100 Greatest Films of All Time

FilmFour's

100 Greatest Films
of All Time

UK's Channel 4 has compiled a number of 100 Greatest Lists, including this one on the 100 Greatest Films of All Time at Filmfour.com. The ranked list represents a wide range of some of the most innovative, popular and striking films across all major genres, with special consideration of their appeal and significance to a modern British audience. Descriptions and images are from their site. Full reviews of each film may be found there.

The list aimed to include films that are generally considered as classics of cinema, broke new ground in technique, subject matter or ideas, had phenomenal popular appeal and a lasting impact on popular culture and represent the greatest work of cinema's most respected directors and performers.

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the "100 Greatest Films".

Film Four's
100 Greatest Films
of All Time

(part 2, ranked)

26. THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore". Exuberant landmark of both children's entertainment and 1930s Technicolor filmmaking. Inventive, fantastical, colourful - and a surprisingly dark and complex tale about economics and the miseries of childhood.
27. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) We know what the year 2001 looks like now, and it doesn't look much like Kubrick's vision. But 2001: A Space Odyssey itself still looks immaculate. Spectacular, trailblazing and philosophical, it's an undisputed masterpiece.
28. KES (1969) Ken Loach's raw, truthful re-telling of Barry Hines's gritty story of a boy's alienation and brutal school life in 60s Yorkshire.
29. VERTIGO (1958) The large man from Leytonstone delivers a literally dizzying thriller which achieves classic status courtesy of an ace, atypical performance from the legendary James Stewart.
30. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) Superlative multi-Oscar winning biography of T. E. Lawrence (played by Peter O'Toole), the Oxford-educated lieutenant, who united Arab tribes against the Ottoman Turks in WWI.
31. FARGO (1996) Smart, stylish, frozen Midwestern noir from the Coen brothers that is assured, blacky funny and thoroughly thoughtful. Features a superb turn from Frances McDormand and top-quality support from Steve Buscemi and William H. Macy.
32. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) The definitive Technicolor romantic epic. Rhett, Scarlett, burning sets and a whole slew of nostalgic and/or reactionary values, this is creator-producer David O. Selznick's finest hour and a cornerstone of the Hollywood monolith.
33. TRAINSPOTTING (1996) Anti-hero Mark Renton's philosophy drifts between choosing life and choosing drugs as he floats in and out of Edinburgh's junkie culture in this modern classic.
34. THE FULL MONTY (1997) Gaz and his mates turn the bum steer of redundancy and recession into sure-fire crowd-pleasing entertainment in this classic Yorkshire comedy with a social conscience.
35. THE GRADUATE (1967) Boy loves girl but has a fling with her mum in this classic comedy drama that turned Dustin Hoffman into a sex symbol.
36. ALIEN (1979) The film that gave us the action heroine, in the shape of Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley, and presented space travel as just another job. It's a tour-de-force of suspense, slasher antics and good old-fashioned sci-fi.
37. THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1990) The film that brought new meaning to having a friend round for dinner, raised Anthony Hopkins to iconic status and terrified a generation.
38. WITHNAIL & I (1987) The foremost British cult comedy. Two aspiring actors go on holiday by mistake.
39. THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963) Steve McQueen is brilliantly opaque in this ace war film, about a mass breakout from Stalag Luft - with a classic motorcycle chase sequence featuring the great man himself. The all-star ensemble includes James Coburn, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence and James Garner.
40. TOY STORY (1995) Toy Story remains one of the funniest and best children's films in a long, long time. The first animation to render its images wholly by computer.
41. THE THIRD MAN (1949) Orson Welles' Harry Lime steals the show (and anything else he can get his hands on) in this stunning noir set amid the ruins of post-War Vienna, and featuring perhaps the most memorable chase sequence in cinema.
42. FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (1994) Hugh Grant is at his bumbling best in this feel-good farce about whether or not to tie the knot. British filmmakers showed Hollywood how to do romantic comedy and Oscar nominations followed.
43. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) However much it may be ridiculed - its status as a Christmas TV film is legendary - there's no denying that the Andrews classic is one of the best screen musicals ever made.
44. FITZCARRALDO (1982) An obsessive adventurer decides to build an opera house in the middle of the Amazonian jungle. Easier said than done? Yes. A potent team-up from enigmatic talents Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski.
45. DELIVERANCE (1972) A bunch of city slickers venture to an Appalachian river to shoot the rapids there - and find themselves farther from civilisation than they could possibly have imagined.
46. THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY (1966) Morricone's cheekily melodramatic score, and the physical interplay between the leading men all contribute to the film's (and Eastwood's) iconic status.
47. KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949) Alec Guinness has a field day in this ultra-black Ealing classic, playing all the members of an effete, aristocratic family as they get bumped off, one by one.
48. CHINATOWN (1974) Polanski's masterly film noir takes us back to the days when Los Angeles was a (relatively) small town - and Jack Nicholson was a proper actor.
49. THE EXORCIST (1973) The most successful adult horror film of all time: still sicker than a post-curry vomit festival.
50. ANNIE HALL (1977) Woody Allen's best work, this early romantic comedy starring Diane Keaton remains his only movie to win a Best Picture Academy Award - beating Star Wars, no less.