What Was The Greatest Decade For Movies?

[Hey Man]

What do you think was the greatest decade for movies? For me, nothing touches the 70's - best decade EVER for film.

Incredible filmmakers making landmark films:

Martin Scorsese
Sidney Lumet
Robert Altman
John Carpenter
Francis Ford Coppola
Bob Rafelson
William Friedkin
Alan Pakula
Terrence Malick
Brian De Palma
Peter Bogdanovich
Michael Cimino
Hal Ashby
Paul Schrader
John Milius

A Clockwork Orange - (1971, Stanley Kubrick)

A Woman Under the Influence - (1974, John Cassavetes)

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - (1974, Martin Scorsese)

Alien - (1979, Ridley Scott)

All the President's Men - (1976, Alan J. Pakula)

American Graffiti - (1973, George Lucas)

Annie Hall - (1977, Woody Allen)

Apocalypse Now - (1979, Francis Ford Coppola)

Badlands - (1973, Terrence Malick)

Barry Lyndon - (1975, Stanley Kubrick)

Blazing Saddles - (1974, Mel Brooks)

Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - (1974, Sam Peckinpah)

Cabaret - (1972, Bob Fosse)

The Candidate - (1972, Michael Ritchie)

Carrie - (1976, Brian De Palma)

Chinatown - (1974, Roman Polanski)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind - (1977, Steven Spielberg)

The Conversation - (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)

Dawn of the Dead -(1978, George A. Romero)

Days of Heaven - (1978, Terrence Malick)

The Deer Hunter - (1978, Michael Cimino)

Dirty Harry - (1971, Don Siegel)

Dog Day Afternoon - (1975, Sydney Lumet)

The Exorcist - (1973, William Friedkin)

The French Connection - (1971, William Friedkin

The Godfather - (1972, Francis Ford Coppola)

The Godfather 2 - (1974, Francis Ford Coppola)

Harold and Maude - (1971, Hal Ashby)

Jaws - (1975, Steven Spielberg)

The Last Detail - (1973, Hal Ashby)

The Last Picture Show - (1971, Peter Bogdanovich)

Last Tango in Paris - (1972, Bernardo Bertolucci)

Lenny - (1974, Bob Fosse)

The Long Goodbye - (1973, Robert Altman)

Love and Death – (1975, Woody Allen)

M*A*S*H - (1970, Robert Altman)

Mean Streets - (1973, Martin Scorsese)

Nashville - (1975, Robert Altman)

National Lampoon's Animal House - (1978, John Landis)

Network - (1976, Sydney Lumet)

New York, New York - (1977, Martin Scorsese)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - (1975, Milos Forman)

Patton - (1970, Franklin J. Schaffner)

Rock ‘n’ Roll High School - (1979, Allan Arkush)

Rocky - (1976, John G. Avildsen)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - (1975, Jim Sharmon)

Serpico - (1973, Sydney Lumet)

Shaft - (1971, Gordon Parks)

Star Wars - (1977, George Lucas)

Straw Dogs - (1971, Sam Peckinpah)

Super Fly - (1972, Gordon Parks Jr.)

Taxi Driver - (1976, Martin Scorsese)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - (1974, Tobe Hooper)

Three Days of the Condor - (1975, Sydney Pollack)

Tora! Tora! Tora! - (1970, Richard Fleischer)

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory - (1971, Mel Stuart)

Young Frankenstein - (1974, Mel Brooks)



All That Jazz - (1979, Bob Fosse)

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes - (1978, John De Bello)

Bad News Bears – (1976, Michael Ritchie)

The Ballad of Cable Hogue - (1970, Sam Peckinpah)

Bananas - (1971, Woody Allen)

Being There - (1979, Hal Ashby)

Breaking Away - (1979, Peter Yates)

Coming Home - (1978, Hal Ashby)

Day of the Jackal - (1973, Fred Zinnemann)

Death Race 2000 - (1975, Paul Bartel)

Deliverance - (1972, John Boorman)

Eraserhead - (1977, David Lynch)

Fiddler on the Roof - (1971, Norman Jewison)

Five Easy Pieces - (1970, Bob Rafelson)

Foxy Brown - (1974, Jack Hill)

Fritz The Cat - (1972, Ralph Bakshi)

The Gambler - (1974, Karel Reisz)

Heaven Can Wait - (1978, Warren Beatty)

Jeremiah Johnson - (1972, Sydney Pollack)

Kelly’s Heroes - (1970, Brian G. Hutton)

Klute - (1971, Alan J. Pakula)

Kramer vs. Kramer - (1979, Robert Benton)

The Last Waltz – (1978, Martin Scorsese)

Little Big Man - (1970, Arthur Penn)

Logan’s Run – (1976, Michael Anderson)

The Longest Yard - (1974, Robert Aldrich)

Mad Max - (1979, George Miller)

Manhattan - (1979, Woody Allen)

Marathon Man - (1976, John Schlesinger)

Midnight Express - (1978, Alan Parker)

Norma Rae - (1979, Martin Ritt)

Omega Man - (1971, Boris Sagal)

The Omen - (1976, Richard Donner)

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976, Clint Eastwood)

Paper Moon - (1973, Peter Bogdanovich)

Phantom Of The Paradise - (1974, Brian De Palma)

Papillon - (1973, Franklin J. Schaffner)

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid - (1973, Sam Peckinpah)

The Poseidon Adventure - (1972, Ronald Neame)

Revenge of the Pink Panther - (1978, Blake Edwards)

Rocky II - (1979, Sylvester Stallone)

Rollerball - (1975, Norman Jewison)

Saturday Night Fever - (1977, John Badham)

Shampoo - (1975, Hal Ashby)

The Sting - (1973, George Roy Hill)

Straight Time - (1978, Ulu Grosbard)

The Sugarland Express – (1974, Steven Spielberg)

Superman The Movie - (1978, Richard Donner)

Sunday, Bloody Sunday - (1971, John Schlesinger)

Taking of Pelham One Two Three - (1974, Joseph Sargent)

The Towering Inferno - (1974, Irwin Allen)

Two Mules for Sister Sarah - (1970, Don Siegel)

The Warriors - (1979, Walter Hill)

[Deleted]

I'm about to head out the door - but I figured I'd give a short answer.

'30s and '70s. The first was the most revolutionary time in cinema history - so many classics. Even in one year (1939) - a huge chunk of timeless cinematic legends/directors/films came out just in that year.

'70s - it ushered us into the modern age of film-making.

[Hey Man]

Feb 1, 2015 17:18:11 GMT -5 @landsenddrums said:

Shocked to see the 30s mentioned here. Great decade for horror, love the Universal monsters. Fritz Lang's M is one of my all-time favorites. The Marx Brothers films and Chaplin were awesome. Love the old gangster films. But the "big" studio pictures mostly leave me flat. Crap like the completely overlong and inept Gone With The Wind (Fleming did great with Oz that same year of course...) and too much melodrama.

I agree - the 30's don't do much for me. I prefer when movies got more realistic in the 60's and 70's.

[R&ROVER]

Did that list really include The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, and Logan's Run (which I love, but c'mon...)...?

That said, the 70s for me...but I'm biased. Next would be a ten year block from the mid-30s to the mid-40s.

[Hey Man]

Feb 1, 2015 17:32:41 GMT -5 R&ROVER said:

Did that list really include The Towering Inferno and Logan's Run (which I love, but c'mon...)...?

That said, the 70s for me...but I'm biased. Next would be a ten year block from the mid-30s to the mid-40s.

Not as great films per se, but I guess popular popcorn movies. And Logan's Run is awesome.

[Deleted]

It is hard to argue with the 70s, but like any other decade, it had its share of crap. If I had to pick a 10 year run, I would go 75-85

[B5Erik]

I love movies from the 40's. There were also some great movies in the 30's, but a lot of really stiffly acted and poorly written stuff, too, as Hollywood was still finding their footing with the talkies.

There's a lot of stuff from every decade that I like. I'd say that the 50's were the best decade for Westerns, for example, and then you had Kurosawa really finding his voice in the 50's, so there's that as well.

But if I had to pick one decade as my favorite it would be the 40's.

[I'm Almost Human]

Easily the 70s..

[Hey Man]

My next favorite era for movies is actually the 90's. The independent film explosion with ground breaking and cutting edge films from fantastic new filmmakers and the rise of Miramax, New Line Cinema and Sundance. It was a GREAT time for movies outside of what the studios were doing.

[Cducharme]

Feb 1, 2015 18:11:34 GMT -5 Hey Man said:

My next favorite era for movies is actually the 90's. The independent film explosion with ground breaking and cutting edge films from fantastic new filmmakers and the rise of Miramax, New Line Cinema and Sundance. It was a GREAT time for movies outside of what the studios were doing.

Good sir, Freddy Krueger built New line in the eighties

[Hey Man]

Feb 1, 2015 18:43:30 GMT -5 Cducharme said:

Feb 1, 2015 18:11:34 GMT -5 Hey Man said:

My next favorite era for movies is actually the 90's. The independent film explosion with ground breaking and cutting edge films from fantastic new filmmakers and the rise of Miramax, New Line Cinema and Sundance. It was a GREAT time for movies outside of what the studios were doing.

Good sir, Freddy Krueger built New line in the eighties

I know, but they really became a thing in the 90's with independent drama, etc.

[Deleted]

70's without a doubt....Earthquake, Tidal-Wave, Meteor,The Poseidon Adventure I & II, Roller-coaster, Avalanche, And the greatest movie ever made...The Towering Inferno!!!!

[R&ROVER]

Feb 1, 2015 19:28:41 GMT -5 @landsenddrums said:

Feb 1, 2015 19:18:17 GMT -5 @wickedkiss said:

70's without a doubt....Earthquake, Tidal-Wave, Meteor,The Poseidon Adventure I & II, Roller-coaster, Avalanche, And the greatest movie ever made...The Towering Inferno!!!!

Ok, we've got the argument against the 70s here, all those for now start posting...

Yup

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2015 18:43:30 GMT -5 Cducharme said:

Feb 1, 2015 18:11:34 GMT -5 Hey Man said:

My next favorite era for movies is actually the 90's. The independent film explosion with ground breaking and cutting edge films from fantastic new filmmakers and the rise of Miramax, New Line Cinema and Sundance. It was a GREAT time for movies outside of what the studios were doing.

Good sir, Freddy Krueger built New line in the eighties

Johnny Depp made that movie: "Here Kitty kitty...Chow Chow Chow"

Had a huge crush on Tina

Wife: Why are you watching Nightmare On Elm Street at 3am in the morning?

Me: I was going to the bathroom and saw you left the Canola Oil out....

Wife: Huh?

[Cducharme]

My wife is used to me watching horror late at night. She doesn't like the same movies as me almost ever

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2015 19:28:41 GMT -5 @landsenddrums said:

Feb 1, 2015 19:18:17 GMT -5 @wickedkiss said:

70's without a doubt....Earthquake, Tidal-Wave, Meteor,The Poseidon Adventure I & II, Roller-coaster, Avalanche, And the greatest movie ever made...The Towering Inferno!!!!

Ok, we've got the argument against the 70s here, all those for now start posting...

I'm pro 70's.... love that decade....Airport, The Concorde (Airport 79), Moonraker, Black Sunday, Two Minute Warning and the incredible Damnation Alley...Which I saw the day after the Blizzard of 78....Everything was closed but the small theater in town center...Saw it 4 times that day...My older cousin brought me...TV was great too

[Cunty Jack]

80s.

Exhibit A: Death Wish 3
Exhibit B: Cobra
Exhibit C: Commando