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JTB's 100 Favorite Movies

Friday, February 13, 2009


I've been working on a top 100 movies list for awhile. These things are always as arbitrary as they are fun. One caution -- these are my 100 favorite films, not necessarily my 100 best films of all time. While I think 90% of these choices are also worthy of being judged by anyone as an all-time great, the other 10% are selections that I simply love to watch over and over. And you know a few B movie classics would have to be on my list!

The 39 Steps (1935) – Alfred Hitchcock
Ace in the Hole (1951) – Billy Wilder
An American in Paris (1951) – Vincent Minelli
The Apartment (1960) – Billy Wilder
Apocalypse Now (1979) – Francis Ford Coppola
The Apostle (1997) – Robert Duvall
The Awful Truth (1937) – Leo McCarey
Bad Day At Black Rock (1955) - John Sturges
The Band Wagon (1953) – Vincent Minelli
Big Wednesday (1978) – John Milius
Braveheart (1995) – Mel Gibson
Bringing Up Baby (1938) – Howard Hawks
Captain Blood (1935) – Michael Curtiz
Casablanca (1942) – Michael Curtiz
Casino (1995) – Martin Scorsese
Chinatown (1974) – Roman Polanski
Citizen Kane (1941) – Orson Welles
Clash of the Titans (1981) – Desmond Davis
Dark Passage (1947) – Delmer Daves
Days of Thunder (1990) – Tony Scott
The Devil’s Rain (1975) – Robert Fuest
Dirty Harry (1971) – Don Siegel
Donnie Brasco (1997) – Mike Newell
Double Indemnity (1944) – Billy Wilder
Dumb and Dumber (1994) – The Farrelly Brothers
Fargo (1996) – The Coen Brothers
Field of Dreams (1989) – Phil Alden Robinson
Foreign Correspondent (1940) – Alfred Hitchcock
Forrest Gump (1994) – Robert Zemeckis
The French Connection (1971) – William Friedkin
From Russia With Love (1963) – Terence Young
Gladiator (2000) – Ridley Scott
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) – James Foley
The Godfather (1972) – Francis Ford Coppola
The Godfather Part II (1974) – Francis Ford Coppola
Gone With the Wind (1939) – Victor Fleming
Goodfellas (1990) – Martin Scorsese
The Good, Bad, and Ugly (1966) – Sergio Leone
Hang ’Em High (1968) – Ted Post
Heat (1995) – Michael Mann
High Noon (1952) – Fred Zinnemann
His Girl Friday (1940) – Howard Hawks
The Hustler (1961) – Robert Rossen
It Happened One Night (1934) – Frank Capra
The Karate Kid (1984) – John G. Avildsen
Key Largo (1948) – John Huston
The Lady Eve (1941) – Preston Sturges
The Lady Vanishes (1938) – Alfred Hitchcock
The Last Picture Show (1971) – Peter Bogdanovich
Libeled Lady (1936) – Jack Conway
The Long Hot Summer (1958) – Martin Ritt
The Maltese Falcon (1941) – John Huston
Maverick (1994) – Richard Donner
Mayhem (1986) – Joseph Merhi
Meet The Parents (2000) – Jay Roach
My Favorite Wife (1940) – Garson Kanin
The Natural (1984) – Barry Levinson
No Country For Old Men (2007) – The Coen Brothers
No Way Out (1987) – Roger Donaldson
North By Northwest (1959) – Alfred Hitchcock
O Brother Where Art Thou (2000) – The Coen Brothers
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) – Taylor Hackford
Once Upon A Time in the West (1968) – Sergio Leone
On The Waterfront (1954) – Elia Kazan
The Passion of the Christ (2004) – Mel Gibson
The Philadelphia Story (1940) – George Cukor
The Princess Bride (1987) – Rob Reiner
Psycho (1960) – Alfred Hitchcock
Pulp Fiction (1994) – Quentin Tarantino
Raging Bull (1980) – Martin Scorsese
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – Steven Spielberg
Rebecca (1940) – Alfred Hitchcock
Red Line (1995) – John Sjogren
Reservoir Dogs (1992) – Quentin Tarantino
Saving Private Ryan (1998) – Steven Spielberg
Say Anything (1989) – Cameron Crowe
Schindler’s List (1993) – Steven Spielberg
The Searchers (1956) – John Ford
Shall We Dance (1937) – Mark Sandrich
The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – Frank Darabont
Sling Blade (1996) – Billy Bob Thornton
Star Wars (1977) – George Lucas
The Sting (1973) – George Roy Hill
Suspicion (1941) – Alfred Hitchcock
Taxi Driver (1976) – Martin Scorsese
There’s Something About Mary (1998) – The Farrelly Bros
Titanic (1997) – James Cameron
To Be or Not To Be (1942) – Ernst Lubitsch
Too Hot To Handle (1938) – Jack Conway
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) – John Huston
True Romance (1993) – Tony Scott
Unforgiven (1992) – Clint Eastwood
The Untouchables (1987) – Brian DePalma
The Usual Suspects (1994) – Bryan Singer
Vacation (1983) – Harold Ramis
A View To A Kill (1985) – John Glen
War Games (1983) – John Badham
White Heat (1949) – Raoul Walsh
Winning (1969) – James Goldstone
The Wizard of Oz (1939) – Victor Fleming

By Decade:

1930’s – 11 1970’s – 12
1940’s – 16 1980’s – 15
1950’s – 9 1990’s – 24
1960’s – 8 2000’s – 5

By Genre:

Dramatic – 34
Action/War – 25
Comedic – 18
Suspense – 12
Western – 7
Musical - 4

By Director:

Alfred Hitchcock – 7
Martin Scorsese – 4
The Coen Brothers – 3
Francis Ford Coppola – 3
John Huston – 3
Steven Spielberg – 3
Billy Wilder – 3

By Actor:

Robert DeNiro – 8
Robert Duvall – 7
Cary Grant – 7
Humphrey Bogart - 4
Clint Eastwood – 4
Paul Newman - 4
Al Pacino - 4