Older films worth another look

littlemissattitude

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I like old movies, sort of old movies, new movies (which I hardly ever get to see when they are new, but that's another story). But every once in awhile I catch an old movie that I did see when it was new, and am amazed at how good it really was.

A case in point is M*A*S*H - not the television series, but the original film directed by Robert Altman and released in 1970. The first time I saw the film, when it first came out, my parents had to take me to see it because it was rated R and I was not yet 17. I loved it then, and I've seen it a few times since, but not for several years now. But it happened to be on last night on AMC after the Academy Awards was over with, and I sat down to watch it.

I had forgotten just how good this film is. The story, the acting, the detail with which it is invested are all simply brilliant. All I can say is, if you haven't seen it, or if you haven't seen it in a long time, sit down and watch it.

Okay, anyone else? Seen any good old movies that you had forgotten were as good as they are?
 
I don't think I could watch another re-make of Wuthering Heights. The original is by far the best in my opinion....
 
littlemissattitude said:
A case in point is M*A*S*H - not the television series, but the original film .

I had forgotten just how good this film is. The story, the acting, the detail with which it is invested are all simply brilliant. All I can say is, if you haven't seen it, or if you haven't seen it in a long time, sit down and watch it.

Okay, anyone else? Seen any good old movies that you had forgotten were as good as they are?

I caught a little part of it too and I also forgot how good it was. The "meatball" surgery, the laughing in the face of all the misery. Wonderful movie.
Another one to check out that has some age to it but also shows a lot of attention to detail is "Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."
 
You know, I've never seen Dr. Strangelove. I keep meaning to, but I just never have, yet. I've seen bits and pieces, but never the whole thing. Then again, I think I saw the last five or ten minutes of Casablanca at least fifteen or twenty times before I saw the whole thing.:p One the the local tv stations in L.A. used to show it a lot when I was growing up; they'd do this Million Dollar Movie thing, where they would show the same film every night for a week and then a couple of times a day on Saturday and Sunday, but I'd always forget that it was on and end up stumbling on it right at the end. The Million Dollar Move is also the reason I've seen The Day the Earth Stood Still and the original Invaders From Mars so many times.

The specific thing about M*A*S*H that I really like - aside from Donald Sutherland, who I adore, especially from that period of his career - is the scene where Painless is intending to commit suicide and they are having this send-off ceremony for him (won't say what's happening exactly there, because someone might not have seen it) they've got the table arranged just like Da Vinci's "Last Supper". It's just perfect.:D
 
Rosemary said:
I don't think I could watch another re-make of Wuthering Heights. The original is by far the best in my opinion....
The original? I've seen one made in the 90's with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche and it was pretty darn good on the whole.
 
A Streetcar Named Desire (the version with Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh). This is one of those movies that just never seems to date and is always worth returning to for another viewing. Personally, I think this film was Brando's finest.

Cross Of Iron - Ok this Sam Peckinpah effort (based on the novel of the same name) ain't that old. The war weary Sergeant Steiner has to cope with his glory seeking Prussian aristocrat superior in a classic anti-war movie.
 
Harvey - a 50's movie with James Stewart as Edward Dowd, a genial alcoholic who's friends with an invisible 6ft rabbit called Harvey.
Edward's aunt is embarassed by his 'insanity' so tries to get him committed to the local insane asylum, only to mistakenly get committed herself.
A cracking comedy, with some witty dialogue and a really good performance by James Stewart (& Harvey) :)
 
Its not that old movie, I think, but I could watch 'Young Frankenstein' over and over again. Especially any scene when they mention Gloris Leachman's character, Frau Blücher and all the horses neigh! Very funny.

And Harvey is a great movie, a classic, its a feel good movie
:)
 

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MASH and Dr Strangelove are brilliant. Some other classics for me are:

Key Largo
North by North West
The Maltese Falcon
It's a Wondeful Life
Breakfast at Tiffanys
The African Queen
Straw Dogs
The Wild Bunch
The Wicker Man
Jaws
Close Encounters
The Wild Geese
Where Eagles Dare
Bridge Too Far
Magnificent Seven
Bullit
Great Escape
Taxi Driver
The Italian Job (original of course)
Get Carter (again the original)
Alien
The Warriors
Scarface
Mona Lisa
The Long Good Friday
Rollerball (original)

Sorry I'll stop now! I'm getting carried away...the list was just going to go on and on!
 
Roddglenn, you have great taste in films! you've got a few of my all time faves there like Rollerball and the Warriors (which sits permanently at #2) i think there's so many great old movies that are still brilliant today. another personal fave is Waterloo Bridge, which i have only ever seen twice, once when i was too young to get it, and another a couple of months ago. i don't know if i'll ever be able to watch it again, because i was so traumatised by the whole situation, and i got sooo emotional watching it, i don't know if i could deal with that again! but because it had such an effect on me it automatically made my top 5... i highly reccommend it, Vivien Leigh is flawless in it.
i also find old war movies tend to be great even now. ditto anything with Gene Kelly esp. Anchors Aweigh. in case you can't tell, i love old movies! i spend a loooot of time watching TCM!
 
Jenna, you too have damn good taste in your films. :)

I could start a thread all on its own about old war movies! Just mentioned a couple in my list, by there's so many more like The Eagle has Landed, Bridge at Remargen, Guns of Navarone, Kelly's Heros, Dirty Dozen, The Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora....and so on!
 
If i hear theres going to be a remak I try and see the origonal - just to compare them, but just in general i rather enjoyed The warriors, Zulu and The good the bad and the ugly
 
roddglenn said:
Jenna, you too have damn good taste in your films. :)

I could start a thread all on its own about old war movies! Just mentioned a couple in my list, by there's so many more like The Eagle has Landed, Bridge at Remargen, Guns of Navarone, Kelly's Heros, Dirty Dozen, The Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora....and so on!

mmm i love all war films, old and new, but my two fave oldies would be the great escape and where eagles dare. seriously, as soon as i see a military uniform and something goes boom, the movie has my undivided attention!
 
lol aye, know what ya mean Jenna.

Thunderchild - can't believe I missed Zulu off my list - absolute solid gold classic. Loved all of Clint's spagetti westerns too.
 
Some great flicks so far, I'll add:

12 Angry Men
The Thing
The secret life of Walter Mitty
The Court Jester (Yes I'm a Danny Kaye fan if anyone knows these 2 :D )
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Forbiden Planet
The Andromeda Strain
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
All the President's Men
Road to Morocco
In the Heat of the Night


and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.... I'm sorry but for 1937 this movie was both stunning and revolutionary for animation.
 
Don't forget the famous Alfred Hitchcock films! They revolutionized the horror genre and still remain classic masterpieces. Some of my favorites are Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, North By Northwest, & Vertigo...
 
I love all the old musicals - Top Hat being one of the many favorites.
All the Rat Pack movies.
James Cagney, too.
 
Caretaker66 said:
Don't forget the famous Alfred Hitchcock films! They revolutionized the horror genre and still remain classic masterpieces. Some of my favorites are Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, North By Northwest, & Vertigo...

Mmmm. Rear Window. Brilliant. It's amazing to me how Hitchcock managed to show you exactly what happend, then makes you so sure that you didn't see what you know you saw. This is one of my favorite movies, and I'm glad to say that my first viewing of it was actually on the large screen, in an art house we used to have in Fresno. Too bad it's mainly a performance venue rather than a movie theatre now, though they do still show films there sometimes. On the other hand, I do so love working there when I do the ballet props thing.
 

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