Greatest Films - By Year
Greatest Films

by Year


Greatest Films - by Year: One way to look at films is to concentrate on each individual year's releases. It's a good method to recognize the flow and the trends of films, to see those that performed best, and to look at those that came to the forefront or were critically important.

Many of the entries have short or brief capsule summaries, and some provide links to much longer essays. Select an individual year within a decade for a listing of the greatest films for that particular year. Each of the films is labeled with Film Genre icons, designating whether it was a drama, comedy, adventure film, horror film, or a hybrid combination.

See also Other Extensive Film Reviews (with screenshots): Films: A - H | Films: I - R | Films: S - Z

Related sections are the extensive year-by-year Timeline of Influential Film History Milestones and Turning Points, and this site's Film History - by Decade. Additional supplementary articles, also arranged chronologically, include Film Milestones in Visual and Special Effects (illustrated), History of Sex in Cinema (illustrated), Academy Awards History, and The Most Controversial Films of All-Time (illustrated).



The Greatest Films - by Year
These are the greatest or best films of each year, sometimes called the 'essential' films, the 'must-see' films 'before you die', the all-time best films, the 'A-list' films, or the top films, including a strong mix of foreign-language films - although not all award-winning or notable films could be listed or described. There is also a sampling of some independent and cult films.
Greatest Films - Pre-1920s
The Greatest Films of the Pre-1920s:

1902 | 1903 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1919
Greatest Films - 1920s
The Greatest Films of the 1920s:

1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929
Greatest Films - 1930s
The Greatest Films of the 1930s:

1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939
Greatest Films - 1940s
The Greatest Films of the 1940s:

1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949
Greatest Films - 1950s
The Greatest Films of the 1950s:

1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959
Greatest Films - 1960s
The Greatest Films of the 1960s:

1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969
Greatest Films - 1970s
The Greatest Films of the 1970s:

1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979
Greatest Films - 1980s
The Greatest Films of the 1980s:

1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989
Greatest Films - 1990s
The Greatest Films of the 1990s:

1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999
Greatest Films - 2000s
The Greatest Films of the 2000s:

2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
Greatest Films - 2010s
The Greatest Films of the 2010s:

2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019
Greatest Films - 2020s

The Greatest Films of the 2020s:

2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023



Film Genre Types - Icons

Action

Adventure

Animated

Biopics/
Historical

British/
UK

'Chick' Flicks

Childrens/
Family

Classic
Films

Comedy

Courtroom Dramas

Crime/
Gangster

Cult

Disaster

Documentary/
Docu-drama

Drama

Epics

Fantasy

Film Noir

'Guy'
Films

Horror

Melodrama

Musicals/
Dance

Road Films

Romantic

Science Fiction

Serials

Sexual/
Erotic

Silent
Films

Sports

Superhero

Supernatural

Thriller/
Suspense

War

Western

Zombie