The 20 best films of all time

by des-kilbane | created - 18 Oct 2012 | updated - 18 Oct 2012 | Public
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1. Taxi Driver (1976)

R | 114 min | Crime, Drama

94 Metascore

A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks

Votes: 921,550 | Gross: $28.26M

2. The Last Detail (1973)

R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama

86 Metascore

Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.

Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid, Otis Young, Clifton James

Votes: 27,999 | Gross: $3.19M

3. Yol (1982)

PG | 107 min | Drama

When five Kurdish prisoners are granted one week's home leave, they find to their dismay that they face continued oppression outside of prison from their families, the culture, and the government.

Directors: Serif Gören, Yilmaz Güney | Stars: Tarik Akan, Serif Sezer, Halil Ergün, Meral Orhonsay

Votes: 14,514

4. Adam & Paul (2004)

83 min | Comedy, Drama

2 heroin addicts negotiate their way through Dublin's city centre, encountering friends and family as they search for their next fix.

Director: Lenny Abrahamson | Stars: Tom Murphy, Mark O'Halloran, Gavin Dowdall, Luke Keeler

Votes: 3,302

5. Garage (2007)

85 min | Drama

A tragicomedy set in the world of gas stations in rural Ireland, where over-diligent employee of the garage searches for intimacy during the course of a life-changing summer.

Director: Lenny Abrahamson | Stars: Pat Shortt, John Keogh, George Costigan, Anne-Marie Duff

Votes: 3,146

6. The Godfather Part II (1974)

R | 202 min | Crime, Drama

90 Metascore

The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton

Votes: 1,365,296 | Gross: $57.30M

7. The Godfather (1972)

R | 175 min | Crime, Drama

100 Metascore

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton

Votes: 2,014,449 | Gross: $134.97M

8. The Pipe (2010)

Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary, Drama

What do people do, when the law prevents them from protecting themselves? Documentary film on the small Irish village that stood up to Big Oil.

Director: Risteard O'Domhnaill | Stars: Bertie Ahern, Mary Corduff, Willie Corduff, Maura Harrington

Votes: 250

9. Singin' in the Rain (1952)

G | 103 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance

99 Metascore

A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.

Directors: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | Stars: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen

Votes: 260,862 | Gross: $8.82M

10. Mean Streets (1973)

R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

96 Metascore

In New York City's Little Italy, a devoutly Catholic mobster must reconcile his desire for power, his feelings for his epileptic lover, and his devotion to his troublesome friend.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval, Amy Robinson

Votes: 119,744 | Gross: $3.13M

11. Mystery Train (1989)

R | 110 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

80 Metascore

Three stories are connected by a Memphis hotel and the spirit of Elvis Presley.

Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Masatoshi Nagase, Yûki Kudô, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Cinqué Lee

Votes: 30,848 | Gross: $0.37M

12. True Stories (1986)

PG | 89 min | Comedy, Musical

67 Metascore

A small but growing Texas town, filled with strange and musical characters, celebrates its sesquicentennial and converge on a local parade and talent show.

Director: David Byrne | Stars: David Byrne, John Goodman, Annie McEnroe, Jo Harvey Allen

Votes: 7,502 | Gross: $2.55M

13. Blue Velvet (1986)

R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

75 Metascore

The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.

Director: David Lynch | Stars: Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern

Votes: 215,870 | Gross: $8.55M

14. The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun (2006)

Not Rated | 84 min | Documentary

66 Metascore

The story about the 82-year-old bachelor Mr. Vig, who has never known love, and Sister Amvrosija, a young Russian nun, who by chance, or destiny, becomes part of his life.

Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær | Stars: Sister Ambrosija, Mr. Vig

Votes: 451

15. Raging Bull (1980)

R | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport

90 Metascore

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent

Votes: 380,490 | Gross: $23.38M

16. Psycho (1960)

R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller

97 Metascore

A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin

Votes: 718,850 | Gross: $32.00M

17. Apocalypse Now (1979)

R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, War

94 Metascore

A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest

Votes: 710,843 | Gross: $83.47M

18. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

PG | 95 min | Comedy, War

97 Metascore

An unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn

Votes: 518,583 | Gross: $0.28M

19. The Searchers (1956)

Passed | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

94 Metascore

An American Civil War veteran embarks on a years-long journey to rescue his niece from the Comanches after the rest of his brother's family is massacred in a raid on their Texas farm.

Director: John Ford | Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond

Votes: 96,376

20. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter

Votes: 720,131 | Gross: $56.95M



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