Special Report

The Best R-Rated Movies of All Time

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The modern voluntary (but almost always observed) movie rating system was created by the Motion Picture Association, representing the major film studios, in 1968. Films were initially tagged G, M, R, or X. G identified a film suitable for general audiences; M, for “mature,” meant that parental guidance was advised for younger viewers; R, “restricted,” indicated that those under 17 would be admitted only with an accompanying adult; X, for “extreme” (generally meaning violence or sexual situations), meant those under 17 were barred from the theater, period.

The M rating later became PG (“parental guidance”) and X became NC-17 (“no children under 17”). A PG-13 rating, for films that may be inappropriate for pre-teens, was added in 1984. The R rating kept its original meaning – and many of the movies that have received an R rating, beginning in 1968, are among the most honored in film history.

To determine the best R-rated movies of all time, 24/7 Tempo developed an index using average ratings on IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon, and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator, as of April 2023, weighting all ratings equally. Only movies with at least 100,000 user votes on IMDb were considered. Cast and director credits are from IMDb.

All but two movies on our list have Rotten Tomatoes critics’ ratings of 90% or above, and two, “Before Sunrise” and “The Terminator,” have a perfect 100% score. Five motion pictures on the list were directed by Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola helmed three. Other famed directors represented include Sidney Lumet, Roman Polanski, Miloš Forman, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, and James Cameron.  

Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller masterpiece “Psycho,” which was released in 1960, is the oldest movie on the list, even though it came out eight years before the ratings system began and was only retroactively rated.

Click here for a list of the best R-rated movies ever made

Robert De Niro appeared in seven films, the most of any actor, and directed one of them, and Al Pacino shows up in three times. (De Niro is one of the world’s most bankable actors right now.)

History-themed films on the list include “The King’s Speech,” “12 Years a Slave,” and “Schindler’s List.” Movies about gritty city life are represented by “Boyz n the Hood,” “A Bronx Tale,” and “Taxi Driver.” War movies, graphically depicting combat, include “The Deer Hunter,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “Full Metal Jacket.” 

Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather films were joined by “Fargo,” “The Departed,” and “Reservoir Dogs” in the crime genre. “L.A. Confidential” and “Chinatown” represent the film noir genre. (Here’s a list of all Francis Ford Coppola movies, ranked worst to best.)

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

50. The Deer Hunter (1978)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (324,627 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (103,588 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (78 reviews)
> Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale
> Directed by: Michael Cimino

“The Deer Hunter” is among the most haunting films to deal with the effects of the Vietnam War on U.S. soldiers. With relentless realism, the movie follows a group of friends from a working class town in Pennsylvania before, during, and after their tours of duty. The film won five Academy Awards in 1979, including Best Picture.

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Courtesy of New Line Cinema

49. American History X (1998)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (1,067,616 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (479,979 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 83% (87 reviews)
> Starring: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Beverly D’Angelo
> Directed by: Tony Kaye

Edward Norton plays a neo-Nazi who, after three years in prison, comes home reformed and attempts to prevent his younger brother from following in his footsteps.

Courtesy of Embassy Pictures

48. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (134,739 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (127,206 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (66 reviews)
> Starring: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest
> Directed by: Rob Reiner

“This Is Spinal Tap” is Rob Reiner’s hilarious send-up of heavy metal rock ‘n’ roll. Told in documentary style, the movie follows the peaks and valleys of the career of the fictional British metal band Spinal Tap. Smartly written by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Rob Reiner, and Harry Shearer – all of whom appear in the film – the comedy is chock full of quotable moments.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

47. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (259,430 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (110,314 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (48 reviews)
> Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Penelope Allen
> Directed by: Sidney Lumet

With a 96% Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score, critics consensus on the site describes the film as “tension-soaked drama shaded in black humor.” The movie about a bank robbery that turns into a hostage stand-off received six Academy Award nominations, winning the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

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Courtesy of The Weinstein Company

46. The King’s Speech (2010)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (683,883 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (144,700 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (298 reviews)
> Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter
> Directed by: Tom Hooper

This historical drama about King George VI of England and the speech therapist who helped him overcome his stammer won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth as the titular king), Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

45. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (704,537 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (140,524 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (373 reviews)
> Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender
> Directed by: Steve McQueen

In pre-Civil War New York state, a free black man named Solomon Northrup is kidnapped and sold into slavery, where he remains for more than a decade. Northrup’s memoir of the experience, published in 1853, is the basis for this “unflinchingly brutal” but also “brilliant” film — as Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus calls it.

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Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

44. Stand by Me (1986)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (380,190 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (270,467 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (57 reviews)
> Starring: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman
> Directed by: Rob Reiner

In “Stand By Me,” based on a Stephen King novella, four youngsters embark on a quest to find the body of a missing boy, meeting numerous challenges along the way. While it was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, among other honors, it didn’t take home any major awards — but today it is considered one of the key youth films of its era and has even inspired an annual Stand By Me Day in Brownsville, Oregon, featured in the film.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

43. Boyz n the Hood (1991)
> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (132,951 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (144,364 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (70 reviews)
> Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Hudhail Al-Amir
> Directed by: John Singleton

John Singleton became the first African American nominated for a Best Director Oscar for the film about the experiences, relationships, and aspirations of three young black men living in the impoverished Crenshaw neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says the film “observes urban America with far more depth and compassion than many of the like-minded films its success inspired.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

42. Brazil (1985)
> IMDb user rating: 7.9/10 (194,716 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (103,103 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (49 reviews)
> Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro
> Directed by: Terry Gilliam

From Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam comes this dystopian comic fantasy with loose ties to Orwell’s “1984.” Set in an oppressive future, it follows a low-level bureaucrat (Jonathan Pryce) on a liberating adventure.

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Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

41. Wild Tales (2014)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (196,455 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (10,000 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (157 reviews)
> Starring: Darío Grandinetti, María Marull, Mónica Villa
> Directed by: Damián Szifron

“Wild Tales” is an Argentinian Spanish-language anthology film comprising six shorts, four of which are based on the Argentine director Damián Szifron‘s own life. All shorts fall within the realm of dark comedy, exploring themes of violence and vengeance.

Courtesy of A24

40. Room (2015)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (392,959 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (49,823 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (317 reviews)
> Starring: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Bridgers
> Directed by: Lenny Abrahamson

This award-winning drama based on a novel by Emma Donaghue depicts the day to day confinement of a young woman and her 5-year-old son who are prisoners of a man who abducted her seven years prior.

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Courtesy of Warner Independent Pictures

39. Before Sunset (2004)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (248,039 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (71,186 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (177 reviews)
> Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Vernon Dobtcheff
> Directed by: Richard Linklater

Years after the whirlwind romance depicted in “Before Sunrise,” Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) reunite for another romantic encounter. “Before Sunset” ranks among IMDb’s top 250 movies of all time. It was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Courtesy of Savoy Pictures

38. A Bronx Tale (1993)
> IMDb user rating: 7.8/10 (144,660 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (66,875 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (30 reviews)
> Starring: Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri, Lillo Brancato
> Directed by: Robert De Niro

Chazz Palminteri drew upon his own childhood experiences when crafting the one-man play upon which this film adaptation is based. He stars as a neighborhood mob boss who takes a local boy under his wing to the chagrin of the boy’s father (Robert De Niro). The story also explores racial tensions in the 1960s Bronx.

Courtesy of Gramercy Pictures

37. Fargo (1996)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (643,417 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (234,520 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (102 reviews)
> Starring: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi
> Directed by: Joel & Ethan Coen

A comedy about as dark as they come, “Fargo” won Oscars for the Coens for Best Writing and for Frances McDormand for Best Actress. The plot is set in the desolate winter landscape of Fargo, North Dakota, and revolves around an indebted car salesman (William H. Macy) who hires two thugs to kidnap his wife and hold her for ransom to be paid by her rich father. The scheme falls apart when the thugs shoot a state trooper.

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Courtesy of United Artists

36. Raging Bull (1980)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (356,943 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (131,523 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (76 reviews)
> Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci
> Directed by: Martin Scorsese

“Raging Bull” was one of the best movies of the 1980s, a brilliant and disturbing look at the life of self-destructive middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta. Martin Scorsese shot the film in black and white, which adds to the grimness of LaMotta’s life.

Courtesy of Orion Pictures

35. The Terminator (1984)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (820,969 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (776,923 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (65 reviews)
> Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn
> Directed by: James Cameron

“The Terminator” was an early directorial effort from James Cameron. The film quickly became an iconic action movie thanks to its inventive plot. A human soldier and a killing cyborg are sent back from the future — one to protect a woman and her unborn child, the other to kill them.

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Courtesy of Warner Bros.

34. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (746,294 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (324,778 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (83 reviews)
> Starring: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D’Onofrio
> Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

Three years before appearing in Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” Matthew Modine played the title character in this period drama. Mentally scarred by the Vietnam War, Birdy undergoes extreme alienation and delusion upon his return home. It won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.

Courtesy of Miramax

33. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (958,136 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (446,711 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (71 reviews)
> Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen
> Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino’s debut feature “Reservoir Dogs” is considered by many the definitive work of American independent cinema of the early 1990s. The movie fused arthouse and genre filmmaking and catapulted its director to superstardom.

Courtesy of Focus Features

32. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (948,653 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (571,910 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (250 reviews)
> Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson
> Directed by: Michel Gondry

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” stands out thanks to its relentless creativity, driven by film director Michel Gondry and co-writer Charlie Kaufman. The film won the Best Writing – Screenplay Oscar in 2005. The clever direction and original screenwriting help highlight a story of heartbreak, in which two former lovers attempt to remove all memories of their failed relationship.

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Courtesy of Universal Pictures

31. In the Name of the Father (1993)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (176,952 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (25,000 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (50 reviews)
> Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Alison Crosbie
> Directed by: Jim Sheridan

Director Jim Sherian’s impassioned film of Irish Catholics in Northern Ireland wrongly imprisoned for a terrorist attack in England in the 1970s gained seven Oscar nominations. The movie grossed just over $65 million worldwide, but only about $25 million domestically. Daniel-Day Lewis, who had already won a Best Actor Oscar in 1990, lost Best Actor to Tom Hanks for “Philadelphia.”

Courtesy of Gramercy Pictures

30. The Usual Suspects (1995)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (1,028,997 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (435,145 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 88% (77 reviews)
> Starring: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri
> Directed by: Bryan Singer

Is Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint (Kevin Spacey) a con artist with cerebral palsy, just a two-bit thief, or a fearsome murderous mobster known as Keyser Söze? The movie’s plot revolves around cocaine and a ship explosion. For his duplicitous performance, Spacey won an Academy Award.

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29. The Departed (2006)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (1,241,061 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (738,191 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 90% (283 reviews)
> Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson
> Directed by: Martin Scorsese

“The Departed” is director Martin Scorsese’s immersive look at Irish gangster life in Boston. The film took home four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film packs the star power of actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Martin Sheen, but it is Jack Nicholson’s menacing portrayal of the mob boss that dominates the movie.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

28. Die Hard (1988)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (820,820 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (574,298 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (79 reviews)
> Starring: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
> Directed by: John McTiernan

This film launched the successful action series starring Bruce Willis. In this first installment Willis, as a New York cop John McClane, tries to save the lives of his wife (Bonnie Bedelia) and other people taken hostage by terrorists in Los Angeles. The film catapulted Willis into the action film pantheon, and fans continue to quote his character’s defiant “Yippee-ki-yay” line.

Courtesy of Open Road Films

27. Spotlight (2015)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (473,059 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (70,627 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (375 reviews)
> Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams
> Directed by: Tom McCarthy

Child molestation and cover-ups by the Catholic Church in Boston, as exposed by the Boston Globe, form the theme of this unsettling film, which is described by the Sydney Morning Herald as possibly “the best newspaper film since All the President’s Men.”

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Courtesy of Warner Bros.

26. Unforgiven (1992)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (391,927 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (122,861 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (106 reviews)
> Starring: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman
> Directed by: Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” scored four Oscar wins in 1992 including best director and best picture. He both directed and starred in the film appearing as William Munny, a pig farmer-turned-bounty hunter. The film opened as a number one box office smash and was one of Eastwood’s biggest financial successes.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

25. Taxi Driver (1976)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (761,825 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (260,919 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (94 reviews)
> Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
> Directed by: Martin Scorsese

After returning from service in Vietnam, Travis Bickle is unstable and adrift, working nights as a taxi driver on the decrepit streets of New York. Full of undirected rage, he decides to make the world a better place by rescuing a child prostitute from her pimp.

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24. Memento (2000)
> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (1,169,429 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (381,352 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (181 reviews)
> Starring: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
> Directed by: Christopher Nolan

In this neo-noir psychological thriller, a man without the ability to form new memories becomes obsessed with finding the people who murdered his wife and left him with anterograde amnesia.

Courtesy of Orion Pictures

23. Amadeus (1984)
> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (403,732 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (180,242 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (100 reviews)
> Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge
> Directed by: Miloš Forman

Based on Peter Shaffer’s Tony Award-winning play of the same name, this account of the life and successes of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — told through the eyes of his rival, Antonio Salieri — dominated the 1985 Oscars. “Amadeus” won eight Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director.

Courtesy of TriStar Pictures

22. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (1,033,964 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (749,360 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (84 reviews)
> Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong
> Directed by: James Cameron

James Cameron’s “Terminator 2” excels in many of the aspects that action movie fans appreciate most, such as visual effects and tense action sequences. It stands apart from the average action flick thanks to its refined characters and philosophically intelligent storyline. The movie is a haunting tale of post-apocalyptic possibilities and a perfect popcorn action movie rolled in one.

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21. Whiplash (2014)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (763,755 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (70,602 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (297 reviews)
> Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist
> Directed by: Damien Chazelle

This “intense, inspiring, and well-acted” music-fueled drama (according to critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes) tells the story of an ambitious young would-be jazz drummer and his taskmaster teacher. The film won three Oscars, including a Best Actor statue for J.K. Simmons.

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

20. Before Sunrise (1995)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (286,974 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (73,661 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (46 reviews)
> Starring: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert
> Directed by: Richard Linklater

This romantic drama follows two young train travelers who connect on a trip from Budapest to Vienna and decide to spend a single night together before each goes his or her separate way in the morning.

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19. Chinatown (1974)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (309,557 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (78,076 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (76 reviews)
> Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
> Directed by: Roman Polanski

Arguably Roman Polanski’s greatest film, this stylish film-noir stars Jack Nicholson as a private detective who, while investigating a case of adultery, stumbles onto a murder plot that includes incest and government corruption. The cynical tone of “Chinatown” reflects the mood of post-Vietnam America.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

18. Aliens (1986)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (678,602 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (430,019 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (77 reviews)
> Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn
> Directed by: James Cameron

James Cameron’s powerful follow-up to director Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror film “Alien” was hailed as “the best monster movie of the year,” “state-of-the-art science fiction,” and “the rarest of sequels” — one that’s at least equal to the original. 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.

Courtesy of Neon

17. Parasite (2019)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (810,722 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (5,000 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (475 reviews)
> Starring: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong
> Directed by: Bong Joon Ho

South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” surprised many by winning Best Picture at the 2020 Academy Awards despite being among the lesser seen nominees. Reception of the film has been near universally positive, however, especially among critics. The film tells the story of a lower-class family that dupes a wealthier family into employing them with unexpected results.

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16. L.A. Confidential (1997)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (551,824 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (150,890 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (115 reviews)
> Starring: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce
> Directed by: Curtis Hanson

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.

Courtesy of Miramax

15. Good Will Hunting (1997)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (900,884 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (365,042 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (83 reviews)
> Starring: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
> Directed by: Gus Van Sant

“Good Will Hunting” is about a janitor who’s secretly a genius, his life rapidly changing once his talents are discovered by a university professor. However, along the way he meets someone special and must decide what’s most important to him.

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14. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10 (1,292,307 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (993,591 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (143 reviews)
> Starring: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore
> Directed by: Steven Spielberg

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. The critic consensus Rotten Tomatoes calls it an “unflinchingly realistic war film [that] virtually redefines the genre.”

Courtesy of United Artists

13. Apocalypse Now (1979)
> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (629,925 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (286,235 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (96 reviews)
> Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall
> Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

The sprawling, visionary Vietnam War drama is based on Joseph Conrad’s book “Heart of Darkness” and shows how men descend into madness as the result of war. Though not fully embraced by audiences and critics when it was released in 1979, “Apocalypse Now” has gained more recognition.

Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

12. Alien (1979)
> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (823,459 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (460,436 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (126 reviews)
> Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
> Directed by: Ridley Scott

The tagline for sci-fi horror film “Alien” states: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” Plenty of people could be heard screaming in theaters when the movie was released in 1979, however. Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror classic overcame wary studio executives and numerous rewrites on its way to the big screen, where it found immediate commercial success. The story follows crew members of the spaceship Nostromo as they’re picked off by an alien creature.

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11. The Pianist (2002)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (836,046 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (253,429 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (184 reviews)
> Starring: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay
> Directed by: Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” is based on the autobiography of Polish composer, Wladyslaw Szpilman, during World War II. The film earned Polanski — currently a U.S. fugitive — an Academy Award for Best Director.

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

10. Psycho (1960)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (630,728 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (240,418 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (104 reviews)
> Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles
> Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

The murder scene in the shower in “Psycho” almost instantly became a cultural landmark and is among the most famous in movie history. Adding to the tension of this taut thriller that starred Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh was the music by Bernard Herrmann that projected impending doom. “Psycho” is Hitchcock at his suspenseful best.

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9. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10 (1,332,128 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (847,443 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (104 reviews)
> Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. Bonney
> Directed by: Jonathan Demme

One of the greatest thrillers ever made puts F.B.I. cadet Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) on the trail of a dangerous serial killer. Seeking help, she turns to a devious psychopath by the name of Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins). The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Courtesy of United Artists

8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10 (954,220 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (279,963 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (83 reviews)
> Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, Michael Berryman
> Directed by: Miloš Forman

Based on Ken Kesey’s timeless novel, this blockbuster dramedy follows a rebellious soul (Jack Nicholson) into a mental institution. It won five Academy Awards and yielded a series spin-off called “Nurse Ratched.”

Courtesy of Miramax

7. Pulp Fiction (1994)
> IMDb user rating: 8.9/10 (1,909,111 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (1,128,444 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (108 reviews)
> Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson
> Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

“Pulp Fiction,” Quentin Tarantino’s follow-up to “Reservoir Dogs,” is among the 1990s’ most definitive films. A wildly inventive mix of crime, film-noir, and comedy, the movie scored the Palme d’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Its reputation has held up well over the past 25 years, with 96% of audiences giving the film a positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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Courtesy of Warner Bros.

6. Goodfellas (1990)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10 (1,165,874 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 97% (430,048 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (103 reviews)
> Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
> Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Real-life New York mobster Henry Hill is the subject of this biographical crime drama based on the book “Wiseguy” by Nicolas Pileggi. “Goodfellas” portrays the story of Hill’s rise through the ranks of the organized crime world and his descent into drug addiction and unsanctioned dealing.

Courtesy of United Artists

5. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
> IMDb user rating: 8.8/10 (718,036 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 97% (239,989 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (77 reviews)
> Starring: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef
> Directed by: Sergio Leone

The poster child of the Spaghetti Western, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” tells the story of a tenuous alliance of gunslingers, among them the iconically laconic Clint Eastwood, who are looking for Confederate gold. The film was directed by Sergio Leone, with an unforgettable movie score from Ennio Morricone.

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Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

4. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
> IMDb user rating: 9.3/10 (2,465,102 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 98% (887,061 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (77 reviews)
> Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton
> Directed by: Frank Darabont

Based on a Stephen King novella, this historical prison drama about two imprisoned men was trounced at the box office by the likes of “Pulp Fiction” and “Forrest Gump.” It was then re-released in theaters after receiving seven Oscar nominations, which helped recoup some of the loss.

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

3. The Godfather: Part II (1974)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10 (1,183,912 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 97% (411,793 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (114 reviews)
> Starring: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall
> Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Nevermind sequels, “The Godfather: Part II” is widely hailed as one of the greatest films of all time. The film chronicles Vito Coreleone’s (Robert De Niro) rise to power in the Mafia along with the struggle of his son (Al Pacino) to maintain power decades later. The film won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor for De Niro, and Best Director for Francis Ford Coppola.

Courtesy of Universal Pictures

2. Schindler’s List (1993)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10 (1,359,268 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 97% (411,879 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (128 reviews)
> Starring: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley
> Directed by: Steven Spielberg

This black-and-white drama tells the story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a German industrialist who saved the lives of over 1,000 Jews during WWII. A passion project for Steven Spielberg, it won seven Academy Awards. The director redirected both his personal salary and some of the film’s profits to create the USC Shoah Foundation, which is dedicated to Holocaust survivors.

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Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

1. The Godfather (1972)
> IMDb user rating: 9.2/10 (1,704,373 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 98% (734,439 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (133 reviews)
> Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
> Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

One of the greatest and most influential films ever made launched several high-profile careers and took home three Oscars. It was also a critical and commercial smash, reportedly sitting on top of the domestic box office for 23 weeks in a row. Behold the story of the Corleone crime family, whose power is threatened by a new foe.

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