# What old movies should I watch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587 "2018-01-14T05:11:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/1 "2018-01-14T05:11:18Z")
I was born in 1974 and as a general rule I don’t watch much in cinema prior to then. The only movies I’ve seen that predate that are kung fu movies, monster movies, and Disney movies. I’ve just never liked classic cinema all that much. But now my horizons are expanding and I’m interested in trying some and I’d like to get opinions on what’s good. Here’s what I know I don’t care for: Romances- I don’t mind modern romcoms but I just can’t put up with an old style romance flick like Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Hitchcock-I’ve never had much of a love for suspense movies to begin with, and what little I’ve seen of Hitchcock tries my patience. Gangster films- Don’t like the genre today, wouldn’t appreciate it back then. Spaghetti Westerns- I’m not opposed to Westerns in general, but if I’m going to watch one it needs to be more than Cowboys and Indians and gun duels. Here’s what I do like: Action War movies Dramas about important issues Horror. Not suspense horror, but supernatural horror. Disaster! Love disaster films, although cheesy stuff like invasions of giant spiders doesn’t really hold up for me anymore. Political thrillers. Now that I think about it, I have seen Dr. Strangelove. Stuff like that is cool. Scifi with good science. Not “message” scifi like the Day the Earth Stood Still, or camp sci fi like nuclear radiation making giant creatures. Non-Disney animation I might not know about. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never seen a Sean Connery Bond movie. Except for Never Say Never Again, which was 1983. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/2 "2018-01-14T05:16:51Z")
I don’t think one can go wrong with a Jimmy Stewart movie. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Harvey, It’s a Wonderful Life, Glenn Miller Story, Flight of the Phoenix, Spirit of St. Louis, Anatomy of a Murder. And of course a bunch of Hitchcock but… I don’t really like old movies. My dad watches them every day and I find them to be terribly slow. But for some reason I like almost every Stewart movie I’ve ever seen. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2018, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/3 "2018-01-14T05:33:47Z")
For westerns: The Big Country. Try some silents. Buster Keaton is (imho) the best. The General and Steamboat Bill Jr. are wonderful. Chaplin’s The Kid is also great. Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last is famous for the climb, but I like the scenes inside the department store more. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2018, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/4 "2018-01-14T05:44:42Z")
You didn’t mention how you feel about comedies. There was an era of literate, screwball comedies. I’m partial to the original _My Man Godfrey_ and _The Thin Man_ (try the original before the sequels) is good. William Powell was the man. Every science fiction movie can trace a lineage back to _Metropolis_. It may be a bit too heavy on the message for your taste, but it’s mesmerizing to look at. If you think you can marvel at what the 1920s thought the future would look like, check it out. _The Big Sleep_ is good. I think that was the first pairing of Bogart and Bacall. It’s a detective movie where you don’t know who’s guilty, or even what crime was committed, and the dialog and characters are so good that it doesn’t even matter. > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > For westerns: The Big Country. Try some silents. Buster Keaton is (imho) the best. The General and Steamboat Bill Jr. are wonderful. Chaplin’s The Kid is also great. Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last is famous for the climb, but I like the scenes inside the department store more. Agreed on Keaton; the Jackie Chan of his age. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/5 "2018-01-14T05:57:38Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Horror. Not suspense horror, but supernatural horror. Two of the great classic horror series were the Universal horror movies of the thirties and the Hammer horror movies of the sixties. Universal: Dracula (1931) Frankenstein (1931) The Mummy (1932) The Invisible Man (1933) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) The Wolfman (1941) Hammer: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Dracula (1958) The Mummy (1959) The Brides of Dracula (1960) The Plague of the Zombies (1966) The Devil Rides Out (1968) > [@adaher](#): > > Political thrillers. Now that I think about it, I have seen Dr. Strangelove. Stuff like that is cool. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Seven Days in May (1964) Fail Safe (1964) The Day of the Jackal (1973) Executive Action (1973) The Parallax View (1974) > [@adaher](#): > > Scifi with good science. Not “message” scifi like the Day the Earth Stood Still, or camp sci fi like nuclear radiation making giant No Blade of Grass (1970) THX 1138 (1971) Silent Running (1972) Solaris (1972) Dark Star (1974) Rollerball (1974) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/6 "2018-01-14T06:04:49Z")
I don’t think you can go wrong with Casablanca. It’s sort of a war movie, though it more punches the “Dramas about important issues” button for you. It has an amazing cast, and you’ll be surprised at how many enduring catchphrases and ideas came out of it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/7 "2018-01-14T06:08:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No Blade of Grass (1970) > THX 1138 (1971) > Silent Running (1972) > Solaris (1972) > Dark Star (1974) > Rollerball (1974) Good films, though most of them do share the dark, dystopian view of the future that was common in sci-fi in the early 1970s, before Star Wars ate the sci-fi film category. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/8 "2018-01-14T06:09:38Z")
The Little Foxes, Bette Davis…great movie!! ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/9 "2018-01-14T06:19:04Z")
Try the book Pictures at a Revolution. It covers these five movies from 1967 - nominated for Oscars in 1968. Bonnie and Clyde Doctor Doolittle The Graduate Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner In the Heat of the Night The following year, try 2001: A Space Odyssey Another approach is to work your way through this [list](http://www.afi.com/100Years/movies.aspx) of the top 100. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/10 "2018-01-14T06:21:06Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Spaghetti Westerns- I’m not opposed to Westerns in general, but if I’m going to watch one it needs to be more than Cowboys and Indians and gun duels. So you’d probably enjoy Spaghetti Westerns. They _were_ the post-“Cowboys and Indians” Westerns, the antidote to the stale formulaic Westerns that killed the genre, and they ushered in a grimmer, grittier, more realistic take on movies set in that time and place. Ironic, I suppose, because they got the name because they were directed by Italians with plots stolen from Japanese samurai movies and shot in southern Italy and Spain with a multilingual cast. _Metropolis_ is not a very good movie. The acting is over-the-top even by silent film standards, the plot is thin, and it ends by grabbing its message, rearing back, and beating you over the head with it. It’s [Great, but not Good](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=619164), except in terms of the special effects, which hold up very well. _Forbidden Planet_ is a much better seminal Science Fiction film, and _The Day The Earth Stood Still_ did socially-conscious “message” Science Fiction much better. (Yes, I know you mentioned it as something you didn’t like. My statement remains true.) As far as science fiction with good science, _2001: A Space Odyssey_ has good science except for the central conceits (the monoliths and all they do) and its message is very much subtext, not text. (I can’t imagine anyone _not_ having seen it, but it is from before your 1974 cutoff date, so… ) For old horror, it’s hard to beat _Nosferatu_, the silent original, starring Max Schreck, who really _did_ have a last name which translates to “Terror” in English. Speaking of, the Universal _Dracula_ (1931) holds up well, but suffers from being the template all “traditional” vampire films were made in reference to, and therefore can never be as suspenseful as it was back then. Speaking of widely-copied templates, _Night of the Living Dead_ (1968), the Romero original, is also still quite effective, and all the more so for being in black-and-white, which increases the sense of paranoiac dread. Speaking of dread, I don’t know if you’ve seen _The Andromeda Strain_, based on the Crichton novel, but it is definitely worth a watch. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/11 "2018-01-14T06:24:03Z")
_Stalag 17_ _Casablanca_ _The Third Man_ _The Manchurian Candidate_ (original) _On the Waterfront_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/12 "2018-01-14T07:01:59Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Good films, though most of them do share the dark, dystopian view of the future that was common in sci-fi in the early 1970s, before Star Wars ate the sci-fi film category. 🙂 I’ve said before that the golden age of science fiction movies ran from 1968 (with the release of _2001: A Space Odyssey_) to 1977 (with the release of _Star Wars_). At least half of the worthwhile science fiction ever made were released in this ten year period. _2001_ showed the science fiction was a legitimate film genre which could make movies with genuine ideas and deserved some respect. And _Star Wars_ closed that door by turning the genre into sci-fi; mindless entertainment with big special effects budgets. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/13 "2018-01-14T07:04:20Z")
If you’re looking for a great western, I’d recommend _The Searchers_ (1956). ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/14 "2018-01-14T07:09:55Z")
Out of the Past Maybe the best film noire ever. It has gangsters but it has so much more. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/15 "2018-01-14T07:24:51Z")
What constitutes an “old movie” is subjective. I was born nine years before you and still find it difficult to call films made during the late 60s and 70s “old” even though they are now older than most the movies I watched on local TV stations while I was growing up. That said, I think the main criteria for whether a movie is “old” or not is if it was made before 1967. That year represents the end of the Production Code which had put a tight rein on American film content since 1934 and the beginning of the MPAA rating system we have now. > [@adaher](#): > > Gangster films- Don’t like the genre today, wouldn’t appreciate it back then. How do you feel about film noir? I could recommend a few like **The Maltese Falcon** , **Double Indemnity** , or\*\* Touch of Evil\*\* but I don’t know if you’d like movies of that type. > [@adaher](#): > > Spaghetti Westerns- I’m not opposed to Westerns in general, but if I’m going to watch one it needs to be more than Cowboys and Indians and gun duels. Spaghetti westerns were Italian homages and deconstructions of traditional American westerns. Of those, you can’t go wrong with Sergio Leone’s “Man with No Name” trilogy ( **A Fistful of Dollars** , **A Few Dollars More** , and **The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly** ) and **Once Upon a Time in the West**. As for American westerns made during the Code period, there’s **The Ox-Bow Incident** which is about the tragic consequences of frontier-mob justice and Sam Peckinpah’s **Ride the High Country** which is about two aging western lawmen having to face life in the 20th century. > [@adaher](#): > > Action The problem with most old action movies is current audiences often find them too slowly-paced. One you might like, however, **Bad Day in Black Rock** (1956), a latter-day Western starring Spencer Tracy and host of familiar faces. It also counts as drama about important issues (in this case, racism and unfair treatment of Japanese citizens during WWII). > [@adaher](#): > > War movies Stanley Kubrick’s **Paths of Glory** (1957) (part war movie and part courtroom drama) and Lewis Milestone’s **All Quiet on the Western Front** (1930) > [@adaher](#): > > Dramas about important issues There was a period from the late 40s to the 60s when Hollywood put out a number of “message movies” meant to address controversial issues of the time. The problem with these films is that many of them haven’t aged well and come across as preachy, heavy-handed, and naive. That said, \*\*Crossfire \*\*(1947) with Robert Mitchum still holds up (and also qualifies as a film noir) as does the classic **To Kill a Mockingbird** (1962). > [@adaher](#): > > Political thrillers. Now that I think about it, I have seen Dr. Strangelove. Stuff like that is cool. How about Cold War espionage films of the more realistic, non-James Bond variety? For that, you might like **The Spy Who Came in From the Cold** (1965) with Richard Burton. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/16 "2018-01-14T07:55:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If you’re looking for a great western, I’d recommend _The Searchers_ (1956). This was going to be mine. It starts out as a traditional Western, but turns into something else. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/17 "2018-01-14T11:45:54Z")
Westerns… Try **True Grit (1969)**, with John Wayne as starring as a drunken, one-eyed, pot-bellied, has-been old marshal. He won an Oscar for the role. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/18 "2018-01-14T12:35:17Z")
**Some Like It Hot** - a comedy with Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, and Tony Curtis. I think the comedy holds up today. **Singin’ In The Rain** - it’s a classic Hollywood musical. Something I take away from seeing the old movies is the opportunity to see what established today’s standards. Gene Kelly was extremely talented. Marilyn Monroe was not just some blonde, she was a great comedic actress. You could look at the list of past Academy Award winners for Best Picture. That narrows it down decades worth of work to what was considered the best (or one of the best) movies of each year. Not all of them will hold up, but you can compare how things changed from year to year. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/19 "2018-01-14T13:30:27Z")
**Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)** Weird, unsettling, suspense filled, highly memorable. [Trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x05QuAhpq6o) ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2018, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587/20 "2018-01-14T13:45:26Z")
Lawrence of Arabia - one of my all-time favorite movies. Great acting, great music, great story. Gone with the Wind - worth a watch. Yes, it’s sort of a romance, but it’s a hell of a lot more as well. (can’t quite believe I’m the first to say those two!) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-old-movies-should-i-watch/806587.md?page=2)