Best Film Noir Movies of All Time

Last Updated on 12 June 2024

The following list is the Official Definitive List of the 300 best film noir movies of all time.

I found 29 different ranked lists online of “best film noir movies or ‘films noir’ of all time” and pulled them all into Excel and merged them all to get this definitive compilation. See my Methodology page for the research process that was used, including links to all 29 lists that were averaged. Below is a checklist you can print to track which ones you’ve seen, followed by the ranked list with links to IMDb.

Greatest-Film-Noir-Movies-Viewing-Checklist Download

Double Indemnity (1944)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Third Man (1949)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Out of the Past (1947)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Laura (1944)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
The Big Heat (1953)
The Killers (1946)
The Killing (1956)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Gilda (1946)
Detour (1945)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Chinatown (1974)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
White Heat (1949)
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Nightmare Alley (1947)
Gun Crazy (1950)
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Night and the City (1950)
The Woman in the Window (1944)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Notorious (1946)
Key Largo (1948)
They Live By Night (1948)
Criss Cross (1949)
Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
D.O.A. (1949)
The Big Combo (1955)
Dark Passage (1947)
This Gun for Hire (1942)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
The Stranger (1946)
The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
The Wrong Man (1956)
Suspicion (1941)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Odd Man Out (1947)
Stray Dog (1949)
The Naked City (1948)
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
High Sierra (1940)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
The Set-Up (1949)
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Thieves’ Highway (1949)
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
The Samurai (1967)
On Dangerous Ground (1951)
Spellbound (1945)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Blood Simple (1984)
Raw Deal (1948)
Force of Evil (1948)
Rebecca (1940)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Scarface (1932)
Crossfire (1947)
Act of Violence (1948)
The Narrow Margin (1952)
The Letter (1940)
Brute Force (1947)
Kiss of Death (1947)
While the City Sleeps (1956)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Gaslight (1944)
Night Moves (1975)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
All the King’s Men (1949)
The Snake Pit (1948)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Fury (1936)
Body and Soul (1947)
Panic in the Streets (1950)
Vertigo (1958)
Niagara (1953)
Angel Face (1952)
Body Heat (1981)
A Place in the Sun (1951)
Phantom Lady (1944)
Call Northside 777 (1948)
Rififi (1955)
Blade Runner (1982)
Lady in the Lake (1946)
The Big Clock (1948)
T-Men (1947)
Brighton Rock (1948)
Dead Reckoning (1946)
Kansas City Confidential (1952)
Detective Story (1951)
The Fallen Idol (1948)
The Prowler (1951)
Possessed (1947)
They Drive By Night (1940)
The Reckless Moment (1949)
Breathless (1960)
Clash by Night (1952)
Human Desire (1954)
Fallen Angel (1945)
No Way Out (1950)
The Dark Corner (1946)
Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
The Spiral Staircase (1946)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Sudden Fear (1952)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Fargo (1996)
I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
Murder by Contract (1958)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
The Big Knife (1955)
The Harder They Fall (1956)
I Want to Live! (1958)
The Glass Key (1942)
Suddenly (1954)
Cape Fear (1962)
The Breaking Point (1950)
Too Late for Tears (1949)
M (1931)
The Informer (Le Doulos) (1962)
Ministry of Fear (1944)
Crime Wave (1953)
Caught (1949)
The Blue Gardenia (1953)
Diabolique (1955)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Obsession (1943)
The Desperate Hours (1955)
Moonrise (1948)
Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
Side Street (1949)
The Petrified Forest (1936)
You Only Live Once (1937)
Journey Into Fear (1943)
Whirlpool (1950)
Champion (1949)
Killer’s Kiss (1955)
Boomerang! (1947)
Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)
Where Danger Lives (1950)
Memento (2000)
Pitfall (1948)
A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Bob the Gambler (1956)
The Dark Mirror (1946)
The Naked Kiss (1964)
Second Wind (1966)
Se7en (1995)
House of Bamboo (1955)
The Sound of Fury (1950)
House of Strangers (1949)
Born to Kill (1947)
Sin City (2005)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
He Walked By Night (1948)
Cry of the City (1948)
Stage Fright (1950)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
The Enforcer (1951)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Point Blank (1967)
The Public Enemy (1931)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
The Street with No Name (1948)
The File on Thelma Jordon (1949)
The Grifters (1990)
Dark City (1998)
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Road House (1948)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
Secret Beyond the Door… (1947)
Mystery Street (1950)
The Crimson Kimono (1959)
Scandal Sheet (1952)
The Red House (1947)
Jenny Lamour (1947)
The Phenix City Story (1955)
Reign of Terror (1949)
Tension (1949)
His Kind of Woman (1951)
Desperate (1947)
Border Incident (1949)
One False Move (1991)
I Walk Alone (1947)
Daisy Kenyon (1947)
They Won’t Believe Me (1947)
Brick (2005)
Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
Conflict (1945)
The Big Steal (1949)
The House on 92nd Street (1945)
Pursued (1947)
Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
The Lodger (1944)
Cornered (1945)
Party Girl (1958)
Angel Heart (1987)
Hammett (1982)
He Ran All the Way (1951)
Hollow Triumph (1948)
Union Station (1950)
Underworld U.S.A. (1961)
Nightfall (1956)
The Unsuspected (1947)
I Confess (1953)
The Sniper (1952)
Klute (1971)
Drunken Angel (1948)
Johnny Eager (1941)
Bluebeard (1944)
The Verdict (1946)
Shock Corridor (1963)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
The Man from Laramie (1955)
The Public Eye (1992)
The Last Seduction (1994)
A Double Life (1947)
Panique (1946)
Woman on the Run (1950)
Undercurrent (1946)
My Name Is Julia Ross (1945)
The Brasher Doubloon (1947)
Hangover Square (1945)
Pépé le Moko (1937)
Caged (1950)
Somewhere in the Night (1946)
The Window (1949)
Black Angel (1946)
High Wall (1947)
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948)
Deadline at Dawn (1946)
Pushover (1954)
99 River Street (1953)
Macao (1952)
The Damned Don’t Cry (1950)
The Thin Man (1934)
The Woman on the Beach (1947)
Christmas Holiday (1944)
Casablanca (1942)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
Lost Highway (1997)
My Cousin Rachel (1952)
Witness to Murder (1954)
The Racket (1951)
No Man of Her Own (1950)
Crime of Passion (1956)
The Long Night (1947)
Dark City (1950)
A Stolen Life (1946)
Quicksand (1950)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Dragonwyck (1946)
Love Letters (1945)
My Favorite Brunette (1947)
Femme Fatale (2002)
Keeper of the Flame (1942)
Dead of Night (1945)
Winchester ’73 (1950)
Strangers in the Night (1944)
And Then There Were None (1945)
The Seventh Veil (1945)
All Through the Night (1942)
Cloak and Dagger (1946)
Nobody Lives Forever (1946)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Sexy Beast (2000)
Calcutta (1946)
Cutter’s Way (1981)
Humoresque (1946)
Red Rock West (1993)
Rope (1948)
The Limey (1999)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
The Seventh Victim (1943)
The Big Sleep (1978)
The Tall Target (1951)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Green for Danger (1946)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
The Gunfighter (1950)