Movie trailers can make or break a film. Trailers are the marketing tool that can make an audience rush out to see a film or forget about it instantly. A great trailer can give birth to a tagline or catch phrase that becomes part of the pop culture lexicon. A trailer can evoke curiosity, happiness, fear or sadness but above all, the trailer must be memorable. Here are my top five movie trailers of all time:


5. The original trailer for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). This trailer has it all: a tagline, “We Are Not Alone” and it evokes curiosity and perhaps some fear with its explanations of UFO contact. “Close Encounter of the First Kind – Sighting of a UFO. Close Encounter of the Second Kind – Physical Evidence. Close Encounter of the Third Kind – Contact. WE ARE NOT ALONE”







4. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Done with a simple voice over and haunting music, Marlon Brando’s overpowering masculinity is on full display. His portrayal of Stanley Kowalski made him a star.







3. Taxi Driver (1976). This trailer captures the intensity of DeNiro’s portrayal of Travis Bickle but it doesn’t give away the shear level of insanity he reaches. As Much as I enjoyed Rocky, Taxi Driver should have won the best picture Oscar in 1976.







2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Kubrick created a fabulous trailer for a great film. The special effects were impressive for the time and the trailer makes the viewer want to join the odyssey.







1. Star Wars Episode IV (1977). This trailer is complete nostalgia for me. Star Wars is one of the first films I remember wanting to see (I think I saw it five times originally), and everyone thought this trailer was amazing. In 2008, the effects are seriously outdated but it’s still at the top of my list because of the buzz it created among movie audiences.







Of course, these lists are completely subjective aqnd my own choices would likely change if I did a new list in a month. Everyone has a different idea of what catches their eye in a trailer and makes them decide to see a movie or dismiss it off hand. Trailers have changed quite a bit through the years but two things remain the same: occasionally they’re an indication that the best is yet to come and sometimes, the trailer is the best part of the film.