301 Movies You Shouldn't Miss
Updated: Jun 12, 2021
There are a lot of great movies out there. Here is a list I compiled that comprises first the American Film Institutes 100 Greatest Films and then 201 additional movies with a strong message or an inspirational theme. All genres are covered, but most of these movies would be considered classic (Pre-year 2000) Items in red are ones that I have completed so far.
1. The Great Escape ( 1963)
2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ( 1969)
3. Dirty Harry (1974)
4. Bull Durham ( 1989)
5. The Apartment ( 1960)
6. The Shootist
7. Hoosiers
8. Last of the Mohicans
9. North by Northwest
10. The Godfather
11. The Godfather II
12. Scarface
13. The Adventures of Robin Hood
14. The African Queen
15. All About Eve
16. All Quiet on the Western Front
17. An American in Paris
18. Annie Hall
19. Apocalypse Now
20. Ben-Hur
21. The Best Years of Our Lives
22. The Big Sleep
23. Blade Runner
24. Bonnie and Clyde
25. Bride of Frankenstein
26. The Bridge on the River Kwai
27. Bringing Up Baby
28. Casablanca
29. Chinatown
30. Citizen Kane
31. City Lights
32. Dr Strangelove- Jan 2021
33. Double Indemnity
34. Duck Soup
35. The Empire Strikes Back
36. E.T.
37. Easy Rider
38. Fantasia
39. 42nd Street
40. Gone With the Wind
41. The Graduate
42. Grapes of Wrath
43. High Noon
44. His Girl Friday
45. It Happened One Night
46. It’s a Wonderful Life
47. Jaws
48. King Kong
49. The Lady Eve
50. Lawrence of Arabia
51. Letter from An Unknown Woman
52. The Magnificent Ambersons
53. The Maltese Falcon
54. Meet Me in St Louis
55. Midnight Cowboy
56. Mr Smith Goes to Washington
57. My Darling Clementine
58. Nashville
59. A Night at the Opera
60. The Night of the Hunter
61. Ninotchka
62. Notorious
63. On the Waterfront
64. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
65. Out of the Past
66. Paths of Glory
67. The Philadelphia Story
68. Psycho
69. Pulp Fiction
70. The Quiet Man-Feb 2021
71. Raging Bull
72. Rear Window
73. Rebecca
74. Rebel Without A Cause
75. Schindlers List
76. Red River
77. Roman Holiday
78. The Searchers
79. Shane
80. Shawshank Redemption
81. Singin in the Rain
82. Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs
83. Some Like It Hot
84. Stagecoach
85. A Star is Born (1954)
86. Star Wars
87. A Streetcar Named Desire
88. Sunset Boulevard
89. Taxi Driver
90. The Third Man
91. To Kill a Mockingbird
92. Top Hat
93. Touch of Evil
94. The Treasure of Sierra Madre
95. Trouble in Paradise ( 1932)
96. 2001: A Space Odyssey
97. Vertigo
98. West Side Story
99. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
100. The Wild Bunch
101. The Wizard of Oz
102. Wuthering Heights-Feb 2021
103. Yankee Doodle Dandy
104. Adams Rib
105. Alien
106. American Graffiti
107. The Asphalt Jungle
108. The Awful Truth
109. The Bad and The Beautiful
110. Bad Day at Black Rock
111. Badlands
112. The Bank Dick
113. The Big Heat
114. Blue Velvet
115. Brazil
116. Cabaret
117. Camille
118. Cat People
119. A Clockwork Orange
120. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
121. The Conversation
122. Cool Hand Luke
123. Days of Heaven
124. The Deer Hunter
125. Dodsworth-Feb 2021
126. Don’t Look Now
127. Dracula
128. The Exorcist
129. Fargo
130. Five Easy Pieces
131. Frankenstein
132. The French Connection
133. From Here to Eternity
134. Goodfellas
135. Gun Crazy
136. The Heiress
137. How Green Was My Valley
138. The Hustler
139. I Am a Fugitive From the Chain Gang
140. In A Lonely Place
141. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
142. It’s a Gift
143. The Jazz Singer
144. Jezebel
145. The Killers
146. Kiss Me Deadly
147. The Last Picture Show
148. Laura
149. Little Caesar
150. The Lost Weekend
151. The Manchurian Candidate
152. Manhattan
153. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
154. McCabe and Mrs Miller
155. Mean Streets
156. Mildred Pierce
157. Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
158. Murder My Sweet
159. Mutiny on the Bounty
160. My Fair Lady
161. My Man Godfrey
162. Network
163. Now, Voyager
164. Only Angels Have Wings
165. The Ox-Bow Incident
166. Pinocchio
167. A Place in the Sun
168. Platoon
169. The Postman Always Rings Twice
170. The Public Enemy
171. Queen Christina
172. Raiders of the Lost Ark
173. The Red Shoes
174. Romeo And Juliet
175. A Room with A View
176. Rosemary’s Baby
177. Scarface: Shame of a Nation (1930)
178. Shadow of a Doubt
179. She Done Him Wrong
180. Silence of the Lambs
181. The Sound of Music
182. Splendor in the Grass
183. Strangers on a Train
184. Sullivan’s Travels
185. Sweet Smell of Success
186. Swing Time
187. The Terminator
188. The Thin Man
189. The 39 Steps
190. To Be or Not To Be
191. To Have or Have Not
192. Tootsie
193. 12 Angry Men
194. Unforgiven
195. White Heat
196. Winchester 73
197. Written on the Wind
198. Airplane
199. All The Kings Men
200. Amadeus
201. American Beauty
202. Arsenic and Old Lace
203. Atlantic City
204. Bambi
205. Beauty and the Beast
206. Being There
207. The Birds
208. Bus Stop
209. Cabin in the Sky
210. Crimes and Misdemeanors
211. Dark Victory
212. The Day the Earth Stood Still
213. Deliverance
214. Dinner at Eight
215. East of Eden
216. Enter the Dragon
217. Field of Dreams
218. Rudy
219. Glory
220. True Grit
221. Chariots of Fire
222. Bullitt
223. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
224. Dead Poets Society
225. The Searchers
226. Pride of the Yankees
227. Saving Private Ryan
228. Seven Samurai
229. Old Yeller
230. Dr. No
231. Jeremiah Johnson
232. A River Runs Through It
233. Gentleman’s Agreement
234. Billy Budd
235. Do The Right Thing
236. Meet John Doe
237. Gods and Generals
238. A Lion in the Winter
239. Henry V
240. Passion of the Christ
241. Groundhog Day
242. Top Gun
243. Swingers
244. The Longest Day
245. Grumpy Old Men
246. Road to Morocco
247. Lethal Weapon
248. The Man Who Would be King
249. 48 Hours
250. The Defiant Ones
251. Silverstreak
252. Gandhi
253. The Iron Giant
254. Malcolm X
255. Cinderella Man
256. The Right Stuff
257. Braveheart
258. Spartacus
259. Mississippi Burning
260. Remember the Titans
261. The Bourne Identity
262. Rocky
263. Apollo 13
264. The Karate Kid
265. The Sting
266. Schindlers List
267. All the Presidents Men
268. Patton
269. Lord of the Rings
270. The Gangs of New York
271. Fight Club
272. Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark
273. A Raisin in the Sun
274. The Natural
275. Ghostbusters
276. The Misfits-Feb 2021
277. The Father of the Bride (original)
278. The Road to Perdition
279. The Pursuit of Happyness
280. Parenthood
281. Boyz in the Hood
282. Finding Nemo
283. Paper Moon
284. My Life ( Michael Keaton)
285. Legends of the Fall
286. Tombstone
287. When We Were Kings
288. Boondock Saints
289. The Green Mile
290. Kingdom of Heaven
291. Master and Commander
292. Gran Torino
293. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
294. Gettysburg
295. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
296. The Patriot
297. Lord Jim
298. Lillies of the Field
299. 300
300. Forrest Gump
301. Things to Come-Feb 2021
