Defining what makes a film truly "great" is a notoriously subjective exercise, but when you ask the world’s leading film critics to reach a consensus, patterns begin to emerge. A recent, exhaustive survey pooling the ballots of hundreds of esteemed cinematic experts has done exactly that—distilling over a century of filmmaking down to a definitive ranking of the 25 greatest movies ever made. This list doesn't just look at box office numbers or casual popularity; instead, it charts the evolution of visual storytelling, honoring the groundbreaking masterworks and timeless narratives that have permanently reshaped the cultural landscape. From golden-age icons to modern triumphs, here are the top 25 films that define the peak of the medium.
25. Gone with the Wind (1940)
A Southern belle struggles with the devastation of the Civil War and Reconstruction, based on the book written by Margaret Mitchell.
Director: George Cukor, Sam Wood, Victor Fleming
Released: January 17, 1940
Metacritic Rating: 97
What Makes it Great: "One of the truly great films, destined for record-breaking box office business everywhere. The lavishness of its production, the consummate care and skill which went into its making, the assemblage of its fine cast and expert technical staff combine in presenting a theatrical attraction completely justifying the princely investment of $3,900,000." —John C. Flinn Sr., Critic
24. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Released: January 29, 1964
Metacritic Rating: 97
What Makes it Great: “Remains funnier than almost any comedy made in this generation. And since we are, once again, embarked in global warfare, it’s as timely as it’s ever been”. —David Bianculli, Critic
23. The Third Man (1949)
Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
Director: Carol Reed
Released: September 3, 1949
Metacritic Rating: 97
What Makes it Great: “The thing about Carol Reed's 1949 The Third Man was that no matter how many times I saw it over the years its magic never failed. Its sophisticated, world-weary glamour never lost its allure.” —David Ansen, Critic
22. My Left Foot (1990)
Daniel Day-Lewis gives an acting masterclass in the true story of Christy Brown, who overcame his illness of cerebral palsy and poverty to become an accomplished artist, poet, and writer.
Director: Jim Sheridan
Released: March 30, 1990
Metacritic Rating: 97
What Makes it Great: “My Left Foot celebrates the nurturing, healing power of the family unit while avoiding every cliche about the disabled.” —Gene Siskel, Critic
21. The Wild Bunch (1969)
An aging group of outlaws looks for one last big score as the "traditional" American West is disappearing around them.
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Released: June 18, 1969
Metacritic Rating: 97
What Makes it Great: “The hard action, bracing wit, and mournful grace of Peckinpah’s cowboy classic shames every new movie around. It’s a towering achievement that grows more riveting and resonant with the years.” —Peter Travers, Critic
20. All About Eve (1950)
An ingenue insinuates herself into the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends.
Director: Joseph Mankiewicz
Released: October 27, 1950
Metacritic Rating: 98
What Makes it Great: “All About Eve possesses one of the best screenplays ever to grace the silver screen. It also has one of the best performances by an actress in the history of Hollywood features." —James Berardinelli, Critic
19. Hoop Dreams (1994)
Two inner-city Chicago boys with hopes of becoming professional basketball players struggle to become college players.
Director: Steve James
Released: October 14, 1994
Metacritic Rating: 98
What Makes it Great: “Hoop Dreams is without peer among sports-oriented documentaries to the extent that it's about people before it's about athletic feats.” —Jay Carr, Critic
18. North by Northwest (1959)
A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Released: August 6, 1959
Metacritic Rating: 98
What Makes it Great: “As though North by Northwest boasts some of Hitchcock’s most ambitious and memorable set pieces it is also one his most terrifically funny, playful moving pictures, cutting just the right line between suspense and belly laughs”. —Matthew Anderson, Critic
17. Some Like It Hot (1959)
When two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women but further complications set in.
Director: Billy Wilder
Released: March 29, 1959
Metacritic Rating: 98
What Makes it Great: “If Billy Wilder achieved nothing else in his entire career, he would still rank as one of the great masters of cinema for pulling off this comic tour de force.” —Marjorie Baumgarten, Critic
16. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Following a bloody civil war, young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her new stepfather, a tyrannical military officer.
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Released: December 29, 2006
Metacritic Rating: 98
What Makes it Great: “Like any great myth, Pan’s Labyrinth encodes its messages through displays of magic. And like any good fairy tale, it is also embroidered with threads of death and loss.” —Lisa Schwartzbaum, Critic
15. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Fred Dobbs and Bob Curtin, two Americans searching for work in Mexico, convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre mountains.
Director: John Huston
Released: January 24, 1948
Metacritic Rating: 98
What Makes it Great: “One of the strongest of all American movies...The picture is emotionally memorable, though - it has a powerful cumulative effect; when it's over you know you've seen something.” —Pauline Kael, Critic
14. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
While traveling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Released: November 1, 1938
Metacritic Rating: 98
What Makes it Great: “It's typical Hitchcock: taut, morbid, stylish, and determined to confound expectations all the way up to the final shot.” —Tasha Robinson, Critic
13. Touch of Evil (1958)
This film stars Orson Welles as Hank Quinlan, a crooked police chief who frames a Mexican youth as part of an intricate criminal plot.
Director: Orson Welles
Released: February 1, 1958
Metacritic Rating: 99
What Makes It Great: “This film noir portrait of corruption and morally compromised obsessions is the greatest B movie ever made.” —Jay Carr, Boston Globe Critic
12. Pinocchio (1940)
Disney’s adaptation features a living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, who must prove himself worthy to become a real boy.
Director: Ben Sharpsteen, Bill Roberts, Hamilton Luske, Jack Kinney, Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, and Wilfred Jackson
Released: February 23, 1940
Metacritic Rating: 99
What Makes it Great: “It still is the best thing Mr. Disney has done and therefore the best cartoon ever made.” —Frank S. Nugent, Critic
11. Intolerance (1916)
The story of a poor young woman, separated by prejudice from her husband and baby, is interwoven with tales of intolerance from throughout history.
Director: D. W. Griffith
Released: September 5, 1916
Metacritic Rating: 99
What Makes it Great: “Critical opinion of Intolerance's worth has been divided for nearly a century, with Griffith variously being hailed as a visionary and a Victorian middlebrow with a predilection for kitsch and old-fashioned morality.” —David Parkinson, Critic
10. Moonlight (2016)
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love while grappling with his own sexuality.
Director: Barry Jenkins
Released: October 21, 2016
Metacritic Rating: 99
What Makes it Great: "Moonlight takes the pain of growing up and turns it into hardened scars and private caresses. This film is, without a doubt, the reason we go to the movies: to understand, to come closer, to ache, hopefully with another." —Joshua Rothkopf, Critic
9. City Lights (1931)
The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) struggles to help a blind flower girl he has fallen in love with.
Director: Charles Chaplin
Released: March 7, 1931
Metacritic Rating: 99
What Makes it Great: “The closing shot of Charlie Chaplin's face in City Lights, his heart breaking: the highest form of screen acting, the most effective tear extraction exercises the medium has yet to offer.” —Michael Phillips, Critic
8. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
A silent film production company and cast make a difficult transition to sound.
Director: Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
Released: April 11, 1952
Metacritic Rating: 99
What Makes it Great: "Singin' in the Rain is considered by many people to be among the best Hollywood musicals of all time. For those who have seen the movie, the reason for this is not difficult to understand. Watching Singin' in the Rain is an exuberant, magical experience – a journey deep into the heart of feel-good territory." —James Berardinelli, Critic
7. Notorious (1946)
A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Released: September 6, 1946
Metacritic Rating: 100
What Makes it Great: “Notorious is a masterclass of suspense, romance, and technical craft. Featuring two of the most classic screen presences in Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, their on-screen chemistry plays into Hitch’s thematic obsession with desire.” —Alasdair Bayman, Critic
6. Boyhood (2014)
The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college. Notably, the same main actor was used as he grew up, so filming took a whopping 12 years.
Director: Richard Linkletter
Released: July 11, 2014
Metacritic Rating: 100
What Makes it Great: "The greatest movies, the ones that stick with us, are those that hold up a mirror to the human condition and reflect something back at us that we too often manage to overlook. Boyhood is one of those movies, and with it, Linklater proves he is among the best practitioners of that art." —Mike Scott, Critic
5. Casablanca (1943)
A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Released: January 23, 1943
Metacritic Rating: 100
What Makes it Great: “The actors are both so perfectly cast, and create such a palpable level of romantic tension, that it's impossible to envision anyone else in their parts (and inconceivable to consider that they possibly weren't the producer's first choices).” —James Berardinelli, Critic
4. Rear Window (1954)
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Released: September 1, 1954
Metacritic Rating: 100
What Makes it Great: “This level of danger and suspense is so far elevated above the cheap thrills of the modern slasher films that Rear Window, intended as entertainment in 1954, is now revealed as art.” —Roger Ebert, Critic
3. The Godfather (1972)
An organized crime dynasty's aging patriarch transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.
Director: Frances Ford Coppola
Released: March 11, 1972
Metacritic Rating: 100
What Makes it Great: "The picture is a series of mini-climaxes, all building to the devastating, definitive conclusion... It was carefully and painstakingly crafted. Every major character — and more than a few minor ones - is molded into a distinct, complex individual." —James Berardinelli, Critic
2. Citizen Kane (1941)
Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance, "Rosebud".
Director: Orson Welles
Released: September 4, 1941
Metacritic Rating: 100
What makes it great: “There is hardly a shot in Orson Welles’ towering achievement that doesn’t employ some sort of ingenious trick involving the camera, editing, sound, staging or production design.” —Josh Larsen, Critic
1. Vertigo (1958)
Vertigo creates a dizzying web of mistaken identity, passion, and murder after an acrophobic detective rescues a mysterious blonde from the bay.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Released: May 28, 1958
Metacritic Rating: 100
What Makes it Great: "Vertigo, the greatest sexual suspense drama ever made, has come to be regarded by many Hitchcock admirers as his most accomplished film. It is certainly his most forlorn, and easily his most mesmerizing.” —Peter Stack, Critic
