Movies The top 25 movies of each decade based on IMDB ratings.

[Takes Two To Tango]

1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s

1920s

1. Metropolis
2. The Kid
3. The Passion of Joan of Arc
4. The General
5. The Gold Rush
6. Sherlock Jr.
7. The Circus
8. Sunrise
9. Faust
10. Safety Last!
11. The Cameraman
12. Battleship Potemkin
13. The Last Laugh
14. The Phantom Carriage
15. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
16. Nosferatu
17. Steamboat Bill, Jr.
18. Pandora's Box
19. Seven Chances
20. Our Hospitality
21. Wings
22. The Phantom of the Opera
23. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
24. Blackmail

1930s

1. Modern Times
2. City Lights
3. M
4. Gone With the Wind
5. The Wizard of Oz
6. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
7. The Grand Illusion
8. It Happened One Night
9. All Quiet on the Western Front
10. The Rules of the Game
11. The Adventures of Robin Hood
12. The Thin Man
13. King Kong
14. Freaks
15. Stagecoach
16. You Can't Take It with You
17. The Lady Vanishes
18. Bringing Up Baby
19. A Night at the Opera
20. The Bride of Frankenstein
21. Duck Soup
22. Frankenstein
23. Scarface
24. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
25. The 39 Steps

1940s

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. Casablanca
3. The Great Dictator
4. Bicycle Thieves
5. Double Indemnity
6. Citizen Kane
7. Treasure of Sierra Madre
8. To Be or Not to Be
9. White Heat
10. The Third Man
11. The Red Shoes
12. The Best Years of Our Lives
13. The Shop Around the Corner
14. Rebecca
15. The Grapes of Wrath
16. Kind Hearts and Coronets
17. Out of the Past
18. Rome, Open City
19. Mildred Pierce
20. Brief Encounter
21. The Maltese Falcon
22. Rope
23. Miracle on 34th Street
24. Notorious
25. The Big Sleep

1950s

1. 12 Angry Men
2. Seven Samurai
3. Rear Window
4. Witness of the Prosecution
5. Paths of Glory
6. Sunset Blvd.
7. North by Northwest
8. Vertigo
9. Pather Panchali
10. Singin' in the Rain
11. Ikiru
12. Some Like It Hot
13. The Bridge on the River Kwai
14. Dial M for Murder
15. Tokyo Story
16. The Wages of Fear
17. Umberto D.
18. Rashomon
19. All About Eve
20. The 400 Blows
21. Ben-Hur
22. The Hidden Fortress
23. Wild Strawberries
24. The Seventh Seal
25. Nights of Cabiria

1960s

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. Hara-Kiri
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. Psycho
5. High and Low
6. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey
8. To Kill a Mocking Bird
9. Lawrence of Arabia
10. Judgement at Nuremberg
11. The Apartment
12. Z
13. For a Few Dollars More
14. The Great Escape
15. Yojimbo
16. Cool Hand Luke
17. Persona
18. The Sound of Music
19. The Battle of Algiers
20. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
21. The Virgin Spring
22. Inherit the Wind
23. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
24. Rosemary's Baby
25. Planet of the Apes


1970s

1. The Godfather
2. The Godfather: Part II
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
4. Star Wars
5. Apocalypse Now
6. Alien
7. Taxi Driver
8. The Sting
9. A Clockwork Orange
10. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
11. Dersu Uzalu
12. Chinatown
13. Stalker
14. Autumn Sonata
15. The Deer Hunter
16. Rocky
17. Network
18. Jaws
19. Barry Lyndon
20. Paper Moon
21. The Exorcist
22. Life of Brian
23. Being There
24. Annie Hall
25. Dog Day Afternoon

1980s

1. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
2. Cinema Paradisio
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. Back to the Future
5. Come and See
6. Aliens
7. Amadeus
8. Raiders of the Lost Ark
9. Das Boot
10. The Shining
11. Full Metal Jacket
12. Once Upon a Time in America
13. Scarface
14. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
15. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
16. Die Hard
17. Ran
18. The Thing
19. Raging Bull
20. The Elephant Man
21. Dead Poet Society
22. My Neighbor Totoro
23. Stand by Me
24. Platoon
25. The Terminator

1990s

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. Schindler's List
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Fight Club
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Matrix
7. Goodfellas
8. Saving Private Ryan
9. The Green Mile
10. Life is Beautiful
11. Se7en
12. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
13. The Silence of the Lambs
14. American History X
15. The Usual Suspects
16. Léon: The Professional
17. The Lion King
18. American Beauty
19. Princess Mononoke
20. Braveheart
21. L.A. Confidential
22. Good Will Hunting
23. Toy Story
24. Heat
25. Reservoir Dogs

2000s

1. The Dark Knight
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
5. City of God
6. Spirted Away
7. The Prestige
8. The Departed
9. The Pianist
10. Gladiator
11. WALL-E
12. The Lives of Others
13. Oldboy
14. Memento
15. Up
16. Inglourious Basterds
17. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
18. Amélie
19. Snatch
20. Requiem for a Dream
21. The Secret in Their Eyes
22. No Country for Old Men
23. There Will Be Blood
24. Pan's Labyrinth
25. V for Vendetta

2010s

1. Inception
2. Interstellar
3. Parasite
4. Whiplash
5. The Intouchables
6. Capernaum
7. Joker
8. 96
9. Your Name
10. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
11. Avengers: Endgame
12. Avengers: Infinity War
13. Coco
14. Django Unchained
15. The Dark Knight Rises
16. Dangal
17. The Hunt
18. A Separation
19. Incendies
20. Toy Story 3
21. 1917
22. Green Book
23. Inside Out
24. Warrior
25. Shutter Island

 

[moreorless87]

I'd say probably the 70's, everything in that top 10 would most likely be in my top 20-30 of the decade besides maybe Cuckoos Nest(preffer Chinatown and The Last Detail for 70's Jack).

 

[GoodBadHBK]

70s but 90s and 00s are pretty good too.

I feel I could pick out a better 10 films for the 70s to the 00s.

If I could only choose 10 films from a decade it would be the 70s.

1. GF
2. GF2
3. Halloween
4. Jaws
5. Alien
6. Taxi driver
7. Star wars
8. Rocky
9. Blazing saddles

I'll get back to you with my final pick

 

[IndyCovaHart]

Wow the bar has sure been set low since 2000 or what lol

 

[Volador]

I’m probably biased, but 90s is the best to me, then closely 70s and 2000s. Simply haven’t watched a lot of the 2010s ones, or of the really old ones.

Would swap Reservoir Dogs And Casino for Green Mile and Fight Club in 90s. Then you have Braveheart, Seven, Terminator 2, etc. GOAT decade.

 

[moreorless87]

Wow the bar has sure been set low since 2000 or what lol

I think partly maybe thats the effect of the filter of time not being as strong for stuff in the last 20 years.

Also though I think a big issue is that unlike the 70's were New Hollywood broke into the mainstream recently you basically have a mainstream/arthouse divide. The latter really hasnt crossed into the mainstream in the same fashion yet I would argue a lot of the best films of the last decade come from it.

 

[CaptHANDSUP]

Nostalgia says 90s and 00s but 40s were so packed

 

[IndyCovaHart]

I think partly maybe thats the effect of the filter of time not being as strong for stuff in the last 20 years.

Also though I think a big issue is that unlike the 70's were New Hollywood broke into the mainstream recently you basically have a mainstream/arthouse divide. The latter really hasnt crossed into the mainstream in the same fashion yet I would argue a lot of the best films of the last decade come from it.

I don’t take IMDB seriously anyway. For crying out loud, am I really seeing a Monty Python movie on the list when The Ten Commandments is nowhere to be found?

But which art house films of the last decade are you referring to?

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

I don’t take IMDB seriously anyway. For crying out loud, am I really seeing a Monty Python movie on the list when The Ten Commandments is nowhere to be found?

But which art house films of the last decade are you referring to?

You got to remember this is a top 10 of each decade. Monty Python was released in the 70s, while The Ten Commandments was released in the 50s.

 

[GeneTunney7]

Wow the bar has sure been set low since 2000 or what lol

“Spider-Man and the spider verse”



Art and craftsmanship and general have been getting weaker and weaker. Try listening to music from the 1800’s then now: they actually really knew how to play instruments, understood harmony, melody, counterpoint, structure, etc. Technology has helped us in ways but also made us lazy and stifled creativity.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

“Spider-Man and the spider verse”



Art and craftsmanship and general have been getting weaker and weaker. Try listening to music from the 1800’s then now: they actually really knew how to play instruments, understood harmony, melody, counterpoint, structure, etc. Technology has helped us in ways but also made us lazy and stifled creativity.

srsly

cher could sing and used auto tune artistically not as as a crutch

 

[IndyCovaHart]

You got to remember this is a top 10 of each decade. Monty Python was released in the 70s, while The Ten Commandments was released in the 50s.

yeah but it’s not in the top 10 of the 50’s either which is strange to me

 

[NoSmilez]

Unpopular take: I thought Parasite was shit.

 

[Texan6533]

Man, hard to beat the 80s for me:

Raiders
Empire
Back to the Future
Aliens
Das Boot

all in the same decade. But….I’m a sucker for adventure / war movies

 

[Sir Burton]

Not my “favorite” decade, but it seems to me that the ‘40s has this locked down, followed closely by the ‘70.

I would base this on:
-Innovation/Groundbreaking topics
-Storytelling
-Iconoclastic elements previously deemed “not worthy” of film for a multitude of reasons
-Cinematography
-Acting
-Directing
-Full studio support (Production companies) of, what were considered at the time, risky ventures; many of which paid handsomely.

 

[Takes Two To Tango]

yeah but it’s not in the top 10 of the 50’s either which is strange to me

I agree, it's an all time epic classic of a film. And deserves a higher rating like an 8.4 imo. I give it a 10 personally.

 

[moreorless87]

I don’t take IMDB seriously anyway. For crying out loud, am I really seeing a Monty Python movie on the list when The Ten Commandments is nowhere to be found?

But which art house films of the last decade are you referring to?

Not the same decade but the Python movie is far better.

Recent cinema on IMDB as wellt ends to have a healthy dose of politics and fanoyism in its rankings, I personally doubt they will be very reflective of how tis viewed in decades to come. Only film in that top 10 that might get in my top 30 of the 2010's would be Whiplash.

 

[IndyCovaHart]

Not the same decade but the Python movie is far better.

Recent cinema on IMDB as wellt ends to have a healthy dose of politics and fanoyism in its rankings, I personally doubt they will be very reflective of how tis viewed in decades to come. Only film in that top 10 that might get in my top 30 of the 2010's would be Whiplash.

I personally like Joker but only because of how Scorcese influenced it was.

otherwise I’m not a comic book movie fan

 

[Sano]

Agree that Spiderman being on the list is a pretty sad state of affairs, but don't think it's quite necessary to go back to the 1800's to find examples of good music lol.

 

[blaseblah]

I've only seen one movie from the 1930s, one movie from the 1940s, and nothing before then.