32. The Thing (John Carpenter - 1982)



Amazing make-up effects (still unrivaled), but it's the same sense of doom and dread (like in 'On the Beach') where we sense that whatever we do there is no escape that makes this movie a masterpiece, easily outdoing the original. Sadly, the movie was released the same year as E.T., and it failed at the boxoffice. Released today, I think this film would have been a box office success.

Yay another person who loves The Thing.

The Thing's easily in my top 25.

Sleuth is a pretty good flick. I never liked Marathon Man, though. The Good, the Bad + the Ugly is a classic.

31. Deep Red (Dario Argento - 1975)



Released in the mid 70s, when he was in top form (sadly lately Argento has been in a slump), this bloody 'whodunit' thriller never ceases to amaze me. Shot with style (look at how he plays with colors) and with an addictive electronic score by Goblin, this movie shows why Argento is a cult director for horror fans. If you get to see the movie, beware cut versions. Always look for the uncut ones.

30. White Heat (Raoul Walsh - 1949)



Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

I do love the film noir of the 40s. I do love actors like Bogart, Raft, Robinson, but my favorite has always been Cagney. And this is one of his best roles. Like Scarface, this tells the rise and fall of a psychopathic gangster. What a rise and what a fall!

29. Kelly's Heroes (Brian G. Hutton - 1970)



Warning! This movie can make you belive that war isn't such a bad thing after all. A combination of war and comedy, with anachronistic characters (Sutherland is a hippie in the 40s) that gets funnier every time I see it. Don Rickles and Carroll O'Connor are also standouts. And it has a very catchy song as well (Burning Bridges by The Mike Curb Congregation).

28. The Magnificent Seven (John Sturges - 1960)



The americanized version of The Seven Samurai is a damn good film on its own. Probably one of the most famous Westerns ever made, featuring an unforgettable score by Elmer Bernstein that soon became part of the pop culture.

27. Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock - 1945)



Hitchcock has so many good movies, but this one about a man suffering from amnesia and strange dreams is for me one of his bests. The audience sides with Peck as both try to discover what is that created this block in his mind. Full of symbolism, with Dali creating the sets for some of the dream sequences.

26. The Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa - 1954)



Well, being such a fan of The Magnificent Seven, the original who inspired it all couldn't be too far away. Another of Kurosawa's masterpieces.

25. The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich - 1967)



Probably the best of the WW2 secret mission pictures. Full of badass characters. I have a hard time imagining who could be cast nowadays for such a movie.

24. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa - 1950)



I could be mistaken, but I think Kurosawa was the first one to use a storytelling technique like the one used in Rashomon, where a crime is told from different points of view, and although different, it doesn't mean someone is lying. It always depend from the point of view. So, what is the truth? And can you be sure the truth is really the truth?

23. Die Hard (John McTiernan - 1988)



The one that started it all. Remember how in the beginning of the 90s most movies were pitched as Die Hard on a train...on a boat...on a plane. I miss the John McTiernan of the late 80s/early 90s. This, Predator and Red October were amazing action pictures.

22. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet - 1957)



Tense drama about a group of men who decide if a person is sentenced to death for a crime he did commit...or not. Takes mostly place in only one room, and it should be shown to people to teach what acting is all about.

21. Ben-Hur (William Wyler - 1959)



Where did the epics go? I thought that with the success of Gladiator we would see a renaissance of the big epics, those movies bigger than life, but bad luck so far. They don't do them like this anymore.

small break after this

Don't hate me then for one of the upcoming picks.

I'm not a big Ben-Hur fan either. The chariot race is fantastic, but the film goes on for another 45 minutes or so after that!

20. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino - 1994)



When it was released it reinvented a genre completely. It has been copied many times since, but it still remains the best example of hip crime drama / black comedy. Chris Walken 'watch speak' remains a standout.

19. Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder - 1957)



Although it's one of those movies that does impact more at first viewing when you don't know the ending, it's still a joy to watch Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester in two unforgettable roles. Billy Wilder , although best known for comedies, was a genius that could handle every genre.

I don't love every movie on here, but this list is, altogether, the best list on this site. Besides mine.

18. The Terminator (James Cameron - 1984)



Save for Conan, the real cinematic birth of Schwarzenegger and even more important, of the king of the world, James Cameron.

What!!! You didn't like excel's one?????

17. Doctor Zhivago (David Lean - 1965)



Romance with a capital R. Sweeping romantic epic. Unforgettable Maurice Jarre score. Lean's masterful direction. Shariff! Christie! Guiness! Courtenay! Steiger! One of the few movies that bring tears to my eyes.

16. Lawrence Of Arabia (David Lean - 1962)



Sorry Magnus! But this film is a work of art. There is also some little known director called Steven Spielberg that considers this his favorite movie of all time.

15. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg - 1981)



I remember going to see this movie in theaters because I liked the posters but without really knowing what it was about. This was before Internet.
After leaving the theater I was like WOW! Now, many years later, every time I see this movie I'm still going WOW!
For me, Spielbergs best movie.

Agreed.