For my 50 Things by 50 challenge, I wanted to do a top 50 films list, but that proved to be too difficult to decide, so I am running with 50 x 2 = 100 for this goal.
My qualifications for creating a definitive list like this include being raised up to be a movie connoisseur from a very young age and carrying this torch my whole life. My parents would take us to the theater on opening night/weekend and the drive-in often. When at-home devices were invented, we got a Betamax and a copy of The Pirates of Penzance with Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt, and it was all over from there. We wore that beta tape out! One of my favorite pastimes has been movie watching and collecting.
I hope you enjoy my take on what constitutes the best…because I am pretty confident that I am right.
QUALIFYING FACTORS
Creativity/Innovation, Nostalgia, Quality (Performance, Production, Writing), Repeat Watchability, Personal Impact, and Societal Impact
All-time Best 100 Films
1930s
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
1940s
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
This Is the Army (1943)
1950s
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Gigi (1958)
Rear Window (1954)
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
South Pacific (1958)
1960s
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
The Great Escape (1963)
The Happiest Millionaire (1967)
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Mary Poppins (1964)
The Music Man (1962)
My Fair Lady (1964)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Summer Magic (1963)
Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
1970s
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
Rocky (1976)
Scrooge (1970)
Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope (1977)
Superman: The Movie (1978)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
1980s
Annie (1982)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)
The Karate Kid (1984)
The Pirates of Penzance (1983)
The Princess Bride (1987)
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Troop Beverly Hills (1989)
Victory (1981)
1990s
Babe (1995)
Chaplin (1992)
Clueless (1995)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Ever After (1998)
Forrest Gump (1994)
A League of Their Own (1992)
The Sandlot (1993)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Selena (1997)
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
The Truman Show (1998)
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
2000s
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Bright Star (2009)
Dan in Real Life (2007)
Enchanted (2007)
Finding Neverland (2004)
The Great Debaters (2007)
The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)
Invictus (2009)
Miss Potter (2006)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Nacho Libre (2006)
Ratatouille (2007)
Remember the Titans (2000)
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Walk the Line (2005)
The Young Victoria (2009)
2010s
The Age of Adaline (2015)
Black Panther (2018)
Coco (2017)
Collateral Beauty (2016)
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Ford v. Ferrari (2019)
42 (2013)
The Help (2011)
I Can Only Imagine (2018)
Inception (2010)
Inside Out (2015)
Interstellar (2014)
La La Land (2016)
Leap Year (2010)
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
Mr. Church (2016)
Moneyball (2011)
Ophelia (2018)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse (2018)
A United Kingdom (2016)
Wonder Woman (2017)
2020s
Belfast (2021)
Cruella (2021)
Enola Holmes (2020
I Heard the Bells (2022)
Land (2021)
A Million Miles Away (2023)
- Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)
- Till (2022)
BONUS: 15 All-time Best Historical Fiction or Inspired by a Book TV/Mini Series
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984)
All Creatures Great and Small (2020)
Anne of Green Gables (1985)
Downton Abbey (2010)
Great Expectations (2011)
Jane Eyre (2006)
Larkrise to Candleford (2008)
Lonesome Dove (1989)
M*A*S*H (1972)
North & South (2004)
Once Upon a Time (2011)
Poldark (2015)
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017)
The Wonder Years (1988)