Top 'Decade' Movies

Here are five movies for each decade that just ‘grok’ the decade they represent. They may not be the ‘best’ films of the decade – but if you want to understand the decade they represent, there’s no better.* So, for example, Lawrence of Arabia is one of the best films made in the 1960s, but isn’t a great film about the 1960s, and so is not on the list. I also made sure it was made during the decade it represents – so while American Psycho is a great film about the 1980s, it was filmed in a different decade, and thus not counted. Make sense?

Starting with the most recent:

00s

The Hurt Locker (2009)

Garden State (2004)

Lost in Translation (2003)

Talk to Her (2002)

25^th Hour (2002)

90s

Office Space (1999)

Go (1999)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Empire Records (1995)

Terminator 2 (1991)

80s

When Harry Met Sally…(1989)

Wall Street (1987)

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

The Big Chill (1983)

Scarface (1983)

70s

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Annie Hall (1977)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Nashville (1975)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

60s

Alice’s Restaurant (1969)

The Graduate (1967)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

La Dolce Vita (1960)

50s

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)

Vertigo (1958)

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

40s

The Third Man (1949)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Casablanca (1942)

Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

The Philadelphia Story (1940)

30s

The Rules of the Game (1939)

Ninotchka (1939)

Modern Times (1936)

My Man Godfrey (1936)

Grand Hotel (1932)

20s

A Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

The Last Command (1928)

The Crowd (1928)

Sunrise (1927)

Sherlock Jr. (1924)

* I must admit I’ve cheated a little and have added two films based on reputation alone, and not my viewing of them. These are 2009’s The Hurt Locker and 1987’s Wall Street. Should I find this to be in error I will amend the list.