DISCLAIMER: The following is subject to change as my opinions continue to evolve.
So about a week ago I posted my favorite albums of the last 60 years (one per year). I figured that now it only made sense to try to do the same with movies… And since I ended up having a lot to choose from (of course), I decide to give myself the rule of “only one film per franchise,” but made a couple of exceptions!
With that out of the way, let’s just get right to it:
1960: Psycho
1961: One Hundred and One Dalmatians
1962: The Miracle Worker
1963: The Birds
1964: Mary Poppins
1965: The Sound of Music
1966: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
1967: The Graduate
1968: 2001 - A Space Odyssey
1969: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
1970: The Aristocats
1971: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
1972: The Godfather
1973: American Graffiti
1974: The Godfather Part II
1975: Jaws
1976: Network
1977: Star Wars
1978: Animal House
1979: Alien
1980: The Shining (either version)
1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1983: Scarface
1984: Amadeus
1985: Back to the Future
1986: Aliens
1987: The Princess Bride
1988: Die Hard
1989: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
1990: Goodfellas
1991: Silence of the Lambs
1992: My Cousin Vinny
1993: The Fugitive
1994: Pulp Fiction
1995: Toy Story
1996: That Thing You Do!
1997: The Fifth Element
1998: The Big Lebowski
1999: Office Space
2000: Cast Away
2001: Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring
2002: The Bourne Identity
2003: School of Rock
2004: Team America - World Police
2005: Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2006: The Departed
2007: No Country for Old Men
2008: Wall-E
2009: Up
2010: Inception
2011: Midnight in Paris
2012: Django Unchained
2013: The Wolf of Wall Street
2014: Guardians of the Galaxy
2015: Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation
2016: Arrival
2017: War for the Planet of the Apes
2018: Game Night
2019: Knives Out
2020: Onward
2021: Dune
2022: The Batman
…So there you have it! And just like with the albums list, lets do some analysis:
Most Frequent Director
Steven Spielberg: Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Martin Scorsese: Goodfellas, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street
Most Frequent Producer
Kathleen Kennedy: Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future
Frank Marshall: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future, The Bourne Identity
Most Frequent Writer
George Lucas: American Graffiti, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark (story only)
Pete Docter: Toy Story (story only), Wall-E (story only), Up
Most Frequent Actor
Harrison Ford: American Graffiti, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Fugitive
Most Frequent Composer
John Williams: Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
And just like how I leaned towards rock music with my albums list, I tended to lean towards “big blockbusters,” mainly in the realm of sci-fi, with this list here. That said, as far as genres and subgenres go, I think it’s safe to say that this list overall has a little more variance to it than my music one did.
Another thing to note is how, just like with the music list, my film preferences are not a reflection of how I feel about these filmmakers, actors, etc. as people. For instance, I recently criticized both Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve for how they come across in interviews, yet they each made the list (twice, in Villeneuve’s case).
There are other filmmaker’s that I wish could’ve made the cut (George Miller comes to mind), but that’s just how these things go. I guess I don’t really have much else to say other than that, so make of these findings what you will.
Peace!
UPDATE: If I had to pick just one film per decade, I’d go with this (with a few extra decades thrown in for good measure):
1930’s: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1940’s: The Philadelphia Story
1950’s: Rear Window
1960’s: Psycho
1970’s: Star Wars
1980’s: Aliens
1990’s: Office Space
2000’s: School of Rock
2010’s: Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation
2020’s: Dune
Related Article: Top 5 Films Per Year
