Τhe 16 Best Classic Movies On Netflix, Ranked

Netflix might be best known at this point for its original programming, including loads of streaming films and bingeable television series, but if you're willing to look, you'll also find a selection of essential films from the past on the streaming service.

Though its offerings are sometimes slim, the "Classics" section of your Netflix app still packs a punch, giving viewers the chance to view films that have gone down in history as vital pieces of cinema. The current lineup includes movies stretching back to the 1950s, directed by everyone from Steven Spielberg to John Singleton, and covers documentaries, romantic epics, coming-of-age classics, historical dramas, and much more. Several have won the Oscar for best picture, and they've all made an impact on cinematic history.

So, if you've got Netflix open, and you're in the mood for some classics, we've rounded up the 16 best classic movies on the service right now, and ranked them from worst to best. Happy streaming!

A film that recalls the grand Western epics of American cinema in the 1950s, "Legends of the Fall" is perhaps best remembered now for its star-making turn by Brad Pitt — in a role that Pitt almost quit. Even beyond Pitt's beautifully rendered work and devastating looks, it's one of those films that fans of '90s cinema just keep returning to.

Set in Montana during the first half of the 20th century, the film follows Col. William Ludlow's (Anthony Hopkins) family as they build a little empire of their own in the wilderness. The family's tight bonds are broken when one of Ludlow's sons (Henry Thomas) dies in World War I, leaving his other two sons (Pitt and Aidan Quinn) devastated and fighting over a woman (Julia Ormond). It's a film about the bonds of family, about the ripple effects of cyclical violence, and about love attempting to persevere, all set against beautiful Western vistas.

Cast: Brad Pitt, Aidan Quinn, Anthony Hopkins

Director: Edward Zwick

Rating: R

Runtime: 134 minutes

One of the most enduring pop culture phenomena to emerge from the 1980s, "The Karate Kid" is a simple story about standing up for yourself, proving that bullies can be beaten, and persevering to become a better person, but it's also so much more. The film follows new kid in town Daniel (Ralph Macchio) who runs afoul of a group of local bullies who also happen to all study at the same karate dojo. Looking for some kind of solution, Daniel visits Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), who trains him in martial arts, setting up an epic third-act showdown.

Obviously, everyone knows some version of this story, even if they haven't seen the film, but "The Karate Kid" has grown well beyond the bounds of its original tale through the years. Even setting aside the movie sequels, its legacy also now includes the Netflix original series "Cobra Kai," which figured out how to revive the "Karate Kid" story in a meaningful way.

Cast: Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, William Zabka

Director: John G. Avildsen

Rating: PG

Runtime: 126 minutes

The oldest film in Netflix's classics section at the moment, "An Affair to Remember" takes viewers all the way to 1957, and shows us one of the most romantic stories ever committed to film.

"An Affair to Remember" follows Nickie (Cary Grant) and Terry (Deborah Kerr), who meet on an ocean liner cruising from Europe to the United States. Though they're both engaged to other people, a friendship soon turns into a full-blown romance, and they promise each other that they will try to untangle their lives and meet again in six months, on top of the Empire State Building. But, when fate intervenes, Nickie and Terry will have to trust that they'll find each other again.

If you love classic romances starring legends from Hollywood's Golden Age, "An Affair to Remember" is a must-watch. The American Film Institute named it one of the most romantic films ever made in Hollywood, and it eventually inspired director Nora Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle."

Cast: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning

Director: Leo McCarey

Rating: NR

Runtime: 115 minutes

One of the greatest heist films ever made, "The Sting" has it all: A complex plan that you can pick apart over and over, movie stars at the top of their game, and an unforgettable ending, all wrapped up in a classic cinematic package by director George Roy Hill.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford star as Henry and Johnny, two con artists who have cooked up what feels like the ultimate scheme. Instead of going to steal something, they're going to trick a mob boss (Robert Shaw) into playing their game, literally. A phony gambling establishment is key to their plan, but it's the sheer breadth and scope of their con that you'll never see coming.

Released in 1973, "The Sting" became one of the most successful and acclaimed movies of that year, earning 10 Oscar nominations and winning seven, including best picture and best director for Hill. Today, it's a heist picture essential, and a portrait of sheer star power.

Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw

Director: George Roy Hill

Rating: PG

Runtime: 129 minutes

If you're looking for a film based on an incredible true story and you love space movies, "Apollo 13" is a must-watch. Directed by Ron Howard and featuring an incredible ensemble cast, the film is based on a real NASA mission and one of human spaceflight's most perilous episodes.

Tom Hanks stars as astronaut Jim Lovell, who heads to space with his crewmates Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton). On their way to the moon, something goes horribly wrong, leaving the three astronauts stranded with low oxygen and a dying ship. Alternating between the crew's perspective and the story of the people on the ground working to save them, "Apollo 13" is a space thriller for the ages, and it's largely accurate to the true story as it really happened. It's been three decades since its release, and it remains one of the best space movies ever.

Cast: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton

Director: Ron Howard

Rating: PG

Runtime: 140 minutes

"Star Wars" legend Lawrence Kasdan is perhaps best known as the guy who wrote films like "The Empire Strikes Back," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and "Solo: A Star Wars Story," but he's also a filmmaker with an eye toward many different genres.

In 1985, Kasdan sought to recreate the kinds of Westerns he'd loved growing up with "Silverado," the story of an ever-growing gang of men who band together to seek their fortunes and ultimately take on a corrupt sheriff in the title town. It all begins with Scott Glenn's character, the wanderer Emmett, and keeps building in stakes and scope until the finale, when the band of lovable misfits takes on the richest man in the area, a rancher with an army at his back.

The ensemble cast for this one is absolutely stacked, including Glenn, Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Rosanna Arquette, and Danny Glover. But even beyond all the famous faces, the film also offers something that the 1980s didn't have much of: A classic Western.

Cast: Scott Glenn, Kevin Kline, Kevin Costner

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 132 minutes

If you're looking for essential documentaries, Netflix's classics section has those as well, including this 1988 film that has gone down in history as one of the most important movies of its kind ever made. Directed by Errol Morris, "The Thin Blue Line" follows the case of Randall Dale Adams, who was convicted in 1976 of shooting a Dallas police officer.

Through interviews, re-enactments, and shocking revelations, Morris digs deep into Adams' case to ask whether or not the man was actually guilty of the crime for which he was convicted, and its results mark a key moment in the progression of true crime cinema. The film was controversial when it was released for many reasons, including its use of re-enactment to create a more stylized depiction of events, but has since come to be regarded as one of the best documentaries of all time.

Cast: Randall Adams, David Harris, Gus Rose

Director: Errol Morris

Rating: NR

Runtime: 106 minutes

Another great documentary tucked away in Netflix's classics section, "When We Were Kings" is one of the greatest sports stories ever told, and won the Academy Award for best documentary after its release in 1996.

Produced over a period of more than 20 years, Leon Gast's film follows "The Rumble in the Jungle," the legendary heavyweight title match fought between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire in 1974, but it's about much more than the bout. Gast's film — featuring 1990s interviews from boxing experts, pop culture icons, and people who knew Ali at the time — attempts to delve deep into the context of the fight, the troubling political state of Zaire in the 1970s, Ali's charisma and ability to address native Africans, and Foreman's own contrasting tactics. It's a remarkable study not just of a great moment in history, but of how Ali's sheer force of personality made him an icon on a global scale, even beyond his boxing ability.

Cast: Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Don King

Director: Leon Gast

Rating: PG

Runtime: 84 minutes

The first feature film from director Spike Lee, "She's Gotta Have It" is a vital piece of film history if for no other reason than it introduced Lee to cinephiles everywhere.

But this is more than a museum piece. It's a great American dramedy, as one woman (Tracy Camilla Johns) dates three men at once, refusing to commit to any of them and watching what happens as they all realize they'd like to have her to themselves. Released in 1986, the film announced Spike Lee as a vital, energetic new American filmmaker, and spurred follow-up successes like "School Daze" and the iconic "Do the Right Thing." Plus, Lee doesn't just write and direct. He also plays a role in the film, originating his now-iconic character Mars Blackmon in "She's Gotta Have It."

Cast: Tracy Camilla Johns, Tommy Redmond Hicks, John Canada Terrell

Director: Spike Lee

Rating: R

Runtime: 84 minutes

If you love romance, "Out of Africa" really does have it all. You've got attractive leads, a historical period, a dramatic and beautiful setting, and of course, bittersweet highs and lows, all wrapped up in a package that made it one of the most acclaimed films of the 1980s.

Set in the early 20th century in British East Africa, the film follows Karen (Meryl Streep), a beautiful and brilliant woman who moves to the continent to marry a nobleman. While there, she meets a dashing big game hunter (Robert Redford), forming a connection that persists even as everything else in her life changes in dramatic, sweeping ways.

Released in 1985, "Out of Africa" was one of the most successful films of that year, and cleaned up at the Oscars, winning seven awards out of 11 nominations, including best picture, best director for Sydney Pollack, and best score for John Barry's sweeping music.

Cast: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer

Director: Sydney Pollack

Rating: PG

Runtime: 160 minutes

Though Hayao Miyazaki is easily the most famous name in Japanese feature animation, he's not the only luminary to emerge from the form, nor the only one to emerge from Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki's Ghibli partner and creative rival, Isao Takahata, also deserves to be considered as one of the greatest Japanese animators ever, and "Grave of the Fireflies" is one of his crowning achievements.

Loosely based on a true story and set in the final months of World War II, "Grave of the Fireflies" follows two orphans as they fight to survive while American bombers devastate their city. It's one of the hardest movies to watch more than once, because its story of devastation and survival is a deeply emotional one, but it's also an essential piece of Japanese animation. It's one of Takahata's best films, and one of the best war movies ever made, so there are a number of reasons to watch this masterpiece, even if it is a harrowing journey.

Cast: J. Robert Spencer, Rhoda Chrosite, Amy Jones

Director: Isao Takahata

Rating: NR

Runtime: 88 minutes

Arguably the greatest cinematic achievement in Netflix's history is its decision to finish Orson Welles' final film, "The Other Side of the Wind." Shot throughout the early 1970s by the "Citizen Kane" filmmaker, and featuring iconic director John Huston as a version of himself, it was long-considered a Holy Grail of unreleased movies. Then Netflix backed its resurrection, and in 2018, we got to see a piece of history.

Told in a docudrama style, the film unfolds as the last day alive for director Jack Hanneford (Huston), who's surrounded by journalists and friends as he celebrates his birthday and screens portions of his experimental, racy new film, which is unfinished. Welles hoped the film would be his comeback, but rights and financing issues left it ensnared in legal limbo following his death, and it remained that way for nearly 50 years. Finally, with Netflix's help, producer Frank Marshall and director Peter Bogdanovich (who also appears in the film) finished Welles' last major work, creating an essential piece of cinema along the way.

Cast: John Huston, Susan Strassberg, Lilli Palmer

Director: Orson Welles

Rating: R

Runtime: 122 minutes

Penny Marshall's directing career is best remembered today for the comedies she made with Tom Hanks, including "Big" and "A League of Their Own," but Marshall also contributed one of the best dramas of the 1990s. Based on Oliver Sacks' nonfiction book of the same name, "Awakenings" adapts a true story to the screen with two titanic performances at its center.

Robin Williams stars as Dr. Malcolm Sayer, a neurologist studying a group of catatonic patients including Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro), a man who's been essentially frozen in time for decades. Using an experimental drug, Sayer is able to revive the patients, giving them a chance to re-integrate into society after years of waiting. Sayer and Lowe become close friends, but the longer the experiment progresses, the more Sayer must contend with the side effects of his breakthrough.

Hailed as one of the best movies of 1990, "Awakenings" might be the best directing Penny Marshall ever did, and features incredible work from both Williams and De Niro.

Cast: Robin Williams, Robert De Niro, Julie Kavner

Director: Penny Marshall

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 121 minutes

One of the most important films of the 1990s, "Boyz n the Hood" remains an essential coming-of-age movie, crime drama, and piece of the Black cinema canon. It's also, from its biggest ideas to its smallest moments, an incredibly entertaining film.

Set in South Central Los Angeles, the film follows a group of friends all looking toward their future, from the college-bound Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to the gang member Doughboy (Ice Cube) and the star athlete Ricky (Morris Chestnut). They've been brought up in a rough world, but they all seem to have something bright ahead of them — at least until the cycles of violence threatening to consume their neighborhood start to hit very close to home.

The directorial debut of John Singleton, "Boyz n the Hood" was one of the most acclaimed films of 1991, and went on to be considered one of the best films of the decade, defining Generation X along the way.

Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne

Director: John Singleton

Rating: R

Runtime: 112 minutes

It's easy to see why many consider "Stand By Me" the best movie based on a Stephen King story, and it only gets clearer with time. Directed by Rob Reiner, who also produced another Stephen King classic, "Misery," a few years later, the film is adapted from King's novella "The Body," and while it's certainly got its horrific moments, it's one of those classic King tales that moves out of horror spheres.

The film takes us back to the 1950s, when a group of friends battle bullies, parents, and their own fears to venture out into the woods to see a dead body they've heard is lying there, undiscovered by the authorities. Along the way, they grow closer to each other, learn about themselves, and learn to face their fears. Featuring an ensemble cast that includes Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Kiefer Sutherland, "Stand By Me" is an incredible vision of the magical moments of growing up, and one of the best films of the 1980s.

Cast: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman

Director: Rob Reiner

Rating: R

Runtime: 89 minutes

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Steven Spielberg has delivered numerous American classics, from dinosaurs and aliens to human dramas set amid history's most consequential moments. But one stands above the rest as the most important work of his career.

Set amid the horrors of the Holocaust and following one German industrialist (Liam Neeson) who pushes back in secret against the Nazi regime, "Schindler's List" is Spielberg at his most mournful, his most poetic, and his most achingly profound. It's a hard movie to watch, but it stands today as the director's finest piece of work, and an essential film about the Holocaust. Starring an ensemble cast including Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, and Caroline Goodall, "Schindler's List" became the most acclaimed film of 1993, winning seven Oscars, including best picture, and remaining one of the essential films not just of the 1990s, but of the entire 20th century.

Cast: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes

Director: Steven Spielberg

Rating: R

Runtime: 195 minutes