They Shoot Pictures Don't They? The Top 100 from the 1,000 Greatest Films

This list is the top 100 films from They Shoot Pictures Don’t They’s 1,000 Greatest Films. I’ve made this list as the top 100 gives a list of truly critically acclaimed films that I (and I assume others) would eventually like to see—which is not the case for the whole list.

As voted by 1,193 critics, reviewers, scholars, filmmakers and other likely film types.

In summary, here is the exact breakdown of top-tens used, or if you like, where we have begged, borrowed and stolen from: Sight & Sound’s 1952, 1962, 1982, 1992 and 2002 polls (539 lists), Senses of Cinema’s ongoing poll (148 lists), Your Movie Database’s (YMDB) Critics Corner (90 lists), Positif’s 1991 poll (68 lists), Facets’ 2003 poll (64 lists), The Cinematheque Top 10 Project (55 lists), the 1988 publication, John Kobal Presents the Top 100 Movies (51 lists), Time Out’s 1995 poll (50 lists), The Village Voice’s 1999 poll (40 lists), Epoca Online’s 2000 poll (29 lists) and 59 miscellaneous lists from a variety of other sources.

We have also factored in (although to a much lesser degree than the above top ten lists) over 200 magazine polls, film institute polls, individual polls from ‘esteemed’ critics or filmmakers, specialty polls of note, and other polls of interest.

Narrowed down from a starting list of over 4,100 films, utilizing some rather tricky formulas, we believe that this is quite possibly the most definitive guide to the most-acclaimed movies of all time. At the very least, it is a rather spiffy place for all budding/established film buffs to commence/enhance their cinematic experiences. So what are you waiting for? Start that checklist now!

The list is complete and updated (1-1000) according to TSPDT’s Dec. 2008 update.