The 41 best HBO original movies of all time, according to critics

HBO

Decades before Netflix original films existed, HBO transformed the critical perception of what a "TV movie" could be. 

For years, HBO cornered the market on quality original films for at-home consumption, routinely cranking out critically acclaimed documentaries and biopics or dramas with notable Hollywood names.  

The cable network has had its fair share of misfires as well, including its most recent feature, a critically panned adaptation of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451."

But altogether, with biopics like "Gia," starring Angelina Jolie as the heroin-addicted supermodel Gia Carangi, or Claire Danes' role as the revolutionary autistic scientist "Temple Grandin," HBO has produced many acclaimed films and performances since it released its first original movie, "The Deadly Game," in 1982. And now thanks to on-demand streaming, if you are an HBO subscriber you can watch the whole back catalog through either HBO Go or HBO Now.

To figure out which HBO original films are worth seeking out, we turned to the reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and compiled every HBO film that had above a 70% "fresh" rating on the site. We excluded HBO coproductions that were distributed in theaters by other studios. 

Here are the 41 best HBO original movies of all time, according to critics:

Critic score: 71%

Audience score: 73%

Summary: "CEO F. Ross Johnson has just been burned by a failed product and begins drawing up plans to buy the company outright so he'll have no one to answer to but himself. Unfortunately for Johnson, his company is being coveted by a sharkish 'buyout king.'"

Critic score: 73%

Audience score: 62%

Summary: "Two aging single women in 1980s New Jersey enact a routine of deluded barroom romance."

Critic score: 73%

Audience score: 63%

Summary: "In 2008, stockbroker, investment advisor and financier Bernie Madoff made headlines around the world when he was arrested for perpetrating perhaps the largest financial fraud in U.S. history."

Critic score: 75%

Audience score: 37%

Summary: "A group of racially diverse New Yorkers rub elbows at a venerable Brooklyn diner that is about to close its doors."

Critic score: 75%

Audience score: 55%

Summary: "Centers on Penn State’s Joe Paterno (played by Al Pacino) in the aftermath of the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal."

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SEE ALSO: All 49 of Netflix's notable original movies, ranked from worst to best