In order to be considered a masterpiece, a film has to have been out for at least five years and I must have seen it more than once. This not only allows enough time for an in-depth analysis, but also enough time for proper hindsight and cultural impact to set in:
- Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
- The Nutty Professor (1963)
- The King and I (1956)
- Fight Club (1999)
- The Thin Man (1934)
- Clerks (1994)
- A Christmas Story (1983)
- Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” (1971)
- Platoon (1986)
- An American in Paris (1951)
- Guys and Dolls (1955)
- Reds (1981)
- Apocalypse Now (1979)
- Jaws (1975)
- High Noon (1952)
- Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- Breaking Away (1979)
- The Producers (1968)
- Say Anything (1989)
- Wuthering Heights (1939)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- White Heat (1949)
- M*A*S*H (1970)
- Love Story (1970)
- The Natural (1984)
- The Palm Beach Story (1942)
- The Way We Were (1973)
- Hoosiers (1986)
- Sophie’s Choice (1982)
- West Side Story (1961)
- Boyz n the Hood (1991)
- Do the Right Thing (1989)
- Manhattan (1979)
- Annie Hall (1977)
- Sunrise (1927)
- Amadeus (1984)
- Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
- Some Like it Hot (1959)
- Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
- Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
- The Last Picture Show (1971)
- Vacation (1983) / Christmas Vacation (1989)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
- Trouble in Paradise (1932)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
- Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
- Saturday Night Fever (1977)
- Caddyshack (1980)
- The Night of the Hunter (1955)
- The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
- The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
- Mary Poppins (1964)
- Full Metal Jacket (1987)
- A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
- Witness (1985)
- Enter the Dragon (1973)
- Raging Bull (1980)
- GoodFellas (1990)
- Taxi Driver (1976)
- Mean Streets (1973)
- All That Jazz (1979)
- The Maltese Falcon (1941)
- Roman Holiday (1953)
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
- Ed Wood (1994)
- Edward Scissorhands (1990)
- Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
- The Breakfast Club (1985)
- Memento (2000)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
- Deliverance (1972)
- Mildred Pierce (1945)
- The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
- Rome, Open City (1945)
- The Crowd (1928)
- The Big Parade (1925)
- Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
- My Darling Clementine (1946)
- Written on the Wind (1956)
- The Gold Diggers Trilogy (1933)
- McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
- The Blair Witch Project (1999)
- Psycho (1960)
- Carrie (1976)
- The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
- To Have and Have Not (1944)
- Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
- Chinatown (1974)
- The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
- The Hustler (1961)
- Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
- In the Heat of the Night (1967)
- Apollo 13 (1995)
- Animal House (1978)
- A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
- A Night at the Opera (1935)
- My Fair Lady (1964)
- A Star is Born (1954)
- The Little Tramp (1914-1936)
- Pickup on South Street (1953)
- Blazing Saddles (1974)
- Out of the Past (1947)
- Ben-Hur (1959)
- The Sound of Music (1965)
- Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
- Repulsion (1965)
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Quiz Show (1994)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
- Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (1969)
- Scarface: The Shame of a Nation (1932)
- Harold and Maude (1971)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- The General (1927)
- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- Dracula (1931)
- The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
- Giant (1956)
- sex, lies & videotape (1989)
- The Fly (1986)
- The Great Escape (1963)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- The Public Enemy (1931)
- Little Caesar (1930)
- Doctor Zhivago (1965)
- Requiem for a Dream (2000)
- Rebel without a Cause (1955)
- Shane (1953)
- The Big Lebowski (1998)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Nashville (1975)
- Notorious (1946)
- Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
- Swing Time (1936)
- Top Hat (1935)
- Touch of Evil (1958)
- Patton (1970)
- American Beauty (1999)
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
- Days of Heaven (1978)
- Don’t Look Now (1973)
- Amelie (2001)
- Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
- The Last Laugh (1924)
- The Grand Illusion (1937)
- Blow-Up (1966)
- Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
- Persona (1966)
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- The Exorcist (1973)
- E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
- Titanic (1997)
- Sunset Blvd. (1950)
- King Kong (1933)
- The Graduate (1967)
- Casablanca (1942)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
- Laura (1944)
- Duck Soup (1933)
- Schindler’s List (1993)
- A Place in the Sun (1951)
- There Will Be Blood (2007)
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- Forrest Gump (1994)
- All About Eve (1950)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
- Rocky (1976)
- The Wild Bunch (1969)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
- The Godfather (1972) / The Godfather Part II (1974)
- Gone with the Wind (1939)
- The Searchers (1956)
- Rear Window (1954)
- Vertigo (1958)
- Citizen Kane (1941)
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
