About Filmsite:
Filmsite -
also known as Greatest Films (http://www.filmsite.org/ and http://www.greatestfilms.org/)
is a unique website containing interpretive, descriptive review
commentary and background history on many of the best Hollywood
and American classic films in the last century. The site initiated
the recent trend to select 100
Landmark Movies in the history of American/Hollywood
cinema, that serve as signposts to map the milestones of our
cinematic past. The site includes rich reference material including
Academy Awards history, film genres, film terms, film history
by decade, trivia, and lots of lists of 'best' films, stars,
scenes, quotes, resources, posters, etc.
Films, also known as movies, motion pictures, flicks,
the pictures, and the cinema, are undoubtedly the most influential
art form of the 20th century. From the early days of Hollywood
to the high-tech cinema of today, the silver screen has projected
our dreams and fantasies, presented both glamour and works of
social conscience, and served as our collective memory.

This site was created in May 1996 by Tim Dirks.
As of September 2008, it came under the umbrella of American
Movie Classics (AMC) LLC, owned by Rainbow Media Holdings,
LLC, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation. As of July
1, 2011, Cablevision spun off its Rainbow Networks unit, creating
a new company called AMC Networks, Inc. The new AMC Networks
entity owns and operates the channels AMC, WE tv, IFC, Sundance
Channel and AMC/Sundance Global, plus IFC Entertainment, an independent
film business.
Tim Dirks is the sole author, editor, and manager
of Filmsite.
Some of the site's most popular pages include:
100 Greatest Films - thoroughly described with Criteria for Selection
- Other Compiled Greatest Films Lists - from multiple sources
- The Best Of... - Tearjerkers, Best
Film Kisses, Deaths, Scariest, Film
Spoilers, Entrances, Funniest, Musical
Moments, Disasters, Chases,
Zombie Films, Greatest
Courtroom Dramas, etc.
(all illustrated)
- Academy Awards Winners (Oscars History, Facts & Trivia) - by year (with
Best Pictures posters for each year)
- Most
Influential Films in American Cinema
- Greatest Film Star Roles and Legends - with filmographies
- Memorable Film Quotes
- Complete Study of Film Genres - westerns, musicals,
etc., with recommended films to view by genre
- Sexual or Erotic Films (Film Genres)
- Chick Flicks
- Movie Title
Screens
- History of Crime-Gangster
Films
- Comprehensive Film History
with Milestones - by decade and individual year
(illustrated)
- All-Time Box-Office 100 Hits - domestic (adjusted and unadjusted
for inflation), and worldwide
- Most Famous Movie Moments
and Scenes - extensively described and illustrated
- All-Time
Greatest Film Series & Franchises
- Greatest Directors of All-Time - with filmographies
- Top 100 Greatest
Film Quotes
- The Most Controversial Films of All-Time (illustrated)
- The Greatest Box-Office Bombs, Disasters, and Flops
- The History of Sex in Cinema (illustrated)
- 100 Most
Iconic Film Images, Moments, or Scenes
'Greatest
Films' Lists - The Best:
The English-language films
chosen here repeatedly appear on all-time best film lists
- arguably, there is reasonable consensus by most film historians,
critics and reviewers that they are among cinema's most critically-acclaimed,
significant "must-see" films
(of predominantly Hollywood-American output, although there are
other English-language films included). Access this site's "Greatest
Films" Lists, that first highlights 100 films (in unranked,
alphabetical order) which have left an indelible mark on our century's
culture and have been part of our lives for over a century. You
may be interested in Tips
on Viewing Films Critically provided by the site's author.
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"Greatest
Films" Lists
|
100
Greatest Films, (identified throughout the site by a
yellow star )
- are film selections that have undoubtedly left an indelible
mark upon our lives and reflect the defining moments of the
last 100 years - films that give us pieces of time we can never
forget. Detailed analysis and synopses for each of the Greatest
Films include memorable movie quotes and lines of dialogue,
and great moments or scenes. |
|
| Another
100 Greatest Films supplements the original list because
it was almost impossible to be limited to only 100 Greatest
Films. |
| Third
100 Greatest Films adds an additional selection of
100 more films, to make a total of 300 Greatest Films for
consideration. |
| 200
and 300 Greatest Films combines
all lists of predominantly American-Hollywood films (and other
English-language films), and presents them in chronological
(and) alphabetical order. |
|
Other "Greatest" Lists provide a basis of comparison
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Highly Recommended Site:
Filmsite.org is prominently displayed as one of the
main reviewers/critics and sources of film material for hundreds of films
in the Internet Movie
Database (under "External Reviews" for specific titles),
the Movie Review Query
Engine, and Rotten
Tomatoes.
Film
critic Roger Ebert has twice voted the site as one of the top 20 movie sites
on the Web in Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine (Jan. '98 and June '99)
(see all of Ebert's honors and references to filmsite.org),
and Ebert has also referenced this site's reviews on Notorious and Red River and other films in his 2002
book - The
Great Movies, and on his Chicago Sun-Times website on The
Great Movies. Ebert has also corresponded with the site's author
on questions/answers that he incorporated into his "Answer Man" column.
The site has been reviewed very favorably by a number of
Web magazines, sites or books (see this site's References section), and the author has been quoted in numerous sources for DVD commentary,
AP press releases, radio broadcasts, magazine articles, etc. According to the Encyclopedia
Britannica, this site has a "rich collection of commentary and
information about masterpieces of American cinema." In mid-2003, Variety featured
the site in an article titled: "Filmsite
has unique spin on top pix." Filmsite.org was voted in October, 2007 by the popular movie magazine Fade In (both virtual and online) as one of the "100 Coolest Film Sites on the Net" with "every conceivable 'best of' list for film".
Comments From Visitors & Reviewers:
- "An excellent overview of classic Hollywood films."
- "The Greatest Films is an encyclopedic, enthusiastic history of American
film."
- "One of the better amateur sites on its topic."
- "Excellent for hunting down the perfect rental."
- "A virtual treasure trove of cinema goodies."
- "A real find for film buffs of all persuasions."
- "I really love to read your movie summaries."
- "It truly is a wonderfully in-depth and detailed place not only interesting
to browse through, but, being a teacher of media/film, academically worthwhile."
The links and additional information you provide is also first class. Keep
up the good work and keep adding to the site."
- "I'm studying American film and this site is one of my main resources!!
- "Any site with Roger Ebert's endorsement has got to be bookmarked!"
- "Your compilation is extraordinary. Anyone who can coherently relate the
plot of 'The Big Sleep' or 'Bringing Up Baby' deserves the highest esteem.
I'm a New York screenwriter and actor, and find myself copying sections
of dialogue and e-mailing them to my LA colleagues with the question, 'All
right, film and director? What year?' Keep up the great work!"
- "The site offers many ways of looking at important
films, but the centerpiece is his series of 100 long reviews of classics,
including downloadable still photos, highly extensive plot summaries,
and a lot of quotes... This site is useful for film students or others
seeking an entry point into film history. He has essays on genres, periods
and types of movies, and suggested titles in each area, and his sheer
love for the movies comes across in his accuracy and energy." (Roger Ebert)
- " I taught film, as well as film and literature,
courses for 40 years, and during the last ten I always referred
my students to filmsite.org ahead of any other internet site
dealing with movies. Young people, needless to say, have a strong
bias on behalf of the contemporary, or the present tense and
an equally strong antipathy toward "old" movies, black
and white movies (Roger Ebert is quite strong about the superior "art" of
shooting in black and white), movies "long" on dialog
(however sparkling) and short on production values (hence, "The
Maltese Falcon," "His Girl Friday," even most
Marx Brothers films do poorly when left to the judgment of impatient
teenagers and 20-21-year olds. And of course silent movies practically
don't even count (I have even had to defend "Birth of a
Nation" to politically correct academics who could not see
beyond their own calcified ideologies). And, despite adult assumptions,
I've discovered that young people don't know much if anything
about Charlie Chaplin (and if they do, they've never seen a Chaplin
film--and, more often than not, the same turns out to be true
for a Marx Brothers, Astaire or Bogart movie). The
point is that your site has always offered a "validation" I
could turn to for support. I've even printed out some of the
ratings as the basis for "must see" films and extra-credit
projects, using it most recently when I taught a course in "cult
films.""
Visitor
and Traffic Statistics:
Visitor Statistics:
There have been many millions and millions of visitors to the site since its
inception (May 30, 1996).
Alexa.com's Ranking of Filmsite (at the end of 2017)
- US Rank: 14,979
- Global Rank: 27,508
- Linking:
4,550 other sites are linking into Filmsite
- Most of Filmsite's
visitors (English-speaking) come from the US, India, the UK,
Canada, and Germany.
- Google PageRank: 6/10 (strong)
Filmsite is composed of over 81,000 files
(approx 3,000 individual web pages).
Alexa.com Rankings of Top Sites By Category
(in 2017):
Filmsite.org:
Ranked # 40 website in the category
of Arts > Movies
Ranked # 1 website in the category
of Arts > Movies > History
Ranked # 5 website in the category of
Arts > Movies
> Reviews
Ranked # 2 website in the category of
Arts > Movies
> Reviews > Top Lists
Ranked # 2 website in the category of Arts > Movies > Reviews
> Top Lists > Good Films
Ranked # 2 website in the category of
Arts > Movies
> Genres
Ranked # 1 website in the category of
Arts > Movies
> Genres > Classic
Ranked # 2 website in the category
of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Romance
Ranked # 2 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Mystery
Ranked # 2 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Suspense Thrillers
Ranked # 2 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Cowboy Westerns
Ranked # 2 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Organized Crime
Ranked # 2 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Serials
Ranked # 2 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Drama
Ranked # 3 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Film Noir
Ranked # 3 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Historical
Ranked # 3 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Musicals
Ranked # 3 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > War
Ranked # 4 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Comedy
Ranked # 4 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Action
Ranked # 5 website in the category of Arts > Movies
> Genres > Family
Ranked # 7 website in the category of Arts > Movies > Genres
> Silent Movies
Ranked # 9 website in the category of Arts > Movies > Genres
> Cult Movies
Ranked # 9 website in the category of Arts > Movies > Genres
> Science Fiction and Fantasy
Ranked # 18 website in the category of Arts > Movies > Genres
> Horror
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Google Analytics

Traffic Statistics:
Entire Year 2014
- Page Views: 51,310,936
Unique Page
Views: 41,940,528
- Sessions: 20,836,566
Pages per Session:
2.46
- New Visitors: 89.2%
Returning
Visitors: 10.8%
- Number of Users: 17,122,696
- Average Session Duration: 2.54 minutes
|
Google
Analytics

Traffic Statistics:
Entire Year 2015
- Page Views: 48,819,210
Unique Page Views:
39,767,996
- Sessions: 20,232,340
Pages per Session:
2.41
- New Visitors: 89.1%
Returning Visitors: 10.9%
- Number of Users: 16,425,059
- Average Session Duration: 2.44 minutes
|
|
Google Analytics

Traffic Statistics:
Entire Year 2016
- Page Views: 38,028,138
Unique Page Views:
31,301,308
-
Sessions: 16,660,517
Pages per Session:
2.28
-
New Visitors: 89.2%
Returning Visitors:
10.8%
- Number of Users: 13,738,919
-
Average Session Duration: 2.30 minutes
|
Google Analytics

Traffic Statistics:
Entire Year 2017
- Page Views: 27,967,104
Unique Page Views: 23,451,749
- Sessions: 12,977,605
Pages per Session: 2.16
- New Visitors: 88.9%
Returning Visitors: 11.1%
- Number of Users: 10,503,732
- Average Session Duration: 2.17 minutes
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Site Visitors:
Everyone interested in film in some way visits this site - seniors and the young,
the student and the casual observer, film buffs from throughout the world
- screenwriters, film reviewers, film studies students, persons looking for
a particular quote or fact about a film, film poster enthusiasts, or visitors
who want to experience a film again by reading the detailed, lengthy
synopses of each of the films. With the amount of resources, it literally
would take many repeat visits to see all areas of the filmsite.
Top Referring Sites to Filmsite:
The top two referring sites to Filmsite are Wikipedia.com and Imdb.com.
Most of the visitors to the site arrive through Search.
Sites Also Visited By Filmsite Visitors:
The following sites were
also frequently visited by Filmsite visitors, or considered
similar, with the same audience: www.imdb.com, www.allmovie.com,
www.afi.com, www.reelclassics.com, www.cinepad.com, www.film.com,
www.rottentomatoes.com, www.classicmovies.org, www.oscars.org,
www.nervepop.com, www.movieweb.com, www.ifc.com, www.tcm.com,
www.sensesofcinema.com, www.listology.com, and www.oscar.com.
Most Frequent Search Terms:
The following were popular
search terms used by Filmsite visitors:
popular movies, afi top 100, most popular movies, top 100 movies
of all time, erotic movies.
Advertisers:
If you are interested in advertising on this
site, you may contact Director of Sales - Digital:
Chris
Cifarelli, AMC Networks, Email to:
Contacting Filmsite:
If you have any questions about Filmsite,
you may contact:
Tim Dirks, Email to:
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