What was the greatest year for movies?

One could point to 2000, and the release of “X-Men," as the official beginning of the superhero movie age, but the gold rush truly began when Raimi’s “Spider-Man” grossed $100 million over its opening weekend. While other factors played into the studio's decision to generally give up on mid-range, adult-skewing movies, the webslinger’s jaw-dropping success certainly had an impact. But don’t hold it against the film – it’s still great (as is the second movie)! It was a strong year overall: Spike Lee’s “25^thHour," Noé’s “Irreversible," Jonze’s “Adaptation," Ramsay’s “Morvern Callar," Lau/Mak’s “Infernal Affairs," de Van’s “In My Skin," Haynes’ “Far from Heaven," De Palma’s “Femme Fatale," Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," Meirelles’s “City of God," Lyne’s “Unfaithful," Zhang Yimou’s “Hero," Van Sant’s “Gerry," Sollett’s “Raising Victor Vargas," Soderbergh’s “Solaris”,"Spielberg’s twofer of “Minority Report” and “Catch Me If You Can."

One of the weaker years of the decade, but horror continued to pick up the slack, while many of the era’s heavy hitters misfired or tried to get themselves killed in the Philippines. George A. Romero’s facility for blending social commentary with crowd-pleasing/repelling gore peaked with “Dawn of the Dead” and “Martin," while John Carpenter’s runaway indie hit “Halloween” turned the slasher film into a reliable profit generator for the next decade (while nearly destroying the horror genre in the process). While we’re talking profitability, John Landis single-handedly created the market for profane, snobs-vs.-slobs sex comedies with “National Lampoon’s Animal House." Malick followed up “Badlands” with the ineffably lovely “Gates of Heaven," while Scorsese revolutionized the concert film with “The Last Waltz." Also of note: De Palma’s “The Fury,"  Cimino’s “The Deer Hunter,"  Ashby’s “Coming Home,"  Altman’s “A Wedding,"  Schrader’s “Blue Collar”, Mazursky’s “An Unmarried Woman,"  Noyce’s “Newsfront,"  Walter Hill’s “The Driver,"  Errol Morris’ “Gates of Heaven," Dante’s “Piranha," Liu Chia-liang’s “The 36^thChamber of Shaolin” and Kaufman’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

This was a thin year all told (thanks in large part to a brutal summer that didn’t pick up until August), but it did put Quentin Tarantino (“Reservoir Dogs”) and, basically, Peter Jackson (“Braindead” aka “Dead Alive”) on the map, so it’s certainly notable. There were a number of masterpieces: Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X," Eastwood’s “Unforgiven," Woo’s “Hard Boiled," Altman’s “The Player,"  Carl Franklin’s “One False Move,"  Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me,"  Ivory’s “Howard’s End” and, in its diseased way, “Basic Instinct." And there were just flat-out great flicks like Foley’s “Glengarry Glen Ross”," Tsui Hark’s “Once Upon a Time in China II”, Jordan’s “The Crying Game”, Rose’s “Candyman”, Davies’s “The Long Day Closes”, Miyazaki’s “Porco Rosso," Duke’s “Deep Cover”, Ritchie’s “Diggstown” and Musker/Clements’ “Aladdin."

Slasher films, teen sex comedies and an onslaught of sequels seemed to signify that the cinema was in some sort of decline, but many of our most vital filmmakers were still knocking out classics. Philip Kaufman’s “The Right Stuff”, Rohmer’s “Pauline at the Beach," Allen’s “Zelig," Nichols’ “Silkwood," Forsyth’s “Local Hero," Bresson’s “L’Argent," Fosse’s “Star 80," Marker’s “Sans Soleil," Coppola’s “Rumble Fish," Tarkovsky’s “Nostalghia," Jackie Can’s “Project A," De Palma’s “Scarface” and the Cronenberg double feature of “Videodrome” and “The Dead Zone." Paul Brickman made the year’s most audacious debut with “Risky Business," though we didn’t know at the time that he had only one more feature in him. Also great: Landis’ “Trading Places," Verhoeven’s “The Fourth Man," Littman’s pulverizing “Testament," Tsui Hark’s “Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain” and McBride’s “Breathless."

“Tremors!" Ron Underwood’s miraculous “Tremors” came out this year. That about covers it, right? Well, here’s some other great stuff: Scorsese’s “Goodfellas," Kiarostami’s “Close-Up," Armitage’s “Miami Blues," the Coens’ “Miller’s Crossing," Dante’s “Gremlins 2: The New Batch," Raimi’s “Darkman”, McTiernan’s “The Hunt for Red October," Leigh’s “Life Is Sweet," Minghella’s “Truly, Madly, Deeply," Woo’s “Bullet in the Head," Wong Kar-wai’s “Days of Being Wild," Campion’s “An Angel at My Table," Linklater’s “Slacker," Stillman’s “Metropolitan," Lyne’s “Jacob’s Ladder," Shanley’s “Joe Versus the Volcano," Hartley’s “Trust," Bill Murray’s “Quick Change," Lynch’s “Wild at Heart," Verhoeven’s “Total Recall," Frears’ “The Grifters," Levinson’s “Avalon," Burnett’s “To Sleep with Anger” and Craig R. Baxley’s “I Come in Peace (And You Go in Pieces)."

This was the year the religious right lost its mind over Martin Scorsese’s superb “The Last Temptation of Christ” depicting their Lord and Savior copulating with Mary Magdalene. Now that they have a new lord and savior, perhaps they can finally give this wonderful film a watch. Or they can watch John Carpenter’s “They Live” and revel in the antics of their extraterrestrial, reality distorting kin. Also of note: Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers," Kaufman’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being," McTiernan’s “Die Hard," Crichton’s “A Fish Called Wanda," Brest’s “Midnight Run," ZAZ’s “The Naked Gun," Shelton’s “Bull Durham," Demme’s “Married to the Mob," Mike Leigh’s “High Hopes," Sluizer’s “The Vanishing”, Isao Takahata’s “Grave of the Fireflies," Zemeckis’ “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, Burton’s “Beetlejuice," Almodovar’s “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," Davies’ “Distant Voices, Still Lives," Craven’s “The Serpent and the Rainbow” or Jackie Chan’s “Police Story Part II."

As studio executives became obsessed with high-concept films, the overall quality of Hollywood’s output began to plummet. This was not in any way a great year, but its highs were pretty dizzying: Kurosawa’s “Ran," Klimov’s “Come and See," Gilliam’s “Brazil," Scorsese’s “After Hours," Weir’s “Witness," Gordon’s “Re-Animator," Konchalovsky’s “Runaway Train," Carpenter’s “Starman," Brooks’ “Lost in America," Chan’s “Police Story," Varda’s “Vagabond," Romero’s “Day of the Dead," Burton’s “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure”," Ivory’s “A Room with a View” and Juzo Itami’s “Tampopo." There were also many quiet pleasures, like Coolidge’s “Real Genius," Edward Yang’s “Taipei Story," Hallström’s “My Life as a Dog” and Geoff Murphy’s lovely end-of-the-world yarn, “The Quiet Earth." On the bonkers, hell-of-a-drug side of things: Friedkin’s “To Live and Die in L.A.” and Hooper’s “Lifeforce” were absolute brain scramblers.

One of the weaker years of the ‘40s, but what’s great is as good as it gets: Carol Reed’s “The Third Man," Jacques Tati’s “Jour de fête," George Cukor’s “Adam’s Rib," John Ford’s “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," Ozu’s “Late Spring," Raoul Walsh’s “White Heat” and Kelly/Donen’s “On the Town." Also noteworthy: Anthony Mann’s low-budget noir “Border Incident," Jules Dassin’s San Francisco crime flick “Thieves’ Highway," Wyler’s “The Heiress," Hawks’ “I Was a Male War Bride” and the dazzling Alec Guinness showcase “Kind Hearts and Coronets."

With the advent of streaming and the distraction of peak television, which has influenced far too many filmmakers to shoot with an eye toward the small(er) screen, it’s grown increasingly difficult to figure out what constitutes a great movie year. There’s so much to watch and so little time to digest. This wasn’t an issue in 2017 when a number of world-class filmmakers hit on every last cylinder: PTA’s “Phantom Thread," Aronofsky’s “mother!”, Nolan’s “Dunkirk," Scott’s “Alien: Covenant," Rian Johnson’s “Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi," Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name," Kiarostami’s “24 Frames," Varda’s “Faces Places," Peele’s “Get Out," Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049," Soderbergh’s “Logan Lucky," Haynes’ “Wonderstruck," Boyle’s “T2 Trainspotting," Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” and the curiously underrated “American Made” from Doug Liman.

With some of the Hollywood’s top directors off working for the U.S. Army Signal Corps (most notably John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler and Frank Capra) and other countries too caught up in the war effort to make movies, the potential for transcendent cinema might’ve seemed diminished. And yet: Billy Wilder’s noir masterpiece “Double Indemnity," Howard Hawks’ Bogie and Bacall wartime romance “To Have and Have Not," Vincente Minnelli’s Technicolor delight “Meet Me in St. Louis”, a killer Preston Sturges twofer (“The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” and “Hail! The Conquering Hero”), Otto Preminger’s melodramatic mystery “Laura," Hitchcock’s “Lifeboat” and Olivier’s rousing “Henry V” more than filled the talent gap.

The nascent Italian neorealism movement blossomed in 1945 with the release of Roberto Rossellini’s “Rome, Open City," which was shot in and around the bombed-out ruins of the city with cobbled together equipment and mostly non-actors (aside from Anna Magnani and Aldo Fabrizi). The French film industry was also getting back up to speed with treasures like Marcel Carné’s “Children of Paradise," Jacques Becker’s “Paris Frills” and Robert Bresson’s “Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne” (though Jean Renoir and Réné Clair went abroad for, respectively, “The Southerner” and “And Then There Were None”). The year’s best film by far was David Lean’s railway station romance, “Brief Encounter” (possibly the director’s finest work), while films noir were all the double-crossing rage (e.g. Preminger’s “Scarlett Street," Edgar Ulmer’s “Detour” and Joseph H. Lewis’ “My Name Is Julia Ross”). Wilder’s no-frills depiction of alcoholism in “The Lost Weekend” won Best Picture, while Michael Curtiz did fine melodramatic work with “Mildred Pierce." Hitchcock turned in the fascinating but flawed “Spellbound”.

The year the United States shattered and never put itself back together again didn’t feel like a particularly important one for movies, but everything took on added significance after 9/11. Eighteen years later, most of these films still resonate. Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," Lynch’s “Mulholland Dr.," Spielberg’s “A.I.”, Cuarón’s “Y tu mamá también," Zwigoff’s “Ghost World," Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Pulse," Holofcener’s “Lovely & Amazing," Docter’s “Monsters, Inc.," the Coens’ “The Man Who Wasn’t There," Cantet’s “Time Out," Tsai Ming-liang’s “What Time Is It There?," Kosashvili’s “Late Marriage," Scott’s “Black Hawk Down," Fuqua’s “Training Day," Haneke’s “The Piano Teacher," Linklater’s “Waking Life” and Wain’s absurdly heartfelt “Wet Hot American Summer."

The studios were showing distressing signs of creative lethargy in 1960. Though “Psycho” and “The Apartment” are bona fide Hollywood classics, the real action was at the nation’s growing number of art houses, where filmmakers like Godard (“Breathless”), Antonioni (“L’Avventura”), Visconti (“Rocco and His Brothers”), Clouzot (“Le Vérité”), Clément (“Purple Noon”), Bergman (“The Virgin Spring”), Becker (“Le Trou”), Kurosawa (“The Bad Sleep Well”) and Ozu (“Late Autumn”) were all the rage. Thirty-year-old Stanley Kubrick made the leap to epic filmmaking with “Spartacus," which impressed upon him the need for complete/obsessive creative control in all areas of production. Genre-wise, there wasn’t much doing in sci-fi, but horror offered up chills both arty (“Eyes Without a Face” and “Black Sunday”) and plain old creepy (“The Brides of Dracula” and “Village of the Damned). This was also the year Michael Powell effectively ended his career by directing the brilliantly terrifying “Peeping Tom."

Any discussion of 1993 has to start with Steven Spielberg’s remarkable, tonally disparate twofer of “Jurassic Park” and “Schindler’s List," which, combined, put the cinema world on notice that he’d come through the crucible of “Hook” with all of his considerable skills intact. It is the best story in a film year that included Kurosawa’s swan song (“Madadayo”), the commencement of Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “Three Colors” trilogy with “Blue” and the promise of a Freddy Krueger/Jason Voorhees clash in the final scene of “Jason Goes to Hell." Despite all this, there’s no disputing that Mike Leigh’s nihilistic “Naked” was far and away the best film of 1993. The runners-up: Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused," De Palma’s “Carlito’s Way," Cory Yuen’s “Fong Sai Yuk," Ivory’s “The Remains of the Day," Ramis’ “Groundhog Day," Zaillian’s “Searching for Bobby Fischer," Girard’s “Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould," Dante’s “Matinee," Eastwood’s “A Perfect World," Becker’s “Malice” and Weir’s “Fearless." 

From Norman Jewison’s whimsical “Moonstruck” to Jörg Buttgereit’s magnum opus, “Nekromantik," this was…a year with many films in it. Some were splendid: De Palma’s “The Untouchables," the Coens’ “Raising Arizona," James L. Brooks’ “Broadcast News," Spielberg’s “Empire of the Sun," Wenders’s “Wings of Desire," Verhoeven’s “RoboCop," Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor," Mamet’s “House of Games," Schepisi’s “Roxanne," Reiner’s “The Princess Bride," Barker’s “Hellraiser," Boorman’s “Hope and Glory," Greenaway’s “The Belly of an Architect," Hughes’ “Planes, Trains & Automobiles," Schroeder’s “Barfly," Bruce Robinson’s “Withnail & ," Almodovar’s “Law of Desire," Zhang’s “Red Sorghum," Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket," Levinson’s “Tin Men," Bigelow’s “Near Dark," Carpenter’s “Prince of Darkness," Raimi’s singular “Evil Dead II” and Argento’s last great film, “Opera." But only one film featured a couple sawing off a length of pipe and slipping a condom over it so they could live their rigid bliss.

Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, Welles’ “Touch of Evil” and Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress” (George Lucas’ “Star Wars” blueprint) in the same year — it’s hard to find a more cinematically significant year than this. It’s not, however, all that difficult to find a better overall assortment, which knocks this year down a few pegs. Don Siegel’s “The Lineup” is a nose-buster of a B movie, Terence Fisher’s “Horror of Dracula” got Hammer’s bloodsucker franchise off to a bloody great start (never a better Drac/Van Helsing duo than Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing), Mann’s “Man of the West” is one of his best oaters, Nicholas Ray’s “Party Girl” is a deliciously nasty noir, Budd Boetticher’s “Buchanan Rides Alone” is an above-average Randolph Scott collaboration, “The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad” is a Technicolor Ray Harryhausen showcase, and, well, who doesn’t love “The Blob?" But Hitch and Welles are doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

We got Bergman’s best (“Smiles of a Summer Night”), Clouzot’s second best (“Les Diaboliques”), Satyajit Ray’s first (“Pather Panchali”) and Charles Laughton’s first-and-only (“The Night of the Hunter”). This is a year so flush with greatness, it’s hard to know where to start. Sirk’s “All That Heaven Allows," Ray’s “Rebel Without a Cause," Naruse’s “Floating Clouds," Mackendrick’s “The Ladykillers”," Mizoguchi’s “Princess Yang Kwei-Fei," Dassin’s heist classic “Rififi," Karlson’s “The Phenix City Story," Mann’s “The Mann from Laramie," John Sturges’ “Bad Day at Black Rock," Val Guest’s “The Quatermass Xperiment," Welles’ “Mr. Arkadin," Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief," Olivier’s “Richard III”…“Lady and the Tramp," for cryin’ out loud! 

Four masterpieces (“Lawrence of Arabia," “Jules and Jim,” “L’Eclisse” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”) and a whole lot of very good to great. As was the case throughout most of the ‘60s, the best films were being made outside of Hollywood: Kurosawa’s “Sanjuro," Buñuel’s “The Exterminating Angel," Pasolini’s “Mamma Roma," Godard’s “My Life to Live," Ozu’s “An Autumn Afternoon," Rosi’s “Salvatore Giuliano” and Tarkovsky’s “Ivan’s Childhood." Kubrick took to England to shoot “Lοlita” and never returned. Back in America (though far from Hollywood), the ultra-moody indie horror classic “Carnival of Souls” predicted the DIY rise of “Night of the Living Dead." Studio-wise, Aldrich was in fine form with “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” Frankenheimer turned in the frighteningly prophetic “The Manchurian Candidate” and Peckinpah started in with his Western revisionism on “Ride the High Country." Perhaps most significantly, the James Bond franchise got kicked off with “Dr. No." Also important: The utterly unclassifiable sci-fi/horror flick “The Manster” finally hit theaters.

It’s hard to find a theme in the final year of The Decade that Saved American Cinema. The New Hollywood phenoms were mostly in exquisite form — Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now," Ashby’s “Being There," Allen’s “Manhattan," Fosse’s “All That Jazz” (and some maniacs would make a case for Spielberg’s theatrical cut of “1941”) — but the filmmakers that would dominate the ‘80s were definitely on the rise. Ridley Scott’s “Alien," Walter Hill’s “The Warriors," Ivan Reitman’s “Meatballs” and George Miller’s “Mad Max” were, in one way or another, supercharged entertainments; they were aimed squarely at the pleasure center. Not terribly concerned with the pleasure center: Tarkovsky’s “Stalker," Fassbinder’s magnificent “The Marriage of Maria Braun," Joan Micklin Silver’s “Chilly Scenes of Winter," Kieslowski’s “Camera Buff," Schlöndorff’s “The Tin Drum” and Benton’s “Kramer vs. Kramer." Also notable: Cronenberg’s “The Brood," Miyazaki’s “The Castle of Cagliostro," Reiner’s “The Jerk," Meyer’s “Time After Time," “Monty Python’s Life of Brian," Ballard’s “The Black Stallion," Hiller’s “The In-Laws” and “Richard Pryor – Live in Concert."

Back when it was possible for the best films of the year to be released in the summer: John Carpenter’s “The Thing," Spielberg’s “E.T.," Levinson’s “Diner," Scott’s “Blade Runner," Meyer’s “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," Hooper’s “Poltergeist," Reiner’s ingenious “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid” and Stallone’s “Rocky III”. Of course, it wasn’t all escapism. Fassbinder’s “Veronika Voss," Greenaway’s “The Draughtsman’s Contract," Reggio’s “Koyaanisqatsi”, Rohmer’s “Le Beau Mariage," and Herzog’s mighty “Fitzcarraldo” kept the art house scene booming. Eddie Murphy made his big-screen debut and became an overnight sensation in Walter Hill’s “48 HRS.” Bergman retired from filmmaking for the first time with “Fanny and Alexander." Scorsese went darkly comedic with “The King of Comedy" and Francis Ford Coppola torpedoed his own film studio with the deeply underrated/misunderstood “One from the Heart." Also notable: Lumet’s “The Verdict," Akerman’s “Toute une nuit," Pollack’s “Tootsie," Heckerling’s “Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Argento’s “Tenebrae”, Benjamin’s “My Favorite Year," Parker’s “Pink Floyd – The Wall," Edwards’ “Victor/Victoria” and Seidelman’s “Smithereens."

It’s hard to beat a year that finds the Coens (“No Country for Old Men”), Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood”), David Fincher (“Zodiac”), Quentin Tarantino (“Death Proof”), Mike Nichols (“Charlie Wilson’s War”), George A. Romero (“Land of the Dead”) and Ang Lee (“Lust, Caution”) working at the height of their artistic powers, but some less-than-inspired efforts from masters like Wes Anderson (“The Darjeeling Limited”), Zemeckis (“Beowulf”), De Palma (“Redacted”), Wong Kar-wai (“My Blueberry Nights”) and Raimi (“Spider-Man 3”) keep it from cracking the top 10. It’s still a fantastic year: Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," Wright’s “Hot Fuzz," Affleck’s ,,"“Gone Baby Gone," Reygadas’ “Silent Light," Bird’s “Ratatouille," Mottola’s “Superbad," Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton," Wright’s “Atonement," Landis’ “Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project," Vigalondo’s “Timecrimes," Scott’s “American Gangster," Jake Kasdan’s “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," Maddin’s “My Winnipeg”, Penn’s “Into the Wild” and Apatow’s “Knocked Up."

Capra and Ford turned in arguably the best films of their career with “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “My Darling Clementine”; Hitchcock brought the Nazi-busting heat with “Notorious”; Wyler, deeply affected by his time in the Signal Corps, made the definitive post-World War II movie via “The Best Years of Our Lives”; Hawks and Bogie cooked Philip Marlowe to hard-boiled perfection in “The Big Sleep”; Powell and Pressburger reckoned with the just-ended war with the fantastical “A Matter of Life and Death”; Jean Cocteau enchanted viewers worldwide with his dreamy “Beauty and the Beast”; Rita Hayworth did that s**t with her hair in Charles Vidor’s “Gilda”; Lean delivered a handsome and spooky adaptation of “Great Expectations”; and Lubitsch showed he still had a facility for sex farces with the slyly tawdry “Cluny Brown."

The studios dabbled in science-fiction to historic effect this year with Robert Wise’s anti-nuke chiller “The Day the Earth Stood Still," Christian Nyby’s horror-tinged “The Thing from Another World” and George Pal’s Technicolor epic “When Worlds Collide." Many of the day’s finest filmmakers were in tip-top form this year: e.g. Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train," Minnelli’s “An American in Paris," Renoir’s “The River," Wilder’s “Ace in the Hole," Stevens’ “A Place in the Sun," Bresson’s “Diary of a Country Priest," Huston’s “The African Queen” and Mikio Naruse’ “Repast." Charles Crichton constructed possibly the greatest caper comedy of all time with “The Lavender Hill Mob," while Elia Kazan turned Marlon Brando into a national obsession in “A Streetcar Named Desire."

The story of 1963 was Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s “Cleopatra," the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton historical epic that created Century City. It’s actually not a horrible movie all told, but quality-wise, this was the year of Sturges’ “The Great Escape”, Godard’s “Contempt," Visconti’s “The Leopard," Fellini’s “8 ½”, Kurosawa’s “High and Low," Bava’s “Black Sabbath” and Hitchcock’s “The Birds." One area where the studios excelled this year was in the unreasonably expensive comedy department, primarily with Stanley Kramer’s “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” and Blake Edwards’ “The Pink Panther." This year also gave us the second-best James Bond movie (“From Russia with Love”) and the first non-softcore feature from Francis Ford Coppola (“Dementia 13”).

Do you enjoy perfect films? There were three of them this year, each made from different molds. Vittorio de Sica’s “Umberto D.” is a heart-stomping Italian neorealist classic; Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” is the American movie musical into the stratosphere; and Richard Fleischer’s “The Narrow Margin” is as airtight a B noir as you’ll ever see. Near-perfect films abound, as well: Kurosawa’s “Ikiru," Ford’s “The Quiet Man” and Nicholas Ray’s subversive noir “On Dangerous Ground." As for just plain great: two from Cukor (“The Marrying Kind” and “Pat and Mike”), a deuce of low-budget Phil Karlson noir (“Kansas City Confidential” and “Scandal Sheet”), René Clément’s “Forbidden Games," Frank Tashlin’s “Son of Paleface," Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful," Mann’s “Bend of the River” and Federico Fellini’s debut, “The White Sheik."

There were many significant developments in world of cinema this year: Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci popularized the Spaghetti Western with, respectively, “A Fistful of Dollars” and “Minnesota Clay”; Beatlemania hit the big screen in Richard Lester’s fab “A Hard Day’s Night”; and Stanley Kubrick made moviegoers howl at their impending nuclear doom via “Dr. Strangelove, or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." The Bond franchise turned out another winner in “Goldfinger”, Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand made the world swoon with “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg," and Hitchcock delved deeper than ever into his obsessions in “Marnie." Other highlights: Bertolucci’s “Before the Revolution," Teshigahara’s “Woman in the Dunes," Fuller’s “The Naked Kiss," Kobayashi’s “Kwaidan," Shindo’s “Onibaba”," Siegel’s “The Killers," Godard’s “Band of Outsiders” and the completion of Brakhage’s experimental opus, “Dog Star Man."

This is the year “Star Wars” grossed a gazillion dollars and allegedly murdered New Hollywood. Here’s the thing: “Jaws” had already done this, and at least these mainstream-friendly filmmakers loved movies. This was a vital year for horror: Lynch’s “Eraserhead," Craven’s “The Hills Have Eyes," Cronenberg’s “Rabid," Argento’s “Suspiria," Fulci’s “The Psychic” and Obayashi’s “Hausu” pushed the genre in fascinating new directions. It was also a pivotal year for humankind because Needham’s “Smokey and the Bandit” came out. Also wonderful: Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Friedkin’s “Sorcerer," Verhoeven’s “Soldier of Orange," Badham’s “Saturday Night Fever," Allen’s “Annie Hall," Wenders’ “The American Friend," Buñuel’s “That Obscure Object of Desire," Altman’s “3 Women," Marker’s “A Grin Without a Cat," Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep” and, particularly if you’re a Gemini, ZAZ/Landis’ “Kentucky Fried Movie." 

The New Hollywood aesthetic ran headlong into Old Hollywood glamour, and the resulting collision wound up being one of the greatest films ever made. But enough about Larry Hagman’s “Beware! The Blob." Seriously, “The Godfather” was that rare film that delivered artistically and commercially (an achievement that would, ironically, lead Francis Ford Coppola to financial ruin). It had a lot of high-quality company in ’72: Huston’s “Fat City," Fosse’s “Cabaret," Rohmer’s “Love in the Afternoon," Bogdanovich’s “What’s Up, Doc?," a Ritchie twofer of “The Candidate” and “Prime Cut," Bertolucci’s “Last Tango in Paris," Buñuel’s “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie," May’s “The Heartbreak Kid," Tarkovsky’s “Solaris," Herzog’s “Aguirre: The Wrath of God," Bruce Lee’s “Fist of Fury," Francis’ “Tales from the Crypt," Trumbull’s “Silent Running," Hitchcock’s “Frenzy” and Fulci’s “Don’t Torture a Duckling."

"The year that gave us not just Ruggero Deodato’s “Cannibal Holocaust" but also Antonio Margheriti’s “Cannibal Apocalypse." And “Raging Bull." Just an insane year before you factor in the rest of it. But factor we shall! Fassbinder’s 15-and-a-half-hour “Berlin Alexanderplatz," Kurosawa’s comeback “Kagemusha," Kershner’s “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back," De Palma’s “Dressed to Kill," Malle’s “Atlantic City," Kubrick’s “The Shining," Mackenzie’s “The Long Good Friday," Rush’s “The Stunt Man” and Resnais’ “Mon oncle d’Amérique." Two of the most influential comedies of the decade hit that summer (“Caddyshack” and “Airplane!”), as did Robert Zemeckis’ cult favorite “Used Cars." This was also the year of Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate," which has seen its critical reputation do a 180 over the last few decades. Fuller’s “The Big Red One," Demme’s “Melvin and Howard." Cause for celebration or consternation: the massive success of “Friday the 13^th" signaled that the slasher craze was here to stay. 

The French New Wave officially kicked off with Alain Resnais’ gorgeously somber “Hiroshima mon amour” and François Truffaut’s semiautobiographic “The 400 Blows," while Ed Wood delivered his scrappy pièce de résistance in “Plan 9 from Outer Space” — i.e. this was a wildly diverse year for cinema. On the more skillful side of indie cinema, John Cassavetes unveiled his interracial drama “Shadows," which radically shifted perceptions of what movies could be and do. As for the studios, you still can’t make more satisfying mainstream entertainments than Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest” and Hawks’ “Rio Bravo”; all you can do is equal them. Wilder bounced back in a big way after a few spotty years with “Some Like It Hot." Bresson’s “Pickpocket" is a masterpiece. Satyajit Ray’s “The World of Apu” closed out the filmmaker’s brilliant Apu trilogy. Boetticher continued his Ranown Western series with the terrific “Ride Lonesome." Ozu was nearing the end of his brilliant run, but “Floating Weeds” and “Good Morning” are exceptional works by any standard. 

The year of “Pulp Fiction” vs. “Forrest Gump." The winner: “Speed." 1994 was something of an inflection point for independent film, primarily because it was the year Miramax began to stockpile acquisitions, which, on occasion, was actually released into theaters. The infuriating distributor had a stellar year thanks to the aforementioned Tarantino, Egoyan’s “Exotica," Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures," Boaz Yakin’s “Fresh," Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” and Kieślowski’s “White” and “Red." Amazingly, the year’s best film, Olivier Assayas’ mesmerizing coming-of-age masterpiece, “Cold Water," received no distribution in the United States. Faring a little better: Steve James’ magnificent “Hoop Dreams," Reichardt’s “River of Grass," Burton’s “Ed Wood," Malle’s “Vanya on 42^ndStreet," Kerrigan’s “Clean, Shaven," Hartley’s “Amateur," Darabont’s “The Shawshank Redemption," Zwigoff’s “Crumb," Redford’s “Quiz Show," “Drunken Master II," Wong Kar-wai’s “Chungking Express," the Coens “The Hudsucker Proxy” and Benton’s “Nobody’s Fool.”

As the bloodshed increased in Vietnam and tensions reached a fever pitch at home, the world’s greatest filmmakers held up the mirror to our declining nature to let us know that we were a long, long way from OK. Where to start? Peckinpah’s “Straw Dogs?" Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange?" Siegel’s “Dirty Harry?" Bogdanovich’s “The Last Picture Show?" Russell’s “The Devils?" It was a year rife with downers, none more essential than Altman’s anti-Western “McCabe and Mrs. Miller." The cliché of the bummer ‘70s ending was probably cemented by “The French Connection," which ticked off moviegoers by letting the bad guy get away. But there was still fun to be found: Forman’s “Taking Off," Allen’s “Bananas," Ashby’s “Harold and Maude," Nichols’ “Carnal Knowledge," Hodges’s “Get Carter," Siegel’s “The Beguiled…OK, it was a rough year. Other superlative works: Roeg’s “Walkabout," Malle’s “Murmur of the Heart," Lucas’ “THX-1138," Spielberg’s “Duel," Pakula’s “Klute," Sarafian’s “Vanishing Point," Hellman’s “Two-Lane Blacktop," Rivette’s “Out 1” and Leone’s final Spaghetti Western, “Duck, You Sucker." Also important: Melvin van Peebles and Gordon Parks kicked off the blacksploitation genre with, respectively, “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” and “Shaft."

A sensational year for movies that blessed us with eight stone cold masterpieces: Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy”, Farhadi’s “A Separation," Lonergan’s “Margaret," Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives”, Miike’s “13 Assassins”, Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cutoff”, Malick’s “The Tree of Life” and David Robert Mitchell’s “The Myth of the American Sleepover." And then you have the merely excellent: Alfredson’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," Cornish’s “Attack the Block," Herzog’s “Into the Abyss: A Tale of Life, A Tale of Death”, Scorsese’s “Hugo," Durkin’s “Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene," Soderbergh’s “Contagion," Refn’s “Drive," Wyatt’s “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and Spielberg’s underrated duo of “War Horse” and “The Adventures of Tintin." Easily the best year for movies this decade.

The sci-fi, fantasy and horror genres were roaring in the early ‘80s, with instant classics hitting theaters seemingly every week: Spielberg’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark," Landis’ “An American Werewolf in London," Dante’s “The Howling," Gilliam’s “Time Bandits," Raimi’s “The Evil Dead” (technically an ’81 film, though it didn’t catch on until ’82), Carpenter’s “Escape from New York," Cronenberg’s “Scanners," Hooper’s “The Funhouse," Zito’s “The Prowler” (for the Savini f/x alone), Furie’s “The Entity," and if you are fortunate enough to live in Australia, Miller’s “Mad Max 2” aka “The Road Warrior." And then there were the genre-adjacent likes of De Palma’s “Blow Out”, Ferrara’s “Ms. 45” and Romero’s “Knightriders." All this and “My Dinner With Andre”! Also excellent: Weir’s “Gallipoli," Brooks’ “Modern Romance," Beatty’s “Reds," Petersen’s “Das Boot," Babenco’s “Pixote," Kasdan’s “Body Heat," Rohmer’s “The Aviator’s Wife,<" Waters’ “Polyester,” Passer’s “Cutter’s Way," Tavernier’s “Coup de torchon” and Michael Mann’s “Thief."

New Hollywood was busy putting its stamp on everything from Westerns (Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid”) to film noir (Altman’s “The Long Goodbye”) to gangster flicks (Scorsese’s “Mean Streets”), and it all worked. This was another amazing year from cinema’s greatest decade: Malick’s “Badlands," Truffaut’s “Day for Night," Friedkin’s “The Exorcist," Lucas’s “American Graffiti," Bogdanovich’s “Paper Moon," Ashby’s “The Last Detail," Lumet’s “Serpico”, Yates’ “The Friends of Eddie Coyle," Mazursky’s “Blume in Love," Allen’s “Sleeper”, Fassbinder’s “World on a Wire," Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now," Welles’ “F for Fake," De Palma’s “Sisters”, Bergman’s “Scenes from a Marriage”, and George Roy Hill’s “The Sting”, Katz & Huyck’s “Messiah of Evil," Hardy’s “The Wicker Man”, Romero’s “The Crazies"; an absolutely ridiculous run of movies.

A banner year for film noir: Wilder’s “Sunset Blvd.” Ray’s “In a Lonely Place," Dassin’s “Night and the City," Huston’s “The Asphalt Jungle," Kazan’s “Panic in the Streets," Joseph H. Lewis’ “Gun Crazy," Anthony Mann’s “Side Street," Fleischer’s “Armored Car Robbery” and Maté’s ticking-clock triumph “D.O.A.” For starters. Like Westerns? Can’t do much better than Mann’s “Winchester ‘77” (while Ford’s “Wagon Master," Henry King’s “The Gunfighter” and Mann’s third film of the year, “The Furies”). And that’s just the genre stuff. Then there are scattered all-time greats like Mankiewicz’s “All About Eve," Kurosawa’s “Rashomon," Cocteau’s “Orpheus," Ophuls’ “La Ronde”, Rossellini’s “Stromboli” and Disney’s “Cinderella."

Any year including Huston’s “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”, de Sica’s “Bicycle Thieves”, Sturges’s “Unfaithfully Yours”, Powell & Pressburger’s “The Red Shoes”, Hawks’s “Red River”, Visconti’s “La Terra trema”, Mann’s “Raw Deal”, Reed’s “The Fallen Idol”, Olivier’s “Hamlet” and Ray’s “They Live by Night” is going to rank awfully high. But it falls just shy of the stratosphere due to lesser/minor works from Hitchcock (“Rope”), Ozu (“A Hen in the Wind”), Wilder (“A Foreign Affair”), Welles (“Macbeth”) and Rossellini (“Germany in Year Zero”).

The New Hollywood revolution caught fire with Nichols’ “The Graduate," Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde," Rosenberg’s “Cool Hand Luke” (lens flares, kids!), Boorman’s “Point Blank," Jim McBride’s mockumentary “David Holzman’s Diary” Pennebaker’s “Don’t Look Back” and Theodore J. Flicker’s far-out satire “The President’s Analyst." The political unrest, globally and at home, surfaced in Jewison’s “In the Heat of the Night," Godard’s “Week End” (and “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her”), Lester’s “How I Won the War," Sollima’s “The Big Gundown” and Forman’s “The Firemen’s Ball”. Other highlights: Melville’s “Le Samouraï," Bresson’s “Mouchette," Roy Ward Baker’s “Quatermass and the Pit”, Demy’s “The Young Girls of Rochefort," Polanski’s “The Fearless Vampire Killers," Rohmer’s “La Collectionneuse”, Aldrich’s “The Dirty Dozen," Sjöman’s “I Am Curious (Yellow)”, King Hu’s “Dragon Inn," Wiseman’s “Titicut Follies," Suzuki’s “Branded to Kill," Tati’s “Play Time” and the feature debut of Martin Scorsese, “Who’s That Knocking at My Door?”

Coppola owned this year with the that’s-just-not-fair duo of “The Godfather: Part II” and “The Conversation." These aren’t just two of the best films of the year or the decade. They’re both all-timers. And yet culturally speaking, if you had to single out one film to represent the war-and-corruption-weary sentiment of the era, you’d probably go with Tobe Hooper’s unsparing “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre." Or maybe one of these classics: Pakula’s “The Parallax View," Polanski’s “Chinatown," Peckinpah’s “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia," Altman’s “California Split," Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence," Malle’s “Lacombe, Lucien”, De Palma’s “The Phantom of the Paradise," Boorman’s “Zardoz"...these were strange, unnerving days. Lightening the mood tremendously was Mel Brooks, who pulled off the comedy version of Coppola’s feat by releasing “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein” in the same year.

The home entertainment market had fully exploded by this point, which meant low-budget movies that would’ve never seen the light of a projector in small towns were now available to rent at the local video store — ergo, there was a glut of subpar product. There was also an indie film boom underway, which gave us the Coens (“Blood Simple”), Jim Jarmusch (“Stranger Than Paradise”) and a gem from John Sayles (“The Brother from Another Planet”). The cinematic schizophrenia of the ‘80s is probably best represented by this string of movies: Dante’s “Gremlins," Cox’s “Repo Man," Forman’s “Amadeus," Reitman’s “Ghostbusters," Wenders’ “Paris, Texas," ZAZ’s “Top Secret!” De Palma’s “Body Double," Carax’s “Boy Meets Girl," Cameron’s “The Terminator," Demme’s “Stop Making Sense," LVT’s “The Element of Crime," Craven’s “A Nightmare on Elm Street," Reiner’s “This Is Spinal Tap," Tavernier’s “A Sunday in the Country," Richter’s “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8^th Dimension," Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America,"  Brest’s “Beverly Hills Cop” and Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

The year that delivered the most popular film in the medium’s history (“Gone with the Wind”), the most beloved family film of all time (“The Wizard of Oz”), the Western that set the template for the genre going forward (“Stagecoach”) and a smattering of masterpieces from legendary filmmakers like Jean Renoir ("The Rules of the Game"), Frank Capra (“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”), George Stevens (“Gunga Din”), Ernst Lubitsch (“Ninotchka”), Howard Hawks (“Only Angels Have Wings”) and William Wyler (“Wuthering Heights”). So why isn’t it No. 1? Hitchcock phoned in “Jamaica Inn!"

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 572-minute “The Dekalog” is only one of the most astounding achievements in film history, so this year would rank very high even if the only other film released were Peter Bοnerz’s “Police Academy 6: City Under Siege." But 1989 ranks near the top because this was also the year that gave us Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing," Soderbergh’s “Sex, Lies and Videotape," Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors," Jarmusch’s “Mystery Train," Gus Van Sant’s “Drugstore Cowboy”, John Woo’s “The Killer”, Lehmann’s “Heathers”, De Palma’s “Casualties of War," Kloves’ “The Fabulous Baker Boys," Branagh’s “Henry V," Jane Campion’s “Sweetie”, Miyazaki’s “Kiki’s Delivery Service," Crowe’s “Say Anything…," Reinert’s “For All Mankind," Cameron’s “The Abyss," Herek’s “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure," Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, DeVito’s “The War of the Roses”, Zemeckis’s “Back to the Future Part II," Almodovar’s “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!," Greenaway’s “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover” and Hal Hartley’s perfect little debut, “The Unbelievable Truth." And, screw it, “Lethal Weapon 2."

A pivotal year for Japanese cinema thanks to Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai," Kinoshita’s “Twenty-Four Eyes," two from Naruse (“Late Chrysanthemums” and “Sound of the Mountain”), a pair from Mizoguchi (“Sansho the Bailiff” and “The Crucified Lovers”), Inagaki’s “Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto” and the city-stompin’ debut of “Godzilla." Hitchcock caught fire again with “Rear Window” and the visually playful 3-D exercise “Dial M for Murder," while Rossellini peaked with the sensational “Journey to Italy." Nicholas Ray’s “Johnny Guitar” ranks as one of the greatest and most subversive Westerns ever made; Cukor’s “A Star Is Born” is still the definitive version of that oft-told tale; Kazan’s “On the Waterfront” gave Brando his most iconic pre-Corleone role; and Visconti’s lush melodrama “Senso” is the best thing he ever did aside from “The Leopard." This was a spectacular year on every level, including monster movies (e.g. Jack Arnold’s “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and the giant ants of Gordon Douglas’ excellent “Them”).

Masterpieces: Ozu’s “Tokyo Story," Mizoguchi’s “Ugetsu," Fellini’s “I Vitelloni," Stevens’ “Shane," Fuller’s “Pickup on South Street," Mann’s “The Naked Spur," Clouzot’s “The Wages of Fear," Ophuls’s “The Earrings of Madame de…” and Hawks’ “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." Near-masterpieces: Zinnemann’s “From Here to Eternity," Minnelli’s “The Band Wagon," Rowland’s Seussian “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T” and Tati’s “M. Hulot’s Holiday." Just plain great: Wilder’s “Stalag 17," Pal’s “The War of the Worlds," William Cameron Menzies’ “Invaders from Mars” and André de Toth’s “House of Wax." Swedish master Ingmar Bergman made his mark this year with “Swimming with Monica” and “Sawdust and Tinsel," while Cinemascope debuted with Henry Koster’s “The Robe," Robert D. Webb’s “Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” and Jean Negulesco’s delightful “How to Marry a Millionaire."

Widely considered to be the modern cinema’s answer to 1939, it’s certainly in the conversation on the strength of its surprising number of risk-taking studio releases. Fincher’s “Fight Club," O. Russell’s “Three Kings," Minghella’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley," the Wachowskis’ “The Matrix”, Ang Lee’s “Ride With the Devil”, Liman’s “Go”, PTA’s “Magnolia," Payne’s “Election” and Lynch’s Disney-distributed “The Straight Story”. Meanwhile, mini-majors shook up the multiplexes with Myrick/Sanchez’s “The Blair Witch Project”, Peirce’s “Boys Don’t Cry” and Jonze’s “Being John Malkovich." While it felt like there was a changing-of-the-auteur-guard afoot, relative old-timers like Scorsese (“Bringing Out the Dead”), Mann (“The Insider”), Leigh (“Topsy-Turvy”) and Almodovar (“All About My Mother”) proved they could still hang. Space does not permit a listing of this year’s many great films, but it would feel wrong to exclude “Toy Story 2," the Dardennes’ “Rosetta," Miike’s “Audition," Bird’s “The Iron Giant," Lee Myung-se’s “Nowhere to Hide," Mamet’s “The Winslow Boy” and, of course, Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut."

Arguably the greatest screwball and romantic comedies (“His Girl Friday” and “The Shop Around the Corner” respectively) were released in 1940, which would make up for a lot of chaff. But this was another bumper crop: two Disney all-timers (“Pinocchio” and “Fantasia”), top-tier Hitchcock (“Rebecca” and Foreign Correspondent”), a pair of Preston Sturges delights (“Christmas in July” and “The Great McGinty”), John Ford’s “The Grapes of Wrath," Frank Borzage’s “The Mortal Storm” and, not for nothing, George Cukor’s sublime “The Philadelphia Story."

Ask a filmmaker to compile a list of the 10 movies that most influenced their work, and you’ll find quite a few that include Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey," Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” and Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” — all three of which hit theaters this year. New Hollywood kept churning out sensations like Schaffner’s “Planet of the Apes," Polanski’s “Rosemary’s Baby," Perry’s “The Swimmer”, De Palma’s “Greetings” and Rafelson’s trippy Monkees musical, “Head." Truffaut returned to Antoine Doinel and made the finest film of his career in “Stolen Kisses” (while trying on Hitchcock to less than stellar returns with “The Bride Wore Black”). Mel Brooks got his filmmaking career rolling with the raucous “The Producers." Also notable: Lindsay Anderson’s “if….”, Corbucci’s “The Great Silence," Fischer’s “The Devil Rides Out," Wiseman’s “High School," Lester’s “Petulia," Pennebaker’s “Monterey Pop," Meyer’s “Vixen!” Cassavetes “Faces," Chabrol’s “Les Biches”, Yates’ “Bullitt," Vadim’s “Barbarella” and Peter Bogdanovich’s debut feature, “Targets."

Orson Welles exploded the potential of the medium with his pioneering-in-multiple-respects “Citizen Kane," which has long been the default answer to “what’s the greatest movie of all time.” The rest of the 1941 was pretty extraordinary, too: Howard Hawks’ ebullient “Snow White” riff, “Ball of Fire”; the devastatingly hilarious one-two Preston Sturges punch of “Sullivan’s Travels” and “The Lady Eve”; Raoul Walsh’s crime classic, “High Sierra”; Kenji Mizoguchi’s “The 47 Ronin, Part I”; Michael Powell’s “49^th Parallel”; Lubitsch’s “That Uncertain Feeling”; and Humphrey Bogart cementing his hard-boiled, world-weary legend in John Huston’s “The Maltese Falcon." Disney flew through with the absolutely perfect “Dumbo." Hitch had a somewhat off year behind “Suspicion” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith," but it hardly mattered with this lineup.

So close. Scorsese was already a major filmmaker, but “Taxi Driver” vaulted him into the league of maestros. It was an undeniable masterpiece — perhaps too undeniable, which is why it lost Best Picture to Avildsen’s “Rocky." It had good competition in the runners-up category: Pakula’s “All the President’s Men," Lumet’s “Network” and Ashby’s “Bound for Glory” were also denied. Not that it mattered. Michael Ritchie’s “The Bad News Bears” was the best movie of the year. Also great: Wertmüller’s “Seven Beauties," De Palma’s “Carrie” (and “Obsession”), Cassavetes’ “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie”, May’s “Mikey and Nicky," Larry Cohen’s “God Told Me To," Carpenter’s “Assault on Precinct 13," Satyajit Ray’s “The Middleman," Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth," Parker’s “Bugsy Malone," Kopple’s “Harlan County U.S.A.” and Fassbinder’s “Chinese Roulette."

This is the year that New Hollywood ecstatically/tragically found its equilibrium. Altman and Ashby found the ideal subjects for their shambling, satiric aesthetics and crafted a pair of masterpieces in, respectively, “Nashville” and “Shampoo." Meanwhile, that young upstart Steven Spielberg nicked their shaggy penchant for overlapping dialogue and used it to make "Jaws", which was then the most successful film of all time (it also singlehandedly launched the idea of a "summer movie season"). If only it could’ve stayed like this forever. Kubrick transformed Thackeray’s picaresque “Barry Lyndon” into the tragedy of a twit, and it appropriately stands as his crowning achievement. Also knocking out a career best work was Chantal Akerman, whose “Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles” is an acute observation of a sex worker’s gradual unraveling. Also of note: Lumet’s “Dog Day Afternoon," Pollack’s “Three Days of the Condor," Walter Hill’s “Hard Times," Argento’s “Deep Red," Allen’s “Love and Death," Forman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest," Cooper’s “Overlord," Sembene’s “Xala”, Bartel’s “Death Race 2000," Weir’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock” and, of course, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail."