Thomas Clark's Top 250

One starts out on these sorts of things, I suppose, as an endeavour to impress people with the cumulative weightiness of one's cinematic experiences. One starts, I say. By and by, pure self-indulgence becomes the order of the day, as it has here; it delights me immensely to know that these movies exist, to see or hear their names, and to think that I shall one day watch them again. And again. And possibly, in some cases, again.

  1. City Lights (1931)
  2. Amadeus (1984)
  3. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
  4. Sunset Boulevard (1950)
  5. Casablanca (1942)
  6. 12 Angry Men (1957)
  7. Network (1976)
  8. The Great Escape (1963)
  9. Annie Hall (1977)
  10. Ikiru (1952)
  11. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
  12. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
  13. Raging Bull (1980)
  14. North by Northwest (1959)
  15. The Seventh Seal (1957)
  16. My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
  17. The Magnificent Seven (1960)
  18. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)
  19. Rear Window (1954)
  20. Citizen Kane (1941)
  21. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
  22. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
  23. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
  24. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
  25. Psycho (1960)
  26. Strangers on a Train (1951)
  27. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  28. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
  29. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
  30. Night of the Hunter (1955)
  31. Paris, Texas (1984)
  32. The Gold Rush (1925)
  33. Seven Samurai (1954)
  34. Goodfellas (1990)
  35. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
  36. Fantasia (1940)
  37. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
  38. Pulp Fiction (1994)
  39. Fargo (1996)
  40. The Big Sleep (1946)
  41. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)
  42. The Third Man (1949)
  43. The Searchers (1956)
  44. The Godfather (1972)
  45. Taxi Driver (1976)
  46. Hamlet (1996)
  47. Apocalypse Now (1979)
  48. The Hustler (1961)
  49. The Godfather, Part II (1974)
  50. Touch of Evil (1958)
  51. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
  52. Kill Bill, Volume 1 (2003)
  53. Duck Soup (1933)
  54. Rebecca (1940)
  55. Blue Velvet (1986)
  56. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
  57. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
  58. Ghostbusters (1984)
  59. Back to the Future (1985)
  60. Kill Bill, Volume 2 (2004)
  61. Star Wars (1977)
  62. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
  63. Jaws (1975)
  64. Last Tango in Paris (1972)
  65. Hannah and her Sisters (1986)
  66. Some Like It Hot (1959)
  67. Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972)
  68. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
  69. Das Boot (1981)
  70. The Straight Story (1999)
  71. Wild Strawberries (1957)
  72. The Kid (1921)
  73. Manhattan (1979)
  74. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
  75. Spirited Away (2001)
  76. Great Expectations (1946)
  77. Rio Bravo (1959)
  78. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
  79. Trois Couleurs: Rouge (1994)
  80. Persona (1966)
  81. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
  82. Vertigo (1958)
  83. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
  84. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
  85. Trois Couleurs: Blanc (1994)
  86. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
  87. The 400 Blows (1959)
  88. Limelight (1952)
  89. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
  90. Double Indemnity (1944)
  91. His Girl Friday (1940)
  92. Being John Malkovich (1999)
  93. Unforgiven (1992)
  94. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  95. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
  96. Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
  97. Being There (1979)
  98. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
  99. The 39 Steps (1935)
  100. West Side Story (1961)
  101. Blade Runner (1982)
  102. Nosferatu (1922)
  103. The Circus (1928)
  104. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)
  105. Return of the Jedi (1983)
  106. For a Few Dollars More (1965)
  107. The Wild Bunch (1969)
  108. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  109. The General (1927)
  110. Pinocchio (1940)
  111. Modern Times (1936)
  112. Our Hospitality (1923)
  113. The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
  114. The Birds (1963)
  115. The Trial (1962)
  116. Faust (1926)
  117. Superman (1978)
  118. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
  119. Rocky (1976)
  120. Wings of Desire (1987)
  121. Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
  122. Downfall (2004)
  123. Rashomon (1950)
  124. Sin City (2005)
  125. The Red Shoes (1948)
  126. Harvey (1950)
  127. Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958)
  128. Gone with the Wind (1939)
  129. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
  130. Babe (1995)
  131. Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
  132. Finding Nemo (2003)
  133. Stalag 17 (1953)
  134. Dogville (2003)
  135. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
  136. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds (1984)
  137. Horse Feathers (1932)
  138. L.A. Confidential (1997)
  139. Top Hat (1935)
  140. Alien (1979)
  141. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
  142. Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
  143. The Lion in Winter (1968)
  144. La Dolce Vita (1960)
  145. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
  146. The Green Mile (1999)
  147. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
  148. The Shining (1980)
  149. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
  150. Chicago (2002)
  151. Superman II (1980)
  152. My Fair Lady (1964)
  153. Whale Rider (2002)
  154. Army of Darkness (1993)
  155. The Usual Suspects (1995)
  156. Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
  157. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
  158. High Noon (1952)
  159. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
  160. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
  161. To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)
  162. Fight Club (1999)
  163. The Great Dictator (1940)
  164. Brief Encounter (1945)
  165. Ran (1985)
  166. Cape Fear (1962)
  167. Stagecoach (1939)
  168. The Apartment (1960)
  169. The Sting (1973)
  170. Schindler’s List (1993)
  171. Aliens (1986)
  172. Groundhog Day (1993)
  173. Mystic River (2003)
  174. Woman in the Dunes (1964)
  175. On The Waterfront (1954)
  176. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
  177. Beat the Devil (1953)
  178. Cool Hand Luke (1967)
  179. Patton (1970)
  180. Withnail and I (1987)
  181. Evil Dead II (1987)
  182. The King of Comedy (1983)
  183. Toy Story 2 (1999)
  184. Police Story (1985)
  185. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
  186. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
  187. Platoon (1986)
  188. The African Queen (1951)
  189. Casino (1995)
  190. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
  191. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
  192. The Insider (1999)
  193. The Invisible Man (1933)
  194. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
  195. Ivan the Terrible, Part One (1945)
  196. Deliverance (1972)
  197. Ben-Hur (1959)
  198. Henry V (1989)
  199. Notorious (1946)
  200. The Wicker Man (1973)
  201. Juno (2007)
  202. Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993)
  203. Yojimbo (1961)
  204. Shrek 2 (2004)
  205. In America (2002)
  206. Swing Time (1936)
  207. Princess Mononoke (1997)
  208. All About Eve (1950)
  209. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
  210. Valmont (1989)
  211. Floating Weeds (1959)
  212. Ivan the Terrible, Part Two (1958)
  213. The Philadelphia Story (1940)
  214. Lost in Translation (2003)
  215. Rope (1948)
  216. Mean Streets (1973)
  217. Red River (1948)
  218. Before Sunrise (1995)
  219. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
  220. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
  221. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  222. Chinatown (1974)
  223. Sons of the Desert (1933)
  224. The Long Goodbye (1973)
  225. Throne of Blood (1957)
  226. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
  227. Safety Last! (1923)
  228. Autumn Sonata (1978)
  229. Miller's Crossing (1990)
  230. The Untouchables (1987)
  231. M (1931)
  232. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
  233. Key Largo (1948)
  234. It Happened One Night (1934)
  235. Nashville (1975)
  236. The Ladykillers (1955)
  237. Ratatouille (2007)
  238. Metropolis (1927)
  239. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
  240. Roman Holiday (1953)
  241. The Right Stuff (1983)
  242. The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
  243. The Big Lebowski (1998)
  244. Frankenstein (1931)
  245. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
  246. Dracula (1931)
  247. Peter Pan (2003)
  248. Before Sunset (2004)
  249. The Deer Hunter (1978)
  250. Shaolin Soccer (2001)