281 Favorite Films
I started to make a list of my top 10 favorite films. But that was impossible.
Then I thought: I’ll do my top 100.
No, better make it 250.
I finally had to draw the line at 281.
I thought maybe I should break them down by genre classics or set apart the 80s high school movies or cop to the guilty pleasures, but the truth is, they are just all movies I either really enjoyed when they first came out or have come to appreciate them more with subsequent viewings or would’ve been honored to have written or directed myself – and all of them have elements I’d love to homage in future scripts.
So, here’s my Top 281 
(in alphabetical order)
(and I reserve the right to keep adding)
| A Fish Called Wanda |
| About A Boy |
| About Last Night |
| Accused, The |
| Adaptation |
| African Queen, The |
| Air Up There, The |
| Airplane |
| All About Eve |
| All the President’s Men |
| Almost Famous |
| Amadeus |
| Amélie |
| American History X |
| Amistad |
| Animal House |
| As Good As It Gets |
| Austin Powers |
| Beautiful Girls |
| Beautiful Mind, A |
| Before Sunrise |
| Before Sunset |
| Being John Malkovich |
| Being There |
| Best in Show |
| Big |
| Big Fish |
| Billy Elliot |
| Blade Runner |
| Blue Brothers, The |
| Body Heat |
| Bourne Ultimatum, The |
| Brassed Off |
| Braveheart |
| Breakfast Club, The |
| Bridge on River Kwai, The |
| Bridget Jone’s Diary |
| Bring It On |
| Bringing Up Baby |
| Broadcast News |
| Bulworth |
| Burn After Reading |
| Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid |
| CaddyShack |
| CannonBall Run, The |
| Cars |
| Casablanca |
| Cat on a Hot Tin Roof |
| Chaplin |
| Chinatown |
| Chocolat |
| Citizen Kane |
| City Slickers |
| Close Encounters of the Third Kind |
| Clueless |
| Collateral |
| Confessions of a Dangerous Mind |
| Contact |
| Crash |
| Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon |
| Crying Game, The |
| Dark Knight, The |
| DaVinci Code, The |
| Day After Tomorrow |
| Dead Poets Society |
| Death Becomes Her |
| Deathtrap |
| Defending Your Life |
| Departed, The |
| Detour |
| Devil Wears Prada, The |
| Diabolique |
| Dial M for Murder |
| Die Hard |
| Dirty Dancing |
| Don Juan DeMarco |
| Double Indemnity |
| E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial |
| Election |
| Elephant Man, The |
| Enchanted |
| Erin Brockovich |
| Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The |
| Fargo |
| Ferris Bueller’s Day Off |
| Few Good Men, A |
| Field of Dreams |
| Fight Club |
| Firm, The |
| First Wives Club |
| Fish Called Wanda, A |
| Flatliners |
| Footloose |
| For Your Consideration |
| Forrest Gump |
| Frailty |
| French Kiss |
| French Lieutenant’s Woman, The |
| Fried Green Tomatoes |
| Full Monty, The |
| Galaxy Quest |
| Garden State |
| Ghost |
| GhostBusters |
| Glengarry Glen Ross |
| Gods and Monsters |
| Good Son, The |
| Good Will Hunting |
| Grease |
| Grease II |
| Green Mile, The |
| Groundhog Day |
| High Fidelity |
| Hisitory of Violence, A |
| Hotel Rwanda |
| Howl’s Moving Castle |
| Hustler, The |
| In the Line of Fire |
| Inception |
| Indecent Proposal |
| Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade |
| Inkheart |
| It’s a Wonderful Life |
| Jaws |
| Jerry Maguire |
| Julie & Julia |
| Juno |
| Jurassic Park |
| King’s Speech, The |
| Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang |
| Knight’s Tale, A |
| Kramer vs. Kramer |
| Last of the Mohicans, The |
| Last Starfighter, The |
| Legally Blonde |
| Legends og the Fall |
| Less Than Zero |
| Letters to Juliet |
| Life Is Beautiful |
| Life of Brian, The |
| Like Water for Chocolate |
| Lion King, The |
| Little Children |
| Little Miss Sunshine |
| Little Shop of Horrors, The |
| Lives of Others, The |
| Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels |
| Logan’s Run |
| Lord of Rings: Fellowship of Ring, The |
| Lost in Translation |
| Love Actually |
| Maltese Falcon, The |
| Manchurian Candidate, The |
| Mary Poppins |
| Matrix, The |
| Maverick |
| Mean Girls |
| Memento |
| Men in Black |
| Mighty Wind, A |
| Minority Report |
| Monsters, Inc. |
| Monty Python and the Holy Grail |
| Moonstruck |
| Motorcycle Diaries, The |
| Mr. Smith Goes to Washington |
| Mummy Returns, The |
| Mummy, The |
| My Immportal Beloved |
| Nell |
| Net, The |
| Network |
| Night Shift |
| Notebook, The |
| Notting Hill |
| Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? |
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest |
| Opposite of Sex, The |
| Out of Africa |
| Pan’s Labyrinth |
| Pay It Forward |
| Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl |
| Player, The |
| Prestige, The |
| Pretty in Pink |
| Pretty Woman |
| Pride and Prejudice |
| Princess Bride, The |
| Princess Mononoke |
| Psycho |
| Pulp Fiction |
| Raiders of the Lost Ark |
| Rashomon |
| Rat Race |
| Reservoir Dogs |
| Risky Business |
| Rocky |
| Rocky Horror Picture Show, The |
| Romancing the Stone |
| Rudy |
| Saving Private Ryan |
| Schindler’s List |
| Se7en |
| Searching for Bobby Fischer |
| Secretariat |
| Sense and Sensibility |
| Seven Samurai |
| Shakespeare in Love |
| Shaun of the Dead |
| Shawshank Redemption, The |
| Shining, The |
| Shrek |
| Shutter Island |
| Silence of Lambs, The |
| Silence of the Lambs, The |
| Singin’ in the Rain |
| Sister Act |
| Sixth Sense, The |
| Sleepless in Seattle |
| Slumdog Millionaire |
| Smokin’ Aces |
| Snatch |
| Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs |
| Social Network, The |
| Some Like It Hot |
| Sommersby |
| Sophie’s Choice |
| Sound of Music, The |
| Spanish Prisoner, The |
| Spirited Away |
| St. Elmo’s Fire |
| Stand by Me |
| Star Trek |
| Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope |
| Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back |
| Starship Troopers |
| Sting, The |
| Stomp the Yard |
| Stripes |
| Sullivan’s Travels |
| Sunset Blvd. |
| Swimming with Sharks |
| Talk to Her |
| Taps |
| Terminator 2: Judgment Day |
| Terminator, The |
| That Thing You Do! |
| Thelma and Lousie |
| There’s Something About Mary |
| Third Man, The |
| Three Days of the Condor |
| Time to Kill, A |
| Titanic |
| To Kill A Mockingbird |
| Tootsie |
| Toy Story |
| Toy Story 2 |
| Toy Story 3 |
| Trainspotting |
| Tropic Thunder |
| Truman Show, The |
| Twelve Monkeys |
| U-Turn |
| Unforgiven |
| Up In The Air |
| Usual Suspects, The |
| Vertigo |
| Wag the Dog |
| Waiting for Guffman |
| Waking Ned Devine |
| WALL·E |
| Wedding Crashers |
| Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald |
| West Side Story |
| When Harry Met Sally |
| White Knights |
| Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
| Winter’s Bone |
| Wizard of Oz, The |
| Working Girl |
| Wrestler, The |
Oh Heather,
I love movies. A picture is worth a thousand words; at least it better be if you are trying to adapt a novel into a screenplay.
Terrible movies might be an interesting category, not that I am qualified to be a critic. Then again, at a glance, I think I have seen all of the movies you have listed there Heather. I’m not a hater when it comes to movies or actors, but honestly, there are some real stinkers.
I wish you much success in your ventures,
Mark James Chappell
What’re the stinkers? I know, my dad hates some of ‘em, too – Big Fish – but that just makes me defend them all the more! Ditto a lot of the Charlie Kaufman stuff – but I think his stuff will stand the test of time – he’s just so revolutionary and fascinating – what he does with film – and the mind
adn creativity and ingenuity – I’m a huge fan – and take the heat for it! 
What’re the ones you hate? Let’s do a stinkers list!
Wow dear cousin. We have very very VERY similar taste. Although your list is surely immaculate, I can’t help but making some teensy-weensy suggestions.
(Predator/Conan/Commando… anyone?…no?)
1. I’d dropkick Fried Green Tomatoes as far as I could and replace it with The Darjeeling Limited.
2. No Top Gun/Wall Street/ The Devil’s Advocate? Blasphemy!
3. Being so macho as I am, I feel Arnold is being underrepresented
Love, Andreas
LOL! Andreas! Well, I do have to say, I was erring on the Estrogen side with an eye to what I’d like to be writing/directing. And yes, Devil’s Advocate and Wall Street are huge oversights. Top Gun, just so dated, but yeah, you’re right
I’ll toss it in. And on Fried Green Tomatoes – I just have to say: A) My friend produced it so cut me some slack 
and B) when you’re older 
you’ll have a much better appreciation for Kathy Bates slamming her car over and over into that young gal who stole her parking space yelling “I have insurance!” LOL! So very cathartic. I’m ancient. And Arnold – yes, he may be under-represented – but he’s having a tough time as of late here locally 
but he’s got some in there! LOVE YOU!!! 