The streaming world is still a whirlpool of confusion. Tempting titles pop up on one service and then, with a week or two’s warning, migrate disloyally to one of its competitors. The information in our pick of 50 great movies is correct at time of publication, but there is no sign of that churn ceasing any time soon. There is good news for fans of films first released before 2000. Though Netflix is still shamefully short of older titles, Prime Video has greatly increased its stock of classics. Our selection even includes one silent film. All of the movies we list are available for the relevant subscription fee alone. No extra rental fee.
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AlienRidley Scott, 1979
The entire extended Alien universe is now on Disney+. The best among all the features – and, now, TV series – remains Scott’s unbearably tense opener. A masterclass in showing only what is required of your monster. Disney+
The Awful TruthLeo McCarey, 1937
A contender for the best screwball comedy ever. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne play a couple who irritate each other hilariously after filing for divorce. First-class turn by Asta the dog. Prime Video
The Battle of AlgiersGillo Pontecorvo, 1966
As watched by Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another. Extraordinary study of Algerian resistance against the French colonisers that feels eerily close to documentary. Prime Video
Bicycle ThievesVittorio De Sica, 1948
Often figuring high in polls of the greatest films ever made, De Sica’s neorealist heartbreaker follows a bill poster, travelling postwar Rome with his young son, as he copes with losing his precious bicycle. Untouchable. Prime Video
Blow OutBrian De Palma, 1981
This conspiracy thriller, featuring John Travolta as a suspicious sound technician, has risen over the years to become one of De Palma’s most celebrated films. Extraordinary ending. Prime Video
Bridge on the River KwaiDavid Lean, 1957
Alec Guinness is superb as the deluded officer who takes pride in work to absurd levels as his soldiers slave for Japanese captors. A thrilling war film that revels in ambiguity. Prime Video
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidGeorge Roy Hill, 1969
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Pay tribute to the late Robert Redford with (this is neither recommendation nor criticism) the western for people who don’t like westerns. A hilarious buddy-buddy flick that happens to be set in 1899. Disney+
ChinatownRoman Polanski, 1974
Polanski’s disturbing noir thriller casts Jack Nicholson as a flawed sleuth unearthing the grubby truth behind Los Angeles’ interwar surge. Robert Towne’s script is untouchable. Paramount+
ConclaveEdward Berger (2024)
Following up All Quiet on the Western Front, Berger makes a delicious thriller of the negotiations around the election of a new pope. Ralph Fiennes is first class as a conflicted cardinal. Prime Video
Das Boot: Theatrical CutWolfgang Petersen, 1981
This is not the longest version available, but, at 149 minutes, the viewer gets quite enough brilliantly orchestrated claustrophobia as a Nazi U-boat hunts its enemy in the Atlantic. One of the great German films. Netflix
The Death of StalinArmando Iannucci, 2018
Jason Isaacs as Field Marshal Zhukov in The Death of Stalin. Photograph: Entertainment One Films
Iannucci wrings the blackest comedy from his study of the deadly circus that followed the Soviet leader’s demise. MVP? Either Andrea Riseborough as Svetlana Stalina or Jason Isaacs as Field Marshal Zhukov. Prime Video
The FavouriteYorgos Lanthimos, 2018
The Favourite
The Greek king of weird shifted a few metres towards the mainstream with this profane, hilarious study of shenanigans at the court of Queen Anne. Olivia Colman won a shock Oscar as the spoiled monarch. Disney+
The FlyDavid Cronenberg, 1986
Jeff Goldblum is the scientist who gets his DNA mixed up with that of a fly in a Cronenberg classic that combines the blackest humour with genuine pathos. Disney+
The French ConnectionWilliam Friedkin, 1971
A decade after the nouvelle vague hit the US, Friedkin incorporates its rough-hewn style into a startlingly gritty and original New York thriller. Gene Hackman is inimitable as the unconventional cop Popeye Doyle. Disney+
Get OutJordan Peele, 2017
A social satire? A horror comedy? Peele’s tale of poorly concealed racial division remains an absolute original. We would have voted for it a third time if we could. Ha ha! Netflix
The Godfather trilogyFrancis Ford Coppola, 1972
All three films in Coppola’s original untouchable gangster triptych are currently available to stream. Now that’s an offer you can’t refuse. Part three appears as the recently refurbished The Godfather Coda. Netflix/Paramount+
Godzilla Minus OneTakashi Yamazaki, 2023
The original Godzilla channelled the twin atomic disasters of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This prequel, similarly, yokes American imperialism, postwar malaise, survivor guilt and weaponised atomic power to produce the best action film in many years. Netflix
The Great EscapeJohn Sturges, 1963
One of the most entertaining films ever made. An all-star cast attempts to break out of the newly built Stalag Luft III. Steve McQueen’s motorbike chase? James Garner’s sweet friendship with blind Donald Pleasance? Just untouchable. Prime Video
HeatMichael Mann, 1995
Heat
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino face off in a heist thriller that develops into an epic tribute to the unknowability of Los Angeles. Features the noisiest urban gunfight ever staged. Netflix
JawsSteven Spielberg, 1975
The film that changed Hollywood. As good as Spielberg gets. As good as John Williams gets. What more could any person want? Duh dum! Duh dum! Netflix
The Lodger: A Story of the London FogAlfred Hitchcock, 1927
There is not much Hitchcock to stream, but, astonishingly, you can get the silent film that established him as a master of suspense. Ivor Novello plays a variation on Jack the Ripper in a film packed with memorable shots. (Prime Video)
The Manchurian CandidateJohn Frankenheimer, 1962
Laurence Harvey is the returning hero programmed to kill after being released from captivity in communist China. The urtext for a swathe of conspiracy thrillers that would follow the Kennedy assassination. Prime Video
MariaPablo Larraín, 2024
Maria
Underrated study of Maria Callas’s final days featuring a regally miserable Angelina Jolie adrift in damp, autumnal Paris in the mid-1970s. Closes the informal trilogy Larraín began with Jackie and Spencer. Netflix
Marriage StoryNoah Baumbach, 2019
The laureate of Brooklyn angst hits peak form with an analysis of the poisons that bubble up when marriages go wrong. Funny in even its darkest corners. Netflix
The MatrixWachowskis, 1999
You know what this is. The sequels got increasingly pointless, but this millennial classic has not been beaten for its combination of visionary speculation and sly wit. Keanu rules. Netflix
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!David Zucker, 1988
The recent Liam Neeson disinterment was amusing, but nobody does deadpan like the great Leslie Nielsen. “Nice beaver.” “Thank you. I just had it stuffed.” Netflix
Nickel BoysRaMell Ross, 2024
Bravura adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel about two boys fighting to stay sane in an oppressive Florida reform school. The point-of-view camerawork is dazzling and immersive. Prime Video
The Night of the HunterCharles Laughton, 1955
Robert Mitchum’s terrifying killer poses as a preacher and pursues two children in the only feature directed by the legendary actor Charles Laughton. Beautifully horrible. Prime Video
No Country for Old MenJoel and Ethan Coen, 2007
No Country for Old Men
Is it a coincidence that the Coen brothers film with the least comedy is the one that finally won them the best-picture Oscar? Maybe. Anyway, their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy remains searing. Netflix
OppenheimerChristopher Nolan, 2023
It took Nolan 20 years to properly win over the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, but his sweeping study of the father of the atomic bomb did the trick. Winner of best picture and, for Cillian Murphy’s lead turn, best actor. Netflix
ParasiteBong Joon-ho, 2019
World-conquering South Korean social satire in which a low-income family scheme furiously to “replace” their well-heeled employers. Netflix
Pather PanchaliSatyajit Ray, 1955
The opening episode in Ray’s legendary Apu trilogy follows the young hero’s struggles as he grows up amid grinding poverty in early-20th-century India. Topped the British Film Institute’s 2002 poll of greatest ever Indian films. Prime Video
Phantom ThreadPaul Thomas Anderson, 2017
Phantom Thread
Anderson’s only film set outside the United States finds Daniel Day-Lewis’s suave clothes designer carrying on a sinisterly motivated affair with Vicky Krieps’s eager assistant. Lesley Manville is next level as the protagonist’s suspicious sister. Prime Video
PinocchioBen Sharpsteen, Hamilton Luske, 1940
A squadron from Disney’s emerging animation studio toiled on this magical adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s classic story of a wooden puppet brought to life by a blue fairy. Disney+
Raging BullMartin Scorsese, 1980
Probably the most celebrated of Scorsese’s films, this ruthless monochrome masterpiece invites Robert De Niro to tear himself apart as the masochistic fighter Jake LaMotta. Prime Video
Red RiverHoward Hawks, 1948
Hawks, a master, casts John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in the tale of a 19th-century cattle drive from Texas to Kansas. The two great actors – as different in style as in manner – anticipate a generational divide that would rattle the US over the succeeding two decades. Prime Video
Reservoir DogsQuentin Tarantino, 1992
Tarantino’s brilliant debut is still his most complete and perfectly formed film. Telling the story of the aftermath of a heist, it proved immeasurably influential – not always in welcome fashion. Netflix
RomaAlfonso Cuarón, 2018
Netflix’s production department stepped up with this stunningly ambitious monochrome study of 1970s family life in Mexico City. Netflix
Rosemary’s BabyRoman Polanski, 1968
It took a Polish director to make the definitive New York horror film. John Cassavetes makes a deal with the devil that causes his wife, Mia Farrow, the most appalling supernatural inconvenience. “He has his father’s eyes!” Paramount+
RRRSS Rajamouli, 2022
This rare international breakthrough for a Tollywood film turns the Indian fight against British imperialism into a huge, tuneful romp. Good villain work from the Irish talent Alison Doody and the late Ray Stevenson. Netflix
Roman HolidayWilliam Wyler, 1953
Perfectly judged romantic comedy that sends Audrey Hepburn’s Ruritanian princess into Gregory Peck’s cynical arms during a night adrift in a gorgeously rendered Rome. Sheer heaven. Paramount+
Rye LaneRaine Allen-Miller, 2023
Near-perfect romantic comedy featuring David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah as two young people bouncing cheekily about the vibrant streets of Peckham. A celebration of love and of contemporary London. Disney+
Saturday Night FeverJohn Badham, 1977
John Travolta was propelled to stardom in a study of the New York disco scene that incorporated an impressively gritty take on the city’s working-class energies. Paramount+
SevenDavid Fincher, 1995
Fincher bounced back from Alien 3, his fitful debut, with a unique horror thriller that sent Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in pursuit of a messianic serial killer. The defining film of a gruesome noir that was soon everywhere. Netflix
Spirited AwayHayao Miyazaki, 2001
Oscar-winning fantasy. Chihiro is travelling to her new home when a detour leaves her stranded in an otherworldly bath-house. After her parents are transformed into pigs, she encounters many magical beings. One of many Miyazaki films to savour on Netflix. Netflix
TangerineSean Baker, 2015
Tangarine
A decade before winning the best-picture Oscar, for Anora, Baker took iPhone cameras among the transgender sex workers of West Hollywood to film this touching, edgy Christmas comedy-drama. Prime Video
Uncut GemsBenny Safdie, Josh Safdie, 2019
Adam Sandler plays Howard, a pawnbroker and gambling addict, in a film so stressful that anybody with a heart condition should approach with caution. Netflix
UpPete Docter, 2009
Or Wall-E or Toy Story or Finding Nemo. All the Pixar movies are on Disney+. Watch the early classics and ponder what has gone wrong more recently. Disney+
WolfwalkersTomm Moore, Ross Stewart, 2020
The final and, perhaps, liveliest of Cartoon Saloon’s Irish folklore trilogy that began with The Secret of Kells and continued with Song of the Sea. Apple TV+
The Zone of InterestJonathan Glazer, 2023
The Zone of Interest
The commandant of Auschwitz lives out a complacent family life metres from barely acknowledged industrial slaughter. A uniquely chilling film. Prime Video