25 Most Influential Films of All Time

Some films have contributed more to the history of cinema and to today's film experience than any others, and this is their tribute at Musings from MovieLand.

These should not be confused with "10 best films" or "10 most pioneering works" or "10 most important films." Also, the 'first' film a certain genre or the first film to use a particular technique may not make the list because several genres have developed over the course of several important films (horror, war, drama), or early techniques were not properly discovered by the filmmaking audience until they appeared in a popular movie. Also, many important, recent movies did not make the list because their influence on cinema has yet to be seen in its fullest (The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix). Furthermore, serials have not been considered.

And so, without further ado (except for this parenthetical and this sentence's superfluous phrase introduction), the 10 most influential films of all time:

1. The Great Train Robbery (1903)

(father of American film narrative, time jumps, omission of the unnecessary, first action film, first western, first truly indelible frame of film)

2. The Jazz Singer (1927)

(started the sound age with the first good use of sound and soundtrack)

3. Metropolis (1927)

(technology decades ahead of its time, early science fiction feature, early special effects, genre mixing of an extent that is very popular today but was not seen again until 1982's Blade Runner)

4. Birth of a Nation (1915)

(early war movie, first with truly epic scope, early giant sets, early complicated plot, longest movie of its time at 189 minutes, first 'blockbuster')

5. Battleship Potemkin (1925)

(early propaganda film, early use of montage, pioneered the use of editing to elicit emotional response)

6. Citizen Kane (1941)

(a radically different narrative approach, deep focus, lighting, camera angles and movement, storytelling style)

7. It Happened One Night (1934)

(first true romantic comedy, pushed boundaries of racy content)

8. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

(most influential animated feature - The Adventures of Prince Achmed of 1926 was technically the first animated feature - birthed the Disney Empire, pioneering use of depth and color)

9. Wizard of Oz (1939)

(first great musical, first great use of color, early fantasy/adventure)

10. Shadows (1959)

(first successful 'indie' movie, defined indie elements like personal storytelling, low budget feel, and no-name casts)

11. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

(first film noir, defined all of film noir's most important elements and themes, early femme fatale, early detective story)

12. Jaws (1975)

(first modern blockbuster, changed summer from B-movie season to blockbuster season)

13. The General (1927)

(certainly not the first, but it is the father of all slapstick comedies)

14. King Kong (1933)

(first disaster movie, special effects far ahead of its time, first memorable, important soundtrack)

15. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

(early action/adventure, first true swashbuckler, pioneering use of color)

16. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

(first great courtroom drama, early movie set in politics, early 'David vs. Goliath' legal story, first truly stunning and inspiring performance by an actor)

17. Psycho (1960)

(first slasher movie, early great psychological thriller, switched main characters part-way through the movie)

18. Bonnie & Clyde (1967)

(ultra-violent for its time, early lovable anti-heroes, first extensive use of reflexive humor in a serious and violent film)

19. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

(early purely academic film, early 'art' film - when a film is art and little else, early special effects film in which a high percentage of the film contains special effects)

20. Toy Story (1995)

(first feature-length, fully-CGI movie, starting the most reliably successful style of filmmaking ever)

21. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

(early dark and gritty movie, first X-rated film to win Best Picture oscar, pushed boundaries of dark content)

22. Star Wars: A New Hope (1997)

(after Jaws, once again redefined the modern blockbuster, innovative special effects and model work)

23. Nosferatu (1922)

(while no one movie can be credited with spawning the horror/monster movie genre, this one comes the closest)

24. Easy Rider (1969)

(first modern road movie, early flash-forward transitions)

25. Blade Runner (1982)

Except for the notable Metropolis and Bonnie & Clyde, there were few truly-genre mixing films before Blade Runner meshed the previously polarized sci-fi and film noir genres. Since Blade Runner, genre mixing has been a very popular trend.

That's it! Other films that almost made the list include Annie Hall, A Streetcar Named Desire, Chinatown, Dr. No, Frankenstein, The Kid, Lawrence of a Arabia, On the Waterfront, Pulp Fiction, and Stagecoach.