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Best Drama Movies of All Time, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
3619 drama films are in our catalog; the 100 best are ranked below. Top of the list is The Shawshank Redemption ('1994), at 9.3 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 8.4. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Life Is Beautiful, 8.6 on IMDb against 58 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Shawshank Redemption '1994 | Drama / Crime | 9.3 | 89% | 82 | 8.7 | Frank Darabont |
| 2 | The Godfather '1972 | Drama / Crime | 9.2 | 97% | 100 | 8.7 | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 3 | 12 Angry Men '1957 | Drama | 9.0 | 100% | 97 | 8.6 | Sidney Lumet |
| 4 | The Godfather Part II '1974 | Drama / Crime | 9.0 | 96% | 90 | 8.6 | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 5 | Schindler's List '1993 | Drama / War | 9.0 | 98% | 95 | 8.6 | Steven Spielberg |
| 6 | The Chaos Class '1975 | Comedy / Drama | 9.2 | - | - | 8.0 | Ertem Eğilmez |
| 7 | Forrest Gump '1994 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.8 | 75% | 82 | 8.5 | Robert Zemeckis |
| 8 | Fight Club '1999 | Drama / Thriller | 8.8 | 81% | 67 | 8.4 | David Fincher |
| 9 | GoodFellas '1990 | Drama / Crime | 8.7 | 93% | 92 | 8.4 | Martin Scorsese |
| 10 | It's a Wonderful Life '1946 | Drama / Fantasy | 8.6 | 94% | 89 | 8.3 | Frank Capra |
| 11 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest '1975 | Drama | 8.6 | 92% | 84 | 8.4 | Miloš Forman |
| 12 | Seven Samurai '1954 | Action / Drama | 8.6 | 100% | 98 | 8.5 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 13 | Interstellar '2014 | Drama / Sci-Fi | 8.7 | 73% | 74 | 8.5 | Christopher Nolan |
| 14 | The Silence of the Lambs '1991 | Crime / Thriller / Drama | 8.6 | 95% | 86 | 8.3 | Jonathan Demme |
| 15 | Saving Private Ryan '1998 | War / Drama | 8.6 | 94% | 91 | 8.2 | Steven Spielberg |
| 16 | Casablanca '1943 | Drama / Romance | 8.5 | 99% | 100 | 8.1 | Michael Curtiz |
| 17 | Modern Times '1936 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.5 | 98% | 96 | 8.3 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 18 | City Lights '1931 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.5 | 95% | 99 | 8.2 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 19 | The Green Mile '1999 | Fantasy / Drama / Crime | 8.6 | 78% | 61 | 8.5 | Frank Darabont |
| 20 | Harakiri '1962 | Action / Drama | 8.6 | 100% | 85 | 8.5 | Masaki Kobayashi |
| 21 | Once Upon a Time in the West '1968 | Drama / Western | 8.5 | 96% | 82 | 8.3 | Sergio Leone |
| 22 | Léon: The Professional '1994 | Crime / Drama / Action | 8.5 | 76% | 64 | 8.3 | Luc Besson |
| 23 | The Lion King '1994 | Animation / Drama | 8.5 | 92% | 88 | 8.3 | Roger Allers |
| 24 | Life Is Beautiful '1997 | Comedy / Drama | 8.6 | 80% | 58 | 8.4 | Roberto Benigni |
| 25 | The Usual Suspects '1995 | Drama / Crime / Thriller | 8.5 | 87% | 76 | 8.2 | Bryan Singer |
| 26 | Rear Window '1954 | Thriller / Mystery / Drama | 8.4 | 99% | 100 | 8.3 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 27 | Sunset Boulevard '1950 | Drama | 8.4 | 98% | 94 | 8.3 | Billy Wilder |
| 28 | American History X '1998 | Drama | 8.5 | 84% | 62 | 8.3 | Tony Kaye |
| 29 | Apocalypse Now '1979 | Drama / War | 8.4 | 91% | 94 | 8.3 | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 30 | Grave of the Fireflies '1988 | Animation / Drama / War | 8.5 | 100% | 94 | 8.4 | Isao Takahata |
| 31 | Paths of Glory '1957 | War / Drama | 8.4 | 96% | 90 | 8.3 | Stanley Kubrick |
| 32 | Witness for the Prosecution '1957 | Drama / Mystery / Crime | 8.4 | 100% | 76 | 8.2 | Billy Wilder |
| 33 | Gladiator '2000 | Action / Drama | 8.5 | 80% | 67 | 8.2 | Ridley Scott |
| 34 | Cinema Paradiso '1988 | Drama / Romance | 8.5 | 90% | 80 | 8.4 | Giuseppe Tornatore |
| 35 | The Prestige '2006 | Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 8.5 | 77% | 66 | 8.2 | Christopher Nolan |
| 36 | The Departed '2006 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 8.5 | 91% | 85 | 8.2 | Martin Scorsese |
| 37 | City of God '2002 | Drama / Crime | 8.6 | 91% | 79 | 8.4 | Fernando Meirelles |
| 38 | Amadeus '1984 | Drama / Musical | 8.4 | 90% | 87 | 8.0 | Miloš Forman |
| 39 | Good Will Hunting '1997 | Drama | 8.4 | 97% | 71 | 8.2 | Gus Van Sant |
| 40 | M '1931 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 8.3 | 100% | - | 8.1 | Fritz Lang |
| 41 | Django Unchained '2012 | Drama / Western | 8.5 | 87% | 81 | 8.2 | Quentin Tarantino |
| 42 | High and Low '1963 | Drama / Crime / Thriller / Mystery | 8.4 | 97% | 90 | 8.4 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 43 | The Apartment '1960 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.3 | 94% | 94 | 8.2 | Billy Wilder |
| 44 | Scarface '1983 | Action / Crime / Drama | 8.3 | 77% | 65 | 8.2 | Brian De Palma |
| 45 | Ikiru '1952 | Drama | 8.3 | 98% | 92 | 8.3 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 46 | The Pianist '2002 | Drama / War | 8.5 | 95% | 85 | 8.4 | Roman Polanski |
| 47 | Inglourious Basterds '2009 | Drama / Thriller / War | 8.4 | 89% | 69 | 8.2 | Quentin Tarantino |
| 48 | Parasite '2019 | Comedy / Thriller / Drama | 8.5 | 99% | 97 | 8.5 | Bong Joon Ho |
| 49 | Whiplash '2014 | Drama / Musical / Thriller | 8.5 | 94% | 89 | 8.4 | Damien Chazelle |
| 50 | Judgment at Nuremberg '1961 | Drama | 8.3 | 93% | 60 | 8.0 | Stanley Kramer |
| 51 | Braveheart '1995 | Drama / War | 8.3 | 74% | 68 | 7.9 | Mel Gibson |
| 52 | Metropolis '1927 | Drama / Sci-Fi | 8.2 | 97% | 98 | 8.1 | Fritz Lang |
| 53 | Citizen Kane '1941 | Mystery / Drama | 8.2 | 99% | 100 | 8.0 | Orson Welles |
| 54 | Gone with the Wind '1939 | Drama / War / Romance | 8.2 | 90% | 97 | 7.9 | Victor Fleming |
| 55 | The Kid '1921 | Comedy / Drama | 8.2 | 100% | - | 8.1 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 56 | Taxi Driver '1976 | Crime / Drama | 8.2 | 89% | 94 | 8.1 | Martin Scorsese |
| 57 | Bicycle Thieves '1948 | Drama | 8.2 | 99% | - | 8.2 | Vittorio De Sica |
| 58 | Once Upon a Time in America '1984 | Drama / Crime | 8.3 | 86% | 75 | 8.4 | Sergio Leone |
| 59 | American Beauty '1999 | Drama | 8.3 | 87% | 84 | 8.0 | Sam Mendes |
| 60 | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre '1948 | Drama / Western | 8.2 | 100% | 98 | 8.0 | John Huston |
| 61 | To Kill a Mockingbird '1962 | Drama | 8.2 | 93% | 88 | 8.0 | Robert Mulligan |
| 62 | All About Eve '1950 | Drama | 8.2 | 99% | 98 | 8.1 | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| 63 | The Great Escape '1963 | Drama / War | 8.2 | 94% | 86 | 7.9 | John Sturges |
| 64 | Le Trou '1960 | Drama / Thriller / Crime | 8.5 | - | - | 8.2 | Jacques Becker |
| 65 | Heat '1995 | Crime / Drama / Action | 8.3 | 84% | 76 | 7.9 | Michael Mann |
| 66 | Das Boot '1981 | Drama / War | 8.3 | 98% | 85 | 8.1 | Wolfgang Petersen |
| 67 | Yojimbo '1961 | Drama / Thriller | 8.2 | 96% | 93 | 8.1 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 68 | The Sting '1973 | Comedy / Crime / Drama | 8.2 | 93% | 83 | 8.0 | George Roy Hill |
| 69 | The Intouchables '2011 | Drama / Comedy | 8.5 | 75% | 57 | 8.3 | Éric Toledano |
| 70 | Full Metal Jacket '1987 | Drama / War | 8.2 | 89% | 78 | 8.1 | Stanley Kubrick |
| 71 | Joker '2019 | Crime / Thriller / Drama | 8.3 | 68% | 59 | 8.1 | Todd Phillips |
| 72 | The Truman Show '1998 | Comedy / Drama | 8.2 | 94% | 90 | 8.2 | Peter Weir |
| 73 | Children of Paradise '1945 | Drama / Romance | 8.3 | 98% | 96 | 8.0 | Marcel Carné |
| 74 | The Elephant Man '1980 | Drama | 8.2 | 91% | 78 | 8.1 | David Lynch |
| 75 | The World of Apu '1959 | Drama | 8.4 | 97% | - | 8.1 | Satyajit Ray |
| 76 | Woman in the Dunes '1964 | Drama / Thriller | 8.4 | 100% | - | 8.2 | Hiroshi Teshigahara |
| 77 | The Gold Rush '1925 | Comedy / Drama | 8.1 | 98% | 90 | 8.0 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 78 | Rashomon '1950 | Crime / Drama / Mystery | 8.1 | 98% | 98 | 8.0 | Akira Kurosawa |
| 79 | Rocky '1976 | Drama | 8.1 | 93% | 70 | 7.8 | John G. Avildsen |
| 80 | The Passion of Joan of Arc '1928 | Drama | 8.1 | 98% | 98 | 8.0 | Carl Theodor Dreyer |
| 81 | The Sixth Sense '1999 | Mystery / Thriller / Drama | 8.2 | 86% | 64 | 8.0 | M. Night Shyamalan |
| 82 | Ben-Hur '1959 | Drama | 8.1 | 87% | 90 | 7.9 | William Wyler |
| 83 | Dial M for Murder '1954 | Thriller / Crime / Drama | 8.1 | 90% | 75 | 8.0 | Alfred Hitchcock |
| 84 | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans '1927 | Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 98% | 95 | 7.8 | F. W. Murnau |
| 85 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington '1939 | Comedy / Drama | 8.1 | 85% | 73 | 7.8 | Frank Capra |
| 86 | The Bridge on the River Kwai '1957 | Drama / War | 8.1 | 96% | 88 | 7.8 | David Lean |
| 87 | On the Waterfront '1954 | Crime / Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 99% | 91 | 7.8 | Elia Kazan |
| 88 | The Sound of Music '1965 | Drama / Musical / Romance | 8.1 | 83% | 63 | 7.7 | Robert Wise |
| 89 | The Seventh Seal '1957 | Fantasy / Drama | 8.1 | 93% | 88 | 8.1 | Ingmar Bergman |
| 90 | All Quiet on the Western Front '1930 | Drama / War | 8.1 | 98% | 91 | 7.8 | Lewis Milestone |
| 91 | Requiem for a Dream '2000 | Crime / Drama | 8.3 | 80% | 71 | 8.0 | Darren Aronofsky |
| 92 | Blade Runner '1982 | Sci-Fi / Drama / Thriller | 8.1 | 89% | 84 | 7.9 | Ridley Scott |
| 93 | The Circus '1928 | Comedy / Drama / Romance | 8.1 | 97% | 90 | 7.9 | Charlie Chaplin |
| 94 | The Grapes of Wrath '1940 | Drama | 8.1 | 100% | 96 | 7.8 | John Ford |
| 95 | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind '2004 | Sci-Fi / Drama / Romance | 8.3 | 93% | 89 | 8.1 | Michel Gondry |
| 96 | The Best Years of Our Lives '1946 | Drama / Romance / War | 8.1 | 97% | 93 | 7.7 | William Wyler |
| 97 | Pather Panchali '1955 | Drama | 8.2 | 98% | - | 7.8 | Satyajit Ray |
| 98 | Top Gun: Maverick '2022 | Action / Drama | 8.2 | 96% | 78 | 8.2 | Joseph Kosinski |
| 99 | Oppenheimer '2023 | Drama | 8.2 | 93% | 90 | 8.0 | Christopher Nolan |
| 100 | Late Spring '1949 | Drama | 8.2 | 100% | 93 | 8.0 | Yasujirō Ozu |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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