A TMC advertisement mentioned ten(10) movies to show to someone who didn't know old movies. It didn't mention any specific movie. So I made my own list:
The Student Prince Silent, a Cinderella type story
Casablanca Best propaganda film, great cast of actors, "a beautiful friendship"
Singing in the Rain Shows transition to talkies, musical
His Girl Friday Great cast and acting comedy
Lion in Winter Great acting, script, drama, powerful movie
The Princess Bride Romance, "As you Wish"
Adam's Rib Battle of the sexes
Galaxy Quest Scifi, satire
The Shop Around the Corner See: You've Got Mail
Modern Times First Chaplin talkie, "Smile"
What would your choices be? There are a number of excellent ones I had to leave out. If you agree with most of my list what would you subtract and add?
shalimar
Comments
What a great list!
Here's a quirky list from me (one overlap):
The Princess Bride (so classic in so many ways)
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (might be the best western ever)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (comedy masterpiece)
The General (Buster Keaton at his peak)
Heaven Can Wait (perfect little comedy)
Little Big Man (might be the best western ever)
Groundhog Day (another gem of a comedy)
Time Bandits (not perfect but magnificent anyway)
What Did You Do In The War Daddy? (comic genius on the loose)
Sleeper (Woody Allen channels Buster Keaton and Bob Hope)
The Searchers (might be the best western ever)
Toy Story 3 (textbook on how to make a movie work)
That's twelve so I better stop. :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
I've always enjoyed
watching Singin' in the Rain!
I don't think a list of 10 or 12 movies would suffice.
I love White Christmas, even though the plot is pure schlock. It's Bing being Bing, early Rosemary Clooney and a wonderful performance by Danny Kaye (who?), who never studied dancing! I could watch the dance scene with Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen over and over.
I think for historical significance and overall high quality that Citizen Kane should be added to the list.
Though not an "old" movie by my standards, add Psycho! Just not right before bedtime....
One should watch Finian's Rainbow, just to show that translating a great Broadway musical to film doesn't always work, even if you're Fred Astaire.
Just to show the lengths that 1930's studios went to for entertainment, at least one Busby Berkeley movie should make the list.
Of course people still watch The Wizard of Oz! but we should remember that the tornado sequence won an Academy Award for special effects. Wow what those guys could do with a backlit sack, a fan and a turntable!
What makes the list of course, depends on why you compile the list in the first place (my favorites? historical significance? bizarre? funny? Cultural significance?)
Singing in the Rain
Have to start with
Singing in the Rain - One of the best musicals ever made
Casablanca - An amazing love story
Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - Purely for the title!
Wicker Man - Just to remove the memories of the Nicholas Cage remake
Duck Soup - For the geniuses that are the Marx Brothers
Network - A impassioned rant against the decline of television standards. If only people had listened.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks - Worth it purely for the last 20 minutes when suits of armour come to life and stop a Nazi invasion
Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Strange women lying about in ponds and coconuts
Goldfinger - When Bond truly became Bond
Oliver - Because I love my musicals.
"The pen is mightier than the sword ... if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp"
All terrific... but just two words....
Hail Fredonia!
Love, Andrea Lena
"Just Wait 'Til I Get Through With It"
Land of the Brave and Free!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBRLJ_kVjeQ
"The pen is mightier than the sword ... if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp"
A Slightly More Left Field List
The Third Man - not for the immortal 'cuckoo clock' speech but the final scene https://youtu.be/N8Njr-jbj2s (44 secs)
Citizen Kane - like Casablanca, its reputation is fully deserved
The Lost Weekend - a mesmerising film
Twelve Angry Men - how to make a great movie using only one set
Alfie (Michael Caine version) - when ask yourself what happens to him after the story ends, you realise that this is a tragedy just beginning to unfold
The Swimmer - Burt Lancaster gives one of his finest performances in this surreal descent into hell
Earth Dies Screaming - 1960s B movie set in an English village
Far From The Madding Crowd - if only for the scenery and the music
The Rise And Rise Of Michael Rimmer - Peter Cook takes over Britain and starts World War Three
Cinema Paradiso - I could write an essay on the themes this film, by turns sad and hilarious, examines
Great...
Too many folks remember Dudley Moore and aren't even aware of Peter Cook. Ray Milland was brilliant in The Lost Weekend. You can find the Earth Dies Screaming on Youtube. All great films.
Love, Andrea Lena
When I was a kid...
All the other kids probably still stayed outside and played or watched cartoons. We watched the Early Show on Channel 2 from NYC. So movies have been a big part of my life. I've done TG vignettes on The Maltese Falcon, It's a Wonderful Life, and Blade Runner, and even dramedy about the cast of Singin' in the Rain. So when I see lists, the film spools in my camera brain move.
The Searchers John Wayne's NEPHEW is captured by the Commanches but is rescued as a.... squaw?
Casablanca - Every one goes to Rick's? Captain Renaud closes the club down, stating wryly, "Female Impersonator Chorus Girls? I'm shocked," as the Maitre' d tells Renaud that his 'girlfriend' is waiting in the police car...
You've Got Mail? Two folks strike up an on line friendship; not realizing that one is a Book Store owner and the other the heir of a Mega-chain Bookstore, AND that Kathleen is really Kenny and Joe is really Joann; falling in love when they 'meet' for the first time?
Heaven Can Wait - (Alternate title, Here Comes Ms. Jordan) An over anxious angel takes football star Joe Pendleton before his time. To make up for it, Heaven decides to place Joe's soul into the body of heiress and wannabe cheerleader, Leona Farnsworth....
Closet Encounters of the Third Kind? Ben-HER? The Good, the Bad, and the Gorgeous? And as I write this, TCM is showing By the Light of the Silvery Moon.... Doris Day's wedding dress makes me want to cry.....I can picture a two bride wedding with her and Shirley Jones....
The possibilities are endless....
Love, Andrea Lena
What makes a movie by definition "old?"
Because Princess Bride strikes me as anything but :P
As for my suggestions...
1. Singing in the Rain: simply put, one of the best movies ever made, bar none.
2. Night of the Living Dead: not only a classic horror film, but works as a comment on racism at the time too
3. The Maltese Falcon: Film Noir at its finest
4. Dracula: a great example of the transition from stage to screen, with great atmosphere
5. Alien: one of the greatest science fiction AND horror films ever created, with a great 70s aesthetic
6. Dr. Strangelove: strange is correct, but the movie is great cinematically and has amazing performances
7. Victor/Victoria: Okay, part of this recommendation is the pseudo-TG content, but still a great film
--Here we get to some slightly more recent films....
8. Top Secret: hilarious and ridiculous, the humor in Top Secret is spectacular. Latrine!
9. Stripes: Early work from a great trio (Landis/Murray/Reitman) that set the stage for later greats
10. The Evil Dead 2: Raimi's first truly iconic work, and an enthusiastically quirky masterpiece
What can I say? I have strange taste in movies :D
Melanie E.
My List
I thought I'd add my list, though it has similarities with others.
1. Dr. Strangelove. Contains my all-time favorite movie line: Gentlemen. You can't fight in here! This is the war room!
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. There are two kinds of people in this world. Those with guns and those who dig.
3. Zulu. My favorite type of story. A small band of men in a desperate fight against overwhelming odds.
4. Terminator. I'll be back...
5. Alien and Aliens. Game over, man!
6. Casablanca. The quintessential classic Hollywood film. So many classic lines and they didn't even have a finished script.
7. The Princess Bride. Inconceivable!
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey. First movie that looked like it was actually shot in space.
9. Saving Private Ryan. Some of the most intense first half hour I've ever sat through.
10. The Passenger. A little known movie I thought was brilliantly filmed.
Melanie
My scroll please
I do agree with most of the other choices but here is some many may not remember but they are worth a You Tube look.
African Queen excellent Bogart and Hepburn
Brigadoon
12 angry men Not just for all of the great actors but the content is stunning.
To kill a mocking Bird On the same bent as above.
13 ghosts Seriously spooky to me as a kid
Night at the Opera {The state room scene has never been topped }
Fantastic Voyage Great Sci Fiction early graphics reasonably well done.
This Island Earth Great just great
Fist full of dollars;, Few dollars More The Good the Bad and The Ugly., The Unforgiven
Once upon a time in the west Just for the body count. and the imaginative ways they killed people Same director as above
Cat Ballou Jane Fonda Le Marven
Paint Your Wagon Le Marven Clint Eastwood
The Birds
scared the pants off of me at 8 y old any thing Hitchcock seriously suspenseful
The great auto race. Toney Curtis Peter Falk Susan Pleshett , Jack Lemon
Push the button max is still a saying in my house.
A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum.
Zero Mostel One of the last Buster Keaton cameos.
Little Shop of Horror's "Rick" Moranis
Totally funny a lot of little details to catch watching the back ground singers..
A Christmas Carol [ George C Scott ]
My opinion the best even better than Patric Stewart who had problems with having to shift characteristics as the movie was shot not in order of the story. Scot nailed it in one could have been a bit more freaked out I collect different versions of this movie as I love the story.
A Christmas Carol musical [ Albert Finney ]
This is one of my favorite's of all time The signature song "Thank You very Much" was performed twice to great effect, once before Ebeneser was reformed, where the dolt does not know he is dancing at his own funeral and the crowd is singing that his death was something to thank him for,
The second was after he was reformed and was tearing up the bills of what people owed him and it is an honest thank you.
Huggles
Misha
With those with open eyes the world reads like a book
Probably not so old
Some of these aren't very "old" but definitely worth watching, in my opinion. My top 10, in no particular order:
The Princess Bride - definitely one of the best catch-all stories ever (another one of those kissing movies)
Camelot - the '67 musical with Richard Harris
Star Wars: A New Hope - Empire is my fave, but can't go wrong with where it started
Coming to America - classic Eddie Murphy
Tommy Boy - classic Chris Farley
Almost Heroes - another Farley movie, but teamed up with Matthew Perry
A Walk to Remember - teen flick, but pretty deep story
Grease - Sandy!?
Galaxy Quest - probably the best spoof movie I've seen
Pride and Prejudice - the one with Keira Knightley is my favorite, but there are older versions
~Taylor Ryan
My muse suffers from insomnia, and it keeps me up at night.
erins list
the best , you the maam
yeah I said it
ed < texan
ed
I decided upon a 1970 cutoff
I decided upon a 1970 cutoff for "old" movies.
Them! - A giant mutant ant movie, but it's a classic.
Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein - Comedy, Horror, Comedy, more comedy and Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Legosi.
Stagecoach - John Wayne version.
Once Upon a Time in the West - Someday, I shall understand this movie.
Corvette K-225 - A WWII movie about the Canadian Navy.
The Unholy Three - Lon Chaney Sr. made this movie twice, the second is the only sound movie he ever made, and includes a statement by him, that he did all the voices and sounds himself. The silent version is a bit better.
The Producers - So good they made it into a musical, then made the musical into a movie...
To Be or Not To Be - The Jack Benny - Carole Lombard version.
Casablanca - Too good to be left off any movie list.
Captain Blood - Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Basil Rathbone
There's 10. They range from the 20s through the late 60s.
I can't believe
that I left My Fair Lady! off my earlier post! When the Turner team did a frame by frame restore of the movie from the tri-color negatives they were astounded to find there was no sound synch problems with Rex Harrison's voice in any of the songs, until they concluded they must have filmed on a "hot" set with a wireless microphone. He claimed he couldn't stay in character and mime a soundtrack at the same time. I do wish they'd used Audrey Hepburns lovely singing voice though.
I must also mention Robert Preston/Shirley Jones version of The Music Man. Robert Preston is the greatest flim-flam man who ever lived! Stunning performances by Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford, and especially Buddy Hackett. Not to mention The Buffalo Bills (the barbershop quartet). Wouldn't you love to wear those gowns to the Ice Cream Social? (not in summer though!)
GalaxyQuest (there's no space) isn't old unless you're one my grandkids, but I think it's the most fun sci-fi romp ever filmed. Really, who can resist Sigourney Weaver as the blonde bimbo, and Tony Shaloub being Tony Shaloub? And crewman number six, old what's his name.
Paint Your Wagon is one of my favorites too, classic Lee Marvin. I'll bet Clint Eastwood cringes every time someone asks about his singing in this movie!
Hands down the best of Lee Marvin is Cat Ballou.
One must also include Blazing Saddles. Some of the best sight gags in the business.
Some of my favorites
The original Around the World in Eighty days
Auntie Mame
Giant
Bridge on the river Kwai
The great escape
Arecee
Most of These Would Qualify If
Most of the movies I see on other list would qualify on my list if there could be more than ten to show someone who didn't know old movies. Two that I considered, but didn't see on anyone's list are:
In the Heat of the Night, a great detective story
and
The Front showing what repression could do
shalimar
Some Others
Godfather I and II
GWTW
Shawshank Redemption
Some Like It Hot . . . Should have been number one
Rear Window
Hoosiers
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
and two sleepers I highly recommend. . .
Little Voice
Waking Ned Devine
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I love this sort of challenge.
I would second just about all the choices so far, but decided to add a few others:
The Thin Man (1934) Myrna Loy
Classic mystery by Dashiel Hammett, great humor
It Happened One Night (1934) Claudette Colbert
The walls of Jericho
The Black Pirate (1926) Billie Dove
I was lucky enough to see this one in a special theater performance with a live orchestra playing the score and a chorus line as well!
Destry Rides Again (1939) Marlene Dietrich
“See what the boys in the back room will have”. Watch this one, then watch Blazing Saddles.
My Man Godfrey (1936) Carole Lombard
The homeless problem during the 30’s.
Show Boat (1936) Irene Dunne
I like the color version, too, but this one is a little bit better.
To Have and Have Not (1944) Lauren Bacall
“You do know how to whistle, don’t you?
”
Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940) Eleanor Powell
The last great black and white musical. Corny plot, but amazing dancing.
42nd Street (1933) Ginger Rogers
Busby Berkeley didn't do the choreography for BM-40, so I thought I'd add this one as well.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Patricia Neal
Probably the best science fiction movie of the 50’s. Still a classic.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Angela Lansbury, Janet Leigh
Cold war suspense. Still creepy.
Gillian Cairns