West Germany (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. The NeverEnding Story (1984)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Gerald McRaney
Votes: 143,566 | Gross: $20.16M
2. The Boat (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth and sheer terror.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 249,152 | Gross: $11.49M
3. Paris, Texas (1984)
R | 145 min | Drama
Travis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Sam Berry
Votes: 105,259 | Gross: $2.18M
4. The Name of the Rose (1986)
R | 130 min | Drama, History, Mystery
An intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Sean Connery, Christian Slater, Helmut Qualtinger, Elya Baskin
Votes: 108,430 | Gross: $7.15M
5. Nekromantik (1988)
Not Rated | 71 min | Horror
A street sweeper who cleans up after grisly accidents brings home a full corpse for him and his wife to enjoy sexually, but is dismayed to see that his wife prefers the corpse over him.
Director: Jörg Buttgereit | Stars: Bernd Daktari Lorenz, Beatrice Manowski, Harald Lundt, Collosseo
Votes: 9,540
6. Hair (1979)
PG | 121 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Claude Bukowski leaves the family ranch in Oklahoma for New York where he is rapidly embraced into the hippie group of youngsters led by Berger, yet he's already been drafted. He soon falls in love with Sheila Franklin, a rich girl but still a rebel inside.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: John Savage, Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo, Annie Golden
Votes: 37,720 | Gross: $15.28M
7. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.
Director: Bob Rafelson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange, John Colicos, Michael Lerner
Votes: 23,810 | Gross: $12.38M
8. Cruising (1980)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A police detective goes undercover in the underground S&M gay subculture of New York City to catch a serial killer who is preying on gay men.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox
Votes: 23,613 | Gross: $19.80M
9. Wings of Desire (1987)
PG-13 | 128 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
An angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois
Votes: 70,858 | Gross: $3.33M
10. Christiane F. (1981)
R | 138 min | Biography, Drama
A teen girl in 1970's Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Natja Brunckhorst, Eberhard Auriga, Peggy Bussieck, Lothar Chamski
Votes: 25,338
11. Tatort (1970– )
90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
This anthology series follows the work of police officers in Germany.
Stars: Klaus J. Behrendt, Miroslav Nemec, Udo Wachtveitl, Dietmar Bär
Votes: 3,324
12. Das Boot (1985)
TV-MA | 293 min | Drama, War
A World War II German U-Boat crew have a terrifying patrol mission in the early days of the war.
Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 29,913
13. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
PG | 107 min | Drama, Horror
Count Dracula moves from Transylvania to Wismar, spreading the Black Plague across the land. Only a woman pure of heart can bring an end to his reign of horror.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor
Votes: 36,086
14. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Romance
A lonely widow meets a much younger Arab worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Brigitte Mira, El Hedi ben Salem, Barbara Valentin, Irm Hermann
Votes: 21,453
15. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
In the 16th century, the ruthless and insane Don Lope de Aguirre leads a Spanish expedition in search of El Dorado.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Ruy Guerra, Helena Rojo, Del Negro
Votes: 57,039
16. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
PG | 158 min | Adventure, Drama
The story of Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an extremely determined man who intends to build an opera house in the middle of a jungle.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, José Lewgoy, Miguel Ángel Fuentes
Votes: 34,902
17. Maladolescenza (1977)
TV-MA | 94 min | Drama, Romance
A teen boy grows from playing and fighting with his German-shepherd dog to playing kid--then adult--games with two equally young girls in a dream-like forest which eventually turns eerie and somber.
Director: Pier Giuseppe Murgia | Stars: Martin Loeb, Lara Wendel, Eva Ionesco
Votes: 2,100
18. The American Friend (1977)
Not Rated | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Tom Ripley, who deals in forged art, suggests a picture framer he knows would make a good hit man.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gérard Blain
Votes: 16,402
19. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 24,266
20. Bloodline (1979)
R | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When her father is murdered, a pharmaceutical heiress becomes the next target of an unknown killer amid the international jet set.
Director: Terence Young | Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, James Mason, Claudia Mori
Votes: 1,757
21. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, Romance
A successful fashion designer abandons a sado-masochistic relationship with her female assistant in favor of a love affair with a beautiful young woman.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla, Katrin Schaake, Eva Mattes
Votes: 9,788
22. Autumn Sonata (1978)
PG | 99 min | Drama, Music
A devoted wife is visited by her mother, a successful concert pianist who had little time for her when she was young.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Ingrid Bergman, Liv Ullmann, Lena Nyman, Halvar Björk
Votes: 34,218
23. Vampyros Lesbos (1971)
Unrated | 89 min | Drama, Horror
An erotic horror tale about a vixen vampiress seducing and killing women to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood.
Director: Jesús Franco | Stars: Soledad Miranda, Dennis Price, Paul Muller, Ewa Strömberg
Votes: 4,689
24. The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (1967)
M | 84 min | Horror, Mystery
A Count executed for murdering twelve virgins in a bid for immortality returns to life, seeking revenge on the daughter of his intended thirteenth victim and the son of his prosecutor.
Director: Harald Reinl | Stars: Lex Barker, Karin Dor, Christopher Lee, Carl Lange
Votes: 2,032
25. Querelle (1982)
R | 108 min | Drama
A handsome sailor is drawn into a vortex of sibling rivalry, murder, and explosive sexuality.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Brad Davis, Franco Nero, Jeanne Moreau, Laurent Malet
Votes: 6,661
26. 14 and Under (1973)
X | 87 min | Comedy
A series of "sex reports" intended to address the issue of pedophilia in the early 1970s.
Director: Ernst Hofbauer | Stars: Lis Kertelge, Melitta Tegeler, Harald Baerow, Hans Billian
Votes: 369
27. Alice in the Cities (1974)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
A German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Yella Rottländer, Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer, Edda Köchl
Votes: 11,767
28. Mark of the Devil (1970)
R | 90 min | Drama, History, Horror
In 1700s Austria, a witch-hunter's apprentice has doubts about the righteousness of witch-hunting when he witnesses the brutality, the injustice, the falsehood, the torture and the arbitrary killing that go with the job.
Directors: Michael Armstrong, Adrian Hoven | Stars: Herbert Lom, Udo Kier, Olivera Katarina, Reggie Nalder
Votes: 3,335
29. Bagdad Cafe (1987)
PG | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
A lonely German woman ends up in the most desolate motel on Earth and decides to make it brighter.
Director: Percy Adlon | Stars: Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder, Jack Palance, Christine Kaufmann
Votes: 13,963 | Gross: $3.59M
30. Eugenie (1970)
X | 87 min | Drama, Horror
An innocent girl goes to spend the weekend on an island with a woman and her brother, but soon she finds herself entangled in a web of dream-like sexual experiments.
Director: Jesús Franco | Stars: Maria Rohm, Marie Liljedahl, Jack Taylor, Christopher Lee
Votes: 1,659 | Gross: $0.08M
31. The Formula (1980)
R | 117 min | Crime, Thriller
The synthetic fuel production formula, invented by the Nazis at the end of World War II, is sought after by some who aim to sell it, and by others who wish to destroy it.
Director: John G. Avildsen | Stars: George C. Scott, Marlon Brando, Marthe Keller, John Gielgud
Votes: 2,640
32. Marquis de Sade's Justine (1969)
R | 90 min | Drama
Penniless and separated from her sister, a beautiful, chaste orphan must endure an endless parade of villains, perverts and degenerates who covet her virtue and life.
Director: Jesús Franco | Stars: Klaus Kinski, Romina Power, Maria Rohm, Rosemary Dexter
Votes: 1,798
33. The Apple (1980)
PG | 90 min | Music, Musical, Sci-Fi
In 1994, a young couple enters the world of the music industry, and subsequently the world of drugs.
Director: Menahem Golan | Stars: Catherine Mary Stewart, George Gilmour, Grace Kennedy, Allan Love
Votes: 2,322
34. The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
R | 120 min | Drama
Maria marries Hermann Braun in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. Alone, Maria puts to use her beauty and ambition in order to find prosperity during Germany's "economic miracle" of the 1950s.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Hanna Schygulla, Klaus Löwitsch, Ivan Desny, Gisela Uhlen
Votes: 13,747
35. Beware of a Holy Whore (1971)
Not Rated | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
On a film set there are two things missing, the film material and the director. So the actors and actresses as well as the crew try to make the best out of the situation. When the director ... See full summary »
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Lou Castel, Eddie Constantine, Marquard Bohm, Hanna Schygulla
Votes: 2,308
36. Lola (1981)
R | 115 min | Drama, Romance
A seductive cabaret singer-prostitute pits a corrupt building contractor against the new straight-arrow building commissioner, launching an outrageous plan to elevate herself in a world where everything-and everyone-is for sale.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Barbara Sukowa, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Mario Adorf, Matthias Fuchs
Votes: 6,115
37. Schoolgirl Report Part 3: What Parents Find Unthinkable (1972)
X | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
After the first part of the legendary report dealing with the sexual behavior of underage schoolgirls, and the second part dealing with the psychological background, the third part is devoted to striking individual cases.
Directors: Walter Boos, Ernst Hofbauer | Stars: Friedrich von Thun, Werner Abrolat, Gerd Arnau, Johannes Buzalski
Votes: 435
38. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
Not Rated | 931 min | Crime, Drama
In late-1920s Berlin, Franz Biberkopf is released from prison and vows to go straight. However, he soon finds himself embroiled in the city's criminal underworld.
Stars: Günter Lamprecht, Claus Holm, Hanna Schygulla, Franz Buchrieser
Votes: 4,529
39. Bloody Moon (1981)
Not Rated | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Girls are killed at a language-school in Spain.
Director: Jesús Franco | Stars: Olivia Pascal, Christoph Moosbrugger, Nadja Gerganoff, Jasmin Losensky
Votes: 2,394
40. Derrick (1974–1998)
60 min | Crime, Drama
Detective Chief Inspector Stephan Derrick and his loyal assistant, Inspector Harry Klein, solve murder cases in Munich and surrounding areas.
Stars: Horst Tappert, Fritz Wepper, Willy Schäfer, Holger Petzold
Votes: 1,644
41. Winnetou (1963)
91 min | Western, Adventure
When violent conflict breaks out between greedy railroaders and a tribe of Mescalero Apaches, only two men, destined to be blood brothers, can prevent all-out war: chief's son Winnetou and German engineer Old Shatterhand.
Director: Harald Reinl | Stars: Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, Marie Versini, Mario Adorf
Votes: 4,146
42. Kings of the Road (1976)
Not Rated | 175 min | Drama
A traveling projection-equipment mechanic works in Western Germany along the East-German border, visiting worn-out theatres. He meets with a depressed young man whose marriage has just broken up, and the two decide to travel together.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Rüdiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer, Rudolf Schündler
Votes: 5,845
43. Fox and His Friends (1975)
Not Rated | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A suggestible working-class innocent wins the lottery but lets himself be taken advantage of by his bourgeois new boyfriend and his circle of materialistic friends.
Director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Stars: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Peter Chatel, Karlheinz Böhm, Adrian Hoven
Votes: 6,093
44. Freedom to Love (1969)
90 min | Documentary
Documentary, dramatized at times, on human sexual behaviour. Daring for its time for its approach to some of the most delicate aspects of this taboo subject.
Directors: Eberhard Kronhausen, Phyllis Kronhausen | Stars: Marie Antoinette, Daniel D. Halleck, Monique Kraamwinkel, Sacha Kraamwinkel
Votes: 230 | Gross: $0.03M
45. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
Not Rated | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History
A young man named Kaspar Hauser suddenly appears in Nuremberg in 1828, barely able to talk or walk, and bearing a strange note.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Bruno S., Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira, Willy Semmelrogge
Votes: 17,739
46. The Fan (1982)
Unrated | 92 min | Drama, Horror, Music
The hero-worship that Simone has for a pop singer is built to a crescendo until she passes out when she finally sees him up-close in a crowd of fans. She is later shocked when he lets her know that he does not love her.
Director: Eckhart Schmidt | Stars: Désirée Nosbusch, Bodo Staiger, Simone Brahmann, Jonas Vischer
Votes: 1,625
47. Stroszek (1977)
Not Rated | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
In Berlin, an alcoholic man, recently released from prison, joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in a determined dream to leave Germany and seek a better life in Wisconsin.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Bruno S., Eva Mattes, Clemens Scheitz, Wilhelm von Homburg
Votes: 14,266
48. The School Girls (1970)
90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Mockumentary about German schoolgirls openly talking about their scandalous sexual experiences. Some of these are illustrated through inserted vignettes. Also, a street reporter asks actual common folk about their views on sex.
Director: Ernst Hofbauer | Stars: Günther Kieslich, Wolf Harnisch, Helga Kruck, Friedrich von Thun
Votes: 686 | Gross: $0.06M
49. World on a Wire (1973)
Not Rated | 212 min | Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Somewhere in the future there is a computer project called Simulacron one of which is able to simulate a full featured reality, when suddenly project leader Henry Vollmer dies. His ... See full summary »
Stars: Klaus Löwitsch, Barbara Valentin, Mascha Rabben, Karl Heinz Vosgerau
Votes: 6,183
50. Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
R | 146 min | Drama, Thriller
An imprisoned rogue USAF general with a secret personal agenda, escapes the brig and takes over an ICBM silo, threatening to start WW3.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Roscoe Lee Browne, Joseph Cotten
Votes: 3,403