I’ve said before that 1939 was Hollywood’s best year, but I think there’s also a strong case to be made for 1989, at least for blockbusters.
All of the following great movies came out in 1989:
- Batman
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Back to the Future Part II
- Dead Poets Society
- The Little Mermaid
- The Abyss
- License to Kill
- Born on the Fourth of July
- Field of Dreams
- Glory
- Lean On Me
- Do the Right Thing
- Lethal Weapon 2
- Say Anything
- Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
It was an especially good year for comedy:
- National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
- Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
- Turner and Hooch
- Parenthood
- Major League
- UHF
And even the bad movies from that year are the very WORST bad movies:
- The Karate Kid Part III
- Ghostbusters II
- She-Devil
- Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Gently Hew Stone 
Plenty of very good movies for sure – none, however, that I would call great… (of those I have seen).
I don’t know enough to suggest an alternative year – but if there were three – or even two – really *great* movies in the same year – maybe that would be the one?
Wow what a classic year.