the awesome/terrifying freedom

i've compiled 4 'best of all time' lists, and reorganized them into chronological order. i'm going through and watching any movie i haven't seen (or any that i haven't seen since before college. it's amazing what you don't pick up in a movie before you've had sex or dealt with heatbreak and real jealousy).

the three lists i've used are eberts 'the great movies' list, leonard maltin's top 100, and afi's top 100. i was hoping to find more foreign film representation, but any other list i added just blew the project too far out of proportion. i'm starting with this and then will branch outwards from here. i'm not a big fan of maltin as a critic, but his all his post 1978 picks were all repeated in the other 2 lists, and since my main focus was to really get up to speed on older films, i dropped his choices in. he adds a lot of early comedies to the list, and some questionable choices. mary poppins? on your all time list? ..ok..

on top of all that, i popped in IMDBs's top 250 list, which is mostly current films that i've seen, but also adds in more popular favorites, hitchcocks and kubricks, more sci-fi and fantasy, and surprisingly, more foreign films.

i've watched 8 silent films since starting with 'birth of a nation,' and am now hitting the films of buster keaton. silent film is almost a completely separate art form from the current cinema, and i'm finding it rather intoxicating. if you're interested, my compiled list is below. i started with ebert's list, so his picks are in black. added to that are maltin's in blue, and afi in red. so it doesn't tell you what was on each list, only how each list compares to ebert's. with each of ebert's picks, there is an accompanying essay on his website, which puts the film in its historical context.

*for the sake of completion, i also dropped in all the best picture winners that were not already on the list. because no other list recognized them, they can pretty much be counted as the weakest offerings of the academy, but any historian should see all the winners. these appear in the list in purple.

if you'd like a copy of this list in excel format, shoot me an email.

ebert: black
+ maltin
+ afi
+ imdb top 250
+ oscar winners
i still haven't seen it: bold italic

• Cabiria (1914)
• The Birth of a Nation (1915)
• Intolerance (1916)
• Broken Blossoms (1919)
• Cabinet des Dr. Caligari., Das (1920)
• The Kid (1921)
• Nanook of the North (1922)
• Nosferatu (1922)
• Our Hospitality (1923)
• Safety Last (1923)
• Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
• The Last Laugh (1924)
• Greed (1925)
• The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
• The Big Parade (1925)
• The Freshman (1925)
• The Gold Rush (1925)
• The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
• Faust (1926)
• Metropolis (1926)
• The General (1927)
• Wings (1927)
  
• Pandora's Box (1928)
• Sunrise (1928)
• The Crowd (1928)
• The Fall of the House of Usher (1928)
• The Last Command (1928)
• The Man Who Laughs (1928)
• The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
• Un Chien Andalou (1928)
• The Man with a Camera (1929)
• Broadway Melody, The (1929)
  
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
• City Lights (1931)
• Cimarron (1931)
  
• Dracula (1931)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• M (1931)
• Grand Hotel (1932)
  
• Trouble in Paradise (1932)
• Baby Face (1933)
• Cavalcade (1933)
  
• Duck Soup (1933)
• King Kong (1933)
• Sons of the Desert (1933)
• It Happened One Night (1934)
• It's a Gift (1934)
• L'Atalante (1934)
• The Scarlet Empress (1934)
• The Thin Man (1934)
• A Night at the Opera (1935)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
  
• Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• The 39 Steps (1935)
• Top Hat (1935)
• Triumph of the Will (1935)
• Camille (1936)
• Dodsworth (1936)
• Great Ziegfeld, The (1936)
  
• Modern Times (1936)
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
• My Man Godfrey (1936)
• Swing Time (1936)
• The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)
• Grand Illusion (1937)
• Life of Emile Zola, The (1937)
  
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
• The Awful Truth (1937)
• Olympia, Parts 1 and 2 (1938)
• You Can't Take It with You (1938)
  
• The Lady Vanishes (1938)
• Gone With the Wind (1939)
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• Ninotchka (1939)
• Stagecoach (1939)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1939)
• The Rules of the Game (1939)
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Fantasia (1940)
• His Girl Friday (1940)
• Pinocchio (1940)
• Rebecca (1940)
• The Bank Dick (1940)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• The Great Dictator (1940)
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
• Citizen Kane (1941)
• How Green Was My Valley (1941)
  
• Sullivan's Travels (1941)
• The Lady Eve (1941)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• Casablanca (1942)
• Cat People (1942)
• Mrs. Miniver (1942)
  
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
• Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
• The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
• Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
• Double Indemnity (1944)
• Going My Way (1944)
  
• Laura (1944)
• Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
• The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
• Brief Encounter (1945)
• Children of Paradise (1945)
• Detour (1945)
• The Lost Weekend (1945)
• Beauty and the Beast (1946)
• Great Expectations (1946)
• It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
• My Darling Clementine (1946)
• Notorious (1946)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• The Big Sleep (1946)
• Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
  
• Out of the Past (1947)
• Hamlet (1948)
  
• Red River (1948)
• Rope (1948)
• The Red Shoes (1948)
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
• Gun Crazy (1949)
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
• Orpheus (1949)
• The Bicycle Thief (1949)
• The Third Man (1949)
• All the King's Men (1949)
  
• White Heat (1949)
• All About Eve (1950)
• Harvey (1950)
• In a Lonely Place (1950)
• Rashomon (1950)
• Sunset Boulevard (1950)
• American in Paris, An (1951)
  
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• Ace in the Hole (1951)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)
• The African Queen (1951)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
• The River (Le Fleuve) (1951)
• Forbidden Games (1952)
• Greatest Show on Earth, The (1952)
  
• High Noon (1952)
• Ikiru (1952)
• Singin' in the Rain (1952)
• Umberto D (1952)
• Chuck Jones: Three Cartoons (1953-1957)
• From Here to Eternity (1953)
  
• Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953)
• Roman Holiday (1953)
• Salaire de la peur, Le (Wages of Fear) (1953)
• Shane (1953)
• Stalag 17 (1953)
• The Band Wagon (1953)
• The Big Heat (1953)
• The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)
• Tokyo Story (1953)
• Ugetsu (1953)
• Beat the Devil (1954)
• Dial M for Murder (1954)
• Johnny Guitar (1954)
• On the Waterfront (1954)
• Rear Window (1954)
• Rififi (1954)
• Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
• Strada, La (1954)
• The Seven Samurai (1954)
• Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)
• Bob le Flambeur (1955)
• Diaboliques, Les (1955)
• Marty (1955)
  
• Ordet (1955)
• Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
• Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
• The Apu Trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959)
• The Night of the Hunter (1955)
• Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
  
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• The Searchers (1956)
• Written on the Wind (1956)
• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• Nights of Cabiria (1957)
• Paths of Glory (1957)
• Pyaasa (1957)
• Smultronstället (Wlid Strawberries) (1957)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
• The Seventh Seal (1957)
• The Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
• Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
• Gigi (1958)
  
• Mon Oncle (1958)
• The Music Room (1958)
• Touch of Evil (1958)
• Vertigo (1958)
• Floating Weeds (1959)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
• Ben-Hur (1959)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Pickpocket (1959)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• The 400 Blows (1959)
• The Apu Trilogy (1959)
• Breathless (1960)
• Inherit the Wind (1960)
• La Dolce Vita (1960)
• L'Avventura (1960)
• Peeping Tom (1960)
• Psycho (1960)
• Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
• Spartacus (1960)
• The Apartment (1960)
• Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
• Jules and Jim (1961)
• Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
• The Hustler (1961)
• Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
• Victim (1961)
• West Side Story (1961)
• Yojimbo (1961)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• The Exterminating Angel (1962)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
• Winter Light (1962)
• 8 1/2 (1963)
• Charade (1963)
• My Life to Live / Vivre sa Vie (1963)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• The Leopard (1963)
• Tom Jones (1963)
  
• A Hard Day's Night (1964)
• Bande à part (1964)
• Dr. Strangelove (1964)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)
• Mary Poppins (1964)
• My Fair Lady (1964)
• Woman in the Dunes (1964)
• Chimes at Midnight (1965)
• Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
• Per qualche dollaro in più (A Few Dollars More) (1965)
• Sound of Music, The (1965)
  
• Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
• Battaglia di Algeri, La (The Battle of Algiers) (1966)
• Blow-Up (1966)
• Closely Watched Trains (1966)
• Man for All Seasons, A (1966)
  
• Persona (1966)
• Belle de Jour (1967)
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
• Cool Hand Luke (1967)
• In Cold Blood (1967)
• In the Heat of the Night (1967)
• Le Samourai (1967)
• Mouchette (1967)
• Playtime (1967)
• Samurai Rebellion (1967)
• The Battle of Algiers (1967)
• The Graduate (1967)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
• Oliver! (1968)
  
• Once upon a Time in the West (1968)
• Planet of the Apes (1968)
• Romeo and Juliet (1968)
• Rosemary's Baby (1968)
• The Firemen's Ball (1968)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968)
• The Producers (1968)
• Yellow Submarine (1968)
• Army of Shadows (1969)
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
• Easy Rider (1969)
• Midnight Cowboy (1969)
• The Wild Bunch (1969)
• El Topo (1970)
• Five Easy Pieces (1970)
• Patton (1970)
• Woodstock (1970)
• A Touch of Zen (1971)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• French Connection, The (1971)
  
• McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
• The Last Picture Show (1971)
• Walkabout (1971)
• WR -- Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
• Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
• Cries and Whispers (1972)
• Last Tango in Paris (1972)
• Late Spring (1972)
• Sleuth (1972)
• Solaris (1972)
• The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
• The Godfather (1972)
• The Godfather, Part II (1974)
• Day for Night (1973)
• Mean Streets (1973)
• The Exorcist (1973)
• The Long Goodbye (1973)
• The Sting (1973)
• A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
• Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
• Amarcord (1974)
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
• Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
• Chinatown (1974)
• Don't Look Now (1974)
• The Conversation (1974)
• The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
• Young Frankenstein (1974)
• Barry Lyndon (1975)
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
• Jaws (1975)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
• Nashville (1975)
• Night Moves (1975)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
• Network (1976)
• Rocky (1976)
• Taxi Driver (1976)
• 3 Women (1977)
• Annie Hall (1977)
• Killer of Sheep (1977)
• Saturday Night Fever (1977)
• Star Wars (1977)
• Stroszek (1977)
• Days of Heaven (1978)
• Gates of Heaven (1978)
• The Deer Hunter (1978)
• Alien (1979)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• Being There (1979)
• Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
  
• Life of Brian (1979)
• Manhattan (1979)
• Stalker (1979)
• The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
• Atlantic City (1980)
• Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
• Mon Oncle d'Amérique (1980)
• Raging Bull (1980)
• Ordinary People (1980)
  
• The Big Red One (1980)
• The Elephant Man (1980)
• The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• The Shining (1980)
• Body Heat (1981)
• Boot, Das (1981)
• Chariots of Fire (1981)
  
• Mephisto (1981)
• My Dinner With Andre (1981)
• Pixote (1981)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982)
• E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
• Fitzcarraldo (1982)
• Gandhi (1982)
• The Thing (1982)
• A Christmas Story (1983)
• El Norte (1983)
• Fanny and Alexander (1983)
• Return of the Jedi (1983)
• Scarface (1983)
• Terms of Endearment (1983)
  
• The Right Stuff (1983)
• A Sunday in the Country (1984)
• A Year of the Quiet Sun (1984)
• Amadeus (1984)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
• Paris, Texas (1984)
• The Terminator (1984)
• This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
• Brazil (1985)
• Back to the Future (1985)
• Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
• Out of Africa (1985)
  
• Ran (1985)
• The Color Purple (1985)
• The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
• The Up Documentaries (1985)
• The Fly (1986)
• Aliens (1986)
• Platoon (1986)
• Stand by Me (1986)
• The Singing Detective (1986)
• Au Revoir, les Enfants (1987)
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)
• House of Games (1987)
• Last Emperor, The (1987)
  
• Moonstruck (1987)
• Nayakan (1987)
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
• The Dead (1987)
• The Princess Bride (1987)
• Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
• Die Hard (1988)
• Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988)
• The Decalogue (1988)
• Wings of Desire (1988)
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
• Do the Right Thing (1989)
• Rain Man (1988)
• Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
  
• Glory (1989)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
• Santa Sangre (1989)
• Say Anything (1989)
• After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
• Dances with Wolves (1990)
  
• Miller's Crossing (1990)
• Raise the Red Lantern (1990101)
• GoodFellas (1991)
• JFK (1991)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• A Tale of Winter (1992)
• A Woman's Tale (1992)
• Howards End (1992)
• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• Unforgiven (1992)
• Farewell My Concubine (1993)
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• Leolo (1993)
• My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
• Schindler's List (1993)
• The Age of Innocence (1993)
• The Blue Kite (1993)
• Three Colors Trilogy: Blue, White, Red (1993-1994)
• Chungking Express (1994)
• Crumb (1994)
• Drunken Master II (1994)
• Ed Wood (1994)
• Forrest Gump (1994)
• Hoop Dreams (1994)
• Léon (1994)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• The Lion King (1994)
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
• Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
• Braveheart (1995)
• Casino (1995)
• English Patient, The (1996)
  
• Haine, La (Hate) (1995)
• Heat (1995)
• Se7en (1995)
• The Usual Suspects (1995)
• Toy Story (1995)
• Twelve Monkeys (1995)
• Ulysses' Gaze (1995)
• Fargo (1996)
• Trainspotting (1996)
• L.A. Confidential (1997)
• Titanic (1997)
  
• Mononoke-hime (Princess Mononoke)(1997)
• Vita è bella, La (Life is Beautiful) (1997)
• American History X (1998)
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
• Lola rennt (Run Lola Run) (1998)
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• Shakespeare in Love (1998)
  
• The Big Lebowski (1998)
• American Beauty (1999)
• Fight Club (1999)
• Magnolia (1999)
• The Green Mile (1999)
• The Matrix (1999)
• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• Amores perros (2000)
• Gladiator (2000)
• Memento (2000)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• Snatch. (2000)
• The Terrorist (2000)
• Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
• Wo hu cang long (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) (2000)
• Beautiful Mind, A (2001)
  
• Kandahar (2001)
• Donnie Darko (2001)
• Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (Amelie) (2001)
• Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away) (2001)
• The Lord of the Rings (2001–03)
• Chicago (2002)
  
• City of God (2002)
• Mou gaan dou (Infernal Affairs) (2002)
• Ripley's Game (2002)
• Talk to Her (2002)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Big Fish (2003)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
• Le Boucher / The Butcher (2003)
• Mystic River (2003)
• Oldboy (2003)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
• The Pianist (2002)
• Crash (2004/I)
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
• Hauru no ugoku shiro (Howl's Moving Castle) (2004)
• Hotel Rwanda (2004)
• Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
• Million Dollar Baby (2004)
• Shaun of the Dead (2004)
• The Incredibles (2004)
• Untergang, Der (Downfall) (2004)
• Dark City (2005)
• Batman Begins (2005)
• Sin City (2005)
• V for Vendetta (2005)
• Babel (2006)
• Children of Men (2006)
• Laberinto del fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006)
• Leben der Anderen, Das (The Lives of Others) (2006)
• Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
• Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
• Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
• The Departed (2006)
• The Prestige (2006)
• Moolaade (2007)
• Into the Wild (2007)
• No Country for Old Men (2007)
• Ratatouille (2007)
• Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) (2007)
• The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
• There Will Be Blood (2007)
• Diva (2008)
• In Bruges (2008)
• Iron Man (2008)
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• Vengeance Is Mine (2008)
• WALL·E (2008)

i've got a long long way to go. and what's sobering is the knowledge that this is only the beginning of any real attempt to become literate in the world of film. but it's a good place to start, and watching them in order, i'm looking forward to seeing the history of film, the advancement of technology, and the shifting tastes of the audience play out before me.