1939 THE WIZARD OF OZ (Fleming) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of the most troubled sets of all times produced this miracle. Not sure what to say, and even if I did, being a Christian woman, I'm not sure I could say it. Let's say this: it anchors the lineup of what is widely seen as one of the greatest years in Hollywood movies. It's one of the perfect films. You've seen it. Even if you haven't seen it, you've seen it.

Also notable: The Rules of the Game, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Women

1940 HIS GIRL FRIDAY (Hawks) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
Just edging out The Philadelphia Story. Fans of that film mustn't blame me; instead, blame Rosalind Russell. She like this movie simply has what the French call ... the French call ... well I don't know what it is, but she's sui generis, and Grant here gives smooth as good as he gave flustered in 1938's entry.

Also notable: The Philadelphia Story, Fantasia

1941 THE MALTESE FALCON (Huston) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️
The greatest detective story of all time wins in a strong year, but this movie just won't be denied. My favorite Bogie performance (yes, even better than that one) an expert slow hard-boil as a man of *almost* no principles who finds his line at last. Ridiculously deep supporting cast, plot just twisty enough, environs perfectly seedy, ending grim and jaded, just like McPoyles like it.

Also Notable: Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve

1942 CASABLANCA (Curtiz) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️

As if it was ever going to be anything else.

You must remember this: flawless is just flawless.

Also notable: Yankee Doodle Dandy was pretty good.

1943 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (Pressburger & Powell) ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
The Archers score for the first but definitely not the last time. As with all their films, it's a feast for the eyes, but it might be the most thematically rich, as a then-famous caricature of blinkered and antiquated late 19th century British military jingoism is humanized, reimagined, and forced to contend with the insanity of fascism and industrialized warfare.

(This is the only film I've seen from 1943)

1944 ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐⭐ DOUBLE INDEMNITY (Wilder)
Great noir, or the greatest noir? No greater femme fatale than Stanwyck, in any case. The smolder levels are unworldly, and while Fred MacMurray acquits himself well, it's her show. I usually wait for a second viewing before adding the final half-star, but this one's straight down the line. Might be the best movie I've only seen once; a fact I should correct very soon.

(This is the only film I've seen from 1944)

1945

By some strange accident, I haven't seen any features released in the year 1945.

Incidentally, this is the last time we'll have a year I've seen either no movies or just one movie. There's a handful more where it's only 2 or 3, but by the mid 50s my pick will be from a considerably wider selection.

Now I'm just excited that I have so many movies from 1949 or earlier to watch.

1946 NOTORIOUS (Hitchock) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Surprised that Cary Grant shows up so often on this list, and displaying such range in performances while consistently appearing beside leading ladies who were nevertheless outshining him. Best Supporting Actor in Lead? But this is Bergman's film, as a socialite who goes as deep cover as possible, marrying into a Nazi plot; she gives a slow burn of brave terror. Directed by some "Hitchcock" dude; this is my 2nd favorite of his films.

Also notable: The Big Sleep

1947 BLACK NARCISSUS (Powell & Pressburger) ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
The Archers score again! This one might be a little left of the bullseye for me—I found it took a little while to get to the point, and did so slowly—but it builds in power and intensity as it goes until it reaches its grandiose conclusion, and drops enough stunningly surreal visuals along the way to hint at what's to come in a couple years. Has strong potential to improve upon rewatch.

Also notable: n/a

1948 THE RED SHOES (Powell/Pressburger) ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐⭐
The Archers' masterpiece, an impossibly gorgeous Technicolor wonder that's enchanting enough as a sort of precursor mashup of A Star Is Born and Whiplash—posing love and artistic grandeur as oppositional and mutually exclusive forces ... and then delivers the 20 minute titular ballet itself, a surrealist masterpiece danced by leading lady Moira Shearer, that I'd nominate as the single greatest scene in cinema.

Also notable: nothing comes close

1949 THE THIRD MAN (Reed) ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐⭐
Great noir, or the greatest noir? The zippy zither, the breezy narration, and the slow slow slide into the ☝️ hell, (or 👇 heaven) of divided postwar Vienna. The best batch of character actors this side of Casablanca. The cat, the balloons, the ultimate reveal. The ferris wheel, the ants, the cuckoo clock, old man. The chase through the sewers. The perfection of the final shot.

Damn. I want to go watch this again right now.

Also notable: n/a

1950 SUNSET BOULEVARD (Wilder) ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐⭐
Great noir, or the greatest noir? One of the first about The Industry; after approximately a half century, it's already going to seed. Hollywood eats its own, starting with the actresses and the writers. Holden's our ostensible protagonist, but Swanson demands the spotlight, giving pathetic and dignified simultaneously. Never any doubt on whose side Wilder's sympathies lie—he even casts fellow directors to take her part.

Also notable: All About Eve, Rashomon

1951 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (Kazan) ⭐️⭐⭐⭐
It's unmissable metatext time, as Old Hollywood meets the new hotness, and the new hotness rampages all over it without concern for its delicacy or depths. Kazan's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' gothic drama is justly lauded. Leigh is ferocious in her own way, but in the end, just as there's no denying Stanley, there's no denying Brando (except at the Oscars, where he was the only un-statued member of the cast).

Also notable: Alice in Wonderland

1953 UGETSU (Mizoguchi) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A dark fable, inscrutable mystery, ghost story, and morality play. The sustained tone becomes more entrancing the further we fall into the dream of two men falling into their foolish dreams of wealth and glory, juxtaposed with the grim reality of the women they leave behind.

Also notable: Tokyo Story

1954 REAR WINDOW (Hitchcock) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
My favorite Hitchcock (though I have to watch The Birds again) is his pulpy meditation on watching and being watched. Manages to make a single courtyard feel like the world, an inert protagonist (as opposed to a hero) feel dynamic, and builds tension from the slightest motion. The set feels like a stage you could just keep falling into. Grace Kelly's finest screen performance, right? It's Jimmy Stewart's for sure. I love this thing.

Also notable: Seven Samurai

1955 THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Laughton) ⭐️⭐⭐⭐⭐
Famously the greatest of one-off directorial efforts: Laughton made a single perfect film and then dropped the mic and walked off. Maybe he lost interest, maybe he thought he couldn't never top himself, or maybe he just said all he had to say. It's miraculous either way. A film with a completely different time zone. Nightmare logic from a child's subconscious. Gish vs. Mitchum in a confrontational sing-off will give you chills.

Also notable: Ordet

1956 NIGHT & FOG (Resnais)⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Some date confusion here, as Letterboxd puts this as a 1955 release, but Wikipedia puts it in 1956; regardless, this documentary short deserves attention. A meditation on the Shoah featuring stock footage and contemporary color footage of abandoned WWII death camps, which refuses to dismiss the reality of something that happened in the then very recent past, or to let the memory of truth fade into the mist. It's a difficult but vital watch.

Also notable: n/a

1957 A FACE IN THE CROWD (Kazan) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This year presents a feast; hurts to choose just one, but aw hell, let's go with Elia Kazan's in-my-opinion greatest film. Marred only by an overly optimistic ending, headlined by an absolutely ferocious Andy Griffith (yes, that's right), this dark drama looks at populism and media and points with almost perfect aim up the line from then to now.

Also very very notable: Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, Nights of Cabiria, Paths of Glory, 12 Angry Men

1958 TOUCH OF EVIL (Welles) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Great noir, or the greatest noir? OK, there is a flaw: you have try to get past the casting of Chuck Heston as a Mexican lawman, but otherwise it's all good badness, one good man's quick slide into corruption in a border town where the bad guys are bad and the good guys might be worse, and keeping your hands clean isn't an option. Opening tracking shot is legendary for a reason. Marlene Dietrich gets the final word.

Also notable: No Time For Sergeants

1959 THE 400 BLOWS (Truffaut) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The French New Wave's introduction to both itself, François Truffaut, and Truffaut's semi-autibiographical screen muse, Antoine Doinel, here an intelligent but neglected boy gone almost feral, curious about a world that seems incurious about him. It's been 20 years since I watched this and its overdue for a refresh; I mean my God, that's 20 blows per year.

Also notable: Some Like It Hot

1960 THE APARTMENT (Wilder) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
One of the best films ever to win Best Picture, and still my favorite from a stacked year. An inky comedy with a deceptively hopeful heart, about loneliness, moral complicity, and abusive systems that make both inevitable—a description that really makes it seem like a drag rather than the glorious bitter fizz that it is.

Also notable: L'Aventura, Psycho

Not quite my cup of teeth, but deserving of rewatch/mention: Breathless and La Dolce Vita

1961 THE HUSTLER (Rossen) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This spare, lean movie is—like The Apartment, now that I think about it—about loneliness, moral complicity, and abusive systems that make both inevitable. But there's no hopeful heart this time; this is a mean dog and it eats whatever it can catch. Entire cast is astonishing, anchored by an early-peak Newman performance that demonstrates his willingness (eagerness?) to use his insuppressible charm in service of playing genuine bastards.

Also notable: n/a

1962 THE MUSIC MAN (DaCosta) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This movie is so much fun from start to finish and gets better every time I watch it—which my family does about once a year. Just one of those movies where everything works, stuffed with quotable lines and indelible comedic performances. Robert Preston and Harold Hill is one of those cases of the actor finding the perfect role, or maybe vice versa. What do you call this one? You call this one Shipoopi.

Also notable: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

1963 8½ (Fellini) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
A movie that seems more modern than its time, in part because it's creating modernity. Fellini's surrealist postmodern meta-fable manages to sustain its dreamlike flopsweat intensity, but more than that it manages to be simultaneously exude self-aware cool and self-deprecating comedy, with Marcello Mastroianni effectively becoming Fellini (or letting Fellini see himself as Mastroianni?), here seen as a filmmaker who can't make a film.

Also notable: The Birds, Contempt

1964 MY FAIR LADY (Cukor) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐
Hepburn and Harrison and Holloway, oh my! Another pitch-perfect 60s musical that I watch with my family about once a year. This one is so enduringly delightful—and so clearly in Eliza's corner by inviting us to revel in Higgins' boobery—that I can't help but forgive the flop of the last 5 seconds. (In my headcanon it is a figment of Higgins' imagination.) Stunningly gorgeous, perfectly hilarious.

Also notable: Mary Poppins, Dr. Strangelove (it was close)

1965 THE SOUND OF MUSIC (Wise) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Climb every mountain! Might strike people as a corny pick, but I love it. It's Andrews' best role, the songbook is great, it's very funny in a wholesome sort of way, and the vistas! It's Christopher Plummer's Captain Von Trapp that gives this thing a beating heart, though. These days, it's not too hard to relate to a man watching his beloved country overrun by people of monstrous intent.

Also notable: n/a

1966 PERSONA (Bergman) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Too impenetrable to be my favorite Bergman, but nice to see one of my favorite directors pop up on the list. This psychological mystery is the first of an (unintentional) tryptic of trancelike films by different directors that see identity become confused and porous in an increasingly symbiotic relationship between two women. Bet the others will appear before I'm done.

Also notable: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly; The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!

1967 PLAYTIME (Tati) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐
Not sure what to say, but some films are utterly unique, and this is one. Perhaps the evolutionary answer to Modern Times, with Mr. Hulot as our new Tramp observing more than participating. Endlessly inventive, like nothing else out there. Humanity is the character rather than any specific human. Sometimes silly, sometimes moving, sometimes intense, sometimes still. I'd say you should watch it.

Also notable: Bonnie & Clyde, Point Blank

1968 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (Kubrick) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐

An astonishing vision. Leaves me speechless.

Also notable: Rosemary's Baby, Once Upon A Time In The West

1970 KELLY'S HEROES ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐
Clint Eastwood headlines this lackadaisical WW2 caper, and he's nice and Eastwoody, but the supporting players steal it from him and run away with it. One of the sneaky sleepers of the 70s, this one is just pure fun. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Also notable: Little Big Man

1971 MCCABE & MRS MILLER (Altman) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐
My favorite western, my favorite Altman (which makes it my favorite film from my favorite director), and my favorite fur coat.

The leads are tremendous, the languorous pacing toward a final fate relentless, and the subversion of genre tropes (while also embracing them) delectable, but what I love most is the sense of place, that ineffable Altman vibe, which is never so strong again as it is here. It's got poetry.

Also notable: The Last Picture Show

1972 SOLARIS (Tarkovsky) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Probably the most accessible of this director's films, and presently my favorite (though I bet repeat watches of Mirror and Stalker will raise them in my estimation). An earthier 2001, more interested in humans where the earlier film pondered humanity. A space film that plumbs the interior depths of identity and memory, and stuns with the implications of its final shot.

Also notable: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie; Cries & Whispers, The Godfather, Cabaret

1973 THE LONG GOODBYE (Altman) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
Great postmodern noir, or the greatest postmodern noir? My favorite director continues to dominate the decade he dominated. This Lebowski precursor follows a reimagined Marlowe (Elliot Gould is never better) through the beats of Chandler's plot, but the stakes always seem to be no higher than one aimless man's idle curiosity...until suddenly we realize what savvy Marlowe always knew: we were watching "The Third Man" all along.

Also notable: Paper Moon

1974 CHINATOWN (Polanski) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Great postmodern noir, or the greatest postmodern noir? Nicholson's cynical private sleuth digs into marital infidelity and quickly starts to plumb the seedy depths of LA's wealthy elite underworld (overworld?), only to discover there's no bottom to be found. Robert Towne's script is justly lauded as one of the greatest ever. Faye Dunaway fierce. John Huston terrifying.

Also notable: The Conversation, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

1975 LOVE AND DEATH (Allen) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Not here, not on the piano. It's a rented piano.

Allen's "early funny period" is generally seen to peak with "Annie Hall"; for my money the zenith is here, with this endlessly quotable spoof of 19th century Russian literature, and my favorite comedy. For my money Dianne Keaton's finest comic performance.

Also notable: Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

1976 NETWORK ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
A flawless cast delivers what may be the 70s fiercest comedy. Part of a throughline from "A Face in the Crowd" to today, this may have seemed like a broader satire when it came out than it does now; it feels almost understated today. Impossible to shake the sense that it's not just predicting the future but observing it. Ned Beatty's "come to Jesus" moment lives in my head rent-free.

Also notable: Carrie

1977 3 WOMEN (Altman) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐
One last Altman for the road as we barrel into the late 70s. Identity becomes confused and porous in an increasingly symbiotic relationship between two women, part 2 (see 1966). This entry adds a third woman, some evocative and disturbing mural art, and some new age sunshine trance to its fever dream of modern loneliness. Spacek and Duvall are so good in this it hurts.

Also notable: Eraserhead was almost my pick and might become the winner after a second watch.

1978 BLUE COLLAR (Schrader) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This devastating portrayal of class warfare and exploitation of labor in rust belt America. Three friends on a Michigan assembly line (Harvey Keitel, Yaphet Kotto, and Richard Pryor) embark on a comically inept heist scheme that sets them on a path to defy The Man—that is, the factory management and union bosses. The outcome is never in doubt; but watching a rigged game play out draws real blood.

Also notable: Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Days of Heaven