Ranking Only the Best (and the Very Worst) of a Movie Year Project

[CinemaInternational]

Seeing the one thread back on the front page concerning your favorite films of years ending with 4 made me think that it has been a while since we have done an intensive ranking films by year thread, and I wanted to put of a different spin on the idea....

Most years typically have more than 10 interesting films in the year, so it would be nice to rank more than 10 films, but also at the same time, it would be nice to spare time having to list every film one has seen from a year, thus leading to many middling or forgettable films that could be interchangably ranked.

So enter what I hope will be a system that works where we do ranked lists of films that were wonderful or at the very least extremely pleasing for each year, and also, if you so choose, you get a chance to zing the year's worst with a worst film of the year dishonor, and even have a dishonorable mention if you so choose.

Another twist is that the years featured will be non-sequential in order, so we can switch from classic era years to more modern years, and back again. I hope this all sounds okay to everyone.

This thread will be inaugurated with the year of 1968, and the next year up, after several more participate with this year over the next day or two, will be 1942. Please remember, it's all for fun and for recommending films to others. Let's go!

[CinemaInternational]

1968
Films Seen: 86

The Best:
1 Rachel, Rachel
2 Pretty Poison
3 The Bride Wore Black
4 The Subject was Roses
5 The Shoes of the Fisherman
6 The Swimmer
7 Hot Millions
8 Stolen Kisses
9 Funny Girl
10 Planet of the Apes
11 Romeo and Juliet
12 The Night They Raided Minsky's
13 Where Eagles Dare
14 No Way to Treat a Lady
15 Isadora
16 The Thomas Crown Affair
17 The Fixer
18 I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!
19 The Detective
20 Buena Sera, Mrs. Campbell
21 The Party
22 Barbarella
23 Secret Ceremony (sorry, Lawrence)
24 The Killing of Sister George
25 The Lion in Winter
26 The Anniversary
27 Finian's Rainbow
28 The Love Bug
29 Yours, Mine, and Ours
30 Targets

The Worst:
1 Skidoo
2 A Place for Lovers
3 Boom!
4 Diamonds for Breakfast
5 The Young Runaways

[Detective Jim McLeod]

I will try it. I am going by IMDB's year.

Films seen-41

The Best-

2001 A Space Odyssey
Planet Of The Apes
Rosemary's Baby
Targets
Once Upon A Time In The West
Funny Girl
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
No Way To Treat A Lady
Romeo And Juliet
Night Of The Living Dead
The Lion In Winter
The Swimmer
The Boston Strangler
Hour Of The Wolf
I Love You Alice B Toklas
The Subject Was Roses
High School

The Worst-
Barbarella
The Sweet Ride
The Crimson Cult

[Swithin]

I can't possibly do this in the order of "Best," so it's more or less alphabetical.

The Best:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Barbarella
Carry On Up the Khyber
The Devil Rides Out
Kuroneko
The Night they Raided Minsky’s
Rosemary’s Baby
Skammen/Shame
Stolen Kisses
The Subject Was Roses
Three in the Attic
Witchfinder General

Honorable Mention:

Destroy All Monsters, for the ending, from the entrance of the Earth's monsters to fight the alien monsters, to the end of the movie.

The Lion in Winter, I'm embarrassed to say I've never seen the whole film, but I knew Tony Harvey, the director, and have had connections to other cast members. I like what I've seen of the film.

[CinemaInternational]

Good morning! The focus now will turn to 1942, a year firmly in the Golden Age of Hollywood. The next year up in a day or two will be fully in the newer era; the year in question will be 1996.

1942

Films Seen: 100

The Best:
1 Random Harvest
2 Bambi
3 The Magnificent Ambersons
4 The Talk of the Town
5 Now, Voyager
6 The Major and the Minor
7 Keeper of the Flame
8 Mrs. Miniver
9 Casablanca
10 Roxie Hart
11 The Pride of the Yankees
12 Yankee Doodle Dandy
13 Kings Row
14 Reap the Wild Wind
15 The Glass Key
16 The Big Street
17 The Palm Beach Story
18 Road to Morocco
19 Gentleman Jim
20 Take a Letter, Darling
21 Holiday Inn
22 Tortilla Flat
23 I Married a Witch
24 My Favorite Blonde
25 The Lady is Willing
26 Cat People
27 A Night to Remember
28 To Be or Not to Be
29 Across the Pacific
30 In This Our Life
31 They All Kissed the Bride
32 Moontide
33 My Sister Eileen
34 This Above All
35 Woman of the Year
36 You Were Never Lovelier
37 Springtime in the Rockies
38 Orchestra Wives
39 The Man Who Came to Dinner
40 The Pied Piper
41 All Through the Night
42 Pittsburgh

The Worst:
1 Syncopation
2 White Cargo
3 The Wife Takes a Flyer
4 Her Cardboard Lover

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Films seen-25

The Best

The Ox Bow Incident
Now Voyager
This Gun For Hire
Road To Morocco
My Favorite Blonde
Pride Of The Yankees
Went The Day Well?

The Worst

Black Dragons
Pardon My Sarong

[CinemaInternational]

Welcome back for another year! Today's topic will be about 1996, giving us our first entry into the last decade of the 20th Century. It is definitely a year of ups and downs, with some films that are wonderful and some that are not good to contemplate. Shall we? The next year up in our journey will be 1979.

1996

Films Seen: 93

The Best:

1 The English Patient
2 The Portrait of a Lady
3 Mother
4 Hamlet
5 Marvin's Room
6 The First Wives Club
7 Two Days in the Valley
8 The Mirror Has Two Faces
9 Everyone Says I Love You
10 Mary Reilly
11 Fargo
12 The Long Kiss Goodnight
13 Secrets and Lies
14 Set It Off
15 The Birdcage
16 Lone Star
17 Evita
18 Get On the Bus
19 Scream
20 Breaking the Waves
21 Fly Away Home
22 Carried Away
23 Surviving Picasso
24 The Spitfire Grill
25 A Time to Kill
26 The Truth About Cats and Dogs
27 The Hunchback of Notre Dame
28 Matilda
29 The Frighteners
30 A Family Thing
31 Mulholland Falls
32 Waiting for Guffman
33 Bottle Rocket
34 Michael Collins
35 Walking and Talking


The Worst:

1 The Adventures of Pinocchio
2 Space Jam
3 She's the One
4 The Crucible
5 The Cable Guy
6 That Thing You Do!
7 Jack
8 The War at Home
9 In Love and War
10 The People Vs. Larry Flynt
11 William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
12 I'm Not Rappaport

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Films seen-40

The Best

Sling Blade
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills
I Shot Andy Warhol
2 Days In The Valley
Fargo
Waiting For Guffman
Night Falls On Manhattan
Kissed
The Trigger Effect

The Worst

Ratchet
Mulholland Falls
The Fan
Scream
The Island Of Dr Moreau

[LawrenceA]

1996 (277 films seen)

Favorites
Fargo
Trainspotting
The English Patient
Basquiat
Bottle Rocket
The Ghost and the Darkness
Hamlet
Hard Eight
Lone Star
Mars Attacks
Mission: Impossible
Pusher
Scream
Secrets & Lies
Sling Blade
Star Trek: First Contact
A Time to Kill
Waiting for Guffman

Least Favorites
Feeders - One of the all-time great bad movies.
Blood Slaves of the Vampire Wolf
Ed
Bio-Dome
Barb Wire
Solo
Leprechaun: In Space

[Swithin]

I was incredibly busy in 1996 and didn't see that many films, but what I saw was choice. These are the very best, in alphabetical order.

Angels and Insects
Beautiful Thing
Cold Comfort Farm
The English Patient
Lilies (Les Feluettes)
Secrets and Lies
A Summer's Tale (Conte d'été)

[Feinberg]

1996

Ot of the 153 films that I have seen from this year, these are the ones that I like ranked in order ...

Bound
Lone Star
Fargo
La Promesse
Secrets and Lies
I Shot Andy Warhol
Mother
Breaking the Waves
Kolya
Trainspotting
The English Patient
The People vs. Larry Flynt
Flirting With Disaster
Waiting For Huffman
Everyone Says I Love You
Stealing Beauty
Sling Blade
Looking For Richard
Deep Crimson
Microcosmos
Executive Decision
Blood and Wine
Swingers
Daytrippers
Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
When We Were Kings
Twister
Goodbye South, Goodbye
Killer Condom

And here are a few that I really didn't care for at all ...

Spy Hard
Crash
Michael
The island of Dr. Moreau
Kissed
The Heist
Fire
The Mirror Has Two Faces
The Nutty Professor

[kingrat]

Meanwhile, back in 1942:

Top of the list, made in 1942 but Oscar-eligible in 1943:

Casablanca
In Which We Serve

Melodrama rules!! Alphabetical order for these Rat-worthy films:

In This Our Life
Johnny Eager
Kings Row
The Magnificent Ambersons
Now, Voyager
The Palm Beach Story (best comedy)
Went the Day Well?

Also much enjoyed, alphabetical order:

All Through the Night
The Black Swan
The Gay Sisters
The Glass Key
Joan of Paris
The Man Who Came to Dinner
The Moon and Sixpence
Mrs. Miniver
My Favorite Blonde
Random Harvest
Reap the Wild Wind
Road to Morocco
Roxie Hart
This Gun for Hire
To Be or Not To Be

French treat: The Murderer Lives at No. 21

[Feinberg]

1942

Out of the 104 films that I have seen from this year these are my favourites ranked in order ...

Casablanca
The Magnificent Ambersons
The Palm Beach Story
Bambi
To be or Not to Be
Yankee Doodle Dandy
In Which We Serve
Mrs. Miniver
This Gun For Hire
Tortilla flat
The Major and the Minor
Take a Letter Darling
Tales of Manhattan
Nazi Agent
Diary of a Chambermaid
Saboteur
Woman of the Year
Jungle Book
Cat People

and here are the ones that I didn't care for at all ...

Friendly Enemies
The Night Has Eyes
Song of the Islands
Arabian Nights
Once Upon a Honeymoon
Gert and Daisy's Weekend
Submarine Raider
Flying Fortress
The Wife Takes a Flyer
Obliging Young Lady
This Was Paris
When Johnny Comes Marching Home

[Feinberg]

1968

Out of the 154 films that I have seen from this year these are my favourites ranked in order ...

2,001 A Space Odyssey
Bullitt
Once Upon a Time In the West
The Lion In Winter
Rosemary's Baby
Oliver!
Stolen Kisses
The Charge of the Light Brigade
Romeo and Juliet
Targets
Isadora
if ...
Planet of the Apes
Where Eagles Dare
Coogan's Bluff
High School
Faces
Funny Girl
Je T'aime Je T'aime
Pretty Poison
Hour of the Wolf
The Boston Strangler
Paper Lion
Yellow Submarine
Rachel, Rachel
The Odd Couple
Ohyaku: The Female Demon
The Fixer
Head

and here are the ones that I didn't care for at all ...

House of Cards
The Hour of the Furnaces, Part 1
Chubasco
The Vengeance of Fu Manchu
Candy
The Biggest Bundle of Them All
Shalako
Anzio
Mars Needs Women
The Fastest Guitar Alive
She-Devils on Wheels
Joanna
Finian's Rainbow
The Vengeance of She
The Birthday Party
Live a Little, Love a Little
Sergeant Ryker
The Secret War of Harry Frigg
Corruption
Three Resurrected Drunkards
Secret Ceremony
Monsieur Hawarden
Il Sosia
The Long Day's Dying
Gone, Body Snatcher From Hell
Negatives
Work Is a Four Letter Word
The Mercenary

[CinemaInternational]

Welcome back! The focus of today will be 1979. The next year up will be 1951.

The Best:

1 All That Jazz
2 Breaking Away
3 My Brilliant Career
4 Apocalypse Now
5 A Little Romance
6 Kramer Vs. Kramer
7 Norma Rae
8 Wise Blood
9 Yanks
10 10
11 Time After Time
12 Starting Over
13 Agatha
14 Promises in the Dark
15 Alien
16 Hardcore
17 The Marriage of Maria Braun
18 The Wanderers
19 The Electric Horseman
20 Tess
21 Star Trek: The Motion Picture
22 The China Syndrome
23 The Black Stallion
24 Chapter Two
25 The Runner Stumbles
26 Last Embrace
27 The Jerk
28 A Perfect Couple
29 The Seduction of Joe Tynan

The Worst:

1 1941
2 The Amityville Horror
3 Sunburn
4 And Justice for All...