In the wise words of Roger Ebert, no good movie is long enough and no bad movie is short enough. However, it can be difficult to identify which ones truly justify their extended running time with so many blockbusters and studio releases stretching past the three-hour mark these days.
Combing through likely titles for this list, one realizes there are far too many lengthy films in cinema history deserving of your attention, which explains the glaring omission of sprawling epics like "War and Peace", "Reds", "Heaven's Gate", "Malcolm X", "The Right Stuff", "JFK", "Short Cuts" and "An Elephant Sitting Still". However, there should be a little something for everybody in this round-up list of three-plus-hour movies, ordered by length in ascending order, that may seem daunting at first glance, but will reward your patience and commitment.
