# Favorite Movies—Decade by Decade **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 5, 2000, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179 "2000-12-05T21:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [December 6, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/21 "2000-12-06T21:54:51Z")
Dang it! I’ve tried posting to this one twice and the computer’s eaten my reply both times! I’ll try again when I get home. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/22 "2000-12-06T22:37:01Z")
My favorites (which I can watch over and over)…[ul][li]1920’s - **Metropolis** [/li][li]1930’s - **Mutiny on the Bounty** , I guess…[/li][li]1940’s - **Treasure of the Sierra Madre** “Badges?”[/li][li]1950’s - **Giant** [/li][li]1960’s - **True Grit** [/li][li]1970’s - **Patton** [/li][li]1980’s - **Blade Runner** [/li][li]1990’s - **Braveheart** [/ul][/li] The list fairly drips with testosterone… ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/23 "2000-12-06T22:38:17Z")
OK, here goes: 1900s - “A Trip to the Moon” (1902) wins by default, 'cause it’s all I’ve seen. Teens - “The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari” (1919) - kind of slow, love the sets. 20s - “Battleship Potemkin” (1925)- Film starts to get modern. 30s - Toss-up between two bizarre films: “L’Age D’Or” (1930) (I’m a big Bunuel fan) and “Freaks” (1932) (you’ve gotta see this). 40s - “Out Of The Past” (1947) - Robert Mitchum was my idol after seeing this. 50s - “Rear Window” (1954) - Despite the somewhat pat ending, some very intense moments (and plenty of Freudian elements). 60s - “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962) - One of my all-time favorites. 70s - “Mean Streets” (1973) - To my mind, Scorsese’s best. 80s - Either “Brazil” (1985) or “Gallipoli” (1981). 90s - Despite what Ben Stein says, I thought “American Beauty” kicked ass. Props also to Hal Hartley’s “Henry Fool”; “Clockwatchers”, “Dazed and Confused” and “Pleasantville” also rank pretty high. 2000 - “Mr. Death” by documentary filmmaker Errol Morris - chilling. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2000, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/24 "2000-12-06T23:05:33Z")
1990: The Matrix (groundbreaking SFX) or The Iron Giant 1980: Return of the Jedi or Blade Runner 1970: Star Wars 1960: Lawrence of Arabia 1950: Ben Hur 1940: Casablanca or Maltese Falcon 1930: Wizard of Oz or Frankenstein 1920: Battleship Potkemkin or Metropolis 1910: Dang… I dunno. 1900: Ditto. The IMDB is fun to browse through, they have lists of each decade, top 50… ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/25 "2000-12-07T00:07:03Z")
1910’s _Easy Street_ 1920’s _Napoleon_ 1930’s _Scarface_ 1940’s _The Big Sleep_ 1950’s _The Bridge on the River Kwai_ 1960’s _Goldfinger_ 1970’s _Star Wars_ 1980’s _When Harry Met Sally_ 1990’s _The Silence of the Lambs_ None of these choices are non-negotiable. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2000, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/26 "2000-12-07T14:23:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*I’ll try again when I get home. \*\* Shit, **Cal** STILL hasn’t gotten home? Well, I hope he’s pleased with himself. His dinner is stone cold. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/27 "2000-12-13T01:03:11Z")
1910s: _Les Vampires_ (Feuillade) Runner-up: _South_ (Hurley) 1920s: _The General_ (Keaton) Runner-up: _Sunrise_ (Murnau) 1930s: _The Crime of Monsieur Lange_ (Renoir) Runner-up: _Footlight Parade_ (Bacon) 1940s: _His Girl Friday_ (Hawks) Runner-up: _Casablanca_ (Curtiz) 1950s: _Vertigo_ (Hitchcock) Runner-up: _The Seven Samurai_ (Kurosawa) 1960s: _2001: A Space Odyssey_ (Kubrick) Runner-up: _The Wild Bunch_ (Peckinpah) 1970s: _Chloe in the Afternoon_ (Rohmer) Runner-up: _The Spirit of the Beehive_ (Erice) 1980s: _Do the Right Thing_ (Lee) Runner-up: _Red Sorghum_ (Yimou) 1990s: _Underground_ (Kusterica) Runner-up: _Lone Star_ (Sayles) ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/28 "2000-12-13T01:45:08Z")
These might be subject to change depending on when you catch me. 1900s: Haven’t seen enough to make a qualified judgment. So based on what I’ve seen, _The Great Train Robbery_. It helped invent the language of modern film. 1910s: Again, not a decade with which I am intimately familiar, so no choice. 1920s: _Greed_, just for the sheer, crazed audacity of it. I’d love to see that first cut. 1930s: Hitchcock’s _The Thirty-Nine Steps_. Action! Romance! Comedy! This was Hitch at his best. Runner-up: _It Happened One Night_. 1940s: So hard to pick just one . . . I’ll go with _Gilda_. Ah, glorious subtext. Runner-up: _Casablanca_. 1950s: _Vertigo_. Or _Singin’ In The Rain_. Both are absolutely perfect movies. If I can have a second runner-up, _The Caine Mutiny_. 1960s: _A Hard Day’s Night_, for reasons which should be obvious if you know me. Plus it was genuinely innovative fillmaking. Runner-up: _Lolita._ 1970s: _Jaws_. Still has all the right elements. Runner-up: My heart says _Star Wars_, but my head says _Network_. 1980s: _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. Runner-up: _The Thing_ (John Carpenter version). 1990s: (Tie)_Se7en_ and _Fight Club_. I think David Fincher was the most imaginative director of the decade. Runner-up: _Ma Vie En Rose_. 2000: Haven’t seen enough movies this year to say. Was _Magnolia_ this year or last? ---
**Author:** ![Ankh\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Ankh\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ankh_Too)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/29 "2000-12-13T06:31:47Z")
1900s: Voyage to the Moon Not just because it’s one of the few I’ve seen, it’s still one of my favorites today. 1910s: No clue… 1920s: Nosferatu 1930s: Gunga Din - Sure, it’s trite, it’s paternalistic, it’s imperialistic and it’s insensitive. But it’s still a helluva good time. 1940s: Citizen Kane - It’s cliche, but it’s cliche for a damned good reason. Honorable mention: The Third Man 1950s: Ikiru - Directed by Kurosawa, a life long bureaucrat learns he is going to die and tries desperately to find something to justify his life. Honorable mention: Chimes at Midnight - Orson Welles weaves together the threads of five Shakespeare plays to tell the story of Falstaff’s decline. The sound is still weak, coming out of sync in some spots, but has been improved dramatically. 1960s: Dr. Strangelove - What else needs to be said? Honorable mention: Yojimbo - Kurosawa and Torshiro Mifune, before Clint Eastwood knew what he was doing. 1970s: Monty Python and the Holy Grail 1980s: Blade Runner Honorable Mention: Henry V 1990s: From the Earth to the Moon(if HBO miniseries count, of course) Honorable mention: L.A. Confidential ---
**Author:** ![Eggs\_a\_la\_Ted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c68b51/32.png) [@Eggs\_a\_la\_Ted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eggs_a_la_Ted)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/30 "2000-12-13T13:05:11Z")
[ul] [li]30’s - Mr Smith Goes to Washington[/li][li]40’s - The Third Man[/li][li]50’s - The Trouble with Harry[/li][li]60’s - The Pink Panther[/li][li]70’s - Alien[/li][li]80’s - The Empire Strikes Back[/li][li]90’s - The Usual Suspects[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/31 "2000-12-13T14:27:39Z")
[giving ArchiveGuy the thumbs-up] ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/32 "2000-12-13T20:42:43Z")
00-20’s: Won’t pretend to be knowledgable on anything in particular. 1930- Duck Soup. 1940- (Tie)Yankee Doodle Dandy and Casablanca 1950’s- Singing in the Rain 1960-Lion in the Winter or Great Escape 1970-Godfather and GF2 1980-Amadeus or ( this is embarrassing) Lethal Weapon. 1990’s - Miller’s Crossing, The Usual Suspects, Clay Pidgeons 2000-Billy Elliott & Patriot. Naturally, this is all continent on what mood I’m in, but anything Marx Brothers or Kate Hepburn is a winner with me. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/33 "2000-12-13T22:30:30Z")
1920s: Nosferatu 1930s: Bride of Frankenstein 1940s: Double Indemnity 1950s: Sunset Boulevard 1960s: Some Like It Hot 1970s: Exorcist 1980s: Dangerous Liaisons 1990s: Kevin Smith’s Jersey Movies ---
**Author:** ![Scarred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/54ee81/32.png) [@Scarred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarred)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/34 "2000-12-14T14:11:01Z")
30’s - Ruggles Of Red Gap (Charles Laughton at his absolute best) 40’s - The Philadelphia Story 50’s - Bridge On The River Kwai 60’s - Dr. Strangelove or To Kill A Mockingbird 70’s - Cinematically The Godfather, thematically The Man Who Would Be King 80’s - A Crhistmas Story (Ralphie rules!) 90’s - Silence Of The Lambs ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2000, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179/35 "2000-12-14T15:17:22Z")
1900s: The Great Train Robbery 1910s: The only film we watched in my silent cinema class from this decade was Birth of a Nation, and I refuse to put that on ANY list. Feh. Melodramatic rascist piece of… 1920s: Sherlock Jr. (I feel like I’ve DISCOVERED Buster Keaton!) 1930s: Gone With the Wind 1940s: Hmmm…so many. How about The Philadelphia Story. 1950s: Singin’ In the Rain 1960s: I’m not copying the other Dopers. Dr. Strangelove is on my top 5 greatest films EVER list. So there. 1970s: Star Wars 1980s: Eep. How about Robert Altman’s Popeye? It makes me happy, at least. 1990s: Waiting for Guffman. “I HATE you, and I HATE your ass-face!” 2000s: Chicken Run was charming, ooooh, I REALLY loved American Movie. “cOven.” heh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-decade-by-decade/44179.md?page=1)