What old movies should I watch?

Cafe Society
81

Nitpick: This was the second Bogart-Bacall film. First (and reason they named their first kid Steve :slight_smile: ) was To Have and Have Not. But I agree that The Big Sleep is one of Bogart’s very best films.

Maltese Falcon, and African Queen are also must-see Bogart films as is of course the best movie ever made: Casablanca. (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is highly regarded, but not so much by me.)

Here are some of the very best non-Bogart movies released 1976 or earlier. Most don’t fit OP’s criteria, but I recommend he watch them anyway!
Chinatown (1974)
Lawrence of Arabia (though the 2nd half drags a bit, IMO)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The French Connection
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

82

Well, that’s a lot of great suggestions. Some of them I actually remember seeing, mainly in school, such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. While that movie was good, I can’t fully say I ever understood it. Wasn’t Nurse Ratchet the villain?

83

I had always thought so but after my last viewing I now view McMurphy as the real villain. He is a narcissist and a sociopath. He entered and disrupted the lives of the others on the ward for no real benefit. Some of them were voluntarily committed.

Sure, Ratchett was a humorless automaton but she was more concerned with the welfare of the others than McMurphy.

84

Lots of good suggestions. But, as is common with these types of threads, also just a LOT of suggestions period (many not falling into the categories the OP mentioned)

So I will limit my suggestions to what I would consider the “kick off” for the category. If you like these, then you can move on to some of the others.

Action
War movies:
“The Guns of Navarone” and “The Dirty Dozen”. Great escapist, impossible task that could turn the tide of the war (WWII). Both start out a bit slow, but are worth the big finales

Dramas about important issues:
“12 Angry Men” is probably the best for this. Great study of how each person’s experience shapes their view/opinion. And is like “homework” should you ever participate in a jury.
Also mentioned “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” is a nice fable about a “common man” taking on politics, and holding onto his principals.

Horror. Not suspense horror, but supernatural horror:
“The Exorcist”. You have probably already seen a number of movies that out-scare, out-special effect this movie. But this scared the crap out of me (and many others).

Disaster! :
“The Poseidon Adventure” kind of kicked off the star-packed, “epic” disaster film genre. Compared to today’s “earth ending” disaster movies, these movies seem so “contained”. But viewed as the survivor’s tales, these earlier ones (also “The Towering Inferno”) are more about the human experience than the big special effects (now all CGI’ed).

Political thrillers:
“Fail Safe” comes to mind (especially since you liked “Dr. Strangelove”). This is a more realistic take on the possibility of nuclear annihilation/cold war mentality. I don’t know that many today realize just how tense things were during the cold war.

Scifi with good science:
“The Andromeda Strain”. Awesome science, and a refreshing take on a first encounter with extra-terrestrial life, which holds up today.
“Marooned”. Before the real-life events of Apollo 13, this movie did a great job of depicting the inherent dangers of manned space flight.

I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve never seen a Sean Connery Bond movie:
Bond movies are great escapism. I’d recommend “Goldfinger” and “You Only Live Twice”. If you like those, then go for “Dr. No” and “From Russia With Love”

85

I guess that’s the mark of a good movie, you can get different things from it. Yes, he was definitely not a good person. clearly playing the system to avoid jail too.

86

I think you missed the point of the movie. Yes, Nurse Ratchett was concerned for the “welfare” of the patients - but that was “welfare” as dictated by the theories on treating the mentally ill at that time. Which had to do with keeping them heavily medicated and pretty much in this limbo/prison (voluntarily committed or not) because they were continually made to convince themselves that there was something truly wrong with them.
McMurphy, though self-serving to avoid prison, sees that many of the patients are no more messed up than people on the outside. And deserve some dignity, respect, and some happiness. He takes them on the field trip boat ride, which was likely the highlight of their entire stay their. Throws the big party, and he gets Billy laid. (Ratchett then shames him so horribly, Billy ends up taking his own life !)

I don’t know that labelling either McMurphy or Ratchett as “villain” is appropriate. Neither had any “evil” intent. Each did what they thought was “best”, each with consequences.

87

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88

I got the book this list is based on for Christmas. I’ve seen about a third of the movies on it, and I’m making a list of the others I’m interested in. The book has summaries of each movie, and the reasons to see it.
Some of the earlier ones are on YouTube. I watched “The Great Train Robbery” already.

89

I saw Ratchett as a villain because she shamed Billy for having a relationship with a woman. As a result he talked normal til she threaten to tell his mom about it.

What therapeutic value is that? She’s a bitch!

90

The Sweet Smell of Success - Lancaster and Curtis

Shoot The Piano Player, Jules and Jim: Truffaut

The Man Who Would Be King - Connery, Caine

You could see any one of a dozen classic movies by Kurosawa: Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Throne of Blood etc.

Same for Fellini: La Strada, The White Sheik, and on to infinity.

91

Tony Curtis was also great in Houdini, Taras Bulba (opposite Yul Brynner), The Great Impostor, Operation Petticoat (opposite Cary Grant), Some Like It Hot (opposite Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe), and Who Was That Lady? His co-star in the last one was his wife Janet Leigh, and the movie was later remade as True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and their real-life daughter Jamie Lee Curtis. (Leigh also co-starred in Houdini.)

The above is far from Curtis’s complete filmography. He and Cary Grant were the only two actors ever to star opposite both Mae West and Marilyn Monroe.

92

Pfui. Those are all “character” actors, or famous for playing “heavies.”

Sterling was the tallest guy who was expected to screw the leading lady.

In a movie. I don’t know if James Arness was a sex object in Gunsmoke.. But he was just a Thing in The Thing from Another World.

93

James Arness was expected to screw the leading lady in Them! (And no, I do not mean the queen ant.) :slight_smile:

94

Autocomplete kept trying to change that to “Queen Anne”, didn’t it?

95

Blue Collar - By Schrader, with Pryor, Keitel and Kotto

What’s up Tiger Lily - Woody Allen

96

I’ve seen many or most of the recommended movies, but have still noticed some here I’d not heard of, but now intend to watch: Parallax View and The Conversation, for starters. (It’s possible I watched them decades ago, but that would be as good as an unseen movie for me! :stuck_out_tongue: )

My favorite movie genres are thrillers (if they’re very good), noir, and … “romance” but in a very broad sense.

For example, I recommend The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956)(*) with Gina Lollobrigida and Anthony Quinn, but wouldn’t know how to classify it. Is it “romance”? I wouldn’t think of it as an “old style romance flick like Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” * - Wikipedia lists no less than 19 film adaptations of the Hugo novel. :eek: My recommendation is for Hunchback (1956) specifically.

Mention of Anthony Quinn reminds me that La Strada (already mentioned) and Zorba the Greek are also must-sees.

Other films that meet OP’s criteria but haven’t been mentioned yet are
Fiddler on the Roof
Topkapi

I don’t know what the best Joan of Arc film is — the one I watched and enjoyed was post-1970’s.

And there are lots of 50’s/60’s movies that I’d rate only ‘B’ but still prefer over many of today’s “best” movies, for examples:
A Majority of One
Pride and Passion
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

OP: How do you feel about musicals?

97

Gina Lollobrigida, now that was a dish.

98

You could try some old British war movies:
Sink the Bismarck!
The Way to the Stars (might have been marketed in the US as Johnny In The Clouds)
Millions Like Us
Bridge over the River Kwai
The Long And The Short And The Tall
Ice Cold in Alex
The Wooden Horse

Animation (and politics!): the Halas/Bachelor animation of Animal Farm

Film noir thriller:
Murder My Sweet (Dick Powell as Philip Marlowe)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (the 1946 version with Lana Turner)

Screwball comedy: His Girl Friday

99

septimus @96:

The best Joan of Arc movie is Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), although it only covers the depressing part. It’s also a strong contender for best movie ever made.

100

I’ll just drop in another vote here for Forbidden Planet, which is, to my taste, the best Shakespeare production ever to grace the screen. It’s not easy to improve on The Tempest, but they did it.