The Story Behind 1001 Movies

"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", general-edited by Steven Jay Schneider, launched the whole franchise in 2003 and remains its best-known volume. It set the template: a thick, image-rich reference pairing a canonical list with a one-page critical essay for every entry.

The book has been revised many times, with titles added and dropped as the canon is argued over edition to edition. The list tracked here follows the 2021 edition.