Fittingly, I’ll be attending a screening of Lawrence of Arabia tomorrow. I hope they keep the traditional intermission at the two-hour mark.
Movies I recall seeing that had intermissions:
“Larence of Arabia”
“Doctor Zhivago”
“The Ten Commandments”
“Gone With the Wind”
“The Sound of Music”
And possibly, though I don’t remember:
“Grand Prix”
“2001: A Space Odyssey”
“The Bible”
In high school I worked at a theater that showed Julie Andrews’ 1968 mega-bomb “Star!” in its full-length “Roadshow” release. That movie was so bad, the intermission gave people an excuse to leave! I saw it up to intermission dozens of times but only once all the way through.
“Ben-Hur” (forgot about that one)
“El Cid” (and that one)
“Fiddler on the Roof” (Roadshow release had an intermission; General release did not.)
This reminds me of an old joke:
“Did you see ‘The Bible’?”
“No, I read the book.”
Of the three The Lord of the Rings films (released in 2001-2003), the first two were just a minute or two under 3 hours, and the third was 3:20.
I’ve never been to a movie with an intermission. When was that common?
Seems like a good way to make the experience significantly worse. I probably would never go to the theater again if they stopped in the middle so they could try to sell you more and break the flow/immersion of the movie.
I used to see a lot of movies at drive-ins. They might show two or three movies with short pauses between them. Obviously that isn’t quite the same thing.
The movies I remember with intermissions: How The West Was Won, Around The World In 80 Days and It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
“Common,” probably the 1960s. This article indicates that the last major film to officially include an intermission in its theatrical release was Gandhi, in 1982.
“Gone With the Wind,” made in 1939, always had an intermission, but that was an exception in that time period. It wasn’t until the 1950s that intermissions caught on, and that was only for “spectaculars,” like those already mentioned. It ramped up in the 1960s and began to die out by the 1970s, even for movies that were longer than average. “The Godfather” clocked in at just under three hours, but I don’t recall it having an intermission, even in its original release.
As Roger Ebert said: "No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough. "
when I saw How the West Was Won on TV, they had intermissions 9not commercials)
Movies/operas/plays often have distinct acts, though. And if the production is 4 hours long, it does not seem completely unreasonable that someone might appreciate the chance to take a piss.
“The Agony and the Ecstasy” had an intermission. There is even one on the video release.
Be careful what you ask for:
Well, they still had that when i was a small child. The big theater usually had- The main film, a B Picture, newsreel, a cartoon, a serial, a sing along, and a prize drawing. The main picture showed like twice a day, but as you can see all that took many hours.
The Bridge on the River Kwai iirc.
Well, I watch the extended versions, of course. 3 1/2 hours for the first.
Some of us older dudes bladders wont hold out that long, and back then of course- smokers could not be away from their addiction that long.
All winners, but How The West Was Won kinda drags a bit now.
Same here, though those longer versions weren’t generally released in the theater.
Like 0.1% of movies are 4 hours long? Fine for those people to have a preference, I just think that’s a tiny minority and that the theater going audience would overwhelmingly prefer not to have intermissions.
Maybe have a separate showing with them?
It doesnt have to be 4 hours, but three hours is pushing it for my bladder. Just you wait youngster! 
Also (but not limited to):
Lawrence of Arabia
2001: A Space Odyssey
Gandhi
Ben Hur
Dr. Zhivago
Seven Samurai
Spartacus
Now that people mostly watch movies at home, there’s less need for intermissions, even for long films. You can stop the movie anytime you want, for a pee break, a snack break, or any other reason.
I’m in my 40s and I don’t remember any movies with intermissions. I just remember a lot of ads and trailers before them. But 99% of my movie-going was from around 1993-2005. I think the last time I actually went to a theater for a movie I wanted to see was around 2012, and 99% of the movies I saw from 2005-2012 were for my kids.
On the other hand, I have developed some aging ailments - such as the fact that I could easily “hold it” for a good 8-10 hours or so (and could never imagine not being able to sit through a movie) just a few years ago. Now, I don’t want to go anywhere too far from a restroom. I never cared for popcorn or sodas at movies - that was something from external forces (dates, wife, kids - so getting refills never occurred to me as a thing, especially when even 20 years ago they were like gallon buckets of popcorn and 1/2 gallon of soda for 20 bucks or whatever.
Now, perhaps I wouldn’t mind intermission. So my limbs wouldn’t cramp or fall asleep, I won’t get swollen feet, painful groin, etc.