Best decade for film?

[metaridley]

I don't think this poll has been done recently. Which decade has, overall, produced the greatest number of highest quality films?

[MifuneFan]

Going to have to go with the 1950's

some notables:

All About Eve
Diabolique
Ben-Hur
Ten Commandments
Umberto D
Paths of Glory
Seven Samurai
East of Eden
The Searchers
Rio Bravo
Godzilla (Gojira)
On the Waterfront
Ugetsu
Nights of Cabiria
Rashomon
Touch of Evil
Vertigo
Rear Window
Sunset Blvd
The Seventh Seal
Some Like it Hot

[L-Rouge]

I went with the 80's, I thrash movies of this era the most. these past 2 years have been fairly awesome though, hope the next 8 are an improvement.

[GreenGaijin]

So far the 80's have had a strong impact in pop-cultre. There are many classics from that era. This decade has some real gems and seems promising. I feel every generation has another wave of greatness.

1950's, 1980's, 2010's...

So, about every 30 years.

[Al_The_Strange]

Ah man, are we talking about "best," as in classics and influence, or favorites? I could easily point to the 80s, 90s, and maybe even the 00s with all the films I love in those decades, but not everybody's going to agree that they're all good. This may also depend a huge amount of individual tastes, experiences, and generations.

As a Millennial, I'm compelled to click on the 00s. I know the modern age of film gets crapped on a lot thanks to all the brainless mush, overblown CGI, and terribly stories that are reguarly pumped out year after year. However, I'm basing my decision on the sheer number of well-crafted films that have come out (and there are some good ones out there), and my own bias for modern filmmaking (I probably have more movies from the last decade than in every other decade combined). It's still too early to tell if any of these will resonate that well. Besides, there are crap films in every other era too; I'd gladly take the new stuff over the cheesy/outdated 80s and 90s stuff, or the gritty and serious 70s stuff, or anything earlier.

Biggest highlights of the 00s (imo):

[Show spoiler]
AI: Artificial Intelligence
Apocalypto
Avatar
Batman Begins and The Dark Knight
Black Hawk Down
The Butterfly Effect
Casino Royale
Cast Away
The Cell
Children of Men
City of God
The Devil's Backbone
District 9
Donnie Darko
The Fall
The Fountain
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 2009 and its sequels
Gladiator
Gran Torino
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
Hunger
Inglourious Basterds
Ip Man
Kill Bill
King Kong 2005
Kingdom of Heaven
Lord of the Rings
Lord of War
Love Exposure
Memento
Memories of Murder
Mesrine
Minority Report
The Mist
OldBoy
Pan's Labyrinth
The Passion of the Christ
The Perfect Storm
Red Cliff
Requiem for a Dream
Road to Perdition
Star Trek 2009
Thirst
Waltz With Bashir
Zodiac

Numerous Pixar films: Wall-E, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up!, etc.

Loads of decent arthouse films and prestige pieces: Crash, Babel, Gomorrah, The Wrestler, etc.

Loads of films that just plain entertain: Iron Man, Kick-Ass, Star Wars prequels, Matrix sequels, X-Men films, 300, Terminator sequels, Equilibrium, The Transporter, I, Robot, I Am Legend, etc.

Plenty of other films that really push the envelope: Saw, Hostel, Eden Lake, Antichrist, Tokyo Gore Police, etc. Say what you will, these films are certainly one-of-a-kind; only in this era can such films be made and enjoyed with relative freedom (in the US anyway).

Plus some great Thai martial arts movies: Ong Bak, Chocolate, The Protector, Born to Fight, etc.

[metaridley]

I bit the bullet and voted for 1970s. It was a tossup between that and the 1950s.

[Trigger89]

Has to be the 70's. The decade of Landmark cinema. Jaws, Godfather I & II, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Halloween, Dog Day Afternoon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky, Apocalypse Now and Star Wars.

[Belloche]

70s is an easy answer for me.

[Visco.]

Originally Posted by Trigger89

Has to be the 70's. The decade of Landmark cinema. Jaws, Godfather I & II, Taxi Driver, The Exorcist, Halloween, Dog Day Afternoon, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Rocky, Apocalypse Now and Star Wars.

You're forgetting some

Clockwork Orange, Deliverance, Mean Streets, The Sting, Chinatown, Close Encounters, The Conversation, The Deer Hunter! That's such a great lineup.

[Rob Hunter]

80s, no contest

[metaridley]

Originally Posted by Visco.

You're forgetting some

Clockwork Orange, Deliverance, Mean Streets, The Sting, Chinatown, Close Encounters, The Conversation, The Deer Hunter! That's such a great lineup.

This reminds me, I still need to see Deliverance and Mean Streets. Adding them to my rental queue now!

[arcadeforest]

Tough poll but I went with the 90's - there are great films in every decade.

[beadelf]

im going with the 80's

Aliens
return of the living dead
Goonies
Blade Runner
Dark Crystal
Labyrinth
The Thing
Last Unicorn
Legend
The Bounty
Alligator
Ghostbusters
Raiders of the lost Ark
Gremlins
Escape from new york
Predator
Terminator
E.T

too name but a few of the films i loved from that period....anything up to the 80's amazing! a massive plummet in the 90's, getting better slightly since 2000

[tigertron]

The golden age.(1990s)

[Skog]

2000's for the Film Noir
1950's for the Sci-Fi.

[Angel Eyes]

without a doubt it was the 1970's. That decade alone change Hollywood; everything from special effects to film marketing.

[Jaymole]

1970's were the high point for American films.

1980's were the low point.

[AKORIS]

I'd have to run a lot of numbers to see which decade has the most of my favorites...

but the 70's certaintly stand out as having many of my all time favorites...

[cpstevens]

I went with the 90's. Some of my favorites include...

Home Alone (1990)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Lion King (1994)
Apollo 13 (1995)
Fargo (1996)
Trainspotting (1996)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Titanic (1997)
Se7en (1997)
American History X (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Fight Club (1999)
The Green Mile (1999)

[Tony208]

I'll just go 2000's cause I've seen the most from that period even though you can make a case for any