🎞️Roger Ebert's ten greatest films (his final ballot)

what he sent Sight & Sound in 2012, a few months before he died. same ten he'd had since the 90s, with one new addition.

Never miss an update

This list changes over time. Get a short email when it does.

At most one short email a week. Unfollow in one click.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972, dir. Werner Herzog)

people always ask 'wait, this over Kane?' about this one - it was already on his 2002 ballot, not a last-minute add

Apocalypse Now (1979, dir. Francis Ford Coppola)

Citizen Kane (1941, dir. Orson Welles)

topped a lot of critics' polls for decades, he kept it on his ballot even after he stopped calling it his favorite

La Dolce Vita (1960, dir. Federico Fellini)

The General (1926, dir. Buster Keaton)

the only silent film and the only comedy here. start here if the rest of the list looks intimidating

Raging Bull (1980, dir. Martin Scorsese)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, dir. Stanley Kubrick)

he called it a spiritual document - his words, not mine

Tokyo Story (1953, dir. Yasujiro Ozu)

The Tree of Life (2011, dir. Terrence Malick)

only new entry on his final ballot, replacing Dekalog, and the only 21st century film here

Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

Or start a list of your own. Free, it takes a minute.

Related lists