Highest Ranked Films Year by Year

These are the top ranked film for each year from our compendium of all film polls on the net, our 2011 updated edition..

[AA] = academy award for best picture that year (12 matched)

2010: Toy Story 3 (2010) Lasseter, John #180
2009: Up (2009) Docter, Peter #305
2008: WALL-E (2008) Stanton, Andrew #155
2007: No Country for Old Men (2007) Coen Ethan and Joel #133 [AA]
2006: Pan's Labyrinth (2006) del Toro, Guillermo #125
2005: Brokeback Mountain (2005) Lee, Ang #334
2004: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Gondry, Michael #169
2003: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003) Jackson, Peter #92 [AA]
2002: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002) Jackson, Peter #119
2001: Spirited Away (2001) Miyazaki, Hayao #78
2000: Memento (2000) Nolan, Christopher #195

1999: American Beauty (1999) Mendes, Sam #97 [AA] [photo above]
1998: Saving Private Ryan (1998) Spielberg, Steven #109
1997: L.A. Confidential (1997) Hanson, Curtis #61
1996: Fargo (1996) Coen, Joel and Ethan Coen #49
1995: Pulp Fiction (1995) Tarantino, Quentin #20
1994: Shawshank Redemption, The (1994) Darabont, Frank #182
1993: Schindler's List (1993) Spielberg, Steven #30 [AA]
1992: Unforgiven (1992) Eastwood, Clint #57 [AA]

1991: Silence of the Lambs, The (1991) Demme, Jonathan #47 [AA] [photo above]
1990: Goodfellas (1990) Scorsese, Martin #26
1989: Do The Right Thing (1989) Lee, Spike #105
1988: Cinema Paradiso (1988) Tornatore, Giuseppe #118
1987: Full Metal Jacket (1987) Kubrick, Stanley #135
1986: Aliens (1986) Cameron, James #75
1985: Ran (1985) Kurosawa, Akira #39
1984: Amadeus (1984) Forman, Milos #70 [AA]
1983: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) Marquand, Richard #394
1982: Blade Runner (1982) Scott, Ridley #13 [photo top]
1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Spielberg, Steven #33
1980: Raging Bull (1980) Scorsese, Martin #25
1979: Apocalypse Now (1979) Coppola, Francis #22
1978: Star Wars (A New Hope) (1978) Lucas, George #8
1977: Annie Hall (1977) Allen, Woody #77 [AA]
1976: Taxi Driver (1976) Scorsese, Martin #3
1975: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Forman, Milos #44 [AA]
1974: Chinatown (1974) Polanski, Roman #5
1973: Exorcist, The (1973) Friedkin, William #96
1972: Godfather, The (1972) Coppola, Francis #1 [AA]
1971: Clockwork Orange, A (1971) Kubrick, Stanley #59
1970: Conformist, The (1970) Bertolucci, Bernardo #45
1969: Wild Bunch, The (1969) Peckinpah, Sam #117

1968: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Kubrick, Stanley #4 [photo above]
1967: Graduate, The (1967) Nichols, Mike #84
1966: Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, The (1966) Leone, Sergio #36
1965: Pierrot le fou (1965) Godard, Jean-Luc #124
1964: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Kubrick, Stanley #18
1963: 8½ (1963) Fellini, Federico #40

1962: Lawrence of Arabia (1962) Lean, David #24 [AA] [photo above]
1961: Jules et Jim (1961) Truffaut, François #73
1960: Psycho (1960) Hitchcock, Alfred #14
1959: North by Northwest (1959) Hitchcock, Alfred #28
1958: Vertigo (1958) Hitchcock, Alfred #12
1957: Paths of Glory (1957) Kubrick, Stanley #91
1956: Seventh Seal, The (1956) Bergman, Ingmar #31
1955: Night of The Hunter, The (1955) Laughton, Charles #10

1954: Seven Samurai, The (1954) Kurosawa, Akira #2 [photo above]
1953: Tokyo Story (1953) Ozu, Yasujiro #76
1952: Singin' in the Rain (1952) Donen, Stanley/Gene Kelly #32
1951: Strangers on a Train (1951) Hitchcock, Alfred #157

1950: Sunset Boulevard (1950) Wilder, Billy #19 [photo above]
1949: Bicycle Thief, The (1949) De Sica, Vittorio #21
1948: Third Man, The (1948) Reed, Carol #23
1947: Out of the Past (1947) Tourneur, Jacques #293
1946: It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Capra, Frank #17
1945: Rome, Open City (1945) Rossellini, Roberto #289
1944: Double Indemnity (1944) Wilder, Billy #71
1943: Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Hitchcock, Alfred #262

1942: Casablanca (1942) Curtiz, Michael #55 [AA] [photo above]
1941: Citizen Kane (1941) Welles, Orson #11
1940: Great Dictator, The (1940) Chaplin, Charles #131
1939: Wizard of Oz, The (1939) Fleming, Victor #6
1938: Bringing Up Baby (1938) Hawks, Howard #218
1937: Grande Illusion, La (1937) Renoir, Jean #197
1936: Modern Times (1936) Chaplin, Charles #9
1935: Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Whale, James #192
1934: L'Atalante (1934) Vigo, Jean #88
1933: Duck Soup (1933) McCarey, Leo #53
1932: Trouble in Paradise (1932) Lubitsch, Ernst #321
1931: M (1931) Lang, Fritz #16
1930: Blue Angel, The (1930) von Sternberg, Josef #196

1929: Man With a Movie Camera, The (1929) Vertov, Dziga #95 [photo above]
1928: Passion of Joan of Arc, The (1928) Dreyer, Carl Theodor #34
1927: Metropolis (1927) Lang, Fritz #7
1926: Faust (1926) Murnau, F.W. #617
1925: Gold Rush, The (1925) Chaplin, Charles #48
1924: Sherlock Jr. (1924) Keaton, Buster #69
1923: Our Hospitality (1923) Keaton, Buster/John Blystone #738
1922: Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) Murnau, F.W. #112
1921: Kid, The (1921) Chaplin, Charles #226
1919: Broken Blossoms (1919) Griffith, D.W. #246
1916: Intolerance (1916) Griffith, D.W. #148
1915: Birth of a Nation, The (1915) Griffith, D.W. #162
1902: Le Voyage dans la lune (Trip to the Moon, 1902) Méliès, Georges #459

HAL's eye view of humanoids in 2001: A Space Odyssey

Directors with Multiple Films
5 each: Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick
4 each: Charles Chaplin
3 each: D.W. Griffith, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese
2 each: Keaton, Coppola, Wilder, Kurosawa, Coen Bros., Forman, Murnau, Lang

The Tree of Life was the only film from 2011 ranked so far, but then the year is still in progress and most polls won't list these until 2012, so I left it off of this list.