Earlier quoted context omitted.
These days, the commonly accepted wisdom is that movies were always as bad as they are now, and anyone who says otherwise is just idealizing the past. I offer the following evidence that the quality of movies is not constant over time: 1939: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Gone With The Wind, The Wizard Of Oz, Stagecoach, Ninotchka, Wuthering Heights 1940: Rebecca, Fantasia, His Girl Friday, The Grapes of Wrath, The Ph…
IMDB reports that 2322 movies were released in 1939 alone, is it really surprising that there were a handful of good movies among them? 1980 for comparision, IMDB lists 6007 movies (8000+ if you include TV movies), and contains modern (popular) classics such as Stir Crazy, Superman II, Empire Strikes Back, Airplane!, The Blue Lagoon, Ordinary People, Urban Cowboy. The Shining, Caddyshack, Raging Bull, Friday The 13th…
As for the 1980s, this was indeed a much better decade than the current one. The 70s were even better, much better than the 40s.
> is it really surprising that there were a handful of good movies among them?
Not good movies, great movies.