Movies That shall stand the test of time...

[JewelSong]

Hated Inception. But my sister-in-law thought it was the best movie she had ever seen and could not believe that I didn't like it.

Different strokes.

Shawshank Redemption is one of the few movies that I think is far superior to the book. Everything in that movie just came together and the result transcended itself.

On Golden Pond was enjoyable, but I am not so sure it will "stand the test of time."

[Primula Baggins]

I'm sorry, did you say something?

You lost me at "sorry." Keep it brief, V.

tl;dnr

[Alatar]

On Golden Pond was enjoyable, but I am not so sure it will "stand the test of time."

Surely it already has?

[yovargas]

Anecdotally...I'm only vaguely aware of it so, maybe not?

[N.E. Brigand]

On Golden Pond was enjoyable, but I am not so sure it will "stand the test of time."

Surely it already has?

Who knows? We might start by seeing how it's held up versus other 1981 films. Rather than copying a few thousand 1981 titles from IMDB, let's try to start with some sort of representative sample. I've got here a 1993 coffee-table book by the film historian David Shipman titled Cinema: The First Hundred Years that attempts to describe the significant films of every year in that century; Shipman means to cover not only films he considers valuable, but also those that represent major trends in cinema history and those that were popular at the time (and I would emphasize that he considers more than a few of the films he lists to be failures). The book is partly a condensed version of his much larger 1984 tome, The Story of Cinema. Here are the titles he covers for 1981, which he groups by country of origin:

Reds (U.S.; Warren Beatty)*
Rollover (U.S.; Alan J. Pakula)
Prince of the City (U.S.; Sidney Lumet)*
Body Heat (U.S.; Lawrence Kasdan)
Absence of Malice (U.S.; Sydney Pollack)
True Confessions (U.S.; Ulu Grossbard)*
Cutter's Way (U.S.; Ivan Passer)*
Thief (U.S.; Michael Mann)
Ragtime (U.S.; Milos Forman)
Four Friends (U.S.; Arthur Penn)
All the Marbles (U.S.; Robert Aldrich)
They All Laughed (U.S.; Peter Bogdanovich)
Pennies from Heaven (U.S.; Herbert Ross)
Mommie Dearest (U.S.; Frank Perry)*
S.O.B. (U.S.; Blake Edwards)
The Cannonball Run (U.S.; Hal Needham)
Arthur (U.S.; Steve Gordon)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (U.S.; Steven Spielberg)*
On Golden Pond (U.S.; Mark Rydell)
Chariots of Fire (U.K.; Hugh Hudson)*
Outland (U.K.; Peter Hyams)
Time Bandits (U.K.; Terry Gilliam)
Clash of the Titans (U.K.; Desmond Davis)
Quartet (U.K.; James Ivory)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (U.K.; Karel Reisz)
Gallipoli (Australia; Peter Weir)
Bad Blood (New Zealand; Mike Newell)
Goodbye Pork Pie (New Zealand; Geoff Murphy)
Pixote (Brazil; Hector Babenco)
Mephisto (Hungary; Istvan Szabo)*
Das Boot (W. Germany; Wolfgang Petersen)
Taxi zum Klo (W. Germany; Frank Ripploh)
Man of Iron (Poland; Andrzej Wajda)
Three Brothers (Italy; Francesco Rosi)
Coup de Torchon (France; Bertrand Tavernier)
Diva (France; Jean-Jacques Beineix)
Death Watch (France; Bertrand Tavernier)
La Dame aux Camelias (France; Mauro Bolognini)
Les Uns et les Autres (France; Claude Lelouch)

I've also got with me "Have you seen ...?" A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films, a 2010 book by David Thomson. Each of the 1,000 films that Thomson considers gets an essay of about 750 words. These essays make for most entertaining, by the way, though I think any given reader (who has read any film under discussion) will disagree with Thomson as often as not. The book is organized alphabetically, but there is a chronological list in the back, which indicates that for 1981, Thomson describes eight films, all of which Shipman also mentions; I indicate these above with an asterisk.

What about the Academy Awards? Four of the five Best Picture Oscar nominees for that year are noted in boldface above; the fifth was Atlantic City (Canada; Louis Malle), actually a 1980 film whose U.S. release (and thus Oscar eligibility) was delayed. Chariots of Fire won the top prize, but On Golden Pond won Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay. On the other hand, as I noted elsewhere earlier today: Peter O'Toole's acting never won him an Oscar, so those awards are clearly suspect.

Finally, we might look at the box office records for that year. Wikipedia lists the top ten in the U.S. Five of them appear above, indicated by underlining; the others were Superman II (U.S.; Richard Lester), Stripes (U.S.; Ivan Reitman), The Fox and the Hound (U.S.; Ted Berman and Richard Rich), For Your Eyes Only (U.K.; John Glen), and The Four Seasons (U.S.; Alan Alda).

Has On Golden Pond lasted better or worse than those?

For what it's worth, here's Shipman's brief comment on the film: "Also highly popular was Mark Rydell's On Golden Pond, which, like last year's Ordinary People, thought it was telling life as it was without having the least idea how to do so. It was also highly sentimental and may have owed its appeal to the teaming of Henry Fonda, in his last film, with both his daughter Jane and Katharine Hepburn."

FYI, the film is based on a 1979 Ernest Thompson play which, while by no means considered a masterpiece, has seen many productions.

[N.E. Brigand]

I am especially interested about recent movies. a.k.a. from 1990s-current, since the many movies that are obvious choices like Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane or Lawrence of Arabia have already stood the test of time and are now regarded as classics.

Interestingly, Gone with the Wind is by no means greatly esteemed by critics nowadays (and I don't think it should be). On the other hand, Citizen Kane is no popular classic. Everyone's heard of it but relatively few have seen it.

[narya]

Of the 1981 movies you listed, the two that are for me ground-breakingly memorable, are the Raiders of the Lost Ark and Das Boot. Clash of the Titans was the only movie I've ever walked out on, so it is memorable in a bad way. Some of the remaining movies listed are satisfactory and enjoyable stories, but do not distinguish themselves from their peers, or hundreds of others made since then. For a movie to stand out long term, it has to be both well made, and different than the rest of the pack.

[Primula Baggins]

I saw Citizen Kane a couple of times, once in a theater. It was amazing. It was not a pleasure to watch. It was probably good for me; I have a problem with stories, none of whose characters I give a damn about, and I need to be reminded that those can still be incredible stories.

Though in Kane's case it's not so much the story as the technique. Which is astonishing. Though I can't help comparing it to Paganini's violin compositions, which are lightning storms of virtuosity for the soloist, but not necessarily affecting to the listener as music. So in the end, is it great?

[N.E. Brigand]

Of the 1981 movies you listed, the two that are for me ground-breakingly memorable, are Raiders of the Lost Ark...

I love Raiders; I was nine when it appeared. Shipman and Thomson think much less of it; so, upon its release, did many critics whose views I generally admire. All thrills with no time to reflect was the general complaint. I think I feel similarly about many recent action films.

[Passdagas the Brown]

All the Ghiblis are great, and so is On Golden Pond. Kudos to Al on that one.

I think Magnolia has some of the most truthful scenes of any movie I've ever seen - particularly those involving the police officer played by John C. Reilly. Boogie Nights is also on that level, though some may be very uncomfortable with the subject matter.

I think Inception will be forgotten by next year.

ETA: I think I have to add DOS to this list. Though it was met with mixed reviews, it features the best dragon in film history, and will likely be remembered for it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Wow. Just wow. And I mean that in the best possible way.

N.E.B., I'm pleased that you found this thread, and I'm always happy to see you here.

[yovargas]

All the Ghiblis are great..

As a sidenote, it had recently occurred to me that my ideal director for The Hobbit, and possibly even LOTR, would be Miyazaki. Gimme!

[axordil]

As long as it's not animated...the conventions of anime are not a good fit for Tolkien.

[yovargas]

Yes, animated! I've long thought animation serves fantasy better than live-action anyway. I don't generally like anime but Ghibli is largely well outside the conventions that typically annoy me about anime. The look, style, and tone of Spirited Away or Totoro would work perfectly with The Hobbit. And I would be very happy to see the people behind Princess Mononoke take a stab at LOTR!

[Elentári]

No one's mentioned The French Lieutenant's Woman...that was nominated for five Academy Awards, including best actress for Streep and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), but both lost to On Golden Pond. I remember it being a big hit over here at least.

[Alatar]

I saw it and enjoyed it, but didn't think it was a patch on "On Golden Pond"