Movies You Need to Watch Before You Die

PF-Admin by PF-Admin · 250 items

The films that are culturally load-bearing. You're quietly missing out until you've seen them.

All 100
1
The Godfather

The Godfather

1972 · 2h 55m · Movie

The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

R
9.1
2
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

1977 · 2h 1m · Movie

Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth ...

PG
8.5
3
Casablanca

Casablanca

1943 · 1h 42m · Movie

A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.

PG
8.6
4
Jaws

Jaws

1975 · 2h 4m · Movie

When a massive killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Long Island, it's up to the local police chief, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.

PG
7.9
5
Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction

1994 · 2h 34m · Movie

The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

R
8.5
6
2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey

1968 · 2h 29m · Movie

When a mysterious artifact is uncovered on the Moon, a spacecraft manned by two humans and one supercomputer is sent to Jupiter to find its origins.

G
8.4
7
The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz

1939 · 1h 42m · Movie

Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others...

G
7.9
8
Seven Samurai

Seven Samurai

1954 · 3h 27m · Movie

Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, and he gathers six other samurai to join him.

Not Rated
8.9
9
Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane

1941 · 1h 59m · Movie

Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.'

PG
8.3
10
The Matrix

The Matrix

1999 · 2h 16m · Movie

When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.

R
8.5
11
Parasite

Parasite

2019 · 2h 12m · Movie

Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.

R
8.9
12
Back to the Future

Back to the Future

1985 · 1h 56m · Movie

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

PG
8.4
13
Spirited Away

Spirited Away

2001 · 2h 4m · Movie

During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.

PG
8.8
14
Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park

1993 · 2h 7m · Movie

An industrialist invites some experts to visit his theme park of cloned dinosaurs. After a power failure, the creatures run loose, putting everyone's lives, including his grandchildren's, in danger.

PG-13
8.2
15
Psycho

Psycho

1960 · 1h 49m · Movie

A secretary on the run for embezzlement takes refuge at a secluded California motel owned by a repressed man and his overbearing mother.

R
8.6
16
Titanic

Titanic

1997 · 3h 14m · Movie

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

PG-13
7.7
17
Alien

Alien

1979 · 1h 57m · Movie

After investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin, the crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform.

R
8.6
18
GoodFellas

GoodFellas

1990 · 2h 25m · Movie

The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.

R
8.9
19
The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

1994 · 2h 22m · Movie

A wrongfully convicted banker forms a close friendship with a hardened convict over a quarter century while retaining his humanity through simple acts of compassion.

R
9.3
20
Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now

1979 · 2h 27m · Movie

A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.

R
8.6
21
Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark

1981 · 1h 55m · Movie

In 1936, archaeologist Indiana Jones is tasked by Army Intelligence to help locate a legendary ancient power, the Ark of Covenant, before the Nazis get it first.

PG
8.4
22
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

1980 · 2h 4m · Movie

After the Empire overpowers the Rebel Alliance, Luke Skywalker begins training with Jedi Master Yoda, while Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett pursue his friends across the galaxy.

PG
8.8
23
Schindler's List

Schindler's List

1993 · 3h 15m · Movie

In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

R
9.0
24
Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver

1976 · 1h 54m · Movie

A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.

R
8.2
25
Singin' in the Rain

Singin' in the Rain

1952 · 1h 43m · Movie

A silent film star falls for a chorus girl just as he and his delusionally jealous screen partner are trying to make the difficult transition to talking pictures in 1920s Hollywood.

G
8.7
26
The Silence of the Lambs

The Silence of the Lambs

1991 · 1h 58m · Movie

A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.

R
8.6
27
Blade Runner

Blade Runner

1982 · 1h 57m · Movie

A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.

R
8.2
28
The Godfather Part II

The Godfather Part II

1974 · 3h 22m · Movie

The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York City is portrayed, while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on the family crime syndicate.

R
9.1
29
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

1982 · 1h 55m · Movie

A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.

PG
7.8
30
The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight

2008 · 2h 32m · Movie

When a menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman, James Gordon and Harvey Dent must work together to put an end to the madness.

PG-13
9.0
31
Fight Club

Fight Club

1999 · 2h 19m · Movie

An insomniac office worker and a devil-may-care soap maker form an underground fight club that evolves into much more.

R
8.7
32
Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump

1994 · 2h 22m · Movie

The history of the United States from the 1950s to the '70s unfolds from the perspective of an Alabama man with an IQ of 75, who yearns to be reunited with his childhood sweetheart.

PG-13
8.5
33
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2001 · 2h 58m · Movie

A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.

PG-13
8.8
34
Vertigo

Vertigo

1958 · 2h 8m · Movie

A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.

PG
8.3
35
Rear Window

Rear Window

1954 · 1h 52m · Movie

A bored photographer recovering from a broken leg passes the time by watching his neighbors and begins to suspect one of them of murder.

PG
8.7
36
Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot

1959 · 2h 1m · Movie

After two male musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all-female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.

Approved
8.4