# "Great" Old Movies That Go Sour With Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191 "2003-06-20T15:39:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/21 "2003-06-21T03:08:43Z")
Gail, that’s one thing about so many comedies. They date way faster than dramas, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/22 "2003-06-21T03:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gail \* > \*\*When “Arthur” came out, I thought it was hilarious…Now I don’t think there is anything very funny about constant drunkeness. > I still like Sir John Gielgud in the movie, though. \*\* That’s how I felt about **Arthur**. I knew it was a comedy, but I thought it was a rather sad movie about a drunk. And I agree with **Dracula**. The thing is, **Frankenstein** , the Boris Karloff version, was a far superior film that came out the same year. **Dracula** is just laughable, almost like Ed Wood directed it. Which is probably why he was such a big fan. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![davesink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@davesink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davesink)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/23 "2003-06-21T03:26:13Z")
When I first saw M_A_SH the movie, I thought the irreverence and verbal sparring of Hawkeye and Trapper John was way cool. When I saw it again recently, they came across as smartass jerks, even when dumping on Maj. Burns who, as played by Robert Duvall, is much less of a buffoon than the TV version. It still has it’s moments, but dosn’t carry the punch it once did, for me at least. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/24 "2003-06-21T03:28:38Z")
I’d vote for How the West was Won. Loved it when I was little. Rented it recently & was amazed at how awful it was. I agree with many of the other responses - esp. Arthur, West Side Story [alsotry revisiting South Pacific; ugh], Gone with the Wind, and ET. I’d add Return of the Jedi - Just can’t watch that one again. As for part of an old movie that’s become bad to me over time - There’s that part in It’s a Wonderful Life where Jimmy Stewart is horrified that Donna Reed became (gasp) a librarian. It doesn’t ruin the whole movie, but almost. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/25 "2003-06-21T04:06:45Z")
I guess I’m one up on a couple of you, I thought ET and Red Dawn sucked when they first came out. I’m not sure if this counts, but I loved Godzilla movies as a kid, now I can’t sit through them, even for nostalgia effect. That could just be a maturity thing. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/26 "2003-06-21T04:10:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by masonite \* > \*\*_Gone With The Wind_ is not quite the same since we’ve all become enlightened. I love that movie, but I’m sorry that it essentially celebrates something that was bad. And I say this as a somewhat unreconstructed Southerner. > \*\* Exactly what is it that it celebrates that was bad? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/27 "2003-06-21T04:15:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by well he’s back \* > \*\*There’s that part in It’s a Wonderful Life where Jimmy Stewart is horrified that Donna Reed became (gasp) a librarian. It doesn’t ruin the whole movie, but almost. \*\* I thought it was hilarious but it didn’t ruin the movie for me. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/28 "2003-06-21T04:20:05Z")
HPL asks about Gone With the Wind, “Exactly what is it that it celebrates that was bad?” Well, it celebrated the world of the pre-Civil War South, which, with its slavery and general unequal distribution of wealth was pretty bad and not really worth celebrating. Right? Back to the topic at hand - we also rented American Grafitti recently, and I couldn’t sit through it. Found it didn’t age well at all. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/29 "2003-06-21T04:52:19Z")
> [@](#): > > When I first saw M_A_SH the movie, I thought the irreverence and verbal sparring of Hawkeye and Trapper John was way cool. When I saw it again recently, they came across as smartass jerks, even when dumping on Maj. Burns who, as played by Robert Duvall, is much less of a buffoon than the TV version. It still has it’s moments, but dosn’t carry the punch it once did, for me at least. I agree. It almost ruined the show for me because the Hawk and Trapper were such raging assholes. And I don’t think GWTW celebrates anything “bad”. If we were mean to “celebrate” anything, Scarlet wouldn’t be such a self-centered, emotionally crippled, drunken, sad girl/woman. We are, after all, viewing the world she lives in from her POV. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/30 "2003-06-21T04:55:26Z")
Well, extract the pre-War part of GWTW, and there’s no celebration of the Confederacy, really. It becomes a story about Scarlett. Most of the movie is not about the antebellum South and how wonderful it was, but it represents the Good/Bad Old Days for a lot of people, so I’m hesitant to admit liking the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Marlow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Marlow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlow)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/31 "2003-06-21T05:35:13Z")
I found “Bridge on the rive Kwai” really hard to watch a second time, many years later. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/32 "2003-06-21T06:10:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by well he’s back \* > \*\*HPL asks about Gone With the Wind, “Exactly what is it that it celebrates that was bad?” Well, it celebrated the world of the pre-Civil War South, which, with its slavery and general unequal distribution of wealth was pretty bad and not really worth celebrating. Right? > \*\* It protrayed it, but it didn’t celebrate it, at least not in the movie I saw. The characters saw nothing wrong with it, but remember the characters were mostly Slave-owning white people who had grown up knowing nothing else. To have them going on about how slavery was evil would make the book totally unrealistic. I don’t remember much of anything being celebrated in the book or the movie. It was a story about a 10-15 year period during and after the civil war from the point of view of Scarlett, who is in no way a perfect person by any means. Sure, a lot of people want to go back to the good/bad old days before the war, though scarlett considers them just silly and useless. She also has a more modern attitude about some things (wanting to get into relationships for fun, not for marriage, as well as doing business no holds barred), which is ofset very much by her personality flaws. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/33 "2003-06-21T06:17:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by masonite \* > \*\*but it represents the Good/Bad Old Days for a lot of people, so I’m hesitant to admit liking the movie. \*\* Well, the problem I have is that after reading the book, I realize that they dumped out a few important plot threads and characters in the movie just so they could focus on the love scenes and put in some title cards to show the war was still going on. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/34 "2003-06-21T06:24:33Z")
With all of her flaws, Scarlett was still a strong woman. Any Susan Hayward movie gets on my nerves now. I used to _love_ her movies but they all seem so melodramatic now. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/35 "2003-06-21T10:47:18Z")
I’ve mentioned beore that for me the movie _Annie Hall_ has a very strong “70s vibe” that makes it not as enjoyable as some of Woody Allen’s later comedies. It still has some great moments, but parts of it haven’t aged well IMHO. It must be part of the phenomenon **Zeldar** mentions, about comedies not aging as well as dramas. Also W. A. 's later life has kind of soured the image of the lovable nebbish he played in most of his early films. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/36 "2003-06-21T20:26:22Z")
Recently rented Silk Stockings and returned it having watched most of it on fast Forward. I recall loving this movie as a kid, watching it with my grandparents when it would show up on the “Million Dollar Movie” I can’t even say why but this time it seemed flat, and Fred looked bored and the dancing wasn’t so very fabulous. Perhaps the lack of a Communist threat took the punch out of the Communist jokes. I too watched Gentlemen’s Agreement recently. I didn’t think it was too dated. SO and I did notice that there was an awful lot of something you don’t see too often in movies anymore (or real life ever). The couple kisses then both roll their faces toward the camera and, with cheeks still pressed together they carry on a conversation. All with fabulous lighting, of course. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/37 "2003-06-21T20:58:04Z")
I recently had the interesting experience of watching “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” dubbed into Japanese. IIRC, NHK did cut out most of Mickey Rooney’s parts, but the parts they left in were dubbed in an over-the-top fashion. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/38 "2003-06-21T21:01:18Z")
Oh, I know what my husband would nominate. **Robo Cop**. It was on TV a few weeks ago, and I had never seen it. He insist I watch it with him because it’s just “so good” and he “loved it.” Half way through, he was apologizing profusely. “It was great when it first came out, I swear!” ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/39 "2003-06-21T21:14:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pepperlandgirl \* > \*\*Half way through, he was apologizing profusely. “It was great when it first came out, I swear!” \*\* This is exactly how I felt about _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_ (I may have gotten the number of Mad’s wrong). I made my wife watch it with me, telling her that it was the funniest movie ever made. About 20 minutes into it, I was wondering what the hell I ever saw in it. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191/40 "2003-06-21T21:24:25Z")
pepperlandgirl I experienced that exact feeling this past week! Fortunately, I was watching it alone so I went ahead and saw it all. Glad nobody else was around. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-old-movies-that-go-sour-with-time/183191.md?page=3)