This great film kicks off perhaps the best decade of movies

From the fifties, I like:

The Asphalt Jungle
No Way Out
In a Lonely Place
On Dangerous Ground
The House on Telegraph Hill
The Man Who Cheated Himself
Pushover
Sabrina
Lili
Elevator to the Gallows (French movie)
How to Marry a Millionaire

and some others, including various British comedies.

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Jim Hutton: talented gorgeous hot hunk; adorable as ElleryQueen; SEXIEST ACTOR EVER

I give the 50s a slight edge over the 70s as the best decade of movies.

Nicholas Ray, Sam Fuller, Anthony Mann, Ida Lupino, Elia Kazan, Douglas Sirk, and Budd Boetticher directed some fine features dealing with issues of the times and remain fascinating. Many of the veteran directors also did some of their best work during that decade like Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, William Wyler, and John Ford.

"I think we've out-sophisticated ourselves out of some of the pleasures of movies."

Eh. In ranking each decade from the 20s through the 2010s, the 50s ranks somewhere close to the bottom for me personally. Couple of 50s films I really enjoyed:

- The Creature from the Black Lagoon
- Some Like It Hot
- How To Marry a Millionaire
- Alice in Wonderland
- The Asphalt Jungle

My favorite film decade is a tie between the 30s and the 00s.

Though admittedly I haven't seen some of the more well regarded films from the decade. Strangers on a Train, Seven Samurai, All About Eve, Rear Window, Vertigo, Ben Hur. But I intend to at some point. Who knows? Maybe my opinion will change when I do.

I would end up giving that edge to the forties. The fifties were still fantastic for film. The last great decade in my eyes. Cinema sort of went down the drain around the time Kennedy was assassinated.

You mentioned a few great films like Paths of Glory, but left out a lot of the best, most iconic pictures of the fifties. Films like Sunset Boulevard, Rear Window, Shane, Ben-Hur, High Noon, Vertigo, Roman Holiday, On the Waterfront, The Ten Commandments, Witness for the Prosecution, and Anatomy of a Murder. What a splendid few decades of classic cinema this country had.

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I used to think I knew everything about the world. Now I just know that it's round.

I liked the '40's and '70's.

This thread's title is the exact truth because The Asphalt Jungle premiered January 1, 1950, and it is indeed magnificent as the OP states.

My favorite film noir movie.

No one here mentioned Bridge on the River Kwai? For shame.