I just saw on TCM that one of my favorite old movies will be on tonight. It’s Cleopatra, the 1934 version starring Claudette Colbert. It begins at 8:45 Central Daylight Time. I have to get up early, as I’m a baker, but I’ll just have to tough it out tomorrow because no matter how many times I’ve seen this film I have to see it again.
There’s maybe a dozen films I’ll do this for. Do YOU stay up late unexpectedly for a movie?
Not since I got a DVR. 
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
The King and I gets recorded so I can watch “shall we dance” over and over. And over.
They don’t make movies like they use to…
When I was a kid, sometimes late at night HBO would show a movie months before it was supposed to premiere. For example I remember watching Ghostbusters in December when it didn’t officially premiere until the next May. Another time I remember it was Rambo First Blood Part II. I believe they did it for tax reasons but I don’t know.
Either way, when it was happening, it say in the TV guide “To Be Announced”. So whenever I saw that in the listings, I would be sure to stay up. Most of the time it was just a regular current movie that for whatever reason TV Guide didn’t list but very once in a while, it was one of these surprise advanced screenings.
Dangerous Liaisons. I will never, but never, miss Glen Close at the end of that film if it is in my power.
I watched Cleopatra too! I’m always amused by the 1930’s fashions layered onto ancient Egypt - all the ladies with marcelled-waved hair, in tight, backless slinky gowns, as if they stepped right out of a Carole Lombard drawing room comedy! It’s quite a spectacle, Claudette is quite beautiful in this.
I will stay up if Lawrence of Arabia is on, at least to the point where he receives his beautiful white robes and admires himself in the reflection of his dagger. I should just buy this movie.
I was going to say “I have a VCR.”
Last night, I talked my teenaged daughter into staying up late to watch Rain Man with me. Other movies we’ve stayed up late to watch together include Chocolate, Casablanca, Psycho, and The Apartment.
I agree!
I also have DVR, but have to admit - whenever I am flipping though channels and chance upon Casablanca, I am transfixed. I am like a deer in headlights and just remain glued to the screen.
As far as staying up late, or getting up early, to watch it? Uh, no - I do have a copy on DVD…but if it happens to be on when I am in front of a TV, well - all bets are off.
Romance on the High Seas
Doris’ first leading role, 24 y.o. and oh my.
Certain movies almost demand to be enjoyed late at night. In fact you’ve given me an idea to post something about the late night horror films of yesteryear. However there are non-horror films that I recall watching late over the years, and like most people I can watch movies earlier thanks to DVDs and the like. One of my favorite late night dramas to watch is “Days Of Wine And Roses” starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick (and let’s not forget Jack Klugman). There’s something about a late night viewing of that movie that really hits home (and yes, I did shed a few tears at the end of it). Other late night movies I enjoy are anything with the Marx Brothers or W.C. Fields simply because watching these old movies late at night is what I did as a youth.
Other late night classics include “When Worlds Collide” “Conquest of Space” and of course that old film noir classic “Lady In The Lake.”
Horror films and monster movies are almost a given at that time of night. Classics such as “Them” “The Blob” “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers” “The Ghost Breakers” and “Pit And The Pendulum” were staples of my late night viewing back in the day.
Hottius, Days of Wine and Roses was perhaps the first “adult” movie I remember seeing. A contemporary drama with people that had real problems. I was a kid when I saw it on TV, early junior high age(mid-sixties) and it freaked me out. Put me off wanting to try alcohol too. I don’t think I drank a full glass of beer until I was in college.
@Baker: I was an adult when I finally saw the film, however if you saw it as a child and it made that much of an impact on you, then that says a lot! And yeah I do admit that I will be drinking a beer when I watch it (not getting drunk though). SO who else besides me cried at the end of it?
I didn’t cry when I saw it again as an adult, but I was very sad. Such a downer.
I was probably alone when I saw it, because my mom might have thought it too intense for a kid. She didn’t let us was The Birds when it was on TV. I didn’t see it until I was an adult.