The 20 Longest Movies of All Time
These are some of the longest films ever made in English.
Of course, there are movies shot in other languages around the world that are just as long, if not longer, than some of the movies on this list, like béla tarr’s seven-hour episodic film, sátántangó. Recently, audiences may remember the Russian movie Leviathan that kept us glued to our seats for two hours and twenty-one minutes.
These are 20 of the longest movies ever made, many of which moviegoers love to watch over and over again, no matter the runtime.
1. gone with the wind
duration: 238 min (3 hours, 58 min)
a 1939 classic american film produced by david o.selznick and directed by victor fleming, is based on the novel by margaret mitchell. Moviegoers around the world loved the epic love story of Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) set during the American Civil War.
In 1939, the film swept the Oscars and soon became one of the most famous films of all time. however, this movie classic has a complicated legacy and has long been criticized for its racist misrepresentations and portrayal of slavery.
2. Once upon a time in America
duration: 229 min (3 hours, 49 min)
Sergio Leone’s 1984 gangster epic tells the complex story of a small group of Jewish gangsters on New York’s lower east side spanning more than 40 years.
The original version was nearly four and a half hours (269 minutes) long, but was shortened to 229 minutes for European audiences.
3. Lawrence of Arabia
run time: 216 min (3 hrs, 36 min)
Directed by David Lean, the 1962 film is a much-loved classic at over three hours in length. a British version of key developments in the Middle East in the early 20th century, particularly as regards geopolitics and the development of the oil industry and its fundamental contribution to British society.
4. ben hur
run time: 212 min (3 hrs, 32 min)
Directed by William Wyler, this 1959 film stars Charlton Heston as a betrayed Jewish prince sent into slavery by a Roman friend. he eventually regains his freedom from it and returns for revenge.
5. Cleopatra
run time: 248 minutes (4 hours, 8 minutes)
Joseph L Mankiewicz’s four-hour Cleopatra (1963) received mixed reviews, but there’s no question that Cleopatra is quite the cinematic spectacle with spectacular scenes like the famous queen’s entry into Rome.
elizabeth taylor is cleopatra, queen of egypt, who seduces two roman rulers: emperor julius caesar (rex harrison) and his general mark antony (richard burton). her passionate romance could decide the fate of the throne.
6. the irishman
duration: 209 minutes (3 hours, 29 min)
martin scorsese’s 2019 film is based on charles brandt’s novel i heard you paint houses.
The epic saga is 209 minutes long, but audiences love following the life and times of former union leader and hit man Frank Sheeran in post-war America.
7. apocalypse now
run time: 202 min (3 hrs, 22 min)
Inspired by Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novel Heart of Darkness, the film is not only over 3 hours long, but Francis Ford Coppola took a long time to finish due to a series of problems during filming.
captain willard (martin sheen) is a captain of the us. uu. Army officer serving in Vietnam on a mission to assassinate a renegade special forces colonel (Marlon Brando), who sees himself as a god and is framed for murder. If you love this movie, it’s also worth watching ‘Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse’, the documentary filmed by Eleanor Coppola while filming in the Philippines.
8. the lord of the rings: the return of the king
run time: 201 min (3 hrs, 21 min)
Peter Jackson’s 2003 fantasy adventure film is the final and longest film in the trilogy, but it has fans all over the world who don’t mind the three hours or more. Gandalf and Aragorn, heirs to the ancient kings, fight to save Gondor from the forces of Sauron. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam approach Mount Doom with the One Ring.
9. the godfather: part ii
run time: 200 min (3 hrs, 20 min)
Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 epic crime film is considered one of the best American films of the late 20th century.
The sequel to “The Godfather,” focuses on the early life and career of Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) in 1920s New York City, while his son, Michael Corleone ( al pacino), develops the family crime syndicate. in 1993 it was added to the national film registry for being ‘culturally significant’.
10. spartacus
duration: 197 min (3 hours, 17 min)
1960 epic historical drama directed by legendary filmmaker stanley kubrick. The slave Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) leads a violent revolt with his fellow slaves against Rome in a film that takes over three hours to tell the story.
11. schindler’s list
duration: 195 min (3 hours, 15 min)
Steven Spielberg’s 1993 Holocaust drama is over three hours long and had a profound effect on audiences when it was first released. tells the true-life story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who tried to save his Jewish workforce from the horrors of the Nazis in German-occupied Poland.
12. titanic
duration: 194 min (3 hours, 14 min)
the 1997 movie that had audiences around the world reliving the sinking of the titanic. This 194-minute blockbuster epic directed by James Cameron broke multiple box office records.
A beautiful girl on the first class section of the Titanic falls in love with a handsome but poor artist who is traveling on a third class ticket aboard the luxurious but ill-fated R.M.S. titanic.
13. the right things
duration: 193 min (3 hours, 13 min)
Philip Kaufman’s 1983 historical drama film tells the story of the original Mercury 7, military pilots who were selected to be astronauts for Project Mercury.
14. the green mile
duration: 189 min (3 h, 9 min)
a 1999 fantasy drama film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by stephen king.
A guard’s (Tom Hanks) life on Cold Mountain Penitentiary’s death row, nicknamed “The Green Mile,” is upended by an enigmatic convict (Michael Clarke Duncan) who has a mysterious gift.
15. jfk
duration: 189 min (3 h, 9 min)
Oliver Stone’s 1991 hit film about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963. In the acclaimed drama, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison leads an investigation in which he discovers there is more to the President’s assassination than the official story tells.
16. magnolias
run time: 188 min (3 hrs, 8 min)
paul thomas anderson’s 1999 epic and intimate mosaic of the intertwined lives of characters searching for love, forgiveness and meaning in the san fernando valley. their paths cross by fate, chance or pure chance.
17. king kong
run time: 185 minutes (3 hrs 05 min)
a 2005 epic monster adventure film directed by peter jackson. A greedy filmmaker assembles a team of filmmakers who set out from New York on an expedition to the legendary Skull Island, home to cannibalistic natives and, as they’re about to discover, a massive ape. peter jackson definitely likes his long movies.
18. the deer hunter
run time: 182 min (3 hrs 02 min)
Michael Cimino’s vietnam war epic came out in 1978, the film examines the ways the u.s. uu. The Vietnam War affects the lives of three steelworkers in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania.
19. dance with wolves
run time: 181 min (3 hrs 01 min)
a 1990 film directed by kevin costner. Lieutenant John Dunbar travels to the American frontier to find a military outpost, where he befriends wolves and Lakota Indians. the film almost avoids perpetuating the “white savior” complex as the natives are the ones who ultimately save dunbar and not the other way around.
20. the wolf of wall street
run time: 180 min (3 hrs, 0 min)
A huge commercial success in 2013, Martin Scorsese directed this biographical black comedy crime film based on Jordan Belfort’s autobiography.
Over the course of three hours, we witness wealthy stockbroker jordan belfort’s spectacular fall from grace into a life of crime, corruption, and the federal government. definitely worth three hours of his time.
