# Older Film that you feel have stood the test of time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 6, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511 "2004-04-06T06:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/41 "2004-04-09T14:03:27Z")
> [@JoeSki](#): > > Just got done seeing Once Upon a Time in the West, and I honestly liked The Man With No Name trilogy better. I just thought OUATITW wasn’t paced as well . . . Glanced quickly at your post and thought, "There’s a movie called _Ow a Tit W_? ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/42 "2004-04-09T14:51:41Z")
Would I be remiss in mentioning **Blade Runner?** It’s still a little newish, but well over 20+ years old at this point. ---
**Author:** ![cheapbastardon38thstreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cheapbastardon38thstreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheapbastardon38thstreet)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/43 "2004-04-09T14:58:57Z")
Something from Sam Peckinpah, The Getaway, or the Wild Bunch. Deliverance Jaws The Sting ---
**Author:** ![rngadam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/97f17d/32.png) [@rngadam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rngadam)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/44 "2004-04-09T20:36:06Z")
Already mentionned: 12 Angry Men. Great movie in a single room, relying only on acting capabilities!! Rear window. My wife liked it, and she usually HATE old movies. Rashomon by Akira Kurosowa. Very innovative for it’s time and quite enjoyable. Tora! Tora! Tora! (Pearl Harbor is a POS compared to this one). BTW… Citizen Kane sucked! I’d be curious to know the ages of people posting to this thread… I’m in my late twenties. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/45 "2004-04-09T22:54:18Z")
> [@](#): > > BTW… Citizen Kane sucked! Sorry, not enough information. Define “sucked”. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/46 "2004-04-09T23:14:45Z")
What a strange question. Zillions of older films hold up, and I’ve seen one after another. A more limiting thread would be about films that don’t hold up; and here’s one. I just saw a short on TCM called “One Way Out”, a 1930 comedy about a fake country’s beauracracy regaurding suicide. It sounds way better than it is; it’s soooo corny! The star keeps saying “duuh” before the last word of every sentence he says. I can’t imagine that ever being funny. That reminds me of another dated 1930 short. It’s dated only because it’s just a filmed stage perfomance, but it’s still hillarious. One part, a woman tells a bedtime story to the children in movie audience. “Once upon a time, little Red Riding Hood was skipping through the forest, and she came upon a Big Bad Wolf. And he ripped both of her arms off. And tore both of her legs off. And gouged both of her eyes out. And left her in a pool of blood. Now good night, little children!” Too bad I can’t remember the name of that one. ---
**Author:** ![rngadam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/97f17d/32.png) [@rngadam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rngadam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/47 "2004-04-10T00:12:20Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Sorry, not enough information. Define “sucked”. I stopped watching half-way thru because I was too bored. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/48 "2004-04-10T01:05:32Z")
> [@](#): > > I stopped watching half-way thru because I was too bored. Well, I think it could make an interesting discussion as to why you think it sucked, when so many others (me too) consider it one of the more innovative and thematically complex films ever made in Hollywood, but whatever. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/49 "2004-04-10T01:58:06Z")
Ooh ooh. Old movies. I love old movies. Also, my mom loves oldies and so we’ve had many a “bonding moment” over an old movie. I’ve been going through a minor John Garfield jag lately. _Gentleman’s Agreement_ seems dated (well, it is dated—it represents a time that is past) but it was interesting and John Garfield was very good. I also went through a _major, MAJOR_ Burt Lancaster jag (my mom was a closet fan and I decided that after all these years, it was time for her to come out of the closet and see all of his films). He’s done a lot of good ones that still pack a punch: _Elmer Gantry, The Unforgiven, Birdman of Alcatraz,_ (slow, but good)\* All My Sons, \*(I was a little suprised how interesting I found that), _The Rainmaker, The Rose Tattoo_ and going a little more recent, one of my favorite movies **ever** , _Local Hero._ That Burt Lancaster. He had such a career! One John Garfield film I saw a while ago was _Body and Soul_. I remember being a little suprised to see a black guy play such a substantive part in such an old, old movie. I learned later that Garfield fought for this actor to be in the movie; threatening to leave the movie if the black actor was cut from the film. I recently saw _On The Waterfront_ with Marlon Brando, and it’s one damned fine film. Oh, one that I still love, no matter how many times I see it: _The Best Years of Our Lives_. Very good movie. One movie that my mom loves (and I like, but don’t drink it up like she does) is _Picnic_, with Kim Novak and William Holden. Something about that movie just sends her, and apparently at the time it was a major hot film. _Bus Stop_ with Marilyn Monroe. Charming, wonderful movie. _Sunset Blvd_., also with Holden, is a good film as well. I second votes for _The Apartment, Marty_ and many more listed here. An extra special vote goes for _The Lion in Winter_, which is freakin’ brilliant. Great performances by Katherine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole, but also, great but understated performance by my favorite unknown actor, John Castle (who was a major hottie). He played the “middle” son, Geoff. Anthony Hopkins plays the oldest son, and another cast member is a very young Timothy Dalton (who went on to be James Bond). Okay, I’ve rambled on long enough. ---
**Author:** ![rngadam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/97f17d/32.png) [@rngadam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rngadam)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/50 "2004-04-10T02:46:48Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Well, I think it could make an interesting discussion as to why you think it sucked, when so many others (me too) consider it one of the more innovative and thematically complex films ever made in Hollywood, but whatever. Yeah, so because every film critics think it is so great it is also supposed to be entertaining? What’s so good about it anyway? I really looked forward to that movie, but all I got was a lousy, uninteresting “rosebud” enigma that just kept going on and on. Maybe it was oh, so great in it’s time but it doesn’t hold up to other movies in the history of cinema. 12 Angry Men good. Citizen Kane bad. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-film-that-you-feel-have-stood-the-test-of-time/238511/51 "2004-04-10T02:48:21Z")
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