Tough one for me. I'm torn between the 50's and 70's. 90's not to far behind.

I'd say the 70's.

 

Special effects were starting to come into their own, as well as some great scripts. Godfather I and II, Star Wars, heck even Animal House and Caddyshack...tough to argue with that.

'90s.

 

The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Goodfellas, Schindler's List, The Usual Suspects, Silence of the Lambs, Fargo, Magnolia, Reservoir Dogs, Being John Malkovich - just to name a few off the top of my head.

 

The 90s also featured the indy boom which has given us a great many classic films. It also spotlighted the animation rebirth, with companies like Pixar taking animated movies to the next level.

 

I'm sure if you do a ridiculously long analysis of the decades, you may find a better overall decade, but for me it's as good as it gets.

No clue, way too hard for me to judge.

 

I'll do my personal top 5 for each of the last 5 decades though and 'decide' that way:

 

'00s

 

1. Memento (10)

2. Batman Begins (9)

3. Requiem For A Dream (9)

4. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (9)

5. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (9)

 

'90s

 

1. Schindler's List (10)

2. Hoop Dreams (10)

3. The Insider (10)

4. Leaving Las Vegas (10)

5. Pulp Fiction (10)

 

'80s

 

1. Amadeus (10)

2. Back to the Future (10)

3. Rain Man (9)

4. Das Boot (9)

5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (9)

 

'70s

 

1. The Godfather (10)

2. Taxi Driver (10)

3. A Clockwork Orange (10)

4. Alien (10)

5. The Godfather, Part II (9)

 

'60s

 

1. Lawrence of Arabia (10)

2. Bonnie and Clyde (9)

3. Midnight Cowboy (9)

4. Zulu (9)

5. The Graduate (8.5)

 

Best of the rest:

 

1. On The Waterfront

2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

3. The Adventures of Robin Hood

4. Casablanca

5. The Wizard of Oz

 

So by my lists, I'd have to go with the 90's followed by the 70s, 80s, 00s, and then the 60s

Fox, how many 10's do you have for the 90's?

 

I am really liking the 50's right now.

 

1) The Searchers

2) Bridge on the River Kwai

3) Vertigo

4) High Noon

5) Rear Window

 

... and I'm not even including Brando's best works.

I'll say 50's then probably 40's.

'90s.

 

The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Fight Club, Goodfellas, Schindler's List, The Usual Suspects, Silence of the Lambs, Fargo, Magnolia, Reservoir Dogs, Being John Malkovich - just to name a few off the top of my head.

 

The 90s also featured the indy boom which has given us a great many classic films. It also spotlighted the animation rebirth, with companies like Pixar taking animated movies to the next level.

 

I'm sure if you do a ridiculously long analysis of the decades, you may find a better overall decade, but for me it's as good as it gets.

If you liked Reservoir Dogs maybe check out Kansas City Confidential (from the 50's) which is the movie from where Tarantino stoled (or borrowed, if you prefer) the hiding of the identities idea.

I'd probably go with 10s with

 

The Shawshank Redemption

The Professional

Saving Private Ryan

 

and then fill it out with 9s for:

 

Braveheart (My personal favorite movie, not the most well made but my most enjoyed movie)

Se7en

Reservoir Dogs

Casino

Heat

The Last of the Mohicans

Fargo

The Silence of the Lambs

Magnolia

 

That's off the top of my head though. Probbaly leaving some out but that is more or less how it'd go for me. 90s are incredibly deep.

I really hope these last 2 1/2 years for this decade gives us some gems. There just seems to be a lack of them.

Time changes perception too though.

Gotta go with the 70s for pure quality. The Godfathers, Rocky, Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange and The Ouwlaw Josey Wales are all in my top 20. 90's for quantity.

Time changes perception too though.

 

That's very true.

impossible

I would say the 1990s first, then the '70s.

90's, 80's, 00's, and 70's are my order...and i believe caddyshack came out in 1980

I'd say the 70's or 80's, but the first Star Wars and first 2 Godfathers would give the edge to the 70's.

Gotta go with the 70s for pure quality. The Godfathers, Rocky, Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange and The Outlaw Josey Wales are all in my top 20. 90's for quantity.

 

Outstanding movie.

Gotta give the nod to the decade of my birth! C'mon, I was born the year The Godfather came out, but that's just the tip of the iceberg of 70s cinema. The 70s were the last decade of Great American Cinema. Aside from the usual suspects (and I don't mean the movie) that are named: The Godfather (1972); The Godfather, Part II (1974); Star Wars (1977); and Rocky (1976) you have the other gems:

 

The French Connection (1971)

Serpico (1973)

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

And Justice For All (1979)

The Exorcist (1973)

The Deer Hunter (1978)

Chinatown (1974)

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Apocalypse Now! (1979)

Jaws (1975)

The Sting (1973)

Annie Hall (1977)

Patton (1970)

Network (1976)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

Papillon (1973)

Being There (1979)

All The President's Men (1976)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Little Big Man (1970)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Growing up in the 70's and 80's was a blast for movies. My friends and I call it the Golden Age of movies (i.e. Lucas - Spielberg - John Williams era). Star Wars trilogy, Back to the Future, Airplane, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, early John Hughes classics, Godfather I & II, Alien - Aliens, Die Hard, Wrath of Khan, Mel Brooks movies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (one of my all-time faves) etc...

Gotta go with the 70s for pure quality. The Godfathers, Rocky, Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange and The Outlaw Josey Wales are all in my top 20. 90's for quantity.

 

Outstanding movie.

 

I am a big Eastwood Western fan.

I highly recommend the Dollars trilogy:

- Fistful Of Dollars (featured in Back to the Future II and III with the bulletproof vest scene)

- For A Few Dollars More

- The Good The bad & The Ugly

 

and non-Eastwood but same director Once Upon A Time in the West

By virtue of Swift's first post, it's the 70s.