Highly Recommended Movies

This page lists 707 movies that Rusty rates at least very good or excellent. Click on a title to go to a page of basic movie information, including Rusty's rating, links to reviews, and a place for your own notes and annotations. Use one the above menu links to see a subset with optional thumbnail images. Also see our list of top movie lists on many of the best film sites.

• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• 12 Monkeys (1995)
• 12 Years a Slave (2013)
• 127 Hours (2010)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
• 4 Little Girls (1997)
• 49th Parallel (1941)
• 5 Fingers (1952)
• A Beautiful Mind (2001)
• A Face in the Crowd (1957)
• A Few Good Men (1992)
• A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
• A Hard Day's Night (1964)
• A History of Violence (2005)
• A Man Escaped (1956)
• A Man for All Seasons (1966)
• A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
• A Most Wanted Man (2014)
• A Night at the Opera (1935)
• A Night to Remember (1958)
• A Patch of Blue (1965)
• A Raisin in the Sun (1961)
• A Simple Plan (1998)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
• A Time for Drunken Horses (2000)
• Ace in the Hole (1951)
• Adam's Rib (1949)
• Adaptation (2002)
• Adventureland (2009)
• Advise & Consent (1962)
• After the Wedding (2006)
• Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
• Alien (1979)
• Aliens (1986)
• All About Eve (1950)
• All My Sons (1948)
• All Night Long (1961)
• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
• All the King's Men (1949)
• All the President's Men (1976)
• Almost Famous (2000)
• Amadeus (1984)
• American Beauty (1999)
• American Gangster (2007)
• American Hustle (2013)
• American Splendor (2003)
• Amistad (1997)
• An American in Paris (1951)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
• Animals Are Beautiful People (1974)
• Annie Hall (1977)
• Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (2018)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• Apollo 11 (2019)
• As Good as It Gets (1997)
• Attack (1956)
• Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
• Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
• Avatar (2009)
• Babe (1995)
• Baby Doll (1956)
• Back to the Future (1985)
• Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
• Badlands (1973)
• Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
• Bananas (1971)
• Beauty and the Beast (1946)
• Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
• Being John Malkovich (1999)
• Bellissima (1951)
• Best in Show (2000)
• Bhutto (2010)
• Billy Budd (1962)
• Black Book (2006)
• Black Narcissus (1947)
• Black Sunday (1960)
• BlackBerry (2023)
• Blackboard Jungle (1955)
• Blackfish (2013)
• BlacKkKlansman (2018)
• Blazing Saddles (1974)
• Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (1967)
• Body Heat (1981)
• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Borat (2006)
• Born to Kill (1947)
• Born Yesterday (1950)
• Bowling for Columbine (2002)
• Boyhood (2014)
• Boyz n the Hood (1991)
• Breaker Morant (1980)
• Breaking Away (1979)
• Breaking the Sound Barrier (1952)
• Breathless (1960)
• Brief Encounter (1945)
• Broadcast News (1987)
• Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
• Broken Lance (1954)
• Buck (2011)
• Buffalo '66 (1998)
• Cactus Flower (1969)
• Call Northside 777 (1948)
• Cape Fear (1962)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• Capernaum (2018)
• Capote (2005)
• Captain Blood (1935)
• Captains Courageous (1937)
• Casque d'Or (1952)
• Catch Me If You Can (2002)
• Catch-22 (1970)
• Charade (1963)
• Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
• Cinderella Man (2005)
• Citizen Kane (1941)
• Citizenfour (2014)
• Collective (2019)
• Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)
• Coma (1978)
• Coming Home (1978)
• Compulsion (1959)
• Contagion (2011)
• Cowboy (1958)
• Crime Wave (1954)
• Crip Camp (2020)
• Crumb (1994)
• Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)
• Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
• Damn Yankees (1958)
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
• Dark Circle (1982)
• Dark Waters (2019)
• Darkest Hour (2017)
• Das Boot (1981)
• David Copperfield (1935)
• Death of a Salesman (1966)
• Deception (1946)
• Decision Before Dawn (1951)
• Deliverance (1972)
• Design for Living (1933)
• Detective Story (1951)
• Detour (1945)
• Dial M for Murder (1954)
• Diamond Men (2000)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
• Die Hard (1988)
• Dirty Harry (1971)
• Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
• Divorce Italian Style (1961)
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)
• Dodsworth (1936)
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
• Donnie Brasco (1997)
• Double Indemnity (1944)
• Doubt (2008)
• Downhill Racer (1969)
• Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
• Dracula (1931)
• Drive (2011)
• Drive a Crooked Road (1954)
• East of Eden (1955)
• Eastern Promises (2007)
• Edward Scissorhands (1990)
• Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
• Elmer Gantry (1960)
• Emily the Criminal (2022)
• Enter the Dragon (1973)
• Erin Brockovich (2000)
• Everlasting Moments (2008)
• Ex Machina (2015)
• Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)
• Fail-Safe (1964)
• Fargo (1996)
• Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)
• Fatal Attraction (1987)
• Find Me Guilty (2006)
• Five Easy Pieces (1970)
• Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
• Forbidden Games (1952)
• Forbidden Planet (1956)
• Ford v Ferrari (2019)
• Fort Apache (1948)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Freaks (1932)
• Free Solo (2018)
• Frenzy (1972)
• From Here to Eternity (1953)
• From Russia with Love (1963)
• Fury (1936)
• Gasland (2010)
• Get Out (2017)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
• Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Gone with the Wind (1939)
• Good Will Hunting (1997)
• Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Gravity (2013)
• Great Expectations (1946)
• Green Book (2018)
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
• Gun Crazy (1950)
• Hamlet (1948)
• Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
• Hangover Square (1945)
• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• Hannibal (2001)
• Harakiri (1962)
• Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
• Headhunters (2011)
• Hearts and Minds (1974)
• Hell Is for Heroes (1962)
• Her (2013)
• High and Low (1963)
• High Noon (1952)
• High Sierra (1941)
• Holiday (1938)
• Holiday Inn (1942)
• Honeyland (2019)
• Hot Coffee (2011)
• House of Games (1987)
• House of Strangers (1949)
• How Green Was My Valley (1941)
• How to Survive a Plague (2012)
• Hud (1963)
• Human Capital (2013)
• Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
• I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
• I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
• I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)
• I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
• I, Tonya (2017)
• Ice Cold in Alex (1958)
• Illegal (1955)
• Ilo Ilo (2013)
• Imitation of Life (1959)
• In a Better World (2010)
• In a Lonely Place (1950)
• In America (2002)
• In the Heat of the Night (1967)
• In Which We Serve (1942)
• Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995)
• Infamous (2006)
• Inherit the Wind (1960)
• Inside Job (2010)
• Into the Wild (2007)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
• Io Capitano (2023)
• Ip Man (2008)
• It Happened One Night (1934)
• Ivan the Terrible, Part II: The Boyars' Plot (1958)
• Jackie Brown (1997)
• Jane (2017)
• Jean de Florette (1986)
• Jerry Maguire (1996)
• Jesus Camp (2006)
• Johnny Belinda (1948)
• Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
• Johnny Guitar (1954)
• Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
• Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
• Julius Caesar (1953)
• Jurassic Park (1993)
• Just Mercy (2019)
• Kansas City Confidential (1952)
• Key Largo (1948)
• Kid Galahad (1937)
• Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
• King Creole (1958)
• King Solomon's Mines (1950)
• Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
• Kiss of Death (1947)
• Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
• La Chienne (1931)
• Lacombe, Lucien (1974)
• Laura (1944)
• Le Corbeau (1943)
• Le Samourai (1967)
• Les Diaboliques (1955)
• Les Paul - Chasing Sound! (2007)
• Let There Be Light (1946)
• Limitless (2011)
• Lincoln (2012)
• Little Caesar (1931)
• Little Fugitive (1953)
• Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
• Lolita (1962)
• Lord of the Flies (1963)
• Lorenzo's Oil (1992)
• Lost Horizon (1937)
• Love & Mercy (2014)
• Love and Death (1975)
• Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
• Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019)
• M (1931)
• M3GAN (2022)
• Mad Max 2 (1981)
• Maiden (2018)
• Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
• Man Hunt (1941)
• Man on the Moon (1999)
• Manon des Sources (1986)
• Marathon Man (1976)
• Maria Full of Grace (2004)
• Marty (1955)
• Men in Black (1997)
• Michael Clayton (2007)
• Microcosmos (1996)
• Midnight Cowboy (1969)
• Midnight Express (1978)
• Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019)
• Minority Report (2002)
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
• Misery (1990)
• Mississippi Burning (1988)
• Mississippi Masala (1991)
• Moby Dick (1956)
• Mogambo (1953)
• Monsieur Lazhar (2011)
• Monster (2003)
• Moonstruck (1987)
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
• Murder on a Sunday Morning (2001)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
• My Cousin Vinny (1992)
• My Darling Clementine (1946)
• My Left Foot (1989)
• My Life as a Courgette (2016)
• National Velvet (1944)
• Network (1976)
• Never Cry Wolf (1983)
• Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960)
• Night and the City (1950)
• Night of the Living Dead (1968)
• Nightfall (1957)
• Nightmare Alley (1947)
• Nights of Cabiria (1957)
• Nine Queens (2000)
• No Way Out (1950)
• No Way to Treat a Lady (1968)
• Norma Rae (1979)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Nothing But a Man (1964)
• Nothing But the Truth (2008)
• Notorious (1946)
• Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
• Of Mice and Men (1992)
• Oliver Twist (1948)
• Olympia Part One: Festival of the Nations (1938)
• Olympia Part Two: Festival of Beauty (1938)
• Omar (2013)
• On the Waterfront (1954)
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
• One, Two, Three (1961)
• Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
• Ordinary People (1980)
• Osama (2003)
• Our Man Flint (1966)
• Outcast of the Islands (1951)
• Outsourced (2006)
• Pale Rider (1985)
• Panic (1946)
• Paper Moon (1973)
• Papillon (1973)
• Paris, Texas (1984)
• Pather Panchali (1955)
• Paths of Glory (1957)
• Patterns (1956)
• Pauline at the Beach (1983)
• Peeping Tom (1960)
• Pelle the Conqueror (1987)
• Pickpocket (1959)
• Picnic (1955)
• Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game ()
• Pink Flamingos (1972)
• Planet of the Apes (1968)
• Pride (2014)
• Prince of the City (1981)
• Psycho (1960)
• Punching the Clown (2009)
• Purple Noon (1960)
• Pygmalion (1938)
• Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)
• Ran (1985)
• Rear Window (1954)
• Rebecca (1940)
• Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
• Red Dust (1932)
• Red River (1948)
• Red Rock West (1993)
• Repulsion (1965)
• Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
• Requiem For The American Dream (2015)
• Richard Jewell (2019)
• Rififi (1955)
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
• Road House (1948)
• RoboCop (1987)
• Roger & Me (1989)
• Romeo and Juliet (1968)
• Room (2015)
• Room at the Top (1959)
• Rope (1948)
• Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
• Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
• Runaway Train (1985)
• Running on Empty (1988)
• Sahara (1943)
• Salaam Bombay! (1988)
• Salt of the Earth (1954)
• Samurai Rebellion (1967)
• Scandal Sheet (1952)
• School of Rock (2003)
• Scrooge (1951)
• Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964)
• Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
• Seconds (1966)
• Secrets & Lies (1996)
• Sense and Sensibility (1995)
• Serenity (2005)
• Seven Days in May (1964)
• Seven Men from Now (1956)
• Seven Samurai (1954)
• Seven Thieves (1960)
• Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
• Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
• Shakespeare in Love (1998)
• Shane (1953)
• Shine (1996)
• Shoplifters (2018)
• Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
• Sin Nombre (2009)
• Singin' in the Rain (1952)
• Sleuth (1972)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
• Sophie's Choice (1982)
• Sounder (1972)
• South Pacific (1958)
• Spartacus (1960)
• Spotlight (2015)
• Stalag 17 (1953)
• Stand by Me (1986)
• Star Wars (1977)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)
• Straw Dogs (1971)
• Sugar Cane Alley (1983)
• Swing Time (1936)
• Tanna (2015)
• Temple Grandin (2010)
• Tension (1949)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
• The 10th Victim (1965)
• The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
• The 400 Blows (1959)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• The African Queen (1951)
• The Agronomist (2003)
• The Andromeda Strain (1971)
• The Apartment (1960)
• The Ascent (1977)
• The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
• The Atomic Cafe (1982)
• The Attack (2012)
• The Awful Truth (1937)
• The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)
• The Bedford Incident (1965)
• The Beguiled (1971)
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
• The Big Clock (1948)
• The Big Country (1958)
• The Big Knife (1955)
• The Big Lebowski (1998)
• The Big Risk (1960)
• The Big Sick (2017)
• The Biggest Little Farm (2018)
• The Black Stallion (1979)
• The Blue Angel (1930)
• The Body Snatcher (1945)
• The Bounty (1984)
• The Breakfast Club (1985)
• The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
• The Browning Version (1951)
• The Burmese Harp (1956)
• The Caine Mutiny (1954)
• The Century of the Self (2002)
• The Children Are Watching Us (1944)
• The China Syndrome (1979)
• The Commitments (1991)
• The Conformist (1970)
• The Conversation (1974)
• The Corporation (2003)
• The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
• The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
• The Damned Don't Cry! (1950)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
• The Defiant Ones (1958)
• The Departed (2006)
• The Desperate Hours (1955)
• The Dirty Dozen (1967)
• The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)
• The Elephant Man (1980)
• The Emigrants (1971)
• The Fabelmans (2022)
• The Face of Another (1966)
• The Fighter (2010)
• The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
• The Fly (1958)
• The Fog of War (2003)
• The Fool (2014)
• The Fountainhead (1949)
• The Front (1976)
• The Fugitive (1993)
• The Gatekeepers (2012)
• The Gay Divorcee (1934)
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
• The Glass House (1972)
• The Godfather (1972)
• The Good Earth (1937)
• The Good Lie (2014)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
• The Goodbye Girl (1977)
• The Graduate (1967)
• The Grand Illusion (1937)
• The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
• The Great Debaters (2007)
• The Great Dictator (1940)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• The Guilty (2018)
• The Guns of Navarone (1961)
• The Heiress (1949)
• The Help (2011)
• The Hill (1965)
• The Honeymoon Killers (1969)
• The Hospital (1971)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
• The Hunt (2012)
• The Hustler (1961)
• The Imitation Game (2014)
• The Importance of Being Earnest (1952)
• The Incident (1967)
• The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
• The Incredibles (2004)
• The Insider (1999)
• The Invisible Man (1933)
• The Killers (1946)
• The Killing (1956)
• The King of Comedy (1982)
• The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
• The Last King of Scotland (2006)
• The Last Picture Show (1971)
• The Last Seduction (1994)
• The Law in These Parts (2011)
• The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
• The Lion in Winter (1968)
• The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
• The Lives of Others (2006)
• The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
• The Look of Silence (2014)
• The Magnificent Seven (1960)
• The Major and the Minor (1942)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
• The Man in the White Suit (1951)
• The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
• The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
• The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
• The Man Without a Past (2002)
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• The Mark of Zorro (1940)
• The Matrix (1999)
• The Miracle Worker (1962)
• The Mist (2007)
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009)
• The Music Man (1962)
• The Naked City (1948)
• The Naked Kiss (1964)
• The Narrow Margin (1952)
• The New Land (1972)
• The Night of the Hunter (1955)
• The Night of the Iguana (1964)
• The Odd Couple (1968)
• The Omen (1976)
• The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
• The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
• The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
• The Petrified Forest (1936)
• The Pianist (2002)
• The Princess Bride (1987)
• The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
• The Producers (1967)
• The Public Enemy (1931)
• The Razor's Edge (1946)
• The Red Shoes (1948)
• The Remains of the Day (1993)
• The Return of Martin Guerre (1982)
• The Rocking Horse Winner (1949)
• The Sea Hawk (1940)
• The Search (1948)
• The Searchers (1956)
• The Servant (1963)
• The Set-Up (1949)
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
• The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• The Silence of the Sea (1949)
• The Silent Partner (1978)
• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• The Small Back Room (1949)
• The Social Network (2010)
• The Southerner (1945)
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
• The Square (2013)
• The Stranger (1946)
• The Sword of Doom (1966)
• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
• The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
• The Tall T (1957)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• The Thin Blue Line (1988)
• The Thing (1982)
• The Third Man (1949)
• The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
• The Time Machine (1960)
• The Town (2010)
• The Train (1964)
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
• The Truman Show (1998)
• The Usual Suspects (1995)
• The Verdict (1982)
• The Wages of Fear (1953)
• The War of the Worlds (1953)
• The Weather Underground (2002)
• The Westerner (1940)
• The Wicker Man (1973)
• The Window (1949)
• The Winslow Boy (1999)
• The Wolf Man (1941)
• The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
• The Woman in the Window (1945)
• The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
• The Yearling (1946)
• The Young One (1960)
• Them! (1954)
• They Live by Night (1948)
• They Won't Forget (1937)
• Thieves' Highway (1949)
• To Catch a Thief (1955)
• To Die For (1995)
• To Have and Have Not (1944)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• Tom Jones (1963)
• Tomboy (2011)
• Tootsie (1982)
• Total Recall (1990)
• Touch of Evil (1958)
• Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)
• Tower (2016)
• Toy Story (1995)
• Traffic (2000)
• Transsiberian (2008)
• Triumph of the Will (1935)
• Trouble in Paradise (1932)
• True Grit (2010)
• Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
• Umberto D. (1952)
• Up in the Air (2009)
• Victim (1961)
• Village of the Damned (1960)
• Wadjda (2012)
• Wag the Dog (1997)
• Wagon Master (1950)
• Wait Until Dark (1967)
• WALL-E (2008)
• We Were Here (2010)
• Weiner (2016)
• Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)
• Westworld (1973)
• What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962)
• What Makes Sammy Run? (1959)
• When Harry Met Sally (1989)
• Where's My Roy Cohn? (2019)
• Whiplash (2014)
• White Heat (1949)
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
• Wild Strawberries (1957)
• Winchester '73 (1950)
• Winter's Bone (2010)
• Witness (1985)
• Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
• Woman in the Dunes (1964)
• X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963)
• Yojimbo (1961)
• You Can Count On Me (2000)
• Young Frankenstein (1974)
• Zelig (1983)
• Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Need more suggestions? See Rusty's list of more recommended movies, or check out our extensive list of top movie lists on many of the best film sites.