The Video Detective, a pocket-sized guide published in 1997 and written by film producer and movie buff Jim Riffel, suggested a top 1000 films and 100 films of all-time to provide advice on renting videos. Separate sections categorise movies as action/adventure, comedy, children/family, foreign, and drama. Each entry lists the director, primary cast, and offers a brief synopsis. Below are the top 100 films in alphabetical order. Buy – The Video Detective’s 1997 Guide to the Top 1000 Films of All Time
The African Queen (1951)
All About Eve (1950)
Amadeus (1984)
An American In Paris (1951)
Annie Hall (1977)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Ben-Hur (1959)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Casablanca (1942)
Chinatown (1974)
Citizen Kane (1941)
City Lights (1931)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Deliverance (1972)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying… (1964)
Duck Soup (1933)
E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
East of Eden (1955)
The Exorcist (1973)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Frankenstein (1931)
The French Connection (1971)
Gandhi (1982)
The General (1927)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
The Gold Rush (1925)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Harold and Maude (1971)
High Noon (1952)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
It Happened One Night (1934)
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
The King and I (1956)
The Lady Eve (1941)
Laura (1944)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Manchurian Candidate (1961)
Manhattan (1979)
M*A*S*H (1970)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Modern Times (1936)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
My Fair Lady (1964)
North By Northwest (1959)
On The Waterfront (1954)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Ordinary People (1980)
Papillon (1973)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Patton (1970)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Psycho (1960)
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Rear Window (1954)
Room with a View (1986)
The Searchers (1956)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Shane (1953)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
The Sound of Music (1965)
Stagecoach (1939)
Star Wars (1977)
The Sting (1973)
Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Terms of Endearment (1983)
The Third Man (1949)
Top Hat (1935)
Touch Of Evil (1958)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
12 Angry Men (1957)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Vertigo (1958)
West Side Story (1961)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)