Favorite female-led films

I've mentioned favorite actors in the past, but haven't really mentioned favorite actresses. I thought about it, and I'd say these are my favorite female-led films, ones from various decades, along with the actresses leading them:

1930s - Footlight Parade (Joan Blondell)
1940s - Ball of Fire (Barbara Stanwyck)
1950s - Auntie Mame (Rosalind Russell)
1960s - The Great Race (Natalie Wood)
1970s - Cabaret (Liza Minnelli)
1980s - Broadcast News (Holly Hunter)
1990s - Fried Green Tomatoes (Mary Stuart Masterson)
2000s - Zombieland (Emma Stone)
2010s - Frances Ha (Greta Gerwig)
2020s - Words on Bathroom Walls (Taylor Russell)

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I'll double on the number of your picks (loved seeing Broadcast News and Stuart Masterson there) and give two per decade.

30s: The Awful Truth & Bringing Up Baby
40s: Double Indemnity & The Heiress
50s: All About Eve & Roman Holiday
60s: L'Avventura & Persona
70s: Ryan's Daughter & Annie Hall
80s: Dangerous Liaisons & Heathers
90s: Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me & The Last Days of Disco
00s: Dancer in the Dark & Mulholland Drive
10s: Blue is the Warmest Color & Marriage Story
20s: Tar & The Substance.

I def have a fondness for the Lois Lane-news journalist and tomboy types.

My favourite female led films:

Persona (1966)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Beyond the Hills (2012)
Lady Bird (2017)
The Lure (2015)
Nomadland (2020)
Mustang (2015)
Hide and Seek (1996)
Autumn Sonata (1978)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
House (1977)
Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Blue is the Warmest Color (2013)
Vera Drake (2004)
Black Swan (2010)
Tomboy (2011)
Fat Girl (2001)
Cuties (2020)
Carol (2015)

Hundra (1983)
Sheena (1984)
Yellow Hair and the Pecos Kid (1984)

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Alien
The Substance
Kill Bill
My Old Ass
Thelma
Muriel's Wedding
Eighth Grade
All About Eve
Sudden Fear
Run Lola Run
Set It Off
Flora and Son
Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
Booksmart
The Help
Clueless
Hidden Figures
Death Becomes Her
Thelma & Louise
Bottoms
Mary Poppins

Mommie Dearest

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How is there no mention of Network? Faye Dunaway is a force of nature. And, in addition to All About Eve, I'll take Dark Victory, The Little Foxes and The Letter as quality Better Davis films. A Letter to Three Wives is a nice one too.

I'll also mention Bottoms (2023) which is one of the funniest films I've seen in recent memory.

Prob because more people remember it for Peter Finch’s performance even though he’s ultimately more of a minor character compared to Dunaway.

^Yeah, but she won the Oscar for it too and easily. I wouldn't say that's so forgotten.

Omitting some obvious ones, but here are a whole lot of favorites


The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)


The Wizard of Oz (1939)


The Heiress (1949)


Late Spring (1949)


Shadow of a Doubt (1943)


Sunset Boulevard (1950)


Persona (1966)


Black Girl (1966)


The Whisperers (1967)


Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)


The Silence of the Lambs (1991)


Fargo (1996)


Heavenly Creatures (1994)


Mulholland Drive (2001)


Mother (2009)


The Others (2001)


Kill Bill (2003-2004)


Triangle (2009)


Precious (2009)


The Descent (2005)


Ghost World (2001)


Us (2019)


Aniara (2018)


Antes que cante el gallo (2016)


Ida (2013)


Phoenix (2014)


Mustang (2015)


Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)


Sand Dollars (2014)


Another Earth (2011)


Melancholia (2011)


12 Hour Shift (2020)


Organ Trail (2023)


Prey (2022)


Nomadland (2020)

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Excluding biopics...

I definitely think of Network as an ensemble film. I don't consider Dunaway's role to be bigger than Holden's.
And she's usually the third character that comes to mind after Finch's and Beatty's.

Good choice, she was terrific.

Gucci!

Perhaps more notable than being the lead character or not - or even Faye Dunaway's performance, for that matter - is the role as it was written for Diana Christensen.
She was the corporate "bitch" before it became fashionable in the 1980s, and from that point of view I think the role could be considered iconic.

Top 10 Female-led Movies:
1.The Wizard of Oz
2.Gone with the Wind
3.Contact
4.Aliens
5.Kill Bill
6.The Silence of the Lambs
7.Thelma & Louise
8.The Secret Garden (1993)
9.Prometheus
10.Boys Don’t Cry

Aliens
Mad Max: Fury Road
Kill Bill
Maleficent
Terminator
King Kong (2005)
Tangled
The Village (2004)
Moana
Inside Out
The Shallows
Wait until dark
Rogue One: a Star Wars story

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