Best Movies of 1991

The highest-rated films from 1991 according to MovieMagicScore. Rankings based purely on what viewers actually think.

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The Silence of the Lambs

1991 · 17,966 ratings

Clarice Starling is a top student at the FBI's training academy. Jack Crawford wants Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist who is also a violent psychopath, serving life behind bars for various acts of murder and cannibalism. Crawford believes that Lecter may have insight into a case and that Starling, as an attractive young woman, may be just the bait to draw him out.

8.3

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

1991 · 14,270 ratings

Ten years after the events of the original, a reprogrammed T-800 is sent back in time to protect young John Connor from the shape-shifting T-1000. Together with his mother Sarah, he fights to stop Skynet from triggering a nuclear apocalypse.

8.1

Beauty and the Beast

1991 · 10,367 ratings

Follow the adventures of Belle, a bright young woman who finds herself in the castle of a prince who's been turned into a mysterious beast. With the help of the castle's enchanted staff, Belle soon learns the most important lesson of all -- that true beauty comes from within.

7.7

Raise the Red Lantern

1991 · 798 ratings

In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.

7.9

Thelma & Louise

1991 · 3,686 ratings

Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond and their newfound resilience.

7.6

Fried Green Tomatoes

1991 · 1,412 ratings

Amidst her own personality crisis, a southern housewife meets an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in 1920s Whistle Stop, Alabama.

7.7

A Brighter Summer Day

1991 · 386 ratings

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

8.3

JFK

1991 · 2,287 ratings

Follows the investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy led by New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison.

7.6

Boyz n the Hood

1991 · 2,130 ratings

In the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre to be a decent person. Tre's friends, on the other hand, have little regard for the law and drag the entire neighborhood into a street war...

7.6

#10

Paris Is Burning

1991 · 518 ratings

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

8.0

#11

Mediterraneo

1991 · 1,031 ratings

Greek Sea, World War II. An Italian ship leaves a handful of soldiers in a little island; their mission is to spot enemy ships and to hold the island in case of attack. The village of the island seems abandoned and there isn't a single enemy in sight, so the soldiers begin to relax a little. Things change when their ship is hit and destroyed by the enemy, and the soldiers find themselves abandoned there.

7.6

#12

Barton Fink

1991 · 1,783 ratings

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.

7.5

#13

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

1991 · 393 ratings

A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.

7.9

#14

My Girl

1991 · 2,202 ratings

Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse...

7.4

#15

Night on Earth

1991 · 982 ratings

A quintet of cabbies in five cities and their remarkable fares on the same eventful night.

7.5

#16

The Double Life of Véronique

1991 · 852 ratings

Véronique is a beautiful young French woman who aspires to be a renowned singer; Weronika lives in Poland, has a similar career goal and looks identical to Véronique, though the two are not related. The film follows both women as they contend with the ups and downs of their individual lives, with Véronique embarking on an unusual romance with Alexandre Fabbri, a puppeteer who may be able to help her with her existential issues.

7.5

#17

Only Yesterday

1991 · 1,183 ratings

In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.

7.4

#18

Delicatessen

1991 · 1,555 ratings

In a post-apocalyptic world, the residents of an apartment above the butcher shop receive an occasional delicacy of meat, something that is in low supply. A young man new in town falls in love with the butcher's daughter, which causes conflicts in her family, who need the young man for other business-related purposes.

7.3

#19

The Fisher King

1991 · 1,401 ratings

Two troubled men face their terrible destinies and events of their past as they join together on a mission to find the Holy Grail and thus to save themselves.

7.3

#20

Johnny Stecchino

1991 · 1,042 ratings

Good hearted but not very wordly-wise, Dante is happy driving the school bus for a group of mentally handicapped children, while feeling he is somehow missing out on life and love. So he is very excited when after nearly being knocked down by her car he meets Maria, who seems immediately enamoured of him. He is soon invited to her sumptuous Palermo villa, little suspecting that this is part of a plot. He bears an amazing likeness to Maria's stool-pigeon gangster husband and it would be convenient for them if the mobster, in the shape of Dante, was seen to be dead and buried.

7.3

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About 1991 Movies

These are the best-rated movies released in 1991 according to MovieMagicScore. Our ranking system aggregates genuine viewer ratings to give you an honest picture of what audiences actually think about these films.

From blockbusters to indie gems, discover what made 1991 memorable in cinema based on the collective opinion of movie lovers worldwide.

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