The best decade of film is.....

[brizz]

I'm beginning to think that the 1970s were the best dacade for film...ever. Perhaps it's colored by nostalgia, but I don't know, it just seems like so many risks were taken, and so many innovations made. And lets face it, the 80s sucked ass. I had thought that the 60s and 90s were a toss up for a while, but now, I think the 70s reign supreme....

So anyway....I'd love to here thoughts, suggestions, etc....prove me wrong!!!

[conscience]

70s for me.

So many groundbreaking, great films.

1990s comes second.

then the fifties.

[davidlynchfan]

strictly 80's for me! easiest to relate to.

[Pants]

The best period in contemporary cinema stretches from 1957-1968 (the end of the hollywood production system and the rise of the new model of independent production). So I voted for the 1960s. All the groundwork for the '70s explosion was laid in the '60s (mostly by European directors and Orson Welles)

Obviously the '30s are very important too, but I only get one vote

[Deckard-10]

80's for me. Followed by the 70's and 90's. I grew up in the 80's so that might have something to do with my choice. -smile-

[edytwinky]

80's

[MurraySiskind]

I voted for the 70s. You had Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas, Hal Ashby, Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, William Friedkin all doing great work. Not to mention the rise of Blaxploitation cinema.

I grew up in the 80s, too, and there was a lot of horrible horrible crap made then. :)

[Rypro 525]

Sorry, but I have to say the 90's.

[Geofferson]

Tough call, but I'll say a tie between the 50s and 70s.

[indycohiba]

Liked them all, but too many good films in the 90's.

[Ky-Fi]

I'd have to go with the 30s.

Frankenstein
Dracula
The Mummy
Bride of Frankenstein
Invisible Man
All Quiet on the Western Front
Gunga Din
Lives of a Bengal Lancer
King Kong
Beau Geste
Captain Blood
Adventures of Robin Hood
Gone With the Wind
Prisoner of Zenda

... to name just a few. But then again I'm partial to horror, adventure and swashbucklers.....

[joeydaninja]

I am not as film connoisseuristic as I want to be, but I find the 1970's overrated. I mean, I know America made a lot of dark, honest films then, but, in my opinion, what's so great about that? I prefer the happy films to the dark. And it's not escapism, but entertainment.

I liked the 1990's coz that's the age that I grew to love movies in, and Hollywood made a lot of money then.

but the 2000's are starting to look pretty good. we are going to see CGI pushed to the limits, that they might almost approximate reality. imagine the possibilities :D

[The Nature Boy]

I'd like to throw some props toward the 40's. As far as character, story and pacing, that's when film really began to gain steam as an art. That's when films really began to resemble that which we watch today. Incredibly influential, as realitstically, how long and and how often imitated were films like:

Citizen Kane
Casablanca
Grapes of Wrath
It's a Wonderful Life
Double Indemnity

All are just great kickass movies, but all shaped film for a long while after, and most still aspire to these standards.

And just missing the cut are for the decade are:
Gone with the Wind(1939)
Wizard of Oz(1939)
Stagecoach(1939
All About Eve(1950)
Sunset Blvd(1950)

I'll give major props to the 70's and 90's as well, based on the number of directors that were doing new and exciting things, but I hadn't seen the 40's recognized. And for anyone mentioning the 50's, it's probably the worst American film decade, but perhaps the strongest international one, but that balance definately needs mentioing.

[dave955]

Voted for the 30s here, but could have also gone for the 40s or the 70s.

[Jaymole]

The 70's narrowly over the 1930's & 40's. The 80's are dead last by a large margin.

[JesseCuster]

The '70's...simply awesome:

The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
Star Wars (1977)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Chinatown (1974)
The Sting (1973)
Annie Hall (1977)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Alien (1979)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Jaws (1975)
Manhattan (1979)
Patton (1970)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Sleuth (1972)
All the President's Men (1976)
Network (1976)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
MASH (1970)
Deliverance (1972)
The French Connection (1971)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Cabaret (1972)
Nashville (1975)
Rocky (1976)
Little Big Man (1970)
Badlands (1973)
American Graffiti (1973)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Conversation (1974)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Serpico (1973)
Mean Streets (1973)

And if you toss in The Stunt Man, which might have been released in 1980 but had it's genesis very much in the '70's, that's one astonishing list.

[Pants]

I voted '60s but I will stick up for the '80s

Although the decade probably is in last place it does contain what I feel are the BEST films of Woody Allen

The crown jewels of Kurosawa

And most of Scorsese's greatest films: Raging Bull, After Hours, King of Comedy, and Last Temptation of Christ

[Hokeyboy]

Originally posted by Pants
I voted '60s but I will stick up for the '80s

Although the decade probably is in last place it does contain what I feel are the BEST films of Woody Allen

The crown jewels of Kurosawa

And most of Scorsese's greatest films: Raging Bull, After Hours, King of Comedy, and Last Temptation of Christ

:whofart:

The "crown jewels of Kurosawa" were released in the '80s?!?!? "Ran" and "Kagemusha"? I love both films, but I want whatever crack you're smoking! ;)

Woody's 80s films better than Manhattan? Annie Hall? Sleeper? Love and Death?! Even Bananas?!!?!?

Scorsese, there you might have a point, although you can't argue much against either Taxi Driver or Mean Streets...

[Pants]

Ran and Kagemusha are not THE BEST but they are among his best.

And YES '80s Woody is his best period I feel: Annie Hall is great, and Manhattan looks great, but Radio Days, Hannah and Her Sisters, Purple Rose, and particularly Crimes and Missdamenors are his best films...ALL '80s.

[greatjedi]

I say we're living in the best decade right now. With the advent of digital cinema, people who would never have an opportunity to make a movie now have an affordable option. With computer graphics and editing, anyone's vision can be turned into reality. The possibilities are endless. There's nothing that cannot be done on film now.

[Rypro 525]

Originally posted by greatjedi
The possibilities are endless. There's nothing that cannot be done on film now. Except make good movies -wink- :cracker:

[Iron_Giant]

The 70's do have the most Movies that are Classics and are enjoyable to watch.

[RyoHazuki]

Originally posted by joeydaninja
but the 2000's are starting to look pretty good. we are going to see CGI pushed to the limits, that they might almost approximate reality. imagine the possibilities :D I dont know if I agree with you here. I will always be a little partial to the 1000's.

[caligulathegod]

I vote 40s and 70s. The 40s was when film truly became an art and 70s was when film became "real".

[lesterlong]

I voted for the 70s, simply because Jaws, Halloween, Alien, A New Hope, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Taxi Driver. I'm surprised the 80s aren't getting many votes. There were some great movies in the Indiana Jones trilogy, Back To The Future trilogy, Empire Strikes Back, etc.

[JonTurner]

I voted 70's 'cause there are just too many classic from then, however, 2 years ago I would've said 90s. Then there's the 40s, from which I've only seen 17 films, and yet 4 of them I gave perfect 10s to (Rebecca, Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and The Killers), andwith way too many widely regarded as classics, like Double Indemnity, Grapes of Wrath, and It's a Wonderful Life still left to see, I may change my tune someday.

[Max Lewis]

Gotta pick the decade the "Movie Brats" started (if you people even know who they are)... 1970's.

[mookyman]

My vote goes for the 70's. The 40's and 60's probably had an equal amount of great films, but more than any other decade, the 70's were when the directors were the superstars who had all the power and control. The past five years or so, I've noticed a gradual return to directors and writers with household name recognition - here's hoping that trend catches on again.

[ToddSm66]

Probably the 1940's for me, with the 50's coming in a close 2nd. Of course, I'm a huge film-noir fan, so this was a pretty easy decision for me.

1940
Rebecca
The Philadelphia Story
The Great Dictator
The Grapes of Wrath
His Girl Friday
The Shop Around the Corner
Foreign Correspondent
The Sea Hawk
Fantasia
The Bank Dick

1941
Citizen Kane
The Maltese Falcon
Sullivan's Travels
Sergeant York
The Lady Eve
Here Comes Mr. Jordan
Shadow of the Thin Man
Suspicion
Meet John Doe
High Sierra

1942
Casablanca
To Be Or Not To Be
Yankee Doodle Dandy
The Magnificent Ambersons
Talk of the Town
I Married a Witch
The Palm Beach Story
The Glass Key
Reap the Wild Wind
Woman of the Year

1943
Shadow of a Doubt
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
The Ox-Bow Incident
Phantom of the Opera
A Guy Named Joe
Sahara
Heaven Can Wait
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Five Graves to Cairo
Destination Tokyo

1944
Arsenic and Old Lace
Double Indemnity
To Have and Have Not
Lifeboat
Hail the Conquering Hero
Meet Me in St. Louis
Gaslight
Laura
The Canterville Ghost
The Fighting Sullivans

1945
The Lost Weekend
Mildred Pierce
Spellbound
Detour
Scarlet Street
The Thin Man Goes Home
They Were Expendable
Children of Paradise
Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
The Woman in the Window

1946
Notorious
It's A Wonderful Life
The Big Sleep
Brief Encounter
Great Expectations
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Killers
My Darling Clementine
The Stranger
The Blue Dahlia

1947
Brute Force
Black Narcissus
Miracle on 34th Street
Out of the Past
The Paradine Case
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Life with Father
Song of the Thin Man
Kiss of Death
Ride the Pink Horse

1948
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Lady From Shanghai
Key Largo
Red River
Hamlet
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House
Sorry, Wrong Number
The Naked City
The Bicycle Thief
Rope

1949
The Third Man
White Heat
Kind Hearts and Coronets
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
Adam's Rib
Sands of Iwo Jima
I Was a Male War Bride
The Heiress
All the King's Men
The Fountainhead


I would have a really hard time finding 100 better movies from a different decade.

[wendersfan]

My first impulse was the 1940's (Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon being the impetus there) but I decided on the 1960's. Considering that Godard, Bergman, Bunuel, Truffaut, Antonioni, and Kubrick peaked in that decade, I think it was the best. I don't think any decade has five films that can hold their own against Contempt, Persona, Viridiana, Blow-Up, and 2001 combined.

[ckolchak]

i have to admit a good case is being made for a decade i never gave much thought to- the 40's.

i'd agree that the 50's and the 80s were vast wastelands sprinkled with a few real gems here and there.

filmakers in the 70s were able to exploit trends in the changing social structure in this country, to make some really exciting stuff -especially if you compare it to to the decades preceding it.

however, i don't know if all this freedom ended up doing us much good in the long run, because it seemed to supplant imagination and creativity.
the production code could be viewed as creatively stifling (which it often was), or an obstacle that stimulated creative solutions and workarounds, by committed artists.

when all is permissable, a lot of artists become hacks.

jmo

[Fok]

hmm tough call. But I'd have to go with the 70s-80s