I am taking a momentary break from my top ten bad assumption list, from politics, and from philosophy to talk about what is really important:  movies.  So often we see the Oscar for best picture awarded to a movie that is quickly forgotten, while other movies are ignored by the awards but embed themselves in our culture and become part of who we are.  I would argue that the true best movie of any year is not the movie with the best acting, the best cinematography, or receive the most critical claim.  The best movies are the movies that stand the test of time.

I just got back from a theme park visit to Orlando.  Disney’s Hollywood Studios is home to the Great Movie Ride, which re-creates and puts you inside such memorable movies as the Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, and Alien.  That night our group was having a conversation where my wife said “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”  We all knew what she meant.  At that time I decided I wanted to identify for each year what I thought was the most memorable movie.

I used the following criteria for identifying the most memorable movies:

• Memorable movies become part of our culture.  They may directly become part of our culture, showcase stars who become part of our culture, or launch a genre that becomes part of our culture.
• Sequels of memorable movies are not eligible.

This first installment will identify the best movie by year for the 1930s-1940s.  Other installments will look at later decades.  Finally I will identify what I think is the most memorable movies of all time.    I will intersperse these around my other blog entries.  My next blog entry will be the most memorable movies of the thirties and forties.