well, the obvious problem with the title is “how do you define ‘great’?”
of course everyone that has answered the question has been “correct” – “greatness” is determined by individual tastes. Consider that the credit for creating the “modern summer blockbuster” belongs to “Jaws” (1975) – which was the “greatest box office success” of all time until “Star Wars” (1977) – but if we did a survey of “movie critics” my guess is that neither movie would be in the top 10 if the question is “Name the greatest movie of all time”.
Box Office
Using “raw box office” as a measure of greatness had obvious problems. Most obvious is that “ticket prices” have increased greatly – e.g. in 1940 you could buy a movie ticket for $0.25 – a quarter of a dollar, in 2023 it is considerably more.
If you want to use “ticket sales” as a measure of “greatness” OTHER problems pop-up. In this case “modern movies” expect to make MOST of their ticket sales in the first two weeks or release, will probably not be in wide theatrical release after four weeks, and will probably be available for “home consumption” (in the form of a digital download) in a few months after release.
Before the mid 1980’s “home consumption” of a “major movie” would have been to show it on network television. There were “annual events” for some traditional favorites – “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) was shown annually from 1959 to 1991, “The Ten Commandments” (1956) is still shown annually around “Easter” Time.
Once upon a time “Gone With the Wind” (1940) had been shown in the same theater for decades – so it is the hands down, never gonna be beat “ticket sales” champion movie of ALL TIME.
Awards
Remember that ANY “awards show” is inherently biased. The “Academy Awards” in particular are an “industry insider” group that – for the most part – gives out awards to other “industry insiders.”
SO I notice the Academy Awards when they come out – but I do not consider them a “measure of greatness.” I’m not saying the awards are “not important” – certainly they are important to the folks that get nominated and/or win. I’m just pointing out that the awards are “voted on” by some group and are NOT useful for comparative purposes – e.g. if “movie A” won an Oscar but “movie B” did not win any awards does it automatically mean that “movie A” is BETTER than “movie B”? Nope.
Categories
Is being “ground breaking” the measure of “greatness?” “Birth of a Nation” (1915) helped create the “cinematic vocabulary” we take for granted (but the ending is obviously ‘problematic’) – “Citizen Kane” (1941) also broke ground on “camera movement and special effects” (which is why the ‘movie critics’ tend to love Orson Welles in general and “Citizen Kane” in particular) – “Casablanca” (1942) is in a category all its own but I’ll hold it up as an example of “script greatness.”
to be fair (and for convenience) – there need to be multiple categories, “maybe greatest movie BEFORE ‘television’” (because the “studio movie” standards had to be raised when folks could get “basic entertainment” for free over the air – e.g. a lot of those “old movies” from the 30’s and 40’s feel like “television productions” in terms of length and content – e.g. “Frankenstein” (1931) and “Bride of Frankenstein” (1935) are around 1 hour each – watching them back to back tells a complete story)
then we need to have a “greatest movie under the ‘studio’ system” AND “production code” category – if you are thinking “production code? what is that?” – well, there was a time when ALL movies where “general admission” – the MPAA didn’t come up with the “rating” system until 1968, BEFORE 1968 the “Production Code” was a form of self-censorship that put restrictions of “language and behavior” (e.g. try finding a “major U.S. movie” from before 1968 with profanity or nudity – I always love to point out “The Dirty Dozen” (1968) as working very hard to not use profanity)
oh, and then there are the “not in English movies” – “Breathless” (1960) is a great movie (French crime drama). Akira Kurosawa’s work (Japanese director) had a HUGE influence on American cinema – e.g. even casual “western fans” have probably heard that “The Magnificent Seven” was based on Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”
Personal Bias
Since I was young and impressionable in the 1970’s the work of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Francis Ford Coppola has a special place in the “nostalgia chest” – intellectually I can say that “Schindler’s List” (1993) is Mr Spielberg’s “greatest artistic achievement” while still saying I love “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.
The Godfather and The Godfather part II are great movies – but my personal favorite “Coppola” movie is “Apocalypse Now.”
As for Mr Lucas – “American Graffiti” (1973) is still a lot of fun to watch (and it foreshadows the “story telling” techniques used in the “Star Wars” franchise – at one level you can say that Mr Lucas was exploring the relationship between “man and machine” in both movies). “The Empire Strikes Back” is arguably a “better” movie than “Star Wars” or “Return of the Jedi”, but c’mon they didn’t even blow up a Death Star!
No discussion on “big budget blockbusters” would be complete without mentioning James Cameron – I was blown away by the 3D effects in “Avatar” (2009) and “Titanic” (1997) was so full of special effects that people don’t think of it as being full of “special effects” (e.g. no, they did not build a replica of the Titanic – it was mostly “computer generated images” (CGI) – and that CGI was part of why it was the “most expensive movie” of all time back in the 20th Century).
BUT my favorite “James Cameron” movies are “The Terminator” (1984) and “Aliens” (1986) – as always YMMV
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