30 Movies That More Than Deserve To Be On The 'IMDb Top 250 Movies'' List

by DareDevilKid | created - 24 Oct 2010 | updated - 25 Oct 2010 | Public

While I swear by the 'IMDb Top 250 Movies' List, & though I've unearthed most of the classics & my all time favourite movies from it, there are some movies which are long overdue & definitely merit a spot on this list in place of some not so deserving movies. Below are the 30 best movies among the top contenders for a permanent position on this list:

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1. A Few Good Men (1992)

R | 138 min | Drama, Thriller

62 Metascore

Military lawyer Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder. They contend they were acting under orders.

Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon

Votes: 287,260 | Gross: $141.34M

2. Dirty Harry (1971)

R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

87 Metascore

When a man calling himself "the Scorpio Killer" menaces San Francisco, tough-as-nails Police Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is assigned to track down the crazed psychopath.

Directors: Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Andrew Robinson, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni

Votes: 168,269 | Gross: $35.90M

3. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure

57 Metascore

In 1935, Indiana Jones is tasked by Indian villagers with reclaiming a rock stolen from them by a secret cult beneath the catacombs of an ancient palace.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri

Votes: 535,180 | Gross: $179.87M

4. Gangs of New York (2002)

R | 167 min | Crime, Drama

72 Metascore

In 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.

Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jim Broadbent

Votes: 472,833 | Gross: $77.81M

5. White Heat (1949)

Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Crime, Drama

89 Metascore

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.

Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly

Votes: 35,738

6. The Untouchables (1987)

R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

79 Metascore

During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith

Votes: 330,746 | Gross: $76.27M

7. Jurassic Park (1993)

PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

68 Metascore

A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough

Votes: 1,066,862 | Gross: $402.45M

8. A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

R | 99 min | Action, Drama, Western

65 Metascore

A wandering gunfighter plays two rival families against each other in a town torn apart by greed, pride, and revenge.

Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gian Maria Volontè, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy

Votes: 232,623 | Gross: $14.50M

9. Rocky II (1979)

PG | 119 min | Drama, Sport

61 Metascore

Rocky struggles in family life after his bout with Apollo Creed, while the embarrassed champ insistently goads him to accept a challenge for a rematch.

Director: Sylvester Stallone | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers

Votes: 231,200

10. Jerry Maguire (1996)

R | 139 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

77 Metascore

When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former colleague.

Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger, Kelly Preston

Votes: 286,985 | Gross: $153.95M

11. High Plains Drifter (1973)

R | 105 min | Drama, Mystery, Western

69 Metascore

A gun-fighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago and is hired to bring the townsfolk together in an attempt to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Mitchell Ryan

Votes: 64,505 | Gross: $15.70M

12. Air Force One (1997)

R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

62 Metascore

Communist radicals hijack Air Force One with the U.S. President and his family on board. The Vice President negotiates from Washington D.C., while the President, a veteran, fights to rescue the hostages on board.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson

Votes: 210,089 | Gross: $172.96M

13. Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)

Passed | 95 min | Western

A marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for his role in the rape and murder of the marshal's Native American wife.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman

Votes: 8,805 | Gross: $2.50M

14. Rio Bravo (1959)

Passed | 141 min | Western

93 Metascore

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson

Votes: 68,042 | Gross: $12.54M

15. Mackenna's Gold (1969)

M | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

37 Metascore

A bandit kidnaps a Marshal who has seen a map showing a gold vein on Indian lands, but other groups are looking for it too, while the Apache try to keep the secret location undisturbed.

Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv

Votes: 9,860

16. The Omen (1976)

R | 111 min | Horror, Mystery

62 Metascore

Mysterious deaths surround an American ambassador. Could the child that he is raising actually be the Antichrist? The Devil's own son?

Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, Harvey Stephens, David Warner

Votes: 132,432 | Gross: $4.27M

17. Mission: Impossible (1996)

PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

59 Metascore

An American agent, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organization.

Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny

Votes: 470,207 | Gross: $180.98M

18. Enter the Dragon (1973)

R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

83 Metascore

A Shaolin martial artist travels to an island fortress to spy on an opium lord - who is also a former monk from his temple - under the guise of attending a fighting tournament.

Director: Robert Clouse | Stars: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly, Ahna Capri

Votes: 112,968 | Gross: $25.00M

19. The Guns of Navarone (1961)

Not Rated | 158 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

72 Metascore

A team of Allied saboteurs is assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held Greek island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: David Niven, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle

Votes: 55,375 | Gross: $28.90M

20. The Hidden Fortress (1958)

Not Rated | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

89 Metascore

Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.

Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara

Votes: 42,223

21. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

Passed | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

A priest tries to stop a gangster from corrupting a group of street kids.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan

Votes: 23,197

22. The Devil's Advocate (1997)

R | 144 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery

60 Metascore

An exceptionally-adept Florida lawyer is offered a job at a high-end New York City law firm with a high-end boss--the biggest opportunity of his career to date.

Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones

Votes: 401,791 | Gross: $60.98M

23. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)

PG-13 | 135 min | Drama, Romance

69 Metascore

Photographer Robert Kincaid wanders into the life of housewife Francesca Johnson for four days in the 1960s.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Annie Corley, Victor Slezak

Votes: 88,893 | Gross: $71.52M

24. Milk (I) (2008)

R | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History

83 Metascore

The story of American gay activist Harvey Milk, who fought for gay rights and was elected as California's first openly gay official.

Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna

Votes: 179,838 | Gross: $31.84M

25. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Passed | 126 min | Biography, Drama, Family

89 Metascore

The life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George M. Cohan.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf

Votes: 16,857 | Gross: $11.80M

26. E.T. (1982)

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

92 Metascore

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: 437,415 | Gross: $435.11M

27. In the Line of Fire (1993)

R | 128 min | Action, Crime, Drama

74 Metascore

Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan couldn't save Kennedy, but he's determined not to let a clever assassin take out this president.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott

Votes: 113,674 | Gross: $102.31M

28. The Recruit (2003)

PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Thriller

56 Metascore

A brilliant young CIA trainee is asked by his mentor to help find a mole in the Agency.

Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel Macht

Votes: 142,225 | Gross: $52.80M

29. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A unassuming greeting card poet from a small town in Vermont heads to New York City upon inheriting a massive fortune and is immediately hounded by those who wish to take advantage of him.

Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, George Bancroft, Lionel Stander

Votes: 23,210

30. Throne of Blood (1957)

Not Rated | 110 min | Drama

A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.

Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura

Votes: 55,929



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