Best Movie Era

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Well when do you think the best movies were made? Please list your top 5 movies from that decade and why you think this is the best era.

[LeftEyeNine]

When they did not have special effects gadgets.. They had to load the whole on dialogues and the script. Although cinema is a visual art, I think it should fill into your brain first..

[Kagemusha]

Hard question Gawain.I really like movies from all decades but i will have to go with 90´s movies because i was a teenager then and those movies have kind of corrosed in my head.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Well I had to go with the 30s . I like the 40s as its just about the same.

Heres a few great movies from 1939 alone.

[Reverend Joe]

I really like the movies from the 50's up unitl the end of the 70's- why can't we vote for more than one?

[Reverend Joe]

Well, I guess I'll vote 60's- that's when "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Easy Rider" were made.

[GoreBag]

German Impressionist films.

[Spino]

The 70s hands down. Or rather, the late 60s through the early 80s if you please.

To the uninitiated here in the Org during the 60s the major studios were losing bundles of money on formulaic, big budget movies that few people were interested in seeing anymore. The patience of average American moviegoer had reached the ends of its limits when it came to Hollywood's typical fare. In light of the phenomenal success of low budget, independent films like Easy Rider a few brave studio heads decided to take a chance on young filmmakers (some only a few years out of film school) in the hopes that they could catch this unconventional, 'independent' film tiger by the tail. The result was a 10-15 year period where some of the best movies ever made were released. Now each decade leading up to the 70s had their great films but the sheer number of quality films that were made during the period from 1969 to 1983 is simply astounding.

The biggest fault of the movies from that era is that they have a tendency to be a tad dark, in many cases moving beyond gritty realism into the realm of unapologetic cynicism. It was understandable though, during that time the US was struggling to come to terms with Vietnam and the country was in the throes of a recession. Art imitating life and all that.

My top five films from this era? Geez, that's a tough one. If I gave it further thought one or two would be removed from the list but there are so many great films from that era that I cannot think of them all! Here are five right off the top of my head, listed in no particular order...

- Raging Bull

- Apocalypse Now (original perfection minus the crappy footage featured in the Redux version, some of which Coppola openly condemned prior to the orignal's release!)

- The Godfather

- Alien or Blade Runner (both Ridley Scott films, back when he wasn't a hack)

- Serpico

Again, I consider this 'era' to run from roughly 1969 to 1983, the period widely acknowledged as the one where the average filmmaker had the greatest amount of creative control. I seriously doubt most of us will ever see that many great films produced in such a short period of time again in our lifetime.

Here's a great site on the films and filmmakers of the 70s...

http://www.filmsite.org/70sintro.html

[econ21]

Brilliant site for this topic, Spino.

I'd go for the 1980s. The decade had lots of trashy films, I admit. But for sheer entertainment value, there are more films I'd like to watch from that decade than any other, eg:

the Empire Strikes Back (1980)
*the Long Good Friday (1980)
Blade Runner (1982)
48 hours (1982)
The Thing (1982)
*The Terminator (1984)
Brazil (1985)
*Witness (1985)
Salvador (1985)
*Platoon (1986)
*Aliens (1986)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Die Hard (1988)

EDIT: * denotes top 5 as per Gawain's instructions!

[Soulforged]

Brilliant site for this topic, Spino.

I'd go for the 1980s. The decade had lots of trashy films, I admit. But for sheer entertainment value, there are more films I'd like to watch from that decade than any other, eg:

the Empire Strikes Back (1980)
the Long Good Friday (1980)
Blade Runner (1982)
48 hours (1982)
The Thing (1982)
The Terminator (1984)
Brazil (1985)
Witness (1985)
Salvador (1985)
Platoon (1986)
Aliens (1986)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Die Hard (1988)

And don't forget "The Godfather".

[Spino]

And don't forget "The Godfather".

Uh, "The Godfather" was released in 1972!

[Big_John]

hard to pick just one.. but it's a toss up betweent the 80s and 90s for me. other decades had great movies too, of course, but i think the volume of great movies was higher in the 80s and 90s. to others lists of 80s movies, i would add:

blue velvet
conan the barbarian
cinema paradiso
das boot
the unbearable lightness of being
raising arizona

but, over all, i'd probably pick the 90s. here are some of my faves from that decade:

the remains of the day
kenneth branagh's hamlet
pulp fiction
goodfellas
raise the red lantern
exotica
crumb
schindler's list
quiz show
barton fink
edward scissorhands
the big lebowski
the beauty and the beast

i'll stop, but the list could go on and on...

[Kaiser of Arabia]

60s, 70s, 80s, 90s.
Easy Rider, The Godfather, Scarface, and Pulp Fiction.

[lancelot]

easily 80's to 90's.

Wars, back to the future, Indy, ghostbusters, john candy movies, aliens, bad (but good) early arnie films, the list is endless...

[Steppe Merc]

Damn, this is hard. I like a lot of older movies, even black and white ones. I think the Marx Brothers are great. 60s had sweet stuff, like Easy Rider. I like some ones from the 70s, like Star Wars and Jaws. 80s has good stuff, like Indy. But I like a bunch of ones in this decade, like all of the Lord of the Rings movies, and... um... hmm...

In short, I can't answer this question, it's too hard!

[Soulforged]

Uh, "The Godfather" was released in 1972!

I know, but the last (Godfather III) was realeased on 1980, at least that 1980 is included in "'70 until '80".

[Quietus]

90s. I prefer big budget and sci-fi.

1) The Matrix
2) GATTACA
3) Clear & Present Danger
4) Braveheart
5) Terminator 2