My family, especially my dad, had a big influence on me and my love of movies. When I was growing up our family had the TV on all day, everyday. We had cable when it first became available. Classic movies were all the more special because my family was sharing something they loved with me.
Movies are more than a past time and I find myself telling anyone that will listen the details and complete reviews about the movies I had seen.
This list has been compiled from movies I have personally watched in my lifetime and will always be evolving as I view new movies. I have spent spend sleepless nights thinking about my favorites and I ended up putting the list in alphabetical order because it would be difficult to put them in an order that would rank them from favorite to least favorite.
Some of the criteria for a movie to make it to my top 100 includes;
- Know the timing of a movies so well you can guess what is happening even if you are listening from another room.
- You can watch it again the same day, two days in a row or whenever you see they are playing it again on TV. Even if you own the movie.
- You can recite lines, hum the music score and you might even be able to play “Kevin Bacon” with the actors in the movie.
- Every time you see it, the movie seems to get better and you notice more details about it.
- You want to have others see it the same way you do and can get genuinely hurt if the person does not share in your enthusiasm.
- It’s like comfort food or your favorite piece of clothing. There is nothing like a favorite movie to bring you out of a bad mood.
Well, here it finally is. My top 100 movie list.
1 |
12 Angry Men |
1957 |
2 |
Adventures of Robin Hood, The |
1938 |
3 |
All About Eve |
1950 |
4 |
Anthony Adverse |
1936 |
5 |
Arsenic and Old Lace |
1944 |
6 |
At the Circus |
1939 |
7 |
Auntie Mame |
1958 |
8 |
Awful Truth, The |
1937 |
9 |
Bachelor and the Bobbisoxer |
1947 |
10 |
Barefoot in the Park |
1967 |
11 |
Bedknobs and Broomsticks |
1971 |
12 |
Bells Are Ringing |
1960 |
13 |
Bells of St Mary’s |
1945 |
14 |
Best Years of Our Lives |
1946 |
15 |
Bishops Wife, The |
1947 |
16 |
Blues Brothers, The |
1980 |
17 |
Breakfast at Tiffany’s |
1961 |
18 |
Bringing Up Baby |
1938 |
19 |
Christmas in Connecticut |
1945 |
20 |
Christmas Story, A |
1983 |
21 |
Clash of the Titans |
1981 |
22 |
Clue |
1985 |
23 |
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court |
1949 |
24 |
Court Jester, The |
1956 |
25 |
Day at the Races, A |
1937 |
26 |
Dial M for Murder |
1954 |
27 |
First Love |
1939 |
28 |
Flesh and Fantasy |
1943 |
29 |
George Washington Slept Here |
1942 |
30 |
Good News |
1947 |
31 |
Gorgeous (Bor lei jun) |
1956 |
32 |
Grease |
1978 |
33 |
Great Waltz, The |
1938 |
34 |
Hans Christian Anderson |
1952 |
35 |
Heiress, The |
1949 |
36 |
High Society |
1940 |
37 |
His Girl Friday |
1942 |
38 |
Hitler’s Children |
1942 |
39 |
Holiday Inn |
1978 |
40 |
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying |
1967 |
41 |
It Should Happen to You |
1954 |
42 |
It’s a Wonderful Life |
1946 |
43 |
Kitty Foyle |
1940 |
44 |
Laura |
1944 |
45 |
Letter to Three Wives, A |
1949 |
46 |
Lolita |
1962 |
47 |
Long, Long Trailer, The |
1953 |
48 |
Mildred Peirce |
1945 |
49 |
Miracle on 34th Street |
1947 |
50 |
Mister Roberts |
1955 |
51 |
Monsieur Beaucaire |
1946 |
52 |
Moon Over Miami |
1941 |
53 |
More the Merrier, The |
1943 |
54 |
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House |
1948 |
55 |
My Favorite Wife |
1940 |
56 |
Night at the Opera, A |
1935 |
57 |
Night Must Fall |
1937 |
58 |
North by Northwest |
1959 |
59 |
Notorious |
1946 |
60 |
On the Town |
1949 |
61 |
Once Upon a Honeymoon |
1942 |
62 |
Orchestra Wives |
1942 |
63 |
Out of Africa |
1985 |
64 |
Philadelphia Story |
1940 |
65 |
Pride and Prejudice |
1940 |
66 |
Princess Bride, The |
1987 |
67 |
Professional, The (Leon) |
1994 |
68 |
Raiders of the Lost Ark |
1981 |
69 |
Rear Window |
1954 |
70 |
Red Shoes, The |
1948 |
71 |
Road to Morocco |
1942 |
72 |
Rope |
1948 |
73 |
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) |
1998 |
74 |
Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The |
1947 |
75 |
Seems Like Old Times |
1980 |
76 |
Since You Went Away |
1944 |
77 |
Singin’ in the Rain |
1952 |
78 |
Song is Born, A |
1948 |
79 |
Stage Door |
1937 |
80 |
Stage Fright |
1950 |
81 |
Star Wars |
1977 |
82 |
Strangers on the Train |
1951 |
83 |
Strictly Ballroom |
1992 |
84 |
Suspicion |
1941 |
85 |
Tales of Manhattan |
1942 |
86 |
Thin Man Goes Home, The |
1945 |
87 |
To Be or Not To Be |
1942 |
88 |
To Kill a Mockingbird |
1962 |
89 |
Trouble with Harry, The |
1955 |
90 |
Vanishing, The |
1993 |
91 |
Wait Until Dark |
1967 |
92 |
Walk Don’t Run |
1966 |
93 |
Washington Square |
1997 |
94 |
Wide Awake |
1998 |
95 |
Wizard of Oz, The |
1939 |
96 |
Women, The |
1939 |
97 |
Wonder Man |
1945 |
98 |
Wuthering Heights |
1939 |
99 |
You Were Meant for Me |
1948 |
100 |
Young Frankenstein |
1974 |