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

[Detective Jim McLeod]

Films seen- only 14

The Best

Winter Kills
Apocalypse Now
Kramer Vs Kramer
Hair
When A Stranger Calls
The Great Santini
Love On The Run
Best Boy

The Worst

Moonraker

[Swithin]

Best of 1979, in alphabetical order:

Apocalypse Now
Love on the Run
Manhattan
The Marquise of O
The Marriage of Maria Braun
Monty Python's Life of Brian
My Brilliant Career
Quadrophenia
The Tempest
Tess
The Tin Drum
The Wanderers
The Warriors
Wise Blood

[LawrenceA]

1979 (207 seen)

Favorites
Apocalypse Now
Alien
Being There
The Jerk
Monty Python's Life of Brian
All That Jazz
Kramer vs. Kramer
Manhattan
Hardcore
Mad Max
Nosferatu the Vampyre
The Onion Field
Phantasm
Time After Time
The Tin Drum
Wise Blood

Least Favorites
Bog
A Touch of the Sun
Up from the Depths
Wolfman

[kingrat]

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

I still haven't left 1942! Where's the DeLorean when you need it? Feinberg includes some good films I had overlooked, such as Diary of a Chambermaid, which tends not to get good reviews, but is like a precursor of the TV series Soap. I usually think of 1942 as being one of the lesser years of a great decade, but if TCM did an 82nd Anniversary Salute to 1942, there would sure be a lot of good films to watch.

1979 was a good year, and 1951 is even better!

[kingrat]

1979:

North Dallas Forty
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Wise Blood
The Onion Field
Tess
My Brilliant Career
Being There
Breaking Away
Norma Rae
Kramer vs. Kramer
Saint Jack
Time After Time

Excellent in parts: All That Jazz (the casting sequence); Apocalypse Now (the parts with Robert Duvall and Frederic Forrest, not the opening scene with Martin Sheen or the closing scenes with Marlon Brando); Manhattan (fast forward through the Mariel Hemingway scenes)

I remember liking these without much memory of them:

A Man, a Woman, and a Bank
Bear Island

[Feinberg]

1979

Out of the 115 films that I have seen from this year these are my favourites ranked in order ...

Apocalypse Now
Manhattan
Alien
Bye Bye Brazil
All That Jazz
Tess
Breaking Away
The Onion Field
The Tin Drum
10
Kramer vs. Kramer
Buffet Froid
The Black Stallion
The Rose
Clair de Femme
The Great Santini
Escape From Alcatraz
Norma Rae
Best Boy
Going In Style
The China Syndrome
The Marriage of Maria Braun
Moonraker
Rich Kids
Richard Pryor Live In Concert
Over the Edge
Murder by Decree
A Priceless Day
Courage Fuyons
Heartland
Stalker
Real Life

and here are some that I didn't care for at all:

The Tomorrow Man
The Brood
Caligula
Death Car on the Freeway
In Search of Historic Jesus
Players
The B_itch
Chapter Two
My Brilliant Career
Hurricane
The Tempest
1941
Hair
More American Graffiti
Dead Mounaineer's Hotel

[Swithin]

One of the nice things about this thread is that it has brought Lawrence back and has also energized Feinberg.

[Feinberg]

"Brought me back from the dead."
- Jan Rubes, The Amateur

[CinemaInternational]

Welcome back to 1951! We shall see which films from the year are admired most! The next year up will be 1986.

1951
Films seen:102

The Best
1 Diary of a Country Priest
2 The African Queen
3 A Streetcar Named Desire
4 On Dangerous Ground
5 Quo Vadis
6 An American in Paris
7 I'd Climb the Highest Mountain
8 Show Boat
9 The Magic Box
10 Strangers on a Train
11 On Moonlight Bay
12 The Mating Season
13 The House on Telegraph Hill
14 The Lavender Hill Mob
15 Alice in Wonderland
16 Death of a Salesman
17 The Model and the Marriage Broker
18 The Desert Fox
19 The Day the Earth Stood Still
20 Miracle in Milan
21 A Place in the Sun
22 Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
23 Scrooge
24 The Browning Version
25 The Red Badge of Courage
26 People Will Talk
27 Callaway Went Thataway
28 Westward the Women
29 Early Summer
30 He Ran All the Way
31 His Kind of Woman
32 Across the Wide Missouri
33 Angels in the Outfield
34 Cause for Alarm!
35 The Great Caruso
36 Royal Wedding
37 Follow the Sun
38 Here Comes the Groom
39 Jim Thorpe -- All American

The Worst
1 Sealed Cargo
2 Laughter in Paradise
3 Flying Leathernecks
4 The Man with a Cloak
5 The People Against O'Hara
6 Behave Yourself!
7 The Tales of Hoffmann

[Detective Jim McLeod]

1951 Films seen-31

The Best

Detective Story
Strangers On A Train
A Streetcar Named Desire
A Place In The Sun
Ace In The Hole
Death Of A Salesman
The Day The Earth Stood Still
Along The Great Divide
People Will Talk
The Well

The Worst (though they are not too bad)

I Was A Communist For The FBI
Abbott And Costello Meet The Invisible Man
The Mob
Ghost Chasers

[Swithin]

1951, in alphabetical order:

Alice In Wonderland
The Blue Veil
The Browning Version
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Diary of a Country Priest
I Was an American Spy
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Lemon Drop Kid
The Man in the White Suit
Scrooge (though I prefer 1938)
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Thing

[Feinberg]

1951

Out of the 114 films that I have seen from this year these are my favourites ranked in order ...

A Christmas Carol
The African Queen
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Outcast of the Islands
Strangers on a Train
The Magic Box
Decision Before Dawn
A Streetcar Named Desire
Alice In Wonderland
Bright Victory
The Red Badge of Courage
The Browning Version
Ace In the Hole
Detective Story
Cry, the Beloved Country
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Thing From Another World
Death of a Salesman
Quo Vadis
The Desert Fox
Miracle In Milan
Diary of a Country Priest
Rawhide
Tom Brown's Schooldays
Knock
The 13th Letter
The Lost One

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

Her First Romance
People Will Talk
Flight to Mars
It's a Big Country
Show Boat
Ten Tall Men
Soldiers Three
Bedtime For Bonzo
On the Riviera
The Six Men
The Madame Gambles

[LawrenceA]

1951 (177 seen)

Favorites
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Detective Story
Strangers on a Train
The Thing from Another World
Ace in the Hole
The African Queen
Bright Victory
The Browning Version
Come Fill the Cup
Decision Before Dawn
Diary of a Country Priest
Early Summer
The Idiot
The Lost One
A Place in the Sun
A Streetcar Named Desire

Least Favorites
The Blonde Pick-Up
Ding Dong
The Butler's Night Off
Gold Raiders
Lost Continent
The Magic Carpet

[kingrat]

1951 was a very good year:

Cry, the Beloved Country
Strangers on a Train
The African Queen
An American in Paris
Decision Before Dawn
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
On Dangerous Ground
The Prowler
Early Summer
The Browning Version
He Ran All the Way
Westward the Women
Diary of a Country Priest
Ace in the Hole
Come Fill the Cup

ABDL List (Admire But Don't Love):

A Place in the Sun
A Streetcar Named Desire

And 1951 would have been a fine year if it had only had these films:

The Blue Veil
A Christmas Carol
Cry Danger
The Desert Fox
Detective Story
The First Legion
His Kind of Woman
The House on Telegraph Hill
I'd Climb the Highest Mountain
Laughter in Paradise
The Lavender Hill Mob
Miracle in Milan
The Model and the Marriage Broker
Othello
The People Against O'Hara
Quo Vadis
Rawhide
The River
Royal Wedding
Show Boat
Sous les toits de Paris
The Steel Helmet
The Tall Target
Teresa
Thunder on the Hill
Tomorrow Is Another Day

[Feinberg]

Regarding Orson Welles' The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice - I would place this as a 1952 film and think the imdb gets it wrong when considering it released in 1951. According to researchers, the 1951 screening of Othello was an Italian dub of the film purely designed to attract investors to enable the film to be completed. So, it was a work-in-progress screening and the version that was screened no longer exists.
For the longest time the imdb considered Othello to be a 1952 film until someone got wind of this solo 1951 investor screening. Again, I think it erroneous to consider it a 'release' date.