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Best Drama Movies of All Time

Every drama film with 500 or more TMDB votes, ranked by user rating.

📊 A century of movies in numbers 3,759 titlesavg ★ 6.94 avg 114 min Drama Thriller Comedy Romance

By decade:1920s 9 1930s 13 1940s 30 1950s 70 1960s 98 1970s 121 1980s 199 1990s 445 2000s 845 2010s 1354 2020s 574

#1 Swapped (2026) · ★ 8.9 · 2,214 votes · 1h 42m · comedy, fantasy, adventure
A small woodland creature and a majestic bird, two natural sworn enemies of the Valley, magically trade places and set off on an adventure of a lifetime to switch back. Their journ…
#2 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) · ★ 8.7 · 31,423 votes · 2h 22m · drama, crime
Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting ski…
#3 The Godfather (1972) · ★ 8.7 · 23,659 votes · 2h 55m · drama, crime
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attemp…
#4 Schindler's List (1993) · ★ 8.6 · 17,970 votes · 3h 15m · drama, history, war
The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.…
#5 The Godfather Part II (1974) · ★ 8.6 · 14,393 votes · 3h 22m · drama, crime
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family bu…
#6 12 Angry Men (1957) · ★ 8.6 · 10,417 votes · 1h 37m · drama
The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begi…
#7 Project Hail Mary (2026) · ★ 8.6 · 8,086 votes · 2h 37m · adventure, drama, science-fiction
Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mi…
#8 Michael (2026) · ★ 8.6 · 4,476 votes · 2h 8m · drama, history, music
The story of Michael Jackson, one of the most influential artists the world has ever known, and his life beyond the music. His journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talen…
#9 Interstellar (2014) · ★ 8.5 · 41,348 votes · 2h 49m · adventure, drama, science-fiction
The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an in…
#10 The Dark Knight (2008) · ★ 8.5 · 36,822 votes · 2h 32m · action, thriller, drama
Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations t…
#11 Pulp Fiction (1994) · ★ 8.5 · 30,904 votes · 2h 34m · comedy, thriller, drama
A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in…
#12 Forrest Gump (1994) · ★ 8.5 · 30,420 votes · 2h 22m · comedy, romance, drama
A man with a low IQ has accomplished great things in his life and been present during significant historic events—in each case, far exceeding what anyone imagined he could do. But…
#13 Parasite (2019) · ★ 8.5 · 21,363 votes · 2h 13m · comedy, thriller, drama
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.…
#14 The Green Mile (1999) · ★ 8.5 · 19,872 votes · 3h 9m · fantasy, drama, crime
A supernatural tale set on death row in a Southern prison, where gentle giant John Coffey possesses the mysterious power to heal people's ailments. When the cell block's head guard…
#15 GoodFellas (1990) · ★ 8.5 · 14,822 votes · 2h 25m · drama, crime
The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the gu…
#16 Your Name. (2016) · ★ 8.5 · 13,048 votes · 1h 46m · romance, drama, animation
High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This biza…
#17 Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) · ★ 8.5 · 4,625 votes · 3h 10m · comedy, romance, drama
Raj is a rich, carefree, happy-go-lucky second generation NRI. Simran is the daughter of Chaudhary Baldev Singh, who in spite of being an NRI is very strict about adherence to Indi…
#18 Seven Samurai (1954) · ★ 8.5 · 4,383 votes · 3h 27m · action, drama
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the p…
#19 Remarkably Bright Creatures (2026) · ★ 8.5 · 846 votes · 1h 54m · fantasy, drama, mystery
Through unlikely bonds formed during night shifts at a local aquarium, Tova, an elderly widow, learns of a life-changing discovery that may bring her joy and wonder once again.…
#20 Twin Peaks (1989) · ★ 8.5 · 677 votes · 1h 56m · tv-movie, thriller, drama
An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks. (This standalone version of the series pilot was produced for…
#21 Your Eyes Tell (2020) · ★ 8.5 · 512 votes · 2h 3m · romance, drama
A tragic accident lead to Akari's blindness, but she clings to life and the smaller pleasures it can still afford her. She meets Rui and begins to talk to him. Rui was once a promi…
#22 Fight Club (1999) · ★ 8.4 · 32,949 votes · 2h 19m · thriller, drama
A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clu…
#23 Whiplash (2014) · ★ 8.4 · 17,153 votes · 1h 47m · thriller, drama, music
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.…
#24 Life Is Beautiful (1997) · ★ 8.4 · 14,273 votes · 1h 56m · comedy, drama
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an abrupt halt when his entire famil…
#25 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) · ★ 8.4 · 11,800 votes · 2h 15m · drama
A petty criminal fakes insanity to serve his sentence in a mental ward rather than prison. He soon finds himself as a leader to the other patients—and an enemy to the cruel, domine…
#26 The Pianist (2002) · ★ 8.4 · 10,494 votes · 2h 30m · drama, war
The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work…
#27 City of God (2002) · ★ 8.4 · 8,434 votes · 2h 9m · drama, crime
In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related vio…
#28 Grave of the Fireflies (1988) · ★ 8.4 · 6,595 votes · 1h 29m · drama, animation, war
In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with t…
#29 Once Upon a Time in America (1984) · ★ 8.4 · 6,237 votes · 2h 19m · drama, crime
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old li…
#30 Cinema Paradiso (1988) · ★ 8.4 · 4,985 votes · 2h 4m · romance, drama
A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.…
#31 A Silent Voice: The Movie (2016) · ★ 8.4 · 4,679 votes · 2h 9m · romance, drama, animation
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lac…
#32 Gabriel's Inferno (2020) · ★ 8.4 · 2,483 votes · 2h 2m · romance, drama
An intriguing and sinful exploration of seduction, forbidden love, and redemption, Gabriel's Inferno is a captivating and wildly passionate tale of one man's escape from his own pe…
#33 A Dog's Will (2000) · ★ 8.4 · 1,243 votes · 1h 44m · comedy, fantasy, romance
The lively João Grilo and the sly Chicó are poor guys living in the hinterland who cheat a bunch of people in a small town in Northeastern Brazil. When they die, they have to be ju…
#34 Harakiri (1962) · ★ 8.4 · 1,233 votes · 2h 15m · action, drama, history
Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a wort…
#35 High and Low (1963) · ★ 8.4 · 1,201 votes · 2h 22m · thriller, drama, crime
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.…
#36 Hope (2013) · ★ 8.4 · 919 votes · 2h 2m · drama
After 8-year-old So-won narrowly survives a brutal sexual assault, her family labors to help her heal while coping with their own rage and grief.…
#37 The Lion King (1994) · ★ 8.3 · 20,171 votes · 1h 29m · drama, animation, family
Young lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to…
#38 The Intouchables (2011) · ★ 8.3 · 18,859 votes · 1h 53m · comedy, drama
A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.…
#39 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) · ★ 8.3 · 18,541 votes · 1h 59m · thriller, drama, crime
Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psych…
#40 Léon: The Professional (1994) · ★ 8.3 · 16,480 votes · 1h 51m · action, drama, crime
Léon, the top hit man in New York, has earned a rep as an effective "cleaner". But when his next-door neighbors are wiped out by a loose-cannon DEA agent, he becomes the unwilling…