Movies by Decade: Best of the Best

I originally was going to have a “Best of the 2020s” list, but it has been such a terrible decade of movies so far that I can’t justify even a Top 10.  Yes, there’s still 4 years to go, but I don’t have much hope for it to get better.  So instead, this is my comprehensive list, combining the decade lists that I had made, adding a couple of movies from the 2020s and one from the 1920s, and seeing how they all stack up.  I can’t say this is a perfect list, and even while making it there were a few times I wanted to make some changes within the decades, but I stuck to the lists as they were and went by that.  That’s also, perhaps, why you might see a run on movies from a certain decade.  I tacked on a few from the current decade at the end just to make it an even 100.

So, without added comments, my list of the Best of the Best, in order:

 

1.               Ben-Hur (1959)

2.               Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

3.               The Searchers (1956)

4.               Casablanca (1942)

5.               It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)

6.               Schindler’s List (1993)

7.               The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

8.               King Kong (1933)

9.               Rocky (1976)

10.           Jaws (1975)

11.           Star Wars (1977)

12.           Superman (1978)

13.           Apollo 13 (1995)

14.           Jurassic Park (1993)

15.           Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

16.           Saving Private Ryan (1998)

17.           The Passion of the Christ (2004)

18.           Alien (1979)

19.           Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

20.           Sense and Sensibility (1995)

21.           My Fair Lady (1964)

22.           Going My Way (1944)/The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)

23.           Black Hawk Down (2001)

24.           Rear Window (1954)

25.           Roman Holiday (1954)

26.           Spartacus (1960)

27.           E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

28.           The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

29.           Bringing Up Baby (1938)

30.           The Mission (1986)

31.           Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

32.           Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

33.           Back to the Future (1985)

34.           Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

35.           Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

36.           The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

37.           North by Northwest (1959)

38.           The Philadelphia Story (1940)

39.           The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

40.           The Wizard of Oz (1939)

41.           1917 (2019)

42.           The Field of Dreams (1989)

43.           The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

44.           The Fugitive (1993)

45.           West Side Story (1961)

46.           The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

47.           Fort Apache (1948)/She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

48.           The Quiet Man (1952)

49.           Sergeant York (1941)

50.           The Song of Bernadette (1943)

51.           Die Hard (1988)

52.           The Hunt for Red October (1990)

53.           The Great Escape (1963)

54.           The Sound of Music (1965)

55.           Toy Story 3 (2010)

56.           White Christmas (1954)

57.           The Thin Man (1934)

58.           Planet of the Apes (1968)

59.           Road to Perdition (2002)

60.           It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)

61.           Gladiator (2000)

62.           To Catch a Thief (1955)

63.           A Day at the Races (1937)

64.           Stagecoach (1939)

65.           Red River (1948)

66.           Road to Morocco (1942)

67.           Alexander Nevsky (1938)

68.           Thirteen Lives (2022)

69.           The Natural (1984)

70.           Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)

71.           12 Angry Men (1957)

72.           Patton (1970)

73.           Fiddler on the Roof (1971)

74.           Of Gods and Men (2010)

75.           La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1929)

76.           The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

77.           The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

78.           The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)

79.           The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

80.           Finding Neverland (2004)

81.           13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016)

82.           Wind River (2017)

83.           Ford v. Ferrari (2019)

84.           Devotion (2022)

85.           Unbreakable (2000)

86.           True Grit (2010)

87.           The King’s Speech (2010)

88.           Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

89.           Paddington (2014)

90.           A Quiet Place (2018)

91.           Sound of Freedom (2023)

92.           Godzilla Minus One (2023)

93.           Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

94.           Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

95.           Cabrini (2024)

96.           The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)

97.           A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

98.           Fatima (2020)

99.           Dune: Part One (2021)

100.       F1 (2025)

 

52 in 25: #52 - Finishing the Year

To finish off the year, I have two books I’m basically finished with, or at least will be by the end of the year.

The first is something that has been part of my daily holy hour for the year: A Year with the Mystics, compiled by Kathyrn Jean Lopez.  This is basically 365 days worth of reflections from various saints with a prompt for further consideration and a closing prayer.  On the one hand, there are some really good reflections in here.  On the other hand, it was frustrating at points because, by the author’s words, this was not necessarily meant to be read starting on January 1, so it’s kind of random where reflections fell.  It really took me out of it when, for instance, there was something about Christmas in the middle of Lent.  Very mixed bag for me.

 

The other is The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Saint Bonaventure.  This the TAN Classics reprint of a translation from 1867.  Certainly, this is a classic.  I do have some struggles with it.  The first is that it is not a chronological biography, but rather a thematic reflection on his life.  The second is (and this is somewhat common for some saint biographies) he is presented as so perfect that it can become frustratingly impossible to relate with him.  This is a similar reason why I stopped reading the classic biography of St. John Vianney.  Another difficult is just the language.  I’m not sure if this is due to the original by Bonaventure, or the translation from the 19^th century.  These are long (long) paragraphs with sentences composed in ways that would never be done today.  Sometimes it makes it difficult to follow.  Again, I don’t know if that’s an artifact from the original or a (now) old translation.  That being said, it does not get more classic than this.

 

So, there you have it.  At least 52 books in 2025.  Would I do this again?  Probably not.  It did push me to read more, which was the objective.  It also encouraged me to read more classics that I have been wanting to get to.  That being said, it also discouraged me from reading certain books because I knew that I could not finish them in a timely manner.  My year experiment is done, but I may revisit this.  Perhaps a monthly update and some things I have read?

52 in 25: #51 - Love Does Such Things

There is a tradition in Advent to prepare for Christmas started by my parents years ago, and now I continue it on.  Every year, I read this beautiful little book called Love Does Such Things by Reverand Mary Raymond, O.C.S.O, published in Milwaukee in 1955.  It is a real treasure, and a book I highly recommend picking up if you can find it.

 

Fr. Raymond walks through the Christmas story, from the Annunciation through the return to Nazareth after Egypt.  Each chapter represents a different letter, to spell out the ultimate word of Christmas: “SAVIOUR.”  So the chapters are: Shepherds and Sheep, Angels, a Virgin, Nativity and Name (J=I), Offerings, Urgency, and Return and Retirement.  In the end, he sums it all up that God does all of this for you, for whom Love Does Such Things.

 

I love this book.  Each time I read it, something else jumps out at me.  I can’t tell you how many times little tidbits have made their way into my homilies during the Christmas season.  It also has beautiful paintings recreated in it.  I think it would be awesome if someone like TAN reprinted it to make it more available, because right now the only way to get it is to find it second hand (apparently there was a recent reprint, but it also is not available and it looks like it’s missing the original images).  Again, if you can, get a copy and enjoy it for years.

52 in 25: #50 - 58 Minutes

I followed up the book that “inspired” Die Hard with its sequel.  No, not the books’ sequel, but the novel that “inspired” Die Hard 2.  This was 58 Minutes by Walter Wager.

This is a very, very loose interpretation of “inspired” (or as the cover says: “basis”).  About the only thing that this novel and the movie have in common is that terrorists takeover an airport.  In this, case, it is JFK Airport in New York, along with the others in the area.  They demand the release of seven political prisoners.  On the case is airport officials, the FAA, and the NYPD chief terrorist captain, Frank Malone, who just happens to be there because his daughter is flying in.  The plane she is on will run out of fuel in 58 minutes, hence the title.

It's fine, as these thrillers go.  It’s not necessarily a “page turner” but it’s not boring.  There are quite a few conveniences to make the plot happen.  One of my biggest pet peeves is that, at the end of the story, Malone is convinced that there was an inside person who helped it all happen, he and the others say they need to figure out who it is, and then they all live happily ever after.  Did the author not know who it was?  You can’t just leave that important piece dangling.  Maybe the author was an early influence on J.J. Abrams?

52 in 25: #49 - Nothing Lasts Forever

Next was a book I have been wanting to read for a while.  I finally got it early this year, but was waiting to read it until December.  The book is titled Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, published in 1979.  Doesn’t sound familiar?  It does when you realize it was the “basis” for one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time.

This novel is told from the perspective of a retired police officer named Joseph Leland, and is the sequel to a novel called The Detective, which was made into a movie starring Frank Sinatra in 1968.  Leland flies to LA on Christmas Eve to be with his daughter Stephanie Gennaro and her children.  He meets up with her at her companies Christmas party, taking place in their 40-story skyscraper.  During the party, terrorist led by Anton Gruber take the building hostage in an attempt to steal $6 million dollars that the company, Klaxon, received in a deal with the corrupt government of Chile.  Leland then takes part in a one-man war to stop the terrorists and save his daughter.

 

Sound familiar?  Of course, this was the basis for Die Hard.  This is one case where the movie is significantly better than the source material.  The book isn’t bad.  It can be hard to follow at times.  There’s certainly some conveniences.  I didn’t really like the main character.  Or any of the characters.  In that way, it’s very 70s.  I guess in the end I would say, stick with the movie unless you really want to hunt down a decent action novel.

52 in 25: #48 - The Wingmen

I actually finished this a few days ago but haven’t had the time to write anything.  Next was a sort-of sequel to the previously read The Cloudbuster Nine.  I read Adam Lazarus’ The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams.

            Space.  Baseball.  Military History.  You would think that I had read this already (published 2023) or at least knew about their friendship.  Somehow, as far as I can remember, I had no idea about their connection until I heard about his book shortly after it was published.  I’m still kind of baffled by that.  I finally got around to reading it.

            The author does a great job of setting up the story, detailing the lives of Ted Williams and John Glenn, two of the most famous men of their time.  And, of course, he also goes into length about how the two of them got to be wingmen in the Korean War.  And then he has a number of chapters on their post-war lives, highlighting their interactions of the years.  Probably my biggest problem is how quickly the war goes by (in the book, not in real life).  There are some good chapters on the nature of the war and their role in it, and in particular about Ted’s crash, but it almost seems like an afterthought for their lives.  I do have some sympathy, however, if that is simply from lack of more information.  I know this problem from personal experience.

            Overall, it is an interesting, though not essential, read for anyone interested in baseball or military history.  One credit I will give to the author is that before I read this, I loved Ted Williams and didn’t care for John Glenn.  After reading, I have a better appreciation for Glenn and see more of the deficiencies of Teddy Ballgame (though I am still immensely intrigued by his life and personality).

52 in 25: #47 - That Nothing May Be Lost

I think I mentioned this before, but I take my time with my spiritual reading.  This was no exception.  I just completed Rev. Paul D. Scalia’s That Nothing May Be Lost.  If that name is familiar, he is a priest for the Diocese of Arlington and the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  I first became aware of him listening to his homily for his dad’s funeral in 2016.  It’s the best funeral homily I have heard, it inspires mine, and it is included in the appendix of this book.

 

I had picked up this book a number of years ago, but finally got to reading it.  It is a collection of his work, including some articles he has written and (I think) some homilies.  Topics range from the Sacraments to saints, including Mary, to prayer, feast days, and, of course, Our Lord.  I love this book because it is easy to pick up, read one or two, and reflect on his words.  He also does a great job, since these are written for your typical lay Catholic, of distilling ideas down into something that is easily consumed but will keep you thinking.  I highly recommend this book to enrich anyone's spiritual life.