The 40 Most Iconoclastic Films Ever
by drystyx | created - 13 Jan 2014 | updated - 14 Jan 2014 | PublicI'm sure I'll miss some, and I haven't seen every film ever, but these are truly 40 films that you will find the utmost in iconoclastic style. "Iconoclastic" means the opposite of what some people may think, because it means knocking down "icons" and "myths". It is true "anti hero" and true "anti Hollywood".
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Nine Dead (2009)
R | 86 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
Nine strangers are kidnapped and forced to figure out the connection they have to each other as one has to die every ten minutes.
Director: Chris Shadley | Stars: Melissa Joan Hart, William Lee Scott, John Terry, James C. Victor
Votes: 14,263
2. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, Del Negro
Votes: 62,236
3. Jungle Fighters (1961)
Approved | 110 min | Drama, War
In 1942, a group of British soldiers is sent on a mission in the Malaysian jungle and gets lost into the Japanese controlled zone.
Director: Leslie Norman | Stars: Richard Todd, Laurence Harvey, Richard Harris, Ronald Fraser
Votes: 982
4. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,647 | Gross: $3.27M
5. Platoon (1986)
R | 120 min | Drama, War
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: 439,270 | Gross: $138.53M
6. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
Director: George A. Romero | Stars: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman
Votes: 139,027 | Gross: $0.09M
7. Alien: Resurrection (1997)
R | 109 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Two centuries after her death, a powerful human/alien hybrid clone of Ellen Ripley aids a crew of space pirates in stopping the aliens from reaching Earth.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman
Votes: 263,277 | Gross: $47.75M
8. From Hell to Texas (1958)
Passed | 100 min | Action, Romance, Western
After ranch hand Tod Lohman accidentally kills the son of a powerful rancher, he panics and flees, but the rancher and his vengeful crew hunt Tod down.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: Don Murray, Diane Varsi, Chill Wills, Dennis Hopper
Votes: 1,145
9. The Boondock Saints (1999)
R | 108 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Two Irish Catholic brothers become vigilantes and wipe out Boston's criminal underworld in the name of God.
Director: Troy Duffy | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, David Della Rocco
Votes: 250,572 | Gross: $0.03M
10. At Close Range (1986)
R | 111 min | Crime, Drama
Reunited with his career criminal father, tough teen Brad thinks he's found his ticket to an exciting life of crime, only to find out he's wrong.
Director: James Foley | Stars: Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson, Chris Penn
Votes: 17,720 | Gross: $2.35M
11. Hang 'Em High (1968)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Western
When an innocent man barely survives a lynching, he returns as a lawman determined to bring the vigilantes to justice.
Director: Ted Post | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Inger Stevens, Pat Hingle, Ed Begley
Votes: 43,049
12. The Ox-Bow Incident (1942)
Passed | 75 min | Drama, Western
When a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men.
Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews, Mary Beth Hughes, Anthony Quinn
Votes: 24,946 | Gross: $1.64M
13. Paths of Glory (1957)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, War
After a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready
Votes: 212,136
14. The Bravados (1958)
Approved | 98 min | Drama, Western
A man is chasing four outlaws who killed his wife and finds them in a small town's jail, but they escape to Mexico.
Director: Henry King | Stars: Gregory Peck, Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Albert Salmi
Votes: 6,396
15. Walk the Proud Land (1956)
Approved | 88 min | Biography, Drama, History
An agent sent from Washington in 1874 takes charge of an Apache reservation and has the oppressive US Army back off, which creates conflicts and causes the Indians to have great respect for him.
Director: Jesse Hibbs | Stars: Audie Murphy, Anne Bancroft, Pat Crowley, Charles Drake
Votes: 1,107
16. Blazing Saddles (1974)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Western
In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman
Votes: 152,393 | Gross: $119.50M
17. Ten Little Indians (1987)
137 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A psychological thriller based on the novel by Agatha Christie. Ten strangers are forced to come face to face with their dark pasts after receiving invitation to an isolated island off the coast of England.
Director: Stanislav Govorukhin | Stars: Vladimir Zeldin, Tatyana Drubich, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Aleksey Zharkov
Votes: 3,110
18. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
GP | 127 min | Crime, Drama
A laid-back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, J.D. Cannon
Votes: 188,445 | Gross: $16.22M
19. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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: 717,884 | Gross: $32.00M
20. Unknown World (1951)
Approved | 74 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
Scientists use a gigantic drilling machine for an expedition to the center of the earth.
Director: Terry O. Morse | Stars: Bruce Kellogg, Otto Waldis, Jim Bannon, Tom Handley
Votes: 1,294
21. First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
Unrated | 79 min | Sci-Fi
When an alien artifact discovered on Earth is found to have come from Venus, an international team of astronauts embarks to investigate its origins.
Director: Kurt Maetzig | Stars: Yôko Tani, Oldrich Lukes, Ignacy Machowski, Julius Ongewe
Votes: 3,140
22. RoboCop (1987)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox
Votes: 282,920 | Gross: $53.42M
23. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,359 | Gross: $13.01M
24. Bury Me an Angel (1971)
R | 89 min | Action, Drama
Tautly directed biker film, told from the woman's point of view. The heroine sets out on the road to avenge her brother's murder, toting a shotgun and meaning business.
Director: Barbara Peeters | Stars: Dixie Peabody, Terry Mace, Clyde Ventura, Joanne Moore Jordan
Votes: 319
25. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Votes: 949,795 | Gross: $78.90M
26. Hombre (1967)
Approved | 111 min | Drama, Western
John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Native Americans, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Paul Newman, Fredric March, Richard Boone, Diane Cilento
Votes: 13,826
27. The Deer Hunter (1978)
R | 183 min | Drama, War
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: 361,990 | Gross: $48.98M
28. The Searchers (1956)
Passed | 119 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
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: 96,228
29. Journey to Shiloh (1968)
Approved | 101 min | Drama, War, Western
At the beginning of the Civil War, seven friends embark on a cross-country journey in order to join the Confederate army.
Director: William Hale | Stars: James Caan, Michael Sarrazin, Brenda Scott, Don Stroud
Votes: 1,072
30. The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969)
G | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
Nice, eccentric, idealistic and slightly mad Countess Aurelia, who believes that the good must prevail over evil, decides to stand up to corrupt powerful leaders of Paris by putting them on trial with 'unwashed masses' as the jury.
Director: Bryan Forbes | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Charles Boyer, Claude Dauphin, Edith Evans
Votes: 1,160
31. Commandos (1968)
PG | 98 min | Action, Drama, War
During World War II, an Italian-American commando outfit disguised as an Italian Army unit is parachuted behind Axis lines in North Africa.
Director: Armando Crispino | Stars: Lee Van Cleef, Jack Kelly, Giampiero Albertini, Marino Masé
Votes: 1,061
32. Warkill (1968)
100 min | Drama, War
At the end of World War Two, a reporter follows a Colonel and his men searching for small groups of Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungle.
Director: Ferde Grofé Jr. | Stars: George Montgomery, Tom Drake, Conrad Parham, Eddie Infante
Votes: 83
33. Seven Samurai (1954)
Not Rated | 207 min | Action, Drama
Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki
Votes: 366,628 | Gross: $0.27M
34. The Intruders (1970 TV Movie)
100 min | Western
The James and Younger outlaw gangs ride into town, and it is up to the local marshal, who has lost both his nerve and his gun skills, to stop them.
Director: William A. Graham | Stars: Don Murray, Anne Francis, Edmond O'Brien, John Saxon
Votes: 169
35. Airplane! (1980)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
After the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Votes: 260,908 | Gross: $83.40M
36. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
PG | 91 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table embark on a surreal, low-budget search for the Holy Grail, encountering many, very silly obstacles.
Directors: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones | Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam
Votes: 569,999 | Gross: $1.23M
37. Pharaoh's Army (1995)
PG-13 | 90 min | Western
During the American Civil War, a Union Army captain leads his rag-tag cavalry troop up a misty creek to a remote farm to appropriate enemy (Confederate) livestock. The farm is worked by ... See full summary »
Director: Robby Henson | Stars: Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, Kris Kristofferson, Robert Joy
Votes: 713 | Gross: $0.05M
38. Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)
PG | 90 min | Documentary
Ben Stein examines the issue of academic freedom and decides that there is none when it comes to the debate over intelligent design.
Director: Nathan Frankowski | Stars: Ben Stein, Lili Asvar, Peter Atkins, Hector Avalos
Votes: 12,195 | Gross: $7.69M
39. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
PG | 143 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
While playing, Lucy and her siblings find a wardrobe that lands them in a mystical place called Narnia. Here they realize that it was fated and they must now unite with Aslan to defeat an evil queen.
Director: Andrew Adamson | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes
Votes: 427,831 | Gross: $291.71M
40. The Postman (1997)
R | 177 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A nameless drifter dons a postman's uniform and bag of mail as he begins a quest to inspire hope to the survivors living in post-apocalyptic America.
Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Will Patton, Larenz Tate, Olivia Williams
Votes: 78,283 | Gross: $17.63M
Tell Your Friends