Members of the American Society of Cinematographers have put their heads together to craft a list of the best-shot films of all time, honoring the best of the best in the realm of cinematography. The ASC is an elite professional organization comprised of cinematographers at the top of their field, and in celebration of its 100th anniversary today, they’ve revealed a list of the 100 best-shot films of all time as selected by professional cinematographers themselves.
Cinematography is a vital aspect of filmmaking that all too often goes overlooked. The art of cinematography is far more complex—and artful—than simply pointing a camera and shooting. Cinematographers spend countless hours perfecting the light for a scene, choosing the correct lenses, aspect ratio, framing, etc. all to capture the image in the best way possible for the story at hand. There is, obviously, a significant difference between good cinematography and bad cinematography, but what makes the artform so exciting is how diverse the range of “great” cinematographers is. You wouldn’t mistake a Roger Deakins-shot film for a Janusz Kaminski-shot film for a Bradford Young-shot film, and yet each DP’s artistic expression is exciting in its own right.
As for the ASC’s list of the 10 best-shot films ever made, there are a couple of obvious choices like Lawrence of Arabia (the top film) and Days of Heaven, but also some exciting choices like The French Connection thrown in as well.
Peruse the ASC’s list of the best-shot films of all time below, followed by the full list of the Top 100.
10. The French Connection (1971)
Shot by Owen Roizman, ASC (Dir. William Friedkin)
9. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Shot by Geoffrey Unsworth, BSC with additional photography by John Alcott, BSC (Dir. Stanley Kubrick)
8. Days of Heaven (1978)
Shot by Néstor Almendros, ASC (Dir. Terrence Malick)
7. The Conformist (1970)
Shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
6. Raging Bull (1980)
Shot by Michael Chapman, ASC (Dir. Martin Scorsese)
5. The Godfather (1972)
Shot by Gordon Willis, ASC (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
4. Citizen Kane (1941)
Shot by Gregg Toland, ASC (Dir. Orson Wells)
3. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Shot by Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
2. Blade Runner (1982)
Shot by Jordan Cronenweth, ASC (Dir. Ridley Scott)
1. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Shot by Freddie Young, BSC (Dir. David Lean)
The Other 90
1927 Metropolis
1927 Napoleon
1927 Sunrise
1939 Gone with the Wind
1939 Wizard of Oz, The
1940 Grapes of Wrath, The
1941 Citizen Kane
1964 Dr. Strangelove
1964 I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba)
1965 Doctor Zhivago
1966 Battle of Algiers, The
1966 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1967 Cool Hand Luke
1967 Graduate, The
1967 In Cold Blood
1968 2001: A Space Odyssey
1968 Once Upon a Time in the West
1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1969 Wild Bunch
1970 Conformist, The
1971 Clockwork Orange, A
1971 French Connection, The
1971 Klute
1971 Last Picture Show, The
1971 McCabe and Mrs. Miller
1972 Cabaret
1972 Godfather, The
1972 Last Tango in Paris
1973 Exorcist, The
1974 Chinatown
1974 Godfather, The: Part II
1975 Barry Lyndon
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1976 All the President's Men
1976 Bound for Glory
1976 Taxi Driver
1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977 Duellists, The
1978 Days of Heaven
1978 Deer Hunter, The
1979 Alien
1979 All that Jazz
1979 Apocalypse Now
1979 Being There
1979 Black Stallion, The
1979 Manhattan
1980 Raging Bull
1980 Shining, The
1981 Chariots of Fire
1981 Das Boot
1981 Reds
1982 Blade Runner
1982 Fanny and Alexander
1983 Right Stuff, The
1984 Amadeus
1984 Natural, The
1984 Paris, Texas
1985 Brazil
1986 Mission, The
1987 Empire of the Sun
1987 Last Emperor, The
1987 Wings of Desire
1988 Mississippi Burning
1991 JFK
1991 Raise the Red Lantern
1992 Unforgiven
1992 Baraka
1993 Schindler's List
1993 Searching For Bobby Fischer
1993 Trois Couleurs: Bleu
1994 Shawshank Redemption, The
1995 Se7en
1996 English Patient, The
1997 L. A. Confidential
1998 Saving Private Ryan
1998 Thin Red Line, The
1999 American Beauty
1999 The Matrix
2000 In the Mood for Love