Nearly 70 years after it was made, the US civil war classic Gone with the Wind beat out science fiction space adventure Star Wars in the Harris poll of people's favourite films that stand the test of time.

Coming in third was the sweeping Oscar-winning World War II romance film Casablanca followed by fantasy film The Lord of the Rings in the online January poll of 2,279 US adults.

Harris noted the gender and generational differences among the results with men and younger people such as Generation X favoring Star Wars and women and older baby boomers liking Gone With the Wind.

Gone With The Wind won eight Oscars in 1939 including best picture and best actress for Vivien Leigh. In 1977 Star Wars failed to win a best picture Oscar, losing out to Woody Allen's Annie Hall.

Rounding out the top ten in the survey were musicals The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz at numbers five and six, followed by The Notebook at number seven and Forrest Gump at number eight. Tied for number nine was The Princess Bride and The Godfather starring Al Pacino.

Nominees for best film for this year's Oscars include crime drama No Country For Old Men, teen pregnancy comedy Juno, oil drama There Will Be Blood, legal thriller Michael Clayton and romance film Atonement.