# Favorite Decade For Movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959 "2015-11-07T20:48:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/21 "2015-11-08T15:35:01Z")
Mostly I’m a sucker for a good 1930s film, with 1940s a close second. But I like 1950s film noir, especially some of the French stuff such as [Touchez Pas au Grisbi](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046451/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) (1954), [Rififi](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048021/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) (1955) and [Bob la Flambeur](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047892/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) (1956). > [@What\_Exit](#): > > **1920s** : almost nothing I would want to watch. Are you serious? I defy you to watch [The General](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017925/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) (1926) and say that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/22 "2015-11-08T16:11:40Z")
Douglas Fairbanks alternating stunts and slapstick in MARK OF ZORRO still holds up. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/23 "2015-11-08T16:48:09Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Mostly I’m a sucker for a good 1930s film, with 1940s a close second. But I like 1950s film noir, especially some of the French stuff such as [Touchez Pas au Grisbi](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046451/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) (1954), [Rififi](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048021/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) (1955) and [Bob la Flambeur](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047892/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) (1956). > > Are you serious? I defy you to watch [The General](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017925/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1) (1926) and say that. Yes, I am serious and I have watched parts of it. In fact Buster Keaton & Harold Lloyd are the 2 from the 20s I do like, I don’t even enjoy Chaplin silent films I’m afraid. Small doses is best for all of them. Going back to the teens I think the works of Winsor McCay are amazing. Also pre-20s Georges Méliès did some incredible things. Metropolis is one of the highlights of the 20s and it is pretty boring despite the awesomeness for the time. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/24 "2015-11-08T22:35:04Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Yes and no. I was a teen in the '80s, and it probably IS my favorite decade for movies, but it sure isn’t for music. (That would be the '60s, with the '70s and '90s vying for second place. The '80s would come in fourth.) Maybe I should’ve phrased it differently. The pop culture you like when you’re a teenager sticks with you your whole life. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/25 "2015-11-09T13:44:28Z")
For me it would have to be the 1960s or the 1980s. The 1960s had some of the great Epic movies and historical films and action-adventure, and some good SF – 1960s **Spartacus Dr. Zhivago Lawrence of Arabia A Man for All Seasons Becket The Great Escape The Guns of Navarone The first and best James Bond films 2001: A Space Odyssey Quatermass and the Pit/Five Million Years to Earth** 1980s: **For Your Eyes Only** (best Bond since the 1960s) **The Empire Strikes Back Return of the Jedi Star Trek II, II, and IV Bladerunner Tron The Thing The Atomic Café The Last Starfighter Amadeus The Bounty Gandhi The Hidden Manhunter Aliens The Terminator The Fly Who Framed Roger Rabbit Field of Dreams The Living Daylights Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Spaceballs Glory The Last Emperor** (both versions) I’ll even forgive them for **E.T.** ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/26 "2015-11-09T13:52:50Z")
> [@Daniel\_Boone\_Fanatic](#): > > 1950S- The Tingler with Vincent Price was good I love that this is your way of summing up the entire decade. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/27 "2015-11-09T16:49:33Z")
Current. When I’m looking for a movie to watch, I always prefer seeing a movie from the current decade. So right now, my favorite decade is 2010 - present, but in five years that will change. In terms of best decade for movies, in a poll I’d vote 1970s. My personal favorite from when I was experiencing the decade would probably be the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/28 "2015-11-09T17:48:31Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > **1920s** : almost nothing I would want to watch. > [. Your tastes differ from mine. The 20s have the best of the silent films. In addition to **The General** and **The Mark of Zorro** (already named), there’s **The Thief of Baghdad The Ten Commandments Ben-Hur Metropolis The Lost World the Phantom of the Opera the Hunchback of Notre Dame** and a great many others. I have all of the above on DVD. It’s only since about the rise of the DVD that these films have come back into their own, restored at long last to their original length and brilliance. I have two different restorations of Lost World, now about 95% complete. Metropolis has been restored to almost its full original length. My copy of Phantom of the Opera includes not only the existing Technicolor scenes (there’s still one that’s lost), but also restores the Handschiegl color scenes. My copy of Ben-Hur also has its color sections intact, as does my silent Ten Commandments. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959/29 "2015-11-09T17:53:35Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Maybe I should’ve phrased it differently. The pop culture you like when you’re a teenager sticks with you your whole life. True dat! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-decade-for-movies/736959.md?page=1)