Top Films from Each Decade

[criterionmaster]

Pick any number of films from each decade that you think our the best. Do all the decades at once or do each individually. You can also tell why you picked certain films.

[satantangofan]

40s - Double Indemnity
50s - La Salaire de la Peur
60s - The Good the Bad & the Ugly/Persona (tie)
70s - The Deerhunter/Aguirre Wrath of God (tie)
80s - Idi i Smotri/Fanny & Alexander (tie)
90s - Satantango
00s - Mulholland Drive

[blackmoses]

Here are mine:

30's - The Wizard of Oz

40's - Rebecca

50's - Wages of Fear

60's - The Graduate

70's - Clockwork Orange

80's - The Empire Strikes Back

90's - Goodfellas

00's - Lord of the Rings trilogy

[PTAhole]

Hmm...
30's- The 39 Steps
40's- Casablanca
50's- Seven Samurai
60's- 2001: A Space Oddesey
70's- Star Wars (Though many are close)
80's- Empire Strikes Back
90's- Pulp Fiction
00's- Lord of the Rings or Kill Bill

[blackmoses]

ptahole said:

60's- 2001: A Space Oddesey

Good choice!

[PTAhole]

No shit?

[cineaste25]

20s- The Passion of Joan of Arc
30s- Gone with the Wind
40s- Casablanca
50s- Rear Window
60s- The Graduate
70s- The Godfather
80s- Out of Africa
90s- The Shawshnak Redemption
00s- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[blackmoses]

cineaste25 said:

60s- The Graduate

Great choice!

[dontdigonswine]

40s- Citizen Kane
50s- Seven Samurai
60s- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
70s- Chinatown
80s- Cinema Paradiso
90s- Pulp Fiction
00s- Eternal Sunshine

[criterionmaster]

Pre-40s (no order)

1. Passion of Joan of Arc
2. Wizard of Oz
3. King Kong
4. Grand Illusion
5. 39 Steps
6. Frankenstein
7. Snow White
8. Gone with the Wind
9. Bride of Frankenstein
10. City Lights

40s (no order)

1. Casablanca
2. Rebecca
3. Citizen Kane
4. Third Man
5. Maltese Falcoln
6. Notorious
7. Shadow of a Doubt
8. It's a Wonderful Life
9. Pinocchio
10. Oliver Twist

50s (no order)

1. Seven Samurai
2. Seventh Seal
3. 400 Blows
4. Rear Window
5. Forbidden Games
6. Cranes are Flying
7. Ugetsu
8. 12 Angry Men
9. Wages of Fear
10. Bridge on the River Kwai

60s (no order)

1. 2001
2. Faces
3. 8 1/2
4. Battle of Algiers
5. Andrei Rublev
6. Psycho
7. Exterminating Angel
8. Once Upon a Time in the West
9. Midnight Cowboy
10. Graduate


70's (in no order)

1. Apocalypse Now
2. Clockwork Orange
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
4. Killing of a Chinese Bookie
5. Discreet Charm
6. Deer Hunter
7. Godfather II
8. American Graffiti
9. Walkabout
10. Taxi Driver

80s (No order)

1. Fanny and Alexander
2. Raging Bull
3. Ran
4. Do the Right Thing
5. The Shining
6. Empire Strikes Back
7. Blood Simple.
8. Unbearable Lightness of Being
9. Full Metal Jacket
10. Platoon

90s (No Order)

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Goodfellas
3. Fargo
4. Princess Mononoke
5. Magnolia
6. Silence of the Lambs
7. American History X
8. Truman Show
9. Jackie Brown
10. Twelve Monkeys

2000s (no order)

1. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
2. George Washington
3. Almost Famous
4. City of God
5. In the Mood For Love
6. Kill Bill Vol. 1
7. The Pianist
8. Mulholland Dr.
9. Requiem for a Dream
10. Royal Tenenbaums
11. Memento

[criterionmaster]

Lol, I like Memento much more than Eternal but I still love Eternal.

[PTAhole]

00's
1. Lord of the Rings
2. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
3. Kill Bill
4. Almost Famous
5. Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith (Shut the fuck up)
6. O, Brother, Where Art Thou?
7. In the Mood For Love
8. Gangs of New York
9. Adaptation
10. Memento

90's
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Schindler's List
3. Goodfellas
4. Fight Club
5. Princess Mononoke
6. Magnolia
7. Se7en (ironically)
8. Twelve Monkeys
9. Dazed and Confused
10. Being John Malkovich

I'll do more later

[PTAhole]

00's

1. Lord of the Rings
2. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
3. Kill Bill
4. Almost Famous
5. Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith (Shut the fuck up)

90's

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Chungking Express
3. Schindler's List
4. Goodfellas
5. Princess Mononoke

80's

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Raging Bull
4. sex, lies, and videotape
5. Do the Right Thing

70's

1. Star Wars
2. Apocalypse Now
3. A Clockwork Orange
4. Taxi Driver
5. Pat Garret and Billy the Kid

60's

1. 2001: A Space Odessey
2. Once Upon A Time in the West
3. The Wild Bunch
4. The Graduate
5. Psycho

50's

1. Seven Samurai
2. Rear Window
3. Rio Bravo
4. Rashoman
5. Strangers on a Train

I'll do 40's, 30's, and pre-30's later...

[blackmoses]

00's

1. Almost Famous
2. Big Fish
3. Requiem for a Dream
4. Memento
5. Lord of the Rings trilogy
6. Royal Tenenbaums
7. City of God
8. Kill Bill
9. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
10. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

90's

1. Goodfellas
2. Dazed and Confused
3. Eyes Wide Shut
4. The Truman Show
5. Fargo
6. Princess Mononoke
7. Silence of the Lambs
8. The Usual Suspects
9. Reservoir Dogs
10. Primal Fear

80's

1. Ran
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. Elephant Man
4. The Shining
5. Dead Ringers
6. Kagemusha
7. Full Metal Jacket
8. Videodrome
9. Rain Man
10. The Color Purple

70's

1. Straw Dogs
2. Star Wars
3. Clockwork Orange
4. A Woman Under the Influence
5. Walkabout
6. Jaws
7. American Graffiti
8. Close Encounters of a Third Kind
9. Opening Night
10. Salo

60's

1. The Graduate
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Midnight Cowboy
4. Dr. Stranglove
5. Easy Rider
6. Sword of Doom
7. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
8. Psycho
9. Yojimbo
10. Shoot the Piano Player

50's

1. The 400 Blows
2. Wages of Fear
3. Samurai trilogy
4. The Cranes are Flying
5. Dial "M" for Murder
6. Hiroshima mon amour
7. Shadows
8. Rear Window
9. Forbidden Games
10. Hidden Fortress

Pre-50s

1. M
2. The Bank Dick
3. The Wizard of Oz
4. King Kong
5. Rebecca
6. Bambi
7. The King of Kings
8. Gone With the Wind
9. Panocchio

[captainofbeef]

Excellent, except Salo in the 70's and Primal Fear above Pulp in the 90's.

[captainofbeef]

30's

1. City Lights
2. King Kong
3. It Happened One Night
4. Gone with the Wind
5. Bride of Frankenstein
6. Dracula
7. Scarface
8. Duck Soup
9. Bringing Up Baby
10. The Wizard of Oz

40's

1. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
2. Citizen Kane
3. The Maltese Falcon
4. All the King's Men
5. The Third Man
6. Notorious
7. Casablanca
8. The Great Dictator
9. Oliver Twist
10. It's a Wonderful Life

50's

1. Seven Samurai
2. Breathless
3. The Wages of Fear
4. 12 Angry Men
5. High Noon
6. Rear Window
7. The Seventh Seal
8. Rashomon
9. On the Waterfront
10. Vertigo

60's

1. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
2. Le Samourai
3. Once Upon A Time in the West
4. Band of Outsiders
5. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
6. 8 1/2
7. Andrei Rublev
8. For A Few Dollars More
9. A Fistful of Dollars
10. Yojimbo


70's

1. Solaris
2. Chinatown
3. Dirty Harry
4. Nashville
5. Professione: reporter
6. The Godfather
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
8. Manhattan
9. Godfather Part II
10. Network

80's

1. Once Upon A Time in America
2. Gandhi
3. Platoon
4. Amadeus
5. Ran
6. Raging Bull
7. Do the Right Thing
8. Das Boot
9. Blood Simple
10. Blade Runner

90's

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Reservoir Dogs
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. Unforgiven
5. Man Bites Dog
6. Dead Man
7. Se7en
8. Miller's Crossing
9. L.A. Confedential
10. Ed Wood

00's

1. Million Dollar Baby
2. Oldboy
3. Cache
4. Mystic River
5. Gangs of New York
6. City of God
7. Kill Bill Vol 2
8. Sin City
9. Memento
10. V for Vendetta

[blackmoses]

How could you say Halloween is better then Clockwork Orange?

[captainofbeef]

I like it more.

[blackmoses]

I don't even know what to say.

[PTAhole]

Neither do I, other than, You sicken me!

[criterionmaster]

Joel you having no Pulp also sickens me. Primal Fear is a 9. Pulp Fiction is a 10.

[blackmoses]

Their both a ten. Pulp is better, but I put down Primal anyways.

[captainofbeef]

I liked Eternal Sunshine, but it wasn't good enough for my 2000's list.

[criterionmaster]

i did this on another forum, and since we already have a thread that is similiar, i will post it here:

By Leonard Maltin

I have a confession: I hate making lists. Yet, as a movie critic, I'm asked to compile lists all the time -- my favorite films about dogs, my least favorite horror films, you name it. When the folks at ET asked me to commemorate my 25th anniversary with the show by picking my favorite movie for each of the past 25 years, I knew I had to take a deep breath and just do it.

For some years the choice was obvious; for others there were a number of contenders, and picking just one was difficult. When in doubt, I trust my gut feeling.

Some of these titles are big, mainstream hits that everyone knows and most of you have seen. Others are admittedly offbeat, even obscure, but they made a real impression on me -- and others, too. 'Songcatcher,' for instance, won a Special Jury Prize for its ensemble of actors at the Sundance Film Festival in 2000, but the movie was barely released to theaters, despite great reviews and a fine cast led by Oscar nominee JANET McTEER, AIDAN QUINN, EMMY ROSSUM and PAT CARROLL.

So even though this highly subjective, personal list may not coincide with the Academy Awards, or anyone else's choices, I'm sticking to my guns. These are great movies, and they've made watching all the crud of the past 25 years worthwhile.

1982: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1983: Terms of Endearment
1984: The Killing Fields
1985: Prizzi's Honor
1986: Hannah and her Sisters
1987: Moonstruck
1988: The Unbearable Lightness of Being
1989: Glory
1990: Dances with Wolves
1991: The Commitments
1992: Howards End
1993: King of the Hill
1994: Pulp Fiction
1995: Braveheart
1996: Fargo
1997: As Good As It Gets
1998: Shakespeare in Love
1999: The Sixth Sense
2000: Croupier
2001: Songcatcher
2002: Adaptation
2003: The Barbarian Invasions
2004: The Motorcycle Diaries
2005: Brothers
2006: Little Children

my response:

that may be the worst list i have ever seen (maltin's).

1982 - fanny and alexander
1983 - none
1984 - love streams
1985 - ran (maybe vagabond)
1986 - none
1987 - full metal jacket
1988 - unbearable lightness of being
1989 - do the right thing
1990 - goodfellas
1991 - embarrassing, but i guess silence of the lambs
1992 - reservoir dogs
1993 - dazed and confused or short cuts
1994 - pulp fiction
1995 - la haine or kids
1996 - ugh, fargo
1997 - taste of cherry or boogie nights
1998 - rushmore
1999 - magnolia or all about my mother or eyes wide shut
2000 - dancer in the dark or untitled
2001 - royal tenenbaums or ghost world
2002 - talk to her or city of god
2003 - kill bill, but elephant and brown bunny are close
2004 - bad education
2005 - broken flowers or match point
2006 - brick

man, the 80's was the worst decade ever, especially for american film. and the 90's, especially early, wasn't much better.

----------------

what do you guys think are the best films for each of those years, and if you want to do more you can, i might do the same? the link i used to do this was: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_in_film then you can go to each other year and see what movies came out.

[wkw]

20's - The Passion of Joan of Arc
30's - The Rules of the Game
40's - The Bicycle Thief
50's - Tokyo Story
60's - L'Avventura
70's - Solaris
80's - The Decalogue
90's - Three Colors (Rouge if I have to choose one)
00's - In the Mood for Love

[ie]

As much as I like Taste of Cherry, the correct answer for the movie of 1997 was Princess Mononoke. But thanks for playing.


I really like movies from the 70s. Enter the Dragon, Dawn of the Dead, Jaws, Taxi Driver, Vanishing Point, Harold and Maude, El Topo, the Long Goodbye, Aguirre, Dirty Harry, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fantastic Planet, Star Wars and Annie Hall, as a few good examples. (That could be a decent Top 14 right there. Got everything from the canon favorites to obscure respectables to the oddballs for added personality.)

Times were good, shit was actually happening. Cameras all looked really good during that time, so I can show a movie from that era to a friend and not worry about them being bored of the black and white treatment. Stories were strong, people were interested in good and solid movies so filmmakers could make money off of those, and risks were being taken for positive effect. Can't speak at length about pre-70s stuff, though.

Movies from the 80s and most of the 90s don't really appeal to me; the culture of that time was just bad. A couple here and there were good, yes, but it wasn't until the late 90s that things started looking on the up and up in general. Sure, it seems like you have more shitty movies now than ever, but the collective knowledge of all of the previous movies have led to some great movies.

[eatawiiner]

20's - Man with a Moving Camera
30's - Humanity & Paper Balloons
40's - The Third Man
50's - Ordet
60's - Woman in the Dunes
70's - A Woman Under the Influence
80's - Blue Velvet
90's - Double Life of Veronique
00's - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

[Clark Nova]

of what I've seen:

30s: The 39 Steps
40s: The Third Man
50s: Seven Samurai
60s: Lawrence of Arabia
70s: The Godfather
80s: Raging Bull
90s: Fargo
00s: Mulholland Dr.

[criterionmaster]

ie said:

As much as I like Taste of Cherry, the correct answer for the movie of 1997 was Princess Mononoke. But thanks for playing.


I really like movies from the 70s. Enter the Dragon, Dawn of the Dead, Jaws, Taxi Driver, Vanishing Point, Harold and Maude, El Topo, the Long Goodbye, Aguirre, Dirty Harry, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fantastic Planet, Star Wars and Annie Hall, as a few good examples. (That could be a decent Top 14 right there. Got everything from the canon favorites to obscure respectables to the oddballs for added personality.)

Times were good, shit was actually happening. Cameras all looked really good during that time, so I can show a movie from that era to a friend and not worry about them being bored of the black and white treatment. Stories were strong, people were interested in good and solid movies so filmmakers could make money off of those, and risks were being taken for positive effect. Can't speak at length about pre-70s stuff, though.

Movies from the 80s and most of the 90s don't really appeal to me; the culture of that time was just bad. A couple here and there were good, yes, but it wasn't until the late 90s that things started looking on the up and up in general. Sure, it seems like you have more shitty movies now than ever, but the collective knowledge of all of the previous movies have led to some great movies.

ugh, you are right. how could i forget princess mononoke? yep, that is better than taste of cherry, though i love the film.

thank you, another one who thinks the 70's is the best decade, i have met many people who try and say 60's, which is an amazing, amazing decade, but just doesn't beat the 70's, if you ask me. it sounds as though you would love the book "easy riders, raging bulls" since it is all about what you just said: 70's = artistic vision + they made money, 80 = bad, shitty movies, that made money, 90's = some great films, but also some shitty ones. check it out if you ever get a chance, it covers some of those films you listed, in fact, a lot of them in great detail (although this is only on american film).

the 90's did have some of my favorite directors, because studios started realizing (again) that money could be made on artistic visions, through independent films. i mean just look at some of the directors from the 90's: tarantino, linklater, wes anderson, p.t. anderson, fincher, kevin smith, rodriguez, etc. 80's had very few masterpieces, while the 90's had many more in my opinion (talking american, and even foreign films). wouldn't you agree the 90's crush 80's, for the most part? now this decade, ugh, don’t get me started. although, it will make more sense to wait for it to finish, then look back, see if it is still as shitty as it seems.

andruini said:

ie said:

As much as I like Taste of Cherry, the correct answer for the movie of 1997 was Princess Mononoke. But thanks for playing.

*sigh*

[ie]

Yeah, that was the incorrect answer from andruini.

While I'm not familiar with Iranian movies as a whole, I must say that Princess Mononoke's influence on Japanese animation can be seen to this day. I don't think Taste of Cherry had that same kind of total shockwave on fans and movers-and-shakers alike.


So far, nine from the 60s compared to thirteen from the 70s on my Top 100.
I just like the style of 70s movies. I do like some movies from the 80s, but really, the culture was just really shitty at that time. We as a collective whole didn't shed all of that bullshit until the mid-ninties, and the movies reflect that. Some of it was good, but the years of, say, 1984-1994 were slow; Japanese animation did well during that period, as did the auteurs like Kurosawa and Tarantino, but how about society as a whole?

(Interesting how we're headed into the same kind of thing today. The auteurs always do well, and animation is hitting a peak with Paprika and My Beautiful Girl, Mari and MIND GAME, but how's shit doing on the outside? Fantasstic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer? Sequels up the ass? Shrek 5? A friend of mine invited me to a movie tonight and he gave me like ten titles, and none of them would stir me. Shit's going slow; it's all political.)

Actually, I've been seeing the documentary of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls for the past few days. I might check it out now.


You need to check your PMs, criterionmaster.