Pick of the flicks

The Mafia, boxing and a prison escape are the themes of the best films of the past three decades, a survey revealed yesterday.

Mafia saga The Godfather, based on Mario Puzo's book, was named the best movie of the 1970s.

Taking the top spot for the 1980s was Raging Bull, starring Robert De Niro as fallen boxing legend Jake La Motta.

Directed by Martin Scorsese, it was voted ahead of other Eighties classics including The Shining, The Empire Strikes Back and Platoon.

And topping the flicks of the 1990s was the prison epic The Shawshank Redemption, starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.

It narrowly beat Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction in the poll but, surprisingly, missed out on a best picture Oscar in 1994 to Forrest Gump.

American Beauty and The Matrix were other favourites of the 1990s.

More than 7,000 movie fans took part in the Blockbuster poll.

Spokesman Steve Foulser said: 'It's great to see how varied British movie fans' preferences are.

'It's good to be reminded of some of the classics out there.'

Desert epic Lawrence of Arabia was voted the best film of the 1960s.

Some Like It Hot topped the 1950s choices and Casablanca the 1940s.