Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "leitmotif"

1. E.T. (1982)

PG | 115 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi

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

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace

Votes: 437,737 | Gross: $435.11M

2. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

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 Vader.

Director: George Lucas | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness

Votes: 1,450,370 | Gross: $322.74M

3. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

PG | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Two Jedi escape a hostile blockade to find allies and come across a young boy who may bring balance to the Force, but the long dormant Sith resurface to claim their original glory.

Director: George Lucas | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd

Votes: 857,056 | Gross: $474.54M

4. Catch Me If You Can (2002)

PG-13 | 141 min | Biography, Crime, Drama

Barely 17 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen

Votes: 1,096,441 | Gross: $164.62M

5. Jaws (1975)

PG | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller

When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it's up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary

Votes: 659,846 | Gross: $260.00M

6. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

After the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams

Votes: 1,380,503 | Gross: $290.48M

7. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)

PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Three years into the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi pursues a new threat, while Anakin Skywalker is lured by Chancellor Palpatine into a sinister plot to rule the galaxy.

Director: George Lucas | Stars: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson

Votes: 845,894 | Gross: $380.26M

8. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

After rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.

Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams

Votes: 1,121,953 | Gross: $309.13M

9. Dances with Wolves (1990)

PG-13 | 181 min | Adventure, Drama, Western

Lieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.

Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant

Votes: 290,819 | Gross: $184.21M

10. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)

PG | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Ten years after initially meeting, Anakin Skywalker shares a forbidden romance with Padmé Amidala, while Obi-Wan Kenobi discovers a secret clone army crafted for the Jedi.

Director: George Lucas | Stars: Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Christopher Lee

Votes: 759,324 | Gross: $310.68M

11. Superman (1978)

PG | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

An alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home's first and greatest superhero.

Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando

Votes: 187,604 | Gross: $134.22M

12. Citizen Kane (1941)

PG | 119 min | Drama, Mystery

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

Director: Orson Welles | Stars: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead

Votes: 466,144 | Gross: $1.59M

13. M (1931)

Passed | 99 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut, Otto Wernicke

Votes: 168,539 | Gross: $0.03M

14. King Kong (1933)

Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Horror

A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.

Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher

Votes: 91,009 | Gross: $10.00M

15. Rebecca (1940)

Approved | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson

Votes: 146,824 | Gross: $4.36M

16. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

G | 143 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi

When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan

Votes: 96,652 | Gross: $82.26M

17. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

PG | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

With the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.

Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan

Votes: 129,263 | Gross: $78.91M

18. Sneakers (1992)

PG-13 | 126 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama

A security pro finds his past returning to haunt him when he and his unique team are tasked with retrieving a particularly important item.

Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, Jo Marr

Votes: 62,560 | Gross: $51.43M

19. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

PG | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Romance

When Prince John and the Norman Lords begin oppressing the Saxon masses in King Richard's absence in 1190s England, a Saxon lord fights back as the outlaw leader of a resistance movement.

Directors: Michael Curtiz, William Keighley | Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains

Votes: 54,519 | Gross: $3.98M

20. Pillow Talk (1959)

Passed | 102 min | Comedy, Romance

An interior decorator and a playboy songwriter share a telephone party line and size each other up.

Director: Michael Gordon | Stars: Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter

Votes: 19,185 | Gross: $18.75M

21. Stella Dallas (1937)

Approved | 106 min | Drama, Romance

A working-class woman is willing to do whatever it takes to give her daughter a socially promising future.

Director: King Vidor | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil

Votes: 6,279 | Gross: $2.00M

22. The Informer (1935)

Approved | 91 min | Crime, Drama

In 1922, an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in.

Director: John Ford | Stars: Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame

Votes: 7,181 | Gross: $2.07M

23. The Prince and the Pauper (1937)

Approved | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, Family

A poor boy named Tom Canty and the Prince of Wales exchange identities but events force the pair to experience each other's lives as well.

Directors: William Keighley, William Dieterle | Stars: Errol Flynn, Claude Rains, Henry Stephenson, Barton MacLane

Votes: 2,884

24. M (1951)

Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

In this Americanization of the 1931 German thriller, both the police and the criminal underworld stalk a mysterious serial killer who preys on little girls.

Director: Joseph Losey | Stars: David Wayne, Howard Da Silva, Martin Gabel, Luther Adler

Votes: 2,366

25. The Dark Past (1948)

Passed | 73 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller

An escaped psychopathic killer who takes the family and neighbors of police psychologist hostage reveals a recurring nightmare to the doctor.

Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: William Holden, Nina Foch, Lee J. Cobb, Adele Jergens

Votes: 2,146

26. In This Our Life (1942)

Approved | 97 min | Drama

The day before her wedding, a pampered young woman absconds with her sister's husband. Her sister begins seeing the woman's former fiancé.

Directors: John Huston, Raoul Walsh | Stars: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, George Brent, Dennis Morgan

Votes: 5,263

27. Noir (2001–2002)

TV-14 | 25 min | Animation, Action, Crime

Two beautiful female assassins travel the world accepting assignments to kill various culprits, and at the same time, having deadly traps set against them by their own employer.

Stars: Houko Kuwashima, Kotono Mitsuishi, Shelley Calene-Black, Monica Rial

Votes: 2,051

28. Score (2016)

Not Rated | 93 min | Documentary, Music

A look at the cinematic art of the film musical score, and the artists who create them.

Director: Matt Schrader | Stars: Marco Beltrami, Jon Burlingame, Leonard Maltin, Bill Field

Votes: 4,877 | Gross: $0.10M

29. Devotion (1946)

Passed | 107 min | Biography, Drama, Mystery

Genius authors Emily and Charlotte Brontë fall in love with their curate as they seek to get their work published.

Director: Curtis Bernhardt | Stars: Olivia de Havilland, Ida Lupino, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet

Votes: 1,015

30. Prelude: Dog Star Man (1962)

25 min | Short

The prelude to Dog Star Man (1964), an experimental film wherein a man climbs a mountain along with his dog.

Director: Stan Brakhage | Stars: Stan Brakhage, Jane Wodening

Votes: 1,478

31. Les aventures d'archives

Comedy, Crime, Sci-Fi | Post-production

Add a Plot

Director: Tyler Meyer | Stars: Elvis Presley, Charles Chaplin, Walt Disney, Barack Obama