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Top 500 Sound Films

By Carter B. Horsley

This is a personal list that mixes all genres. These are the classics that document the potential of the art of film. Some are masterpieces. Others are important for their innovation and vision. Some merely have brilliant, unforgettable performances. Others define their genre. A list of only the top 100, or even 250 movies, is too limited given how many different genres exist. Those films in hypertext link to my reviews, whose number will grow to include all of these movies eventually. The list will be updated as oversights are discovered, films are seen again, and convincing arguments are unearthed in my e-mail (CarterBH@thecityreview.com).

 

1. The Red Shoes

2. The Seventh Seal

3. 2001

4. Shoot The Piano Player

5. The Battle of Algiers

6. Last Year at Marienbad

7. La Dolce Vita

8. Singin' In The Rain

9. Lawrence of Arabia

10. Rashomon

11. Swing Time

12. North by Northwest

13. The Man In The White Suit

14. Saving Private Ryan

15. The Wizard of Oz

16. Citizen Kane

17. Bladerunner

18. House of Flying Daggers

19. King Kong

20. Spartacus

21. Casablanca

22. Sunset Boulevard

23. Jaws

24. The Spy Who Loved Me

25. The Third Man

26. Frankenstein

27. The Manchurian Candidate

28. The Hustler

29. Robots

30. Lust for Life

31. Alien

32. The Kite Runner

33. Modern Times

34. Paths of Glory

35. From Russia With Love

36. The Maltese Falcon

37. Koyaanisqati

38. Terminator 2

39. Great Expectations

40. Heat

41. A Bridge Too Far

42. Gone With the Wind

43. King Solomon's Mines (1950 version)

44. Some Like It Hot

45. Black Sunday

46. Dick Tracy

47. Hero

48. Meet John Doe

49. My Man Godfrey

50. Saturday Night Fever

51. Red River

52. An American in Paris

53. Dreams

54. Reds

55. Breathless

56. Grand Hotel

57. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

58. 8 1/2

59. Double Indemnity

60. Gandhi

61. Network

62. Psycho

63. Gentlemen's Agreement

64. Duck Soup

65. Brazil

66. Hamlet (Olivier)

67. The Shape of Things to Come

68. Bringing Up Baby

69. Rear Window

70. Tom Jones

71. Bicycle Thief

72. Gigi

73. Treasure of Sierra Madre

74. Two or Three Things I Know About Her

75. The Day of the Jackal

76. Beauty and the Beast

77. The Curse of the Golden Flower

78. Kind Hearts and Coronets

79. A Hard Day's Night

80. Duel at Diablo

81. My Fair Lady

82. Rebel Without a Cause

83. On The Waterfront

84. Three Colors (Blue, White, Red)

85. Schindler's List

86. Two for the Road

87. All About My Mother

88. Jurassic Park

89. Henry V

90. 2046

91. The Conformist

92. Zorba

93. The Deer Hunter

94. Star Wars (the series)

95. The Russian Ark

96. Fantasia

97. The China Syndrome

98. It's A Wonderful Life

99. Midnight Cowboy

100. A Place in The Sun

101. Invisible Man

102. On The Town

103. Gunga Din

104. Dead of Night

105. Footlight Parade

106. Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Arc

107. M

108. The Wrong Box

109. Harvey

110. A Man And A Woman

111. The African Queen

112. The Best Years of Our Lives

113. Platoon

114. Tunes of Glory

115. The Birds

116. Toy Story

117. High Society

118. Isadora

119. Witness

120. Young Frankenstein

121. The Band Wagon

122. A Christmas Carol (Alaistair Sim)

123. The Producers

124. Wuthering Heights

125. Ninotchka

126. Dr. No

127. A Streetcar Named Desire

128. Le Million

129. The Last Emperor

130. East of Eden

131. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

132. The Misfits

133. Dog Day Afternoon

134. All Quiet on the Western Front

135. The Shooting Party

136. Richard III

137. Mutiny On The Bounty (Gable)

138. Bhowani Junction

139. Z

140. Pinocchio

141. Oliver Twist (w. Guiness)

142. All About Eve

143. The Wages of Fear

142. Wings of Desire

143. Laura

144. La Guerre Est Finie

145. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

146. The Man Who Fell to Earth

147. La Strada

148. White Heat

149. Cat Ballou

150. Blow-Up

151. Sweet Smell of Success

152. 3 Women

153. The Andromeda Strain

154. Odd Man Out

155. Ran

156. Seven Samurai

157. Fail Safe

158. The 39 Steps

159. Providence

160. Shoeshine

161. Saboteur

162. Hunger

163. Forbidden Planet

164. What's New, Pussycat?

165. Batman (the series)

166. Fantastic Voyage

167. The Philadelphia Story

168. Breaker Morant

169. Picnic

170. Bridges At Toko-Ri

171. Enter the Dragon

172. Sabrina (Bogart)

173. Strangers on a Train

174. The Searchers

175. Seven Days in May

176. Big Deal on Madonna Street

177. Roman Holiday

178. Out of Africa

179. Quest For Fire

180. The Mummy (2001 version with Brendon Fraser and Rachel Weisz)

181. Down and Out in Beverly Hills

182. The Great Dictator

183. A Clockwork Orange

184. Crash

185. Patton

185. She Done Him Wrong

186. Grand Illusion

187. Berlin Alexanderplatz

188. Blood Diamond

189. The Lost Weekend

190. The Sting

191. Arsenic and Old Lace

192. Jeremiah Johnson

193. L. A. Confidential

194. Deliverance

195. The Man Who Would Be King

196. The Godfather (series)

197. Notorious

198. The Entertainer

199. The Lady from Shanghai

200. Mickey One

201. Darling

202. E.T.

203. Viva Zapata

204. The Lady Eve

205. Dinner at Eight

206. Romeo and Juliet (Harvey)

207. The Palm Beach Story

208. The Killers (w. Lancaster)

209. Death Watch

210. Rembrandt

211. Fahrenheit 451

212. Four Feathers

213. Touch of Evil

214. The Year Of Living Dangerously

215. Lethal Weapon (the series)

216. Hiroshima Mon Amour

217. The Public Enemy

218. Die Hard (the series)

219. The Conformist

220. Male Hunt

222. Blonde Venus

223. The Hill

224. Casino Royale (Niven)

225. Giant

226. Gates of Hell

227. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

228. Kill Bill vols. 1 & 2

229. Gervaise

230. Horse Feathers

231. Ivan the Terrible Parts I and II

232. Ben Hur (Heston)

233. Rocky (the series)

234. Mephisto

235. Home Of The Brave

236. Foreign Correspondent

237. Andrew Rublev

238. Scott of the Antartic

239. The Horse's Mouth

240. Kingdom of Heaven

241. Billy Liar

242. Funny Face

243. Ivanhoe

244. JFK

245. Divorce Italian Style

246. The Big Sleep

247. King Kong (remake)

248. Ronin

249. A Star Is Born (Judy Garland)

250. Two Women

251. A Man For All Seasons

252. 13 Days

253. Follow the Fleet

254. Separate Tables

255. The Fall of the Roman Empire

256. Jules and Jim

257. Judgment at Nuremberg

258. The Innocent

259. Room at the Top

260. The Rock

261. Mad Max and the Thunderdome

262. The Mouse That Roared

263. The Big Easy

264. Bananas

265. Look Back In Anger

266. Footlight Parade

267. Meet Me In St. Louis

268. Treasure Island

269. Total Recall

270. The Lavender Hill Mob

271. Solaris (original)

272. The Easy Life

273. The Night of the Hunter

274. I'm Alright Jack

275. The French Connection

276. The Pink Panther (the series)

277. Alexander Nevsky

278. Sea of Love

279. O Lucky Man

280. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

281. Gold Diggers of 1933

282. Last Tango In Paris

283. Coming Home

284. Billy Budd

285. Altered States

286. All The President's Men

287. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

288. Bride of Frankenstein

289. Tucker

290. Seven Days to Noon

291. Brute Force

292. Serpico

293. Lonely are the Brave

294. Ship of Fools

295. War Games

296. Blood and Sand

297. Zulu

298. Exodus

299. Topkapi

300. The Last Voyage

301. The Leopard

302. In Which We Serve

303. Sundays and Cybele

304. One Summer of Happiness

305. Black Narcissus

306. Nightmare Alley

307. Attack

308. The Naked and the Dead

309. War of the Worlds (original)

310. The Postman Always Rings Twice

311. Dr. Zhivago

312. Rocco and his Brothers

313. Hannibal

314. Persona

315. No Way Out (Costner)

316. Munich

317. Annie Hall

318. Carousel

319. Dr. Strangelove

320. She Dances Alone

321. Suddenly Last Summer

322. Born Yesterday

323. Intruder In The Dust

324. Atlantic City

325. The Thing (remake)

326. Bonnie And Clyde

327. Looking For Mr. Goodbar

328. Irma La Douce

329. McCabe and Mrs. Miller

330. Farewell My Lovely

331. Full Metal Jacket

332. D.O.A. (O'Brien)

333. King of Hearts

334. The Thin Red Line (Dullea)

335. Sayonara

336. The Bank Dick

337. Cleopatra (Taylor)

338. The Private Lives of Henry VIII

339. The Return of the Man Called Horse

340. Bullitt

341. Beckett

342. Freud

343. Cabaret

344. Weekend

345. Seconds

346. The Adventures of Robin Hood

347. I Want to Live

348. Moulin Rouge (Ferrer)

349. Charlie Varrick

350. 12 Angry Men

351. The Red Badge of Courage

352. Don't Look Now

353. The Nutty Professor

354. The Parallax View

355. Anne of the Thousand Days

356. Heat and Dust

357. The Nun's Story

358. Orpheus

359. Mirror

360. Howard's End

361. Raging Bull

362. A View To A Kill

363. Dracula

364. The Eagle Has Landed

365. MASH

366. Year of the Dragon

367. Little Caesar

368. The Snake Pit

369. Shane

370. 1900

371. Bridge Over The River Kwai

372. Smiles Of A Summer Night

373. The Ugly American

374. Marathon Man

375. The Silence Of The Lambs

376. Wall Street

377. Elmer Gantry

378. Mrs. Skeffington

379. Fellini's Roma

380. Broadway Danny Rose

381. The Wind And The Lion

382. The Sheep Has Five Legs

383. Mutiny on the Bounty (Gable)

384. Blazing Saddles

385. Ruthless People

386. The Patriot

387. The Detective Story

388. Braveheart

389. Ryan's Daughter

390. Khartoum

391. Flight of the Phoenix (Stewart)

392. The Fifth Element

393. The Conjugal Bed

394. L'Avventura

395. Guns of Navarone

396. Pierrot The Fool

397. Nothing But The Best

398. Of Human Bondage

399. The Verdict

400. Gremlins

401. Purple Noon

402. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

403. Wild Strawberries

404. Cries and Whispers

405. Taxi Driver

406. The Great Race

407. The Story of G. I. Joe

408. The Battle of Britain

409. The Belly of an Architect

410. All The King's Men (Crawford)

411. Cesar & Rosalie

412. Boys of Brazil

413. La Chinoise

414. Grapes Of Wrath

415. It Happened One Night

416. Born on the Fourth of July

417. Executive Action

418. Three Days of the Condor

419. Murder on the Orient Express (Finney)

420. Island of Lost Souls

421. Gorky Park

422. Little Shop of Horrors (Moranis)

423. A. I.

424. Executive Suite

425. The Crimson Pirate

426. True Lies

427. Key Largo

428. Day For Night

429. The Pawnbroker

430. Now Voyager

431. Days of Wines and Roses

432. The Sand Pebbles

433. The Yakuza

434. Superman (the series)

435. That Obscure Object of Desire

436. Under Fire

437. Way Out West

438. Avanti

439. The Boston Strangler

440. The List Of Adrian Messenger

441. Algiers

442. Queen Christina

443. The Red Tent

444. Belle de Jour

445. Night of the Iguana

446. Out Of The Past

447. High Noon

448. Apocalypse Now Redux

449. Alexander The Great (Burton)

450. Tron

451.Dances With Wolves

452. The Unforgiven

453. The Hudsucker Proxy

454. Last of the Mohicans

455. Repulsion

456. Basic Instinct

457. A Touch of Class

458. Sands Of The Kalahari

459. Forrest Gump

460. Best Seller

461. Boccaccio '70

462. My Left Foot

463. Julius Caesar

464. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

465. The Last Samurai

466. The Man Who Knew Too Much (Stewart)

467. The Magnificent Seven

468. The Servant

469. The Sporting Life

470. Stalag 17

471. Lolita (Mason)

472. The Trial

473. Saturday Night Sunday Morning

474. A Night To Remember

475. Salvador

476. Syriana

477. We Were Soldiers

478. The Country Girl

479. Fatal Attraction

480. Short Circuit

481. Sands Of Iwo Jima

482. Mean Streets

483. Witness for the Prosecution

484. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

485. Ghostbusters

486. Theater Of Blood

487. The Asphalt Jungle

488. Beat The Devil

489. Flying Down to Rio

490. Nashville

491. 42nd Street

492. The Mummy (with Boris Karloff)

493. The Towering Inferno

494. Airplane!

495. Shoes Of The Fisherman

496. 15 Minutes

497. Lord of the Rings (the series)

498. Absence of Malice

499. Who Killed Roger Rabbit?

500. Little Foxes

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