When I started this list I thought, “Oh, that should be easy!” Nope. Not easy at all. So, here’s my Top 15 Favorite Movies…..

NOPE. That’s not going to work either.

Top 20?

NOPE. Final offer. Top 25 Favorite Movies – and these are NOT in any particular order. These are just great movies that I have watched over and over again. I couldn’t possibly put them in numerical order!

Please note, these are MY favorite movies. They do not have to be movies YOU like, because…well, they are MY favorite movies, not yours. Just wanted to clear that up since there are so many folks who don’t like when others think for themselves.

• The Godfather – 1972 Starring Al Pacino, Marlon Brando. A great mob saga!
• Braveheart – 1995 Starring Mel Gibson. The story of William Wallace, the 13th-century Scottish patriot. Well done considering so much had to fit in a mere 3-hour movie!
• Dances With Wolves – 1990 Starring Kevin Costner. A Civil War soldier befriends the Lakota Indians and leaves his old life behind.
• To Kill A Mockingbird – 1962 Starring Gregory Peck. Growing up in 1930’s south, depression-era, amongst great prejudice.
• The Goonies – 1985 Starring Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman. A group of misfit kids run into criminals, find a pirate’s treasure and save a family’s home.
• The Breakfast Club – 1985 Starring Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez. A group of high school students spend Saturday detention together and find out how much they really have in common.
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind – 1977 Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr. A man experiences strange occurrences and is drawn to follow the clues to find out what it all means.
• E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial – 1982 Starring Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas. Kids help a friendly alien escape humans and return to his home planet.
• Angels With Dirty Faces – 1938 Starring James Cagney, Pat O’Brien. A priest tries to persuade a gangster to not lead a group of misfits down the same path.
• The African Queen – 1951 Starring Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn. During WWI a riverboat captain and a prim & proper missionary collide.
• Planes, Trains, & Automobiles – 1987 Starring John Candy, Steve Martin. A man is forced to travel with an annoying and obnoxious slob.
• The Birds – 1963 Starring Rod Taylor, Tipi Hedren. A Hitchcock thriller, a story of birds that attack.
• Benny & Joon – 1993 Starring Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aiden Quinn. A story of mental illness, eccentricity, and love.
• What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? – 1993 Starring Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio. Growing up with the challenges of mental illness, and the responsibilities of taking care of the family.
• Stand By Me – 1986 Starring Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman. A writer tells the story of how he and his buddies found a dead body when they were kids.
• The Color Purple – 1985 Starring Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey. A black southern woman overcomes abuse and finds herself.
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest – 1975 Starring Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher. An overbearing nurse and rebellion in a mental institution.
• Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? – 1962 Starring Bette Davis, Joan Crawford. A sinister and former child star torments her crippled, more famous sister.
• Frankenstein: The True Story – 1973 Starring James Mason, Michael Sarrazin, Leonard Whiting. Although you know the story of Frankenstein, this story will tug at your heartstrings.
• The Wizard of Oz – 1939 Starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton. A tornado carries a young girl and her dog off to the land of Oz.
• The Sound of Music – 1965 Starring Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer. A young woman leaves a convent to care for a widowed man’s children, who are hard to handle but so very talented!
• Psycho – 1960 Starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh. A remote motel is run by a young man under the rule of his mother.
• Alien – 1979 Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt. A space vessel hears a distress signal from another vessel and they investigate, only to find out an alien being is also aboard the craft.
• The Lost Boys – 1987 Starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman. Brothers find out that the town they have just moved to is inhabited by vampires.
• Legends of The Fall – 1994 Starring Brad Pitt, Anthony Perkins, Aiden Quinn. The story of 3 brothers and their father in Montana through love, war, and betrayal.

I’m sensing a theme with this list! I seem to be drawn to movies about misfits, criminals, and mental illness! Yikes! I also notice the years of these movies fall between 1938 and 1995. Are there other great movies before, during, and after those years? Of course! I know I have left out some great ones, but I was lucky enough to decide which ones go on this list!

What are your favorite movies? Do we have any faves in common?