Cinematic decades (as judged by the top 10 grossing movies)

I had no idea that The Graduate sold so many tickets!

Twister was that big? man

Young people were alienated and confused!

xpost (or maybe not)

70s! Airport tipped it for me.

im astonished that rear window is in that list.

between 70s and 80s for me.

actually, it's 80s. i thought it said airPLANE in the 70s list -- that would have made it a lock.

yes, The Graduate was a smash, which shocked every studio guy who didn't think big-nosed, odd-looking NY stage character actors could be movie stars.

The real shocker on that '60s list is the Marilyn Monroe-Yves Montand film.

This is a very strange criterion for judging 'cinematic decades.' Proof is that the '80s may have the biggest proportion of good films (8 or 9/10).

Airport tipped it for me.

Do you like all-star casts where the stars don't get to do much of anything?

On this basis it sure as heck aint the 90s...

I voted for the 1960's out of the decades on offer. I don't think I'd fancy sitting through "Dr Zhivago", but everything else I like and "My Fair Lady" is prob my favourite out of all the films listed. '50's or '90's I like the least. 1920's or 1930's would have been hard for me to choose between, had those decades been on offer.

Do you like all-star casts where the stars don't get to do much of anything?

Love 'em! Although I preferred Lee Grant, Christopher Lee and I think Darren McGavin in Airport '77 (that's the one where they crash into the ocean). This is for another poll I guess.

lol i can't believe the only movie i really like from the 90s list is The Lion King.

between 60s and 80s for me.

It's got to be 80's - but you really don't like Home Alone?

Sort of like the '50s list the best here, as much for corny crap like Ten Commandments as obviously great stuff like Rear Window.

2000s pretty dire by this measure.

Also hard for me to buy that The Sting outgrossed The Godfather. Wasn't The Godfather the second-highest grossing movie ever when it came out?

the dark knight is the only 00s one i'll ever see again, and im not like omg about it anyway.

wow 2000s is ROUGH.

so is 90s. ya, whoever said 70s or 80s otm.

it is a weird metric but i guess it's as good as any for judging the general health of pop culture.

It's got to be 80's - but you really don't like Home Alone?

too many christmases have ruined it for me.

seen 7 of the 00s films, enjoyed them all

I'm questioning the figures for Let's Make Love. I have a book listing Top 10s at the box office year-by-year & that movie doesn't even make the Top 10 in any year.

Airport's the only bad one out of the 1970s, right? And it's still camp-worthy.

Airport is OK for what it is, but it's really the least entertaining of all the disaster movies in the cycle. Earthquake ftw.

80's edges out 70's just because so many of those movies were events that I looked forward to every year as a pre-adolescent, and I didn't experience most of the 70's films until I was a teenager, on VHS.

I seem to remember that The Sting (like The Exorcist) was re-released widely several times in the '70s, padding its b.o. total, whereas The Godfather was on TV by '74 and several times after. The Godfather's total (unadjusted) gross wasn't passed until Jaws did it in '75.

'70s or '80s, obviously, but i think '70s edges it because the '80s doesn't have anything to match up with the godfather.

I like at least 3 of those '80s hits better than the first Godfather.

Airport's the only bad one out of the 1970s, right?

uh, Love Story.

please don't say e.t. is one of them...

I'm not sure I like all of these better than The Godfather, but there at least on a near-even playing field.

E.T.
The Empire Strikes Back
Ghostbusters
Back to the Future
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

70s has higher highs than the more consistent 80s, but are any of these ten as good as rear window alone?

xpost: temple of doom over raiders? i always forget the level of spielberg stan-hood on ilx.

i like lots of the '80s movies, and i love raiders, bttf and ghostbusters. but i don't rate any of them with the godfather. i just think coppola aimed higher and hit what he was aiming at.

i always forget the level of spielberg stan-hood on ilx.

No you don't.

70s has higher highs than the more consistent 80s, but are any of these ten as good as rear window alone?

Nope. Which is probably why I ended up voting for the '50s.

80s is the only decade where i cld stand to sit through every one of those movies again

even tho almost every other decade has 'better' films (eg REAR WINDOW, GODFATHER, JAWS, SPIDERMAN 2)

eg REAR WINDOW, GODFATHER, JAWS, SPIDERMAN 2

one of theeeeese things is not like the oth-errrrs...

(Ivan Reitman has made So many expertly crafted films too. yutzes.)

Jaws and the Godfather swing it for me. I've never seen E.T. (I like to mention this as much as possible) although I will definitely watch it when an opportunity arises.

Good Jaws anecdote: colleague at old job saw Roy Scheider at a Slipknot and Slayer concert in Glasgow.

So obviously the 70s it isn't funny.

lol, i'd take fucking disturbia over rear window

also, 80s

xp Good luck with that.

disturbia was ok till the stupid ending but um NO

i shd have gone full challops and said 'lol i'd take fucking eagle eye over disturbia'.

i mean, neither film is that good, but at least shia is nice to look at

shia the beef is a grade A cunt.

I'd rather see Raymond Burr naked than Shia LeBouf.

shia the beef is a grade A cunt.

― languid samuel l. jackson (jim), Saturday, June 6, 2009 7:38 PM (24 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

james stewart was a bit right-wing.

the bastard

domgreatthreadtshirt.jpeg

I picked the eighties without much fuss. You can't argue with E.T., Tootsie, The Empire Strikes Back, Ghostbusters and Temple of Doom. Except for The Ten Commandmens, I don't find the fifties stuff enjoyable even as camp.

Rear Window is another class altogether. Have we ever done a highest-grossing Hitch film poll yet?

i could argue with tootsie

i doubt there are reliable figures for his films, somehow, even for the US market.

xpost

Pretty sure Psycho and Rear Window were comfortably Hitch's highest grossing films. Spellbound and Rebecca were also apparently pretty high up there.

Tootsie was a laugh, I thought.

Tootsie's the last great Hollywood comedy.

*Hollywood studio comedy

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v674/LeboviciAB84/HarryHilllargenodithering.gif

let's make love on the 60s list is RONG (i mean b.o.-wise, i have never seen the movie, but marilyn is super fat in it)

she was always "fat" by today's bulimic waif standards.

more of her to love

yeah, but in that movie it's kinda ridiculous. yves didn't seem to mind tho

imdb says Let's Make Love grossed $3 million in rentals versus $34 million for My Fair Lady. So even allowing for varying accounting procedures I doubt the two films brought in nearly the same amount as the OP list indicates.

wow, 70's easy. Jaws, Godfather, Sting... good run. 80's come pretty close but then I´d say there's a lot of crappy movies here

No snark intended, but does anyone genuinely like The Sting?

yes, me

I've got it on dvd even

70s

These are all fairly grim. No great films after the 70s, a few highly entertaining but pretty disposable movies, and a bunch of crap I don't want to see or don't want to see ever again. Tempted to vote for the 70s because the movies cater the least to kids and Jesusists, of which I am neither.

Every movie on that 80's list aside from Beverly Hills Cop and Tootsie was pretty huge to me in some way as a kid. Couldn't really vote for anything else. 70's is close second though.

Tempted to vote for the 70s because the movies cater the least to kids and Jesusists, of which I am neither.

AHEM:

Star Wars $1177.8
Jaws $850.2
The Exorcist $668.0
Close Encounters of the Third Kind $505.3
Grease $464.1
Love Story $453.2
Airport $428.1
American Graffiti $425.5

Uh, American Graffiti catered to my parents and nostalgic baby boomers who were adults when it came out. Seriously, still, whenever I'm visiting them, it comes on on cable, and they will watch it, and my mom will get teary eyed about the cars, and my dad will be stoked that he knows all the songs on the soundtrack.

Airport, The Exorcist, Close Encounters, and Love Story catered to teenagers and above. You could argue that Jaws is the same.

Most of the later decades, the majority of the movies seem to cater to, or at least make great attempts to include those under 13 in their target audiences.

Alright. I was confused by what you initially meant by "kids." Most of the films on that list wouldn't frighten a twelve-year-old, with the exception of the one starring Ali MacGraw's flaring nostrils.

LOL, ID4 is on TV now; Twister was on a couple days ago. My 16-year-old self was so very wrong.

The Twister theme park ride at Universal Studios was better than the movie.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Voted for 60s in the end, as it has The Graduate and almost as much fun as the 70s and 80s. 90s and 00s looking pretty horrible from here.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest $423.3

Proof that society has crumbled. That and the BNP getting in.

rong. fun movie.

I totally forgot that the movie 'Twister' existed. The 70s is a better decade for film no doubt, but I don't really like those particular 70s films...voted 80s.

Really sad that 80% of the top grossing movies from the past decades are part of franchises.

breaks my fuckin heart

i went with the '60s. since i like all eight of the films i've seen (minus "cleopatra" and "let's make love"). way more than i can say of any of the other decades.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

The '60s were brought down by the inclusion of Let's Make Love, which we are supposed to believe (sorry for beating a dead horse) outgrossed West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia, all of the '60s James Bond films, The Dirty Dozen, Valley of the Dolls, et al.

1990s 1

^^what the hell

xpost

I doubt that ONE film (which I bet few on ILX have even seen) brought the decade down. Besides, it's a pretty good movie. I'd take it over most of the other 1960s titles, The Graduate most definitely included.

I apologise for the Let's Make Love fiasco.

why did i miss this poll. cool poll.

it's either 60s or 70s for me, 00s is a disgrace.

I would have gone for OOs over 90s but 70s rule.

00s

What the hell happened between the '80s (26 votes) and '90s (1)?

ILX contributors grew up.

(oh, and blockbusters went shit)