The Best Movie Of Each Year From 1925-2025

64. 1962 - Lawrence Of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia 1962
Columbia Pictures

Honourable Mentions: Carnival of Souls, Harakiri, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Quite possibly the biggest movie ever made, David Lean's odyssey-like Lawrence of Arabia is unequalled in its sheer comprehensiveness and visual allure, a film as resplendent in its adventurousness as it is dripping with tragedy and regret.

A retelling of the life of career soldier T. E. Lawrence, who was instrumental in organising the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, Lean's film, like The Bridge on the River Kwai, is enmeshed within the trauma of empire and British convention, with Peter O'Toole's captivating performance casting his subject as a man marooned between worlds. It's a heartbreaking and iconic turn from the actor, who is paired excellently with Omar Sharif, Anthony Quinn, and Alec Guinness - frustrating as it is that the latter two were cast in favour of actors with a Middle East background.

In any case, in scale, drama, and performance, Lawrence of Arabia is a masterpiece no matter which way you cut it. It's a film that is so big, it feels like a crime to confine it to a home viewing.

 
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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.