Mr. Foote has prompted several interesting discussions about the Best Picture and Best Director winners and losers, as well as the best film of the 1980’s.
Taking the discussion a bit broader, I thought it might be appropriate to ask: what is the best year in film?
1939 stands out, certainly. “The Wizard of Oz,” “Gone With the Wind,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” “Wuthering Heights,” “Stagecoach,” “Of Mice and Men” and “Love Affair,” to name a few. This year contained the most films listed on the AFI list of Top 100 American movies of all time, so maybe that should answer the question. Or not.
1942, the year of “Casablanca,” “Cat People,” “The Magnificent Ambersons,” “The Pride of the Yankees,” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” also impressed the AFI crowd.
1964 was another strong year. “The Americanization of Emily,” “Becket,” “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” “Mary Poppins,” “My Fair Lady,” “Topkapi,” “Zorba the Greek,” “The Pink Panther,” again to name just a few.
1980 was a fine year. “Empire Strikes Back,” “Caddyshack,” “The Shining,” “Melvin and Howard,” “Raging Bull,” “Ordinary People,” “Tess,” “The Elephant Man,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Airplane!” and “Flash Gordon,” are still talked about and watched today.
Some people loved 1999, a year than included “Being John Malcovich,” “Fight Club,” “Magnolia,” “Election,” “Three Kings,” “American Beauty,” “Cider House Rules,” “Sweet and Lowdown,” “Run Lola Run,” “The Limey,” “The Matrix,” “The Sixth Sense,” “The Insider,” and “All About My Mother.”
2007 was another phenomenal year. “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Once,” “Zodiac,” “Persepolis,” “Ratatouille,” “Michael Clayton,” “Eastern Promises,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Knocked Up,” “I’m Not There,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “The Savages,” “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “Into the Wild,” “Atonement,” “Juno,” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” all seem to be films that will be remembered well beyond this decade.
Personally, I’m fond of 1973, a year that gave us “Badlands,” “Mean Streets,” “The Exorcist,” “Serpico,” “Cries and Whispers,” “American Graffiti,” “The Sting,” “Last Tango in Paris,” “The Way We Were,” “The Paper Chase,” “Paper Moon,” “The Long Goodbye,” “The Mack,” “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” “Bang the Drum Slowly,” “Papillon” “The Day of the Jackal”and “Sleeper.”
And you?
Comments
11 responses to “1973: the best year in film?”
1997 was a great year, I thought. We had Boogie Nights, Good Will Hunting, Wag the Dog, The Full Monty, Men in Black, L.A. Confidential (one of my all-time favorites) and yes, even Titanic (I love that film too much).
2004 was great as well. The Aviator, The Incredibles, Hotel Rwanda, Sideways, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, and my all-time favorite, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
What I’ve seen of 1967 is phenomenal. The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde, Cool Hand Luke, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Jungle Book and Wait Until Dark.
I agree with most of the other years. I’ve hated what I’ve seen of 1980 though (except for Ordinary People) but 1999 is phenomenal, and what I’ve seen of ’73 and ’39 is great as well (and 2007 was truly a great year).
2002 is by far the greatest year for film.
“Gangs of New York”
“The Hours”
“Chicago”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”
“Frida”
“Road to Perdition”
“Spirited Away”
“Adaptation”
“The Pianist”
“Far from Heaven”
“Talk to Her”
“Catch Me if You Can”
“About Schmidt”
“Minority Report”
The quality of these films is just AMAZING. I mean, look at the category lineups that year at the Oscars. Some of the strongest lineups ever.
Always been of the ’39 and ’99 school, but the last two years were fantastic, I thought. All other years generally considered “amazing” (like Joseph’s suggestion of 2002) generally contain more than a few films that I’m “supposed” to like, but ust can’t stand.
By the way, Joseph, I’d wager that you forgot the best film of 2002 in that list: “Punch Drunk Love.” Also, “25th Hour,” “Roger Dodger” and “Narc” each had comfortable spots on my personal top 10, so maybe you’re on to something.
You even forgot to mention my favourite 1973 pic: Fellini’s Amarcord.
I’ve always been a fan of 1999, but 1973 surely looks impressive to me.
Ah yes, indeed I did forget the wonderfully idiosyncratic and charming “Punch-Drunk Love.” Good call.
In my personal list of the 100 best movies of all-time only one year has 5 representatives and that’s 1966-
Blowup, Seconds, The Battle of Algiers, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly are all masterpieces.
Throw in Au Hasard Balthazar, A Man for All Seasons, Persona, Fahrenheit 451, Alfie, How to Steal a Million, A Man and a Woman and The Fortune Cookie and you have a pretty formidable year. Doesn’t anybody watch foreign films around here?
Many of the films of ’73 have not held up very well. “The Sting” might be among the most overrated Oscar winners of all time. How did that caper flick beat “American Grafitti” or “The Exorcist” for best pic, or the years true best film, “Last Tango in Paris??” Beyond that you have a lot of really good movies, but very few great ones. I think the older we get the more powerful “American Grafitti” becomes because as we look back to our high school days, we realize we knew those people, hell we were those people!! Lucas nailed it, and I consider this his finest film. By the way I saw no mention of “The Last Detail”, one of Nicholson’s best directed by that great unsung hero of seventies cinema, Hal Ashby.
The Sting won because it’s pretty much a perfect film. I always enjoyed it but have much more respect after watching the supplements on the special edition DVD that came out not too long ago. Meticulously researched, it holds its own next to any recent film about con-artists.
You are kept in suspense throughout the whole film, never really sure where Johnny Hooker’s loyalties lie. Great dialogue, great supporting players, and of course two of the decade’s best leading men.
And it’s held up because it was made in an old-fashioned style to begin with, so the only thing that dates it is the physical condition of its stars.
I agree that The Exorcist and Last Tango contain better, more ambitious filmmaking, but come on. No way the Academy was going to stamp either of those with BP. A direction Oscar for either would have been deserved, but Friedkin had just won a couple years earlier, and Bertolucci perhaps wasn’t respected or known enough at that point.
An argument for 1974
The Godfather Part II
Chinatown
The Conversation
Lenny
Hearts and Minds
Young Frankenstein
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Amarcord
Don’t Look Now
The Towering Inferno
Thieves like Us
Although I would not, some might include:
Blazing Saddles
Alive doesn’t live here anymore
Does anybody find 2006 to be as incredible as I did?
Children of Men
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pursuit of Happyness
Descent
Dreamgirls
Saw III (hey, back off, I loved it!)
Bobby
Lady in the Water (which was criminally underrated)
Devil Wears Prada (sorry, Kris)
World Trade Center
United 93
…
a lot of other stuff…
…anyway, more movies that year got four stars from me than many other years.
My pick for the best film of 2005 was “King Kong” and one of my favorites from last year was “Bridge to Terabithia” (the ending confirmed it). Kris, what did you think of these?
And did anyone actually SEE “Alex Rider”? Please say no.