_The 100 Best Films of All Time (20-16)

20. The Searchers

Director: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Natalie Wood, Ward Bond
Genre: Western
Academy Awards: 0
Year: 1956
Imdb-Rating: 8.0
Critic's opinion (Brian Koller): "The Searchers" is a very good western, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, one of many films that they made together. Considered by many to be one of the best western films ever made, it falls short of that lofty standard. However, it is very entertaining, with Wayne as commanding a presence as ever.

19. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
Genre: Satire
Academy Awards: 0
Year: 1964
Imdb-Rating: 8.7
Critic's opinion (Brian Koller): One of the best films ever made, "Dr. Strangelove" is a black comedy about a pending nuclear war. You can argue that George C. Scott's rabid general is too over the top, as is Dr. Strangelove's misbehaving robotic arm, but other than those minor complaints, the film is virtually perfect.

18. Psycho

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin
Genre: Thriller
Academy Awards: 0
Year: 1960
Imdb-Rating: 8.6
Critic's opinion (Brian Koller): "Psycho" is one of Alfred Hitchcock's best and most famous films. Although it has been called a black comedy or a horror movie, perhaps it qualifies better as a mystery. There is considerable suspense throughout, the Bernard HerrmanX score is outstanding, the script and directing is excellent, and Anthony Perkins' character (Norman Bates) and performance is one of the most infamous in film history.

17. The Wizard of Oz

Director: Victor Fleming
Cast: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger
Genre: Fantasy
Academy Awards: 2
Year: 1939
Imdb-Rating: 8.3
Critic's opinion (Harvey S. Karten): What more can one say for a film that is virtually without flaws? If we must point out one blemish, it is in the scene in which the exposed wizard gives the four travelers the movie's meaning, a talky monologue particularly considering that the kids in the movie audience will endure a drop-off in interest-- as indeed they did in a recent invitational screening. All things considered, parents who do not take their youngsters to this seminal event in their rites of passage might have abuse charges filed against them. But then what adult could fail to be enchanted by the remarkable, colorful, heartwarming "Wizard of Oz"?

16. Taxi Driver

Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel
Genre: Drama
Academy Awards: 0
Year: 1976
Imdb-Rating: 8.4
Critic's opinion (James Berardinelli): In March 1977, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences committed another in their seemingly-endless series of injustices, awarding the Best Picture Oscar to John Avildsen's ROCKY, thereby snubbing one of the great modern American classics, Martin Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER. While ROCKY represents solid entertainment, it lacks the psychological depth of Scorsese's picture, replacing daring character development with a feel-good sports formula. TAXI DRIVER is on a level that ROCKY neither aspires to nor attains.