critics score: 95% (61 votes)
> RT audience score: 93% (54,763 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.1/10 (211,307 votes)
> Directed by: David Lean
> Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins

The movie follows a group of British POWs tasked with building a bridge by their Japanese captors. British filmmaker David Lean, who directed “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), and numerous Charles Dickens adaptations, won his first Oscar in 1958 for “The Bridge on the River Kwai.”

Courtesy of Orion Pictures

13. Hoosiers (1986)
> RT critics score: 91% (45 votes)
> RT audience score: 88% (50,777 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.5/10 (44,999 votes)
> Directed by: David Anspaugh
> Starring: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper

“Hoosiers,” the story about a longshot Indiana high school basketball team that wins the state championship, was lauded by the Washington Post for its “fast-break cinematography that catches the pace of the game.” The film was also buoyed by the performances of Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, and Dennis Hopper.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

12. Apollo 13 (1995)
> RT critics score: 96% (93 votes)
> RT audience score: 87% (433,114 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.6/10 (280,785 votes)
> Directed by: Ron Howard
> Starring: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon

The movie is based on the events of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. The film tells the story of what happened after an oxygen tank exploded, putting the entire mission and the lives of the three astronauts aboard the spacecraft in danger.

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Courtesy of RKO Radio Pictures

11. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
> RT critics score: 98% (91 votes)
> RT audience score: 93% (10,855 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.1/10 (60,996 votes)
> Directed by: William Wyler
> Starring: Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Fredric March

“The Best Years of Our Lives” is a film that dramatized the difficulties World War II veterans who were faced with adjusting to civilian life. The movie won William Wyler his second Oscar. The movie starred Fredric March and Dana Andrews and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for disabled veteran Harold Russell.

Courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures

10. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
> RT critics score: 93% (143 votes)
> RT audience score: 95% (993,591 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.6/10 (1,292,653 votes)
> Directed by: Steven Spielberg
> Starring: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore

Steven Spielberg won the Oscar for Best Director (the film won four more, too) for this inspiring account of a group of GIs in WWII. The soldiers push into enemy territory to save a paratrooper whose three brothers have been killed in action.

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Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

9. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
> RT critics score: 96% (47 votes)
> RT audience score: 87% (47,635 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.9/10 (44,092 votes)
> Directed by: George Seaton
> Starring: Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, John Payne

This heartwarming holiday favorite is about a department store Santa who insists he is the real St. Nicholas and is institutionalized as a result. The movie features the first starring role for Natalie Wood as the child who is the first to believe the man really is Santa Claus.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

8. Breaking Away (1979)
> RT critics score: 95% (41 votes)
> RT audience score: 88% (9,357 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.7/10 (22,679 votes)
> Directed by: Peter Yates
> Starring: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern

“Breaking Away” is a coming-of-age movie about a cycling enthusiast in Indiana who dreams of riding with a team of renowned Italian cyclists while he pursues his love interest who has gone away to Indiana University. The film featured emerging stars Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

7. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
> RT critics score: 100% (48 votes)
> RT audience score: 88% (24,341 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.1/10 (89,505 votes)
> Directed by: John Ford
> Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine

The movie based on John Steinbeck’s classic novel tells the story of a poor family who lost everything during the Great Depression and is looking for a better life in California. Otis Ferguson of The New Republic describes the Oscar-winning film as “the most mature picture story that has ever been made.”

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
> RT critics score: 98% (133 votes)
> RT audience score: 72% (32,314,349 votes)
> IMDb rating: 7.8/10 (387,356 votes)
> Directed by: Steven Spielberg
> Starring: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote

In “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” a young boy helps an alien return to his planet. The movie grossed more than its production budget during its first wide release weekend and proceeded to spend a total of 17 weeks at the top of the box office. The film won four Oscars.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
> RT critics score: 96% (47 votes)
> RT audience score: 94% (45,892 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.1/10 (111,428 votes)
> Directed by: Frank Capra
> Starring: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” follows an idealistic man (James Stewart) who is going to Washington, D.C., to fill up a vacancy in the Senate. Suddenly he finds himself dealing with political corruption. Standing up for what’s right, he won’t give in to he corrupt peers.

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Courtesy of United Artists

4. Rocky (1976)
> RT critics score: 93% (67 votes)
> RT audience score: 69% (33,403,994 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.1/10 (539,886 votes)
> Directed by: John G. Avildsen
> Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young

Written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, “Rocky” is the film that put the action star on the map. The film is a boxing film about the ultimate underdog. The movie won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama. It would be a prelude to the film’s showing at the Academy Awards, where it won three Oscars.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

3. Schindler’s List (1993)
> RT critics score: 98% (128 votes)
> RT audience score: 97% (411,879 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.9/10 (1,267,232 votes)
> Directed by: Steven Spielberg
> Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley

One of the greatest retellings of one of the worst chapters in human history. Liam Neeson plays Oskar Schindler, a Catholic businessman who uses his position to save hundreds of Jews from extermination. “Schindler’s List” was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

2. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
> RT critics score: 92% (66 votes)
> RT audience score: 92% (179,186 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.3/10 (304,387 votes)
> Directed by: Robert Mulligan
> Starring: Gregory Peck, John Megna, Frank Overton

Atticus Finch is the hero of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 novel and Oscar-winning movie “To Kill a Mockingbird.” He’s a white lawyer who defends an African-American man falsely accused of assault in the South during the Great Depression.

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Courtesy of RKO Radio Pictures

1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
> RT critics score: 94% (87 votes)
> RT audience score: 95% (219,179 votes)
> IMDb rating: 8.6/10 (422,508 votes)
> Directed by: Frank Capra
> Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

This Hollywood classic and one of the most beloved Christmas movies is about knowing that every person’s life has a purpose even if it doesn’t feel like that. James Stewart plays a small savings bank owner who runs into financial trouble. An angel from heaven is sent to show him what the lives of the people he lives would have been if he never existed.

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