my all-time top 250

Tags: 
  1. Vertigo
  2. Taxi Driver
  3. Sansho the Bailiff
  4. Once Upon a Time in America
  5. Sunrise
  6. 8 1/2
  7. Raising Arizona
  8. M
  9. The Godfather, Part II
  10. The Big Sleep
  11. The Rules of the Game
  12. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
  13. Rear Window
  14. Chinatown
  15. Children of Paradise
  16. Jules and Jim
  17. Citizen Kane
  18. The Ballad of Narayama
  19. His Girl Friday
  20. Goodfellas
  21. Persona
  22. The Godfather
  23. The Third Man
  24. It's a Wonderful Life
  25. City Lights
  26. The Passion of Joan of Arc
  27. Notorious
  28. Grand Illusion
  29. The Wild Bunch
  30. Blue Velvet
  31. All About Eve
  32. The Searchers
  33. Ugetsu
  34. Mulholland Dr.
  35. The Exterminating Angel
  36. Out of the Past
  37. Rushmore
  38. Do the Right Thing
  39. 2001: A Space Odyssey
  40. In a Lonely Place
  41. Apocalypse Now
  42. Letter From an Unknown Woman
  43. Nights of Cabiria
  44. A Man Escaped
  45. Au revoir les enfants
  46. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
  47. The Seven Samurai
  48. Casablanca
  49. Ran
  50. Singin’ in the Rain
  51. The Manchurian Candidate
  52. The Scarlet Empress
  53. Aguirre: The Wrath of God
  54. The Singing Detective
  55. The Conformist
  56. L'Atalante
  57. Pulp Fiction
  58. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  59. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  60. In the Mood for Love
  61. Umberto D
  62. Chung-King Express
  63. Fanny and Alexander
  64. The Lady Eve
  65. The World of Apu
  66. Dead Man
  67. Sunset Blvd.
  68. Sherlock, Jr.
  69. Badlands
  70. The Battle of Algiers
  71. Repulsion
  72. The 400 Blows
  73. Psycho
  74. The Night of the Hunter
  75. Rosemary's Baby
  76. Touch of Evil
  77. Young Frankenstein
  78. Alien
  79. Double Indemnity
  80. Schindler's List
  81. Sullivan's Travels
  82. Hana-bi
  83. Intolerance
  84. A Matter of Life and Death
  85. Fearless
  86. The Straight Story
  87. Once Upon a Time in the West
  88. Vivre sa vie
  89. Los Olvidados
  90. White Heat
  91. Odd Man Out
  92. Picnic at Hanging Rock
  93. Les Enfants terribles
  94. The Silence of the Lambs
  95. The Thin Blue Line
  96. LOTR: The Return of the King
  97. Flirting With Disaster
  98. The Empire Strikes Back
  99. Raiders of the Lost Ark
  100. Wages of Fear
  101. Yojimbo
  102. Dead Man Walking
  103. After Life
  104. Viridiana
  105. Kwaidan
  106. Groundhog Day
  107. Code Unknown
  108. On the Waterfront
  109. My Man Godfrey
  110. Great Expectations
  111. The Shining
  112. The Grapes of Wrath
  113. Boogie Nights
  114. The General
  115. Sweet Smell of Success
  116. North by Northwest
  117. The 39 Steps
  118. Mean Streets
  119. Point Blank
  120. Death by Hanging
  121. Don't Look Now
  122. The Long Goodbye
  123. The Big Lebowski
  124. Ride the High Country
  125. The Leopard
  126. The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums
  127. Pather Panchali
  128. The Killers
  129. Hiroshima, mon amour
  130. Star Wars
  131. The Right Stuff
  132. That Obscure Object of Desire
  133. The Big Heat
  134. Blind Chance
  135. Punch-Drunk Love
  136. Brazil
  137. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  138. A Star is Born (1954)
  139. The Gambler
  140. Celine and Julie Go Boating
  141. The Red Shoes
  142. Fight Club
  143. Miller's Crossing
  144. Mishima
  145. Airplane!
  146. Blue Collar
  147. Carrie
  148. The Cranes are Flying
  149. Ball of Fire
  150. JFK
  151. Ashes and Diamonds
  152. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  153. Unfaithfully Yours
  154. Strangers on a Train
  155. Salesman
  156. Performance
  157. My Night at Maud's
  158. Yi Yi
  159. Glengarry Glen Ross
  160. The Wizard of Oz
  161. E.T.
  162. The Talented Mr. Ripley
  163. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
  164. Se7en
  165. Day for Night
  166. Orpheus
  167. Come and See
  168. The Woman in the Window
  169. Wild Reeds
  170. Tropical Malady
  171. Raging Bull
  172. Force of Evil
  173. The Wind Will Carry Us
  174. Laura
  175. Cries and Whispers
  176. Rebel Without a Cause
  177. All Quiet on the Western Front
  178. LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring
  179. Bonnie and Clyde
  180. Holiday
  181. A. Woman Under the Influence
  182. The English Patient
  183. Maborosi
  184. A Place in the Sun
  185. Secrets and Lies
  186. Unforgiven
  187. The Killing
  188. The Bad and the Beautiful
  189. Rio Bravo
  190. The Deer Hunter
  191. The Killer
  192. A Clockwork Orange
  193. Gosford Park
  194. You Only Live Once
  195. Hard-Boiled
  196. All About My Mother
  197. Y tu mama tambien
  198. L.A. Confidential
  199. The Sorrow and the Pity
  200. Sonatine
  201. The Crying Game
  202. Fargo
  203. Peeping Tom
  204. A Taste of Cherry
  205. Gallipoli
  206. The Last Temptation of Christ
  207. A Day in the Country
  208. Sanjuro
  209. Vanya on 42nd Street
  210. Adaptation
  211. La Jetee
  212. Human Resources
  213. Heavenly Creatures
  214. Barton Fink
  215. Rebecca
  216. The House of Mirth
  217. Amadeus
  218. The Best Years of Our Lives
  219. All That Jazz
  220. LOTR: The Two Towers
  221. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
  222. Ed Wood
  223. My Fair Lady
  224. Field of Dreams
  225. Hoop Dreams
  226. Babe
  227. Army of Shadows
  228. Election
  229. Nanook of the North
  230. The Player
  231. A Fish Called Wanda
  232. Pierrot le fou
  233. Platoon
  234. Kings and Queen
  235. Happiness
  236. Donnie Brasco
  237. The Road Warrior
  238. Memento
  239. The Last Laugh
  240. Queen Christina
  241. The Thing (1982)
  242. Red River
  243. Sans soleil
  244. Wild Strawberries
  245. Murmur of the Heart
  246. Show Boat (1936)
  247. Shock Corridor
  248. AI: Artificial Intelligence
  249. Fast Times at Ridgmont High
  250. High and Low
Author Comments: 

Updated to add Tropical Malady on Dec 4, 2005 and All That Jazz and Army of Shadows on July 15th, 2006.

Donnie Brasco was terrible. But 250 is alot of movies. I suppose by the time I did my top 250 it might up towards the bottom too.

That's 250 out of about 3500, so I think very highly of any film on this list. What didn't you like about Donnie Brasco? Aside from the great performances (it's beginning to look like this was the last great Pacino performance), you have a piercing study of a man who goes undercover and truly loses his identity. The film doesn't romanticize the mob, is understated and realistic, and ultimately rather touching when the final betrayal comes, as it must.