Best Decade for movies?

[1924]

and which movies make you think this was the best decade?

[traths]

1950's

Rear Window
Sunset Boulevard
On The Waterfront
Vertigo
Roman Holiday
All About Eve
Kiss Me Deadly
Sweet Smell of Success
North By Northwest
Ben-Hur
Bridge on the River Kwai
Singin' In The Rain
A Streetcar Named Desire

[Cremildo]

The 70s.

[dallywhitty]

The 80s delivered unto us Blade Runner. It wins by default.

[1924]

Originally Posted by Cremildo

The 70s.

what movies made you decide the 70s?

[Cremildo]

Originally Posted by 1924

what movies made you decide the 70s?

Alien, Autumn Sonata, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange, CE3K, Chinatown, Carrie, Nosferatu, Nashville etc.

[Himmel]

Apart from masterpiece that is Alien which came in at the tail end of the 70's. I would say the 80's were the best for movies.

Rewind All '80s Movies

[Al_The_Strange]

I know most film-lovers prefer the 70s because the New Hollywood movement by nature liberated films of their artistic shackles and we came out with a lot of spectacular classics. I admire many of them (in addition to a lot of 60s, 50s, and 20s expressionist films), but I never really connected to the eras as strongly. The grit and realism of 70s films in particular is not as appealing to me as escapism and fantasy. Looking over the films I love and such, I gotta go with the 80s. Here's why:

• My all-time favorite film--Koyaanisqatsi--released in 1982.
• Original blockbusters and franchises that still entertain to this day: Indiana Jones, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Star Trek II - V, The Terminator, Aliens, Rambo, Predator, Die Hard, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, ET, Gremlins, and so many more!
• Other great gems, such as Blade Runner, Brazil, Conan the Barbarian, The Princess Bride, The Road Warrior, Wargames, 1984, Scarface, The Hitcher, and Outland, are still awesome.
• There are a fair amount of good, distinguished films worth seeing too--Once Upon a Time in America, Stand By Me, Cinema Paradiso, Full Metal Jacket, Glory, El Norte, The Elephant Man, The Last Temptation of Christ, Grave of the Fireflies, Gandhi, Das Boot, Paris Texas, Come and See, and Shoah, all as examples.
• Nostalgia will probably force me to lean on some of the kid movies of the time, but I'd argue that many hold up well: The Goonies, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, the Don Bluth cartoons.
• The comedies are still charming regardless of how good or bad they've aged. And at this point we likely won't see movies like these made again any time soon. The 80s have gifted us with Airplane (two of them even), The Naked Gun, Police Academy, Vacation, The Blues Brothers, The Burbs, UHF, and more. It probably helps that this era had a number of talented comedians in their prime.
• Sort of an offshoot of the comedy genre: lots of decent high-school teen comedies. The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Heathers, License to Drive, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Revenge of the Nerds, and many more.
• The horror films have been sweet. I'm not even a fan of the slasher genre, but I have mad respect for Freddy, Jason, Chucky, Pinhead, and the Halloween sequels. What I love the most, however, are Creepshow 1 and 2, The Evil Dead I and II, The Fly, The Entity, An American Werewolf in London, Dead Calm, and The Thing.
• For all that goes, all my favorite John Carpenter movies are from the 80s. He gave us Escape From New York, Christine, They Live, Prince of Darkness, and Big Trouble in Little China.
• Who doesn't love a good macho action movie? Dudes like Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Dolph Lundgren, Van Damme, Kurt Russel, and Mel Gibson gifted us all with a wealth of gloriously cheesy, over-the-top action fare.
• Timothy Dalton was James Bond. His two films are still quite underrated. Also, I have a soft spot for For Your Eyes Only.
• Tim Burton was genuinely good, between his Batman movie and Beetlejuice.
• Pixar was starting to become a thing, and their original short films are still pretty charming.
• Anime was starting to become more of a thing thanks to bootleg VHSes and such. This was the era when really edgy things like Akira, Fist of the North Star, Vampire Hunter D shattered all perception of what animation could be capable of. Not to mention that the early Miyazaki movies were nice. Nausicaa remains my favorite.
• Meanwhile, in the US, Heavy Metal became a movie and it's pretty rad.
• They made sequels to Psycho, the first of which surprisingly didn't suck.
• Two of Kurosawa's last films (Ran, Kagemusha) came out and were decent.

There's probably more reasons I've neglected. I won't deny that there's a lot of cheese and schlock in the 80s, and many films have become dated, but I still admire them for their spirit and sense of fun.

[inshal18]

What are the best movies in 2010

[DR Herbert West]

The 70's.

I feel like the best 10 year period is 1972 - 1982.

[Leslie Dame]

70s

The Godfather (1972)
Star Wars (1977)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Alien (1979)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Jaws (1975)
Rocky (1976)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Chinatown (1974)
Annie Hall (1977)
The Sting (1973)
Grease (1978)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Halloween (1978)

[hagios]

Originally Posted by 1924

and which movies make you think this was the best decade?

70’s

TAXI DRIVER (1976)
THE GODFATHER (1972) AND THE GODFATHER: PART II (1974)
THE EXORCIST (1973)
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)
ALIEN (1979)
Halloween (1978)
The Sting (1973)
Grease (1978)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
JAWS (1975)
STAR WARS (1977)
CHINATOWN (1974)
ROCKY (1976)
BLAZING SADDLES (1974)
THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974)
SERPICO (1973)
APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
NETWORK (1976)

[L.J.]

The 70's this decade gave so many classics.
The Godfather
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
Alien
Just to name three, there are so many to list. 80's is a strong second.

[Jerry2345]

Originally Posted by traths

1950's

Rear Window
Sunset Boulevard
On The Waterfront
Vertigo
Roman Holiday
All About Eve
Kiss Me Deadly
Sweet Smell of Success
North By Northwest
Ben-Hur
Bridge on the River Kwai
Singin' In The Rain
A Streetcar Named Desire

Don’t forget about:

12 Angry Men
Ace in the Hole
Anatomy of a Murder
The Band Wagon
The Big Country
Les Diaboliques
Early Summer
East of Eden
Floating Weeds
Ikiru
In a Lonely Place
The Killing
Night and the City
Nights of Cabiria
Paths of Glory
Seven Samurai
Some Like it Hot
Strangers on a Train
Throne of Blood
Tokyo Story
Touch of Evil
Umberto D.
Witness for the Prosecution

And I’m probably forgetting a lot...

[traths]

Originally Posted by Jerry2345

Don’t forget about:

12 Angry Men
Ace in the Hole
Anatomy of a Murder
The Band Wagon
The Big Country
Les Diaboliques
Early Summer
East of Eden
Floating Weeds
Ikiru
In a Lonely Place
The Killing
Night and the City
Nights of Cabiria
Paths of Glory
Seven Samurai
Some Like it Hot
Strangers on a Train
Throne of Blood
Tokyo Story
Touch of Evil
Umberto D.
Witness for the Prosecution

And I’m probably forgetting a lot...

I knew I was forgetting a few.

[moreorless]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

The 70's.

I feel like the best 10 year period is 1972 - 1982.

I think you could argue that it wasn't really Starwars that was the watershed moment it was ET, not that I dislike the film in itself but its forcing out of Blade Runner and The Thing does feel like a big shift although you did still have stuff like say Once Upon A Time In America coming out by 84.

The period of the late 70's and early 80's does seem like a good mesh of New Hollywood when it was really mature and with the tools to make its best visual work and the early stages of blockbusters when they were still more vital and original plus arguably the greatest era for horror cinema as well.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by moreorless

plus arguably the greatest era for horror cinema as well.

Definitely.

[Mister_Kidd]

70s

See also “best decade for music.”

[Winslow Leach]

1980s

Dressed to Kill
An American Werewolf in London
Escape From New York
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Blow Out
E.T.
The Thing
Scarface
Ghostbusters
Gremlins
The Karate Kid
Back to the Future
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
Platoon
Little Shop of Horrors
Spaceballs
The Untouchables
Beetlejuice
The 'Burbs
Batman

...to name a few

[moreorless]

Originally Posted by DR Herbert West

Definitely.

I think people overplay the original Starwars as the start point of the family blockbuster, long term perhaps it was(although it does have a harshness to it you don't see as much in the 80's) but really you look at the most successful films of the mid 70's to very early 80's and its arguably horror that's the biggest draw. Jaws, The Exorcist, Alien, The Omen, Poltergeist, Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, American Werewolf etc,

Even things like Close Encounters and Raiders I think Spielberg keeps a strong horror element to them, its with ET beating The Thing that I think horror starts to loose its spot as the biggest draw, that the younger family audience becomes dominant.