100 Movies to See Before You Die:
The All-Time Greats
by The Yahoo! Movies Editorial Staff
Many movies are good, some are great, but only a select few can
be called truly "essential." After heated discussions, long
negotiations, and a shouting match or two, the staff at Yahoo!
Movies has put together this list of the 100 films you must see
before you die.
To choose the titles for the list, we considered factors like
historical importance and cultural impact. But we also selected
films that we believe are the most thrilling, most dramatic,
scariest, and funniest movies of all time. Some of these films
you've seen, and some you may not have heard of, but we believe
that each one is a timeless classic that you absolutely have to see.
For a look at the movies from the more recent past we also think
are worthy of acclaim, make sure you also see "100 Movies to See
Before You Die: The Modern Classics." It highlights the greatest films from across the globe made
during the last two decades.
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
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'100 Movies' Photo Galleries
0-9
The All-Time Greats
(102 Photos)
12 Angry Men (1957)
DIRECTED BY: Sidney Lumet
ST ARRING: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E. G. Marshall
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The Modern Classics
DIRECTED BY: Stanley Kubrick
(102 Photos)
ST ARRING: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
The 400 Blows (1959)
Sound Off
DIRECTED BY: Francois Truffaut
STARRING: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Patrick Auffay
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WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
8 ½ (1963)
DIRECTED BY: Federico Fellini
ST ARRING: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee
List Statistics
A
The African Queen (1952)
DIRECTED BY: John Huston
ST ARRING: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley
Directors w ith the Most Films
Steven Spielberg - 5
Billy Wilder - 4
Francis Ford Coppola - 3
Alfred Hitchcock - 3
Stanley Kubrick - 3
Alien (1979)
Decades w ith the Most Film s
DIRECTED BY: Ridley Scott
1950s - 19
ST ARRING: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright
1970s - 18
1960s - 17
All About Eve (1950)
DIRECTED BY: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1990s - 14
1980s - 12
Most Films in a Foreign Language
ST ARRING: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders
Italian - 4
Japanese - 3
Annie Hall (1977)
French - 3
DIRECTED BY: Woody Allen
German - 3
Cantonese/Mandarin - 3
ST ARRING: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton
Apocalypse Now (1979)
DIRECTED BY: Francis Ford Coppola
STARRING: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall
Also Listed in The Modern Classics
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Goodfellas (1990)
Groundhog Day (1993)
In the Mood For Love (2001)
B
The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003)
The Matrix (1999)
Princess Mononoke (1999)
The Battle of Algiers (1967)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
DIRECTED BY: Gillo Pontecorvo
Raise the Red Lantern (1992)
STARRING: Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Schindler's List (1993)
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
The Shaw shank Redemption (1994)
The Silence of the Lam bs (1991)
Term inator 2: Judgm ent Day (1991)
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
DIRECTED BY: Vittorio De Sica
STARRING: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola
Titanic (1997)
Toy Story (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
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Blade Runner (1982)
DIRECTED BY: Ridley Scott
ST ARRING: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young
Blow Up (1966)
DIRECTED BY: Michelangelo Antononi
ST ARRING: David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles
Blue Velvet (1986)
DIRECTED BY: David Lynch
STARRING: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis
Hopper
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
DIRECTED BY: Arthur Penn
ST ARRING: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
Breathless (1960)
DIRECTED BY: Jean-Luc Godard
ST ARRING: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
DIRECTED BY: David Lean
ST ARRING: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins,
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
DIRECTED BY: Howard Hawks
STARRING: Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
DIRECTED BY: George Roy Hill
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ST ARRING: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross
C
Casablanca (1942)
DIRECTED BY: Michael Curtiz
ST ARRING: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
Chinatown (1974)
DIRECTED BY: Roman Polanski
ST ARRING: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
Citizen Kane (1941)
DIRECTED BY: Orson Welles
ST ARRING: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
DIRECTED BY: Ang Lee
ST ARRING: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang
D
Die Hard (1988)
DIRECTED BY: John McTiernan
STARRING: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Alan Rickman
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Do the Right Thing (1989)
DIRECTED BY: Spike Lee
STARRING: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Double Indemnity (1944)
DIRECTED BY: Billy Wilder
ST ARRING: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
DIRECTED BY: Stanley Kubrick
ST ARRING: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
Duck Soup (1933)
DIRECTED BY: Leo McCarey
STARRING: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
E
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg
ST ARRING: Dee Wallace Stone, Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore
Enter the Dragon (1973)
DIRECTED BY: Robert Clouse
ST ARRING: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly
The Exorcist (1973)
DIRECTED BY: William Friedkin
ST ARRING: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair,
F
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
DIRECTED BY: Amy Heckerling
ST ARRING: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold,
The French Connection (1971)
DIRECTED BY: William Friedkin
ST ARRING: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider
G
The Godfather (1972)
DIRECTED BY: Francis Ford Coppola
ST ARRING: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan,
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
DIRECTED BY: Francis Ford Coppola
ST ARRING: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
Goldfinger (1964)
DIRECTED BY: Guy Hamilton
STARRING: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1968)
DIRECTED BY: Sergio Leone
ST ARRING: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef
Goodfellas (1990)
DIRECTED BY: Martin Scorsese
ST ARRING: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
The Graduate (1967)
DIRECTED BY: Mike Nichols
ST ARRING: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross,
Grand Illusion (1938)
DIRECTED BY: Jean Renoir
ST ARRING: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim
Groundhog Day (1993)
DIRECTED BY: Harold Ramis
ST ARRING: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott
H
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
DIRECTED BY: Richard Lester
STARRING: The Beatles
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
I
In the Mood For Love (2001)
DIRECTED BY: Wong Kar-Wai
ST ARRING: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung
It Happened One Night (1934)
DIRECTED BY: Frank Capra
ST ARRING: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
DIRECTED BY: Frank Capra
ST ARRING: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
J
Jaws (1975)
DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg
STARRING: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
K
King Kong (1933)
DIRECTED BY: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Shoedsack
ST ARRING: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong
L
The Lady Eve (1941)
DIRECTED BY: Preston Sturges
ST ARRING: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
DIRECTED BY: David Lean
ST ARRING: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn
The Lord of the Rings (2001,2002,2003)
DIRECTED BY: Peter Jackson
STARRING: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
M
M (1931)
DIRECTED BY: Fritz Lang
STARRING: Peter Lorre, Theodor Loos, Otto Wernicke
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
M*A*S*H (1970)
DIRECTED BY: Robert Altman
ST ARRING: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
DIRECTED BY: John Huston
ST ARRING: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet
The Matrix (1999)
DIRECTED BY: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
ST ARRING: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
Modern Times (1936)
DIRECTED BY: Charlie Chaplin
ST ARRING: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
DIRECTED BY: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones
ST ARRING: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin
N
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
DIRECTED BY: John Landis
STARRING: John Belushi, Tim Matheson
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Network (1976)
DIRECTED BY: Sidney Lumet
ST ARRING: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch
Nosferatu (1922)
DIRECTED BY: F.W. Murnau
ST ARRING: Max Schreck, Gustave Von Wagenheim, Greta Schroeder,
O
On the Waterfront (1954)
DIRECTED BY: Elia Kazan
ST ARRING: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
DIRECTED BY: Milos Forman
ST ARRING: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield
P
Paths of Glory (1958)
DIRECTED BY: Stanley Kubrick
STARRING: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Princess Mononoke (1999)
DIRECTED BY: Hayao Miyazaki
ST ARRING: Billy Crudup, Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver
Psycho (1960)
DIRECTED BY: Alfred Hitchcock
ST ARRING: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh
Pulp Fiction (1994)
DIRECTED BY: Quentin Tarantino
ST ARRING: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman
R
Raging Bull (1980)
DIRECTED BY: Martin Scorsese
ST ARRING: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty-Gentile, Joe Pesci
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg
ST ARRING: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
Raise the Red Lantern (1992)
DIRECTED BY: Zhang Yimou
ST ARRING: Gong Li, He Caifei, Cao Cuifeng
Rashomon (1951)
DIRECTED BY: Akira Kurosawa
STARRING: Toshiro Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Rear Window (1954)
DIRECTED BY: Alfred Hitchcock
ST ARRING: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
DIRECTED BY: Nicholas Ray
ST ARRING: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo
Rocky (1976)
DIRECTED BY: John Avildsen
ST ARRING: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
Roman Holiday (1953)
DIRECTED BY: William Wyler
ST ARRING: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert
S
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg
STARRING: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore
WHY YOU SHOULD SEE IT
Schindler's List (1993)
DIRECTED BY: Steven Spielberg
ST ARRING: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
The Searchers (1956)
DIRECTED BY: John Ford
ST ARRING: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles