50 GREATEST FILMS
OF ALL TIME

by Vanity Fair


50 Greatest Films Of All Time: Vanity Fair Magazine (in their September, 2005 issue) offered their picks for the "50 Greatest Films" of all-time (unranked and alphabetical), in a special tear-out section of the magazine.

Facts and Commentary About the List:

  • The list of "50 Greatest Films" of all-time also provided "the scoop on how and why" -- although the "how and why" was simply composed of the film title, production company/studio, date, director, writer(s), the starring cast, Oscar win(s) - if any, and a factual section about some aspect of the film's making.
  • The list included 50 (plus one) best films of all time, A to Z, including noir ( Chinatown (1974)), romantic ( Casablanca (1943)), thrillers ( North by Northwest (1959)) - and even downright idiotic (Old School (2003)).
  • 42 of the films were Hollywood/American films.
  • Breakdown by decade: 1920s (2), 1930s (10), 1940s (9), 1950s (8), 1960s (9), 1970s (9), 1980s (2), 1990s (2), 2000s (1).
  • Only one director received three nominations, Billy Wilder. Those who received two nominations included Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Curtiz, Victor Fleming, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Jean Renoir.
  • There were some very dubious choices here - obviously Old School (2003), National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), and Die Hard (1988).
Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the
films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the "100 Greatest Films"

50 Greatest Films
by Vanity Fair Magazine

(unranked, alphabetical)

  1. All About Eve (Twentieth Century Fox, 1950)
  2. Amarcord (F.C. Produzione/P.E.C.F., 1973)
  3. Annie Hall (United Artists, 1977)
  4. Blow-up (Premier Productions/MGM, 1966)
  5. Bonnie and Clyde (Warner Bros., 1967)
  6. Breathless (UGC DA International, 1960)
  7. Bringing Up Baby (RKO Radio Pictures, 1938)
  8. Casablanca (Warner Bros., 1943)
  9. Chinatown (Paramount Pictures, 1974)
  10. Citizen Kane (RKO Radio Pictures, 1941)
  11. The Conformist (Mars Film Produzione, Marianne Productions, Maran Film, 1970)
  12. Die Hard (Twentieth Century Fox, 1988)
  13. Dirty Harry (Warner Bros., 1971)
  14. Double Indemnity (Paramount Pictures, 1944)
  15. Dumbo (Walt Disney Pictures/RKO Radio Pictures, 1941)
  16. The General (United Artists, 1927)
  17. The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (Paramount Pictures, 1972 and 1974)
  18. Goldfinger (United Artists, 1964)
  19. The Gold Rush (United Artists, 1925)
  20. Gone With the Wind (MGM, 1939)
  21. GoodFellas (Warner Bros., 1990)
  22. The Graduate (Embassy Pictures, 1967)
  23. Grand Illusion (Realisations D'Art Cinematographique, 1937)
  24. It Happened One Night (Columbia Pictures, 1934)
  25. It's a Gift (Paramount Pictures, 1934)
  26. Jaws (Universal Pictures, 1975)
  27. Lawrence of Arabia (Columbia Pictures, 1962)
  28. Mildred Pierce (Warner Bros., 1945)
  29. National Lampoon's Animal House (Universal Pictures, 1978)
  30. North by Northwest (MGM, 1959)
  31. Now, Voyager (Warner Bros., 1942)
  32. **** Old School (DreamWorks, 2003) ****
  33. Paths of Glory (United Artists, 1957)
  34. Psycho (Paramount Pictures, 1960)
  35. Red River (United Artists, 1948)
  36. Reds (Paramount Pictures, 1981)
  37. Rome, Open City (Excelsa Film, 1945)
  38. The Rules of the Game (Nouvelle Edition Francaise, 1939)
  39. Seven Samurai (Toho Company, 1954)
  40. The Seventh Seal (Svensk Filmindustri, 1957)
  41. Singin' in the Rain (MGM, 1952)
  42. Some Like It Hot (United Artists, 1959)
  43. Stagecoach (United Artists, 1939)
  44. Sullivan's Travels (Paramount Pictures, 1941)
  45. Sunset Boulevard (Paramount Pictures, 1950)
  46. Toy Story (Walt Disney Pictures, 1995)
  47. Trouble in Paradise (Paramount Pictures, 1932)
  48. 2001: A Space Odyssey (MGM, 1968)
  49. The Wild Bunch (Warner Bros., 1969)
  50. The Wizard of Oz (MGM, 1939)
  51. The Women (MGM, 1939)
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