+ Netflix Top 25 in Classics +

Top 25 by genre, published by Netflix every 2 ...

Last Update: Fri Jun 6 01:38:41 2008

+ 001- Casablanca + Of all the "gin joints" in Morocco, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), with husband Victor (Paul Henreid) in tow, had to walk into the one [...] choices. As time goes by, director Michael Curtiz's 1942 classic war noir only gets better. Peter Lorre and Claude Rains also star.

+ 002- The Godfather + Director Francis Ford Coppola brings Mario Puzo's multigenerational crime saga to life in this Oscar-winning epic. When an [...] killers. Amid betrayals and corruption, Michael launches a campaign of bloody revenge that continues through the film's two sequels.

+ 003- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest + The first movie since It Happened One Night to win all five major Academy Awards (picture, director, actor, actress, [...] to an asylum and inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse Mildred Ratched (Louise Fletcher).

+ 004- Monty Python and the Holy Grail + Beware the knights who say "Ni." The Python comedy clan skewers King Arthur and his knights as they quest far and wide for the [...] the hands of the mighty king himself. (Cleese's protestation after every sword whack that "It's just a scratch" is still hilarious.)

+ 005- Citizen Kane + Orson Welles reinvented movies at the age of 26 with this audacious biography of newspaper baron Charles Foster Kane (in [...] America's most influential men. A complex and technically stunning film, Citizen Kane is considered one of the best movies ever made.

+ 006- Seven Samurai + Akira Kurosawa's heroic tale of honor and duty begins with master samurai Kambei (Takashi Shimura) posing as a monk to save a [...] together they build a militia with the villagers while the bandits loom nearby. Soon the raids begin, culminating in a bloody battle.

+ 007- Chinatown + Private eye J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) uncovers intricate dirty dealings in the Los Angeles waterworks and gets his nose [...] Los Angeles in this brilliant detective thriller. And Robert Towne's onion-like script reveals itself one complex layer at a time.

+ 008- To Kill a Mockingbird + Southern comforts abound in this classic adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Gregory Peck won an Oscar for [...] a maelstrom of hate and prejudice that threatens to invade the lives of his children, Jem and Scout (Phillip Alford and Mary Badham).

+ 009- The Godfather, Part II + In this unique case of a sequel superseding the original, The Godfather II follows the Corleone crime family as it relocates to [...] Don. The original cast returns with Robert Duvall outstanding as consigliere Tom Hagen and John Cazale as the tragic Fredo Corleone.

+ 010- The Graduate + Dustin Hoffman (in his first major film role) turns in a landmark performance as a naïve young man recently graduated [...] Mike Nichols won a Best Director Oscar, and Simon and Garfunkel achieved immortality with a score that includes "Mrs. Robinson."

+ 011- A Clockwork Orange + Teenage miscreant Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) wanders aimlessly amid a bleak, futuristic urban landscape. Along with his [...] nihilistic orgies of violence. A Clockwork Orange, based on Anthony Burgess' novel, is as powerful as when it was released in 1971.

+ 012- North by Northwest + What if everyone around you was suddenly convinced you were a spy? This classic from master director Alfred Hitchcock stars [...] pits Grant against a crop duster and lands him in a fight for his life on Mount Rushmore. That's a cliffhanger if ever there was one!

+ 013- The Third Man + Who was Harry Lime? And who killed him? And is he really dead? These are just a few of the questions writer-turned-sleuth Holly [...] Carol Reed turns Graham Greene's classic mystery into a film noir without equal. You'll be humming the zither theme for weeks!

+ 014- Dr. Strangelove + In director Stanley Kubrick's blackly comedic send-up of the nuclear age, deranged American general Jack D. Ripper (Sterling [...] British captain and an ex-Nazi bomb maker. George C. Scott and Slim Pickens also appear in this classic Oscar-nominated satire.

+ 015- Lawrence of Arabia + Director David Lean's Oscar-winning epic tells the true-life story of warrior-poet T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), who helped [...] underscores the clash between cultures -- and within one man -- that changed the tide of war. Alec Guiness and Anthony Quinn co-star.

+ 016- Rear Window + As his broken leg heals, wheelchair-bound L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) becomes absorbed with the parade of life across the [...] one of them disappears, Needham suspects foul play -- and suddenly he finds himself in the center of the action with nowhere to run.

+ 017- The Producers + In this hysterical farce, rapacious but lovable producer Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) hasn't had a hit in years. Quite by [...] play ever written, "Springtime for Hitler." Inspired, manic performances and Brooks's lively direction make The Producers a true gem.

+ 018- On the Waterfront + Terry Malloy (Oscar-winner Marlon Brando) is a washed-up boxer turned longshoreman who finds he has one fight left in him when [...] use of New York locations. It's also the winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Elia Kazan).

+ 019- Breakfast at Tiffany's + In this Blake Edwards-directed adaptation of Truman Capote's novel, fortune hunter Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) finds [...] (Buddy Ebsen) shows up on the scene, revealing Holly's past. The film received Oscars for best song ("Moon River") and best score.

+ 020- Blazing Saddles + Politically incorrect and relentlessly funny, Mel Brooks's take on Hollywood Westerns follows the tortured trail of freed slave [...] town of Rock Ridge. He must foil a land-grabbing governor (Brooks) with help from a washed-up, pot-smoking gunslinger (Gene Wilder).

+ 021- The Bridge on the River Kwai + Director David Lean's sweeping epic is set in a Japanese World War II prison camp where British POWs are forced to construct a [...] to the project, and his American rival (William Holden), who vows to destroy it. The POWs' whistling work theme became legendary.

+ 022- A Streetcar Named Desire + Marlon Brando spellbinds as the brutish Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams's classic rumination on carnal attraction and [...] wife. But Blanche gets more than she bargained for. Oscars went to Leigh, Hunter and Karl Malden for their monumental performances.

+ 023- Deliverance + In this 1970s existential action epic, four suburban friends (Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty) take a [...] the foursome and force them to kill or be killed. A masterpiece of grace and power, Deliverance still terrifies and enthralls today.

+ 024- The Manchurian Candidate + Some thrillers remain as suspenseful -- and timely -- as when they were first released. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is a [...] call, the Reds can transform Shaw into a deadly assassin -- unless fellow veteran Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) can stop them first!

+ 025- Vertigo + Don't look down! One of Alfred Hitchcock's darkest and most compelling films tells the story of police detective Scottie [...] obsession … and that's just the beginning! Two highlights: a mesmerizing Bernard Herrmann score and a haunting final shot.