I just caught a re-run of Terminator on TV today and felt a little thrown by the sad 80s fashion and Linda Hamilton’s big hair. I still think it’s a good movie - I mean, some of the effects are still great. Funny enough, I don’t have a problem with other oldish movies like say, The Breakfast Club or Blade Runner. Is it just me or has anyone else seen a ‘classic’ that doesn’t really translate well in this day and age?
I felt the same way about From Here to Eternity. The technical quality of the film makes it seem cheesy, at least when compared to modern standards. I’m thinking especially of the scene where Montgomery Clift plays the bugle like a Jazz King. Goofy! He’s obviously not proficient with that instrument.
The characters were also too lily-white and “safe,” compared again to modern standards. The Hawaiian prostitute of the book became a sweet, white Christian “escort.” Yeesh.
Of course, the dirty sex on the beach might play pretty well today.
I re-watched Rollerball recently (preparatory to the remake that’s coming out this summer). I didn’t remember just how goofy the costumes, sideburns, etc., were.
The movie still works really well, though, and quite effectively makes its point about violence in entertainment. The package has simply lost its luster.
I sort of feel that way seeing some classic horror movies, like Frankenstein, the Mummy, etc. They’re good, but they aren’t actually scary to me. I’ve heard that, back in the day, the sight of the mummy’s hand moving made audiences shriek. My, things have changed.
Also, they keep making me remember Young Frankenstein…
I actually felt this way for the first time when I recently re-watched “The Silence of the Lambs”. It was only made about ten years ago, but it just felt and looked so…80’s. I mean, everything fromthe cars the characters drove to their hairstyles and fashion.
I would like to say also that I don’t think science fiction films can be included easily in a thread like this. SOme, like the original Star Wars, are undeniably linked to an era, but many stand on their own, and I think Blade Runner is one of these.
“Dracula” with Bela Lugosi. Perhaps I wasn’t prepped for it right, watching it in a room with the lights on and not really in the mood to be scared.
Part of the problem was the picture and sound quality in which the quiet moments sound like you’re in a wind tunnel.
I don’t know if “Ghostbusters” would be considered a classic, but I’ve seen it enough times now to recognize the rough patches in it, the too-long pauses, the attempts at jokes that fell flat or were inappropriate (e.g., Dan Ackroyd getting a bj from a spirit). That film could stand to lose a few scenes.
This breaks my heart to even say it----
THE 30’S GANGSTER MOVIES. Yep CAGNEY, ROBINSON et al.
I LOVE them, but hardly anyone is interested in the subject, the depression in general. The people who lived through that era are all leaving us now, and their grandchildren don’t care.
Lotsa people won’t watch a B/W movie, period.
Watched DEAD END the other day. Snickered at a lot of stuff.
But I still love and treasure them. At least the gangster genre isn’t completely dead.
It’s funny pesch mentioned Ghostbusters, because I was thinking the exact same thing when I opened this thread.
Double Indemnity.
When was the last time anyone used the word “dame” with a straight face?
(British nobility doesn’t count.)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, although a classic, certainly hasn’t aged well.
I saw Casablanca a while back. It’s still a great movie, but it was just one cliche after another…
(Of course, all the cliches came from the movie… )
Nobody ever talked the way the characters in Double Indemnity did. This is stylized dialog at its best. IMHO, easily the equal of Pulp Fiction. (let the flames begin)
Pretty Woman
Crocodile Dundee 1 (seriously, check out the clothes of the hip-and-happenin’ New York set)
Many many other movies from the 80’s and early 90’s already look terrible. I’m hoping another 20 or so years will render them quaint and timeless like classic old movies (Shirley Temple, etc).
Though great, I think there are some effects and actors that could be improved upon in 'The Neverending Story. I mean, when was the last time someone was thrown in a dumpster?
Not to mention all those snooty people living up in the Hollywood Hills in their “30 thousand dollar houses.”
Sir
“The Wedding Singer” has a dumpster scene.
I rent a stack of black and white movies almost every week. Most of my friends just grown when I mention I have movies rented.
Is it just me or do 80’s movies age MUCH less gracefully than movies from other time periods?
Doh!! Groan, not grown, obviously.
The thing I remember about Blade Runner was that it was supposedly set well into the future, and in the city there were all these signs for Pan Am and Atari.
I think a lot of the older movies look laughable when you consider the love scenes–you know, the woman drawn up tight against the man, her eyes glistening for the close up, her lower lip trembling in fear/lust… Ergh.
I love the movie “Giant” but can’t figure out why everyone thought James Dean ws such a great actor in it. All I can figure was that back then, it was “great acting” to stumble around drunk when you really weren’t, and speak in an accent. If that’s the case, then it feels dated.
The movie “Valley Girl.” Heh heh. Even knowing that it represented a fad/trend that would change… it still seems woefully out-of-whack now.
I find old music videos are great for this thread. “I envied the bimbo in that video? I wished I could dress like her? I wanted her hairdo? I wanted to copy those dance moves? That was cutting-edge?!?” [holds sides, laughs uncontrollably]