The Best Movies On Amazon Prime Right Now

By NY Times on July 5, 2023
The Color Purple
1985 7.7 (91170 votes) 9 Movie Drama,
An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa. Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey, Willard E. Pugh, Akosua Busia, Desreta Jackson   Added On HBO 2023-05-20.   YouTube Trailer
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am
2019 7.7 (865 votes) 10 Movie Documentary, Drama
This artful and intimate meditation on the legendary storyteller examines her life, her works, and the powerful themes she has confronted throughout her literary career. Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics, and colleagues on an exploration of race, history, the United States, and the human condition. Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey, Angela Davis, Robert Gottlieb, Fran Lebowitz, Hilton Als, Russell Banks   YouTube Trailer
Dog Day Afternoon
1975 8.0 (265020 votes) 13 Movie Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on the true story of would-be Brooklyn bank robbers John Wojtowicz and Salvatore Naturale. Sonny and Sal attempt a bank heist which quickly turns sour and escalates into a hostage situation and stand-off with the police. As Sonny's motives for the robbery are slowly revealed and things become more complicated, the heist turns into a media circus. Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, James Broderick, William Bogert, Penelope Allen   YouTube Trailer
Blazing Saddles
1974 7.7 (150632 votes) 12 Movie Comedy, Western
A town—where everyone seems to be named Johnson—stands in the way of the railroad. In order to grab their land, robber baron Hedley Lamarr sends his henchmen to make life in the town unbearable. After the sheriff is killed, the town demands a new sheriff from the Governor, so Hedley convinces him to send the town the first black sheriff in the west. Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman, Madeline Kahn, Mel Brooks, Burton Gilliam   YouTube Trailer
Thelma & Louise
1991 7.6 (165832 votes) 15 Movie Adventure, Crime, Drama
Whilst on a short weekend getaway, Louise shoots a man who had tried to rape Thelma. Due to the incriminating circumstances, they make a run for it and thus a cross country chase ensues for the two fugitives. Along the way, both women rediscover the strength of their friendship and surprising aspects of their personalities and self-strengths in the trying times. Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, Brad Pitt, Stephen Tobolowsky   YouTube Trailer
Brokeback Mountain
2005 7.7 (377257 votes) 15 Movie Drama, Romance
Rodeo cowboy Jack and ranch hand Ennis are hired as sheepherders in 1963 Wyoming. One night on Brokeback Mountain, they spark a physical relationship. Though Ennis marries his longtime sweetheart and Jack marries a fellow rodeo rider, they keep up their tortured, sporadic love affair for 20 years. Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris   Added On Netflix 2022-05-12.   YouTube Trailer
Devil in a Blue Dress
1995 6.8 (21961 votes) 14 Movie Crime, Drama, Mystery
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head. Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals, Don Cheadle, Maury Chaykin, Terry Kinney, Mel Winkler   YouTube Trailer
Hot Fuzz
2007 7.8 (524332 votes) 15 Movie Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama
As a former London constable, Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he miss the excitement of the big city, but he also has a well-meaning oaf for a partner. However, when a series of grisly accidents rocks Sandford, Angel smells something rotten in the idyllic village. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, Rafe Spall, Kevin Eldon, Olivia Colman   YouTube Trailer
It's a Wonderful Life
1946 8.6 (494127 votes) 5 Movie Drama, Family
A holiday favourite for generations... George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin. James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen   Added On Amazon Prime 2023-07-30.   YouTube Trailer
The Apartment
1960 8.3 (190352 votes) 9 Movie Comedy, Drama, Romance
Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve. Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, David Lewis, Hope Holiday   YouTube Trailer
Train to Busan
2016 7.5 (128913 votes) 15 Movie Action, Adventure, Drama, Horror, Thriller
As a zombie outbreak sweeps the country, a dad and his daughter take a harrowing train journey in an attempt to reach the only city that's still safe. Yoo Gong, Dong-seok Ma, Sohee, Eui-sung Kim, Woo-sik Choi, Soo-an Kim, Yu-mi Jeong, Yu-mi Jung, Ma Dong-seok, Jung Seok-yong, Kim Soo-an, Kim Eui-sung, Choi Woo-shik, Jung Yu-mi, Gong Yoo, Chang-hwan Kim, An So-hee, Ye Soo-jung, Yeon Sang-ho, Yeon Sang-ho   YouTube Trailer
California Split
1974 7.2 (8037 votes) 14 Movie Comedy, Drama
Carefree single guy Charlie Waters rooms with two lovely prostitutes, Barbara Miller and Susan Peters, and lives to gamble. Along with his glum betting buddy, Bill Denny, Charlie sets out on a gambling streak in search of the ever-elusive big payday. While Charlie and Bill have some lucky moments, they also have to contend with serious setbacks that threaten to derail their hedonistic betting binge. George Segal, Elliott Gould, Ann Prentiss, Gwen Welles, Edward Walsh, Joseph Walsh, Bert Remsen  
The Shawshank Redemption
1994 9.3 (2813082 votes) 14 Movie Crime, Drama
Framed in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting skills to work for an amoral warden. During his long stretch in prison, Dufresne comes to be admired by the other inmates -- including an older prisoner named Red -- for his integrity and unquenchable sense of hope. Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, James Whitmore   Added On HBO 2022-06-07.   YouTube Trailer
The Untouchables
1987 7.8 (324390 votes) 15 Movie Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Young Treasury Agent Eliot Ness arrives in Chicago and is determined to take down Al Capone, but it's not going to be easy because Capone has the police in his pocket. Ness meets Jim Malone, a veteran patrolman and probably the most honorable one on the force. He asks Malone to help him get Capone, but Malone warns him that if he goes after Capone, he is going to war. Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy García, Robert De Niro, Richard Bradford, Jack Kehoe   YouTube Trailer
Men in Black
1997 7.3 (597220 votes) 9 Movie Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Drama, Fantasy, Science Fiction
After a police chase with an otherworldly being, a New York City cop is recruited as an agent in a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth: the Men in Black. Agent Kay and new recruit Agent Jay find themselves in the middle of a deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on Earth to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies. Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rip Torn, Tony Shalhoub, Siobhan Fallon Hogan   Added On Amazon Prime 2023-11-16.   YouTube Trailer
Cool Hand Luke
1967 8.1 (182489 votes) 12 Movie Crime, Drama
When petty criminal Luke Jackson is sentenced to two years in a Florida prison farm, he doesn't play by the rules of either the sadistic warden or the yard's resident heavy, Dragline, who ends up admiring the new guy's unbreakable will. Luke's bravado, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers. Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Luke Askew, Morgan Woodward, Harry Dean Stanton, Dennis Hopper, Lou Antonio   YouTube Trailer
Serpico
1973 7.7 (130776 votes) 15 Movie Biography, Crime, Drama
Frank Serpico is an idealistic New York City cop who refuses to take bribes, unlike the rest of the force. His actions get Frank shunned by the other officers, and often placed in dangerous situations by his partners. When his superiors ignore Frank's accusations of corruption, he decides to go public with the allegations. Although this causes the Knapp Commission to investigate his claims, Frank has also placed a target on himself. Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire, Barbara Eda-Young, Cornelia Sharpe, Tony Roberts   YouTube Trailer
The Limey
1999 6.9 (33896 votes) 14 Movie Crime, Drama, Mystery
The Limey follows Wilson, a tough English ex-con who travels to Los Angeles to avenge his daughter's death. Upon arrival, Wilson goes to task battling Valentine and an army of L.A.'s toughest criminals, hoping to find clues and piece together what happened. After surviving a near-death beating, getting thrown from a building and being chased down a dangerous mountain road, the Englishman decides to dole out some bodily harm of his own. Terence Stamp, Lesley Ann Warren, Luis Guzmán, Barry Newman, Joe Dallesandro, Nicky Katt, Peter Fonda   YouTube Trailer