Looking back through the decades at the movies that resonated with audiences each year is always a little bit like taking a quick trip back through history and getting the temperature of the zeitgeist of the time. It’s also interesting in that feelings about movies evolve over time: Some that were box office hits at the time fade from our collective consciousness, others that didn’t fare well at the time of release have grown to be considered classics in the years since.

The folks at online marketplace OnBuy decided to figure out which movies from each year for the last half-century are the highest-rated today. Combing through the rankings of IMDb movie ratings, they put together this list. To make it easier, I’ve broken it up by decade and put in bold which movie from each decade is highest-rated. Check out the results:

1960s & 70s

1968 – Once Upon a Time in the West
1969 – Z
1970 – Woodstock
1971 – A Clockwork Orange
1972 – The Godfather
1973 – The Sting
1974 – The Godfather: Part II
1975 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
1976 – Taxi Driver
1977 – Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
1978 – The Last Waltz
1979 – Apocalypse Now

1980s

1980 – Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
1981 – Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 – Koyaanisqatsi
1983 – Scarface
1984 – Amadeus
1985 – Back to the Future
1986 – Aliens
1987 – Full Metal Jacket
1988 – Cinema Paradiso
1989 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

1990s

1990 – Goodfellas
1991 – The Silence of the Lambs
1992 – Reservoir Dogs
1993 – Schindlers List
1994 – The Shawshank Redemption
1995 – Se7en
1996 – Fargo
1997 – Good Will Hunting
1998 – Saving Private Ryan
1999 – Fight Club

2000s

2000 – Gladiator
2001 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2002 – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2003 – The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2004 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 – Batman Begins
2006 – The Departed
2007 – Like Stars on Earth
2008 – The Dark Knight
2009 – Inglourious Bastards

2010s

2010 – Inception
2011 – The Intouchables
2012 – Django UnChained
2013 – The Wolf of Wall Street
2014 – Interstellar
2015 – Inside Out
2016 – Your Name
2017 – Coco
2018 – Avengers: Infinity War
2019 – Parasite

That is an excellent list. Let’s take it a step further and rank the Top 10 highest-rated movies of the past 50 years.

Top 10 Movies Highest-Rated Movies of Past 50 Years

Ranked by IMDb rating:

10. 13-way tie: Z, A Clockwork Orange, The Sting, Taxi Driver, Koyaanisqatsi, Scarface, Amadeus, Aliens, Full Metal Jacket, Reservoir Dogs, Good Will Hunting, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Inglourious Basterds (8.3)
9. 7-way tie: Apocalypse Now, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Like Stars on Earth, Django Unchained, Your Name, Coco, Avengers: Infinity War (8.4)
8. 6-way tie: Once Upon a Time in The West, Back to the Future, Cinema Paradiso, Gladiator, The Departed, The Intouchables (8.5)
7. 6-way tie: Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, The Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, Saving Private Ryan, Interstellar, Parasite (8.6)
6. 4-way tie: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Goodfellas, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (8.7)
5. Tie: Fight Club and Inception (8.8)
4. Tie: Schindler’s List and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (8.9)
3. Tie: The Dark Knight and The Godfather: Part II (9.0)
2. The Godfather (9.2)
1. The Shawshank Redemption (9.3)

As you can see, there’s a tie if not an outright bottleneck for almost every single spot, which just goes to show you how excellent The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption are that they so clearly stand above the rest in the #2 and #1 spots.

Do you agree with the rankings for each decade? How about the best-rated movie ranking in general?