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Best Movies of 1997

The highest-rated films released in 1997, ranked by TMDB user score among titles with at least 500 votes.

📊 A century of movies in numbers 113 titlesavg ★ 6.68 avg 109 min Drama Comedy Thriller Action

Most watched in 1997

Titanic1997 · ★ 7.9 · 3h 14m

Men in Black1997 · ★ 7.2 · 1h 38m

Good Will Hunting1997 · ★ 8.2 · 2h 7m

Life Is Beautiful1997 · ★ 8.4 · 1h 56m

The Fifth Element1997 · ★ 7.6 · 2h 6m

The Lost World: Jurassic Park1997 · ★ 6.6 · 2h 9m

← 1996 All years 1998 →

#1 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…
#2 Princess Mononoke (1997) · ★ 8.3 · 9,321 votes · 2h 14m · fantasy, adventure, animation
Ashitaka, a prince of the disappearing Emishi people, is cursed by a demonized boar god and must journey to the west to find a cure. Along the way, he encounters San, a young human…
#3 Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997) · ★ 8.3 · 1,970 votes · 1h 27m · action, fantasy, drama
SEELE 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…
#4 Good Will Hunting (1997) · ★ 8.2 · 14,376 votes · 2h 7m · drama
Will 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…
#5 Three Men and a Leg (1997) · ★ 8.0 · 2,181 votes · 1h 38m · comedy
Friends Aldo, Giovanni, and Giacomo cross Italy from north to south for Giacomo's wedding: the father of the bride, a despotic magnate who is both their boss and father-in-law—sinc…
#6 Titanic (1997) · ★ 7.9 · 27,784 votes · 3h 14m · romance, drama
101-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…
#7 Children of Heaven (1997) · ★ 7.9 · 747 votes · 1h 28m · drama, family
Zohre'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…
#8 L.A. Confidential (1997) · ★ 7.8 · 5,767 votes · 2h 18m · thriller, crime, mystery
Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night d…
#9 Selena (1997) · ★ 7.7 · 1,342 votes · 2h 7m · drama, history, music
In this biographical drama, Selena Quintanilla is born into a musical Mexican-American family in Texas. Her father, Abraham, realizes that his young daughter is talented and begins…
#10 Fireworks (1997) · ★ 7.7 · 783 votes · 1h 43m · drama, crime
Beleaguered police detective Nishi takes desperate measures to try and set things right in a world gone wrong. With his wife suffering from leukemia and his business partner paraly…
#11 Taste of Cherry (1997) · ★ 7.7 · 739 votes · 1h 39m · drama
A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets wi…
#12 Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997) · ★ 7.7 · 616 votes · 1h 29m · action, comedy, drama
Two young men, Martin and Rudi, both suffering from terminal cancer, get to know each other in a hospital room. They drown their desperation in tequila and decide to take one last…
#13 The Fifth Element (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 12,205 votes · 2h 6m · action, fantasy, adventure
In 2257, a taxi driver is unintentionally given the task of saving a young girl who is part of the key that will ensure the survival of humanity.…
#14 The Game (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 7,403 votes · 2h 9m · thriller, drama, mystery
In honor of his birthday, San Francisco banker Nicholas Van Orton, a financial genius and a cold-hearted loner, receives an unusual present from his younger brother, Conrad: a gift…
#15 Gattaca (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 7,170 votes · 1h 47m · thriller, romance, drama
Vincent is an all-too-human man who dares to defy a system obsessed with genetic perfection. He is an "In-Valid" who assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue…
#16 Anastasia (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 5,703 votes · 1h 34m · fantasy, adventure, animation
Ten years after she was separated from her family, an eighteen-year-old orphan with vague memories of the past sets out to Paris in hopes of reuniting with her grandmother. She is…
#17 Boogie Nights (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 3,719 votes · 2h 36m · comedy, drama
In 1977, an idealistic porn producer and his promising protege try to catch up with the end of an era before their never-ending party collides with cold, hard reality.…
#18 Lost Highway (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 3,072 votes · 2h 14m · thriller, drama, mystery
A tormented jazz musician finds himself lost in an enigmatic story involving murder, surveillance, gangsters, doppelgängers, and an impossible transformation inside a prison cell.…
#19 Geri's Game (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 1,259 votes · 0h 4m · comedy, animation, family
An aging codger named Geri plays a daylong game of chess in the park against himself. Somehow, he begins losing to his livelier opponent. But just when the game's nearly over, Geri…
#20 Cure (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 880 votes · 1h 51m · thriller, horror, crime
A frustrated detective deals with the case of several gruesome murders committed by people who have no recollection of what they've done.…
#21 Happy Together (1997) · ★ 7.6 · 828 votes · 1h 36m · romance, drama
A couple travels from Hong Kong to Argentina to revive their relationship but experience turbulence when both men's lives drift in separate directions.…
#22 Hercules (1997) · ★ 7.5 · 8,135 votes · 1h 33m · comedy, fantasy, adventure
Bestowed with superhuman strength, a young mortal named Hercules sets out to prove himself a hero in the eyes of his father, the great god Zeus. Along with his friends Pegasus, a f…
#23 The Devil's Advocate (1997) · ★ 7.5 · 7,032 votes · 2h 24m · thriller, drama, horror
Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax accepts a job at a New York law firm. With the stakes getting higher every case, Kevin quickly learns that his boss has something far mo…
#24 Donnie Brasco (1997) · ★ 7.5 · 5,002 votes · 2h 7m · thriller, drama, crime
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.…
#25 Open Your Eyes (1997) · ★ 7.5 · 1,256 votes · 1h 57m · thriller, drama, science-fiction
Handsome 25-year-old Cesar had it all -- a successful career, expensive cars, a swank bachelor's pad, and an endless string of beautiful and willing women -- until he is thrown int…
#26 Jackie Brown (1997) · ★ 7.4 · 7,142 votes · 2h 34m · thriller, drama, crime
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she…
#27 Contact (1997) · ★ 7.4 · 5,196 votes · 2h 30m · drama, science-fiction, mystery
A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action…
#28 As Good as It Gets (1997) · ★ 7.4 · 4,167 votes · 2h 19m · comedy, romance, drama
A misanthropic author, a single mother and waitress, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.…
#29 Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (1997) · ★ 7.4 · 520 votes · 1h 41m · drama, science-fiction, animation
Originally a collection of clips from the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series, Death was created as a precursor to the re-worked ending of the series. Rebirth was intended as that re…
#30 Funny Games (1997) · ★ 7.3 · 2,184 votes · 1h 49m · thriller, drama, horror
Two psychotic young men take a mother, father, and son hostage in their vacation cabin and force them to play sadistic "games" with one another for their own amusement.…
#31 Men in Black (1997) · ★ 7.2 · 15,230 votes · 1h 38m · action, comedy, adventure
After a police chase with an otherworldly being, a New York City cop is recruited as an agent in a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth…
#32 Seven Years in Tibet (1997) · ★ 7.2 · 3,213 votes · 2h 16m · adventure, drama, history
Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Al…
#33 Deconstructing Harry (1997) · ★ 7.2 · 1,074 votes · 1h 36m · comedy, drama
Writer Harry Block draws inspiration from people he knows, and from events that happened to him, sometimes causing these people to become alienated from him as a result.…
#34 Face/Off (1997) · ★ 7.1 · 6,130 votes · 2h 19m · action, science-fiction, crime
In order to foil a terrorist plot, an FBI agent undergoes facial transplant surgery and assumes the identity of a criminal mastermind. The plan turns sour when the criminal wakes u…
#35 Starship Troopers (1997) · ★ 7.1 · 5,715 votes · 2h 9m · action, adventure, thriller
Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned o…
#36 Lolita (1997) · ★ 7.1 · 2,045 votes · 2h 17m · romance, drama
Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Cha…
#37 The Full Monty (1997) · ★ 7.0 · 1,845 votes · 1h 31m · comedy
Sheffield, England. Gaz, a jobless steelworker in need of quick cash persuades his mates to bare it all in a one-night-only strip show.…
#38 The Rainmaker (1997) · ★ 7.0 · 1,547 votes · 2h 15m · thriller, drama, crime
Fresh out of law school and desperate for work, idealistic rookie Rudy Baylor takes on a powerful insurance company accused of denying a dying boy’s claim. Teaming up with a scrapp…
#39 Amistad (1997) · ★ 7.0 · 1,465 votes · 2h 35m · drama, history, mystery
In 1839, the slave ship Amistad set sail from Cuba to America. During the long trip, Cinque leads the slaves in an unprecedented uprising. They are then held prisoner in Connecticu…
#40 Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) · ★ 7.0 · 1,075 votes · 1h 47m · action, comedy, thriller
Hitman Martin Blank becomes a moving target after he rebuffs a fellow assassin's invitation to form a union. On the advice of his quirky assistant and neurotic psychiatrist, Martin…