The Best Decade Of Film
 

What do you think the best decade of film was? In my opinion it was the 70's considering this list.

Godfather Part 1 & 2
Mean Streets
Annie Hall
Manhattan
The Deer Hunter
Taxi Driver
Star Wars
Alien
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
Jaws
Apocalypse Now

Really need to think about this but every film you've listed is a classic. I'd be hard pressed to put them in order but Apocolypse Now might just get it.

The '70's are a hard one to beat given the whole "crisis = opportunity" where filmmakers were given so much freedom by desperate film studios. It was also the first decade that wasn't infringed upon by the Hayes Code so it could allow more graphic attention to detail and create more immersible stories. While I will concede that my opinion is also going to say that the 1970's is my personal favourite decade of cinema, I think there was a real trade off for cursing, nudity, and gore with script. It's kind of hard to describe, but when I watch pre-1968 movies I really notice a lot more effort into the script, like a higher syntax and diction or something. Maybe this was because of the visual restrictions, but a lot of the really stand out movies like The Magnificent Seven or 12 Angry Men have fantastic scripts.

And because you can't end a post like this without it, here's my favourite movies from the 1970's in order

01. Straw Dogs (1971)
02. Chinatown (1974)
03. Star Wars (1977)
04. Alien (1979)
05. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
06. Eraserhead (1977)
07. Stalker (1979)
08. Network (1976)
09. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
10. Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)

Gonna also go with the 1970's with Apocalypse Now being my favourite of the decade. A Clockwork Orange and The Exorcist trail closely behind.

70s for me as well

the directorial freedom was incredible

money put into projects, which wouldn't even see the light of day as "indie" films these days

I'm still undecided even as I type this. The 70's and 80's both were pretty even when I go back and look.

Of course the 70's movies listed are awesome but the 80's has a pretty damn good list in its own right.

Brazil
Amadeus
Raging Bull
Blade Runner
Raiders of the lost ark
Das Boot
The Empire Strikes Back
The Blues Brothers
Spinal Tap
Caddyshack
Ghostbusters
Scarface
The Terminator
Platoon
The Killing Fields
Glory

Tough call for me but 2/3rds of my top ten movies of alltime are from the 70's so I guess i'm inclined to agree. Loathsome Pete made a good point, dialogue was on a better level in earlier movies because special effects/graphic violence/nudity were not included.

The 70's were pretty awesome, but I do love the 90's. Most of my favourites came from the 90's:

Schindler's List
GoodFellas
Saving Private Ryan
Pulp Fiction
The Silence of the Lambs
Fargo
Unforgiven
Shawshank Redemption
Malcolm X
American Beauty
Forrest Gump
Reservoir Dogs
Fight Club
Casino
Jerry Maguire
Before Sunrise

I agree, the 90's were the best. Pulp Fiction, nuff said.

My brain will explode if I try to answer this question.

The 1750s. Nuff said.