51. 
Director: George Cukor
Stars: Katharine Hepburn; Cary Grant; James Stewart; Ruth Hussey
Divine adaptation of the Philip Barry marriage comedy features three of the screen's biggest stars at their wittiest and most beautiful. Hepburn reprises her stage role as a haughty heiress (who is "lit from within") who is about to wed a pompous self-made man. Reporter Stewart is covering the society event and helps her down from her pedestal - especially during a tipsy wedding-eve encounter - and into the arms of ex-husband Grant. Memorable drunk scenes between Stewart and Hepburn, and Stewart and Grant. Stewart won an Academy Award for Best Actor, among others.
52. From Here to Eternity (1953)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Stars: Montgomery Clift; Burt Lancaster; Deborah Kerr; Frank Sinatra; Donna Reed
Blistering adaptation of James Jones's novel of army life in Hawaii on the eve of the US entrance into WWII. The image of waves crashing over the passionately embracing Kerr and Lancaster is one of the most sensual (and much-imitated) ever filmed. The bombing of Pearl Harbor interrupts the two love affairs in the film. The film captured Academy Awards for Best Picture and Director, as well as a career-rebuilding Best Supporting Actor award for Sinatra.
53. Amadeus (1984)
Director: Milos Forman
Stars: F. Murray Abraham; Tom Hulce; Elizabeth Berridge
Sweeping drama of the difficult relationship between composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Hulce) and Antonio Salieri (Abraham). Salieri declares war against the heavens for speaking through the genius of Mozart in this study of the excesses of talent and jealousy. Flashbacks illuminate the mad, energetic brilliance of Mozart, and Salieri's struggle with his own mediocrity. Film won an Academy Award for Best Picture, and Abraham was named Best Actor, among others.
54.
Director: Lewis Milestone
Stars: Lew Ayres; Louis Wolheim; John Wray; Slim Summerville
Powerful adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war dramatic novel about the experiences and lives of a group of fresh-faced German students who join the Army and become soldiers during World War I. Winner of Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, among others, and it was a box-office success.
55. The Sound of Music (1965)
Director: Robert Wise
Stars: Julie Andrews; Christopher Plummer; Eleanor Parker; Peggy Wood
Phenomenally popular film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical about the singing Von Trapp family and their escape from the Nazis. Andrews is Maria, a nun who becomes governess to the von Trapp family. Maria falls in love with the children and their handsome widowed father just as Austria is being annexed by the Nazis. The film's songs include the title song, "Do-Re-Mi," "Edelweiss," "My Favorite Things," and "Climb Every Mountain." Memorable opening sequence with Maria and the Alps. Five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Director.
56. M*A*S*H (1970)
Director: Robert Altman
Stars: Donald Sutherland; Elliott Gould; Sally Kellerman; Robert Duvall
Bawdy black comedy about the members of a free-wheeling, Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War. Sutherland's Hawkeye, Gould's Trapper John and Kellerman's Hotlips push the boundaries of irreverence and inject humor into the daily horrors they encounter behind the lines. The film's episodic narrative concludes with a football game that pits the surgeons, who have much in their bag of tricks, against the general's team. Established Altman as major iconoclastic director and helped usher in a decade of US film experimentation. It also inspired a long-running television series.
57.
Director: Carol Reed
Stars: Joseph Cotten; Orson Welles; Alida Valli; Trevor Howard
The search for Harry Lime (Welles) is the center of this lithe mystery notable for its Academy Award-winning cinematography and distinctive, recurring zither music. A giant ferris wheel and a spectacular late-in-the film appearance by Welles as the mysterious "Harry Lime" highlight this tale of intrigue in post-World War II Vienna.
58.
Director: James Algar, Ben Sharpsteen, Walt Disney and others
Stars: Deems Taylor (narrator); Leopold Stokowski (himself) and the Philadelphia Orchestra
Disney's groundbreaking union and mixture of classical music and animated images is a visual feast for young and old. Presented in a dazzling, eight-part imaginative journey. Musical selections include Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," with Mickey Mouse as the apprentice in one of the film's most indelible images, and Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring."
59.
Director: Nicholas Ray
Stars: James Dean; Natalie Wood; Sal Mineo; Jim Backus
Definitive film of 1950s teen disaffection memorable for Dean's defining role as a tortured high-school student. It seemed to define a generation of 1950s teenagers who felt lonely and isolated from their parents and sought solace with friends and authority-defying drag racing. Also notable are performances by Mineo as Dean's troubled friend and Backus as Dean's pitiable father.
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Harrison Ford; Karen Allen; John Rhys-Davies
Rollicking yarn about archeologist Indiana Jones (Ford) with a flair for dramatic situations that follow his quest from the Amazon, through Egypt and on to the lost Ark of the Covenant. Poison darts, a giant rolling ball, pits full of snakes and an army of Nazis are just a few of the obstacles in his quest. Simultaneously paid homage to the tradition of movie serials and reinvented the adventure film. Followed by two sequels.
61.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Stars: James Stewart; Kim Novak; Barbara Bel Geddes
Obsession and suspense combine in this eerie drama about retired San Francisco police detective "Scottie" Ferguson (Stewart). His fear of heights and boredom in retirement make him the foil in an elaborate murder plot. Novak is the mysterious woman with whom he falls in love. Hitchcock's mastery made the city and surrounding locations central to the plot. Tense score by Bernard Herrmann, memorable credits by Saul Bass. Considered by many film writers and scholars as Hitchcock's most ambitious film.
62. Tootsie (1982)
Director: Sydney Pollack
Stars: Dustin Hoffman; Jessica Lange; Bill Murray (uncredited), Dabney Coleman; Charles Durning; Teri Garr
Hilarious comedy about a temperamental out of work actor Michael Dorsey (Hoffman) who puts on a dress, lands the role of a lifetime in a TV soap opera, and becomes a national phenomenon as straight-shooting female soap opera star Dorothy Michaels. Love interest/friend Lange and her lonely father make situations even more complicated in this gender-bending love story. Lange won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
63.
Director: John Ford
Stars: John Wayne; Claire Trevor; Andy Devine; John Carradine; Thomas Mitchell
Absorbing character study of eventful stagecoach trip elevated the western in dramatic importance. Wayne as Ringo Kid was also propelled to stardom in this film as a vengeance-seeking fugitive whose outlook on life is transformed after he boards a stagecoach bound for Lordsville. One of a new style of big budget Westerns, the film is notable for Ford's first use of Monument Valley and its sensitive character studies. Stunning showcase of stuntwork by Yakima Canutt. For the role of the drunken doctor, Mitchell won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
64. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Richard Dreyfuss; Francois Truffaut; Teri Garr
Spectacular, hopeful mystery that celebrates the possibility of friendly extraterrestrial life. Spielberg's science fiction fantasy is the story of an average man (Dreyfuss) who finds himself called by an otherworldly source, culminating in his rendezvous with alien creatures. Groundbreaking special effects and inviting John Williams score.
65. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Director: Jonathan Demme
Stars: Jodie Foster; Scott Glenn; Anthony Hopkins
Engrossing adaptation of Thomas Harris' crime novel and character study. "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti" hisses Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant serial killer engaged by Foster's FBI agent in an effort to capture another killer on the loose. Notable for the complex relationship between the agent and cannibalistic criminal Hannibal. Won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Actress, and Director, among others.
66. Network (1976)
Director: Sidney Lumet
Stars: Peter Finch; Faye Dunaway; William Holden; Robert Duvall
Biting satire of a television network's shameless search for ratings. Memorable for its prophetic screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky and the performances of Dunaway and Finch. Finch is the news anchor on the brink of madness, Dunaway the aggressive producer on the climb and Holden the network head who upholds a moral code...temporarily. All three garnered Academy Awards, as did Supporting Actress Beatrice Straight. Chayefsky and Lumet's satire on television had the nation yelling: "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
67. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Director: John Frankenheimer
Stars: Frank Sinatra; Laurence Harvey; Angela Lansbury; Janet Leigh
Suspense thriller about a veteran (Sinatra), a brain-washed former POW from the Korean War, who suspects that a fellow soldier, hailed as a hero, is actually something else. Harvey is the "hero" who has been trained or programmed by the Communists as an assassin, and a Queen of Hearts is the key to his personality. Notable for its political satire, visual inventiveness, and Lansbury's performance as a scheming mother.
68.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Stars: Gene Kelly; Leslie Caron; Oscar Levant; Nina Foch
Academy Award-winning film about American artist (Kelly) finding love with Frenchwoman (Caron). A showcase for dazzling scenes built around George and Ira Gershwin's lush score. The music and the dancing of Kelly and Caron are at the center of this fluid, visually beautiful love story set in post-war Paris. The ballet sequence, filmed in the style of Impressionist paintings, is legendary. Songs include "I Got Rhythm," "Embraceable You," "S'Wonderful," and the title song.
69.
Director: George Stevens
Stars: Alan Ladd; Jean Arthur; Van Heflin; Jack Palance; Brandon de Wilde
Elemental, landmark western about lone, former gunslinger (Ladd) who helps a family of settlers defend and protect themselves against some murdering cattlemen, including Palance. Ladd's stoic Shane, who is idolized by the settlers' son, is the archetypal Western hero. De Wilde's closing call to Shane caps the film.
70. The French Connection (1971)
Director: William Friedkin
Stars: Gene Hackman; Fernando Rey; Roy Scheider
Gritty action drama about unconventional "Popeye" Doyle (Hackman), a brash New York City detective who tracks international heroin smugglers and uncovers a major drug operation. The spectacular car chase under the elevated train tracks is movie legend. Won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Actor, among others.
71. Forrest Gump (1994)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Tom Hanks; Robin Wright; Gary Sinise; Sally Field
Poignant drama of a simple, kind man named Forrest Gump (Hanks), who despite being mentally challenged, tries hard, is honest and places his trust in luck. He tells his life story to anyone who sits next to him at a bus stop, and the flashbacks follow Forrest and his good heart through some of the highlights of modern American history. He becomes central to the major events of the late 20th century and finds true love with Wright along the way. Through the use of seamless digital visual imagery, Forrest appears to interact in scenes with John F. Kennedy, John Lennon and George Wallace. This adaptation of Winston Groom's novel won Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor. "Life is like a box of chocolates."
72.
Director: William Wyler
Stars: Charlton Heston; Jack Hawkins; Stephen Boyd; Hugh Griffith
This epic, character-driven adaptation of Lew Wallace's religious novel set in the time of Christ, a remake of the 1926 film, features Heston as the title character, a wealthy Jew whose former childhood friend, a Roman, causes him to lose everything. He eventually gets his revenge in the film's most impressive and legendary action scene - the spectacular chariot race. Won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor (Griffith), among others.
73.
Director: William Wyler
Stars: Merle Oberon; Laurence Olivier; David Niven; Flora Robson
Gregg Toland's moody, stunning Academy Award-winning cinematography infuses the film adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel with a haunting atmosphere. Features Olivier and Oberon as the doomed romantic couple, with Olivier as the brooding master of Wuthering Heights who roams the English moors in search of his lost love, Oberon.
74.
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Stars: Charlie Chaplin; Georgia Hale; Mack Swain; Tom Murray
In one of Chaplin's most famous films, a poignant comedy that defines Chaplin's silent work, a lone Alaskan prospector (Chaplin), the Little Tramp, battles the elements in search of gold, adventure, love and a girl in the Yukon. He attempts to stave off hunger by dining on his shoe, much to the consternation of cabin mate Swain, who imagines that Charlie is a giant chicken. The film's many memorable scenes include the meal he makes of his boiled leather boot, a famished Swain's vision of Chaplin as a giant chicken, and the dance of the rolls. Chaplin also wrote the score and screenplay.
75. Dances With Wolves (1990)
Director: Kevin Costner
Stars: Kevin Costner; Mary McDonnell; Graham Greene
Civil War captain (Costner) finds a new home among the Sioux Indians in this Academy Award-winning movie, Costner's directoral debut. Costner directs and stars in this epic vision of the old West, where as a disillusioned soldier, he leaves the Civil War and strikes out to the prairie on his own. After a difficult start, he learns to live, love and respect the land when the Sioux Indians welcome him into their tribe. Memorable for its atmospheric location cinematography and feeling portrayal of Native American life.
