A friend of mine did something like this online, and I thought it was an interesting idea: a selection of favorite movies for every year. The gimmick my friend did was to do it for every year you’ve been alive, but I’m clearly too insane for that.
I’m starting with 1931, because I wasn’t familiar enough with the notable 1930 films. ’31 had City Lights, the Fredrich March Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and the Universal Horrors classics Dracula and Frankenstein, in addition to the winner, so I felt comfortable that I had seen enough to make an intelligent selection, and that this was the case for every subsequent year.
1931-M
1932-Freaks
1933-Duck Soup
1934-It Happened One Night
1935-Bride of Frankenstein
1936-Modern Times
1937-Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
1938-The Adventures of Robin Hood
1939-Gone With the Wind
1940-Pinccochio
1941-Citizen Kane
1942-Casablanca
1943-The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
1944-Double Indemnity
1945-Brief Encounter (this is not a year in film that I’m very familiar with, so there may be other movies out there that I’ll enjoy more)
1946-It’s a Wonderful Life
1947-Black Narcissus
1948-Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1949-The Third Man
1950-All About Eve
1951-The African Queen
1952-High Noon
1953-Tokyo Story
1954-Rear Window (very good year)
1955-Rififi
1956-The Searchers
1957-The Seventh Seal
1958- Vertigo
1959- North by Northwest
1960-Psycho
1961- Yojimbo
1962- Lawrence of Arabia
1963-The Great Escape
1964- Dr. Strangelove
1965- Doctor Zhigavo
1966- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
1967- Bonnie and Clyde
1968- 2001: A Space Odyssey
1969- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1970- Patton
1971-A Clockwork Orange
1972- The Godfather
1973- The Exorcist
1974- The Godfather Part 2
1975- Jaws
1976- Taxi Driver (Very good year)
1977- Star Wars
1978- Days of Heaven
1979- Apocalypse Now
1980-The Empire Strikes Back (damn good year)
1981-An American Werewolf in London
1982- ET (damn good year)
1983- Terms of Endearment (there were some notable films I hadn’t seen from that year)
1984- Once Upon a time in America (technically, the version I liked best came out later)
1985- Back to the Future (there were some notable films I hadn’t seen from that year)
1986- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
1987- The Princess Bride
1988- Grave of the Fireflies
1989-Henry V
1990- Goodfellas
1991- Silence of the Lambs
1992- Unforgiven
1993-Schindler’s List
1994- Forrest Gump (not a knock on Pulp Fiction or The Shawshank Redemption, which would dominate in many other years)
1995- Toy Story
1996- Trainspotting
1997- Wag the Dog
1998- Saving Private Ryan
1999- South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
2000- Requiem for a Dream
2001- Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
2002-City of God
2003- Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2004- Kill Bill Volume 2
2005- Munich
2006- The Lives of Others
2007- There Will Be Blood
2008- The Dark Knight
2009- Up
2010-The Social Network
2011- Hugo
2012- Zero Dark Thirty
2013- The Wolf of Wall Street
2014- The Grand Budapest Hotel
2015- Mad Max: Fury Road
2016- Moonlight
It was an interesting exercise. There is an element of randomness as there are some years where I’ve seen quite a few notable films. For example, 1954 had On the Waterfront, The Seven Samurai, La Strada, Sancho the Bailiff, and the beginning of the Samurai trilogy. Other years represent major blind spots for me. I went with Brief Encounter for 1945, but I hadn’t seen a few that I’ve heard good things about (Children of Paradise, Mildred Pierce, Blithe Spirit, They Were Expendable, Rome Open City.) From 1985, I haven’t seen The Color Purple (Ebert’s #1 film of the year), Out of Africa (the Best Picture winner), The Goonies, Witness or Curse of the Spider-Woman, so Back to the Future‘s reign may be brief.
I often find myself relying on the memory of something I’ve seen once years ago, so some of the choices are subject to change. For 1988, I made a snap judgement that Grave of the Fireflies was better than The Vanishing, a very different film that’s on the same level in terms of artistic merit. Coming up with the list does allows for a greater appreciation for a few films. If I compare Ferris Beuller’s Day Off to other major and good films from 1986 (Platoon, Blue Velvet, The Fly, Aliens) and it comes out ahead, it’s worth acknowledging its staying power. The South Park movie also shines with this kind of spotlight. It’s not a slight on American Beauty, Fight Club, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, The Green Mile, Being John Malkovich, Toy Story 2, The Insider, The Iron Giant, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Office Space, Galaxy Quest or Bowfinger. I just liked the South Park film with the penis pun in the title better. Though, if I ever finish Magnolia I might change my mind on what the best film of that year was.
What Would Spidey Do? 