The 55 Best Movies Ever Made

“Tokyo Story” is about an elderly Japanese couple that travels to Tokyo to visit their adult children, only to find they barely have time for their parents. The film, inspired by a 1937 American movie called “Make Way for Tomorrow,” examines rapidly changing familial relationships in post-war Japan and is considered by many to be director Yasujirō Ozu ‘s best work.

In this film noir, directed by the legendary Billy Wilder, a woman takes out a life insurance policy on her husband without him knowing. He later turns up dead, an apparent suiсide, but insurance claims investigator Barton Keyes is not convinced and decides to dig deeper.

In 1995, audiences were introduced to a world where toys appear lifeless in the presence of humans but come to life when nobody’s around. However, not all these toys understand that they are toys themselves. Directed by John Lasseter, “Toy Story” was the first entirely computer-animated feature film and the first feature film from Pixar.

In this Gus Van Sant film, Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is an underachieving genius who doesn’t use any of his talents to improve his life. Everything changes when he is discovered by an MIT professor, who pushes him to make something out of himself. The film was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and earned them an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Inspired by and set during the Mexican holiday the Day of the Dead, Pixar’s “Coco” follows a young boy named Miguel who accidentally crosses over to the realm of the dead and must navigate the social world of his deceased ancestors to return to the living before the holiday is over. Directed by Lee Unkrich, the film won Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Animated Feature.

Archaeologist and explorer Indiana Jones is on a mission to find the fabled Ark of the Covenant before it falls into the hands of Nazi Germany. To beat the Nazis, he must traverse treacherous ancient temples, decode mysterious messages, and defeat evil with his iconic whip and pistol. The movie won five Academy Awards in 1982 – Steven Spielberg was nominated for Best Director, but lost to Warren Beatty for “Reds” – and spawned several sequels.

In the sequel to mega-hit “Alien,” directed by James Cameron, Sigourney Weaver is back as Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and once again must fend off some of the most vicious extraterrestrial beings ever imagined on film. One critic called it “perhaps the greatest exemplar of science-fiction, action, and horror faultlessly blended together into one film.”

“Pather Panchali” is famed Indian director Satyajit Ray’s Bengali-language epic drama about the struggle to survive and find happiness in desperate circumstances. Village priest Harihar Ray leaves his home to seek a better life for himself and his family. The film was heralded for its exceptional acting and helped to put Indian cinema on the map.

Stanley Kubrick co-wrote and directed this anti-war film set during World War I. It focuses on a group of French soldiers who refuse to continue a suiсidal assault. Kirk Douglas stars as Colonel Dax, a commanding officer who tries to defend the soldiers, who are court martialed for their disobedience.

Directed by Akira Kurosawa, “High and Low” follows wealthy executive Kingo Gondo as he plans a leveraged buyout to gain control of the company he works for. However, criminals attempt to kidnap his son and instead grab the son of his chauffeur. Gondo must decide whether to use his limited funds to pay the ransom or continue with his plans.

Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Western masterpiece follows interwoven stories in a wayward desert outpost. A mysterious gunslinging figure arrives in town just as a land conflict begins to heat up. The film is considered one of greatest Westerns of all time and is also known for its iconic soundtrack.

In this Stuart Rosenberg film, “Cool Hand” Luke is a decorated World War II veteran who finds himself sentenced to two years hard labor. Once in confinement, Luke quickly runs afoul of the guards and the established prisoner hierarchy, using his grit and charm to resist the oppressive system.

“Dear Zachary” is a heartfelt and heart wrenching documentary, started as a personal project. Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne’s childhood friend David Bagby is murdered, and his ex-girlfriend, Shirley Jane Turner, is the suspected killer. Shortly after she is arrested, Turner reveals that she is pregnant with Bagby’s child, the titular Zachary. Kuenne set out to create a cinematic scrapbook for Bagby’s unborn son by interviewing his friends and loved ones.

“La Haine,” or “the hatred” in French, follows 20 tumultuous hours in the lives of three marginalized and dissatisfied young men from a poor Parisian neighborhood. The film begins with a riot erupting after one of the protagonists’ friends is brutally beaten while in police custody. Mathieu Kassovitz received the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Based on James Ellroy’s novel of the same name, “L.A. Confidential” follows three detectives trying to solve a murder in 1950s Los Angeles. They must navigate the confluence of corrupt police, organized crime, and the biggest celebrities of the era. The film, directed by Curtis Hanson, was nominated for nine Oscars and won two, for Best Supporting Actress (for Kim Basinger) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

As aging movie star Margo begins to contemplate the future of her career, she is introduced to adoring fan Eve. Margo is charmed by Eve’s life story and decides to hire her as her assistant, not realizing how calculating the younger woman is. Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed the film, which is based on the 1946 short story “The Wisdom of Eve” by Mary Orr.

Set in economically depressed post-war Italy, Vittorio De Sica’s “Bicycle Thieves” is about a struggling father, Antonio, who is trying to make ends meet for his family. Things start looking up when he gets a new job that requires a bicycle. However, his bike is stolen on his first day and he must frantically search Rome in an attempt to salvage his chance at helping his family.

Mitsuha, a high school student growing up in rural Japan, is bored with her town and wishes to be a boy from Tokyo in her next life. To her surprise, she begins inexplicably swapping bodies with a high school boy from Tokyo, some days waking up in his body and somedays in her own. Written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, the film netted several Best Animated Feature awards.

A rogue U.S. Air Force general sets the world on a path to nuclear annihilation in Stanley Kubrick’s dark satire about the anxiety and paranoia of the Cold War. Kubrick directed and co-wrote the film which has been selected for preservation by the U.S. Library of Congress.

Elem Klimov’s “Come and See” is a dark and harrowing tale of a teenage boy’s experience during Nazi Germany’s merciless invasion of Belarus. The film pulls no punches and depicts the atrocities and extreme violence that the Nazis unleashed on the Soviet Union during their invasion.

The first of three Peter Jackson films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic “Ring” books begins the adventure to defeat evil and save Middle Earth. Frodo Baggins, a humble hobbit (a fictional race of half-size people), has been charged with destroying the one ring of power and vanquishing evil. “The Fellowship of the Ring” launched a cinematic and cultural goliath that raised the bar for fantasy films.

Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” is one of the most acclaimed thrillers of all time, famous for its gripping music and iconic shower scene. It begins with real estate secretary Marion Crane going on the run with stolen money. Along the way, she stops for the night at the Bates Motel, unaware of what’s in store for her. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards but did not win any.

Marty McFly is an average California teenager living in the 1980s, until he accidentally travels back in time to 1955. Marty must figure out how to return to his time while navigating such challenges as his mother hitting on him. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, “Back to the Future” spawned a franchise of films and has remained relevant in pop culture to this day.

“The Wages of Fear” is a French thriller, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, that follows four Europeans who are down on their luck in an isolated South American town. They are hired to transport nitroglycerin through treacherous mountain roads to a distant oil well. One critic said, “This is filmmaking at its very best and rarely does a film grip with such intensity.”

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a heartwarming Christmas classic about a depressed man who realizes how much happiness he has created in the world. It is considered one of Frank Capra’s best films, and the American Film Institute ranked it as the most inspiring film of all time.

“Sunset Boulevard” is a dark comedy about life, death, and fame in Hollywood. Aging silent film star Norma Desmond enlists struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis to write the script that will revive her career. However, Gillis soon gets more than he bargained for. The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won three, including one for Best Story and Screenplay, shared by director Billy Wilder.

Also known by its German title, “Das Boot,” Wolfgang Petersen’s West German war film follows a German submarine and its crew during World War II. The crew spends countless mundane hours searching for targets, mixed with brief and intense moments of combat. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards.

“Alien” manages to combine sci-fi and horror into one groundbreaking white-knuckle ride. A crew aboard a commercial space tug accidentally brings an unknown lifeform aboard their ship after investigating a distress signal from a nearby moon. The small creature quickly grows into one of the most nightmarish beings imaginable. The film, directed by Ridley Scott, launched a media franchise that has included sequels, novels, and video games.

Adapted from Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” and set during the Vietnam War, “Apocalypse Now” follows U.S. soldier Ben Willard on a special assignment. Willard travels upriver from Vietnam into Cambodia on a mind-bending journey to kill the renegade Colonel Kurtz. The film, directed by Francis Ford Coppola between the second and third installments of his “Godfather” trilogy, was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won for Best Cinematography and Best Sound.

“City Lights” follows Charlie Chaplin’s character The Tramp as he falls in love with a blind girl and becomes friends with an alcoholic millionaire. Filled with slapstick comedy, the silent film, also directed by Chaplin, was a massive hit upon release.

“The Pianist” is based on the autobiography of famed Polish musician and holocaust survivor Wladyslaw Szpilman. It documents the Nazi invasion and life under their ever-increasing brutality. Szpilman must constantly scramble to stay hidden or perish. The film was nominated for seven Oscars and won three, including a Best Actor award for Brody and a Best Director statuette for Roman Polanski.

Jonathan Demme’s “Silence of the Lambs” redefined psychological thrillers with its twisting plot and intricate characters. Stars Foster and Hopkins both won Oscars for their performances and the film won for Best Picture.

Jack Nicholson stars as new mental hospital patient Randle McMurphy in Miloš Forman’s screen version of Ken Kesey’s novel. McMurphy is introduced to a strange group of characters and quickly encourages rebellion against the tyrannical nurse that runs the institution. It won five Academy awards including Best Picture and Best Director.

The plot follows three Hollywood stars in the 1920s as they transition from silent to sound films. Actor-dancer Gene Kelly co-directed with Stanley Donen. The film is an optimistic and light take on life and love. One critic called it “one of the shining glories of the American musical.”

“M” is a German thriller about a manhunt for a serial killer of children by both the police and criminal underworld. The 1931 film is notable for several new cinematic techniques and its influence on the thriller genre. It was directed by Fritz Lang, who wrote the screenplay along with his wife Thea von Harbou, and made Peter Lorre a star.

Charlie Chaplin wrote and directed “The Kid,” a 1921 silent comedy that also stars him as his iconic character The Tramp, who finds and tries to raise an abandoned baby. It was Chaplin’s first full-length film as a director and the second-highest grossing film of 1921.

Directed and co-written by Akira Kurosawa, “Ikiru” (sometimes known by its English-language title “To Live”) tells the story of Kanji Watanabe, a Tokyo bureaucrat who learns he has terminal stomach cancer. Dissatisfied with his life even before the diagnosis, Watanabe sets out to find meaning in the time he has left. The film was partly inspired by Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.”

Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrated “Rear Window” is a thriller about a man who sits watching his neighbors and making up stories about them while he recovers from surgery. However, he starts to suspect that one of his darkest stories might actually be true.

Written, produced, and directed by Chaplin, “Modern Times” follows a man trying to make it through the chaos and hardships of city life in the 1930s. Chaplin character The Tramp bounces from mishap to mishap, getting fired, getting arrested, escaping from jail, and then trying to go back to jail.

Director Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” broke the mold for what a movie could be with its out-of-chronological-order tale about organized crime, violence, and coincidences. The goofy but bloody film tells three connected stories, following two hitmen and a boxer. It was Tarantino’s second film and helped establish him as one of the biggest names in modern Hollywood.

“3 Idiots” is an Indian Hindi-language coming-of-age comedy directed by Rajkumar Hirani. A satire that highlights the intense pressures of the Indian educational system, it follows three friends at an Indian engineering college. It was remade twice, once in India in a Tamil-language version and once in Mexico, in Spanish, as “3 Idiotas.”

In this Irvin Kershner-directed sequel to the original “Star Wars” movie, Jedi knight Luke Skywalker returns in his quest to defeat the evil Galactic Empire and free the galaxy from its tyrannical grasp. The film continues the saga with more fantastic galaxies, charming characters, and explosive action. Its characters and action hold up today as does the amazing score by composer John Williams.

The second installment in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy pushed the limits and scale of moviemaking. The battle at Helm’s Deep is amazing for its sheer scale. One critic called the film “A brilliantly conceived adventure that has the capacity to take your breath away.”

“Witness for the Prosecution” is an English courtroom drama based on an Agatha Christie play of the same name. Lawyer Sir Wilfrid Robarts agrees to take on the case of a man accused of murdering an elderly widow. Despite substantial evidence pointing to his guilt, Robarts believes he’s innocent. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including one for Billy Wilder as Best Director.

Casablanca” is one of the most endearing love stories of all time, set amongst the chaos of World War II. A nightclub in Morocco, owned by American Rick Blaine, is a hub of activity for refugees trying to escape the war and head to the United States. A ghost from Blaine’s past walks in one day and further complicates his situation. “Casablanca” won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (for Michael Curtiz), and Best Screenplay.

Written and directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, “Spirited Away” is a triumph of cinema and animation. Chihiro, a 10-year-old girl, suddenly finds herself trapped in the spirit realm where her parents have been transformed into pigs. She must navigate the haunting and beautiful world to save her parents and return to the human world. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Animated by Studio Ghibli and based on a semi-autobiographical short story of the same name, “Grave of the Fireflies,” follows two Japanese siblings as they struggle to survive in the city of Kobe during the final months of World War II. The emotional and moving film, directed by Isao Takahata, highlights the horrific human toll of war.

“The Dark Knight” – one of three Batman films directed by Christopher Nolan – set the bar exceptionally high for superhero movies. Batman finds himself a step behind psychotic villain The Joker, who is hellbent on creating chaos and destruction. Heath Ledger delivered an astounding performance as The Joker and posthumously won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas” is based on the true story of mobster Henry Hill. It follows Hill (Ray Liotta) as he grows up in New York City and becomes involved with local crime figures James Conway (De Niro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci). As Hill grows older, he is drawn deeper into the world of the mob and becomes a full-time criminal.

Sergio Leone directed this epic Spaghetti Western that follows three gunslingers searching for a hidden cache of Confederate gold. They face danger from the conflicts of the Civil War and from each other. The film is highly acclaimed for its cinematography and musical score.

Based on a 1982 novella by Stephen King and directed by Frank Darabont, “The Shawshank Redemption” follows Andy Dufresne, a man who maintains his innocence despite being convicted of murder. He is sent to Shawshank State Prison where he is exposed to the hardships of prison life and eventually involved in helping the prison staff launder money. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

The second part in the classic mafia franchise continues the story of the Corleone family while also filling in their past. Robert De Niro plays a young Vito Corleone, who has escaped death in Sicily and arrived in New York, destined to become Don Corleone. The film won six Oscars including Best Picture and a Best Director award for Francis Ford Coppola.

“Seven Samurai” follows seven ronin who are hired to protect a village from bandits. Akira Kurosawa co-wrote and directed the film, considered the best of his illustrious career. It is considered one of the most influential films of all-time, and other films have borrowed its cinematic story-telling elements.

Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” is based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved over a thousand Jews from the Holocaust by employing them in his factory. The black-and-white film follows Schindler as he does what he can to keep people out of concentration camps. The film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven including Best Picture.

The first film in the classic mob trilogy follows the Corleone family as they seek to remain on top of the criminal underworld in 1950s New York. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and featuring a star-studded cast, the film won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and has been massively influential on modern cinema.