Top 100 Most Inspiring Films

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

The following table lists the top 100 most inspiring films of all time, according to the American Film Institute, including Schindler's List and To Kill a Mockingbird. A jury of 1,500 film artists, critics and historians selected the classic It's a Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart, as the most inspiring movie of all time.

  Movie Year
1 It's a Wonderful Life 1946
2 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962
3 Schindler's List 1993
4 Rocky 1976
5 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939
6 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982
7 The Grapes of Wrath 1940
8 Breaking Away 1979
9 Miracle on 34th Street 1947
10 Saving Private Ryan 1998
11 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946
12 Apollo 13 1995
13 Hoosiers 1986
14 The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957
15 The Miracle Worker 1962
16 Norma Rae 1979
17 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975
18 The Diary of Anne Frank 1959
19 The Right Stuff 1983
20 Philadelphia 1993
21 In the Heat of the Night 1967
22 The Pride of the Yankees 1942
23 The Shawshank Redemption 1994
24 National Velvet 1944
25 Sullivan's Travels 1941
26 The Wizard of Oz 1939
27 High Noon 1952
28 Field of Dreams 1989
29 Gandhi 1982
30 Lawrence of Arabia 1962
31 Glory 1989
32 Casablanca 1942
33 City Lights 1931
34 All the President's Men 1976
35 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner 1967
36 On the Waterfront 1954
37 Forrest Gump 1994
38 Pinocchio 1940
39 Star Wars 1977
40 Mrs. Miniver 1942
41 The Sound of Music 1965
42 12 Angry Men 1957
43 Gone With the Wind 1939
44 Spartacus 1960
45 On Golden Pond 1981
46 Lilies of the Field 1963
47 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
48 The African Queen 1951
49 Meet John Doe 1941
50 Seabiscuit 2003
51 The Color Purple 1985
52 Dead Poet's Society 1989
53 Shane 1953
54 Rudy 1993
55 The Defiant Ones 1958
56 Ben-Hur 1959
57 Sergeant York 1941
58 Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977
59 Dances With Wolves 1990
60 The Killing Fields 1984
61 Sounder 1972
62 Braveheart 1995
63 Rain Man 1988
64 The Black Stallion 1979
65 A Raisin in the Sun 1961
66 Silkwood 1983
67 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951
68 An Officer and a Gentleman 1982
69 The Spirit of St. Louis 1957
70 Coal Miner's Daughter 1980
71 Cool Hand Luke 1967
72 Dark Victory 1939
73 Erin Brockovich 2000
74 Gunga Din 1939
75 The Verdict 1982
76 Birdman of Alcatraz 1962
77 Driving Miss Daisy 1989
78 Thelma & Louise 1991
79 The Ten Commandments 1956
80 Babe 1995
81 Boys Town 1938
82 Fiddler on the Roof 1971
83 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town 1936
84 Serpico 1973
85 What's Love Got to Do With It 1993
86 Stand and Deliver 1988
87 Working Girl 1988
88 Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942
89 Harold and Maude 1972
90 Hotel Rwanda 2004
91 The Paper Chase 1973
92 Fame 1980
93 A Beautiful Mind 2001
94 Captains Courageous 1937
95 Places in the Heart 1984
96 Searching for Bobby Fischer 1993
97 Madame Curie 1943
98 The Karate Kid 1984
99 Ray 2004
100 Chariots of Fire 1981

 

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