Tuesday, February 8, 2022

My Favorite Movies of the Last 60 Years

 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

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