In this week’s Roundtable, let’s look back in time a little and mark some milestones. What was the best movie released the year you were born? This may or may not happen to be the film that won the Oscar that year, but we’re really interested in movies from your birth year that you’ve actually seen and enjoyed.
Shannon Nutt
I was born in 1969, and while most would associate that year with ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ or perhaps Best Picture winner ‘Midnight Cowboy’, for me there’s only one name that comes to mind: Bond… James Bond.
Yes, 1969 marked one of the most interesting Bond movies to date, as George Lazenby got his one and only shot playing 007 in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service‘. For many Bond fans, Lazenby represents the worst of the actors to play the character. However, the movie itself contains one of the franchise’s best scripts ever, as Bond falls in love, gets married and loses his bride at the hands of his number one nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (played here by Telly Savalas). It’s the only Bond movie to end on a downer, and for that reason, it’s also one of the most memorable films in the series.
Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)
I was born all the way back in 1978, and that means I was “released” alongside the likes of ‘Animal House’, ‘Superman’, ‘Halloween’, ‘Grease’ and ‘The Deer Hunter’. That’s obviously exceptional company to keep. More significantly for me, though, 1978 also marked the debut of ‘Dawn of the Dead‘. My introduction to the film came courtesy of a triple feature of ‘Night’, ‘Dawn’ and ‘Day of the Dead’ at the tender age of 11 or so. (Thanks, Dad!)
It’s hard to fully convey what a profound impact George Romero’s zombie epic has had on my life. ‘Dawn of the Dead’ is the movie that made me fall in love with the medium. I’d been surrounded by horror flicks for my entire life up to that point, but my decades-long fascination with the genre really dates back to that one Sunday afternoon. ‘Dawn of the Dead’ is to blame for zombies being the only movie monsters to really unnerve me. I’ve devoured ‘Dawn’ endlessly over the past quarter-century, and it to my eyes remains a stone-cold classic and has aged spectacularly well. As hyperbolic as it might sound, I sincerely think I’d be a very different person if not for that movie at that age.
Mike Attebery
The year was 1978. The newcomer was me. The movies were ‘Grease’, ‘Halloween’, ‘The Deer Hunter’, ‘Animal House’, ‘Dawn of the Dead’, ‘Watership Down’, ‘Jaws 2’, ‘Heaven Can Wait’ and ‘Days of Heaven’. Among others. Not being a horror fan, ‘Halloween’ and ‘Dawn of the Dead’ are not my favorites. I think ‘Animal House’ is vastly overrated. ‘Watership Down’ scared the ever-living shit out of me when I was a kid. ‘Heaven Can Wait’ is okay, but someone else can wait to sit through ‘Days of Heaven’. ‘Jaws 2’ is… ‘Jaws 2’. ‘The Deer Hunter’ I haven’t seen (shame on me).
But one movie captured my imagination like none other. When I was little, I used to go absolutely insane whenever it aired on TV. For me, the best movie from the year I was born is ‘Superman: The Movie‘ featuring the only Superman who will ever matter, Christopher Reeve.
Brian Hoss
Let’s see what opened in 1982. ‘First Blood’, ‘The Thing’, ‘Conan the Barbarian’, ‘Wrath of Khan’ and ‘Pink Floyd: The Wall’ are all great movies. There’s even ‘E.T.’, ‘Poltergeist’, ‘Sophie’s Choice’, ‘Gandhi’ and ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’. But then came one of the year’s biggest bombs: ‘Blade Runner‘. With one of the most visually influential films of all-time, 1982 has a strong case for being one of the best year’s in film, period.
Tom Landy
When I was younger – much younger, in fact – I had a thing where I was under the impression that if a movie was older than me, then it was crap. ‘Star Wars’ was my favorite movie growing up, and being released the year after I was born kind of saved it from my own law in my twisted little pre-teen mind. Of course, I’ve wised up over the years since then.
Now if I had to pick a favorite film from my birth year of 1976, I think I’d have to go with ‘Rocky‘ – although ‘Taxi Driver’ is a close second. The story about the Italian Stallion is just an all-around great piece of cinema and the film that truly made Sylvester Stallone a star. But really, mom, couldn’t you have held me in for another month and a half?
Junie Ray
I looked through the various lists of movies from 1972: the top grossing films, the most Oscars, the best user ratings. Even though it’s the obvious choice showing up at the top of all the lists, I have to go with ‘The Godfather‘. I’d like to pretend that this movie didn’t make much of an impression on me and that the mafia genre is not really my thing. However, I’ve read all the ‘Godfather’ books and seen all the movies multiple times. Just as this film became the benchmark for a generation of mafia movies (and some say for the mobsters themselves), its vocabulary has become ingrained in me as well. I’ve occasionally uttered such phrases as, “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse,” or “going to the mattresses.” I’ve also developed a distrust for people named Fredo. The movie left a lasting impression well beyond 1972.
Luke Hickman
While many know 1980 as the year that ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ was released, I’m especially proud of it being the year that ‘Airplane!‘ hit the big screen. Although completely inappropriate for children, it’s somehow a movie that I recall watching frequently throughout my childhood. The movie has so many memorable lines and bits.
“I’ve got a drinking problem.”
“Don’t call me Shirley.”
Regarding coffee: “I take it black, like my men.”
“You ever seen a grown man naked?”
“Do you like movies about gladiators.”
“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.”
It’s too bad this style of humor has died off.
Josh Zyber
1974 was a pretty huge year for film. It’s next to impossible to decide whether Roman Polanski’s ‘Chinatown‘ or Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Godfather, Part II‘ is allegedly a better movie than the other. They’re both stone-cold masterpieces. If I were absolutely forced at gunpoint to choose, I’d probably go with ‘Chinatown’, if only because it’s a standalone work that doesn’t require having seen a previous movie to fully appreciate.
Although often overlooked, Coppola also released another, smaller-scale film that year, the paranoid conspiracy thriller ‘The Conversation‘, which is also great, great movie that deserves to be more widely seen.
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What was the best movie released during your birth year? Tell us in the Comments.
Scott
1964
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. ( okay, so it’s tv. I just had to list it.)
Mary Poppins
My Fair Lady
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
Just to name a few…
Dan
Top movie was “The Robe”
Jose Rodriguez
From 1994:
Pulp fiction
Shawshank Redemption
The lion king
Forrest Gump
Speed
True lies
Dumb and dumber
The mask
Trond Michelsen
Hmm. I’m not too impressed with the movies released in 1972, to be honest. The Godfather is the obvious choice, and it’ll top my list as well.
The runners-up for me are Fritz the Cat and Pink Flamingos.
Ryan
Lot’s of classics from 1979… Alien, Apocalypse Now, The Jerk….
While I appreciate the above, I think Rocky 2 speaks to me the most. I grew up on Rocky more than almost any other franchise. Thankfully, part 2 is one of the better ones!
Ryan
On a side note…is this just a subtle trick to see how old your user base is?
William Henley
If that is true, from the comments listed, it looks like the user base is predominately 30-45 male, with a nice bell curve peaking around 35-42 (1972-1979), but also indicates people as low as 20 all the way up to 70s. The graph would also indicate that there are more readers on the younger end of that curve (20-35) rather than on the older end of the bell curve (the over 45s).
Whether that was the intent of the roundtable or not, I actually had fun myself kind of paying attention to exactly this.
Csm101
Do you know that for sure? Could there be any catfishes in the crowd? Maybe I’m really a 20 year old college girl not in Florida who gets her jollies off reading about high-def news and equipment. ; )
William Henley
🙂 You can only base a claim on this with the information people give. If the people give flawed data, it will skew the results
Josh Zyber
AuthorNo need for trickery. This topic will lead into the next one.
We ran a poll a few years back directly asking readers’ ages:
http://www.highdefdigest.com/blog/vital-stats-poll/
Scott H
I was born in 1982 and my favorite movie from that year is The Thing. From the opening where your not sure why the helicopter is chasing after and shooting at a dog, to not knowing who is sick. Also the effects work still hold up to this day. Also its one of the scariest movies. Poltergeist comes in at a close second.
Timcharger
I was looking through some ads for upcoming media releases…
…so Josh, you must be a Taylor Swift fan?
Is that where you got the idea for this Roundtable?
Josh Zyber
AuthorI can assure you that I have never paid the slightest bit of attention to Taylor Swift. What’s the connection to this topic?
Chris B
Her new album is entitled 1989, same year as her birth.
Josh Zyber
AuthorHad no idea.
Timcharger
I just thought it was a curious coincidence.
Usually these Roundtable topics relate to a recent movie release or
to current events.
Nothing wrong with being a Taylor Swift fan. No offense meant.
Josh, you don’t need to hand in your Man Card for being a Swift fan.
Suuure. We believe you. It’s pure coincidence. 🙂
Josh Zyber
AuthorDidn’t have any good tie-in ideas for Friday’s movies. We just did a Roundtable on war movies recently.
Timcharger
War is relevant every week. That’s a given for our nation & global affairs.
Ted S.
I was born a couple of months after a little film called Star Wars in 1977. I also enjoyed Black Sunday and Close Encounter of the Third Kind from that year.
Jakdonark
That’s funny. I loaded it just before I replied and non of the ones, including yours, showed up until after I posted. And how could I forget CE3K!?!?!
Jakdonark
I meant to say none of the posts from this afternoon showed up until after I posted.
Jakdonark
I’m late to the game, but I win… Star Wars! Very close runner up is Smokey and the Bandit. I saw it when I was 4 or 5 the first time and it’s always been one of my favorites.
William Henley
Depends on your inner geekdom – I got to claim Star Trek The Motion Picture! Depending on which group of geeks you ask, I may have won!
Trond Michelsen
Sure, there’s always the dark side 😉
George Spears III
Heh I clicked this from the image then after reading the article saw that it was only an image referencing nostalgia it didn’t apply for any of you?
Hmm 1985…nothing good really came out then…
I JEST
Take your pick from 3 family classics
Back to the Future
The Breakfast Club
The Goonies
hmm what else…
Ran
The Color Purple
Brazil
HelenB
1952 was the year of :
Singing in the Rain
High Noon
The Quiet Man
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Lord Bowler
1977… and it’s got to be Star Wars!
Jason Maston
1979…lets see shall we!
Alien
Mad Max
Apocalypse Now
The Life of Brian
Rocky II
The Muppet Movie
The Jerk
1941 (don’t judge!)