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Find out the best movie released in the year you were born

The Dark Knight, The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption all ranked highly. (WB/Paramount/Columbia)
The Dark Knight, The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption all ranked highly. (WB/Paramount/Columbia)

Everyone has their own favourite movies, but do you know what the best film that was released in the year you were born?

Inspired by this concept, the experts at OnBuy.com decided to look into the highest rated films according to IMDb from the past 50 years to see if the highest rated film of your birth year, set the tone for your life.

They’ve gone back to 1968 (sorry for the over 52s out there), tallying the ratings for every film released each year, and have also looked into each decade too.

The highest rated movie from the ‘70s is Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 hit, The Godfather. With a high score of 9.2 out of 10, it’s likely this mafia crime classic will be remembered forever. The highest rated movie from the ‘80s is blockbuster classic Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, scoring 8.7 out of 10.

Watch The Shawshank Redemption trailer below...

The next highest rated movie is not just the best of the ‘90s, but the highest rated movie of all time on IMDb: the 1994 hit The Shawshank Redemption, which scores an impressive 9.3 out of 10.

The highest rated movie from the noughties is Christopher Nolan’s Bat-sequel The Dark Knight, released in 2008 and scoring 9 out of 10. The Tenet filmmaker also has the highest rated movie from the past decade, as Inception, released in 2010 scores 8.8 out of 10.

Read more: Christopher Nolan’s films ranked

The individual top-rated films, released every year from 1968-2019 is below.

Year

Film

IMDb Rating

1968

Once Upon a Time in the West

8.5

1969

Z

8.3

1970

Woodstock

8.2

1971

A Clockwork Orange

8.3

1972

The Godfather

9.2

1973

The Sting

8.3

1974

The Godfather: Part 2

9

1975

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

8.7

1976

Taxi Driver

8.3

1977

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

8.6

1978

The Last Waltz

8.2

1979

Apocalypse Now

8.4

1980

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

8.7

1981

Raiders of the Lost Ark

8.4

1982

Koyaanisqatsi

8.3

1983

Scarface

8.3

1984

Amadeus

8.3

1985

Back to the Future

8.5

1986

Aliens

8.3

1987

Full Metal Jacket

8.3

1988

Cinema Paradiso

8.5

1989

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

8.2

1990

Goodfellas

8.7

1991

The Silence of the Lambs

8.6

1992

Reservoir Dogs

8.3

1993

Schindlers List

8.9

1994

The Shawshank Redemption

9.3

1995

Se7en

8.6

1996

Fargo

8.1

1997

Good Will Hunting

8.3

1998

Saving Private Ryan

8.6

1999

Fight Club

8.8

2000

Gladiator

8.5

2001

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

8.8

2002

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

8.7

2003

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

8.9

2004

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

8.3

2005

Batman Begins

8.2

2006

The Departed

8.5

2007

Like Stars on Earth

8.4

2008

The Dark Knight

9

2009

Inglourious Bastards

8.3

2010

Inception

8.8

2011

The Intouchables

8.5

2012

Django Unchained

8.4

2013

The Wolf of Wall Street

8.2

2014

Interstellar

8.6

2015

Inside Out

8.1

2016

Your Name

8.4

2017

Coco

8.4

2018

Avengers: Infinity War

8.4

2019

Parasite

8.6