History of Movies.

Roger Ebert's Great Movies, Ranked

From 1996 until his death in 2013, Roger Ebert built a personal canon one essay at a time — some 360 films he judged essential viewing. Here is his Great Movies collection measured against the whole canon: ranked by our composite score across 20+ authoritative lists, awards and polls.

365 films from this list are in our library; the top 50 by composite score are shown — the ranking is ours, not the list's own order.

  1. 1
    Citizen Kane1941 · Orson Welles
    9.16

    AFI 100 (2007) #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #2 · AFI 100 (1998) #1

  2. 2
    The Godfather1972 · Francis Ford Coppola
    8.37

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1972 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #3 · AFI 100 (2007) #2

  3. 3
    Lawrence of Arabia1962 · David Lean
    7.71

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1962 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1963 #1 · BFI Top 100 British films #3

  4. 4
    Schindler's List1993 · Steven Spielberg
    7.42

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1993 · BAFTA Best Film winner 1993 · AFI 100 (2007) #8

  5. 5
    Taxi Driver1976 · Martin Scorsese
    7.30

    Palme d'Or winner 1976 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1976 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1976

  6. 6
    Apocalypse Now1979 · Francis Ford Coppola
    7.15

    Palme d'Or winner 1979 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1979 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #18

  7. 7
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest1975 · Miloš Forman
    7.13

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1975 · BAFTA Best Film winner 1976 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1976 #2

  8. 8
    The Best Years of Our Lives1946 · William Wyler
    6.85

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1946 · BAFTA Best Film winner 1949 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1948 #2

  9. 9
    2001: A Space Odyssey1968 · Stanley Kubrick
    6.65

    Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #6 · BAFTA Best Film nominee 1969

  10. 10
    Unforgiven1992 · Clint Eastwood
    6.51

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1992 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1992 #1 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1993 #1

  11. 11
    12 Angry Men1957 · Sidney Lumet
    6.37

    Berlin Golden Bear winner 1957 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1959 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1957

  12. 12
    All About Eve1950 · Joseph L. Mankiewicz
    6.30

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1950 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1951 #1 · AFI 100 (2007) #28

  13. 13
    Pulp Fiction1994 · Quentin Tarantino
    6.25

    Palme d'Or winner 1994 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1994 · BAFTA Best Film nominee 1995

  14. 14
    The Godfather Part II1974 · Francis Ford Coppola
    6.10

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1974 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #26 · Letterboxd Top 250 #8

  15. 15
    Casablanca1942 · Michael Curtiz
    6.00

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1943 · AFI 100 (2007) #3 · AFI 100 (1998) #2

  16. 16
    Secrets & Lies1996 · Mike Leigh
    5.67

    Palme d'Or winner 1996 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1997 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1996

  17. 17
    The Third Man1949 · Carol Reed
    5.46

    BFI Top 100 British films #1 · Cannes Grand Prix winner 1949 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1952 #2

  18. 18
    Forbidden Games1952 · René Clément
    5.29

    BAFTA Best Film winner 1954 · Venice Golden Lion winner 1952 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1953 #1

  19. 19
    Dr. Strangelove1964 · Stanley Kubrick
    5.25

    BAFTA Best Film winner 1965 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1964 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #46

  20. 20
    La Dolce Vita1960 · Federico Fellini
    5.21

    Palme d'Or winner 1960 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1960 #2 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #35

  21. 21
    The Bridge on the River Kwai1957 · David Lean
    5.13

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1957 · BFI Top 100 British films #11 · AFI 100 (1998) #13

  22. 22
    On the Waterfront1954 · Elia Kazan
    5.11

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1954 · AFI 100 (1998) #8 · AFI 100 (2007) #19

  23. 23
    The Silence of the Lambs1991 · Jonathan Demme
    4.94

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1991 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1991 #2 · AFI 100 (2007) #74

  24. 24
    Pather Panchali1955 · Satyajit Ray
    4.93

    BAFTA Best Film winner 1958 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1966 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #22

  25. 25
    Annie Hall1977 · Woody Allen
    4.89

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1977 · AFI 100 (2007) #35 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #243

  26. 26
    Amadeus1984 · Miloš Forman
    4.84

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1984 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1985 #1 · AFI 100 (1998) #53

  27. 27
    Ordet1955 · Carl Theodor Dreyer
    4.84

    Venice Golden Lion winner 1955 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1955 #2 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #30

  28. 28
    The Battle of Algiers1966 · Gillo Pontecorvo
    4.80

    Venice Golden Lion winner 1965 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1967 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #22

  29. 29
    Paris, Texas1984 · Wim Wenders
    4.79

    Palme d'Or winner 1984 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #185 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1985 #6

  30. 30
    The Conversation1974 · Francis Ford Coppola
    4.75

    Palme d'Or winner 1974 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1974 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #72

  31. 31
    Gone with the Wind1939 · Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood
    4.72

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1939 · AFI 100 (2007) #6 · AFI 100 (1998) #4

  32. 32
    The Apartment1960 · Billy Wilder
    4.70

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1960 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #54 · AFI 100 (2007) #80

  33. 33
    Vertigo1958 · Alfred Hitchcock
    4.49

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #2 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #6 · AFI 100 (2007) #9

  34. 34
    West Side Story1961 · Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
    4.42

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1961 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1961 #4 · AFI 100 (2007) #51

  35. 35
    Blowup1966 · Michelangelo Antonioni
    4.41

    Palme d'Or winner 1967 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1967 #2 · BFI Top 100 British films #60

  36. 36
    Raging Bull1980 · Martin Scorsese
    4.37

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1980 · AFI 100 (2007) #4 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #22

  37. 37
    Sunset Boulevard1950 · Billy Wilder
    4.35

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1950 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1951 #2 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #62

  38. 38
    Viridiana1961 · Luis Buñuel
    4.25

    Palme d'Or winner 1961 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #52 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1962 #4

  39. 39
    Tokyo Story1953 · Yasujirō Ozu
    4.01

    Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #4 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #4 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 1953 #2

  40. 40
    Goodfellas1990 · Martin Scorsese
    4.01

    Oscar Best Picture nominee 1990 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #28 · Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1990 #3

  41. 41
    The Leopard1963 · Luchino Visconti
    3.97

    Palme d'Or winner 1963 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #90 · Vatican film list

  42. 42
    Bicycle Thieves1948 · Vittorio De Sica
    3.96

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1950 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #20 · BAFTA Best Film nominee 1950

  43. 43
    Rashomon1950 · Akira Kurosawa
    3.92

    Venice Golden Lion winner 1951 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #20 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #41

  44. 44
    Do the Right Thing1989 · Spike Lee
    3.72

    Cahiers du Cinéma annual top 10 1989 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #24 · Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #29

  45. 45
    Spirited Away2001 · Hayao Miyazaki
    3.71

    Berlin Golden Bear winner 2002 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (Japanese) 2001 #3 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #75

  46. 46
    Last Year at Marienbad1961 · Alain Resnais
    3.69

    Venice Golden Lion winner 1961 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1964 #3 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #169

  47. 47
    8½1963 · Federico Fellini
    3.67

    Sight & Sound 2022 directors' poll #6 · Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1965 #1 · Sight & Sound 2022 critics' poll #31

  48. 48
    E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial1982 · Steven Spielberg
    3.61

    Kinema Junpo Best Ten (International) 1982 #1 · Oscar Best Picture nominee 1982 · BAFTA Best Film nominee 1983

  49. 49
    Patton1970 · Franklin J. Schaffner
    3.59

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1970 · AFI 100 (1998) #89 · National Film Registry (inducted 2003)

  50. 50
    My Fair Lady1964 · George Cukor
    3.59

    Oscar Best Picture winner 1964 · AFI 100 (1998) #91 · National Film Registry (inducted 2018)

What the Great Movies project was

Roger Ebert (1942–2013) was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years, the first critic to win the Pulitzer Prize, and — through the Siskel & Ebert thumbs — probably the most widely trusted movie recommendation in American history. The Great Movies was his late-career counterweight to weekly reviewing: starting in 1996 he revisited one film every other week, not to grade it but to make the case for why it mattered, in essays written for someone who hadn't seen the film yet. The project ran to his death in 2013 — some 360 essays, collected along the way into four books — and it is the closest thing he left to a personal canon.

Two things make the collection unusual among critics' lists. First, it was never ranked — entry number 300 carries exactly the claim of entry number 1, which is why our composite score is doing the ordering above, not Ebert. Second, it was written in public over seventeen years, so it drifts the way a real canon does: from the obligatory monuments (Citizen Kane was the first essay) toward genuinely personal enthusiasms — silent melodrama, Ozu, documentaries, Superman. Each film's row above cites everything else our library knows about it, so you can see where Ebert's canon agrees with the world's — and where he was voting alone.