Longtime readers of this blog know that every year around this time I post an updated “student tomato-meter” showing the aggregated results of the ratings — on a scale from one-to-10 — that my students have given to every movie I’ve shown in my film studies classes. I’ve now taught 58 classes and shown a total of 237 unique movies over the past five-and-a-half years. Incredibly, I recently realized that I’ve shown at least one movie that was originally released during every single calendar year from 1920 through the present (boo-yah!). Below is a list of all the films I have screened to date, presented in chronological order by release date, along with the average ratings given by my students. Below that I’ve also included a list of the top 10 highest rated films. Enjoy!
The list in chronological order:
The Golem (Wegener/Boese, Germany, 1920) – 6.0
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, Germany, 1920) – 6.5
The Phantom Carriage (Sjostrom, Sweden, 1921) – 7.3
Nosferatu (Murnau, Germany, 1922) – 6.5
Our Hospitality (Keaton, USA, 1923) – 8.3
Waxworks (Leni, Germany, 1924) – 5.1
The Hands of Orlac (Wiene, Germany, 1924) – 6.2
Sherlock Jr. (Keaton, USA, 1924) – 7.9
Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, Soviet Union, 1925) – 5.1
The Last Laugh (Murnau, Germany, 1925) – 7.3
The Gold Rush (Chaplin, USA, 1925) – 8.0
The Navigator (Keaton, 1925) – 8.1
Seven Chances (Keaton, USA, 1925) – 8.2
The Freshman (Newmeyer/Taylor, USA, 1925) – 8.3
Faust (Murnau, Germany, 1926) – 7.0
The General (Keaton, USA, 1926) – 8.5
The End of St. Petersburg (Pudovkin, Soviet Union, 1927) – 5.0
Metropolis (Lang, Germany, 1927) – 6.6
Sunrise (Murnau, USA, 1927) – 7.0
Lonesome (Fejos, USA, 1928) – 6.7
The Passion of Joan of Arc (Dreyer, France, 1928) – 7.3
Man with the Movie Camera (Vertov, Soviet Union, 1929) – 6.0
A Cottage on Dartmoor (Asquith, UK, 1929) – 8.3
Earth (Dovzhenko, Soviet Union, 1930) – 3.6
City Girl (Murnau, USA, 1930) – 6.5
L’age D’or (Bunuel, France, 1930) – 6.6
M (Lang, Germany, 1931) – 8.1
City Lights (Chaplin, USA, 1931) – 8.4
Vampyr (Dreyer, Denmark/Germany, 1932) – 6.9
Duck Soup (McCarey, USA, 1933) – 6.8
L’atalante (Vigo, France, 1934) – 6.7
Top Hat (Sandrich, USA, 1935) – 8.6
My Man Godfrey (La Cava, USA, 1936) – 8.5
Grand Illusion (Renoir, France, 1937) – 7.0
The Awful Truth (McCarey, USA, 1937) – 8.5
Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks, USA, 1937) – 9.4
Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein, Soviet Union, 1938) – 5.0
Bringing Up Baby (Hawks, USA, 1938) – 8.3
The Rules of the Game (Renoir, France, 1939) – 7.1
Stagecoach (Ford, USA, 1939) – 7.7
The Roaring Twenties (Walsh, USA, 1939) – 8.4
The Shop Around the Corner (Lubitsch, USA, 1940) – 7.4
How Green Was My Valley (Ford, USA, 1941) – 6.8
The Lady Eve (Sturges, USA, 1941) – 8.3
Citizen Kane (Welles, USA, 1941) – 8.3
Cat People (Tourneur, USA, 1942) – 5.0
The Palm Beach Story (Sturges, USA, 1942) – 7.5
Casablanca (Curtiz, USA, 1942) – 7.6
Ossessione (Visconti, Italy, 1943) – 5.2
The More the Merrier (Stevens, USA, 1943) – 8.5
To Have and Have Not (Hawks, USA, 1944) – 7.5
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (Sturges, USA, 1944) – 8.0
Double Indemnity (Wilder, USA, 1944) – 8.1
Detour (Ulmer, USA, 1945) – 7.2
Rome, Open City (Rossellini, Italy, 1945) – 7.2
Brief Encounter (Lean, England, 1945) – 8.3
The Big Sleep (Hawks, USA, 1946) – 6.0
My Darling Clementine (Ford, USA, 1946) – 7.3
The Best Years of Our Lives (Wyler, USA, 1946) – 8.4
Pursued (Walsh, USA, 1947) – 7.1
Out of the Past (Tourneur, USA, 1947) – 7.6
Body and Soul (Rossen, USA, 1947) – 7.6
The Lady from Shanghai (Welles, USA, 1947) – 7.9
Dead Reckoning (Cromwell, USA, 1947) – 8.2
Germany Year Zero (Rossellini, Italy/Germany, 1948) – 7.4
Fort Apache (Ford, USA, 1948) – 7.5
Bicycle Thieves (de Sica, Italy 1948) – 8.0
The Red Shoes (Powell/Pressburger, UK, 1948) – 8.3
Letter from an Unknown Woman (Ophuls, USA, 1948) – 8.8
The Third Man (Reed, UK, 1949) – 8.0
White Heat (Walsh, USA, 1949) – 8.3
A Letter to Three Wives (Mankiewicz, USA, 1949) – 8.4
Devil’s Doorway (Mann, USA, 1950) – 7.3
Los Olvidados (Bunuel, Mexico, 1950) – 7.5
The African Queen (Huston, 1951) – 8.3
Umberto D. (De Sica, Italy, 1952) – 6.8
Singin’ in the Rain (Donen/Kelly, USA, 1952) – 8.8
Ugetsu (Mizoguchi, Japan, 1953) – 6.7
Tokyo Story (Ozu, Japan, 1953) – 6.7
The Naked Spur (Mann, USA, 1953) – 7.0
Strangers on a Train (Strangers on a Train, USA, 1953) – 7.8
The Band Wagon (Minnelli, USA, 1953) – 8.0
Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (Tati, France, 1953) – 8.1
Pickup on South Street (Fuller, USA, 1953) – 8.2
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hawks, USA, 1953) – 8.3
Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi, Japan, 1954) – 7.0
Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, Japan, 1954) – 8.3
Rear Window (Hitchcock, USA, 1954) – 8.9
All That Heaven Allows (Sirk, USA, 1955) – 8.1
Pather Panchali (Ray, India, 1955) – 6.4
Aparajito (Ray, India, 1956) – 6.6
Bigger Than Life (N. Ray, USA, 1956) – 6.8
The Searchers (John Ford, USA, 1956) – 7.4
A Man Escaped (Bresson, France, 1956) – 8.0
An Affair to Remember (McCarey, USA, 1957) – 8.7
Touch of Evil (Welles, USA, 1958) – 7.7
Some Came Running (Minnelli, USA, 1958) – 7.7
Vertigo (Hitchcock, USA, 1958) – 8.9
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Resnais, France, 1959) – 6.8
Pickpocket (Bresson, France, 1959) – 7.3
Rio Bravo (Hawks, USA, 1959) – 8.0
North By Northwest (Hitchcock, USA, 1959) – 8.6
The 400 Blows (Truffaut, France, 1959) – 8.8
Some Like It Hot (Wilder, USA, 1959) – 9.2
L’avventura (Antonioni, Italy, 1960) – 7.4
Breathless (Godard, France, 1960) – 7.8
Les Bonnes Femmes (Chabrol, France, 1960) – 8.0
Psycho (Hitchcock, USA, 1960) – 8.8
Viridiana (Bunuel, Spain, 1961) – 5.8
Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais, France, 1961) – 6.8
Le Doulos (Melville, France, 1962) – 7.1
Vivre sa Vie (Godard, France, 1962) – 7.2
Cleo from 5 to 7 (Varda, France, 1962) – 7.4
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (Ford, USA, 1962) – 8.3
8 1/2 (Fellini, Italy, 1963) – 6.5
Black Sabbath (Bava, Italy, 1963) – 7.1
Contempt (Godard, France, 1963) – 8.3
Shock Corridor (Fuller, USA, 1963) – 8.4
Onibaba (Shindo, Japan, 1964) – 8.0
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Demy, France, 1964) – 8.2
Alphaville (Godard, France, 1965) – 6.0
Pierrot le Fou (Godard, France, 1965) – 8.3
The Pornographers (Imamura, Japan, 1966) – 6.9
Point Blank (Boorman, USA, 1966) – 7.0
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Leone, Italy, 1966) – 8.8
David Holzman’s Diary (McBride, USA, 1967) – 6.9
Le Samourai (Melville, France, 1967) – 8.0
Play Time (Tati, France, 1967) – 8.2
2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, USA, 1968) – 7.6
My Night at Maud’s (Rohmer, France, 1969) – 7.8
The Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, USA, 1969) – 8.1
Le Boucher (Chabrol, France, 1970) – 7.5
Minnie and Moskowitz (Cassavetes, USA, 1971) – 5.2
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Altman, USA, 1971) – 7.0
Two-Lane Blacktop (Hellman, USA, 1971) – 7.7
A New Leaf (May, USA, 1971) – 8.0
Solaris (Tarkovsky, Russia, 1972) – 6.9
Love in the Afternoon (Rohmer, France, 1972) – 8.6
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder, Germany, 1973) – 7.1
The Mother and the Whore (Eustache, France, 1973) – 7.4
Badlands (Malick, 1973) – 7.6
The Long Goodbye (Altman, USA, 1973) – 7.8
Young Frankenstein (Brooks, USA, 1974) – 7.6
Black Christmas (Clark, Canada, 1974) – 8.2
Chinatown (Polanski, USA, 1974) – 8.2
Blazing Saddles (Brooks, USA, 1974) – 8.4
Night Moves (Penn, USA, 1975) – 8.1
The Irony of Fate: Or Enjoy Your Bath! (Ryazanov, Russia, 1975) – 8.5
Mikey and Nicky (May, USA, 1976) – 6.4
Taxi Driver (Scorsese, USA, 1976) – 8.8
One Way Boogie Woogie (Benning, USA, 1977) – 3.4
Annie Hall (Allen, USA, 1977) – 6.6
Days of Heaven (Malick, USA, 1978) – 7.3
Killer of Sheep (Burnett, USA, 1979) – 7.8
Popeye (Altman, USA, 1980) – 5.2
Raging Bull (Scorsese, USA, 1980) – 8.3
The Road Warrior (Miller, Australia, 1981) – 7.4
Rock in Reykjavik (Fridriksson, Iceland, 1982) – 6.3
The Slumber Party Massacre (Jones, USA, 1982) – 6.8
Blade Runner (Scott, USA, 1982) – 7.6
The Thing (Carpenter, USA, 1982) – 8.3
Sans Soleil (Marker, France, 1983) – 6.2
Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch, USA, 1984) – 6.2
After Hours (Scorsese, USA, 1985) – 6.7
Bad Blood (Carax, France, 1986) – 7.1
The Dead (Huston, USA/UK, 1987) – 7.8
The Thin Blue Line (Morris, USA, 1988) – 7.8
A Short Film About Love (Kieslowski, Poland, 1988) – 8.4
Drugstore Cowboy (Van Sant, USA, 1989) – 8.2
Goodfellas (Scorsese, USA, 1990) – 9.2
Close-Up (Kiarostami, Iran, 1991) – 7.6
The Lovers on the Bridge (Carax, France, 1991) – 8.0
The Player (Altman, USA, 1992) – 8.1
Unforgiven (Eastwood, USA, 1992) – 8.6
Deep Cover (Duke, USA, 1992) – 8.9
The Bride With White Hair (Yu, Hong Kong, 1993) – 5.1
Naked (Leigh, UK, 1993) – 6.3
Groundhog Day (Ramis, USA, 1993) – 8.1
Dazed and Confused (Linklater, USA, 1993) – 8.2
Menace II Society (Hughes/Hughes, USA, 1993) – 8.2
The Piano (Campion, New Zealand, 1993) – 8.6
Ed Wood (Burton, USA, 1994) – 6.8
Chungking Express (Wong, Hong Kong, 1994) – 7.9
Dead Man (Jarmsuch, USA, 1995) – 8.1
A Moment of Innocence (Makhmalbaf, Iran, 1996) – 5.8
The Mirror (Panahi, Iran, 1997) – 5.1
The Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami, Iran, 1997) – 7.2
L.A. Confidential (Hanson, USA, 1997) – 9.0
The Bird People in China (Miike, Japan, 1998) – 6.6
Beau Travail (Denis, France/Djibouti, 1999) – 5.4
Nowhere to Hide (Lee, S. Korea, 1999) – 7.5
Audition (Miike, Japan, 1999) – 7.6
Ravenous (Bird, UK/USA, 1999) – 8.0
Needing You (To/Wai, Hong Kong, 2000) – 7.1
In the Mood for Love (Wong, Hong Kong, 2000) – 7.4
The Day I Became a Woman (Meshkini, Iran, 2000) – 7.5
Failan (Song, S. Korea, 2000) – 8.0
Dancer in the Dark (Von Trier, Denmark/Sweden, 2000) – 8.1
Yi Yi (Yang, Taiwan, 2000) – 8.4
JSA: Joint Security Area (Park, S. Korea, 2000) – 8.4
Avalon (Oshii, Japan/Poland, 2001) 7 .8
Mulholland Drive (Lynch, USA, 2001) – 8.3
The Devil’s Backbone (Del Toro, Spain/Mexico, 2001) – 8.6
Far From Heaven (Haynes, USA, 2002) – 7.6
Infernal Affairs (Lau/Mak, Hong Kong, 2002) – 7.8
The Tracker (De Heer, Australia, 2002) – 7.9
Save the Green Planet (Jang, S. Korea, 2003) – 7.0
Oldboy (Park, S. Korea, 2003) – 8.6
Memories of Murder (Bong, S. Korea, 2003) – 8.8
Dumplings (Chan, Hong Kong, 2004) – 6.4
The Island of Black Mor (Laguionie, France, 2004) – 8.1
Moolade (Sembene, Senegal, 2004) – 8.2
3-Iron (Kim, S. Korea, 2004) – 8.8
Before Sunset (Linklater, USA/France, 2004) – 9.1
The Proposition (Hillcoat, Australia, 2005) – 8.1
Grizzly Man (Herzog, USA, 2005) – 8.1
A History of Violence (Cronenberg, Canada/USA, 2005) – 9.1
A Scanner Darkly (Linklater, USA, 2006) – 8.0
Offside (Panahi, Iran, 2006) – 8.1
Once (Carney, UK, 2006) – 8.8
The Host (Bong, S. Korea, 2006) 8.9
Zodiac (Fincher, USA, 2007) – 9.1
The Headless Woman (Martel, Argentina, 2008) – 6.1
Me and Orson Welles (Linklater, USA, 2008) – 7.9
The House of the Devil (West, USA, 2009) – 8.1
The Hunter (Pitts, Iran, 2010) – 6.8
The Social Network (Fincher, USA, 2010) – 8.5
Sleeping Sickness (Kohler, Germany, 2011) – 6.6
Drive (Refn, USA, 2011) – 8.1
Holy Motors (Carax, France, 2012) – 8.6
Spring Breakers (Korine, USA, 2012) – 9.4
Only Lovers Left Alive (Jarmusch, USA, 2013) – 6.3
Jimmy P. (Desplechin, France/USA, 2013) – 7.7
Before Midnight (Linklater, USA, 2013) – 7.8
Nymphomaniac (Von Trier, Denmark/Germany, 2013) – 9.2
The Grand Budapest Hotel (Anderson, USA, 2014) – 8.9
Boyhood (Linklater, USA, 2014) – 9.8
A countdown of the top 10 highest ranked films:
10. L.A. Confidential (Hanson, USA, 1997) – 9.0
9. Zodiac (Fincher, USA, 2007) – 9.1
8. Before Sunset (Linklater, USA/France, 2004) – 9.1
7. A History of Violence (Cronenberg, Canada/USA, 2005) – 9.1
6. Nymphomaniac (Von Trier, Denmark/Germany, 2013) – 9.2
5. Goodfellas (Scorsese, USA, 1990) – 9.2
4. Some Like It Hot (Wilder, USA, 1959) – 9.2
3. Only Angels Have Wings (Hawks, USA, 1937) – 9.4
2. Spring Breakers (Korine, USA, 2012) – 9.4
1. Boyhood (Linklater, USA, 2014) – 9.8
White City Cinema 
September 8th, 2014 at 8:08 am
This is a really interesting list. I’m really pleased that you’ve done this so that we can see the pattern of how film students value different films. There seems to be a general increase in ratings toward films made in the present day. Boyhood is a fantastic film, but I personally wouldn’t value it higher than a film like The Cabinet of Dr Caligari for example. I think a lot of more recent films, as they still have their novelty ‘this new film is amazing’ effect, I feel like they are rated highly simply because of that, whereas a lot of older films, even from the 80s, tend to have had their astounding reviews from that time wear off a little bit.
A lot of the German Expressionist films (which I adore) are rated in the 6’s, whereas the silent comedies from Keaton and Chaplin tend to be in the 8’s. I feel like a lot of students value those latter films more highly simply because they are comedies and therefore make them laugh and keep them engaged. Perhaps it is my bias because I adore German Expressionism, but I would certainly rate films like Caligari and Metropolis higher than any film from Keaton or Chaplin.
On a last note…. I cannot believe Spring Breakers made the top 10. What on Earth are your students thinking?!
September 8th, 2014 at 10:10 am
I too adore German Expressionism and the students definitely prefer those movies to, say, the Soviet montage films. But it only makes sense that recent movies are rated highest — because those are more superficially similar to the films that they’re already used to watching. The silent Hollywood movies do better than their European counterparts because they too operate in a manner closer to contemporary Hollywood films.
September 8th, 2014 at 10:25 am
Yes, I’ve noticed that, like with the Empire’s 301 Greatest Movies list that came out a few months ago, many of the greatest movies in the list were released in the last year or two, and for many of them, I can’t see them making the list in 10 years or so. It’s interesting to see how your students have rated each of the films!
September 8th, 2014 at 8:17 am
I’ve also just sent this to my lecturers from when I was at uni 🙂
September 8th, 2014 at 10:10 am
Thanks for sharing!
September 8th, 2014 at 9:34 am
Your students have some great taste! It’s amazing that the classics are classics for a reason (and maybe Goodfellas is a new classic?). You’re doing a great job of enlightening the youth!
September 8th, 2014 at 10:11 am
Aw, thanks, baby! And, yes, GOODFELLAS is definitely a “new classic.”
September 8th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
I always love looking at this list! It gives me a great chance to see what I should show/not show in my own courses! Glad to see the students’ love for Linklater. I taught a course on him at DePaul this Spring and was able to land an early screening of Boyhood. It definitely went over well!
September 9th, 2014 at 7:37 am
Good to hear from you, Dan. Hope all is well.
September 8th, 2014 at 2:36 pm
I am heartened that Palm Beach Story scored relatively well, but am baffled by the high placement of Only Angels Have Wings. I remember you told me that you thought a lot of your students had rarely seen a film released before they were born so I am intrigued as to why you think the Hawks film scored so high. Also notices you’ve never shown Nashville? Any reason or just because there are so many great movies?
September 8th, 2014 at 10:12 pm
I like NASHVILLE but I disagree with those who see it as Altman’s masterpiece. It’s undeniably virtuosic but I also find it just a little too show-offy in its virtuosity. THE LONG GOODBYE and MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER remain the twin peaks of his career for me.
September 9th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
Never saw THE LONG GOODBYE and only recently saw MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER for the first time. While I agree that NASHVILLE could be seen as ‘show-offy virtuosic’, what always gets me where I live each time I see this is the empathy with which the characters are depicted and the humanity that even the slimiest of them exhibit. Lily Tomlin’s performance is seared in my memory and no one was every funnier, and more subtly so, than Henry Gibson. MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER is the favorite of so many whom I admire that I guess I should watch it again, but to paraphrase the great Michael Glover Smith, I found it show-offy nihilistic.
September 9th, 2014 at 9:01 pm
Ha! Well, thanks for quoting from the best.
September 9th, 2014 at 4:58 am
I would have loved to take some of your courses. What an incredible list of films. A very cool idea for you to post it as well.
Do you think that (assuming you keep showing it) the rating for Boyhood will taper off a bit over time? Perhaps the universal critical praise for the film influenced some of the votes from your students. I have no idea, perhaps not. I may just be biased myself because I didn’t love the film. I guess the fact that 6 out of the top 10 are post 2000 says something… I’m not exactly sure what though.
September 9th, 2014 at 7:36 am
If you’re ever in Chicago, you can feel free to sit in. 😉
I think the high ranking of BOYHOOD is attributable to the fact that 1) it’s a new movie and students automatically like things that look and sound familiar to them, 2) we saw it on a field trip in the theater as opposed to in a classroom and 3) it’s a great movie.
September 11th, 2014 at 4:10 pm
I have to agree I didn’t think it’s overrated as well but i’s still a good film. Notice the Harmony love 😉
September 9th, 2014 at 10:26 pm
Tell Mitchell to treat McCabe & Mrs. Milller with more respect. He just got someone very angry:) I kid kid, but seriously I love that film. I hope I can meet you tomorrow:)
September 10th, 2014 at 7:40 am
Yikes! OK. I admit it. MCCABE AND MRS MILLER is my favorite Altman. I was just testing you all! 🙂