Best Single Year for Film?

What single year was the best for film? We can define this as being based on the films released, rather than behind-the-scenes factors like the end of the studio system or the Hays code.

My pick is 1994. It’s hightlighted by The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction, released on the same day, October 14th.

But it also boasted:

Clerks
Ed Wood
Forrest Gump
Heavenly Creatures
Hoop Dreams
The Hudsucker Proxy
Leon
Shallow Grave

What do you think?

I think I remember '68 or '69 being some great year, but I’m not in a position to Google it right now.

However, I wholeheartedly agree that '94 is probably the best year. 2012 had some real potential in it and I think for the most part it has lived up to a lot of expectations. 2012 would’ve been a little bit better if Gatsby hadn’t been pushed back to 2013. :frowning:

How about 1939?

The Best Picture nominees that year:

Dark Victory
Gone With the Wind
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Love Affair
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Ninotchka
Of Mice and Men
Stagecoach
The Wizard of Oz
Wuthering Heights

Other films released in the same year:

Gunga Din
The Little Princess (Shirley Temple)
Another Thin Man
A couple of Andy Hardy films
A Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan film
A Mr Moto film
The Hound of the Baskervilles starring Basil Rathbone

Admittedly, not all Great films, but many films that stood the test of time.

1968:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Romeo and Juliet (with 15-year-old Olivia Hussey)
Bullitt
The Love Bug
Charly
Candy
Thomas Crown Affair
Oliver!
Rosemary’s Baby
Planet of the Apes
Night of the Living Dead
Yours, Mine, and Ours
Hang 'Em High
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MUTHERFUCKING WEST. (AKA greatest western ever)

EDIT: 1977 and 1999 are good contenders too, but I’ll let someone else talk.
Double edit: the entire 90s decade is just good year after good year of movies.

There’s a 1998 article in The Washingon Post by Stephen Hunter in which he argues that not only is Gone with the Wind not the best film of 1939, but that there are 28 better films that year. There are a lot of people that argue that it’s the best year for movies:

No question, 1939.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance came out in '62, just like How The West Was Won – same year Sean Connery debuted as James Bond, and Gregory Peck was Atticus Finch when he wasn’t squaring off against Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear – sure as Robert Preston was The Music Man, and Peter O’Toole was Lawrence Of Arabia.

The Manchurian Candidate! Lolita! The Miracle Worker! Days Of Wine And Roses! Gypsy!

1984

Looking at the 20 top grossing films on Wiki…there is only two I haven’t seen. I can watch any of the others on there multi times gladly.

From the top 20 my faves:
Ghostbusters
Beverly Hills Cop
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (This is my second favorite in the series)
Gremlins
Karate Kid
Footloose
Police Acadamy
Star Trek III - (don’t hurt me)
Romancing the Stone
Splash
Tightrope
The Natural
Revenge of the Nerds
Bachelor Party
2010

Other films released in 1984:
All of Me
Adventures Of Bukaroo Banzai
Body Double (Loved this as a preteen…melanie griffith in the telescope MMM)
Cloak and Dagger
Cotton Club
Friday the 13th Part 4 (my favorite of the series)
The Last Starfighter (I know…guilty pleasure)
Moscow on the Hudson
Nightmare on Elm Street
Neverending Story
The Razor’s Edge
Repo Man
Sixteen Candles
The Terminator
This is Spinal Tap

You missed 1984.

It probably doesn’t beat 1939, but 1954 was a darn good year -
On the Waterfront
Rear Window
The Barefoot Contessa
The Caine Mutiny
White Christmas
A Star is Born
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Sabrina
The Country Girl
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Brigadoon
Carmen Jones
the original Godzilla
Hobson’s Choice
Johnny Guitar
Seven Samurai

I agree, 1969 was excellent:

Midnight Cowboy
Easy Rider
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance KidThe Wild Bunch
Z

But then again, it also had

Paint Your Wagon :eek:

Paint Your Wagon was a fun movie; Eastwood and Marvin playing against type.