One of my all-time favorite from the 1970’s…“THE BILLION DOLLAR BRAIN”, with Michael Caine. Its an insanely funny story about a right-wing texas billionaire (played by the late Ed Begley), who tries to start a revolution (against the Russians) in Latvia.
Michael Caine is his usual cool self, while Ed Begley finds out the whole thing was a hoax, intended to milk him out of his money.
A bit off the wall, but a good flick.
I remember being puzzled after watching The Bedford Incident as to why it wasn’t more of classic. It’s a primo early 60’s B&W cold war drama with Richard Widmark as the hard-nosed captain of a destroyer chasing a Soviet sub, Sydney Potier as a reporter and assorted others who question Widmark’s way of ratcheting up the tension of his crew. Great stuff!
How about “Napolean and Sam” - Disney movie - so cute - Jodie Foster as a young girl.
or…Mame with Rosalind Russell?
I liked the original King Kong. They never had to remake it.
Bumpity-bump-bump…
I’ve recently seen:
Random Harvest (1942) with Ronald Colman and Greer Garson
Klute (1971?) with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland (I thought Jane was a little constipated through some of this - and who the hell thought she was sexy? Ok, maybe for the early seventies!)
Von Ryan’s Express (1965) with Frank Sinatra and Trvor Howard - excellent escaped-convicts-in-WWII movie
Death Race 2000 (1975) with David Carradine and a young Sly Stallone - before there were those Cannonball Run movies, there was this (you get extra points for killing pedestrians!)
More to come! Comments on those?
Well, some movies that I think should get a mention which I haven’t seen yet:
“the Liquid Sky”: a punk rock movie in the same vain (pun intended – see the movie) as “The Man Who Fell To Earth” and “Eraserhead.”
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”: Not the original (which is a great film as well) but the Donald Sutherland remake, just about the only only remake film ever to be as good as, if not better, than the original.
“Wings of Desire”: A late 80s German art film that was remade into the big budget Hollywood flick “City of Angels” with Nic Cage. Trust me on this one, the original in ten zillion times better than the Nic Cage version.
“Red Rock West”: Just to be fair, i’ll include another Nic Cage movie that was actually pretty damn good, but has been overlooked. It’s a fairly modern “film noir,” one of the few really good ones made in the last twenty years.
“The Nasty Girl”: Another German pic, this one about a late 80s German girl who does a school paper researching her own town’s involvement during the Nazi period. This one is one of my all-time favorites. Believe me, seeing this one is worth the effort of reading subtitles.
I agree with the IOTB assessment - both the original and the remake are wonderful films to be enjoyed as their own films. Wings of Desire was directed by Wim Wenders, and critics agree with you there, too. Finally, to add to Red Rock West, I’ll say Blood Simple (1985). Nothing like gory film noir! 
Just saw Vincent Price in The Haunted Palace (1963)… now THAT was cool! Great set design, and he’s properly creepy! Makes me wanna go read Poe and Lovecraft… A very well-done movie.
tobacco road
buckaroo bonzai (adventures of…blah blah)
city lights (chaplin)
Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte
A great movie starring Bette Davis.
No one has mentioned (Buster) Keaton’s “The General”. It is one of the only silent movies you don’t notice it’s silence. What I mean to say is, that as good as all the rest of the silent movies are and Chaplin was wonderful as was Fairbanks and all the rest. In those, you appreciate the silence, but you notice it. It’s not that way with “The General”.
Another silent gem–Harold Loyd’s “Safety Last” is also wonderful.
“King of Hearts,” from the early 1970s-delightful!
“Bambi Meets Godzilla,” short but fun.
“Zabriski’s Point” have not seen it in years but loved it when I saw it last.
“Blow Out” from the 60s probably a little dated now, but jeez, what a movie.
The Marx Brothers, “Coconuts”
My compliments to whomever mentioned “Lord Love a Duck” shallow but fun.
Now, a made for television movie from about 1967. It was on PBS. I believe it was called either “Hemingways” or “Four Hemingways” I was young then, but still it knocked me out. It had the four people that Hemingway became, meeting in the same bar in Spain. I’ve always wanted to find that again and see if it was as good as I remembered it (probably shouldn’t just for that reason). Saw it decades later listed on cable but this was before I had cable. Have seen no sign of it since.
“Blow Up” not “Blow Out”,
Sorry about that.
well of course “The General” thats a given. I could watch that weekly. I just wanted to add “City Lights” . “Safety Last” should be there also.
which is the chaplin one where he plays with the stick on the grate outside the clothing store window?
I know in your next post you corrected yourself and called the movie Blow Up, but were you aware that there was a movie called Blow Out in the mid-70’s starring John Travolta? That film was based (was a remake, really) of the French film Blow Up in 1966 by Michelangelo Antonini. Same plot, just Americanized in the Travolta version.
About the Chaplin film which had the scene with the grate in front of the store. I’m doing this all from memory so I’m not sure, but I’m thinking “Easy Street” but it could well be “The Idle Class” or “The Pawnshop” or any of a number of others, but “Easy Street” keeps coming to mind.
In regard to “Blow Up” and “Blow Out”: I remember the remake, and it was good, but I always felt it, I don’t know, missed something because of the turning from photography to sound. “Out” was darker and more sulking somehow, always taking part at night. With “Up” the whole concept depended on light and brightness with the enlarging process and and photographic lights. And even the metaphor was that he was trying to bring a murder to “light”. I also felt that the addition of a love story (wasn’t there something of one?)in the remake sort of took away from it. You always knew Lynn Redgrave was doing little more than manipulating the photographer. The photographer even knew it. He just thought he could out manipulater her.
Listen to me, I’m trying to sound like I know what I’m talking about. As I said, I haven’t seen this film in decades. If I saw it today, it would probably look as dated as a Dave Clark Five blazer and turtle-neck combination (or is that back in style?).
For visual impact: A Touch of Evil 1958 (reissued with worthwhile modifications in 1998). Director: Orson Welles. Starring OW, Charlton Heston, Joseph Calleia, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietricht. The undoing of a crooked cop (Welles) who has a proclivity to planting evidence in order to solve crimes. While even the revised version is not up to Welles’ standards (there are some rather loopy aspects to the film), the visual style of the film is outstanding. The opening sequence is a classic not to be missed (a several minute single moving shot).
For dialogue: A Walk in the Sun 1948(?). Director? Starring Richard Conte, Dana Andrews, Lloyd Bridges. WW2 American platoon goes from point A to point B to take a farm away from German forces in Italy. Not a lot of action, but this was the first movie I remember seeing as a kid where the dialogue had me riveted.
I might well be the only person on the planet who wasn’t terribly thrilled with Touch of Evil…
Check out “The Loved One” (1965). Billed as “the motion picture with something to offend everyone,” it is a side splittingly funny send up of the funeral industry in Hollywood. And what a cast - in addition to stars Robert Morse and Jonathan Winters, you’ve got Milton Berle, James Coburn, John Gielgud, Tab Hunter, Liberace, Rod Steiger, and a bunch that I’m forgetting. Do yourself a favor and watch this one!