At Rotten Tomatoes, we know a thing or two about movie critics. When you get a bunch of pundits in a room together, it's tough to come to any kind of consensus. But once in a while, you'll find them in perfect concert. Thus we present to you RT's Best Reviewed Movies of All Time, a compendium of films that have achieved the height of critical blessing. From influential masterpieces (Citizen Kane, Metropolis) to perennial favorites ( Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Singin' in the Rain), we've got movies that have won widespread critical acclaim and fueled audiences' imaginations.
Now, before you start melting down your keyboards with angry feedback about the rankings, take a moment to look at our methodology. We're using a weighted formula that adjusts the Tomatometer scores to account for the different number of reviews for each film as well as the average amount of reviews for older movies. And no film with fewer than 20 reviews qualifies. Thus, while most of the movies on this list are at 100 percent, a few other classics with perfect scores are absent (sorry, Jaws. Tough break, T2: Judgment Day). How do your favorites stack up? Read RT's Best Reviewed Movies of All Time list to find out!
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cifra2 writes: on May 04 2009 12:23 PM lol, you're putting me on, aren't you? Risky Bussiness and Aliens over Battleship Potemkin, A Hard's Day Night over Citizen Kane. Really, something just doesn't seem right in this list, specially since normally, Battleship Potemkin and Citizen Kane - plus the "no shows" in this list - The Gold Rush, The General, Birth of a Nation are always in the top 10 of any "Best in Film History" list made by critics consensus. Are we talking about "better reviewed at its time"? (Reply to this) |
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JohnnyJonJon writes: on May 04 2009 06:27 PM I know it's been said so many times about these countdowns, but there really needs to be an easier way to look at the list. Even a simple one-page rundown of the movies with links to each page would be good. (Reply to this) |
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tomwaitsjr writes: on May 04 2009 06:30 PM Cassablanca's not there. Though, The Third Man is in my top 3. . . and, yah, Risky Business and A Hard Day's Night are ridiculous. also, am happy that there are some foriegn films, but where is 8 1/2? (Reply to this) |
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tomwaitsjr writes: on May 04 2009 06:37 PM Double Indemnity? Rules of the Game? Raging Bull? The Return of the Not V R Stalker? The Seventh Seal? (Reply to this) |
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RT-Ryan writes: on May 04 2009 06:45 PM Let the controversy begin! (Reply to this) |
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StefansZ writes: on May 04 2009 06:47 PM Of course The Good, the Bad and the Ugly couldn't be on here because someone from TIME needed to post a negative review that was way back from the 50's. And... really? The number 1 was SO ridiculous. (Reply to this) |
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dwbadeaux writes: on May 04 2009 06:48 PM Risky Business makes the cut but not Annie Hall?! A Hard Day's Night over the Godfather? And what about the Godfather Part II? No Felini?! (Reply to this) |
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tomwaitsjr writes: on May 04 2009 06:56 PM Oh yah, and "A Clockwork Orange!" Don't ask me how I came to remember that one. . . (Reply to this) |
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flarey1 writes: on May 04 2009 06:56 PM I've always noticed that these lists have a bias towards older movies. Since this list is constructed by number of good reviews compared to bad reviews, the movies that get a lot of reviews on this site (new movies) are at a disadvantage, since it's almost impossible to please everyone. However, the pre-tomatometer movies are at a serious advantage since the only reviews of them on record are made several years afterwards. While I understand that this doesn't guarantee a good review, who wants to go back and review a bad movie? What critic doesn't want to review a classic movie that they love? Exactly. There are only two movies on this list that came out after the tomatometer was created: Toy Story 2 and Man on Wire (both of these movies are excellent). (Reply to this) |
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tomwaitsjr writes: on May 04 2009 06:59 PM Chinatown! Where the heck is Chinatown! =( That movie was awesome. . . and Resnais "Night and Fog" is the best documentary I have ever seen. It is as entertaining as "Man on Wire," But also educates and broaches the difficult subject of the Holocaust. (Reply to this) |
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zetabosio writes: on May 04 2009 07:09 PM At the beginning it sounded ok to have a disclaimer about the way the list was pulled together. But as the films began to appear, something felt weird. For instance, you have Toy Story 2 (which I love), about 3 movies of Roman Polanski and Rear Window, and no films of Spielberg is on the list. Hmmm, funny. And then, when approaching the top 10, I was like, ok, probably now I will find Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, One Who Flew Over The CN, Schlinder's List... and no. I believe the problem was with the amount of reviews that the films got. I mean, if a fairly unknown film (that probabably is a great film) got exactly 21 reviews, and all of critics gave it 2 thumbs up, well, yes, probably mathematically speaking such movie is better than... A Hard Day's Night. Oops, sorry, no, that's the best film ever. I meant better than Gone With The Wind or Casablanca. (Reply to this) |
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FinalDestination019 writes: on May 04 2009 07:09 PM Chinatown's on it, tomwaitsjr. Did you even go through the list. Remember, this isn't a list of the best movies ever. It's a list of the best-reviewed movies ever. (It's oddly constructed, though). I love A Hard Day's Night, one of my top 10 of all time, but it's not the best movie ever. All lists are bound to cause controversy. But there is so sense in getting pissed off about it. If you're favorite film isn't on the list, don't complain. These are ranked by Tomatometer, not quality. (Reply to this) |
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tomwaitsjr writes: on May 04 2009 07:53 PM Oops. Thanks for bringing that up FD. (Reply to this) |
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JohnnyJonJon writes: on May 04 2009 08:01 PM As I read these lists and the comments that follow, something occurred to me. I think one of the reasons Rotten Tomatoes makes these lists is to show people that a film's true merit doesn't come just from critical praise. People can argue for days about how these films may or may not earn their place on this countdown, and I'm sure members of the AFI may scoff at this list as well. The fact is, a film's greatness is measured by audience praise, technical merit, and many other factors aside from critical consensus, and we readers know this in our hearts. The purpose of this list may be to remind us of this fact and to spark a good conversation about it. I for one would like to read some comments and contribute to the discussion, but we shouldn't waste all our time bashing this list and getting pissed off at RT. Let's have a great discussion guys! That is, after all, why we are here. (Reply to this) |
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WallEField writes: on May 04 2009 08:30 PM The fact that there are even 50 films with 100's makes me shake my head a bit, much less some of the overrated crap that's managed it. (Reply to this) |
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Mehone T. writes: on May 04 2009 08:31 PM Dude, I wouldn't have put 'Birth of a Nation' on that list if you paid me, yeah for its time it was a great achievment, but the fact that a racist piece of **** like D.W. Grifith could go down into history the way he did and now i cant go into a film history class without hearing his name mention KILLS me. I just wish someone had figured use film to tell a story before Griffith. (Reply to this) |
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Mehone T. writes: on May 04 2009 08:31 PM Dude, I wouldn't have put 'Birth of a Nation' on that list if you paid me, yeah for its time it was a great achievment, but the fact that a racist piece of **** like D.W. Grifith could go down into history the way he did and now i cant go into a film history class without hearing his name mention KILLS me. I just wish someone had figured use film to tell a story before Griffith. (Reply to this) |
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Mehone T. writes: on May 04 2009 08:31 PM Dude, I wouldn't have put 'Birth of a Nation' on that list if you paid me, yeah for its time it was a great achievment, but the fact that a racist piece of **** like D.W. Grifith could go down into history the way he did and now i cant go into a film history class without hearing his name mention KILLS me. I just wish someone had figured use film to tell a story before Griffith. (Reply to this) |
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Ryan R. writes: on May 04 2009 08:33 PM I know they are looking at the tomatoemeter to pick these films, but I think they got rid of some negative reviews to obtain the 100%s. "Citizen Kane," for example, used to be a 93% and "The Godfather" didn't have 100%, but now when I look they are 100%. I don't have proof of this, but how can I forget the two greatest films of all time didn't get 100%? I bet the negative reviews were removed just so the list would satisfy tomatoe frequenters. Also, I hate the fact that new films cannot stand a chance. More critic reviews are counted towards those and, therefore, make more room for a negative review. I am fine with most of the choices for the list, but I feel the addition of "Risky Business" was just to keep the list from getting too pre-70s, which it failed to do anyways. Also, if considering only films with 100%, where the hell is "Jaws?" I don't remember seeing it on the list. That is easily a top 50 film. I could try and find more, but that one really stuck out. (Reply to this) |
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Chris A. writes: on May 04 2009 08:38 PM A Hard Days night is #1 and Casablanca, Jaws, GWTW arent even in the top 50? That is just funny. Actually its enough to make the list nonsense to me. RISKY BUSINESS?????Thats not even as good as Ferris Bueller man. (Reply to this) |
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