# Stumbling Upon Old Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 15, 2022, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232 "2022-06-15T11:44:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/61 "2022-07-09T22:50:16Z")
I’ve been hornswoggled by Covid over the past several days, so I’ve been taking in at least a movie a day. I’ve been seeking out older titles that I’ve always meant to see but had never gotten around to it. Within the past week I’ve watched: - Badlands (1973) - The Last Picture Show (1971) - The Drowning Pool (1975) - The Getaway (1972) - Cool Hand Luke (1967) - Hard Eight (1996) - Klute (1973) HIghlights were The Last Picture Show, Cool Hand Luke, and Badlands. The only stinker was The Drowning Pool. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/62 "2022-07-09T23:55:49Z")
If you like magical McGuffins you’ll like it. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2022, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/63 "2022-07-10T00:06:40Z")
I’d somehow managed to miss _Chinatown_ my whole life until it turned up in one of those “Watch before it leaves Netflix” listicles quite recently. Wow, what a movie. Breaking the OP’s rules on age, but in a hotel in Yakima, WA years ago I turned on the TV and randomly saw Henry Fonda and (I guessed, correctly) Barbara Stanwyck on a boat together, movie in progress, no idea what I was watching. _The Lady Eve_ later became a favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/64 "2022-07-10T00:15:37Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > The Last Picture Show (1971) There are lots of great books. There are lots of great movies. There are lots of books made into movies. _The Last Picture Show_ is the only case in my opinion where a great book was made into a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/65 "2022-07-10T01:24:40Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > _The Last Picture Show_ is the only case in my opinion where a great book was made into a great movie. I would put _The Right Stuff_ in that category, too. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/66 "2022-07-10T12:18:17Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I would put _The Right Stuff_ in that category, too. I’ll pass on evaluating the quality of the book and the movie in that case. Note that _The Right Stuff_ was a nonfiction account. I was actually looking at cases where the book was a novel. It didn’t occur to me to look at nonfiction books too. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/67 "2022-07-10T15:07:49Z")
I’m sort of the wrong type of movie fan for posting here. I like stupid exploitation films. Watched the other day Russ Meyer’s _[Motorpsycho!.](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059474/)_ (Gotta love that “!” in the title!) The most fun thing about it was watching Alex “Moe Greene” Rocco as the good guy. Weird. Also watched _[Penelope](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060818/)_ with Natalie Wood. A crime-farce thing. Nice cast: Dick Shawn, Peter Falk, Jonathan Winters, Lou Jacobi, Arlene Golonka, and Carl Ballantine. Had a troubling scene with Wood and Winters. Winters is a prof who tries to molest Wood. She ends up in her underwear running across campus. Played for laughs. Um, that’s not right at all. I can’t believe that even in 1966 something like this would be considered funny. But then there was Mickey Rooney in _Breakfast at Tiffanys_. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/68 "2022-07-11T15:12:23Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > Oh, and my recommendation for an old movie: > > [Harvey (1950)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042546/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) > > Staring Jimmy Stewart and a 6’8" invisible rabbit. We’ve watched this at almost every family holiday that my mom’s been at. For probably fifty years (she’s close to100 now). It’s her favorite movie, and we claim we’re going to show it at her funeral (well, we will watch it as a family afterwards, with her favorite cocktails). Anyone who hasn’t seen it, do so. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/69 "2022-07-11T17:42:46Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Had a troubling scene with Wood and Winters. Winters is a prof who tries to molest Wood. She ends up in her underwear running across campus. Played for laughs. Um, that’s not right at all. I can’t believe that even in 1966 something like this would be considered funny. But then there was Mickey Rooney in _Breakfast at Tiffanys_. Oh, well. The “boss-chases-the-secretary-around-the-desk” trope was alive and well then. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232/70 "2022-07-11T18:47:22Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > [Harvey (1950)](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042546/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) > > Staring Jimmy Stewart and a 6’8" invisible rabbit. Now, let’s stick to the facts: > Wilson: Who’s Harvey? > > Miss Kelly: A white rabbit, six feet tall. > > Wilson: Six feet? > > Elwood P. Dowd: Six feet three and a half inches. Now let’s stick to the facts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stumbling-upon-old-movies/966232.md?page=3)