Empire names 'Empire Strikes Back' greatest movie of all time

The British movie news and reviews magazine places "Star Wars Episode V" at the top of its list of the 301 Greatest Movies of All Time. "The Godfather" follows in second place.

Empire polled some 250,000 movie fans, not all of whom are readers of the publication, to determine the ranking. Out of the 301 films listed, "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back" earned the most votes.

In 2008, a similar poll carried out by the magazine placed "The Godfather" at the top of the list. This time, Francis Ford Coppola's classic mafia movie is in second place.

Somewhat surprisingly, third place went to "The Dark Knight," which is relatively recent compared to the other movies at the top of the ranking. "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Pulp Fiction" claimed fourth and fifth place respectively. "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope," "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "Jaws," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Inception" rounded out the top ten.

Finally, with three films in the top 20 ("Jaws," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Jurassic Park"), Steven Spielberg emerged as the most popular director in Empire's ranking.

Browse the complete list at www.empireonline.com.