5 Favorite Films Decade by Decade
by aphid9 | created - 02 Feb 2016 | updated - 12 Feb 2016 | PublicI have loved movies since I was a kid. Here are my 5 favorite films for each decade I have been a movie goer. The 2010s list is subject to change for another four years..
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1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Not Rated | 131 min | Drama
A bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis
Votes: 79,931
#4 on my top 5 films of all time.
2. Romeo and Juliet (1968)
PG | 138 min | Drama, Romance
When two young members of feuding families meet, forbidden love ensues.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli | Stars: Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery, Milo O'Shea
Votes: 34,784 | Gross: $38.90M
#5 of top of all time
3. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,282
4. Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
PG | 145 min | Biography, Drama, History
King Henry VIII of England discards one wife, Catharine of Aragon, who has failed to produce a male heir, in favor of the young and beautiful Anne Boleyn.
Director: Charles Jarrott | Stars: Richard Burton, Geneviève Bujold, Irene Papas, Anthony Quayle
Votes: 8,119 | Gross: $2.07M
5. Speedway (1968)
G | 94 min | Comedy, Musical, Romance
Poor bookkeeping saddles stock-car driver Steve Grayson with a huge bill for back taxes which hampers his ability to continue racing competitively.
Director: Norman Taurog | Stars: Elvis Presley, Nancy Sinatra, Bill Bixby, Gale Gordon
Votes: 2,743
Nancy Sinatra!!! J.S.
6. Cabaret (1972)
PG | 124 min | Drama, Music, Musical
A female girlie club entertainer in Weimar Republic era Berlin romances two men while the Nazi Party rises to power around them.
Director: Bob Fosse | Stars: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey
Votes: 59,411 | Gross: $42.77M
#1 film of all times
7. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
G | 106 min | Drama, History, Musical
Film version of the musical stage play, presenting the last few weeks of Christ's life told in an anachronistic manner.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman, Barry Dennen
Votes: 29,930 | Gross: $24.48M
#2 film of all times
8. Nashville (1975)
R | 160 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Over the course of a few hectic days, numerous interrelated people prepare for a political convention.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Keith Carradine, Karen Black, Ronee Blakley, Shelley Duvall
Votes: 28,569 | Gross: $14.82M
9. Tommy (1975)
PG | 111 min | Drama, Musical
A psychosomatically blind, deaf, and mute boy becomes a master pinball player and, subsequently, the figurehead of a cult.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: Roger Daltrey, Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Elton John
Votes: 22,635 | Gross: $34.25M
10. Black Christmas (1974)
R | 98 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
During their Christmas break, a group of sorority girls are stalked by a stranger.
Director: Bob Clark | Stars: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon
Votes: 48,369 | Gross: $4.05M
11. Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Romance, Thriller
An American computer wiz who works at a New York bank is suddenly thrust into the world of international espionage after she inadvertently receives a coded message from a British spy.
Director: Penny Marshall | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Collins, John Wood, Carol Kane
Votes: 20,764 | Gross: $25.59M
Introduced me to Whoopi!!
12. Moonstruck (1987)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Loretta Castorini, a bookkeeper from Brooklyn, New York, finds herself in a difficult situation when she falls for the brother of the man she has agreed to marry.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello
Votes: 68,555 | Gross: $80.64M
13. Longtime Companion (1989)
R | 96 min | Drama, Romance
The emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic is chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s.
Director: Norman René | Stars: Stephen Caffrey, Patrick Cassidy, Brian Cousins, Bruce Davison
Votes: 6,133 | Gross: $4.61M
14. Altered States (1980)
R | 102 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid
Votes: 38,650 | Gross: $19.85M
15. Victor/Victoria (1982)
PG | 134 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
A struggling female soprano in 1934 Paris finally finds work after posing as a female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life when a visiting Chicago gangster finds himself inexplicably attracted to the seemingly male performer.
Director: Blake Edwards | Stars: Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren
Votes: 23,678 | Gross: $21.93M
16. Dances with Wolves (1990)
PG-13 | 181 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Lieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.
Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant
Votes: 290,765 | Gross: $184.21M
#3 favorite film of all times.
17. Sister Act (1992)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Family, Music
When a nightclub singer is forced to take refuge from the mob in a convent, she ends up turning the convent choir into a soulful chorus complete with a Motown repertoire, until the sudden celebrity of the choir jeopardizes her identity.
Director: Emile Ardolino | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Harvey Keitel, Bill Nunn
Votes: 108,434 | Gross: $139.61M
18. Boys on the Side (1995)
R | 115 min | Comedy, Drama
Robin shares a ride in her car with Jane from New York to Los Angeles. They stop at Jane's friend Holly's place in Pittsburgh and take her with them west, making a long stop in Tucson. The three very different women become close friends.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Drew Barrymore, Matthew McConaughey
Votes: 14,152 | Gross: $23.45M
19. Evita (1996)
PG | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History
The hit musical based on the life of Eva Perón (Evita Duarte), a B-picture Argentinian actress who eventually became the wife of Argentinian president Juan Domingo Perón, and the most beloved and hated woman in Argentina.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Madonna, Jonathan Pryce, Antonio Banderas, Jimmy Nail
Votes: 37,581 | Gross: $50.05M
20. Dead Again (1991)
R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A woman who has lost her memory is taken in by a Los Angeles orphanage, and a private eye is enlisted to track down her identity, but he soon finds that he might have a past life connection to her that endangers their lives.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia, Lois Hall
Votes: 30,387 | Gross: $38.02M
21. Chicago (2002)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Crime, Musical
Two death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.
Director: Rob Marshall | Stars: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Taye Diggs
Votes: 243,425 | Gross: $170.69M
22. Munich (2005)
R | 164 min | Action, Drama, History
After the Black September capture and massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, five men are chosen to eliminate the people responsible for that fateful day.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Marie-Josée Croze, Ciarán Hinds
Votes: 238,337 | Gross: $47.40M
23. Julie & Julia (2009)
PG-13 | 123 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Julia Child's story of her start in the cooking profession is intertwined with blogger Julie Powell's 2002 challenge to cook all the recipes in Child's first book.
Director: Nora Ephron | Stars: Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Chris Messina, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 128,895 | Gross: $94.13M
24. After the Sunset (2004)
PG-13 | 97 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
The story of what happens after a master thief achieves his last big score, when the F.B.I. Agent who promised he'd capture him, is about to do just that.
Director: Brett Ratner | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Woody Harrelson, Don Cheadle
Votes: 49,863 | Gross: $28.33M
25. Insomnia (2002)
R | 118 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan
Votes: 319,244 | Gross: $67.36M
26. The Imitation Game (2014)
PG-13 | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
During World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.
Director: Morten Tyldum | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech
Votes: 825,293 | Gross: $91.13M
27. Philomena (2013)
PG-13 | 98 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham
Votes: 103,805 | Gross: $37.71M
28. The Book Thief (2013)
PG-13 | 131 min | Drama, War
While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
Director: Brian Percival | Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Ben Schnetzer
Votes: 142,325 | Gross: $21.49M
29. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
PG-13 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than advertised, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.
Director: John Madden | Stars: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 99,500 | Gross: $46.41M
30. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)
PG-13 | 105 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Jack Ryan, as a young covert C.I.A. analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Kenneth Branagh
Votes: 138,251 | Gross: $50.58M
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