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Best Drama Movies of the 1990s
#1 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) · ★ 8.7 · 31,423 votes · 2h 22m · drama, crimeImprisoned 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…
#2 Schindler's List (1993) · ★ 8.6 · 17,970 votes · 3h 15m · drama, history, warThe 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.…
#3 Pulp Fiction (1994) · ★ 8.5 · 30,904 votes · 2h 34m · comedy, thriller, dramaA 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…
#4 Forrest Gump (1994) · ★ 8.5 · 30,420 votes · 2h 22m · comedy, romance, dramaA 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…
#5 The Green Mile (1999) · ★ 8.5 · 19,872 votes · 3h 9m · fantasy, drama, crimeA 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…
#6 GoodFellas (1990) · ★ 8.5 · 14,822 votes · 2h 25m · drama, crimeThe 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…
#7 Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) · ★ 8.5 · 4,625 votes · 3h 10m · comedy, romance, dramaRaj 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…
#8 Fight Club (1999) · ★ 8.4 · 32,949 votes · 2h 19m · thriller, dramaA 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…
#9 Life Is Beautiful (1997) · ★ 8.4 · 14,273 votes · 1h 56m · comedy, dramaA 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…
#10 The Lion King (1994) · ★ 8.3 · 20,171 votes · 1h 29m · drama, animation, familyYoung 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…
#11 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) · ★ 8.3 · 18,541 votes · 1h 59m · thriller, drama, crimeClarice 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…
#12 Léon: The Professional (1994) · ★ 8.3 · 16,480 votes · 1h 51m · action, drama, crimeLéon, 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…
#13 American History X (1998) · ★ 8.3 · 12,943 votes · 1h 59m · dramaDerek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for killing two African-American men. Through his brother, Danny Vineyard's narration, we learn that before going to priso…
#14 Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997) · ★ 8.3 · 1,970 votes · 1h 27m · action, fantasy, dramaSEELE orders an all-out attack on NERV, aiming to destroy the Evas before Gendo can advance his own plans for the Human Instrumentality Project. Shinji is pushed to the limits of h…
#15 The Truman Show (1998) · ★ 8.2 · 20,730 votes · 1h 43m · comedy, dramaIn a picture-perfect seaside town, an insurance salesman begins to realize that his entire existence may be staged and observed by a vast unseen audience as part of a long-running…
#16 Saving Private Ryan (1998) · ★ 8.2 · 17,802 votes · 2h 49m · drama, history, warAs U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tas…
#17 Good Will Hunting (1997) · ★ 8.2 · 14,376 votes · 2h 7m · dramaWill Hunting is a headstrong, working-class genius who is failing the lessons of life. After one too many run-ins with the law, Will's last chance is a psychology professor, who mi…
#18 The Usual Suspects (1995) · ★ 8.2 · 11,788 votes · 1h 46m · thriller, drama, crimeHeld in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and h…
#19 The Legend of 1900 (1998) · ★ 8.2 · 2,503 votes · 2h 50m · drama, musicMusician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix…
#20 Bound by Honor (1993) · ★ 8.2 · 1,643 votes · 3h 10m · action, thriller, dramaBased on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It opens in 1972, as the three ar…
#21 La Haine (1995) · ★ 8.1 · 4,734 votes · 1h 38m · dramaAfter a chaotic night of rioting in a marginal suburb of Paris, three young friends, Vinz, Hubert and Saïd, wander around unoccupied waiting for news about the state of health of a…
#22 Central Station (1998) · ★ 8.1 · 1,083 votes · 1h 51m · dramaAn emotional journey of a former school teacher, who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy, whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.…
#23 American Beauty (1999) · ★ 8.0 · 13,406 votes · 2h 2m · dramaLester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.…
#24 The Sixth Sense (1999) · ★ 8.0 · 13,363 votes · 1h 47m · thriller, drama, mysteryFollowing an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.…
#25 Trainspotting (1996) · ★ 8.0 · 10,711 votes · 1h 34m · drama, crimeHeroin addict Mark Renton stumbles through bad ideas and sobriety attempts with his unreliable friends --Sick Boy, Begbie, Spud and Tommy. He also has an underage girlfriend, Diane…
#26 Casino (1995) · ★ 8.0 · 6,758 votes · 2h 59m · drama, history, crimeIn Las Vegas, two best friends--a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.…
#27 The Iron Giant (1999) · ★ 8.0 · 6,397 votes · 1h 26m · adventure, drama, science-fictionIn the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their…
#28 Before Sunrise (1995) · ★ 8.0 · 4,876 votes · 1h 41m · romance, dramaAn unexpected meeting on a train leads two travelers to spend an evening wandering through Vienna. As the night unfolds, they share stories and conversations about life and love, e…
#29 Chungking Express (1994) · ★ 8.0 · 2,296 votes · 1h 43m · comedy, romance, dramaTwo melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant.…
#30 Titanic (1997) · ★ 7.9 · 27,784 votes · 3h 14m · romance, drama101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and…
#31 Braveheart (1995) · ★ 7.9 · 11,460 votes · 2h 58m · action, drama, historyEnraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village…
#32 Heat (1995) · ★ 7.9 · 8,708 votes · 2h 50m · action, drama, crimeObsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each…
#33 A Bronx Tale (1993) · ★ 7.9 · 3,036 votes · 2h 1m · drama, crimeSet in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is t…
#34 Whisper of the Heart (1995) · ★ 7.9 · 2,365 votes · 1h 51m · drama, animation, familyShizuku lives a simple life, dominated by her love for stories and writing. One day she notices that all the library books she has have been previously checked out by the same pers…
#35 In the Name of the Father (1993) · ★ 7.9 · 1,998 votes · 2h 13m · dramaA small-time Belfast thief, Gerry Conlon, is wrongly convicted of an IRA bombing in London, along with his father and friends, and spends 15 years in prison fighting to prove his i…
#36 Three Colors: Red (1994) · ★ 7.9 · 1,606 votes · 1h 40m · romance, drama, mysteryPart-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep…
#37 The Postman (1994) · ★ 7.9 · 1,252 votes · 1h 54m · comedy, romance, dramaSimple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet; he uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.…
#38 Raise the Red Lantern (1991) · ★ 7.9 · 818 votes · 2h 5m · dramaIn 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.…
#39 Children of Heaven (1997) · ★ 7.9 · 747 votes · 1h 28m · drama, familyZohre's shoes are gone; her older brother Ali lost them. They are poor, there are no shoes for Zohre until they come up with an idea: they will share one pair of shoes. School awai…
#40 Farewell My Concubine (1993) · ★ 7.9 · 691 votes · 2h 51m · dramaIn an epic tale of theater, gender, love and class, two Beijing opera actors navigate political turmoil as their friendship evolves over decades.…