MRQE Ranks: Cinema's Strongest Female Characters

1

All About Eve (1950)

Cast: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Gary Merrill, George Sanders, Celeste Holm

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Synopsis: Based on the story The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr, All About Eve is an elegantly bitchy backstage story revolving around aspiring actress Eve Harrin... [MORE]

2

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Hattie McDaniel

Director: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood

Synopsis: Gone With the Wind boils down to a story about a spoiled Southern girl's hopeless love for a married man. Producer David O. Selznick managed to exp... [MORE]

3

The Big Sleep (1946)

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, John Ridgely

Director: Howard Hawks

Synopsis: The definitive Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall vehicle, The Big Sleep casts Bogart as Raymond Chandler's cynical private eye Philip Marlowe. Summoned... [MORE]

4

Double Indemnity (1944)

Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather

Director: Billy Wilder

Synopsis: Directed by Billy Wilder and adapted from a James M. Cain novel by Wilder and Raymond Chandler, Double Indemnity represents the high-water mark of ... [MORE]

5

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Cast: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, John Megna, Frank Overton

Director: Robert Mulligan

Synopsis: Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel was translated to film in 1962 by Horton Foote and the producer/director team of Robert ... [MORE]

6

Chinatown (1974)

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, Diane Ladd

Director: Roman Polanski

Synopsis: "You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't," warns water baron Noah Cross (John Huston), when smooth cop-turned-pr... [MORE]

7

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Maurice Evans, Sidney Blackmer

Director: Roman Polanski

Synopsis: In Roman Polanski's first American film, adapted from Ira Levin's horror bestseller, a young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of thi... [MORE]

8

Annie Hall (1977)

Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Paul Simon, Carol Kane

Director: Woody Allen

Synopsis: Woody Allen's romantic comedy of the Me Decade follows the up and down relationship of two mismatched New York neurotics. Jewish comedy writer Alvy... [MORE]

9

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Cast: Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, James Gregory, Janet Leigh

Director: John Frankenheimer

Synopsis: An unusually tense and intelligent political thriller, The Manchurian Candidate was a film far ahead of its time. Its themes of thought control, po... [MORE]

10

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald

Director: Jonathan Demme

Synopsis: In this multiple Oscar-winning thriller, Jodie Foster stars as Clarice Starling, a top student at the FBI's training academy whose shrewd analyses ... [MORE]

11

My Fair Lady (1964)

Cast: Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper

Director: George Cukor

Synopsis: At one time the longest-running Broadway musical, My Fair Lady was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe from the George Bernard Shaw come... [MORE]

12

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Cast: Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdu, Alex Angulo, Doug Jones

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Synopsis: Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro returns to the phantasmagorical cinema that defined such early fare as Cronos and The Devil's Backbone with th... [MORE]

13

Alien (1979)

Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton

Director: Ridley Scott

Synopsis: "In space, no one can hear you scream." A close encounter of the third kind becomes a Jaws-style nightmare when an alien invades a spacecraft in Ri... [MORE]

14

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Lung Sihung

Director: Ang Lee

Synopsis: Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee took a break from making Western period dramas to fashion this wild and woolly martial arts spectacular featuring speci... [MORE]

15

The African Queen (1951)

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Theodore Bikel, Peter Bull

Director: John Huston

Synopsis: After years of wooing director John Huston via good reviews, film critic James Agee was given a chance to write the screenplay for a Huston picture... [MORE]

16

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Cast: Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden, Kim Hunter, Rudy Bond

Director: Elia Kazan

Synopsis: In the classic play by Tennessee Williams, brought to the screen by Elia Kazan, faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) comes to visit h... [MORE]

17

Fargo (1996)

Cast: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell

Director: Joel Coen

Synopsis: Filmmaking siblings Joel Coen and Ethan Coen both embraced and poked satirical fun at their Minnesotan roots with this comedy-drama-thriller that e... [MORE]

18

Rebecca (1940)

Cast: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, George Sanders, Nigel Bruce

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the classic psychological thriller Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film. Joan Fontaine plays... [MORE]

19

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Jay Baruchel, Mike Colter

Director: Clint Eastwood

Synopsis: Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a veteran boxing trainer who has devoted his life to the ring and has precious little to show for it; his daughter... [MORE]

20

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis, Valeria Golino

Director: Mike Figgis

Synopsis: Mike Figgis' grim drama documents a romantic triangle of sorts involving prostitute Sera (Elisabeth Shue), failed Hollywood screenwriter Ben (Oscar... [MORE]

21

The Graduate (1967)

Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, William Daniels, Murray Hamilton

Director: Mike Nichols

Synopsis: "Just one word: plastic." "Are you here for an affair?" These lines and others became cultural touchstones, as 1960s youth rebellion seeped into th... [MORE]

22

Walkabout (1971)

Cast: Jenny Agutter, Lucien John, David Gumpilil, John Meillon, Peter Carver

Director: Nicolas Roeg

Synopsis: The contrast between modern, urban civilization and life in the natural world lies at the heart of Nicolas Roeg's visually dazzling drama Walkabout... [MORE]

23

Persepolis (2007)

Cast: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands, Sean Penn, Iggy Pop

Director: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud

Synopsis: Filmmakers Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi collaborated to co-write and co-direct this adaptation of Satrapi's bestselling autobiographical g... [MORE]

24

Chicago (2002)

Cast: Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly

Director: Rob Marshall

Synopsis: A starry-eyed would-be star discovers just how far the notion that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" can go in this screen adaptation of the... [MORE]

25

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Earl Boen

Director: James Cameron

Synopsis: A sequel to the sci-fi action thriller that made him and star Arnold Schwarzenegger A-list Hollywood names, writer/director James Cameron upped the... [MORE]

26

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Brad Pitt

Director: Ridley Scott

Synopsis: Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon play Thelma and Louise, two working-class friends who together have planned a weekend getaway from the men in their ... [MORE]

27

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

Cast: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Gordon Liu

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Synopsis: Quentin Tarantino's sprawling homage to action films of both the East and the West reaches its conclusion in this continuation of 2003's ultra-viol... [MORE]

28

Brazil (1985)

Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, Michael Palin, Kim Greist, Katherine Helmond

Director: Terry Gilliam

Synopsis: Brazil constitutes Terry Gilliam's enormously ambitious follow-up to his 1981 Time Bandits. It also represents the second installment in a trilogy ... [MORE]

29

Mulan (1998)

Director: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook

Synopsis: Inspired by a familiar Chinese folk tale, this $90 million animated Disney drama follows the adventures of a young woman in ancient China. Characte... [MORE]

30

Harold and Maude (1971)

Cast: Bud Cort, Ruth Gordon, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack

Director: Hal Ashby

Synopsis: A young man with a death wish and a 79-year-old high on life find love in Hal Ashby's cult black comedy. Deadpan rich boy Harold (Bud Cort) keeps s... [MORE]

31

An Education (2009)

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike

Director: Lone Scherfig

Synopsis: A suburban London teen finds her traditional education replaced by something slightly more sinister when an older, more worldly suitor sweeps her o... [MORE]

32

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Cast: Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Vivica A. Fox

Director: Quentin Tarantino

33

Whale Rider (2002)

Cast: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis, Grant Roa

Director: Niki Caro

Synopsis: Based on the novel of the same name by Maori writer Witi Ihimaera, Whale Rider is a unique family drama directed Niki Caro. On the eastern coast of... [MORE]

34

The Color Purple (1985)

Cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Willard Pugh

Director: Steven Spielberg

Synopsis: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker, The Color Purple spans the years 1909 to 1949, relating the life of Celie (Whoopi Goldbe... [MORE]

36

Body Heat (1981)

Cast: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J.A. Preston

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

Synopsis: Lawrence Kasdan's first directorial effort is a throwback to the early days of film noir. The scene is a beastly hot Florida coastal town, where na... [MORE]

37

Carrie (1976)

Cast: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, John Travolta, Amy Irving, William Katt

Director: Brian De Palma

Synopsis: This classic horror movie based on Stephen King's first novel stars Sissy Spacek as Carrie White, a shy, diffident teenager who is the butt of prac... [MORE]

38

Contact (1997)

Cast: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Synopsis: The search for life outside our solar system becomes a personal and spiritual quest for a young researcher. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) is a scien... [MORE]

39

Monster (2003)

Cast: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Scott Wilson, Pruitt Taylor Vince

Director: Patty Jenkins

Synopsis: Model-turned-actress Charlize Theron leaves her glamorous image behind for this gritty drama, in which she plays a disturbed prostitute who becomes... [MORE]

40

As Good as It Gets (1997)

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr., Skeet Ulrich

Director: James L. Brooks

Synopsis: James L. Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) directed this $50 million-plus romantic comedy, set in Manhattan. Dysfunctional, acid-tongue... [MORE]

41

Erin Brockovich (2000)

Cast: Julia Roberts, Aaron Eckhart, Albert Finney, Marg Helgenberger, Cherry Jones

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Synopsis: Julia Roberts stars in this legal drama based on the true story of a woman who helped win the largest settlement ever paid in a direct-action lawsu... [MORE]

42

A Room with a View (1985)

Cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Maggie Smith, Denholm Elliott, Daniel Day Lewis

Director: James Ivory

Synopsis: Adapted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala from the novel by E.M. Forster, A Room with a View is a shining example of Merchant-Ivory's ability to achieve maxi... [MORE]

43

V for Vendetta (2006)

Cast: Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, John Hurt, Stephen Fry

Director: James McTeigue

Synopsis: Based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore, V for Vendetta takes place in an alternate vision of Britain in which a corrupt and abusive totalitarian ... [MORE]

44

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Mickey Rooney

Director: Blake Edwards

Synopsis: In an idealized New York City during the early '60s, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a charming socialite with a youthful zest for life who liv... [MORE]

45

A Very Long Engagement (2004)

Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jean-Pierre Becker, Dominique Bettenfeld, Clovis Cornillac

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Synopsis: Audrey Tautou, who rose to international stardom with the title role in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's worldwide smash Amélie, reunites with the director for... [MORE]

46

Hanna (2011)

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Eric Bana, Jason Flemyng, Olivia Williams

Director: Joe Wright

Synopsis: A teenage assassin raised in remote Finland is dispatched on a dangerous mission by her father, an ex-CIA operative, in this innovative action thri... [MORE]

47

Frida (2002)

Cast: Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush, Ashley Judd, Antonio Banderas

Director: Julie Taymor

Synopsis: After being attached to a number of actors, directors, and producers, this long-gestating biography of one of Mexico's most prominent, iconoclastic... [MORE]

48

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)

Cast: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid

Director: George Lucas

Synopsis: In 1977, George Lucas released Star Wars, the ultimate sci-fi popcorn flick-turned-pop-culture myth machine. It quickly became the biggest money-ma... [MORE]

49

North Country (2005)

Cast: Charlize Theron, Elle Peterson, Thomas Curtis, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean

Director: Niki Caro

Synopsis: A fictionalized account of one of America's most groundbreaking sexual harassment lawsuits comes to the screen in this hard-hitting drama. In the l... [MORE]

50

Charlie's Angels (2000)

Cast: Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Jaclyn Smith, Bo Hopkins

Synopsis: This 72-minute pilot film of the Charlie's Angels series stars the three original "Angels": Sabrina (Kate Jackson), Jill (Farrah Fawcett-Majors), a... [MORE]

51

Basic Instinct (1992)

Cast: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Dorothy Malone, Jeanne Tripplehorn

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Synopsis: This cold, stylish erotic-thriller grossed over $100 million at the box-office despite vigorous protests at its depiction of gays and women. The sh... [MORE]

52

G.I. Jane (1997)

Cast: Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft, Jason Beghe, Scott Wilson

Director: Ridley Scott

Synopsis: Ridley Scott directed this flawed but involving study of Lt. Jordan O'Neil (Demi Moore), a Navy topographic analyst who is chosen as a test case fo... [MORE]

53

A Good Year (2006)

Cast: Russell Crowe, Albert Finney, Marion Cotillard, Abbie Cornish, Tom Hollander

Director: Ridley Scott

Synopsis: Gladiator duo Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe re-team for this adaptation of author Peter Mayle's best-selling novel about a London-based investment... [MORE]

54

Domino (2005)

Cast: Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramirez, Riz Abbasi, Delroy Lindo

Director: Tony Scott

55

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Iain Glen, Jon Voight, Daniel Craig, Noah Taylor

Director: Simon West

Synopsis: A popular video game comes to the screen with this big-budget adventure starring Angelina Jolie as a buxom heroine recalling equal parts Indiana Jo... [MORE]

56

Dark Victory (1939)

Cast: Bette Davis, George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan

Director: Edmund Goulding

Synopsis: Bette Davis earned an Oscar nomination for her role in this classic four-hanky tearjerker. Judith Traherne (Bette Davis) is a very wealthy Long Isl... [MORE]

57

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis

Director: Mike Nichols

Synopsis: "You are cordially invited to George and Martha's for an evening of fun and games." Thus read the ad copy for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which... [MORE]

58

The King and I (1956)

Cast: Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr, Rita Moreno, Terry Saunders, Martin Benson

Director: Walter Lang

Synopsis: The King and I, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's 1951 Broadway musical hit, was based on Margaret Landon's book Anna and the King of Siam. S... [MORE]

59

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)

Cast: Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo, Levon Helm, Phyllis Boyens

Director: Michael Apted

Synopsis: Loretta Lynn was one of the first female superstars in country music and remains a defining presence within the genre; with her strong, clear, hard... [MORE]

60

Lawn Dogs (1997)

Cast: Mischa Barton, Sam Rockwell, Christopher MacDonald, Kathleen Quinlan, Bruce McGill

Director: John Duigan

Synopsis: A young girl finds friendship on the wrong side of the career tracks in this drama. Camelot Gardens is a "gated community" where wealthy people can... [MORE]

61

Broadcast News (1987)

Cast: William Hurt, Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks, Jack Nicholson, Robert Prosky

Director: James L. Brooks

Synopsis: Writer/director/producer James L. Brooks scores on all counts with this clear-eyed look at the television news business and the dysfunctional types... [MORE]

62

Auntie Mame (1958)

Cast: Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, Fred Clark, Coral Browne, Patric Knowles

Director: Morton DaCosta

Synopsis: Auntie Mame began as a novel by Patrick Dennis (aka Ed Fitzgerald), then was adapted into a long-running Broadway play by Jerome Lawrence and Rober... [MORE]

63

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Cast: Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell, Myrna Loy, Virginia Mayo

Director: William Wyler

Synopsis: The postwar classic The Best Years of Our Lives, based on a novel in verse by MacKinlay Kantor about the difficult readjustments of returning World... [MORE]

64

A Star Is Born (1976)

Cast: Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson, Gary Busey, Oliver Clark, Vanetta Fields

Director: Frank Pierson

Synopsis: The third remake of the 1932 drama What Price Hollywood?, this adaptation of A Star Is Born moved the story into the mid-1970's and changed the mi... [MORE]

65

Sophie's Choice (1982)

Cast: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol, Rita Karin

Director: Alan J. Pakula

Synopsis: The year is 1947. Aspiring southern author Stingo (Peter MacNichol) heads to New York to seek his fortune. Moving into a dingy Brooklyn boarding ho... [MORE]