The 30 Most Inspirational Movies of the Last 100 Years

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

“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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.”

“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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.”

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

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.