Alice's 500 Greatest Films
The goal in this compilation was to determine film history's definitive creme de la creme. The titles considered to be the greatest of the great from around the world and throughout the history of film.. So, after an in-depth analysis of respected critics and publications from around the globe, cross referenced and tweaked to arrive at the ranking of films representing, we believe, the greatest cinema can offer.
Scroll, contemplate and enjoy.....
Want a printable list of the 500 greatest to check off? Click here
The Godfather Trilogy ( The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III ) (1972)
9.2/10
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Marlon Brando, John Cazale, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Robert Duval...
Francis Ford Coppola's stunning trilogy is gathered together here in its entirety, following the epic criminal exploits of the Corleone family through... Read more
Shoplifters (2018)
8.1/10
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring: Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Sosuke Ikematsu
On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders is united by fierce loyalty and a penchant for petty theft. When the young son is arrested,... Read more
North by Northwest (1959)
8.3/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Cary Grant, James Mason, Eva Marie Saint, Leo G Carroll, Jessie Royce Landis, Ma...
One of Hitchcock's greatest films. Cary Grant plays Roger Thornhill, the suave ad man mistaken for a Federal Agent, trapped in a web of intrigue that... Read more
Halloween (1978)
7.8/10
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: P J Soles, Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence
One of the most successful independent films ever, it spawned a host of imitators - but this is the real thing. The then-young director John Carpenter... Read more
Cabaret (1972)
7.8/10
Director: Bob Fosse
Starring: Michael York, Marisa Berenson, Liza Minnelli, Joel Grey, Helmut Griem
Winner of 8 Oscars, including Best Director (Bob Fosse), Best Actress (Lisa Minnelli) and Best Supporting Actor (Joel Grey) and widely regarded as one... Read more
Rocky (1976)
8.1/10
Director: John G Avildsen
Starring: Talia Shire, Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith
The first and the best! Writer and star Sylvester Stallone is the Philadelphia club fighter who gets a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at fighting the... Read more
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
8.2/10
Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Starring: Renee Falconetti, Eugene Silvain, Andre Berley, Maurice Schutz, Antonin Artaud
With it's stunning camerawork and striking compositions, Dreyer's film convinced the world that movies could be art. Renee Falconetti (in her only rol... Read more
This Is England (2006)
7.7/10
Director: Shane Meadows
Starring: Jo Hartley, Vicky McClure, Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham
Shane Meadow's latest is his finest yet. Building on the themes explored in his previous work, this is an intelligent and emotive look at a boys life... Read more
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
8.2/10
Director: Luis Bunuel
Starring: Silvia Pinal, Jacqueline Andere, Claudio Brook
Louis Bunuel's masterpiece tells the story of guests invited to a lavish dinner party who find they are unable to leave at the end of the evening. A m... Read more
City Lights (1931)
8.6/10
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Florence Lee
Chaplin's final silent film is one of the screen's true masterworks. Charlie plays the Little Tramp, who falls in love with a blind flower girl and vo... Read more
The Wages of Fear (1953)
8.1/10
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter Van Eyck
A thriller with surprisingly little violence which is, nevertheless, a hair-raising, hold-onto-the-edge-of-your-seat masterpiece of suspense. A young... Read more
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8.3/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Alec Guinness, Anthony Quayle, Anthony Quinn, Arthur Kennedy, Claude Rains, Jack...
Director David Lean follows the heroic, true-life odyssey of T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) in this dramatic portrait of the famed British Officer's jo... Read more
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
8/10
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Starring: Alexander Antonov, Vladimir Barsky
This landmark film was planned by the Soviet Central Committee to coincide with the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the unsuccessful 1905 Rus... Read more
The King of Comedy (1982)
7.8/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott, Tony Randall, Sandra Bernhard
Robert De Niro is an obsessive stand-up comic performing in front of cardboard cut-outs in is mum's basement. Jerry Lewis is the host of a talk show t... Read more
Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982)
8.2/10
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M Emmet Walsh, Dary...
Ridley Scott's definitive version of the sci-fi noir favourite stars Harrison Ford as a retired detective called back to duty to track down artificial... Read more
The Pianist (2002)
8.5/10
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman
Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Roman Polanski directs this award-winning testament to the power of the human spirit, based on the true-life story... Read more
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
7.9/10
Director: John Schlesinger
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles
A landmark American film, the first X-rated movie to gain mainstream acceptance and Hollywood laurels: a British director, John Schlesinger, starkly a... Read more
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)
7.8/10
Director: Jacques Demy
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Nino Castelnuovo, Anne Vernon
A beautifully restored version of Jacques Demy's classic, bittersweet musical of two young lovers (a luminous Catherine Deneuve and handsome Nino Cast... Read more
Back to the Future (1985)
8.5/10
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J Fox, Crispin Glover, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Marc McClure
Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd are a time-travelling duo who journey from the past to the future and back again in this now-classic sci-fi comed... Read more
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
8/10
Director: Victor Erice
Starring: Fernando Fernan Gomez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent
Ana Torrent is unforgettable as a lonely little village girl who sees Boris Karlof's 'Frankenstein' in the town-hall and becomes entranced by the mons... Read more