Movies by Lists - AFI Top 50 Heros (49 [50])| Title | Year | Director | Genre | Rating | Runtime | Added |
|---|
| 12 Angry MenThe jury in a New York City murder trial is frustrated by a single member whose skeptical caution forces them to more carefully consider the evidence before jumping to a hasty verdict. | 1957 | Sidney Lumet (*) | Crime, Drama | 9.0 (749.3K votes) | 96 | 20211228 |
| Adventures of Robin Hood, TheWhen 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. | 1938 | Michael Curtiz, William Keighley | Action, Adventure, Romance | 7.9 (50K votes) | 102 | 20211228 |
| AliensFifty-seven years after surviving an apocalyptic attack aboard her space vessel by merciless space creatures, Officer Ripley awakens from hyper-sleep and tries to warn anyone who will listen about the predators. | 1986 | James Cameron (*) | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller | 8.3 (691K votes) | 137 | 20211228 |
| All the President's Men"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation. | 1976 | Alan J. Pakula (*) | Drama, History, Thriller | 8.0 (111.6K votes) | 138 | 20211228 |
| BatmanThe Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker. | 1989 | Tim Burton (*) | Action, Adventure | 7.5 (359.1K votes) | 126 | 20211228 |
| Big Sleep, ThePrivate detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. | 1946 | Howard Hawks (*) | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery, Thriller | 7.9 (83.8K votes) | 114 | 20211228 |
| Boys TownWhen a death row prisoner tells him he wouldn't have led a life of crime if only he had had one friend as a child, Father Edward Flanagan decides to start a home for young boys. | 1938 | Norman Taurog | Biography, Drama, Family | 7.3 (5.6K votes) | 96 | 20211228 |
| Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidWyoming, early 1900s. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are the leaders of a band of outlaws. After a train robbery goes wrong they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. Their solution - escape to Bolivia. | 1969 | George Roy Hill (*) | Biography, Crime, Drama, Western | 8.0 (211.5K votes) | 110 | 20211228 |
| CasablancaA cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco. | 1942 | Michael Curtiz (*) | Drama, Romance, War | 8.5 (558.2K votes) | 102 | 20220423 |
| City LightsWith the aid of a wealthy erratic tippler, a dewy-eyed tramp who has fallen in love with a sightless flower girl accumulates money to be able to help her medically. | 1931 | Charles Chaplin (*) | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 8.5 (179.3K votes) | 87 | 20211228 |
| Cool Hand LukeA laid back Southern man is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform. | 1967 | Stuart Rosenberg (*) | Crime, Drama | 8.1 (172.7K votes) | 127 | 20211228 |
| Dirty HarryWhen a madman calling himself "the Scorpio Killer" menaces the city, tough-as-nails San Francisco Police Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is assigned to track down and ferret out the crazed psychopath. | 1971 | Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood | Action, Crime, Thriller | 7.7 (151.8K votes) | 102 | 20211228 |
| Dr. NoA resourceful British government agent seeks answers in a case involving the disappearance of a colleague and the disruption of the American space program. | 1962 | Terence Young | Action, Adventure, Thriller | 7.2 (161.3K votes) | 110 | 20211228 |
| Erin BrockovichAn unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city's water supply. | 2000 | Steven Soderbergh (*) | Biography, Drama | 7.4 (190.4K votes) | 131 | 20211228 |
| FargoMinnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson. | 1996 | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Crime, Thriller | 8.1 (654.8K votes) | 98 | 20211228 |
| French Connection, TheA pair of NYPD detectives in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a heroin smuggling ring based in Marseilles, but stopping them and capturing their leaders proves an elusive goal. | 1971 | William Friedkin (*) | Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller | 7.7 (118.5K votes) | 104 | 20211228 |
| GandhiThe life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest. | 1982 | Richard Attenborough (*) | Biography, Drama | 8.0 (225.5K votes) | 191 | 20211228 |
| GladiatorA former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery. | 2000 | Ridley Scott (*) | Action, Adventure, Drama | 8.5 (1.4M votes) | 155 | 20211228 |
| Goodbye Mr. ChipsAn aged teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school recalls his career and his personal life over the decades. | 1939 | Sam Wood, Sidney Franklin | Drama, Romance | 7.9 (10.4K votes) | 114 | 20211228 |
| Grapes of Wrath, TheAn Oklahoma family driven off their farm by the poverty and hopelessness of the Dust Bowl joins the westward migration to California, suffering the misfortunes of the homeless in the Great Depression. | 1940 | John Ford (*) | Drama | 8.1 (90.3K votes) | 129 | 20211228 |
| High NoonA town Marshal, despite the disagreements of his newlywed bride and the townspeople around him, must face a gang of deadly killers alone at high noon when the gang leader, an outlaw he sent up years ago, arrives on the noon train. | 1952 | Fred Zinnemann (*) | Drama, Thriller, Western | 8.0 (102.2K votes) | 85 | 20211228 |
| In The Heat of The NightA black Philadelphia police detective is mistakenly suspected of a local murder while passing through a racially hostile Mississippi town, and after being cleared is reluctantly asked by the police chief to investigate the case. | 1967 | Norman Jewison (*) | Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller | 7.9 (73.3K votes) | 110 | 20211228 |
| It's a Wonderful LifeAn angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed. | 1946 | Frank Capra (*) | Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy | 8.6 (438.9K votes) | 130 | 20211228 |
| Lassie Come HomeAfter her destitute family is forced to sell her, a collie named Lassie escapes from her new owner and begins the long trek from Scotland to her Yorkshire home. | 1943 | Fred M. Wilcox (*) | Adventure, Drama, Family | 7.1 (5.3K votes) | 89 | 20211228 |
| Lawrence of ArabiaThe story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks. | 1962 | David Lean (*) | Adventure, Biography, Drama, War | 8.3 (284.5K votes) | 228 | 20211228 |
| Mark of Zorro, TheA young Spanish aristocrat must masquerade as a fop in order to maintain his secret identity of Zorro as he restores justice to early California. | 1940 | Rouben Mamoulian (*) | Action, Adventure, Family, Romance, Western | 7.6 (10K votes) | 94 | 20211228 |
| Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonA naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his char | 1939 | Frank Capra (*) | Comedy, Drama | 8.1 (113.2K votes) | 129 | 20211228 |
| Norma RaeA young single mother and textile worker agrees to help unionize her mill despite the problems and dangers involved. | 1979 | Martin Ritt (*) | Drama | 7.3 (11.3K votes) | 114 | 20211228 |
| On The WaterfrontAn ex-prize fighter turned New Jersey longshoreman struggles to stand up to his corrupt union bosses, including his older brother, as he starts to connect with the grieving sister of one of the syndicate's victims. | 1954 | Elia Kazan (*) | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 8.1 (150.9K votes) | 108 | 20211228 |
| PattonThe World War II phase of the career of controversial American general George S. Patton. | 1970 | Franklin J. Schaffner (*) | Biography, Drama, War | 7.9 (100K votes) | 172 | 20211228 |
| PhiladelphiaWhen a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit. | 1993 | Jonathan Demme (*) | Drama | 7.7 (235.6K votes) | 125 | 20211228 |
| Pride of the Yankees, TheThe story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig. | 1942 | Sam Wood (*) | Biography, Drama, Romance, Sport | 7.7 (10.7K votes) | 128 | 20211228 |
| Raiders of the Lost ArkIn 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler's Nazis can obtain its awesome powers. | 1981 | Steven Spielberg (*) | Action, Adventure | 8.4 (932.2K votes) | 115 | 20211228 |
| RockyA small-time Philadelphia boxer gets a supremely rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect. | 1976 | John G. Avildsen (*) | Drama, Sport | 8.1 (551.3K votes) | 120 | 20211228 |
| Schindlers ListIn German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis. | 1993 | Steven Spielberg (*) | Biography, Drama, History | 8.9 (1.3M votes) | 195 | 20211228 |
| Sergeant YorkA Tennessee farmer and marksman is drafted in World War I, and struggles with his pacifist inclinations before becoming one of the most celebrated war heroes. | 1941 | Howard Hawks (*) | Biography, Drama, History, Romance, War | 7.7 (17.8K votes) | 134 | 20211228 |
| SerpicoAn honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him. | 1973 | Sidney Lumet (*) | Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller | 7.7 (119K votes) | 130 | 20211228 |
| ShaneA weary gunfighter in 1880s Wyoming begins to envision a quieter life after befriending a homestead family with a young son who idolizes him, but a smoldering range war forces him to act. | 1953 | George Stevens (*) | Drama, Western | 7.6 (39.6K votes) | 118 | 20211228 |
| Silence of the Lambs, TheA young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims. | 1991 | Jonathan Demme (*) | Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller | 8.6 (1.4M votes) | 118 | 20211228 |
| SilkwoodA worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant. | 1983 | Mike Nichols (*) | Biography, Drama, History, Thriller | 7.2 (19.7K votes) | 131 | 20211228 |
| SpartacusThe slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising. | 1960 | Stanley Kubrick (*) | Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War | 7.9 (131.8K votes) | 197 | 20211228 |
| Star WarsLuke 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 Vad | 1977 | George Lucas (*) | Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi | 8.6 (1.3M votes) | 121 | 20211228 |
| SupermanAn alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home's first and greatest superhero. | 1978 | Richard Donner | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi | 7.3 (169.6K votes) | 143 | 20211228 |
| Tarzan The Ape ManA trader and his daughter set off in search of the fabled graveyard of the elephants in deepest Africa, only to encounter a wild man raised by apes. | 1932 | W.S. Van Dyke (*) | Action, Adventure, Romance | 7.0 (7.4K votes) | 100 | 20211228 |
| Ten Commandments, TheMoses, raised as a prince of Egypt in the Pharaoh's household, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people from slavery. | 1956 | Cecil B. DeMille (*) | Adventure, Drama, Family | 7.9 (68.3K votes) | 220 | 20211228 |
| Terminator II - Judgement DayA cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten-year-old son John from a more advanced and powerful cyborg. | 1991 | James Cameron (*) | Action, Sci-Fi | 8.5 (1.1M votes) | 137 | 20211228 |
| ThelmaA confused religious girl tries to deny her feelings for a female friend who's in love with her. This causes her suppressed subconsciously-controlled psychokinetic powers to reemerge with devastating results. | 2017 | Joachim Trier | Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller | 7.0 (30.2K votes) | 116 | 20211228 |
| To Kill a MockingbirdAtticus Finch, a widowed lawyer in Depression-era Alabama, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his children against prejudice. | 1962 | Robert Mulligan (*) | Crime, Drama | 8.2 (308.4K votes) | 129 | 20211228 |
| True GritA drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian Territory. | 1969 | Henry Hathaway | Adventure, Drama, Western | 7.4 (46.3K votes) | 128 | 20211228 |