Was reading a copy of the 40th anniversary of Rolling Stone and indulged in a moment of nostalgia. I was thinking which actual calendar year had the best overall music. The question of which year has the best overall movies came naturally. Being a fan of old movies, I would vote 1946, (Notorious, The Big Sleep, It’s A Wonderful Life) but I’m guessing many Dopers would choose 1974 or other years. So, which is it?
As a primer, here is an article from the 2018 Washington Post with their top seven.
American Beauty
The Matrix
Fight Club
The Sixth Sense
Galaxy Quest
Being John Malkovich
1969
Easy Rider and Midnight Cowboy
Kids… we’re not in Neverland anymore!
It wouldn’t be until years later that I got my Dad to take me to see them at the drive-in, but even as a preteen in 1969 I knew there was a movie revolution going on.
For me? 1973.
Soylent Green
Westworld
Fantastic Planet
Live and Let Die
American Graffiti
The Exorcist
The Sting
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Psychomania
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
The Three Musketeers
Maybe not the “best”, but certainly the most fun.
1994: Pulp Fiction, True Lies, Clerks, Reality Bites, Forrest Gump, The Lion King, The Shawshank Redemption, This Was Over When I Said Pulp Fiction.
1994 was an incredible year for movies. My top choice. I would add Nell to your list.
Honorable mention for The Usual Suspects & Wolf.
1939 of course is the benchmark year for this. My second choice I would say.
1990 was pretty amazing. Goodfellas, Misery, Edward Scissorhands, Witches, Awakenings, Hunt for Red October, King of New York, Mermaids
Memorable movies: Ghost, Pretty Woman, Total Recall, Dick Tracy, Dances with Wolves, Home Alone.
Yeah, but that’s based largely on Gone With The Wind. It’s a great movie. But I can think of dozens I like more. “But no!”, you say. “Wizard of Oz. Stagecoach. Mr. Smith”. Yes, good movies all. But not the best.
Wizard of Oz is a beloved classic and you forget Ninotchka, Goodbye Mr. Chips and The Women.
Fair enough. I agree Wizard is a beloved classic. Loved it when I first saw it. Groundbreaking. Clever. Not in a hurry to see it yet again.
I’ve seen The Women ages ago and think I liked it. I think people like it due to its historic casting. Remember the book Mr. Chips more than the film made from it. Don’t think I saw Ninotchka, so cannot fairly judge.
Honestly for 81 year old movies to still be good to watch is amazing. 1939 had a lot of them. I feel like I’m missing one still. Test of time is amazing. Ninotchka is a good movie that has dated to some degree. When I watched it I tried to credit it for 1939.
Yes, I watch a lot of TCM.
1986:
A Room with a View (US release)
Blue Velvet
Platoon
Children of a Lesser god
Stand by Me
Aliens
9 1/2 Weeks
The Fly (David Cronenberg)
The Name of the Rose
Flight of the Navigator
Peggy Sue Got Married
Hoosiers
Sid & Nancy
The Hitcher
Hannah and Her Sisters
The River’s Edge
Lady Jane
She’s Gotta Have It
Something Wild
Salvador
Down by Law
There’s more, but I’ll stop. I’m even leaving off tons of foreign-language films, like Manon of the Spring. This was the peak year for indie films in the US, before Hollywood caught on, and started making indie-style films, and people stopped financing the real ones.
I will even allow that there may have been greater years, like 1939 & 1946 (1927 was pretty good too, giving us Wings & Metropolis), but I submit 1986 as the best year I personally lived through (I was born in 1967).
I like 1962.
Lawrence of Arabia
To Kill a Mockingbird
Cape Fear
Days of Wine and Roses
Dr. No
Lolita
The Manchurian Candidate
The Miracle Worker
Jules et Jim
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
2017 had Baywatch, The Mummy, The Emoji Movie, Fifty Shades Darker, The House, Justice League, Kong: Skull Island, Snatched, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Spark: a Space Tail, Rough Night, The Book of Henry, Alien: Covenant, The Dark Tower, Mother!, Boo 2: A Madea Halloween, Wish Upon, King Arthur: the Legend of the Sword, Monster Trucks, The Boss Baby, Eyes on Me, Fist Fight, Daddy’s Home 2, Bad Moms Christmas…
Oh wait. I said the best year.
My initial reaction as well – Stagecoach, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dark Victory, and so many more.
In 1969 I was a hippy slacker, so the movies that stick in my mind are Alice’s Restaurant and Putney Swope, both great!
You could argue that 1980 was the This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things year: Empire Strikes Back is the blockbuster sequel that shows off the full potential of blockbuster sequels, right as Superman II leads the way for can-you-top-this superhero sequels; and Airplane! sets the gold standard as a to-be-oft-emulated type of parody, right as The Blues Brothers is so good as to pave the way for ill-advised future SNL adaptations — right as Friday The 13th wows audiences to kick off its own set of diminishing returns? And, sure, Raging Bull gets robbed when the Oscar goes to Ordinary People — but it also has everything from The Shining to Fame to The Elephant Man to Caddyshack going for it, which is nice.
I remember reading an article, probably in the Washington Post a few decades ago, that argued that GWTW wasn’t the best picture of 1939, and wasn’t even the 39th best picture of 1939, naming most of the titles mentioned above.
I know 1974 is a cliche answer for this question (although nobody seems to be saying it in this thread) but there really were some great movies released that year.
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Blazing Saddles
Chinatown
The Conversation
F for Fake
The Front Page
The Gambler
The Godfather Part II
The Great Gatsby
Harry and Tonto
Hearts and Minds
Lenny
Thieves Like Us
That’s Entertainment
A Woman Under the Influence
Young Frankenstein
In terms of movies that were more memorable than great, we had:
Airport 1975
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Benji
Big Bad Mama
The Black Godfather
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Buster and Billia
Caged Heat
Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter
Dark Star
Death Wish
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
Earthquake
For Pete’s Sake
The Four Musketeers
Foxy Brown
Freebie and the Bean
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
Gone in 60 Seconds
The Groove Tube
It’s Alive
The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
The Longest Yard
Macon County Line
McQ
Mr Majestyk
Murder on the Orient Express
The Parallax View
Report to the Commissioner
Rhinoceras
SPYS
Sugar Hill
The Sugarland Express
The Super Cops
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
TNT Jackson
The Towering Inferno
Uptown Saturday Night
Where the Lilies Bloom
Where the Red Fern Grows
A plug for 1954: