Drama Movies : The Essential List

by AfrocentricFilmsCollaborative | created - 23 Apr 2014 | updated - 24 Aug 2020 | Public

This list is about Drama and stories for the heart. This list is raw and confronts the human condition, different stories about societal outcast, issues in society, and just hardcore real situations humans go through.

AFC believes this collection of films capture the genre of Drama like no other list on IMDb. Each film has a powerful story and message either around family, love, healing, community, tragedy, alienation, mental illness, and subjects pertaining to morality. We hope you can resonate with this list and check out each movie!

Make sure you leave a comment and share.

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1. Nothing But a Man (1964)

Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Romance

87 Metascore

A black man and his school-teacher wife face discriminatory challenges in 1960s America.

Director: Michael Roemer | Stars: Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln, Julius Harris, Gloria Foster

Votes: 1,984 | Gross: $0.02M

2. Do the Right Thing (1989)

R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama

93 Metascore

On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson

Votes: 112,353 | Gross: $27.55M

3. Gandhi (1982)

PG | 191 min | Biography, Drama, History

79 Metascore

The life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.

Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Ben Kingsley, John Gielgud, Rohini Hattangadi, Roshan Seth

Votes: 240,157 | Gross: $52.77M

4. Malcolm X (1992)

PG-13 | 202 min | Biography, Drama, History

73 Metascore

Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Spike Lee

Votes: 101,987 | Gross: $48.17M

5. Boyz n the Hood (1991)

R | 112 min | Crime, Drama

76 Metascore

Follows the lives of three young males living in the Crenshaw ghetto of Los Angeles, dissecting questions of race, relationships, violence, and future prospects.

Director: John Singleton | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Laurence Fishburne, Hudhail Al-Amir, Lloyd Avery II

Votes: 154,524 | Gross: $57.50M

6. The Revenant (I) (2015)

R | 156 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

76 Metascore

A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson

Votes: 873,839 | Gross: $183.64M

7. The Killing Fields (1984)

R | 141 min | Biography, Drama, History

76 Metascore

A journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million 'undesirable' civilians.

Director: Roland Joffé | Stars: Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich, Julian Sands

Votes: 59,097 | Gross: $34.70M

8. The Outsiders (1983)

PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama

45 Metascore

In a small Oklahoma town in 1964, the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, heats up when one gang member accidentally kills a member of the other.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze

Votes: 97,448 | Gross: $25.60M

9. Good Will Hunting (1997)

R | 126 min | Drama, Romance

71 Metascore

Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård

Votes: 1,067,159 | Gross: $138.43M

10. Southpaw (2015)

R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Sport

57 Metascore

After a fatal incident sends him on a rampant path of destruction, a champion boxer fights to get custody of his daughter and revive his professional career.

Director: Antoine Fuqua | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence, Forest Whitaker

Votes: 258,222 | Gross: $52.42M

11. The Five Heartbeats (1991)

R | 121 min | Drama, Music

The story of the rise and fall of an African American vocal group.

Director: Robert Townsend | Stars: Robert Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon, Harry Lennix

Votes: 4,883 | Gross: $8.75M

12. 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: 920,060 | Gross: $28.26M

13. Precious (II) (2009)

R | 110 min | Drama

78 Metascore

In New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that she can re-route her life in a better direction.

Director: Lee Daniels | Stars: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey

Votes: 116,211 | Gross: $47.57M

14. Happiness (1998)

NC-17 | 134 min | Comedy, Drama

81 Metascore

The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.

Director: Todd Solondz | Stars: Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Dylan Baker

Votes: 74,399 | Gross: $2.81M

15. Fresh (1994)

R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

81 Metascore

Death and violence anger a twelve-year-old drug courier, who sets his employers against each other.

Director: Boaz Yakin | Stars: Sean Nelson, Giancarlo Esposito, Samuel L. Jackson, N'Bushe Wright

Votes: 14,575 | Gross: $8.09M

16. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

R | 142 min | Drama

82 Metascore

Over the course of several years, two convicts form a friendship, seeking consolation and, eventually, redemption through basic compassion.

Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler

Votes: 2,887,018 | Gross: $28.34M

17. Mississippi Burning (1988)

R | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

65 Metascore

Two F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.

Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, Frances McDormand, Brad Dourif

Votes: 110,898 | Gross: $34.60M

18. A Better Life (2011)

PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, Romance

64 Metascore

A gardener in East L.A. struggles to keep his son away from gangs and immigration agents while trying to give his son the opportunities he never had.

Director: Chris Weitz | Stars: Demián Bichir, José Julián, Eddie 'Piolin' Sotelo, Joaquín Cosio

Votes: 16,537 | Gross: $1.76M

19. The Deer Hunter (1978)

R | 183 min | Drama, War

90 Metascore

An in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.

Director: Michael Cimino | Stars: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage

Votes: 362,015 | Gross: $48.98M

20. Margin Call (2011)

R | 107 min | Drama, Thriller

76 Metascore

Follows the key people at an investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the 2008 financial crisis.

Director: J.C. Chandor | Stars: Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany

Votes: 144,178 | Gross: $5.35M

21. Kids (1995)

Unrated | 91 min | Drama

63 Metascore

A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.

Director: Larry Clark | Stars: Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Chloë Sevigny, Sarah Henderson

Votes: 84,603 | Gross: $7.42M

22. Come and See (1985)

Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War

After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.

Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas

Votes: 97,090

23. Once Were Warriors (1994)

R | 102 min | Crime, Drama

77 Metascore

A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.

Director: Lee Tamahori | Stars: Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Julian Arahanga

Votes: 36,826 | Gross: $2.20M

24. Trainspotting (1996)

R | 93 min | Drama

83 Metascore

Renton, deeply immersed in the Edinburgh drug scene, tries to clean up and get out despite the allure of drugs and the influence of friends.

Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd

Votes: 725,363 | Gross: $16.50M

25. Black Snake Moan (2006)

R | 116 min | Drama, Music

52 Metascore

A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, looks everywhere for love, never quite finding it.

Director: Craig Brewer | Stars: Christina Ricci, Samuel L. Jackson, Justin Timberlake, S. Epatha Merkerson

Votes: 66,525 | Gross: $9.40M

26. Children of Men (2006)

R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Caine

Votes: 529,180 | Gross: $35.55M

27. The Selfish Giant (2013)

Not Rated | 91 min | Drama

83 Metascore

Two thirteen year-old working-class friends in Bradford seek fortune by getting involved with a local scrap dealer and criminal.

Director: Clio Barnard | Stars: Conner Chapman, Shaun Thomas, Sean Gilder, Lorraine Ashbourne

Votes: 12,728 | Gross: $0.01M

28. The Hustler (1961)

Not Rated | 134 min | Drama, Sport

90 Metascore

An up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.

Director: Robert Rossen | Stars: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott

Votes: 86,768 | Gross: $8.28M

29. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015)

PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

74 Metascore

High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.

Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon | Stars: Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman

Votes: 138,244 | Gross: $6.74M

30. Boyhood (I) (2014)

R | 165 min | Drama

100 Metascore

The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.

Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Elijah Smith

Votes: 367,094 | Gross: $25.38M

31. Braveheart (1995)

R | 178 min | Biography, Drama, War

68 Metascore

Scottish warrior William Wallace leads his countrymen in a rebellion to free his homeland from the tyranny of King Edward I of England.

Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Angus Macfadyen

Votes: 1,090,921 | Gross: $75.60M

32. Citizen Kane (1941)

PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery

100 Metascore

Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'

Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead

Votes: 465,793 | Gross: $1.59M

33. 12 and Holding (2005)

R | 94 min | Drama

65 Metascore

After his twin brother is accidentally killed by vengeful bullies, a 12-year old boy and his friends face the harsh realities of death, teenage hormones, and family dysfunction.

Director: Michael Cuesta | Stars: Conor Donovan, Jesse Camacho, Zoe Weizenbaum, Annabella Sciorra

Votes: 7,119 | Gross: $0.10M

34. The Tunnel (2001)

150 min | Drama, History, Thriller

72 Metascore

During the Cold War, Germany was divided into two states - East and West. This epic story tells about their dramatic connections.

Director: Roland Suso Richter | Stars: Heino Ferch, Nicolette Krebitz, Sebastian Koch, Alexandra Maria Lara

Votes: 6,407 | Gross: $0.01M

35. The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)

PG | 102 min | Action, Drama, Crime

A black man plays 'uncle Tom' in order to gain access to CIA training, then uses that knowledge to plot a new American revolt.

Director: Ivan Dixon | Stars: Lawrence Cook, Janet League, Paula Kelly, J.A. Preston

Votes: 1,563 | Gross: $1.00M

36. Burn! (1969)

R | 112 min | Action, Drama, War

72 Metascore

In 1844, a British mercenary helps the revolting slaves of an Antilles island colony gain independence from Portugal, but later returns to hunt down a local rebel leader and former protégé.

Director: Gillo Pontecorvo | Stars: Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez, Renato Salvatori, Dana Ghia

Votes: 5,782 | Gross: $0.43M

37. Five Easy Pieces (1970)

R | 98 min | Drama

85 Metascore

A dropout from upper-class America picks up work along the way on oil rigs when his life isn't spent in a squalid succession of bars, motels, and other points of interest.

Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Karen Black, Billy Green Bush, Fannie Flagg

Votes: 40,512 | Gross: $19.40M

38. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

PG | 105 min | Drama

77 Metascore

After his wife leaves him, a work-obsessed Manhattan advertising executive is forced to learn long-neglected parenting skills, but a heated custody battle over the couple's young son deepens the wounds left by the separation.

Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander, Justin Henry

Votes: 154,623 | Gross: $106.26M

39. Shotgun Stories (2007)

PG-13 | 92 min | Drama, Thriller

76 Metascore

Set in Arkansas, this poetic and powerful film directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter) tracks a blood feud that erupts when two sets of half-brothers come to blows at their father's funeral.

Director: Jeff Nichols | Stars: Michael Shannon, Douglas Ligon, Barlow Jacobs, Michael Abbott Jr.

Votes: 11,238 | Gross: $0.05M

40. Mystic River (2003)

R | 138 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

84 Metascore

The tragic murder of a 19-year-old girl reunites three childhood friends still living in Boston--the victim's gangster father, a detective, and the disturbed man they both suspect of killing her.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Emmy Rossum

Votes: 485,675 | Gross: $90.14M

41. Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013)

Not Rated | 117 min | Drama

64 Metascore

A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.

Director: Lars von Trier | Stars: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf

Votes: 131,486 | Gross: $0.79M

42. Turtles Can Fly (2004)

PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, War

85 Metascore

Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.

Director: Bahman Ghobadi | Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal, Hiresh Feysal Rahman

Votes: 20,750 | Gross: $0.26M

43. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

PG-13 | 166 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

70 Metascore

Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with consequences.

Director: David Fincher | Stars: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond

Votes: 695,417 | Gross: $127.51M

44. The Exiles (1961)

Not Rated | 72 min | Drama

Follows a family of Native Americans living in the City of Angels.

Director: Kent Mackenzie | Stars: Yvonne Williams, Homer Nish, Tom Reynolds, Rico Rodriguez

Votes: 1,389 | Gross: $0.03M

45. Barren Lives (1963)

Not Rated | 103 min | Drama

A poor family in the Northeast of Brazil (Fabiano, the father; Sinhá Vitória, the mother; their 2 children and a dog called Baleia) wander about the barren land searching for a better place... See full summary »

Director: Nelson Pereira dos Santos | Stars: Átila Iório, Maria Ribeiro, Orlando Macedo, Jofre Soares

Votes: 2,907

46. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

Not Rated | 202 min | Drama

94 Metascore

A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. However, something happens that changes her safe routine.

Director: Chantal Akerman | Stars: Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze

Votes: 13,873 | Gross: $0.02M

47. Das Boot (1981)

R | 149 min | Drama, War

85 Metascore

A German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch

Votes: 264,231 | Gross: $11.49M

48. Rocky (1976)

PG | 120 min | Drama, Sport

70 Metascore

A small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect.

Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers

Votes: 628,136 | Gross: $117.24M

49. The Land of Eb (2012)

87 min | Drama, Family

Set in a neglected corner of the Hawaiian islands, The Land of Eb is a feature film about a Marshallese family struggling to create a new home for themselves on the periphery of society.

Director: Andrew Williamson | Stars: Elisabeth Christensen, Vickie Crosby, Cynthia Decker, James Gideom

Votes: 42

50. Blackbird (I) (2012)

Not Rated | 103 min | Drama

An alienated teenager's posturing online threat ignites a firestorm of fear in a small community.

Director: Jason Buxton | Stars: Connor Jessup, Alexia Fast, Michael Buie, Alex Ozerov-Meyer

Votes: 1,735

51. O Lucky Man! (1973)

R | 178 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy

An ambitious coffee salesman has a series of improbable and ironic adventures that seem designed to challenge his naive idealism.

Director: Lindsay Anderson | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe

Votes: 8,787

52. Fences (2016)

PG-13 | 139 min | Drama

79 Metascore

A working-class African-American father tries to raise his family in the 1950s, while coming to terms with the events of his life.

Director: Denzel Washington | Stars: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo

Votes: 117,968 | Gross: $57.68M

53. One False Move (1991)

R | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

87 Metascore

A small town police chief awaits the arrival of a gang of killers.

Director: Carl Franklin | Stars: Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton, Cynda Williams, Michael Beach

Votes: 13,956 | Gross: $1.54M

54. Network (1976)

R | 121 min | Drama

83 Metascore

A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall

Votes: 170,538

55. Stand and Deliver (1988)

PG | 103 min | Biography, Drama

77 Metascore

The story of Jaime Escalante, a high school teacher who successfully inspired his dropout-prone students to learn calculus.

Director: Ramón Menéndez | Stars: Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan, Virginia Paris

Votes: 22,315 | Gross: $13.99M

56. Kids Return (1996)

107 min | Crime, Drama, Sport

Dropping out of high school, two friends at first find success, one as a up-and-coming boxer and one as a low level gangster. Yet, their life decisions still find a way of catching up with them.

Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Ken Kaneko, Masanobu Andô, Leo Morimoto, Hatsuo Yamaya

Votes: 6,767

57. Towelhead (2007)

R | 124 min | Drama

57 Metascore

A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist and her strict father during the Gulf War.

Director: Alan Ball | Stars: Summer Bishil, Aaron Eckhart, Peter Macdissi, Chris Messina

Votes: 12,052 | Gross: $0.37M

58. The Color Purple (1985)

PG-13 | 154 min | Drama

78 Metascore

A tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery

Votes: 97,269 | Gross: $98.47M

59. American Beauty (1999)

R | 122 min | Drama

84 Metascore

A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.

Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley

Votes: 1,210,437 | Gross: $130.10M

60. Detachment (2011)

Not Rated | 98 min | Drama

52 Metascore

A substitute teacher who drifts from classroom to classroom finds a connection to the students and teachers during his latest assignment.

Director: Tony Kaye | Stars: Adrien Brody, Christina Hendricks, Marcia Gay Harden, Lucy Liu

Votes: 99,048 | Gross: $0.07M

61. The Apostle (1997)

PG-13 | 134 min | Drama

83 Metascore

After his happy life spins out of control, a preacher from Texas changes his name, goes to Louisiana and starts preaching on the radio.

Director: Robert Duvall | Stars: Robert Duvall, Todd Allen, Paul Bagget, Lenore Banks

Votes: 14,894 | Gross: $20.73M

62. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)

PG | 91 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

53 Metascore

A thirteen-year-old girl, who lives with her absentee father, befriends a disabled teenage amateur magician and invites him, gradually, into her tenuous struggle against a predatory local neighbor.

Director: Nicolas Gessner | Stars: Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Alexis Smith, Mort Shuman

Votes: 18,070

63. Dead Poets Society (1989)

PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama

79 Metascore

Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.

Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles

Votes: 545,491 | Gross: $95.86M

64. Raising Victor Vargas (2002)

R | 88 min | Drama, Romance

83 Metascore

A Lower East Side teen-ager struggles to find some sanity while surrounded by an eccentric grandmother, a crazy new girlfriend, and a longing younger brother.

Director: Peter Sollett | Stars: Victor Rasuk, Donna Maldonado, Kevin Rivera, Krystal Rodriguez

Votes: 5,696 | Gross: $2.07M

65. Central Station (1998)

R | 110 min | Drama

80 Metascore

The emotive journey of a former schoolteacher who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

Director: Walter Salles | Stars: Fernanda Montenegro, Vinícius de Oliveira, Marília Pêra, Soia Lira

Votes: 42,293 | Gross: $5.60M

66. Platoon (1986)

R | 120 min | Drama, War

92 Metascore

Chris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David

Votes: 439,295 | Gross: $138.53M

67. Mommy (I) (2014)

R | 139 min | Drama

74 Metascore

A widowed single mother, raising her violent son alone, finds new hope when a mysterious neighbor inserts herself into their household.

Director: Xavier Dolan | Stars: Anne Dorval, Antoine Olivier Pilon, Suzanne Clément, Patrick Huard

Votes: 61,807 | Gross: $3.49M

68. Talk Radio (1988)

R | 110 min | Drama, Thriller

66 Metascore

A rude, contemptuous talk show host becomes overwhelmed by the hatred that surrounds his program just before it goes national.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Eric Bogosian, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley

Votes: 14,607 | Gross: $3.47M

69. The Wrestler (2008)

R | 109 min | Drama, Sport

80 Metascore

A faded professional wrestler must retire, but finds his quest for a new life outside the ring a dispiriting struggle.

Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Mark Margolis

Votes: 319,861 | Gross: $26.24M

70. 25th Hour (2002)

R | 135 min | Drama

69 Metascore

Cornered by the DEA, convicted New York drug dealer Montgomery Brogan reevaluates his life in the 24 remaining hours before facing a seven-year jail term.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rosario Dawson

Votes: 184,631 | Gross: $13.06M

71. Powwow Highway (1988)

R | 91 min | Adventure, Drama

Two Northern Cheyenne men take a road trip from Montana to New Mexico to bail out the sister of one of them who has been framed and arrested in Santa Fe. On the way, they begin to reconnect to their spiritual heritage.

Director: Jonathan Wacks | Stars: Gary Farmer, A Martinez, Joanelle Romero, Amanda Wyss

Votes: 1,899 | Gross: $0.28M

72. Matewan (1987)

PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, History

73 Metascore

A labor union organizer comes to an embattled mining community brutally and violently dominated and harassed by the mining company.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Will Oldham

Votes: 8,907 | Gross: $1.68M

73. 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: 709,742 | Gross: $83.47M

74. Moonlight (I) (2016)

R | 111 min | Drama

99 Metascore

A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.

Director: Barry Jenkins | Stars: Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Trevante Rhodes, Alex R. Hibbert

Votes: 331,656 | Gross: $27.85M

75. The Hurricane (1999)

R | 146 min | Biography, Drama, Sport

74 Metascore

The story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.

Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Denzel Washington, Vicellous Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber

Votes: 102,403 | Gross: $50.67M

76. Cry Freedom (1987)

PG | 157 min | Biography, Drama, History

59 Metascore

South African journalist Donald Woods is forced to flee the country after attempting to investigate the death in custody of his friend, the Black anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko.

Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Denzel Washington, Kevin Kline, Josette Simon, Wabei Siyolwe

Votes: 14,459 | Gross: $5.90M

77. Black Rain (1989)

Not Rated | 123 min | Drama, War

The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.

Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Yoshiko Tanaka, Kazuo Kitamura, Etsuko Ichihara, Shôichi Ozawa

Votes: 3,950

78. Antwone Fisher (2002)

PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama

62 Metascore

Antwone Fisher, a young navy man, is forced to see a psychiatrist after a violent outburst against a fellow crewman. During the course of treatment a painful past is revealed and a new hope begins.

Director: Denzel Washington | Stars: Denzel Washington, Derek Luke, Joy Bryant, Malcolm David Kelley

Votes: 38,412 | Gross: $21.08M

79. Udaan (2010)

Not Rated | 134 min | Drama

Expelled from his school, a 16-year old boy returns home to his abusive and oppressive father.

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane | Stars: Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Manjot Singh, Ram Kapoor

Votes: 47,400 | Gross: $0.01M

80. Fruitvale Station (2013)

R | 85 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

85 Metascore

The story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand

Votes: 85,857 | Gross: $16.10M

81. To Sir, with Love (1967)

Approved | 105 min | Drama

55 Metascore

Idealistic engineer-trainee and his experiences in teaching a group of rambunctious white high school students from the slums of London's East End.

Director: James Clavell | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Christian Roberts, Suzy Kendall

Votes: 20,404 | Gross: $42.43M

82. Omar (2013)

Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

75 Metascore

A young Palestinian freedom fighter agrees to work as an informant after he's tricked into an admission of guilt by association in the wake of an Israeli soldier's killing.

Director: Hany Abu-Assad | Stars: Adam Bakri, Leem Lubany, Eyad Hourani, Samer Bisharat

Votes: 15,485 | Gross: $0.36M

83. Bloody Sunday (2002)

R | 111 min | Drama, History, War

90 Metascore

A dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972.

Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Allan Gildea

Votes: 25,750 | Gross: $0.77M

84. Forrest Gump (1994)

PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, Romance

82 Metascore

The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field

Votes: 2,255,455 | Gross: $330.25M

85. Scarface (1983)

R | 170 min | Crime, Drama

65 Metascore

In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

Votes: 915,933 | Gross: $45.60M

86. Killer of Sheep (1978)

80 min | Drama

96 Metascore

Set in the Watts area of Los Angeles, a slaughterhouse worker must suspend his emotions to continue working at a job he finds repugnant, and then he finds he has little sensitivity for the family he works so hard to support.

Director: Charles Burnett | Stars: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy, Angela Burnett

Votes: 7,530 | Gross: $0.40M

87. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

PG | 138 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

90 Metascore

Roy Neary, an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon

Votes: 216,769 | Gross: $132.09M

88. What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

PG-13 | 118 min | Drama

73 Metascore

A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.

Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen

Votes: 253,967 | Gross: $9.17M

89. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

R | 112 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

68 Metascore

Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.

Director: Lynne Ramsay | Stars: Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller, Jasper Newell

Votes: 167,668 | Gross: $1.74M

90. Red Desert (1964)

Not Rated | 117 min | Drama

In an industrial area, unstable Giuliana attempts to cope with life by starting an affair with a co-worker at the plant her husband manages.

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni | Stars: Monica Vitti, Richard Harris, Carlo Chionetti, Xenia Valderi

Votes: 17,628

91. Jacob's Ladder (I) (1990)

R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

62 Metascore

Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.

Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven

Votes: 117,813 | Gross: $26.12M

92. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)

PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War

55 Metascore

Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.

Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien

Votes: 246,245 | Gross: $9.03M

93. Ghost (1990)

PG-13 | 127 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance

52 Metascore

After a young man is murdered, his spirit stays behind to warn his lover of impending danger, with the help of a reluctant psychic.

Director: Jerry Zucker | Stars: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn

Votes: 235,821 | Gross: $217.63M

94. The Machinist (2004)

R | 101 min | Drama, Thriller

61 Metascore

An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.

Director: Brad Anderson | Stars: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, John Sharian

Votes: 415,364 | Gross: $1.08M

95. The Impossible (2012)

PG-13 | 114 min | Drama, History, Thriller

73 Metascore

The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergast

Votes: 243,948 | Gross: $19.02M

96. Crooklyn (1994)

PG-13 | 115 min | Comedy, Drama

65 Metascore

Spike Lee's vibrant semi-autobiographical portrait of a school teacher, her stubborn jazz musician husband and their five kids living in Brooklyn in 1973.

Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo, David Patrick Kelly, Zelda Harris

Votes: 11,324 | Gross: $13.64M

97. Biutiful (2010)

R | 148 min | Drama, Romance

58 Metascore

A man dying of cancer tries his best to leave the world on his own terms.

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella

Votes: 94,588 | Gross: $5.10M

98. The Eighth Day (1996)

118 min | Comedy, Drama

An unusual and wonderful friendship develops between a busy but unhappy salesman and a resident of a mental asylum.

Director: Jaco Van Dormael | Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Pascal Duquenne, Miou-Miou, Henri Garcin

Votes: 10,079 | Gross: $0.33M

99. Salvador (1986)

R | 122 min | Drama, History, Thriller

69 Metascore

A burnt-out photojournalist becomes involved in a Central American revolution.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: James Woods, Jim Belushi, Michael Murphy, John Savage

Votes: 23,135

100. City of Hope (1991)

R | 129 min | Crime, Drama

An intersecting tale with a multitude of characters living lives which, in one way or another, revolve around an old apartment block scheduled to be demolished.

Director: John Sayles | Stars: Vincent Spano, Tony Lo Bianco, Stephen Mendillo, Chris Cooper

Votes: 2,722 | Gross: $1.26M



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