What was the best decade for movies??

SharpshooterTom

So I'm just curious, starting from the 1920s to the present day, if you could pick a decade which you considered you favourite, what would it be?

I'm aware some people may have their favourite movies over different decades but the point of this poll is that if you had a choice to pick any decade of movies to watch, what would it be?

godfather III Al Pacino(1993)

Line of Fire with Clint Eastwood(1993)

A Kiss before Dying, Matt Dillon

Pulp Fiction Samuel L Jackson, Bruce Willis (1994)

Larbre34

It would be the 1970s by a distance.

Godfather, Exorcist, Jaws, Cuckoos Nest, The Sting, Alien, Deliverance, Blazing Saddles, Omen, Superman, Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Jaws, Life of Brian, Wickerman, Carrie, the Dirty Harrys and my personal favourite of all time Midnight Cowboy.

In my opinion, the bar setters across all genres were made in the 70s, new ground was broken, the greatest film makers of the last 50 years cut their teeth and reinvented the medium. Many since have tried to surpass these titles with similar efforts, but failed.

Sonny678

Larbre34 wrote:

It would be the 1970s by a distance.

Larbre34 wrote:

Godfather, Exorcist, Jaws, Cuckoos Nest, The Sting, Alien, Deliverance, Blazing Saddles, Omen, Superman, Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Jaws, Life of Brian, Wickerman, Carrie, the Dirty Harrys and my personal favourite of all time Midnight Cowboy.

Larbre34 wrote:

In my opinion, the bar setters across all genres were made in the 70s, new ground was broken, the greatest film makers of the last 50 years cut their teeth and reinvented the medium. Many since have tried to surpass these titles with similar efforts, but failed.

Your 100% right . The 1970s was the best decade for film by a metric mile. There is no debate. Here some 70s films you left out

Taxidriver , Chinatown, Close Encounters of the Third kind, The Deerhunter, Annie Hall, Rocky, Patton, American Graffiti, Mean Streets, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alice doesnt live here anymore, Shampoo, Marathon Man, Midnight Express, Enter the Dragon, The Candidate, Tommy, Halloween, Saturday Night Fever , All the Presidents Men, Grease, Manhattan, Badlands, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Kramer v Kramer , The French Connection, Serpico, Last Tango in Paris, Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation, The last Picture Show and Nashville.

Wailin

Has to be 70's or 80's. I voted 80's....some of my favourite movies of all time were made in the 80's.

Aliens, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, The Thing, The Terminator, Back to the Future, Stand by me, Platoon, Raging Bull, Blade Runner etc.

Zeek12

Sonny678 wrote: »

Your 100% right . The 1970s was the best decade for film by a metric mile. There is no debate. Here some 70s films you left out

Taxidriver , Chinatown, Close Encounters of the Third kind, The Deerhunter, Annie Hall, Rocky, Patton, American Graffiti, Mean Streets, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alice doesnt live here anymore, Shampoo, Marathon Man, Midnight Express, Enter the Dragon, The Candidate, Tommy, Halloween, Saturday Night Fever , All the Presidents Men, Grease, Manhattan, Badlands, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Kramer v Kramer , The French Connection, Serpico, Last Tango in Paris, Dog Day Afternoon, The Conversation, The last Picture Show and Nashville.

1970s for me too (though I also have a real love of the 80s).

It goes to show how great the 70s were that on the third installment of naming the decade's greats here, I think I'm the first to mention:

Network, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Sorcerer, All That Jazz, Aguirre Wrath of God, Being There, The Driver, The Parallax View, Blue Collar, Don't Look Now, The Day of the Jackal, High Plains Drifter, The Long Goodbye

johnny_ultimate

Sonny678 wrote: »

There is no debate.

Oh but there very much is!

(I apologise in advance for the meandering, listy nature of what's to follow - I think this subject gets me animated!)

The 1970s were great for sure, where America film in particular reached a level of maturity that remains impressive. But film as a whole had reached maturity a long time before that, and indeed look at any major survey of critics or filmmakers and you'll often find it just as dominated by earlier film (the Sight & Sound poll, for example, only has two 70s films in the top 20). Indeed, in many respects the 1970s simply represented Hollywood belatedly catching up with the spirit of radicalism and formal sophistication that had been happening globally long before that (although important to stress that earlier Hollywood filmmakers had often been just as experimental and progressive as anything that emerged from New Hollywood).

While film in the 1910s (and earlier) was generally relatively crude given the youthfulness of the medium, by the 1920s films had reached a level of innovation that basically set the bar for everything that was to come afterwards. The very language of cinema was established back then, and can only imagine what it must have been like to see films like The Passion of Joan of Arc, Man With A Movie Camera, Nosferatu, Greed, Metropolis, Battleship Potemkin at the time. In terms of pure entertainment and cinematic spectacle, you had Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and others making films of immense ingenuity and boundless wit - hell, properly discovering Keaton for the first time was a revelation in the 2010s!

Indeed, in some ways the silent era ended too soon, given how inventive the great filmmakers were with pure visual storytelling by the dawn of the talkies - something was lost (sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worse) when you could communicate things through dialogue. Thankfully, the spirit of innovation continued well through the 1930s and 1940s, although I'm not going to spend too long there or I'd be here all night :pac:

The 50s are when things (again) get really, really good - a fair old percentage of my all-time favourites are from there. Look at Japanese cinema alone: Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kurosawa alone were spewing out films that will forever be regarded as some of the best ever made (I'd throw things like The Human Condition into the mix as well). Then over Europe-ways you have the dawn of the French New Wave, films that redefined what cinema could be - tossing the rules out the window, or at least rewriting them with playful enthuasiasm. Not to mention the likes of Bresson and Tati making their early fully formed masterpieces. Hell, even Hollywood cinema was on goddamn fire - just look at Hitchcock, Ford or Wilder, to name but three of many who were pushing the ol' cinema ever forward. And that's not going into the rest of the world Bergman, Ray etc etc...

Then the 60s - oh god the 60s! The French are just ****ting out masterpieces at this stage - Godard, Marker, Varda, Resnais etc... just cementing themselves as some of the foremost purveyors of cinema for decades to come. You have Bergman, Kubrick and many others on top form. Personally, film reaches a pinnacle of sorts with films like Persona, Playtime, 2001, Andrei Rublev etc... And there's the Japanese New Wave too (you might tell I have a particular fascination with Japanese cinema :pac:) - films such as Woman in the Dunes, the output of Shohei Imamura, Patriotism, Eros + Massacre, Tokyo Drifter, The Naked Island... I think a lot of these films get left out of 'the conversation' when they're every bit as surprising and rich as anything film has ever offered.

And hey, if we're talking about the 70s, can't forget what was going on elsewhere in the world! Jeanne Dielman, Hausu, A Touch of Zen, Ali Fear Eats the Soul, Walkabout, Cries and Whispers, The Holy Mountain, The Discreet Charm of the bourgeoisie, Céline and Julie Go Boating, Stalker, The Conformist...

I'd go on (every decade has a hell of a story to tell), but hopefully I've gotten the point I wanted to make across. I think the 70s gets a somewhat disproportionate amount of attention given how extraordinarily complex and mature cinema already was for decades before the filmmakers who grew up with all of the above started making films for American studios. Ultimately, I think most decades - certainly the 20s, 50s and 60s in particular, but the in-betweens and afters as well - can make the case. To be frank - and I'm somewhat defeating the purpose of this thread - it's all a bit futile trying to rank decades when they all so much to offer everyone. Cinema didn't begin and end with Hollywood in the 1970s - and, excuse my language, thank **** it didn't

Ryath

Larbre34 wrote: »

It would be the 1970s by a distance.

Godfather, Exorcist, Jaws, Cuckoos Nest, The Sting, Alien, Deliverance, Blazing Saddles, Omen, Superman, Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, Apocalypse Now, Jaws, Life of Brian, Wickerman, Carrie, the Dirty Harrys and my personal favourite of all time Midnight Cowboy.

In my opinion, the bar setters across all genres were made in the 70s, new ground was broken, the greatest film makers of the last 50 years cut their teeth and reinvented the medium. Many since have tried to surpass these titles with similar efforts, but failed.

Ah Midnight Cowboy is 1969!

70's for me by a long shot.

Missing a few Taxi Driver, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The French Connection, The Conversation, Chinatown, The Deerhunter

Technocentral

V Tough as a cinema lover but its got to be the 40s for me; Casablanca, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Citizen Kane, The Third Man, David Leans Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, Powell and Pressburgers Its a Matter of Life and Death and Black Narcissus, Double Indemnity, Its a Wonderful Life, Spellbound, Rope and Notorious by Hitch plus loads more. The first decade that cinema really came into its own as an artform. 60s a close 2nd.

Edit: I think age plays a big factor here, a lot of earlier 30 somethings and younger reluctant to watch 4/3 b&W films in my experience. I'm early 50s and grew up watching noirish stuff on the box.

Sonny678

I found 60s films while yes some great films . Im sure people will list great films from the 60s. And there was. But in 60s there was at times style over substance. Great 80s films also eg Once upon Time in America , Platoon , Scarface etc. But also as well some times there was style over subtance in 80s. For me 50s 70s and 90s there was more a return to more grittier truer films. From On the Waterfront in 50s to Mean Streets in 70s to Tarantino films in 90s. I know there was great films in 60s and 80s. Something about those eras you watch at times its hard to explain , in 60s people were trying to be a bit to cool, the same with 80s. The 70s films were mulitilayered. Audience wud go to films to see great acting eg De Niro Pacino Streep with very complex dark themes and films which were complex but nothing short of masterpieces. There was masterpiece after masterpiece in 70s eg Taxidriver Godfather Part 2 Acopolse Now The Deerhunter etce etc. Even probaly greatest film of 80s was Raging Bull and it was in 1980 , so it was nearly a 70s film.


I know again there was great films in the 60s and 80s and this decade. People will list them. But for me films like Star Wars destroyed cinema . The Blockbuster became the number 1 concern of studios. 90s was a return to form. But TV series in last 20 years eg Sopranos Wire Madmen etc. Is where great acting and the great stories have been told . People are willing to sit down with boxset of tv programmes now and watch complicated deep meaning stories the same way people did on masse with cinema in 70s..Im sure people will disagree and Im probaly not explaining myself well. But for me the golden age of popular music was 60s the golden age of rock music was 70s and cinema hit a height in terms of an art form was in 70s also.

Arghus

I suppose personally I'd have a fondness for the seventies, but I can see arguments being made for the forties, fifties or sixties too. I think the seventies gets rated higher - maybe over-rated - by many because it was the decade where New Hollywood really took off and so many iconic filmmakers or films that still resonate with popular culture today first came upon the scene. So I think the seventies gets held up because a lot of films from that era are still culturally relevant in a way, that in many cases, earlier movies are not. That isn't to say they are better as such, more that I think people think most readily of that era above others when it comes to great films.

It does amaze me from time to time just how much of a change took place in those few years from about 1967 to lets say 1970 in American cinema. If you watch certain movies from 1965 and 1966 their quaintness and coyness when it comes to explicitly depicting anything vaguely "adult" can be stifling, yet just a few years later people were cussing, fcking and killing with wild abandon on screen. There was an incredible cultural shift there in the surface level maturity - I say surface level, because underneath all that censorship and prudishness, a lot of films from earlier eras were just as sick sometimes, but had to be more artful about it - of on-screen taboo breaking.

Sonny678

Arghus wrote:

It does amaze me from time to time just how much of a change took place in those few years from about 1967 to lets say 1970 in American cinema. If you watch certain movies from 1965 and 1966 their quaintness and coyness when it comes to explicitly depicting anything vaguely "adult" can be stifling, yet just a few years later people were cussing, fcking and killing with wild abandon on screen. There was an incredible cultural shift there in the surface level maturity - I say surface level, because underneath all that censorship and prudishness, a lot of films from earlier eras were just as sick sometimes, but had to be more artful about it - of on-screen taboo breaking.

But its not just cinema look at music. The Beatles were singing " baby you can drive my car beep beep " in 1965 by 1968 they were singing " Happiness is a warm Gun ". The Stones were singing " I can get no Satisfaction " in 1965 within a few years they were singing " Murder is just a shot away". In the last 70 or 80 years only in late 60s 1967 68 69 70 did western culture went under such a radical transformation. Vietnam War , the peace movement etc etc , especially the year 1968 things began to change. People started to think outside the boxes and push art in music and films boundaries , as the world and society changed especially in the USA.

Gwynplaine

For me it's the 90's, with the 80's a close second

90's - T2, Trainspotting, The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, White Men Can't Jump, Forrest Gump, The Field.

80's - Die Hard, Terminator, Predator, Batman, Rain Man, The Shining.

Sad Professor

Arghus wrote: »

I suppose personally I'd have a fondness for the seventies, but I can see arguments being made for the forties, fifties or sixties too. I think the seventies gets rated higher - maybe over-rated - by many because it was the decade where New Hollywood really took off and so many iconic filmmakers or films that still resonate with popular culture today first came upon the scene. So I think the seventies gets held up because a lot of films from that era are still culturally relevant in a way, that in many cases, earlier movies are not. That isn't to say they are better as such, more that I think people think most readily of that era above others when it comes to great films.

It does amaze me from time to time just how much of a change took place in those few years from about 1967 to lets say 1970 in American cinema. If you watch certain movies from 1965 and 1966 their quaintness and coyness when it comes to explicitly depicting anything vaguely "adult" can be stifling, yet just a few years later people were cussing, fcking and killing with wild abandon on screen. There was an incredible cultural shift there in the surface level maturity - I say surface level, because underneath all that censorship and prudishness, a lot of films from earlier eras were just as sick sometimes, but had to be more artful about it - of on-screen taboo breaking.

You can see the change from the late 50s. Even films like Psycho and Some Like it Hot couldn't have been done a few years earlier. But it wasn't until the Hays code was fully abandoned in the late 60s that the floodgates opened. I suppose Bonnie and Clyde was the turning point. There was no going back after that.

But yeah it was mostly surface. The film noirs of the 50s were just as mature as what followed, they just had to be a bit more clever about it. The 50s are probably my favourite decade for that reason.

Greyfox

The 90's is the best decade by far, no other decade have films as good as Shawshank, Braveheart, Pulp fiction, terminator2, Shindlers list, Usual suspects or Goodfellas.

Wailin

Think you're showing your age there

Theboinkmaster

Gwynplaine wrote: »

For me it's the 90's, with the 80's a close second

90's - T2, Trainspotting, The Matrix, Pulp Fiction, White Men Can't Jump, Forrest Gump, The Field.

80's - Die Hard, Terminator, Predator, Batman, Rain Man, The Shining.

Yes an absolute classic and always included in top 50 films ever made - ground breaking indeed

Technocentral

I know I voted 40s but MAD that no votes for 60s! Pyscho, Some Like it Hot, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, Bonnie and Clyde, Midnight Cowboy, Dr. Strangelove, The Good the Bad trilogy, The Birds, The Apartment, Planet of the Apes....

Gwynplaine

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Yes an absolute classic and always included in top 50 films ever made - ground breaking indeed

Haha. It's one of my favourite films ever.

Sad Professor

Technocentral wrote: »

I know I voted 40s but MAD that no votes for 60s! Pyscho, Some Like it Hot, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, Bonnie and Clyde, Midnight Cowboy, Dr. Strangelove, The Good the Bad trilogy, The Birds, The Apartment, Planet of the Apes....

The 60s were a bit of a schizophrenic decade for films (and most things). Like nearly all the films you listed there could probably be categorised as feeling like they belong more to either the 50s or 70s.

mdwexford

Theboinkmaster wrote: »

Yes an absolute classic and always included in top 50 films ever made - ground breaking indeed

Who cares about ground breaking.

It’s an excellent film.

80s or 90s for me.

Optimalprimerib

It's alot easier to look back on decades and remember the greats as there is so much crap currently blinding out great films in the more recent decades.

You have to remember though, there were plenty of terrible films in the past decades too.

I still think the 70's have too many Stonewall classics to ignore, so it gets my vote.

Panrich

Technocentral wrote: »

I know I voted 40s but MAD that no votes for 60s! Pyscho, Some Like it Hot, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, Bonnie and Clyde, Midnight Cowboy, Dr. Strangelove, The Good the Bad trilogy, The Birds, The Apartment, Planet of the Apes....

Substitute Whatever happened to baby Jane or To kill a mocking bird for Some Like it Hot (1957)

Technocentral

Panrich wrote: »

Technocentral wrote: »

I know I voted 40s but MAD that no votes for 60s! Pyscho, Some Like it Hot, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, Bonnie and Clyde, Midnight Cowboy, Dr. Strangelove, The Good the Bad trilogy, The Birds, The Apartment, Planet of the Apes....

Substitute Whatever happened to baby Jane or To kill a mocking bird for Some Like it Hot (1957)

Love them too but couldnt mention them all.

I find it very hard to separate the 70’s and 80’s. The 80’s just takes it because my favourite directors Stone and Mann were in their heyday.

The 70’s has much more grit. Guys were making things off the cuff, taking big risks. Sidney Lumet made films with no soundtrack, and films that would get to the centre of your soul with their message. Friedkin did things that nobody has been able to better even today.
The 80’s was a bit more popular culture, and back then popular culture was cool because it wasn’t manicured to death and a marketing machine like it is today. There was also a bit more darkness and depth of evil. Science fiction and action films took off and they were incredibly original. People talk about T2 in the 90’s, it doesn’t deserve to sit at the same table as T1.

I think there was about a 25 year golden age of film that started late 60’s and ran into the early 90’s. Since then a small fraction of the total films with any sort of budget are decent.

I went to see bohemian rhapsody the other day. First time in the cinema for a year. The trailers were aquaman, Spider-Men, a cartoon, and another formulaic action film. I wish people would hit the streets protesting against the travesty that has overtaken the film industry like the parisiens do about fuel prices. Thankfully Freddy saved that day.

Harry Palmr

1966-1976

Tony EH

The 70's.

There's no competition.