Our premise that classic movies are those presented significantly more than other pre-1990 films proved too simplistic given that 96 of the top 100 films in our survey were released between 1989 and 1971. (See list below, which includes names of films, their release dates, the networks that presented them and the total presentations of each between 2018-2020.)
1) Back to the Future (1985) MAX/STARZ/SHOW/SYFY 321
2) Road House (1989) AMC/IFC/STARZ/BBCA/PARA/SHOW/OVA/THIS 320
3) RoboCop (1987) MAX/HBO/STARZ/THIS 272
4) Back to the Future Part II (1989) MAX/STARZ/SHOW/SYFY 272
5) Field of Dreams (1989) SHOW/AMC/OVA/STARZ 258
6) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) HBO/MAX/STARZ/OVA/SYFY/SHOW 228
7) Scrooged (1988) STARZ/SHOW/AMC/BBCA 228
8) Predator (1987) HBO/MAX/AMC/BBCA/IFC/STARZ 216
9) The Blues Brothers (1980) AMC/STARZ/SHOW/HBO/IFC 212
10) The Princess Bride (1987) HBO/MAX/BBCA/IFC/AMC/SHOW 207
11) Coming to America (1988) STARZ/PARA/SHOW/IFC 206
12) Uncle Buck (1989) AMC/IFC/STARZ/HBO 204
13) Born on the Fourth of July (1989) MAX/BBCA/OVA/STARZ/HBO 201
14) Jaws (1975) AMC/SYFY/STARZ/BBCA/MAX/HBO 199
15) Die Hard (1988) AMC/IFC/BBCA/FXM/PARA/MAX/HBO 195
16) Major League (1989) SHOW/AMC/IFC/OVA/MOVIES/PARA 195
17) Conan the Barbarian (1982) MAX/HBO/STARZ/SHOW 192
18) Teen Wolf (1985) AMC/IFC/BBCA/SHOW/PARA/STARZ/THIS/OVA 187
19) The Thing (1982) STARZ/SHOW 177
20) The Terminator (1984) AMC/IFC/BBCA/OVA/SYFY/SHOW/THIS 177
21) Young Guns (1988) BBCA/AMC/SHOW/OVA/STARZ 169
22) Fatal Attraction (1987) SHOW/OVA/STARZ 167
23) Rain Man (1988) STARZ/OVA/THIS/SHOW 166
24) Baby Boom (1987) SHOW/THIS/STARZ/TCM 165
25) Twins (1988) STARZ/MAX/HBO 165
26) The Great Outdoors (1988) AMC/IFC/STARZ 164
27) Mad Max (1979) AMC/IFC/STARZ/SYFY/OVA/SHOW/THIS 164
28) They Live (1988) SHOW/STARZ 162
29) The Untouchables (1987) SHOW/BBCA/AMC/STARZ 159
30) Weird Science (1985) AMC/BBCA/IFC/SHOW/OVA/STARZ/HBO 157
31) Willard (1971) SHOW/MAX 155
32) The Warriors (1979) STARZ/IFC/MAX 155
33) Fletch (1985) HBO/STARZ/SHOW 154
34) Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) IFC/AMC/BBCA/SHOW/PARA/STARZ 150
35) Commando (1985) MAX/HBO 150
36) Big Trouble in Little China (1986) MAX/HBO 150
37) Scarface (1983) AMC/IFC/BBCA/OVA/STARZ/TCM/PARA 149
38) The Abyss (1989) MAX/HBO 149
39) Conan the Destroyer (1984) MAX/HBO/STARZ/SHOW 148
40) Shane (1953) STARZ 145
41) Midnight Run (1988) HBO/SHOW/MAX 143
42) Friday the 13th Part II (1981) SHOW/AMC/SYFY/IFC/MOVIES/STARZ 142
43) The Running Man {1987) SHOW/MOVIES/AMC/STARZ 141
44) The Naked Gun: from the Files of Police Squad (1988) SHOW/IFC/STARZ 141
45) Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) STARZ 140
46) Rocky (1976) AMC/BBCA/IFC/SHOW/PARA/TCM 139
47) Flashdance (1983) STARZ/IFC/MOVIES/0VA/SHOW 139
48) The Karate Kid (1984) AMC/BBCA/WE/OVA/MOVIES/SHOW 139
49) Revenge of the Nerds (1984) AMC/IFC/BBCA/MAX 135
50) Smokey and the Bandit (1977) STARZ/IFC/OVA/SHOW 132
51) The Deer Hunter (1978) STARZ/MAX/SHOW 130
52)Tootsie (1982) SHOW/STARZ 130
53) Firestarter (1984) SHOW/STARZ/MAX 130
54) Annie (1982) STARZ/MOVIES/AMC/TCM 129
55) Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) SHOW/IFC/BBCA/PARA/AMC/MOVIES 127
56) High Plains Drifter (1973) SHOW/AMC 126
57) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) SHOW/IFC 126
58) Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) STARZ/IFC/PARA 125
59) Grease 2 (1982) STARZ/OVA 125
60) Grease (1978) AMC/STARZ/PARA/BBCA 124
61) Black Widow (1987) MAX/FXM 124
62) Fletch Lives (1989) HBO/STARZ/SHOW 124
63) Big (1988) PARA/MAX/HBO/SHOW 123
64) Carrie (1976) STARZ/AMC/IFC/THIS/SHOW 121
65) Aliens (1986) STARZ/IFC/BBCA/AMC/HBO 120
66) Alien (1979) AMC/IFC/BBCA/HBO 118
67) Brewster’s Millions (1985) STARZ 118
68) Friday the 13th (1980) MAX/SHOW/SYFY/STARZ/IFC/BBCA 116
69) Stakeout (1987) MAX/HBO 115
70) Raging Bull (1980) MAX/SHOW/THIS 114
71) Top Gun (1986) AMC/PARA/SHOW 114
72) 9 to 5 (1980) TCM/STARZ 113
73) Airplane! (1980) IFC/AMC/SHOW/MOVIES 113
74) Footloose (1984) AMC/BBCA/STARZ/IFC 113
75) The Beguiled (1971) MAX/STARZ 112
76) Sixteen Candles (1984) PARA/AMC/IFC/STARZ/SHOW 112
77) The Money Pit (1986) STARZ/OVA/SHOW 111
78) Psycho (1960) OVA/STARZ/BBCA/IFC 110
79) The Hustler (1961) MAX/TCM/FXM 109
80) A Fistful of Dollars (1964) STARZ/THIS 108
81) Action Jackson (1988) STARZ 107
82) Crocodile Dundee (1986) MOVIES/STARZ 106
83) The ‘Burbs (1989) STARZ/IFC/SHOW 106
84) Mystic Pizza (1988) SHOW/NEXT/THIS/OVA/STARZ 105
85) Serpico (1973) STARZ/TCM/THIS/SHOW 104
86) Red Dawn (1984) STARZ/OVA/SHOW/TNT/TBS/MAX 104
87) The Wizard (1989) STARZ/MOVIES/SHOW/HBO 104
88) National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) STARZ 102
89) Romancing the Stone (1984) WE/IFC/STARZ 102
90) Rocky IV (1985) AMC/IFC/BBCA/PARA 102
91) Witness (1985) STARZ/SHOW 102
92) A Fish Called Wanda (1988) SHOW/MAX/HBO 102
93) Beaches (1988) SHOW/TCM/HBO/MAX 102
94) The War of the Roses (1989) MAX/OVA/STARZ 102
95) Victory (1981) MAX 101
96) Crocodile Dundee II (1987) STARZ 101
97) True Grit (1969) STARZ/AMC/MOVIES 100
98) Urban Cowboy (1980) STARZ/MOVIES/SHOW 100
99) Terms of Endearment (1983) MOVIES/OVA/SHOW 100
100) Jaws 3-D (1983) AMC/STARZ/BBCA/MAX/HBO 100
One obvious explanation here is that people are favorably biased toward films released during their lifetimes. The more recent a film, the more people living today were alive when the film was released. Conversely, few people living today were alive—let alone of moviegoing age—when 1930s films were released.
The spike in presentations of 1985 to 1989 releases further suggests that people become most attached to films released during their adolescences and young adulthoods. Representing this demographic for late 1980s films are people now aged 40 to 60—a group that would also be inclined to introduce their favorite movies to their adolescent and young adult offspring. It’s fitting that the top film in our survey, “Back in the Future,” is a film about a teenager going back in time to encounter his teenage parents.
Other factors at play include a prejudice against black-and-white films, a preference for remakes over originals, and familiarity or lack thereof with a film’s stars. Then too, there is overfamiliarity with a favorite film. For instance, one may regard “Casablanca” as the best film ever made and yet have watched the film so many times that he or she is not inclined to watch it again anytime soon.
So how can our data lead us to identify the leading classic movies of all time?. A comparison of the six decades shows presentations of films averaged 27.7 for the 1980s, 12.3 for the 1970s, 8.8 for the 1960s, 6.7 for the 1950s, 5.1 for the 1940s, and 3.1 for the 1950s. In other words, a 1980s film with 27 presentations
approximates a 1930s film with 3 presentations. But again, this is an approximation. Therefore, instead of ranking all pre-1990 films according to presentatiion calculations, we prefer to maintain that the 25 top films of each decade deserve the status of classic films.