Baby Boomer Generation 11 Best Movies, Must-See Movies for 50+ Grownup... Movies for Grownups

Readers Choice The Essential Boomer Movies

These 11 films resonated with those who grew up in the boomer generation

Readers Picks 11 Movies Boomers Love

AARP asked our readers to come up with their top flicks. Here's the list you picked, starting with the 11th place selection …

11 Saturday Night Fever

A 23-year-old John Travolta strutting his stuff to a pulsating Bee Gees soundtrack fueled the disco craze in 1977. The movie's dance scene with a white-suited Travolta taking over the discotheque floor spawned a multitude of parodies cementing its status as an iconic film classic.

10 Dirty Harry

Critics remain divided over the politics of Don Siegel’s 1971 cop drama, but you can’t argue with the enduring power of Clint Eastwood’s Magnum-toting detective; he’d reprise the role in four sequels.

9 Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Steven Spielberg’s 1977 follow-up to Jaws showcased the director at his Spielberg-iest — it’s an eye-popping fable of benevolent aliens meeting wonder-struck earthlings.

8 Jaws

A sensation in 1975, Steven Spielberg’s shark saga of three men in a too-small boat ushered in the age of the summer blockbuster.

7 MASH

Robert Altman turned an autobiographical novel about Army surgeons in the Korean War into an anarchic black comedy that spoke to Vietnam-era America.

AARP Offer

to find out about new movies, great games and travel ideas each month. , you can also save on movie tickets, restaurants, airfare, hotels and more and have even more fun!

6 American Graffiti

Where were you in ’62? Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss and the girl in the white Thunderbird star in George Lucas’ rock ’n’ roll ode to teenage rites in small-town Southern California.

5 One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Nest

Milos Forman’s film of Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel swept the Oscars in 1975 and gave Jack Nicholson one of his most iconic starring roles.

4 Star Wars

George Lucas’ 1977 space opera launched one of the most profitable franchises in film history and left a Death Star-sized dent in popular culture.

3 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Paul Newman and Robert Redford, later to star in The Sting, make an affable pair of outlaws in director George Roy Hill’s revisionist Western from 1969.

2 The Godfather

Francis Ford Coppola’s soaring gangster epic made audiences an offer they couldn’t refuse in 1972. It’s now ranked behind only Citizen Kane in the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest U.S. films.

1 The Graduate

Plastics! Mike Nichols’ second film became a touchstone of the emerging youth culture. Little-known fact: Burt Ward, TV’s Robin, was considered for the Dustin Hoffman role.

Boomers@50

Readers pick: Readers pick: Member Discounts! Featured AARP Member Benefits See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > See more Entertainment offers > Cancel You are leaving AARP.org and going to the website of our trusted provider. The provider’s terms, conditions and policies apply. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Your email address is now confirmed. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. You can also by updating your account at anytime. You will be asked to register or log in. Cancel Offer Details Disclosures

Close In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free to search for ways to make a difference in your community at Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again.