Figure this is next follow up to Godfather thread. Most don’t think that and I’m still undecided until next viewing, but I’ve always said Citizen Kane as my choice. Followed closely by 1978’s Dawn of the Dead. CK is not my fav of all time (certainly top 5), but as a picture, I know the structure and overall way it’s put together makes it greatest. Certainly blew me away first time.

As Good As It Gets

i have to see SS again soon.

Oldboy, why do you hate me?

That said, I will state the films I have seen that I believe to be the best-made:
The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice
Spirited Away
The Seventh Seal
The Thing
Jaws
Samsara

Godfather, and it's not even close

I'll fling you a Wizard Of Oz, and this is why: if an alien came down and wanted to understand what 'movies' were all about, but only had time to watch one movie, I'd screen Wizard Of Oz.

I'm much more pessimistic. I'd screen Dawn of the Dead and tell the aliens that it's pretty much all true & what would happen

Is that pessimism or realism?

I think I’ve listed Seven Samurai in similar threads. Looking back, I’ve only seen it twice and I’m not sure I could make such a judgement after only two viewings.

I don’t want to be “that guy” that lists several movies when the OP asks for just one but I’m going to be.

Off the top of my head, some that haven’t been mentioned I’d suggest:
Lawrence of Arabia
Schindler’s List
The Bridge on the River Kwai
North by Northwest

Jaws is MY favorite movie ever so I kind of feel like I’m betraying it by not throwing out another vote for it.

And I’m not discounting The Godfather either…

Oh fuck this. I can’t do it!

Over the years, we've had about half-a-dozen threads on this very topic. It was once considered a critical disappointment, but is now seen as a classic.

Jaws

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Godfather 2
Jaws

​​​​​​Can't possibly only pick one.

​​​

If I recall a few years ago (maybe 10 years ago?) DVDTalk had a big “greatest movie of all time” bracket where we went through dozens of movies that went head-to-head until a winner was crowned. If memory serves, the greatest movie of all-time, according to DVDTalk is

.

Debate over!

Does anyone else remember that contest or am I just making shit up?

Shocked that under your spoiler tag, I didn't find

Jaws

The Godfather: Part II.

I think the best movie made in my lifetime (was born in '78) is Back To The Future. It's a movie I enjoyed as a child, re-discovered as a young adult, and continue to adore in middle-age. No more recent movie is capable of coming close, because it won't have been there all my life. I have to figure what most people would pick as the "greatest movie" depends on what point in film history they were plugged into existence. If I saw The Godfather as a sixteen year old, during the transition to a different type of Hollywood film being made I would probably think that, but I didn't, so it's Back To The Future.

I'm kidding of course

This is my favorite of all-time. I know this is not the movie most of you would expect to be on this kind of opinion based topic and it's not the popular choice.

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

ANY movie with Tamlyn Tomita, Ming-Na Wen, and Rosalind Chao is good in my book.

And yet I still haven't seen it.

Tamlyn Tomita and Ming-Na Wen are two women that I absolutely adore. And not in a stalker-y, obsessive kind of way, either. I just find them both to be amazingly beautiful as well as wonderful actors. Love them. And Rosalind Chao is always good. Fuckin' Keiko! (Private, inside joke...)

I know, I know.

I've just never run across it. Not on TV, not in a store with DVDs - it's just always out of sight, out of mind. It's not exactly the kind of story that I'd rush out to see, but I love the cast, so I do want to give it a shot.

Greatest movies ever made:
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
CITIZEN KANE
CASABLANCA
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
SEVEN SAMURAI
THE SEARCHERS