There are a lot of movies under 90 minutes that we love. Movies don’t always have to be over three hours long to be epic. Sometimes a great film needs less than an hour and a half to say all it needs or wants to say. Usually, these movies are comedies, but not always. Every genre, from comedies to war movies to horror movies and more, has films that clock in a very manageable amount of time. This list is all about those great movies with a runtime under 90 minutes.
This Is Spinal Tap (82 Minutes)
The granddaddy of hilarious mockumentaries showed everyone how it was done, and This is Spinal Tap came up with dozens of the most quotable lines ever in just 82 minutes. The legacy of the movie has endured for five decades now, and it will almost certainly be beloved for at least 50 more.
Paths Of Glory (88 Minutes)
Director Stanley Kubrick is well known for his long movies, such as Barry Lyndon and Spartacus, both of which run over three hours in length. He also proved he could tell an amazing story with the 88-minute Paths of Glory, which is one of the best war movies of all time and one of the few about World War I (at least compared to the number of World War II movies).
Phone Booth (81 Minutes)
Movies that take place in real time are always interesting. Phone Booth, starring Colin Farrell, is a white-knuckle thriller that runs. brisk 81 minutes. It spends most of that time focused on Farrell’s character in the titular phone booth, and is an incredibly action-packed movie, despite the static location and happening all in one day.
The Lion King (88 Minutes)
Disney knows its core audience: kids. That means they know exactly how to tell a wonderful, funny, heartbreaking story at a great clip, so as not to bore the kids. This spot could go to any number of Disney animated classics, but The Lion King is my favorite, so I’m letting this one represent the group. At just 88 minutes, it does everything you expect in a great animated movie.
High Noon (85 Minutes)
85 minutes, in real time, is all it took the filmmakers of High Noon to tell an amazing story. It’s one of the best Westerns of all time, and Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly are fantastic in their roles. Cooper pretty much defined his career with this movie from 1952.
Cloverfield (85 Minutes)
One of the best examples of a “found footage” flick is Matt Reeves‘ Cloverfield. The monster movie works on a number of levels, employing the lesson of movies like Jaws to limit how much of the monster we see, making it that much scarier, and it wraps up the whole story in under an hour and a half.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (88 Minutes)
Another classic comedy that fits nicely on this list is Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. The trip may have taken the titular characters all night to finally satisfy their craving from the burger joint with a cult following, but as an audience, we see it all condensed into 88 hilarious minutes.
Fruitvale Station (85 Minutes)
Director Ryan Coogler burst onto the scene in 2013 with his intense and heartbreaking debut film, Fruitvale Station, which told the true story of an African-American man (played by Michael B. Jordan) who was killed by a police officer at a subway station in Oakland in 2009. It also marked the first time Jordan and Coogler worked together, and in the years since, their partnership, including in one of the best 2025 movies, Sinners, has been amazing to watch.
Idiocracy (84 Minutes)
Leave it to director Mike Judge to make a movie like Idiocracy. It’s a movie that still feels disturbingly relevant two decades later. The movie, which is as funny as it is upsetting, comes in at just under 90 minutes, and there isn’t one boring moment among them.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (83 Minutes)
The original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which came out in 1974 and runs just 83 minutes, is one of the most influential horror movies of all time. It’s hard to imagine a world with Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street without this classic slasher film from director Tobe Hooper coming first.
Stand By Me (89 Minutes)
Stand By Me is based on a Stephen King short story called The Body. As one of the best adaptations of a King story, the movie has become a stone-cold classic over the years. It’s great that the movie doesn’t have to stray from its short source material and comes in at just under 90s minutes, yet tells an incredible, timeless story.
The Producers (88 Minutes)
It’s incredible to reflect on the cultural impact of an 88-minute movie like Mel Brooks‘ classic The Producers. Not only was the movie a huge hit, but its enduring legacy means that generations have loved the comedy since it was released in the late ’60s. The smash hit Broadway show (and the 2005 movie adaptation of the musical) has solidified its place as one of the most beloved stories of the last 100 years.
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (90 Minutes)
So, full disclosure here, this is the movie that inspired this list. Even though Fast Times at Ridgemont High is technically not under 90 minutes, it is exactly an hour and a half long, and as the inspiration for this list, it definitely belongs here. It feels even faster, in a good way.
Airplane! (88 Minutes)
Another classic comedy, Airplane! packs more jokes in 88 minutes than most comedy franchises can in three or four movies. It doesn’t get more “classic” than this one. It’s the kind of movie that you can watch over and over, and not just because there is an endless amount of jokes you probably missed while you were laughing the last time you watched it, but it’s a delightfully quick watch.
Toy Story (81 Minutes)
Like the classic Disney animated movies like The Lion King and The Little Mermaid, Pixar knows how to craft a well-told, timeless, funny story in less than 90 minutes. Coming in at barely over 81 minutes, Toy Story remains the gold standard for Pixar animation, and it continues to delight kids and adults alike, decades after it first launched a franchise.
Child’s Play (87 Minutes)
’80s horror movies are great for this list. Along with comedies, horror movies are the most common movies you can find under 90 minutes. A perfect example of doing more with less time in the genre is the original Child’s Play. A huge franchise was launched on a movie that is only 87 minutes long. This is how you do it!
Before Sunset (80 Minutes)
The second movie in director Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, Before Sunset, follows a couple who met on a train in Before Sunrise who meet in Paris nine years after their first encounter. It takes place in real-time, 80 minutes, and follows the “almost couple” as they walk the streets of the City of Light and reminisce about their one night together in Vienna.
The Evil Dead (85 Minutes)
The Evil Dead (like its two direct sequels, The Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness) comes in at under 90 minutes. All three films, directed by Sam Raimi, are considered classics in the genre by many fans. Personally, I like Army of Darkness best, but since all three work for this list, I’m using the first as a representative for all of them.
The Simpsons Movie (87 Minutes)
After decades on TV, The Simpsons is a show that knows all too well how to tell a story in a short amount of time. When the much-anticipated The Simpsons Movie was released in 2007, it probably came as no surprise that the movie would have a brisk pace and come in under an hour and a half. At 87 minutes, it tells a longer story than the show ever has, but not by a huge margin.
Office Space (89 Minutes)
Working for Inotech, the fictional company in Office Space, would be awful. Every day would seem like a week and every week, a month. Luckily, the movie itself is only 89 minutes. I say luckily, because it manages to pack a lot into those 89 minutes, but never drones on like Lumberg’s voice.
Once (86 Minutes)
Once is a little unique on this list because while it’s basically a romantic drama, it has elements of a musical, with a slew of original music performed by the actors in the movie, including Glen Hansard. There aren’t many musicals that click in under 90 minutes, but Once is unconventional, and that’s part of what makes it so great.
Duck Soup (69 Minutes)
It’s true, a lot of older movies come in closer to the hour-and-a-half mark than modern movies, but since we had to include one, I decided one that barely gets over the one-hour mark would be appropriate. Duck Soup, from The Marx Brothers, is one of three VHS tapes my parents owned when I was a kid, so I’ve seen the movie way more times than most in my generation, and for that, I am grateful.
Best In Show (90 Minutes)
Director Christopher Guest and his band of merry improvisational comedy crew have made a few amazing movies. For me, the two best are the first two, Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. Both movies clock in under the 90-minute mark, or just at that mark, in the case of Best in Show.
Borat (84 Minutes)
Borat is a movie on this list that I am grateful comes in at just 84 minutes. It’s an amazing 84 minutes, so don’t get me wrong, but anything more would have felt like too much. It’s already pushing the envelope (in a good way) with how much second-hand embarrassment I can stand.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (76 Minutes)
When The Nightmare Before Christmas was released in 1993, it was a major departure from Tim Burton’s earlier work. Not in tone, of course, but in the stop-motion animation style it used. It was (and still is) brilliant. It’s also only 76 minutes long, which makes it feel right in line with some of the stop-motion TV Christmas movies that certainly helped inspire it, like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman from Rankin/Bass Productions.
The Squid And The Whale (81 Minutes)
Writer and director made a huge splash with his breakout film, The Squid And The Whale, in 2005. It’s a movie that he based on his own life, and personal stories like that can really soar, like this one. It’s a story he told in just 81 minutes, which was good enough to land an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay.
Duel (90 Minutes)
It’s no surprise that the great Steven Spielberg would pop up on this list (or any list of great movies, for that matter). Duel was the legendary director’s debut film, and while the moderate budget is clear, so are Spielberg’s immense skills as a filmmaker. Duel may not be in Spielberg’s top 10 best movies, but at 90 minutes, it fits perfectly on this list.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (87 Minutes)
Wes Anderson brought his unique style to animation when he adapted the Roald Dahl book Fantastic Mr. Fox. Anderson’s style fits perfectly here, and this is one of my favorite movies from the director.
Rope (80 Minutes)
Yet another legendary director who finds himself on this list is Alfred Hitchcock. His classic Rope, which takes place all in one day, clocks in at a brilliant 80s minutes.
Battleship Potemkin (66 Minutes)
It’s amazing what kind of effect a 66-minute movie can have on the rest of the art of film, but Battleship Potemkin proves just how impactful one short film can be. The Soviet-era Russian-language film is a masterpiece and is still influencing movies 100+ years later.
The Kentucky Fried Movie (83 Minutes)
Great parody movies, like Airplane!, The Naked Gun, and Top Secret! often come in at under 90 minutes. The Kentucky Fried Movie is one of those. The great anthology movie clocks in at 83 minutes.
Pi (84 Minutes)
Darren Aronofsky exploded onto the scene with his debut, low-budget indie Pi, and it’s a complicated story that he manages to brilliantly tell in just 84 minutes. Like all the movies on this list, it proves you don’t need three hours to make a great film.
