The Classic Movie Appreciation Thread
 

I'm unsure if this has been done before but I'm unwilling to go more than 10 pages back trying to find one.

Anyway, I've always felt that I had an unusual taste for someone my age. Specifically being a huge fan of old movies. I have seen a handful of comments from Andrew, Cubed and a few others in regards to old movies or actors but they're mostly "for example" comments. So, I'm wondering how many out there in these forums are a fan of old movies like myself.

I like older and newer movies of course, but by far my favorite era in Hollywood is about 1920-1965. Growing up, I never really had a problem with a movie being in black and white and saw such movies as; Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life, Heidi, Beau Geste, and a handful of others. I also discovered the "silent era" as a teenager and was intrigued. I became a full-fledged "old movie" fanboy about 2008 and my experience with those movies has increased more than a hundred-fold since I was growing up.

Absolutely love actors like; Cary Grant, Harold Lloyd, Jack Lemmon, Douglas Fairbanks(both Sr and Jr), Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, James Cagney, Katharine and Audrey Hepburn, and many others.

I also have been able to share these classics with some of my family. Especially my wife.

The last movie I've seen is, Seven Days in May. It was made during the early 60s and at the height of the Cold War. Basically, the US President(played by Fredric March) has made a treaty with the Soviets to completely de-nuclearize. It is a largely unpopular treaty at home and there's even a military plot to overthrow the government lead by Burt Lancaster's character. Enjoyable movie, definitely not the best, but a good one. Seen it 3 times now I think.

So, who else in these forums enjoy old movies, or even have a passing interest in them?

Rarely watch old movies but I've seen a few:

- Breakfast at Tiffany's
- Cleopatra
- Casablanca
- Little Shop of Horrors (both sad & happy endings)
- Some Like It Hot
- Wizard of Oz
- Psycho
- Gone with the wind
- Marry Poppins
- The Sound of Music
- Jaws
- Shawshank Redemption
- The Green Mile
- Forrest Gump
- original Star Wars trilogy
- Pulp Fiction
- The Fifth Element
- Die Hard 1-3

These aren't "old movies"! They're all from the '90s!

I grew up watching a lot of older movies, since my mom especially enjoyed them. I have seen Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, nearly ALL of the Elvis movies, The "Road To..." comedy movies with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, Wizard of Oz, White Christmas, (and most of Danny Kaye's movies), the Gene Kelly Three Musketeers, and so many others I can't even name at the moment.

Does the late 80s films count as classics now? Or are you talking about earlier than that like the King and I? Or the Sounds of Music or Shirley Temple films?

What times was Marry Poppins in?

Edit;

Oh my gosh forgot about Gone with the Wind, my grandma had that one on Vhs.

Or three Men and a little baby, when was that? I loved that one.

Three Men and a Baby was late 80's- Had Tom Selleck(Magnum PI), Steve Gutenburg(Police Academy), and Ted Dansen(Cheers). Not "classic" per se.

Mary Poppins would count though, as it was in the early sixties, IIRC. As would The King and I.

I just watched recently Clint Eastwood's first 3 westerns from 1965-68, the "Fistful of Dollars" trilogy...and it was really damn good.

I can see why Clint Eastwood was such an action icon when he was younger, he was like the pre-Arnold Scwarzenggaer or Sylvester Stallone to 60's and 70's kids.

I haven't watched many "classics" movies I have seen would be things from the original King Kong and the original 13 ghosts.

I have started watching the universal monster movies

By "Classics" I generally mean during the "Golden Age of Hollywood" timeframe. Basically 30's-50's. But I figure anything before that and anything up to 1970 I'd consider a classic. So yeah, any Shirley Temple movie would count along with King and I, Gone With the Wind, and Mary Poppins(that came out in 1964 I believe).

Also, by "Three Men and a Little Baby" do you mean the title of the movie? Or what the movie was about? 'cause when I think of that, I think of 3 Godfathers. About a trio of outlaws led by John Wayne that find and take care of a baby.

No they were definitely referring tot he 80's movie with that title. As I said, it featured three big actors of the time (Selleck, Dansen, and Gutenburg). It was pretty much the same premise, though- three guys who are roommates find a baby left on their doorstep (by the mother who was a former girlfriend of one of them) and have to take care of the child. (And the one whose gf it was thinks it's his.) Basically a comedy.

It's been awhile since I've seen those movies, but they're really good! Not my personal favorite from him though. Right now, that's basically either "Where Eagle's Dare" or "Kelly's Heroes".

Hmm, ok. I'm not much of a fan of Selleck, but I might have to check out that movie. Thanks

It was pretty funny for the time. Even spawned a sequel (not as good) "Three Men and a Little Lady", set about 6 years later. (Can't say more- spoiler reasons.) And Selleck has always been pretty good- I especially like him in Blue Bloods, the tv series about the NYC Police Commissioner and his family. Selleck plays the PC. He's aged really well..... :trazz:

I've seen some of Blue Bloods and have enjoyed what I've seen, and Selleck is great in it!

So, which actors would you say have aged well? Tom Selleck definitely! Cary Grant and Gary Cooper too before they died.

Kurt Russel comes to mind (since he was recently in GotG2). Patrick Stewart, Mel Gibson, and Tom Cruise, to name a few others. Bogart was another back in the day. Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, I could go on here, lol!

I definitely agree with Patrick Stewart, Tom Cruise, Bogart, and Kirk Douglas. Not familiar enough with Mel Gibson or Martin Sheen really.

By the way, what's your favorite of the "Road to..." movies? Honestly for me, I'd say the last one, the Road to Hong Kong

Oooh, that's a toughie. Either Bali or Morocco probably. My hubby bought me the entire set for Christmas a couple of years ago, and we watched all but two, I think. otherwise it's been a looong time since I saw some of them. Mostly watched those as a kid. Mom was a big fan of them.

To me a classic film can come out any year, but there is the classic era from 1969 on back. From that era I own several films.

The Grapes of Wrath(1940)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
It's A Wonderful Life( 1946)
The Third Man (1949)
Signin' In The Rain (1952)
Peter Pan (1953)
Rear Window (1954)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
The Searchers (1956)
12 Angry Men (1957)
A Face In The Crowd (1957)
No Time For Sergeants (1958 )
Touch of Evil (1958 )
Vertigo (1958 )
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
North By Northwest (1959)
The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Ocean's Eleven (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
King Kong vs Godzilla (1962)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Charade(1963)
The Raven (1963)
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad,Mad World (1964)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Batman: The Movie ( 1966)
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Bullitt (1968 )
Support Your Local Sheriff (1969)

I literally own several hundred movies from that same time period, so I'm not going to actually list all of them. From your list though, here's what I've seen...

The Maltese Falcon-9/10. Been awhile since I've seen it, but really enjoyed it. Bogie had some very good parts before this, but this and Casablanca deservedly put him as an A grade actor.

Casablanca-9.25/10

Arsenic and Old Lace-9/10

It's a Wonderful Life-9.5/10. Christmas classic and still my favorite Jimmy Stewart movie. As wonderful a movie it is though, it definitely isn't better than "The Best Years of Our Lives". Now THAT movie is sadly no where near as well known today.

Peter Pan-7/10

Rear Window-7.5/10. Honestly, Jimmy Stewart's Hitchcock movies don't work as well for me as Cary Grant ones. But Rear Window is still very good. Probably 2nd favorite of mine after The Man Who Knew Too Much.

The Man Who Knew Too Much-8/10

Vertigo-7.5/10

Anatomy of a Murder-8/10

North By Northwest-10/10

The Magnificent Seven-?/10 It has sadly been WAY too long since I've seen this movie and don't remember much about it. I'm much more familiar with Seven Samurai 8/10.

Spartacus-9/10. Definitely one of Kirk Douglas' best. Deserved at least an Oscar nod I think.

King Kong vs Godzilla-?/10. Again, too much time has passed since I last saw this movie

To Kill a Mockingbird-10/10. Gregory Peck was definitely a fantastic actor and arguably his greatest performance was in this movie. Also for a first movie(and I think non-speaking) Robert Duvall was excellent too.

Charade-9/10

Yeah but the 90s are like 20+ years ago.

It's like if someone's in the 90s looking at the 70s, it's so far away ago now right? I'd definitely count em as classics tbh.