THE GREATEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME, PART ONE – COMEDIES

The Greatest Movies of All Time – Comedies

Movie lists from Paul Preston, Steven Lewis, Adam Witt & Matt Welton

Compiled by Paul Preston

We’re Movie Guys. We love to talk about movies.

So one day I thought a good topic of conversation would be to tell fellow Movie Guy Steven Lewis that not only had I come up with a favorite movie of all time, but a favorite movie of each year, for every year I’ve been alive. This is what I thought would be a good thing to do with my time.

Not to be outdone, Steve countered with his top ten favorite films of all time, alphabetically. Steve thought this the best way to be productive with his day.

As one thing that leads to another often does, now myself, Steve, Matt Welton & fellow Movie Guy Adam Witt have compiled lists for best of all time, and best superhero, comedy & horror films of all time. They’re here for your perusal. Why? Look, you don’t want to go to Movie Jail, never having seen that fantastic movie that is an absolute classic, do you? And you DO want to be that guy who has the great idea for Movie Night at Dave’s house that half the room hasn’t seen, and aren’t you the shit for bringing that movie to the party, right? So next time you need to rent, buy or illegally download a new film, hit our lists until you’ve seen everything on them.

I think you’ll find great variety in our tastes, which are all over the place. And this is HARD to do, as referenced by the NUMEROUS “special mention”s. The greatest movies of all time are always changing, but this is how we feel right now:

PAUL PRESTON

TOP COMEDIES, BY YEAR, SINCE 1970
(Author’s Note – apparently I love ’80s comedies! Ties running rampant! In fact, I can come up with more titles I left off of the list from the ’80s that I like more than my favorite comedies of the last ten years or so that MADE the list. And special note – the movies I’ve laughed at hardest in my life are “The Naked Gun”, “There’s Something About Mary” and “Borat” – PP)

1970-The Out-of-Towners
1971-Harold and Maude
1972-I Got Nothin’ (not a movie title)
1973-Sleeper
1974-Blazing Saddles (special mention – Young Frankenstein)
1975-The Strongest Man in the World
1976-The Pink Panther Strikes Again
1977-The Kentucky Fried Movie
1978-National Lampoon’s Animal House
1979-Real Life (special mention – The Muppet Movie, The Jerk)
1980-Airplane! / The Blues Brothers (special mention – Caddyshack)
1981-Stripes
1982-Tootsie (special mention – Night Shift)
1983-National Lampoon’s Vacation / The Man With Two Brains / Trading Places (special mention – Risky Business, Mr. Mom)
1984-Ghostbusters (special mention – This Is Spinal Tap, All of Me, Beverly Hills Cop, Splash, Top Secret!)
1985-Lost in America / Fletch / Real Genius / The Breakfast Club / Back to the Future (yes, a five-way tie)
1986-Ruthless People
1987-Broadcast News (special mention – Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Roxanne, Raising Arizona, The Princess Bride, Moonstruck)
1988-The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (special mention – Midnight Run, Working Girl, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Big, Bull Durham)
1989-Parenthood / Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
1990-The Freshman
1991-LA Story / City Slickers / What About Bob? / Defending Your Life / Soapdish (yes, a five-way tie)
1992-Wayne’s World
1993-Groundhog Day
1994-The Ref
1995-Toy Story
1996-The Nutty Professor
1997-Liar Liar
1998-There’s Something About Mary
1999-South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
2000-Me, Myself & Irene
2001-Bridget Jones’s Diary
2002-About Schmidt
2003-Elf
2004-Sideways (special mention – Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy)
2005-The 40-Year-Old Virgin
2006-Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2007-Knocked Up
2008-Role Models
2009-Black Dynamite
2010-Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
2011-Puss N Boots
2012-Seven Psychopaths
2013-The Wolf of Wall Street
 
 
 
 
 

STEVEN LEWIS

TOP COMEDIES, BY YEAR, SINCE 1976
(Author’s Note: In considering the list, I specifically kept my focus on solidly “Ha Ha” comedy, using as my gauge “What movie from this year made me laugh the hardest?” Not necessarily “Which comedy gave me the most insight” or “Which one was most redolent of the human condition?” I bring this up because films like “Sideways” and “As Good As It Gets” and “Silver Linings Playbook” are technically classified as comedies – but I maintain there’s just as much (if not more) “drama” in each of those movies, and it’s not fair to stack them up against flicks whose only (or main) goal is to make you laugh. Now, sometimes the most insightful of comedies from a given year is also the funniest (“Tootsie”, “Groundhog Day”) but this is often not the case, and in making a determination between different styled comedy flicks, I chose for this list the one I considered overall the FUNNIEST. – SL)

1976-The Pink Panther Strikes Again
1977-The Goodbye Girl
1978-Heaven Can Wait
1979-Monty Python’s Life of Brian
1980-Used Cars
1981-Stripes
1982-Tootsie
1983-National Lampoon’s Vacation
1984-This Is Spinal Tap
1985-Fletch
1986-Ruthless People
1987-Planes Trains and Automobiles
1988-The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
1989-Parenthood / When Harry Met Sally
1990-Joe Vs. The Volcano
1991-L.A. Story
1992-Death Becomes Her
1993-Groundhog Day
1994-Pulp Fiction (not technically a comedy, but I laughed harder at it than any other movie this year – an AWFUL year for comedies! As a matter of fact, the early ’90s in general was a pretty meager time for screen comedy)
1995-Toy Story
1996-The Cable Guy
1997-Liar Liar / Grosse Pointe Blank
1998-Bulworth / The Truman Show
1999-Galaxy Quest
2000-High Fidelity
2001-Monsters, Inc. (special mention – Series 7: The Contenders)
2002-Adaptation (special mention – Bubba Ho-Tep)
2003-Looney Tunes: Back in Action
2004-Dodgeball
2005-The 40-Year Old Virgin
2006-Little Miss Sunshine
2007-Superbad (if I *HAVE* to pick something – fuck this year though,
comedically speaking)
2008-Iron Man (again, not technically a comedy but funnier than anything else out there; fuck this movie year, too!)
2009-Zombieland / (500) Days of Summer
2010-Knight and Day
2011-Crazy Stupid Love
2012-NOTHING. LITERALLY NOTHING. I REFUSE TO EVEN MAKE A CHOICE FOR THIS YEAR!
2013-American Hustle

ADAM WITT

1972-Pink Flamingos
1973-American Graffiti
1974-Female Trouble
1975-Monty Python and The Holy Grail
1976-The Pink Panther Strikes Again
1977-Kentucky Fried Movie
1978-National Lampoon’s Animal House
1979-The Jerk
1980-Airplane! (Funniest movie ever made)
1981-Stripes
1982-48 Hrs.
1983-Strange Brew
1984-Ghostbusters
1985-Fletch (special mention – Breakfast Club, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Clue, Real Genius ­ wow)
1986-Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
1987-Raising Arizona (special mention – Planes, Trains, and Automobiles)
1988-The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad (special mention – Midnight Run)
1989-National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
1990-Gremlins 2?
1991-Hot Shots
1992-Brain Donors
1993-Groundhog Day
1994-Clerks
1995-Mallrats
1996­-The Cable Guy
1997-Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
1998-The Big Lebowski
1999-Rushmore
2000-Best In Show
2001-Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back
2002-Jackass: The Movie
2003-Bad Santa
2004-Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (much like I would say the horror genre desperately needed “Scream”, comedy desperately needed Judd Apatow, night and day before and after)
2005-The 40-Year Old Virgin
2006-Borat: Cultural Long Titles Indicating Foreignness
2007-Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
2008-Tropic Thunder
2009-Black Dynamite
2010-The Other Guys
2011-Horrible Bosses
2012-21 Jump Street
2013-We’re The Millers
2014-So far…Muppets Most Wanted
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

MATT WELTON

TOP COMEDIES, BY YEAR, SINCE 1974

1974­-Blazing Saddles
1975­-Monty Python and The Holy Grail
1976­-Is Network a comedy? If it is, Network.
1977­-Annie Hall, I guess.
1978­-National Lampoon’s Animal House
1979­-Monty Python’s Life of Brian / and The Muppet Movie (with the Jerk thrown in… good year)
1980­-Caddyshack
1981­-History of the World, Part 1 (I have to rewatch Stripes… haven’t seen that in a while, it may be Stripes)
1982­-Tootsie (no matter what Dustin Hoffman says about it being a drama)
1983­-National Lampoon’s Vacation
1984­-This is Spinal Tap
1985­-Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
1986­-Three Amigos
1987­-Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn
1988­-The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
1989­-Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
1990­-Home Alone… I guess
1991­-The Fisher King… if that’s a comedy, I don’t know… America begins to lose it’s sense of humor.
1992­-My Cousin Vinny
1993­-Groundhog Day
1994­-Dumb and Dumber
1995­-Billy Madison
1996­-The Cable Guy
1997­-Waiting For Guffman
1998­-There’s Something About Mary
1999­-South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
2000­-Meet The Parents
2001­-Zoolander
2002­-Jackass: The Movie… if Bubba Ho Tep came out this year, maybe that one instead.
2003­-Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
2004­-Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
2005­-The 40-Year Old Virgin
2006­-Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
2007­-Enchanted
2008­-Burn After Reading
2009­-In The Loop
2010­-Despicable Me
2011­-The Artist
2012­-Silver Linings Playbook
2013­-This Is The End
2014­-So far… Muppets Most Wanted.